I remember when I first met my wife. She had a great attitude, she was friendly, even a bit flirtations, she looked good to me; indeed, I was attracted. My problem was How was I going to get to know this woman who lived all the way across the metroplex from me? This is the […]
Category Archives: Father Knows Best
Should I Apologize to God when my prayers are not answered the way I wanted but His answer was what was best for me?
I have some difficulties with this question. The first difficulty is the idea of apologizing to God. Somehow that doesn’t seem appropriate. If I hurt my wife or my best friend an apology is not only appropriate, it seems like it would be required. But with God? I would apologize to a peer, someone my […]
Is about the last part of the post communion prayer which says “To whom, with thee, and the Holy Ghost, be all honor and glory, world without end. Can you explain the last part “world without end”?
We run into the phrase “world without end” in many places and with some regularity. It is hard to know exactly how it all got started. The phrase, in English, first appeared in the 1549 edition of the Book of Common Prayer. This was King Henry VIII first prayer book which was created when the […]
How one should respond when asked to compromise an important belief or practice of faith.
Back when I was in business school, my ethics professor presented us with a problem. It was a common problem in the 1980s. You are a salesperson trying to make sales in the international market place where corruption is rampant. It is against US law to pay or receive a bribe. It is expected that […]
Christ says; “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Do we know what will destroy our souls?
This is a rather odd saying from Jesus, but his point is clear; and it applies to life in all sorts of ways. Let’s try examining it in the most common application. The Jewish people were a people oppressed by the powerful Roman Empire. They also inhabited a geographic area that included the Silk Road […]
In today’s gospel Christ says to the apostles: “enter the house, greet it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.” What do you think makes the house worthy and is the peace the Holy Spirit?
This may seem obvious, but let me first say that Jesus is not speaking of the building when he says “the house.” It would be bettertranslated as The Household. That is the people of the house. So let’s retranslate: “When you enter the house, greet it. And if the people of the house are worthy, let your peace come […]
If Jesus is a Jew, why don’t today’s Jews acknowledge Him, except for the Messianic Jews?
This is a fascinating question. And it goes to the heart of religion. Religious people tend to put what a casual observer might call “an oversized meaning to a minor detail.” For instance, among Christians, there might be some debate over just how important is the Virgin Birth within the context of the whole of […]
Christ said: I am with you always, to the end of the age.” What is Jesus saying to them; is the end of age your death?
Hmmm. Is the end of age your death? I suppose that one way to look at it is that your death is the end of your ageing. Once you die you won’t get any older. But that is just humor. And bad humor at that. So let’s start here; what is the end of the […]
Christ said to the Apostles “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth.”
Is Christ saying that the Spirit of truth is our helper? I am not comfortable thinking of the Spirit of God as my helper. That sounds like God is subservient to me and that makes me start to listen for thunder and to watch for lightning. Is God my helper, or am I His servant? […]
The verse in this week’s gospel says: “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. John 17.” What is Jesus talking about; “with the glory that I had before the world existed?”
What a great question. If Jesus died and rose again from the dead, which he did, then where is he now? The first question to ask is where was Jesus before he became the baby Jesus? We know where he was for 33 years, right here on earth. On Good Friday after he died and […]