In Defense of the Christian Faith

Here is an interesting clip from comedian Ron Pearson called The Answers to Life... While I don't believe that the earth is millions of years old, Ron raised some good points. I also loved his conclusion, so I wanted to share this particular clip with you all. Right before this clip, Ron talks about the role of teachers . While I respect teachers, I do think the public school system as a whole is sorely lacking in teaching on Christianity. This clip also reminded me of a little story that I will leave you with: A little boy asked God, "Father, where were you when this tragedy happened at my school today?" God replied, "Son, I'm not allowed in your school."

Today, in our study on comparitive religions , I want to briefly talk about the claims of Jehovah's Witnesses in connection with the Resurrection (I will talk about the Mormon's view next time). I would like to preface this by saying that, as with all my posts on comparative religions, this is just one of may points that could be examined; on it's own, each point is not meant to fully discredit any religion -- rather, we are examining this piece-by-piece in comparision with the Bible in order to reach a conclusion of each religion as a whole. That said, let's move on... Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus was not bodily resurrected from the dead. Instead, they believe that Jesus' body was destroyed in the tomb and His resurrection was immaterial as a result. Do the Scriptures support such an idea? Let's examine a few Scriptures to find out: Peter Preached a bodily Resurrection: Acts 2:25-32 states, "For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw...

I am reposting this to coincide with a post done today by my good friend, Jay. Please visit his site when you are through reading this post. Thanks. "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers." ~ 3 John 1:2 There are three aspects to this Scripture: 1) Prosperity - financial, including the outward appearance of it (i.e. nice clothes, good job, big house, etc.; in short, blessings), 2) Health -- physical, and 3) Soul - spiritual Now let's elaborate on that. For point 1, most people will shut their ear immediately, because they don't believe in the "prosperity" movement. Why? People have this misconception that prosperity is an evil thing; they think that to be rich is to be proud, and to be proud is to go against God's command to be humble. The problem is that they don't stop to think that being humble does NOT mean that we have to be poor! Jesus said, "Blessed are the...

Matthew 11:18-19 "For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' But wisdom is justified by her children." Have you ever wondered what Jesus meant by that last phrase? How is wisdom justified by her children? The Greek words imply that wisdom is innocent "because of" her children. Therefore, it appears that Jesus is saying that He -- WISDOM -- though He hangs out with those whom the world would consider "dirty," is innocent by the fruit He produces: those people who enter into the kingdom of God as a result. This is why Jesus always stressed the importance of bearing fruit; after all, the New Testament tells us that abiding in Him is how we bear the fruit, and that when we are abiding in Him, we are truly loving Him. We need to always be "kingdom-minded": Is what we are ...

Matthew 7:16-21 "You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into th fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them. Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven...." There are varying opinions on what this verse means, so today, I'd like to focus on this passage briefly. Let's start by examining verse 15:  "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." Here, we see that Jesus was speaking about hypocrisy. But it is important to notice that this was right after He said, "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broa...

Today, I'd like to share a message by Mark Cahill that I found to be very inspiring, yet challenging to us as Christians. It's called "Lukewarm - NO MORE!" It is an hour long, but I encourage you to at least listen while you do other things if you can't give it your undivided attention; it will be an hour well spent! Special thanks to Alice for pointing me to it! :)

The following is a repost of an article that I wrote on the subject of the chastening of the Lord... --------- "For the commandment is a lamp, And the law a light; Reproofs of instruction are the way of life..." ~ Proverbs 6:23 Today, I would like to talk about the chastening of the Lord. (And I realize that I may step on some toes, here; so please be "civil" in your comments. Thanks.) To illustrate my point, I will use the analogy of a doctor and his patient: "Okay. Now all I need you to do is walk down the hall to this room and then you can have the operation, " the Doctor says after he examines you. You walk down that hall, knowing that the operation that will rid you of your terminal illness lies just around the corner. You want to be cured; you can hardly wait to be free again. You reach the door and see an ominous looking machine; this is the machine that is going to slice you open. Quivering with fear, you dash down the hall the way you came --...

I have a little Maltese dog named Little Bear, or as we affectionately call him, LB. He is a rambunctious little guy, possessing a very different personality than my other dogs. Can't you just see that spunkiness in his eyes? Everyone in my family has their favorite dog (though we love them all), but only me and one other family member favor LB. I love that little guy!! I'm always telling him what a pretty boy he is and petting him. I want to make sure that he knows that he's loved... I think he knows that by now; here he is giving me a hug.     This paints such an interesting picture spiritually. Each of us possesses a different personality. Some of us possess personalities that many people can't identify with, while others are completely outgoing and connect with people. Yet, no matter who we are, God loves us. The world might have said, "That person is useless." The world is constantly trying to make us conform to certain viewpoints and certain imag...

UPDATE : Something unexpected came up, so I am going to count my WFW as this week's Inspiring Story. I will also be extending the link party through Monday, October 18 this week. This should work out for ALL participants, so if you're thinking that you won't be able to make it, maybe you will! :D Be sure to link up (bottom of post) and then leave me a comment to let me know what you think! -------------- The following is an essay that I wrote after reading The Pastor’s Wife , an inspiring book written by Sabina Wurmbrand, the wife of The Voice of the Martyrs' founder. I am posting it today for the WFW, because I believe it provides a challenge to us as Christians to be set apart for Christ -- to be representative of Him, showing the love of Christ to the world instead of following its ways. As the Scripture says, “Therefore ‘Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.’ ‘I will be a Father to you, A...

Last week, after thinking about what Alice said in her Word For Wednesday, I decided to do a little reading in Job. I began reading in the middle of the Book of Job to hear Job's side of the story right before his friend Elihu starts speaking the truth to him - this was the friend who actually had some wisdom, unlike the other three friends! Here are my observations... It is obvious to all that Job was going through a huge trial. He had lost everything that he had held dear, and was now fighting for his life, literally. Job's despair is very apparent throughout the discourse in the Book of Job.  But there is another point that is quite evident, as well: Job believed that God was testing him. Job 23:10 states, "But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold." This is not entirely true. While it is true that we come out of our trials purified "as gold" if we hold fast to the Word of God through it, it is not true that ...

Recently, I have been going through a hard season in my life. The storms have been raging. But there are several things which have greatly encouraged me. For this week's WFW, I wanted to share some of these with you, in the hope that it will encourage you, too. My friend, Alice, wrote a post last week that seems to sum up my feelings lately; this post has greatly comforted me, and I would encourage everyone who is struggling today to go check it out (Thanks, Alice, for the encouragement!). Another friend said to me recently -- and I am saying this in agreement -- in times like these, I am so glad that I am on the Rock! That is the place where the Anchor holds us and our house does not fall, where we are not moved by all the turmoil around us! There is one thing that came to my mind amidst all the turmoil that was a great source of hope: the words of a song. They are so simple, yet so profound and so true (song posted below lyrics): "Sorrow will last for the night. But hop...

"Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus." ~ 2 Timothy 1:13 How do we hold fast? By faith and love. Romans 6:17 states, "But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered." That is how you hold fast; you love God and have faith in him enough to obey from your heart. It is not just a "going through the motions" feeling; it comes from the very center of you. Paul's admonition to Timothy came as a result of false doctrines that were being propagated; hence, Paul constantly refers to the "sound doctrine" of Scripture. This is why Proverbs 4:20-23 says, "My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all ...

In the autumn of 2008, I was outside capturing the beauties of nature that God has blessed us with when I spotted a group of geese flying south for the winter. This was one of my first "professional" pictures. Yesterday, I was gazing at this picture when a pertinent Scripture came to mind. Today, I'd like to present it to you as a reminder of just how valuable we are to God. May it inspire and encourage you. Enjoy! For more pictures, see my Photography page . This post is linked to:

"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint." ~ Isaiah 40: 28-31 I took the above picture last year when we went to Six Flags. Everytime I see this picture, I think of a song by Francesca Battistelli which says, "I'm letting go of the life I've planned for me/ and my dreams/ I'm loosing control of my destiny/ it feels like I'm falling and that's what it's like to believe/I'm letting go/ I'm giving into Your gravity/ knowing You are holding me." :D All jokes aside, though, this does p...

A few weeks ago, we talked about how the Jews of the Dispersion mentioned in 1 Peter 1:1 were Gentiles who had been sanctified; we talked about this in connection with the OSAS doctrine . Today, I'd like to continue on this topic. Let's begin with verse 3 of chapter one: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead... We immediately notice from this Scripture that we have a "living hope"; too often, we are full of "wishful" thinking in the worldly sense -- "I wish that could happen," "I hope so," etc. But the Biblical word for hope is "expectancy." It is used everywhere in the Bible in the same sense as it was with Abraham: "being fully persuaded that what He had promised, He was able also to perform." In other words, hope is "knowing" that God will do what He said He wi...