Just a Short Note

To my fantastic readers:
I finally found the adjustment on my options to allow you to comment as "anonymous."  Sorry that I was so long in finally finding it. If you now want to comment on any of the postings you should be able to by choosing "Anonymous." If you still have trouble, you can reach me at xyzwriter@gmail.com.

Thanks so much for your attention and for your patience!

Passing Through My Mind Today: What Is Essential In Christianity?

Passing Through My Mind Today: What Is Essential In Christianity?: Our culture is becoming more and more pluralistic. That can be good. Miriam Webster defines pluralism as " a situation in which peopl...

What Is Essential In Christianity?

Our culture is becoming more and more pluralistic. That can be good. Miriam Webster defines pluralism as "a situation in which people of different social classes, religions, races, etc., are together in a society but continue to have their different traditions and interests." But in America today, and even more so in Europe, pluralism has come to mean that different religions not only coexist in peace, but that all religions must be accepted as equally true. This oversteps the definition of pluralism.

It also oversteps the definition of "tolerance." Dictionary.com defines tolerance as "a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, beliefs, practices, racial or ethnic origins, etc., differ from one's own." Today, tolerance has been re-defined as giving a blessing to all beliefs; an approval of the idea that all beliefs, all actions, all lifestyles are not only okay, but approved by God. These can range from drunkenness to abortion to euthanasia to homosexuality, abortion, adultery, and even lying about our fellow men and women.

How does this relate to Christian beliefs and the teaching of Christ? I will have more to say on this in coming articles, but here are a few reasons why a Christian cannot agree that their religion (their God) is but one of many valid philosophies concerning gods and beliefs:

• Jesus said of Himself, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (He did not say, "I am a way, one of many.")
• Luke, a writer who professes to have interviewed eyewitnesses and studied Jesus before writing his Gospel, says that Jesus was and is the Son of God. John, a traveller with Jesus, says that He was at the beginning of creation with God and is God.
• Paul, considered by most to be  the greatest of all theologians, confronted by the risen Christ on his way to arrest Christians, says that if the resurrection of Jesus bodily from the tomb did not happen, then we have nothing, but are to be pitied above all others, for we are still in our sin.
• Jesus stated that He accomplished His mission of redeeming mankind with His death on the cross. His resurrection is the proof that He told the truth.

There is much to say about each of these points and they are certainly do not cover all that a Christian must profess, but this is already too long for one piece. More will be coming on what we, as Christians, must profess and how we must profess those things in love. We will look at the question of whether Christianity is only a philosophy, or if it is centered in the real Son of God.

Please think and pray about our world and the direction of our culture today.

Passing Through My Mind Today: Our Christian Job

Passing Through My Mind Today: Our Christian Job: If you are a Christian you may be wondering Why Should I Bother? Matthew 28 makes it clear our primary job is to make disciples, but seems l...

Passing Through My Mind Today: Our Christian Job

Passing Through My Mind Today: Our Christian Job: If you are a Christian you may be wondering Why Should I Bother? Matthew 28 makes it clear our primary job is to make disciples, but seems l...

Passing Through My Mind Today: Our Christian Job

Passing Through My Mind Today: Our Christian Job: If you are a Christian you may be wondering Why Should I Bother? Matthew 28 makes it clear our primary job is to make disciples, but seems l...

Our Christian Job

If you are a Christian you may be wondering Why Should I Bother? Matthew 28 makes it clear our primary job is to make disciples, but seems like no one wants to hear. That's ok. Their response is not our concern--loving as Christ loves them is.

Whether agnostic, Muslim, Jewish, abortionist, atheist, LGBT or any person who has not yet understood salvation in Christ, we are to see them in love, not hate, not as less than we are, not as unlovable. We are to be Christ to them. That's why we question our hearts before approaching any unbeliever.

Be interested in them. Don't just pretend to be interested. Listen and begin to understand. That doesn't mean that we fall into the trap of approving their lifestyles or actions, so be careful; stay in the word of God and prayer every day.

I have friends and relations who have fallen into the trap of believing that God is just love, love, love, and whatever people do, it doesn't make a difference to him. They believe that no matter what the sin, whether simple lies or abortion and homosexuality, adultery, or even gossip, God just chuckles and keeps on loving, accepting and even approving.

God does keep loving, but he does not accept sin with a wink. He is a God of justice who will punish disobedience and will not allow sin to thrive. If he did, then Jesus died on the cross for nothing. Jesus gave up his life as payment for all those sins that we think God just overlooks or even approves.

God is love, but God is also just, and he will not accept unrepentant sin. All are sinners, both unbelievers and Christians. The difference is understanding that we are sinners, repenting of that sin, believing in Jesus Christ as our only way to God, and seeking to imitate Christ in all we do. Unrepentant sin is the eternal killer of the soul. That is why we reach out to those who don't understand.

To get back to the point of how we share these truths. Always we must check our hearts, for if we cannot feel compassion for the unbeliever, then we cannot show them the love of Christ; we cannot be open without being judgmental; we cannot lie well enough to convince them that we care.

So be Christ to the unsaved. Read the Gospels to see how Jesus treated the unbeliever. You will find that his anger was reserved for the religious leaders who rebelled by refusing to obey the truth they had studied so hard. They could not give up their own power to the Son of God. Jesus, however, showed great compassion (not approval) to the lost. That is what we are to do. Condemnation merely drives the unbeliever deeper into unbelief. Plant the seed. Don't be discouraged if you don't get to watch it grow.

Am I A Comforter?

Don't be so busy getting out of the church door after worship to get on with your day that you forget to look around you for someone who is in need of a friend:

"...God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." (1 Corinthians 1:4)

We are given peace of heart and mind so that we may share it with those who are in the midst of pain or just plain loneliness. A bit of conversation may be that "comfort" that someone needs at the moment you walk by.

Surviving the Ads

An observation: When I have the joy of watching television without having it recorded on DVR, I get to watch all of the ways we can die, unless we do certain things.

My favorite is basically, "If you don't exercise, you will die!" Okay, our bodies need to move. Doctors say walking is the best activity of all, especially for seniors. I can manage that, and I walk the golf course several times a week. (Damn near kills me)

Back to the point. Note that many of these ads are "fear ads"..."You're going to die!" Well, fear, as we all know, builds stress. Stress...here it comes...kills! So the fear message drives fear which drives stress which will probably kill you faster than not exercising. 

So, walk as you can and liberally use your DVR or your mute button when you watch television.