Most of the time we experience a crisis or other kind of life struggle when our expectations are not realized. That cuts both ways. When someone that we expect to be brutal and hateful turns out to be warm and personable, we don’t quite know how to react and we often react defensively and suspiciously, […]
Tag Archives: #Church
Is believing in God the same thing as having faith?
This brief passage of scripture is instructive: James 2:19-20 :You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! ESV The idea seems simple. It does not require much to believe in the existence of God. It takes very little more to believe in His innate qualities: that he is All powerful, […]
Did the old saying “The Writing is on the Wall come from the bible?
Yes. Here is the passage that it comes from: Daniel 5 King Belshazzar made a great feast for a thousand of his lords and drank wine in front of the thousand. Belshazzar, when he tasted the wine, commanded that the vessels of gold and of silver that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the […]
If I am baptized but only go to church at Christmas and Easter, may I receive communion?
Here is a similar question for you. If you never call your mother except in the fall, and then only to check on family plans for Thanksgiving and Christmas, do you have to sit at the kids table for the meal? Frankly, there was a time in my life when I didn’t treat my mother […]
Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces. What is spiritual warfare and how can I Fight it?
This may seem like a strange place to start, but you should know that I am a movie fan. I love all sorts of movies. And just about every movie that I can think of provides something of an answer to this question. I am also something of a reader and it seems that most […]
In what ways does Jesus command that we love each other?
This is an excellent question and is perhaps the most important question in all of Christianity. The Service for Maundy Thursday has this very idea as its focus. The word Maundy comes from the Latin word for mandate, or command. On His last night with His disciples before his betrayal, passion, and death Jesus gave […]
When I pray is it wrong to pray for material things I want for myself?
Singer Janice Joplin raised this question for a generation of Americans when she sang “Oh Lord won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz.” The implied answer was a definite No! So the question today is a very good one, should we pray for material goods or not? How about praying for luxury goods? In the […]
Was Paul the Apostle ever baptized; and did Paul stress the need for baptism with his teaching?
The Apostle Paul was not one of Jesus’ disciples. As far as we know, he never met, or even saw Jesus. He was a rising star among the Jewish leaders during the time shortly after Jesus’ death, Resurrection, and Ascension; and he was a persecutor of the little band of Jesus’ followers until the day […]
Does the bible talk about the Trinity as the three in one and where?
The Bible does not specifically talk about the theology of the Holy Trinity, as such. But there is more to say than that. It does form the basis for the developed theology of the Holy Trinity as we know it today. In Judaism there was plenty of background to speak of God the Father as […]
I am confused, who is our protector Jesus or the Holy Spirit?
The various things that God does are spelled out in a number of ways. Probably the best way to summarize them is by looking at the historic creeds of the Church. For several hundred years the Church sought to define the natures of the persons of God and wrote out these definitions so that Christians, […]