I found this video today and had to share it. This is not popular but it is necessary and it is what God's Word says, we cannot water it down or censor it because it will make people uncomfortable, that's the whole point!
The following link is to a series that has greatly encouraged and exhorted me. I share it with anyone who stumbles upon this site and challenge you to delve deep into discovering that there really is a spiritual battle going on all around us and in our lives. It doesn't have to look like The Exorcist or Paranormal Activity for it to become readily apparent when you start asking the Lord to help you take up your mantle as a warrior. I'm not saying it can't look like those things...I believe at times it can but none-the-less it is just as intense though it may be invisible. Enjoy and be blessed!
http://www.gty.org/resources/sermon-series/64 Is it appropriate for professed believers to smoke marijuana? I have long been against it for recreational use, though my love for natural medicine had also led me to being okay with its legitimate medical use (not just lame excuses made up so one can use it for recreation). I mean really, so many laboratory produced psychoactive drugs can be incredibly addicting and potentially harmful, I think pot it probably a lot better for certain cases. And my libertarian leanings also cause me to not really care whether it's legal or not. None-the-less, it is important for Christians to be discerning and wise about what we partake in. I found this blog by John Piper to be a very articulate message for why we should stay away from it outside of medical
purposes.http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/don-t-let-your-mind-go-to-pot As a Christian I have wrestled with how we are supposed to balance upholding the law with the obvious cases where illegal immigrants are seeking a better and safer life. Having personally had friends who were illegal immigrants I understand the desire to help one's family at all costs, yet as Christians we are to obey the laws of the land. Todd Friel from Wretched TV put out a video on youtube that I think helps clarify how we as believers should think and act on the matter. I was listening to Ravi Zacharias tonight and as he talked about the Trinity a few things occurred to me that I hadn't really thought of before.
Ravi was pointing out the necessity of the Trinity when one considers the first verses of Genesis. If God were monadic in nature one would have to ask, if God is love, who was He loving before everything came into being. Also, since He was speaking in those first verses, who was He speaking to? Without the Trinity these questions can hardly be answered. I have to say that these are some of the best arguments I've heard. I think that it can be said that while we might not understand the Trinity, Scripture inevitably points us to that reality. So in a sense we can accept the reality without fully grasping it. This all got me thinking though. It says in Colossians 1:16-17: "For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist." So could it be that when God created the universe that He spoke and it was the Son who responded and produced? Our we and everything that exists in our space-time reality, etc., an outgrowth of Christ? I'm not trying to be pantheistic here but, Colossians seems to say as much. Also, it says in John 1:14 that the Word became flesh. If it was the Word that created this universe and the Word became flesh, that is Jesus, was all of creation some how bound up within this God-Man? Is that why it got dark when Jesus was on the cross? Did the temporary breaking of fellowship between the Son and the Father include a breaking of Creation too? If Jesus is that by which the universe consists, did we nearly fade out of existence when the fellowship between Jesus and the Father was broken? I have the feeling that what happened to Him on that Cross was so much more....I can't even find the words. I don't think that we can quite comprehend what happened that day. Yes, He paid for our sins but that cost I think is so taken for granted in some ways. Of course He came out on top but the agony....the Son broke fellowship with God....our Creator broke fellowship with our Creator....our Creator's unity with our Creator was broken....even a temporary breaking....I can hardly fathom it but my heart is telling me that that was so huge. Perhaps when I am in heaven I'll be able to fathom it better, for now I am just grateful that the Lord has given me the idea. I stumbled upon this youtube video tonight and was a little disturbed with it. Of course I'm used to the general condescension that secular scientists have towards creationists and the gentleman in this video was just about oozing with it. What bothered me was the response that Dr. Lisle gave. The scientist visitor was trying to ask Dr. Lisle for a response as to how he could believe creationism in the face of contrary evidence and it almost seemed like he (Lisle) avoided engaging him in that and simply went straight to the Bible. His answer was basically that even if the evidence contradicts the Bible, we should believe it anyways and that's that..... Now don't get me wrong. I do agree with Dr. Lisle that God's Word is the final authority. And that in the face of controverting evidence we must remember that our finite human minds can interpret it wrong or come to wrong assumptions based on our limited understanding at the time. To be fair, Dr. Lisle made this point in the video. What bothers me though is that there is plenty of evidence to the contrary of evolution and he could have so easily said to this man, "Look, you have interpretted the evidence to mean this but, it also seems to rather point to this." He could have so easily said, "Yes, God's Word is our final authority but, we are also fortunate in that proper science has produced evidence to what we believe." There are scientists who have become creationists based on an honest look at the evidence; so why would it have been so hard to at least directly answer the man's question? I think it was a valid one. It could very well be that Dr. Lisle did indeed answer his question more thoroughly and that the video was edited in such a way to cut that out, making him appear to not really answer the questions directly. Just kind of frustrated with the video but oh well! "For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which your are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
I love to study and observe human behavior and psychology (with a Biblical filter of course). Paul asks the reader what the fruit of sinful behavior is and he states that the consequence is death. Indeed, the ultimate consequence of sin is spiritual death in Hell but, it's pretty apparent that sin has terrible consequences in life (that may or may not lead to a more immediate physical death as well). When God and Christians call upon society to be moral and not sin it is not to ruin people's fun. On the contrary, rules of behavior are meant to protect us from hurting each other and ourselves. Jesus said at the end of Matthew 22 that loving the Lord and then your neighbor as yourself were the two rules on which the laws of society were based. We have rules so that we honor God and are good to each other but, also for our own survival. According to God's rules, sexual activities such as fornication, homosexuality, adultery, and etc. are all forbidden. Why? Does God not want us to have fun? On the contrary, He knows what's best and that any sexual activity outside of the confines of a loving marriage will hurt us in the end. Disease, broken hearts and spirits, abuse and insatiable lusts are all consequences of committing these certain types of sin...and sometimes these do indeed lead to an untimely physical death, just as Paul stated. It doesn't just stop here, all sin can cause death to come more quickly. Cheating, lying, stealing, addictions...these all cause pain and suffering in the lives of those who engage in such things and to their loved ones or passersby. It is easy to see how the Bible is correct by observing what happens in the world when humanity goes against God's laws. |
RegeeI love the Bible! So this is my little journal/blog of my thoughts and ideas about Christianity, the Bible, religion in general, and whatever else! Archives
August 2014
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