Category: Christianity
SAVE YOURSELF!
Written by Troglodad
Sunday, 10 May 2009 12:01
5 Comments

Ever wear a life preserver when you were in a boat? Ever wear your seatbelt when you drive? Ever get a flu shot?

Those are all actions that many folks choose to avoid because they’re inconvenient or uncomfortable, despite the fact they could save your life. Gambling with your life is pretty foolish. Gambling with damnation is stupid.

Chairman Maobama has declared the United States not a country of Christians, but people with "ideals." That’s very sad, as ideals won’t save your immortal soul.

I know that the whole debate of science vs religion is a heated one, but I’d say that around the world, over 80% of all human beings believe there is a life after death. Here in the U.S., the belief in the afterlife is so strong we’re in a current upsurge in Ghost-oriented TV Shows, where folks try to take pictures or record spirits at haunted sites.

So, I’m not going to argue whether or not we have souls. If you think you don’t, stop reading.

If you’re still with me, I’m going to ask you a simple question: Do you want to save yourself?

Before you get all uppity, I’m not suggesting that you log off the internet and plop down in front of Trinity Broadcasting or dash out to buy some evangelical biography. I’m suggesting you form your own opinions. And to do that, you need to go to the source: the Bible.

Some of you may not want to read the Bible. You’ve gotten a pretty distorted vision of what Christianity is from television preachers, out to make you donate your hard-earned cash, until it hurts. Or you’ve seen preachers like Jesse Jackson stick their nose in politics and offer sermons that seem counter to what they claim Christianity is. This may have even driven many of you to read the Koran, or the tales of Confucius, or maybe L Ron Hubbard’s greatest work of fiction.

But have you read the Bible?

Up until a few hundred years ago, most folks couldn’t read the Bible, or the Koran, or any religious text. Illiteracy was wide spread. Instead, folks had to go to Church, temple, etc., and listen to someone tell them what was in there.

But you can read.

Have you ever read the Bible? How about just the New Testament? The first Four Gospels? One of the Gospels?

You’ve read novels. Maybe you’ve read stereo instructions or the manual that came with your new car. You clearly read a lot on the internet. Are any of those readings going to save your immortal soul?

When it comes to Christianity, it strikes me as just such an amazing bout of laziness for people to not read the Bible, at least once. Instead of listening to what one person tells you what you have to do to be saved, why not find out for yourself?

I would love to pose the question to our "President" from Kenya. "Have you ever read the Bible?" We know that he is thoroughly familiar with the Koran, having been educated in a Islamic schools as a child. But did he read the Bible himself, or just sit in Reverend Wright’s church for 20 years listening to what is allegedly in the Bible?

Finally, here’s something else to consider. People get life insurance, "in case" they die. People wear seatbelts, "in case" they have a wreck. Fighter pilots wear parachutes, "in case" they have to eject from their aircraft. What if the Bible is right? What if your immortal soul will spend eternity damned unless you follow some simple Bible teachings?

I know that Americans tend to let others do their thinking for them these days — who to vote for, what clothes to wear, and even what foods to eat. But when it comes to something as important as where you’ll be spending eternity, don’t be a slacker. Read a Bible at least once.

No one else can Save you — you have to Save yourself.

 
Goodbye Christmas Time, Now It’s “Me Time”
Written by Ron McClure Jr.
Saturday, 17 January 2009 06:21
1 Comment

As a Christian, it may seem uncharacteristic to make such a statement. Obviously, as Christians we celebrate the birth of our Savior, and we do this for good reason. However, Christmas can bring out the narcissism in the best of us. For instance, I don’t believe that the “Wise Men” were involved in altercations with others to obtain their gifts for Jesus. I mean, I seriously doubt that Wise Man number three was involved in a fist fight over the last vile of myrrh at “Magi-Mart.”

Why is Christmas such a big deal? Don’t we regularly partake in communion to remember and honor the Illustrious J.C.? Not to sound like scrooge or follow the lead of the ever-enduring “Grinches” of the world, but what makes December 25th such a big deal anyway. Jesus was born once, and that was many years ago. Why don’t we celebrate every six months? Or should we celebrate each month? Why don’t we treat Christmas like a drinking game? I mean, we could all celebrate the birth of Jesus whenever Ralph Kramden says, “one of these days Alice…” Or maybe we could celebrate each time Barack Obama uses the word “change,” or when John McCain says, “my friends.”

My point is this, December 25th is a subjective date set by humans. It somehow makes us feel warm and fuzzy to tell stories and exchange gifts (usually out of obligation) that we don’t use, or more likely, we don’t need. We say to everyone, “Merry Christmas” (or Happy Holidays if we choose not to offend). We work soup kitchens for the homeless, and then we wait for other people to say “thank you,” or, “that Ron is such a caring and generous guy.” We smile at each other, visit the elderly, sing inspirational songs and generally engage in activities that make “us” feel good. After the Christmas season, we sit back and say, “I’m glad that’s over, now things can return to normal.” Is that what it means to be a Christian?

[Jesus] said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight” (Luke 16:15).

Christmas is a special time of year, but “Christmas Spirit” is nothing but pagan hogwash. We should carry the Christian Spirit with us all year long.

 
The Shocking Truth: The Tomb was Empty
Written by Chris
Sunday, 23 March 2008 10:59
No Comments

In Job 38 God asked Job several questions. Among them, He asked if Job had been there when the foundations of the Earth were laid, or when the morning stars sang together. Was Job there when God enclosed the sea, and had Job searched its depths? Further on, God asked whether Job had seen the gates of death; was Job able to control the stars, or order the laws of the heavens?

The answer to all of these questions is, of course, no. You see, Job was speaking with confidence on subjects he didn’t fully understand. That’s why before grilling Job with rhetorical questions, God’s opening line of response is, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?”

That brings me to a question of my own: Have you ever noticed how confident science is about a lot of things? Science can come up with laws to describe principles of motion and matter and physics. But, like Job, it can only offer “words without knowledge.”

Human beings can no more lay the foundations of the Earth than control the mighty waters of the sea or change the weather. We are powerless when confronted with all these things…even with thousands of years of human history to draw on in which we have seen countless technological wonders and advances in science. Yet, we are powerless to do anything to stop the ravages of the elements and the finality of death.

There is not one of us who can escape death. But at dawn, two thousand years ago, three women made their way to a cold, dark tomb. That’s because just three days earlier someone very close to them had been executed in the most humiliating way imaginable…stripped, beaten, scourged, and finally…nailed to a cross. Not only were these women powerless to save this individual, but they were powerless to bring him back. So, they did what everyone in that day did; they brought burial spices; they came to anoint Him; they came to pay their last respects. This was it.

Or was it? They arrived and the stone, which blocked the entrance to the tomb, was rolled away. And instead of finding the broken body of this individual they loved, there was a young man there clothed in a long white robe saying, “He is risen, He is not here.”

Science can describe the rules, but science does not have the power to put them in place. Science can describe the “law of gravity” and “what” is happening when an object falls to the ground, but science still can’t explain why objects are attracted to one another. Science can point to decay and death, and make a scientific law about it, but science cannot make life, nor can it prevent life from ending.

But the same God who laid the foundations of the Earth, who makes the wind and the hail, who produces the lightning and ordains the laws of the universe, can suspend the curse on the Earth brought about by sin. It is this same God who raised His Son, Jesus Christ, to the astonishment, shock, and fear of those three women.

The time is coming when the curse will be suspended for all peoples over the face of the earth; when the God who has created all things will consummate them in a new beginning; when we shall see Him face to face, and those who by the Spirit of God have believed in His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, will enter into eternal glory; when death will be destroyed. And we “shall see Him in the flesh, ourselves, and not another” (Job 19). He is risen!

He is risen indeed, Hallelujah!

Amen.