Tag Archives: Christianity

Is Christianity a Crutch for the Weak?


I remember attending a Sunday school class one morning long ago where the teacher asked us an intriguing question.  He prefaced it by quoting media mogul Ted Turner’s statement that Christianity is a crutch for the weak, a religion for losers.  I had heard variants of that sentiment many times before.  Of course, Turner is far from the only person to make such accusations.  Christianity is often scorned by non-believers as a security blanket to comfort those who have failed at life.

The teacher then posed the question, “Do you agree or disagree that Christianity is only for the weak?”  Unanimously, every person in the class disagreed, offering responses such as, “Christianity is for people of strong resolve.  The Christian life is not easy and only resilient people can live it. The weak could not persevere through the demands of a Christian lifestyle.” Continue reading →

What Can Separate Us From the Love of God?


Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died–more than that, who was raised–who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 8:33-39)

The Apostle Paul asks several important questions in this text. He also gives his readers profound answers.

Who can accuse God’s people of any crime?

No one. God alone justifies the guilty. He answers to no man. He has mercy on whom he will have mercy.

Who has the right to sentence his saints to death and hell?

No one. Christ took our condemnation up on himself. We are free from the sting of death and the punishment of hell.

Who can separate God’s people from the love of Christ, which has been freely bestowed upon them?

Nobody can and nothing will. No circumstance or trial can wedge apart this bond. Through God’s love we have been made more than conquerors. Again, he reiterates that no being (angels nor rulers), thing (the sword, death nor life, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth) or circumstance (tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger) can separate us from the love of God. He even goes so far as to say ‘nor anything else in all creation’. I think that pretty much covers everything, don’t you think? Continue reading →

A Word on Meditation


As I was writing my last post on a weekly scripture meditation, it occurred to me that I need to define what meditation means from a biblical perspective.

When I speak of meditating on scripture I AM NOT advocating any form of contemplative spirituality now so popular in many of our churches. This form of meditation calls for emptying the mind of all thought and entering an altered state of consciousness. There are many other aspects to it of course, but it has its origins in paganism, eastern religions and Roman Catholicism.

Apprising Ministries by Pastor Ken Silva is an excellent resource for sharpening your discernment about this spiritually devastating practice. Keep your eyes open, contemplative spirituality may be coming to a church near you!

Sigh! It disturbs me that every time I want to discuss a biblical concept it seems I first need to recover the original definition of the term from the clutches of heretics before proceeding!

Anyway.

When I speak of meditating on the word, I mean it in the way the Psalmist prescribed it when he wrote:

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
(Psa 1:1-3)

Meditate is the Hebrew word ‘Hagah’ and its meaning here primarily is ‘to ponder’. In other words think upon these things which were written for doctrine, reproof, and instruction in righteousness. Meditate does not mean to empty your mind of all thought and wait for subjective emotional experiences. We are never commanded in the scriptures to pursue such disciplines.

Continue reading →

Scripture Meditation: Man’s Desperate Condition


WARNING! Swallow your pride before engaging these verses, for they speak to all of us without exception. You may believe this is not a very encouraging passage to think upon, but it relays an essential doctrinal truth. These scriptures are foundational to the teachings I am preparing to post concerning issues like free will and man’s ability and willingness to embrace the gospel message.

as it is written: “There is none righteous, no not one; there is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God.” “They are all gone out of the way, they have together become unprofitable, there is none that does good, no, not one.” “Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they have used deceit, the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness;” “their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their way, and the way of peace they did not know.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
(Rom 3:10-18)

Meditate on these verses throughout the day and ask yourselves the following questions:

  1. If no one understands spiritual matters or seeks after God, how can we be saved?
  2. If all man has become unprofitable (worthless) is there anything he can do of himself to become profitable (worthy)?
  3. Can you possibly believe that man is basically good with a few inherent flaws that cause him to make some ‘mistakes’ in life after reading this text?
  4. Do you agree with Paul’s assessment that man is corrupt in every part of his being; including the mind, will, emotions and spirit?
  5. Knowing the sorry state of man’s nature, how important do you think the ministry of the Holy Spirit is in leading us to Christ in repentance and faith?

Words of Wisdom – The Gospel Vs. Sin


“Whatever religion or doctrine condones or makes allowances for sin is not of Christ. The Doctrine of Christ everywhere teaches self-denial and mortification of worldliness and sin. The whole stream of the gospel runs against those things. Scripture emphasizes the ‘holy’ and the ‘heavenly’ (not the sinful and the worldly). The true gospel has not even the slightest tendency to extol corrupt nature, or feed it’s pride by magnifying it’s freedom and power. And it rejects everything that undermines or obscures the merit of Christ, or tries to give any credit to man, in any way. And it certainly never makes the death of Christ a cloak to cover sin, but rather it always speaks of it as an instrument that destroys it!” – John Flavel

Road to Reformation – Part 2


I actually read most of the best-selling book, “The Purpose-driven Life” a couple of years ago. At the time I thought it was a refreshing blast of gospel simplicity. I was thrilled at Rick Warren’s approach because, in hindsight, it was reflective of the way my church conducted service. It was a natural synopsis of the philosophies I had been raised upon in my first decade of spiritual growth. Of course I loved it! I heartily recommended it to a friend struggling through a divorce for encouragement, without a moment’s hesitation.

However, my suspicions concerning the state of the modern evangelical church continued to grow from that time until just over a year ago. It all came to a head in a prayer I voiced to God in the cool darkness of my backyard one late autumn night. My prayer went something like this: “Lord, my spirit is troubled over the church and the way it is handling the precious gospel of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I fear that error is spreading like a plague through the churches of our land. More than anything, I desire to know the truth, and to live by that truth no matter the personal cost. Humble me that I may choose to follow you, Lord wherever it is you lead me. Open my eyes that I may perceive, unstop my ears that I may comprehend.”

Continue reading →

Road to Reformation – Part 1


For 10 years I cruised down the smooth asphalt highway of free-will theology. Gradually I began to take notice that the pristine world scrolling past my vision started to lose its luster. The rolling green hills and bright blue sky had become washed out, dull and lifeless; a barren winter landscape. It was then I noticed it wasn’t the environment that had changed, but it was the Lord removing the rose-colored spectacles perched on the end of my nose. Spectacles, that up to that point in my spiritual walk, I had been blissfully unaware I was even wearing. For the first time in my born-again life I saw the modern church from a perspective outside my own limited worldview. I began to question doctrines and church traditions I had firmly believed in for a decade. I marveled at methodologies that didn’t spring from the pages of scriptures, but were fermented in the minds of well-meaning modern evangelicals. Thump! Thump-Thump! Where did all these potholes come from! Oh my. This highway, I’ve discovered, has a toll booth. The price, I fear, is too high to pay. Continue reading →