ChristianExodus.org is a site I’m behind. No, wait, I’m laughing behind their backs (until they read this, and then I’m going to boldly laugh in front of them). Why? Oh, why do we need this sort of thing? Those who disagree with the conservative viewpoints this group holds are most likely going to be thrilled to see them leave. This is certainly not Biblical from my understanding of the scriptures. If we’re called to go out into the world to reach people for Jesus Christ how do we do that from our own state? This is unfortunate.
Category Archives: Bible
Blog of a Former Student of Mine
A former student of mine has written about
her concerns about getting married, dating and God’s will. What is so cool is that her perspective is right on with this. Often when we get distracted by things that look like they’re big (and lets face it, getting married is huge) we forget the most important thing: our relationship with Christ. If God’s character is as the Bible describes Him then we’ve got nothing to worry about (and I contend that it is, and most likely much more wonderful than our finite languages can handle).
Right on.
Playboy seeks Home Depot women
I’m thinking that this is just as wrong as the ‘Women of Walmart’ issue.
Playboy seeks Home Depot women for pictorial – May. 13, 2004
- This is not liberating to women
- It will degrade them into being objects
- Try to ask, “May I help you?” to a construction worker who’s seen you in the buff and get anything but a come-on
I know I may not hold the majority view on this, but I don’t see it as being morally good, productive for a work environment, and I find it most frustrating on a biblical level. What men who look at Playboy are doing is engaging in adultery. What women who pose for Playboy are doing is being adulteresses. Yeah, that’s a good industry to work in.
Lunch With Mike
Had lunch with Mike Doyle of [insert something witty here] fame. What a neat brother in Christ! He’s an elder at Holly Hills and so I was glad to talk with him and get to know him a little better. He teaches the and looks at all of the Post Acts 2 New Testament through the eye of the Positional Truths. If you’re not familiar with those as I wish I had been all along they are that the Christian
1) Has died with Christ
2) Been buried with Christ
3) Been resurrected with Christ
4) Ascended to the Heavenlies with Christ
5) Is seated in the Heavenlies with Christ.
Those are positional truths as in they are sealed and accomplished right now for the Christian. They define our position as believers. At the same time while in these ‘mortal coils’ (our bodies) we also are experiencing the frustration of our condition. The thing about our earthly condition is that it may not match our heavenly position. However, because our position is sealed we can walk in grace through our conditional lives. When we receive our new heavenly bodies our condition and position will be ‘synchronized.’ Until then hold strong knowing that your condition may at times not line up with our position, but we need to be thinking with the mind of Christ and walking in obedience to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is making intercession for you so that whatever shortcomings your flesh has, He and Christ will make up for to balance out your condition and position (Romans chapter 8) [Picture: timeline].
Derailed
Yesterday at the men’s Bible study at Holly Hills [I did not design that site, nor do I endorse the use of Flash as the medium for an entire site.] we got derailed because a fellow there was confused about “The Lord’s Prayer” and its application to Christians. For the record, “The Lord’s Prayer” (recorded in Matthew 6 and the book of Luke as well) is not for Christians, it was asked for by the disciples, and replied to, by Christ, for the disciples. Why are we stuck on this? Because people don’t understand hermeneutics. Get your time lines straight, get your audience straight, get your language information strait so that your observations are all in a row, then interpret, then look for applications. If there are no applications to you as a modern day Church-Age saint, then don’t sweat it. God made promises to lots of folks in the Bible, not all of them are for you. This is OK. If you go around claiming blessings that God promised to any old body (Jabez for example) then you best start claiming the curses, too.
OK, the rant’s over.
Ranty Peterman
The Hungry Heart
I am working on converting Mile’s Stanford’s devotional The Hungry Heart into an RSS feed. I recommend that you read it if you’re interested in spiritual growth, it’s a powerful series of biblical principles that I’m going to go through as well.
I’m excited and hope to be able to get permission from Mr. Stanford’s wife to publish it in RSS form.
Matthew 22:15-22
15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap Him in what He said.
16 And they *sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any.
17 Tell us then, what do You think? Is it lawful to give a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?
18 But Jesus perceived their malice, and said, Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites?
19 Show Me the coin used for the poll-tax. And they brought Him a denarius.
20 And He *said to them, Whose likeness and inscription is this?
21 They *said to Him, Caesar’s. Then He *said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.”
22 And hearing this, they were amazed, and leaving Him, they went away.[1]
Who were the Pharisees?
The Pharisees were separatists (Hebrew ‘persahin’ from parash, ‘to separate’).
They wanted to be separate from the pagan/gentile type practices that were
being adopted in the culture since Israel was no longer a free nation.
There were two other major parties at the time: The Essenes and the Sadducees.
The Essenes were similar to the Pharisees, but were more mystical in their
approach to theology.
The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection and would only believe
doctrines from the Pentateuch.
It is obvious that they were against Christ, but major reasons would be:
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Choose Your Own Debenture
Or Stewardship, the Biblical model for Living and Giving
With the economy in turmoil, and the Stock market in a spin, it can be
hard to gain a biblical perspective on our financial lives.
“What if?” questions abound, and investment advisors are all
over the map, giving advice everywhere from “wait” to
“sell it all.” In this time of turbulence it is
important to remember several biblical principles. The first
principle to remember is one of abiding – remembering who God is, and
your relationship with Him. The second principle is God’s
commands on finances and temporal prosperity. The third principle
is scriptures command for wisdom in all things. With each of these
principles firmly in your mind, and a heart in God’s Word, the
economy can die, soar, or stay right where it is and you will be
contently where you should be!
Hermeneutics
A Really Big Word for Interpretation
Hermeneutics (pronounced Herman-oo-ticks) includes the principles and tasks by which the meaning of the biblical text is determined. In short it is the science of interpretation. Before you totally dismiss it as a thing for theologians I must remind you that you are using it right now. By reading this far, and understanding what you have read, you have applied some basic principles of hermeneutics.
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