Another One Worth Your Time

Worth your time!

This video is somewhat long, but he makes some very good points.  My advice: listen with pencil in hand and jot down the points that he makes that stick out to you and learn them for future use!

Listen and Comment

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=2908229120

Warrior Christians

Ok, if you were paying attention on Sunday you would have heard Greg make a lot of references to fighting.  He said that Christians should be fighters.  What did he mean?  Doesn’t this make us just like violent Islam?  What happened to “turn the other cheek?”

Imprecatory?

This next question deals with what is commonly called the imprecatory Psalms.  Imprecatory Pslams are those Psalms wherein the author calls down curses upon his enemies.  Take Psalm 69 for example.  David explicitly prays, “Add guilt to their guilt; do not let them share in Your righteousness.  Let them be erased from the book of life and not be recorded with the righteous.” (27-28)  Psalm 109 is another example.  What are we to do with these?  Didn’t Jesus say to love our enemies?  Is this what He meant when He said to pray for those who persecute us?  How are we to understand these divinely inspired Psalms? 

Here are some more: 5, 6, 11, 12, 35, 37, 40, 52, 54, 56, 58,69, 79, 83, 137, 139, and 143
 

Wanna challenge?

For those of you looking for a difficult challenge, Greg has been posting ethical dilemmas on his blog.  I would encourage you to interact with his blog for now until I get another blog up.  Try answering his latest one “11 babies in 2 boats.”  What would you do?

Is it ok to lie?

Hey kids,
Pastor Greg has started a blog and he has been posting ethical questions that Christians have to answer.  One of posts is on the issue of lying.  Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to go on his blog at doccochran.wordpress.com and comment on his post “To lie or not to lie.”  Is it ok to lie sometimes?  Does the Bible tell us we cannot lie?  Where?  You can put your answers directly on his blog.

Sorry Mormons, we’re not gods (an answer to the previous post).

In this passage (John 10:34-38) Jesus is answering the Jew’s objections to Jesus making Himself “out to be God.”  Jesus had just said “I and the Father are one,” prompting the Jews to pick up stones and show Him their disapproval of what he just said.  Jesus reminds them of a passage in Psalm 82 where the judges of Israel are referred to as “gods.”  These judges had been given the task of delivering the Word of God to Israel.  They exercised authority over the people and were occasionally called “gods.”  Jesus’ point in this passage was: “If these mere men were called gods in your own Law, why do you get offended when I use the word in reference to myself?”  This passage has the “how much more…” emphasis that is often found in Scripture.  If the term “god” was used for mere men, how much more is it appropriate to use for Him “whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world?”  Jesus is emphasizing that he is worthy of being equated with God.  This is why they again attempted to seize Him after He finished speaking.  So, in response to our Mormon friend, these passages not only are misinterpreted by him, but actually serve to defeat the Mormon doctrine that was asserted.  Jesus alone is worthy of equality with God and does not promise us a future deity.       

You are gods?

Books like The Secret become popular because they tell mankind that they are their own god.  This sounds very similar to a promise made by a serpent in the Garden of Eden: “For God knows that from the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Gen 3:5  Well, Mormons have their own version of this in their theology as well.  The difficult thing is, however, that they claim to be Christians.  They claim that we will be gods one day in our own universe and the God we serve now was once a human just like we are.  They claim to believe that both the Bible and the Book of Mormon are the word of God.   Mormons have used verses out of the Bible to justify their beliefs.  The Scriptures used to justify the belief that we will become gods one day come from John 10:34 and Psalm 82:6.  Your mission is to find the real meaning of these verses and explain to our Mormon friend how they should be read.  Go for it!

Apologize, part 2

Ok folks.  Same guy, different argument.  What will be your defense and how will you share the gospel with this man? 

To conservative hell believing Christians who tell me they love me and want me to convert
To look forward to heaven in the belief that non-Christians will be in hell is to tacitly admit that you can only be happy in heaven if you are unaware of reality and do not feel love for non-Christians. This is because to be happy in heaven then the bright midday consciousness, love of life, friends and family, striving for understanding that is my non-Christian self has to be reduced to a lost memory for you – otherwise you will be aware that what you wished for (me being with you) did not come to pass and your bliss will be imperfect. I must be “untermenschen” to you, so that my sufferings can be dismissed, just as the Nazis were able to dismiss the Jews as worthless vermin. Their own families, whom they saw as real human beings, were treated with kindness by the same SS who threw the Jews into the furnaces. It is the same psychology. Nobody can bear the torture of those they emphasise with. Hence Christians must thwart their love for those they believe satisfy Mark 16:16 if they are to find heaven bliss rather than grossly disturbing.

For some Christians it is worse than being unconcious and merely not loving non-Christians, rather they actually glory in the torture of non-Christians. Just how appaling does Christianity have to become before it is obvious enough that it is not good?

“Ah! The broad magnificence of that scene! How shall I laugh and be glad and exult when I see these wise philosophers, who teach that the gods are indifferent and men soulless, roasting and browning before their own disciples in hell.” [Tertullian (c. 160 - c. 220), "De Spectaculis"]

“That the saints may enjoy their beatitude and the grace of God more abundantly they are permitted to see the punishment of the damned in hell.” [Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Summa Theologica]

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Why it is illogical to want to save somebody
Should a Christian want me to go to heaven?

Yes. Then heaven will be less than perfect for that Christian if I go to hell since heaven will not have turned out as they wished (i.e. with me in it).

No. Then there is no point in them trying to “save” me.

Conclusion: Salvationist desires are inconsistent with a theory of the perfection of heaven. Therefore all Christians who believe heaven is perfect should stop evangelising!