Year: 2013

Why does God approve war and violance in the OT?

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Frankly, parts of the Old Testament are sometimes difficult to accept, especially as they relate  to God’s character. Take his command to King Saul of Israel: “Now go, attack the Amalekites  and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women,  children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys” (1 Samuel 15:3, TNIV). Camels and  donkeys? Children and infants? Or how about this statement regarding Israel’s destruction of  Jericho at God’s prompting: “They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword  every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys” (Joshua 6:21,TNIV)? Is the God of the Old Testament a lover of war and destruction? Is God a warmonger who  arbitrarily takes out his frustration? Reading certain passages, one could get this impression. This issue presents quite a challenge for Christians who have come to believe that love is the defining attribute of God. Even more so, these passages often propagate the doubts of non-Christians who are skeptical of God …

How to maintain a teachable spirit

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Value your listening and reading time at roughly ten times your talking time. This will assure you that you are on a course of continuous learning and self-improvement. — Gerald McGinnis President and CEO of Respironics, Inc. It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.— John Wooden Hall of Fame Basketball Coach As long as you’re green, you’re growing. As soon as you’re ripe, you start to rot. — Ray Kroc Let the wise hear and increase in learning,and the one who understands get guidance. – Proverbs 1:5 teachability… teachable… capable of being instructed or taught… The great value that the book of proverbs seeks to instill in a person is teachability, the willingness to grow in wisdom no matter how far long a person already is… the willingness to grow… the willingness to be stretched beyond where you are… the wilingness to be taught… the willingness to learn new things… the willingness to listen and learn from people who may not hold to your school of thought or philosophy… here are some things …

Ono = Oh No! I am not coming down!

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ONO = Oh No! Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to do me harm. And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Have you ever noticed, when you finally make up your mind to obey God, live for Him, follow the Spirit’s lead, that’s when all hell suddenly breaks loose against you? I have come to realize that when you focus on living for God and doing His work, the enemy seeks relentlessly to get you off track. This the case with Nehemiah the governor and rebuilder of the wall of Jerusalem. He and his compatriots were knee-deep in fulfilling the work the Lord had given them. But to get them of track Sanballat and Gehsem decided to throw everything, every trick in the book, to get them off track. Our enemy also, would use all the dirty tricks in the his books to take us out of the game, slow us down, …

7 Questions for those who do not like their leaders

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And next to them the Tekoites repaired, but their nobles would not stoop to serve their Lord… Nehemiah 3:5 During the time of Nehemiah, the Persian Empire had reached its greatest extent, engulfing nearly the entire Near East. In 539 b.c. the Persians under Cyrus the Great defeated the Babylonians and absorbed the lands of Israel and Judah (known as Beyond the River) into his empire. The next year he allowed the people of Judah (now called Jews) to return home and rebuild the temple of the Lord. Several waves of returning Jews continued to resettle in Judea, and Nehemiah was granted permission to rebuild Jerusalem’s ruined walls around 445 b.c. Little by little, God began renewing his people in the land, to carry out what he promised to Abraham. God in his mercy raised up Ezra the priest and teacher, and Nehemiah the governor, to lead his people in the hard work that this renewal requires.  Nehemiah will encounter some serious opposition to the work, but before the rebuilding of the city wall became a full-fledged conflict …

Jesus Paid it all! In case you forgot

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Jesus Paid it all! In case you forgot! Thy Strength indeed is small Find in Him thine all in all Rest from all thine striving Cease from all thine trying Nothing can thy do to save thine soul Salvation is free – paid in full Praise the One who paid your debt Jesus paid it all don’t ye ever forget Written by Walter Bright

Theologian Trading Cards

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I was spending some time a few minutes ago on one of my favorite blogs of all time and came across this post. I thought this was the coolest thing ever. It is officially on my list of father’s day gifts – yes – you got that right – gifts! Zondervan’s Theologian Trading Cards offer an incredibly novel way to learn theology and church history. Creator Norman Jeune III came up with the idea to imitate baseball cards at seminary while listening to students discuss theologians as if they were baseball players. The result is 288 trading cards featuring important figures in church history including heretics and philosophers. Each card features the theologian’s name, lifespan, short biography, and quick list of significant contributions that influenced Christianity. If you want a quick yet thorough lesson on church history, these cards will be one of the better options if not the best. There are 15 teams used to categorize the theologians. It’s a mix of fun novelty and useful classification, which helps users understand the big picture of …

The Power of Meditation

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What is Meditation? Meditation is an act of focusing one’s thoughts upon something to get a deeper insight or understand of that thing. It is allowing one’s thoughts to ponder or muse or in some instances turn a thought over and over in the mind as if chewing on a piece of meat to soften it before we can swallow it. It can either mean to think upon God, His word, or his works. In our context today it means thinking and reflecting upon God’s word with the goal of internalizing and personalizing eternal truths in order for them to affect our lives to the glory of the Father. This goal is usually attained through our keen observation of the text we are reading, our careful interpretation of what the text means and our humble application of  that text to our lives. Scripture References And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by …

3 Things to remember in times of crisis

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Sometimes it is very easy to forget how near God is to us in times of crisis. When we get blindsided by a crisis, we sometimes think that we will be completely crushed by our enemies and God is just going to sit back and watch. That fear alone can completely paralyze trust, hope and faith. In those times it becomes especially important to remind ourselves that our God is faithful and has promised to be there for us in our times of need. I would like to use Isaiah 33 as an example to show us what God does in times of crisis. Assyria, Israel’s enemy had come against them with apparent impunity. But God will visit his people with his saving presence. I believe He will do the same for you in your time of crisis. Here are a few things to remember: The Lord defends his people You spoke in thunder and everyone ran. You showed up and nations scattered. Your people, for a change, got in on the loot, Picking the field clean of the enemy spoils. God …

Why I Still believe in the Resurrection

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Is Christ really risen? How do you know that Jesus is alive? Can you prove it? Are you sure you were not lied to? Depending on who you ask those questions, you are going to get some really different answers. I, for one, would answer the questions very subjectively, I tend to be that simple.  But others might give you a more logical explanation. In fact some people demand a more rational approach. I would like to offer both, objective and subjective answers to those questions in this post. Well, please don’t expect a really deep philosophical explanation, I’m not really cut out that way. So, in my own weak way, here is what I came up with: Let’s start with answers for all the Columbo/ Peter Falk types of the world It is funny to me that after trying for more than 2,000 years to refute Christ’s resurrection, the enemy of our faith is still trying to come up with new lies, new ways to discredit our claims about the resurrection. The gospel accounts have increasingly come under attack and intense …