Tag: god
Lessons Learned: Angels in the Outfield
Have you ever gone back and watched a movie and been amazed by how much you missed? Some movies are specifically made to be watched more than once; movies like Memento, Sixth Sense, and Fight Club. We watch these movies and are shocked by the plot twist at the end, but when we go back and re-watch them, we realize there were instances throughout the movie that hinted to the twist. However, I was surprised by a movie that you probably wouldn’t expect to watch it again and discover anything new in the narrative. The movie was Angels in the Outfield: A “B movie” with an “A list cast,” which tells the story of a professional baseball team with a sub-par roster and an abysmal record making a miraculous comeback with some divine help.
Job’s Struggle Who Are You Helping?
In the book of Job, right after the description of Job and what a wealthy, Godly man he was, an interesting thing happens; Satan comes to God along with all the angels and tells Him that he has been wandering the earth. God, knowing He was wandering the earth to attack God’s children, mentions Job as a prime example of a man following God, but Satan challenges this by saying Job only loves God because God has blessed Him so much and once you take that away He will curse God like many others. God basically responds by telling Satan, “you think so? Ok go for it, take whatever you want, but don’t touch Job.” Satan takes away everything destroying all of Job’s cattle, killing his servants and even killing his children. Job literally gets the news of each tragedy back to back. The Bible says while one servant was giving him the news the next servant walked up and started talking. So you are talking about a man that within minutes has everything he has taken away from him. However, Job’s reaction is extraordinary.
Keeping Your Balance
Have you ever tried to witness to somebody and felt like your words were falling flat? You knew all the answers to their questions, but you didn’t feel like you were able to answer them in a way that caused them to want to actually listen. You weren’t able to relay the wonder and excitement through your words. Perhaps, you have a different problem; you feel led to witness to somebody but you are scared to death you won’t have the answers to their questions. You are worried you will make things worse due to your lack of knowledge and understanding.
How to Debate an Atheist
Let’s face it, nobody likes to lose. Regardless if it is a sport, a game, or a debate, we all want to be on the winning side when it is all over. However, when it comes to an argument or debate, the decision of who won is often left to the perception of the people involved. Meaning, if I debate a topic with you, unless one of us manages to change the other person’s opinion, we will both likely walk away feeling like we won. As Christians, when we debate anybody concerning God, Jesus and the Bible, we need to be really careful in deciding what our intentions are. Are we just trying to prove how smart we are, make ourselves feel better, show off our biblical knowledge or are we genuinely trying to bring them to know Jesus Christ? Since I believe the goal of all Christians should be to bring people to Christ, which is the type of winning I am going to cover in this article. If you are simply attempting to show you know more than your opponent, you may not find the contents of this article all that helpful.
Always a Servant, Never a Slave!…or Am I?
The World
Did you realize we are all born into slavery? I know living in America, we are all told that we are born free, but in reality we are slaves the moment we come into this world. Most don’t realize it and we go about our daily lives thinking we are in complete control. The reason we think that, is because the slave master doesn’t want us to know that we are slaves. He doesn’t want us to know that we are under his control. He prefers to do his work in the shadows; remaining unseen and unnamed. He has an army of slave-drivers who have the job of keeping us in line; believing the lie and stuck in the trap.
Beautiful Submission
Open Letter from a Concerned Christian
I am writing this letter as a wake-up call. Christians need to open their eyes to the world that is around them. We have been lulled into a false sense of safety and the world is using that to slowly chip away at everything that we stand for. I can’t think of any other time in recent history when Christian beliefs and values were being attacked as fervently as they are today. We are being attacked from every direction at all times. They attack our beliefs, our morals, our redemption, our God, our intelligence and even our character. What is even more disconcerting is there are wolves within the Christian community that are using their platform to attack Christianity from within and so many people are falling right into the trap without ever realizing they are being led astray.
Lazarus, Come Forth Why did Jesus wait for Lazarus to die?
The story of Lazarus is one that everyone is pretty familiar with. I would suspect that even non-Christians have at least a basic understanding of the story. I have known that story for what seems like my entire life, but it was only recently I noticed a verse and allowed the implications of that verse to really shine a new light on the whole story for me. So, we all know that Lazarus was a close friend of Jesus. Jesus is informed that Lazarus is sick and He responds, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it” (John 11:4). After hearing Jesus say that, I’m sure the disciples assumed that Jesus meant that Lazarus’ illness wasn’t all that serious and that he would soon get over it. Jesus stayed for two more days before telling His disciples it was time to set out for Judea where Lazarus had died.
The Unfiltered Truth About Christianity
I had the idea to write this post awhile ago. I wanted to write something that explained, for struggling believers and non-believers, what Christianity was really all about. Initially, I planned on putting together a lot of research that helped to prove God’s existence. I was going to attempt to give information to try and dispel some of the popular myths that attempt to stand against the Bible. I actually had a basic outline and was just simply looking for resources. However, while I was doing all this and researching what questions I needed to answer, I started to realize that isn’t what God is all about. God isn’t about facts and proof. He isn’t about information, science, history, logic or reasoning. He is about a relationship. He is about experiences. He is about love. Now, before all the non-believers start to think this is a post where I am admitting that God can’t handle the scrutiny of science, history, logic and reasoning and click the “x” in the corner; I would like to ask that you just read what I have to say with as open a heart and mind as you can muster.