MInTheGap

There are two brothers mentioned in Romans 14—and they are referred to with terms of strength.  One is called the stronger brother, and the other the weaker.

The Stronger Brother

The Stronger Brother takes on two different types of individuals.

The first individual is the one that stands firm on his understanding of the Bible and feels free to partake in those things that were previously forbidden—and does so to the glory of God.  This is the man (or woman) that could eat the meat offered to idols, because there were no such things as idols and the meat was 50% the price he could get at the local WalMart.  His conscience did not bother him about it, and he had a right relationship to the Lord.

Read the rest of this entry »

In the book of Romans, Paul discusses at length many different doctrines, but one that he spends a great deal of time is that of sin, grace and liberty.

It is in this book that we find that the law was made so that we would know sin.  It is also in this book that we find that we’re all sinners in need of a Savior.

However, one of the themes that also repeats itself is “What now?”

Read the rest of this entry »

This past Sunday in Sunday School, we men were in Psalms 51.  This is the Psalm that King David of Israel wrote after his sin with Bathsheba and the ensuing sin that followed.

As we were reviewing the Psalm and talking about how sin effects our lives, two different thoughts were on my heart.

Read the rest of this entry »

A lot of what the Bible says is practical, and today’s musing is no exception.  It’s always best to take care of situations when they are little, because the longer you wait the more it grows.  What started out as something that could have been handled can easily mutate into something that you’ll never get back again.

Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.

Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

Matthew 5:25-26

Read the rest of this entry »

In the film that just came out on DVD, Yes Man stars Jim Carey as Carl Allen, a man that’s stuck in a rut and always says “no.”  He avoids responsibilities, he refuses to try anything new, so when a friend of his brings him to a conference and he’s challenged to say “yes” to any and every query, his life turns upside down.

Now, there are clearly objectionable things in this movie—at least one scene where his acquiescence yields immorality (that takes place off screen but with his reaction), and the climax of the movie doesn’t have our couple wondering about getting married, but moving in together.  But I’m not musing as much about the video—which I wouldn’t advise watching without something like Clear Play running—but I am thinking about how often we say “yes” and “no.”

Read the rest of this entry »

One of the vices that Christians have recently joined the culture in protesting is that of smoking.  The scriptural passage that is invariably used to preach against smoking is the one that speaks about your body being the temple of the Holy Spirit—and that a Christian would not want to have that temple polluted with smoke.

The only problem is that the Christian is not consistent in the application of this verse, if this is the way that it should be taken, because all kinds of things that the Christian permits or does not preach as strongly against that he should.

Read the rest of this entry »

Why is it that man continues to want to create Artificial Intelligence?  Why create a machine that only does what man already does?

I think it’s partly because we are made in the image of God.  God, being a Creator made man in that way– he wants to create things and what greater creation is there than man, who can think, reason, and do independent of biology?

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s something for you to chew on.  I believe that the church is so infected by the culture that it chooses its big sins based on what the culture thinks.

Let me illustrate:  A couple of generations ago, the big preaching name was Charles Spurgeon.  He was a great preacher, a man of God, and there are everything from devotion books to sermons based on the man’s work.

The man also smoked.

Read the rest of this entry »