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Showing posts from January, 2012

Should Christians Vote for Gay Rights?

Popular issues in recent years have included “don’t ask, don’t tell,” and gay marriage and adoption. Where are Christians supposed to stand when it comes to giving more rights to homosexuals, especially in light of the command to love our neighbor as ourselves? What Christians have to realize about giving rights to homosexuals is that this is a direct assault on the family, which is something that God created and Satan loathes. Satan would have nothing more than to destroy the family unit, and he tries to negatively influence it through shows like Family Guy and Modern Family (click the show titles to read articles I have written on them). Giving homosexuals rights is far different than the civil rights movement, for it is not a sin to be a woman or black, but the Bible is very clear that homosexuality is an abomination to God (Leviticus 18:22, 20:13; Romans 1:26-32; I Corinthians 6:9). Why should we give more rights to help them sin more? This is like saying you want

Should Christians Vote for War or Capital Punishment?

As a Christian is there ever a time that we can justify going to war? War obviously involves taking lives, and aren’t we supposed to be against that? What about the death penalty: isn’t killing a killer still murder? Some Christians are opposed to these concepts, and I want to be very clear here. I am not writing this to argue with you; I respect that stance, and I am not trying to start a war of words. This is just my personal belief after studying this topic.  At the same time, I am not a hawk when it comes to war. I do not believe in going to war for selfish reasons, like gaining territory, resources, or money. But I do believe the Bible teaches the concept of just wars, to wit, some wars are justifiable. But aren’t we called to be peacemakers? Yes, in His famous sermon on the mount Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God (Matthew 5:9).” But this sermon was given to teach how to conduct ourselves in our individual live

Should Christians Vote for Abortion or Stem Cell Research?

In 1973 the United States Supreme Court made their controversial decision known as Roe v. Wade, which made abortion legal in this country. The young lady, known as “Jane Roe,” was said to have conceived after she was raped, and she wanted an abortion, which were being performed illegally at the time (called “back alley abortions”). Ms. “Roe” (Norma L. McCorvey) has since come out and admitted she lied about having been raped, and that the child she conceived was her third out of wedlock. She is now a pro-life advocate, and her case McCorvey v. Hill (2005), sought to overturn Roe v. Wade, but was denied by the Supreme Court. The fact that the little lady who started the big war (to use the language of President Lincoln) has been on both sides of the issue serves to typify the fact that the country itself is split. Where should Christians stand on this matter? I personally believe that the Bible teaches that life begins at conception. In my most recent book Asleep in Heave

Should Christians Vote Part 2: Aren't All Leaders Appointed by God Anyway?

One of the arguments against Christians getting involved in the political process is that God is the one who appoints our leaders. This idea comes from Romans 13:1, which says that there is no ruler that was not established by God. While I certainly agree with that verse 100%, that doesn’t mean that God is in favor of each ruler. Let’s revisit a dark time in Israel’s history. Israel never had a king before because their king reigned from heaven. God had established the priesthood and His prophets, as well as the judges, to lead His people, and the last of these judges was Samuel. When Samuel was getting old and near the end of his life, the Israelites began to ask for a king. They wanted to be just like everyone else. Samuel asked them if they would jump off a cliff if everyone did (not quite, but it was a similar exchange), but they insisted on having a king. God told Samuel to tell them what a king would be like, and here is the description that Samuel relayed to th

Should Christians Vote?

It’s an election year and the political scene is front and center on every news network. What are Christians supposed to do with politics? Are we allowed to vote, commanded to vote, or permitted to vote? What does the Bible say? I am going to start a series on how Christians should vote on certain issues, but first we have to establish the fact that Christians can and should vote. I am not one of those political pastors who uses the pulpit to tell people whom they should cast their ballot for, neither am I going to address secular issues such as taxes, military defense, or the budget. These will be moral or Christian issues, such as abortion/ embryonic stem cell research, wars, and gay marriage. Authors like Donald Miller and Shane Claiborne have made a living by accusing the church of forcing its members to vote Republican, but that is not what I am setting out to do. I simply want to show people what the Bible says about issues and what our obligation is in light of the iss

Christianetiquette: How a Christian Should Act in an Electronic World

We used to teach our children good etiquette because we wanted them to know how to behave in public. The dictionary defines etiquette this way: ‘The form of conduct or behavior prescribed by custom or authority to be observed in social, official, or professional life.” For years this was meant to understand that we do not talk with our mouth full, we do not interrupt, we make eye contact, we says “Yes ma’am” instead of “Yeah,” etc. When our children went off to school we expected them to put this etiquette into use. The Golden Rule of etiquette is “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” But those days are long gone. This is the 21 st Century. We are the technological generation. For those reasons a new word has been created: netiquette. This word came about by mixing the words network and etiquette, and it’s definition, according to www.networketiquette.net , is “the social code of the internet, because the internet is a network and etiquette is a socia