My sermons from the mount. ;)
Reading Time: < 1 minuteLucas goes through a fun lesson that’s interactive—you can play along as you listen, too! We learn about the lies we tell everyone, and especially ourselves, as well as how to overcome them, using scientific studies by Dr. Dan Ariely and others. Attached to this link is the slideshow in case you want to give the same lesson or just follow along.
Reading Time: 2 minutesWe need to be honest about our convictions and reasons for them. I’ve seen (and have done this myself in the past, to my great discredit) people hold a certain view, and proclaim it, while at the same time ignoring any evidence to the contrary, or even sweeping the contradictory evidence under the rug. Presenting sloppy and weak arguments is negative, but giving someone a snow job is much worse….
Reading Time: < 1 minuteBe careful of how you spread the good news! “If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.” (1 Cor 13:2-3) If we “win” someone to an angry, belligerent “gospel,” we’ve not…
Reading Time: 2 minutesKent West writes the following article. If you’d like to see more of his thoughts, visit http://kentwest.blogspot.com/ You would not use the word “baptize” in an unscriptural manner, to mean “sprinkle”. Neither should you use the word “worship” in an unscriptural manner, which most of us have done all of our lives. “Worship” simply means “to bow in submission”. It does not mean “sing”; it does not mean “pray”; it…
Reading Time: 16 minutesABSTRACT: Transgenderism has many challenges for the modern world. In sports, it is damaging the ability of genetic women to have physical success in competition, which also limits their ability to academically succeed through scholarships. Transbeing has been shown to be rising as a social construct and spreads memetically as a social contagion, with the recent inclusion of transitioning young children as supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The…
Reading Time: < 1 minute “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and…
Reading Time: 2 minutes I listen to a variety of podcasts, including ones which are highly secular. One podcast in particular features two people who join various religions and test out pseudo-scientific remedies, and then report back on their experiences. They’re atheists, and while I find that many of their metaphysical assumptions are poorly thought out, I’m always curious to hear such viewpoints. In Christianity, I’ve noticed that “worship” is an incredibly nebulous topic,…
Reading Time: 5 minutes“Since the brain cannot have thoughts about stuff, it cannot make, have, or act on plans, projects, or purposes it gives itself. Nor, for that matter, can it act on plans that anyone else favors it with. There are no plans. That’s just more of the illusion Mother Nature exploited for our survival.”
Reading Time: < 1 minuteDivorce 1 and 2 Discussion—You can probably skip to the 38-minute mark if you want to get straight to the real setup for the coming class, as the first discussion is much abbreviated for privacy. However, if you’d like to listen to both discussion portions, the 1st portion is about: -Historical church views of divorce.-Old Covenant reasons for which divorce was allowed.-A brief look at what unfaithfulness in marriage entailed….
Reading Time: < 1 minuteI love salt-and-vinegar chips, but when it comes to words, it’s better to leave the vinegar out. Often I’ve let my passion overcome me, and I’ve lashed out at an individual or group of people that I dislike. It’s easy for me to forget, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.” —Proverbs 18:21 Noted atheist Richard Dawkins has…
Reading Time: < 1 minuteMy friend, Kent West, combined the audio from a lesson I gave on “worship” with some of my notes. I was pretty flattered and also surprised that I never even thought of that…not that I’d know how to do it! You can check out his wonderful blog at Westing Peacefully. He’s a pretty smart guy and I’ve learned a lot from his spirit.
Reading Time: 3 minutesOften one hears that the only reason that was ever listed as “acceptable” for divorce (note: not nominal nor desired, but acceptable and reasonable) is infidelity. NOTE: A LITTLE BIT PG-13! It can seem unfair to us when we read the Bible and note what seems to be an indication that divorce was only allowed for infidelity. Why is infidelity worse than, saying, stabbing a spouse with a knife a…
Reading Time: 4 minutesA disturbing trend I’ve noticed—especially online—is the decision to be neither charitable nor kind. It is instead replaced by a fervent love of anger and hostility. I hope that I’m not that way often, and please message me if I am; I promise I won’t bite. You see, I read a review of a movie recently, and in it, one cop said with some concern to another, “It’s not healthy…
Reading Time: 4 minutesIn a post-lapsarian world which is increasingly dark, with headlines such as, “Transgender Man Gives Birth to Non-binary Partner’s Baby with Female Sperm Donor,” it can be surprising to find out what really bugs some folks—and I mean this sincerely, as in, ‘haunts the consciences of some’—in various Christian environments. This post is about something that truly does hurt and anger some Christians, and as a person who has felt…
Reading Time: 4 minutesHats. Praying. Fight! Fight! Fight! Take this post with a grain of salt. 1 Cor 11 gets a ton of people in a tizzy. It’s hard to understand. But hey, even 2 Peter mentions that somethings written by our “beloved brother Paul…are hard to understand.” (15-16) But what about this stuff! Can a guy wear a hat while praying? What about women? (Uh oh…why are women praying and prophesying in…
Reading Time: 2 minutesWhy do we fight over little things so often? Sometimes we have to “read between the lines” in order to even find something to fight about, but then we choose that hill to die on. Have you noticed that? Parkinson’s Law of Triviality, also called the “bike shed effect,” notes that organizations focus on trivial issues and neglect weighty ones; that is, they give disproportionate weight to trivial issues. C….
Reading Time: 3 minutesBe careful of who you choose to be your “in-group,” and try to keep folks around who will give you those little nudges in the right ethical direction.
Reading Time: 3 minutesThe moral high-ground can be a wildly vicious place, especially when we have no actualized skin in the game. Have you ever noticed anything like that? I have, and it sometimes makes me think of who I actually am. Not just what I think, but what I do. Not just my beliefs about which practice is good and which practice is bad, but whether or not I truly, physically interact…
Reading Time: 7 minutesSomeone once said that a man was sinning because he said a prayer while wearing a hat. I did some research, and my very rudimentary notes are below. Please note: the article’s picture is nonsense. The Origin The thought mentioned above comes from 1 Corinthians 11:4, which says, “Every man who has something on his head while praying or prophesying disgraces his head.” OUCH! Hats are right out! But…is there…
Reading Time: 13 minutesIn this post: ➤Introduction: The Use of “Worship” We are searching for the truth of the word and meaning of what Jesus said in: Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. “But an hour is…
Reading Time: 6 minutesIn this post: Learning about Worship I was talking with a man today about the term “worship.” He had determined that “New Testament worship” must be a set number of physical actions that one must complete at a certain time of week, and one must be careful to do so correctly. It seemed quite persuasive. Here’s what he said: “Many Bible passages make it clear that not everything that we…
Reading Time: 3 minutesWhy are shortcuts in thinking important to recognize? Because they can not only be funny, but they can also win—or lose— wars.
Reading Time: 2 minutesPeople can be pretty mean to each other when they think they’re right and someone else is wrong. Famous atheist Richard Dawkins once said of religious yokels, “Don’t interact with their arguments, instead mock them, ridicule them, in public … with contempt.” Sadly, religious people can be pretty good about doing that to one another. I used to become upset when a Christian would call me a damnable heretic or…
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Reading Time: 2 minutesToday, be thankful. Be thankful for the overwhelming smile that lit up your heart when your son saw you while he was playing in the yard when you got home from work, and he ran to hug you, for the love you felt when you last embraced your mom, though she was too weak to hug you back, for the warm sound of your dad’s laughter as he greeted you…