In this post, I am going to approach this from the argument of reason only (not doctrines of innerancy of Scripture, or beliefs in the inspiration of Scriptures, etc.). Not that I reject those doctrines, but I think it would be fun to look at it from this viewpoint. What does a Christian have at his/her disposal to trust and follow? 1. Scripture 2. Oral tradition from the Catholic Church, which they claim came from the Apostles 3. Opinions of Christians down the centuries 4. Opinions of present-day Christians (i.e. pastors, scholars, etc.) 5. One’s own opinions I would much rather trust and follow what the Apostles/Scripture writers taught in their writings than any of the others on this list when they seem to disagree with Scripture. Why? Simply, the Scripture-writers were there at the beginning of the faith and warned us against others who would come after them and would deviate from their teachings. If you doubt the writers, how much more should you doubt any who follow if their teaching seems to disagree? I believe this is one of the reasons why the Jews had so much difficulty accepting Jesus. His coming and preaching made many of the commands in the Law seem trivial. The Jews refused to deviate from their Scriptures, simply because some man who came thousands of years later showed up. The only way they could entertain the idea of adjusting their view of Scripture is if that person had more authority than Scripture itself. That person would have to be greater than the prophets who wrote Scripture. If Jesus was not truly the Son of God, the right thing to do was to continue following Scripture as it had been passed down to them. If you would trust and follow something else on this list in spite of what Scripture says, I would like to know why. Do they claim to be the Son of God? Do you think they, like Jesus, deserve to have more authority and credibility than Scripture? In short, if Scripture is wrong or misleading, Jesus himself will need to clarify–not someone else on that...

I think most people would agree that music can help us worship God more fully oftentimes. After all, if it didn’t, we’d just say prayers at church instead of putting them to music. Sometimes music can distract us, but hopefully it’s actually helping us worship God more truly. This morning at church, the worship team led us in “Revelation Song,” one of my favorite current worship songs. I couldn’t help but notice the deaf section at the church as they were worshiping with us. As the music would pick up during each verse to lead us into the chorus, the whole congregation was “getting into it.” I noticed that the same was true for the deaf. I assumed that they were taking cues from the rest of us, as they can’t hear anything. I watched as they signed more demonstratively, and more forcibly. I couldn’t help but think they have no clue how awesome this sounds, and imagined if all of a sudden they could actually hear what they are imagining in their own minds. I think I would rather be blind than deaf. To not be able to hear the sound of worship would be painful for me. Then I thought–they may be worshiping more truly than we are. They probably assume that we are getting excited musically because of the words to the chorus, as they have don’t have a reference point for why we get excited by the music itself (since they wouldn’t understand how the sound of music moves us). They have no clue what a cymbal sounds like or a crescendo, etc. That’s when I realized that in their worship, the deaf people are probably getting excited over the words themselves: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty Who was and is and is to come With all creation I sing praise to the King of Kings You are my everything, and I will exalt You!” That’s when I started to wonder–is the music really helping us worship God more truly? Perhaps we rely on the music to move us instead of the truths we are singing. I would love to see a congregation get moved by simply reciting the text of a...

This is my thoughts from bullet #1 of my previous blog post. I am a Christian. I’ve heard the gospel plenty of times before. I’ve believed in Jesus as a result. But I still need to hear the Gospel. I need it repeated to me over and over, because part of me wants to find salvation in my good works or my spiritual insights or my passion for God or my whatever. I want to think that as long as I try to love God and everyone else, I’m cool. I don’t want to think of myself as a damned, wretched sinner who desperately needs God’s grace. I believe we all need to hear it. We all need to bow our knees before our Savior and humbly worship him. When we get a hold of the Gospel and, more importantly, it gets a hold of us…all of a sudden the style of worship at church or the conveniences of this life are so insignificant. Instead, we fix our eyes on Jesus, and our life is now his to do as He pleases. We stop living for this life, and instead start living for eternity. When this happens, our Gospel message will be more readily received by those we preach it to, because we are actually living it out. Yes, I think it’s just as, or even more, important for Christians like me to hear the Gospel over and over...

One person explained it to me like this: 1. Christians don’t need to hear it explained or expounded upon on Sunday morning. Most people who show up to church on any given Sunday already know it. 2. And when it comes to non-Christians, other faiths have revelations about God too; Christianity doesn’t have a monopoly on truth. 3. It is narrow-minded, judgmental, and arrogant to think that people must become a Christian to be saved. Jesus is surely more gracious than that. 4. People in other religions (Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, etc.) may be following Christ through their religion without knowing it is Him they are following. If so, they don’t need to become Christians. 5. Rather than teaching young people that Jesus is the only way to the Father, you should allow them to determine these types of things on their own. It is not our place to say who is or isn’t going to heaven. 6. In light of this, I would not be overly concerned with telling people that Jesus is the only way. . I have also been told: 1. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. 2. Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. 3. There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.  All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. 4. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. 5. I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. 6. How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will...

I haven’t posted anything for a bit, but that is because my family has been going through a pretty difficult process of leaving our church of 5+ years. Through this process, we have been stretched in our faith, beliefs, and ability to show restraint and kindness when chastised for leaving. As a result, I feel great! Thankfully, most people kindly showed their appreciation toward us, and we will miss everyone there! I am thankful that now the process is over, a sense of peace is here. It was extremely hard to leave the youth group, knowing that they have many questions. We love them dearly, but have had to place them in God’s hands. We started the youth ministry from scratch, and enjoyed seeing God grow the ministry and the youth. They are the best, and I’ve never felt closer to a group of teenagers than them–I look forward to how God will grow them into His purposes and plans. Surprisingly, I feel great peace that God will take care of things no problem! Now we must start to look for a new church family. We will try our best not to “church shop,” but instead try to understand where God would place us. The next couple of weeks, I plan to share what God has done in my life as a result of this change, and I’m sure I’ll also reflect on the journey of finding a new church. Pressing forward in...

I would like to share with everyone the summary of what I shared in youth group last Sunday. I sent this out to the youth as a reminder of what we talked about, and would love to hear comments about how you see what it means that Christ died for us: During the holidays, remember what we talked about Sunday night….why did Christ have to die? I can’t answer this question fully. I don’t fully understand it. But we can look at this from any number of levels/perspectives. Here are some of them: God’s law must be upheld—there must be a death punishment for sin. God, being not only a God of mercy, but also of justice, could not ignore this or make himself a liar–sin can’t be left unpunished. God allowed for Jesus’ undeserving suffering and death to serve as the punishment due to all mankind. The punishment, which was once our responsibility, went to Jesus instead. The power of sin (death) is a curse upon humanity that we cannot defeat, because it is more powerful than us. Yet, the power of sin (death) couldn’t hold Jesus down, because he never sinned. Jesus proved that by allowing death to capture Him, but he overcame death by rising again. And He now chooses to share and celebrate the spoils of His victory over death with all who call upon Him for salvation! God hates sin vehemently, and rather than pour out his wrath on us, He poured out all the built-up wrath against the sins of the world onto His Son, so that He may offer forgiveness to us instead of destroying us. Jesus was tortured and wasted in our place. Satan has taken humanity captive through sin. He claims ownership on all humanity, because we’ve all sinned. Jesus offered to place his life into Satan’s hands–for Satan to do whatever he wanted with Jesus–in exchange for ours. Satan couldn’t get the Son of God to sin, but he figured he’d get rid of Jesus anyway, and then continue to maintain his control over us, once Jesus was out of the way. He thought he’d done it when he killed Jesus. Jesus, instead, defeated Satan after Satan and the...