Avoiding Hackneyed...Making Sense
There are several times in Scripture when tithing was practiced but the most important of all is the first time it is mentioned.
Abraham was the one who paid the tithe and he paid it to a priest by the name of Melchizedek. The incident is recorded in Genesis 14:20. There are several things which make this situation very interesting. [Read more…] about What The Bible Says About Tithing?
Christopher Morley said,
“There are three ingredients in the good life: learning, earning and yearning.”
If Morley’s statement is correct, we would understand that money is only one of three essential ingredients to success, not the essence of it, and in fact, any one of the three without the others is success distorted. [Read more…] about How Are Money and Success Related?
It’s an age old problem. It happens in every generation. Good people die before their time, sometimes in horrible ways, or are disabled by unfair injuries or are crippled by unexpected financial loss…and we really get upset about this! Our sense of justice is offended.
When bad things happen to people we perceive as good, especially children, we become indignant. Why doesn’t God stop all the unnecessary pain and suffering? Why should any child be afflicted with disease, neglect or abuse? Why should any good person at any age endure painful experiences?
And the fact that God created the world in the blink of an eye begs the question. With all that power, why doesn’t He protect innocent people from bad things and prove to everyone how benevolent He can be? To any person who hasn’t become emotionally callous this is a fair and reasonable question but is it really an emotional issue? We can’t reasonably consider this question without asking several more questions first. For example… [Read more…] about Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People
Jesus performed thousands of miracles. He was constantly healing endless numbers of people. Some He raised from the dead.
He was sensitive to the needy and never avoided or resisted an opportunity to give His support. He even responded to basic human needs that were far from life threatening. He fed thousands who were neither poor nor malnourished on at least two occasions, possibly more. John did say Jesus performed many other miracles that were not reported.
But, the questions are:
These are important questions. They establish motive and we can never qualify as “followers” of Jesus if we don’t understand and adopt His motives.
[Read more…] about Did Jesus Heal To Show His Power Or Be Helpful?
Over at the Huffington Post Robbie Gennet has made some interesting remarks about the impossibility of a democracy being Christian. In his words,
“There is no such thing as a Christian…Muslim… or Jewish Democracy…(or a solely Heterosexual one, for that matter).”
“True Democracy,” he says,
Means True Equality and no religion sees itself as equal to all the others (and they feel especially unequal to secularism and atheism)…In this country, the vast majority of them (the religious) feel that the USA was founded as a Christian nation and should be run like one, which is anathema to the true Democratic ideals of our founding fathers.
The truth is Mr. Gennet and I agree and disagree. I agree that America is not A Christian nation, and from the start that was never the intent, but I would say emphatically that democracy is Christian.
That doesn’t mean the US is a Christian nation but it does mean that the US is managed by biblical principles and that makes democracy Christian even when the state is not.
A nation is very different to a democracy. In fact, once a state becomes Christian, it ceases to be a democracy and that is what our forefathers understood. [Read more…] about Democracy Is Christian Even When The State Is Not
