Culture or Christianity? Which side are you on?

How to pick the right religion

How do we know the one true Church?

The Church can not be separated from the State

What is the church doing about mental illness?

Nothing.

But church folks can minister to families struggling with mental illness in effective, loving ways.

I’m okay. You’re okay. It’s okay. Okay?

Potluck religious stew

Someone once told me we’ll be able to pick out the Baptists when we get to heaven. They’ll be the ones toting the covered dishes. Eating has always been a hallmark for us church folks. We love to eat and gather around the dinner table.

The trouble is, it seems to me the church is guilty of treating church like a pot luck supper.  More and more we’re ignoring God’s banquet table and cooking up our own “kitchen religion”.  The church would rather eat whatever tastes good than feast on God’s Word.  The church would rather roast a bunch of rules and regulations than feast on the Bread of Life. The church would rather gorge on opulence than taste obedience.

“I’ve made myself available
    to those who haven’t bothered to ask.
I’m here, ready to be found
    by those who haven’t bothered to look.
I kept saying ‘I’m here, I’m right here’
    to a nation that ignored me.
I reached out day after day
    to a people who turned their backs on me,
People who make wrong turns,
    who insist on doing things their own way.
They get on my nerves,
    are rude to my face day after day,
Make up their own kitchen religion,
    a potluck religious stew.
Isaiah 65:1-3 MSG

Why did you accept Christ as your Savior?

Readers Respond To “Christian Nation” Post

Editor’s Note: I appreciate all the comments our posts receive. Comments let us bloggers know what readers think about what we write. Many comments are good. Some not so good. But I make a valiant effort to answer ALL the comments I receive.

Here are two interesting comments I received last week after my post, Are We Really A Christian Nation?

Hoosierdags wrote:

The world keeps acting like the world and highlights God’s Word told to us in 2 Cor 4:4. The world is blinded by the deceiver and destroyer. Instead of wringing our hands, finding fault, complaining and throwing our money toward candidates or causes that we think will turn our nation toward God (How’s that working for you?), we need to be about the business of changing hearts. Of course, that will only come as a result introducing people to Jesus. We just need to follow in the footsteps of our Lord by fulfilling The Great Commitment – PRAYER (1 Tim 2:1-4); The Great Commandment – CARE (Matt 22:39); The Great Commission – SHARE (Matt 28:19-20). JUST DO IT!

You can read Hoosierdags good words on his Hoosierdags Blog.

Then Mel Wild had this to say:

Amen. We can only imagine the revolution that would happen if we started acting like the Church instead of trying to make everybody else behave. 🙂 Good word, brother.

You can read Mel’s good blog stuff over at his place: In My Father’s House.

Both blogger’s words and insights will bless you.

Click here to read “Are We Really A Christian Nation?” post.

Predestination

Homosexuality

By Rob Morley
Co-founder of Light and Life Ministries
Guest Blogger

While I don’t necessarily advocate demonstrations, nor do I support anything less than love for individuals who practice homosexuality, I like the truth in the caption which is a translation of one of the banners: “Say stop to raping our morality under the name of freedom”

You see, many Christians have become confused and soft in their stance toward the sin of homosexuality. While on the one hand many see it as sin, on the other, they indirectly consent to it through not wanting to take away people’s rights to practice their “sexual orientation”. This is further fuelled by the notion that in order to be loving we should “live and let live” as long as it doesn’t affect others. But, is the negative effect of even a monogamous committed homosexual relationship only confined to the two involved?

Let’s consider who gets affected by someone practicing a homosexual lifestyle. Firstly, he is sinning against God and himself by denying the Creator’s design for his life. Then, just like with adultery and fornication, anyone who practices homosexuality is automatically causing his partner to sin and be missing out on God’s plan for his life. Finally, and what is often overlooked, he is sinning against the community by being a very likely, although not necessarily intentional, influence on others to do the same.

By allowing people to have homosexual relationships, whether monogamous or not, they become billboards that reinforce the idea that homosexuality is a viable lifestyle. Effectively we create an environment where other people can be more easily influenced into the same sin. Many people may fall as a result of the appeal that homosexuality may have on their sinful nature, while others may fall to the deception that homosexuality is a normal social way of life.

The permission to practice homosexuality, along with its promotion in the media and the prolific nature of the practice, can confuse and entice many vulnerable youth and adults into embracing what they may never even have thought of. Let alone the influence that it is having on kids growing up in this environment.

A few weeks ago a teenager who is very close to me and who has grown up in a Christian family and environment spoke to me of how he had wrestled with the question of his own sexuality and whether or not he was homosexual. I wonder to what extent the prevailing climate of open homosexuality that exists in this world has been an influence on his thinking.

As the ecclesia we need to be a clear voice of truth to a broken world. Love is telling the truth!

Seriously causing others to miss out on God’s best may be part of the reason for God’s harsh words

Editor’s Note: Rob and Tina Morely co-founded Light and Life Ministries, a teaching ministry in the body of Christ helping people to understand and effectively apply God’s word, the Bible, as it relates to all of life. “While reaching people with the gospel is essential,” Rob said, “the goal of the Great Commission is to have effectively discipled believers. The Bible deals with all areas of life, but if not taught properly, believers remain ineffective for God’s kingdom in those areas.”

and punishments for this crime. These seeds are sown all around. But woe to those whose seeds germinate! And, anyone who condones this practice is an accomplice. “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! (Luke 17:1).

I have a very dear family member who has lived an open homosexual lifestyle for years with one partner. I love both him and his partner and recognize that their sin is no different to mine. Our difference before God is not that I am not a homosexual or that I don’t sin anymore, but that I was given a free pardon for all my sins, past present and future, and am now joined to Jesus.  My sins and wayward nature are not held against me anymore and although I still easily sin, it’s not in my new nature to continue in it. And, God wants to do the same for them.

I don’t condemn any homosexual just as I don’t condemn any adulterer, but I do want to warn against the destructiveness of participating in this lifestyle, both to individuals and societies. It’s not the Creator’s plan for anybody!

Finally, some may need to repent of practicing homosexuality, others of supporting it, and others of not loving those practicing it. Whichever it is, God is willing to forgive.

You can contact Rob or Tina Morley via e-mail at lightandlifebibleministries@yahoo.com

So, what do YOU think? Your opinion matters.

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Preeminent Leaders and Super Gurus–Welcoming Differences, Avoiding Divsion — Part 7

Loving The Whacky, Not Their Whackiness — Welcoming Differences, Avoiding Division Part 6

Welcoming Differences, Avoiding Division; Part 2

Issues and Opinions: Welcoming Differences, Avoiding Division – Part 2

By Rob Morley

Free to be different

An Open Letter To The Church

Why The Church Exists

Seeker-Friendly Churches Part 2

By T.A. McMahon,
Co-founder of The Berean Call

This is the second part of a three-part series examining the explosion of “seeker-friendly” churches in the United States.¹          

The Church Of What’s Happening Now

Does the church today behave more like a twenty-dollar harlot or the Bride of Christ?

Is the church coming to this? Imagine with me if you will.  You and your wife and two-point-five children pull into the 10-acre parking lot. You all pile out of your minivan

Would Your Church Give A Prostitute A Birthday Party?

What kind of church do you attend?
Would your congregation agree to throw a birthday party for prostitutes?