Back in December I was notified that the developers over at Christianity.com had created a new site, Bible.Christianity.com filled with tools to help users explore God’s Word.
I’ve only gotten a chance recently to explore it recently– and it’s a very attractive site filled with different ways to explore the Bible, read the Bible and read others comments on the text.
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When you think “Capital Punishment” I bet the first thought that crosses your mind is not “mercy.” In fact, in Amanda’s opening statement she believes that sparing someone the death penalty is both merciful and just.
When I first started trying to respond to this line of thought, I had the problem of pinning down exactly what mercy means. In my mind it’s a shifting and subjective concept. But when we finally agreed on what it was, we came to the following:
Mercy is not getting what we deserve.
The problem with stating that Capital Punishment is both merciful and just is that you have to define what just is first.
Margo and I have different opinions when it comes to people, their homes, their values, and what people do or don’t have. Take, for instance, this question and reply:
DEAR MARGO: My husband and I have been together for 19 years. We have had normal problems over the years, but now there’s one we can’t seem to work through. He is a self-employed contractor. One of his employees is gay. I do not approve of this lifestyle. I have told my husband I would prefer he not bring this man to our home because the man makes very inappropriate remarks directed toward me and our children. He also talks openly about his relationship with his partner while our children are present. The kids have made comments that this bothers them. I questioned my husband about why he allows this behavior from an employee, and the conversation became quite heated. He says I am wrong in demanding that this man not be allowed in our home just because of his lifestyle. It is not just his lifestyle; it is the disrespectful manner in which he conducts himself around me and our children. I have learned over the years to choose my battles very carefully, and this is one battle I am not backing down from. Am I wrong to take such an unyielding stance on this issue?
— OLD IRONSIDES
The debate over whether capital punishment is a moral or even an effective form of punishment is one that generations have discussed. The concept of Capital punishment goes back at least to the time of Moses, where Cities of Refuge were created to protect those that unintentionally killed someone from the Avenger of Blood, but it may go all the way back to the first murder– that of Able, murdered by his brother Cain.
Indeed, in that instance, God spared Cain’s life and marked him forever as a punished one and let him live. Isn’t that a good reason to accept life in prison over Capital Punishment?
Welcome to the Carnival of Modesty– Long overdue for the month. Winter is a hard time to find good articles on Modesty– for the simple reason that it’s not usually the time of year where men and women like to show off skin! That being the case, there are still people that do it, and you cannot avoid immodestly dressed people in the malls and indoor shopping areas.
So, I sat down (virtually) with a bunch of different people on the topic, and here’s what they came up with:
They say that time heals all wounds (or wounds all heels, depending on who you ask), but what I’ve found is that time actually blurs the truth. There’s another old saying that goes something like “Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” Both of these are at play in our country right now.
What would you learn about the founding of our nation from what we see today? How about if I wanted to see about the founding of Rome? Does it look anything like the current Italian government? If I looked at research from the past 100 years of government in France, would I know about Charles the Great?
There are many things in the Bible that we do not adhere to in today’s church. We do not teach them as commands. We don’t encourage people to follow them. We try to ignore that they are even in the Bible. And we do this because they are counter-cultural and inconvenient.
And this is part of the reasons that Christians aren’t taken seriously. I can’t tell you how many conversations I have gotten into with unbelievers that follow this basic order:
And then after trying to get out of that one, the real fun begins.
Today’s culture has told young women that in order to be truly liberated they must engage in all the activities in which men participate. They are encouraged to have casual sex, to enjoy their bodies and that they should disregard their emotions.
The problem is, they can’t. And the scarier reality is that there are books and tools out there that take advantage of the fact that deep down a woman’s opinion of herself is attached to what the men around her think of her. And that this self evaluation is tied into whom she allows in her bed.
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