“Jesus Manifesto” by Sweet and Viola
Have you ever wondered why there are so many different Christian religions? Have you ever tried to put a finger on the differences and, if so, could you explain the what and why of each one? Do you find the many different types of theologies and the endless versions of each confusing?
If these questions leave you scratching your head join the crowd.
I doubt anyone is brave enough to suggest they have all the answers and since “religion” is not static the answers are always changing anyway. The more time Christian history consumes the more varieties there are that develop.
If these questions plague you like they do so many others then “Jesus Manifesto”
Parable Of The Talents – Making It Happen
Filed under: Bible Study, Christian Living, Evangelism, Making Money
The Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) is one passage that places great significance on human productivity. Not activity, not busyness, not even consistency but results. Caution is almost spoken against. If we read this parable properly we get the idea that God is more concerned about the growth we stimulate than He is about the methods used to get there.
In the passage Jesus tells of an investor, the Master, who gives money to three different asset managers. The amount given to each is proportionate to his abilities.
One man receives five thousand dollars, a second receives two thousand and a third receives one thousand and obviously, the intent is for each to increase those monies through investment.
After an appropriate amount of time the Master returns to check on the growth of each account. To his approval, the first two double the original investment to ten thousand and four thousand dollars respectively.
To his dismay, the third gained no increase and the explanation for this failure draws severe criticism from the investor. Read more
Why Must God Have First Place?
Recently a Googler asked “why should I put God first in my life?” Good question. It is very different to what people usually ask – HOW do we put God first – and the answer isn’t obvious.
No ready explanations are found in the Bible and many people won’t even entertain the question. They can’t. It’s too much like questioning God’s right to have first place and believers tend to shy away from that type of discussion, although I think God would encourage it.
Most avoid saying anything about “why” God should have first place other than quote Jesus who suggested the only place God will have is first:
Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness… (Matt. 6:33)
And
The first of all the commandments is…you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength… (Mark 12:29-30)
But aside from these two statements, He didn’t give much in the way of explanation. Obviously, He thinks we are clever enough to figure it out and if that is true then it’s only the lazy or fearful person that avoids the question. So, we will have to do a little thinking. Read more
God’s Place In Your Life
Filed under: Christian Living, God's Place, Philosophy, Theology
Spiritual growth, people say, is evidenced when an individual puts God in their life but what does that mean, really?
According to Scripture, God is everywhere already (omnipresent). There is no door we can open through which He hasn’t been. There is no place He doesn’t inhabit by nature, constantly.
Therefore, God is already “in” every person’s life and the Bible leads us to understand He knows everything about each one (omniscient). Even your heart isn’t off limits to Him. He knows what’s on your mind and in your heart.
- The Psalmist said God knows the secrets of the heart (Psalms 44:21)
- David confessed that God knew his thoughts from afar (Psalm 139:2)
- David also said God observed him in his mother’s womb (Psalm 139:15-16)
- Solomon said “the eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good” (Prov. 15:3)
- The writer of 2 Chronicles said “the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him” (16:9).
That last reference implies that God is sufficiently knowledgeable about each heart to determine which are blameless and which are not. That’s more than proximity, its personal. Read more
Take Up Thy Cross
One of the most consistent influential elements in human society over the past three plus millennia is the Bible. It has been the longest lasting, most copied/printed, most read and most taught book in history and its influence grows rather than fades in spite of significant detractors.
It is a classic. It is universal. It is foundational to many disciplines: literature, literacy, logic, art, law, hygiene, justice, social order and has been used to encourage many personal virtues the greatest of which is love. Those who refuse it are frustrated by the vast recognition it receives even across many diverse cultures.
- Schools of thought, along with enduring educational traditions, have developed in response to the Bible.
- Governments have shifted philosophically under its influence.
- Wars, inevitable due to the basic nature of humans, have been fought directly as a result of biblical influence.
Yes, unnecessary conflict, abuse and rivalry have been initiated in the name of the Bible but we can hardly blame the Bible for the fallacious thinking of those who spawned it and quoted the Bible for justification. If anything, we learn from this that the Bible forces us to think. The experience of others helps us see that reading the text and understanding it are two vastly different things.
But, one piece of evidence demonstrating the Bibles influence – closer in time and more easily recognized – is the many English language idioms developed from it. You can find a long list of phrases taken from the Bible, almost verbatim, here. Read more
Tim Pepper - Beautiful Frustration