In Defense of the Christian Faith

Time for another Inspiring Story! Anyone is welcome to participate, but be sure to check out the guidelines first. Powered by Linky Tools Click here to enter your link and view the entire list of entered links... The following is a repost of an essay that I wrote on God's existence using the remarkable story of a Vietnamese Christian. I was reminded of it while considering my recent post, "Faith: The Stumbling Block." Enjoy! ----------------- Today’s Inspiring Story is an essay I wrote recently about Between Two Tigers, a book published by the Voice of the Martyrs. I am aware that to a skeptic this might not be enough “proof” that there is a God. However, it goes along so well with what I was talking about...: that only when our hearts are pure will we see the Lord. Some people think they’re sincere when they say, “If God exists, prove it to me!” And then when you show them, they shoot down everything you say with their own arguments. This, to me, says that...

Proverbs 6:23 For the commandment is a lamp, And the law a light; Reproofs of instruction are the way of life... 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 -- you are afraid. You walk out of that hospital no different than before. What has happened? Your fear has outweighed your desire f...

Today, Jay and I both center our WFWs on Isaiah 58 -- we both attend the same church and have been equally blessed by the teachings, prompting us to study the topic further... So here is my rather LONG WFW (with a link to Jay's at the end)... Isaiah 58 1 ¶ Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. 3 ¶ Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. 4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is it such a fast tha...

1 Corinthians 5:1-2, 6-8 "It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.... Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." The Corinthians were proud of their sins; they had probably grown to tolerate the sins, so when one said that they were doing wrong, they would become arrogant -- probably the way that we do it today: "What sin? I don't see it! I can't hear you!" playing dumb! Either t...

Hi, everybody! I'm FINALLY back... I hope these long spirts of no blogging will become less and less frequent. Right now, though, it's gonna be a little slow... I will try my best to update you all as often as possible, but life is busy. (And I apologize to Jean for missing last weeks Word For Wednesday.) Thank you for your patience and understanding. Have you ever noticed how just a small change can make a world of difference? The other day, I replaced my bedroom curtains; I've had them ever since I can remember. There was nothing wrong with them; they were just old. Time for a replacement. My mother had been wanting to put up some new curtains for a while. We talked about a few options, and my mother found something that would work; but we never got around to implementing the plan. I had merely tucked away the curtains to be put up at some other time. (What a procrastinator I am!) Over the weekend, we finally put the curtains up... Aren't they lovely? I couldn...

Psalm 19:9 "The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether." If you remember, we had " theorized " that if the fear of the Lord is clean, it follows that if we fear the Lord, we are clean. I'd like to start this week by looking at Psalm 51; it is an excellent chapter and it brings out many of the points that I will be talking about today. For a quick background, David had just commited adultery. On his face in repentance to God, he said these words: Psalm 51-- "Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. WASH ME thoroughly from my iniquity, And CLEANSE me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight-That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge. Behold, I was brough...

Today, I'm posting a study that I've been conducting over the past week... It's rather LOOOOONG , but I was challenged as well as encouraged, and I hope you will be, too. It's a continuation of last weeks WFW about seeking God with a pure heart. Today, we focus on hardening our hearts... Ps 81:12 So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lust: and they walked in their own counsels. {unto...: or, to the hardness of their hearts, or, imagination} Rom 1:24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves We can see that one way to harden one's heart is to follow our lusts -- to do things our own way, instead of God's, and this makes us unclean. In this case, God, who is merciful and "not willing that any should perish, but that all should repent and come to the knowledge of the truth," will loose us to our own choice; it's always our choice what we will do with ...

Last week in her WFW, the_other_alice talked about 2 Corinthians 3:14-18 and how we should be loving the Lord with all of our hearts instead of looking at ourselves. I did some further study on this topic; I studied the Greek words, and her is what I came up with: 2 Cor 3:14, 16-18 14 But their minds were petrified/hardened: for until this day the same covering to conceal and keep secret remains unlifted in the reading of the old testament, which covering is loosed, abolished, made void, and destroyed and you are delivered from it in Christ... 16 Nevertheless when one converts [to the Lord], turns quite around, and does a self-about [or an about face] the covering to conceal the secrets shall be removed all around [as a circuit], carried away, pardoned, burned, and expiated [to suffer for wrongdoing] so that you can be a green tree which bears more fruit. 17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, not slavery. 18 But we all, with uncovered ...