Tuesday 27 December 2016
Wednesday 21 December 2016
Tuesday 13 December 2016
Sunday 27 November 2016
What is Hate Speech?
by Matt Slick
"Hate Speech" is a term often used by liberals in their attacks on Christians. Anything that does not agree with the liberal viewpoint is sometimes labeled as hate speech and ridiculed. But, what really is hate speech?
"Hate Speech" is a term often used by liberals in their attacks on Christians. Anything that does not agree with the liberal viewpoint is sometimes labeled as hate speech and ridiculed. But, what really is hate speech?
- dictionary.com, "speech that attacks a person or group on the basis of race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation."
- usaeducationguides.com, "A term for speech intended to degrade, intimidate, or incite violence or prejudicial action against someone based on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or disability. The term covers written as well as oral communication."
- definitions.uslegal.com, "Hate speech is a communication that carries no meaning other than the expression of hatred for some group, especially in circumstances in which the communication is likely to provoke violence. It is an incitement to hatred primarily against a group of persons defined in terms of race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and the like. Hate speech can be any form of expression regarded as offensive to racial, ethnic and religious groups and other discrete minorities or to women."
So we can see that hate speech is that which attacks a person or group based on race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation and has the potential result of inciting harm.
Saturday 19 November 2016
Friday 11 November 2016
Tuesday 1 November 2016
The Rescue - Why Did Jesus Come?
by Greg Koukl
What follows is an excerpt from The Story of Reality—How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between. In this part of the Story I answer the second of the two most important questions anyone could ever ask about the remarkable man from Nazareth: Why did He come? It is a question there is far too much confusion about, even for those who call the Story their own.
What follows is an excerpt from The Story of Reality—How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between. In this part of the Story I answer the second of the two most important questions anyone could ever ask about the remarkable man from Nazareth: Why did He come? It is a question there is far too much confusion about, even for those who call the Story their own.
Monday 31 October 2016
What are The Five Solas?
- “Sola Scriptura” (Scripture Alone: 2 Timothy 3:16-17)
- “Sola Gratia” (Grace Alone: Ephesians 2:8-9)
- “Sola Fide” (Faith Alone: Galatians 3:11)
- “Solus Christus” (Christ Alone: 1 Timothy 2:5)
- “Soli Deo Gloria” (To God Alone Be Glory: 1 Peter 4:11).
What Is Reformation Day?
What Is Reformation Day?
From Stephen Nichols at Ligonier Ministries
A single event on a single day changed the world. It was October 31, 1517. Brother Martin, a monk and a scholar, had struggled for years with his church, the church in Rome. He had been greatly disturbed by an unprecedented indulgence sale. The story has all the makings of a Hollywood blockbuster. Let’s meet the cast.
From Stephen Nichols at Ligonier Ministries
A single event on a single day changed the world. It was October 31, 1517. Brother Martin, a monk and a scholar, had struggled for years with his church, the church in Rome. He had been greatly disturbed by an unprecedented indulgence sale. The story has all the makings of a Hollywood blockbuster. Let’s meet the cast.
Saturday 22 October 2016
Liberated Minds
Learning critical thinking is important not only for speaking to people outside the church but also for educating people on the inside. They often absorb ideas from the cultural atmosphere and thus need help letting liberating their minds from decide secular assumptions.
Thursday 20 October 2016
Friday 9 September 2016
What Your Spouse Needs Most
By Gary Thomas
Your spouse may not realize what he or she needs most, but if you want a sacred marriage, you have to focus on what he or she will profit from the most. Jesus didn’t always give people what they wanted or asked for. He gave them what they needed.
If we want to love like Jesus, we have to do the same. I want to be so bold as to tell you what your spouse needs most.
It’s not a regular date night (though I’m a huge fan of these).
It’s not even a satisfying sexual relationship.
It’s not love notes placed around the house or office.
It’s not morning coffee or monthly flowers or dark chocolate or a new grill.
Your spouse may not realize what he or she needs most, but if you want a sacred marriage, you have to focus on what he or she will profit from the most. Jesus didn’t always give people what they wanted or asked for. He gave them what they needed.
If we want to love like Jesus, we have to do the same. I want to be so bold as to tell you what your spouse needs most.
It’s not a regular date night (though I’m a huge fan of these).
It’s not even a satisfying sexual relationship.
It’s not love notes placed around the house or office.
It’s not morning coffee or monthly flowers or dark chocolate or a new grill.
Monday 5 September 2016
Shame
Why do we feel uncomfortable when somebody on the subway or the elevator looks at us? It is because we feel ashamed of something about us. When we were children our parents told us not to stare at others in respect to them. Is it because we don't want the others to feel uncomfortable?
When Adam and Eve sinned they ran and hid when they heard God walking in the garden. One day I had my parents over for a barbecue and my daughter was indoors playing. As I called her to come eat she said that she wasn't hungry and went back inside to continue playing (or so I supposed). Later, I went inside to persuade her to come to eat. Both my wife and I looked around calling her. As you know parent's voices get louder and impatient quickly. After the third time calling her name I heard crying behind the pantry door. There she was, mouth full of black licorice, the licorice I stored way up on the top shelf where I thought she wouldn't be able to reach, crying out of shame and fear. I could tell that she knew right away what she had done was wrong but she made the choice to do it anyway. See, the first impulse of the "innocent child" is to hide in shame. We have the knowledge to know what we are told not to do, and out of guilt, and disgrace to the one we are to honour, we run and hide.
When Adam and Eve sinned they ran and hid when they heard God walking in the garden. One day I had my parents over for a barbecue and my daughter was indoors playing. As I called her to come eat she said that she wasn't hungry and went back inside to continue playing (or so I supposed). Later, I went inside to persuade her to come to eat. Both my wife and I looked around calling her. As you know parent's voices get louder and impatient quickly. After the third time calling her name I heard crying behind the pantry door. There she was, mouth full of black licorice, the licorice I stored way up on the top shelf where I thought she wouldn't be able to reach, crying out of shame and fear. I could tell that she knew right away what she had done was wrong but she made the choice to do it anyway. See, the first impulse of the "innocent child" is to hide in shame. We have the knowledge to know what we are told not to do, and out of guilt, and disgrace to the one we are to honour, we run and hide.
Evidence From Life
The surprising implication is that even if scientists succeeded in coaxing all the right chemicals to link up and form a DNA molecule in a test tube, that would do nothing to explain where genetic information came from.
- Nancy Pearcey, Finding Truth: 5 Principles for Unmasking Atheism, Secularism, and Other God Substitutes
In all of human experience (and science is supposed to be based on experience), the source of encoded information is an intelligent agent. Therefore, it is reasonable to infer that an intelligent agent was necessary at the origin of life.
- Stephen C. Meyer, Signature in the Cell: DNA and the for Intelligent Design
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
- Romans 1:18-23
- Nancy Pearcey, Finding Truth: 5 Principles for Unmasking Atheism, Secularism, and Other God Substitutes
In all of human experience (and science is supposed to be based on experience), the source of encoded information is an intelligent agent. Therefore, it is reasonable to infer that an intelligent agent was necessary at the origin of life.
- Stephen C. Meyer, Signature in the Cell: DNA and the for Intelligent Design
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
- Romans 1:18-23
Monday 29 August 2016
Finding Truth
by Nancy Pearcey in Finding Truth
What is being communicated [in the Bible] is an accurate description of reality, not a belief system about it.
This reality orientation is the positive intellectual climate in which the core propositions and events of the gospel live and breathe. It is a mentality in which people are liberated by verifiable truth to challenge traditional, question power, and fight for life and healing against death and decay.
Despite this auspicious heritage, many of our contemporaries find solace in what Francis Schaeffer describes as an "escape from reason." They accept polite society's dumbed-down redefinition of faith as something totally privatized--that is, a commitment so private and so personal that evaluation and evidence are irrelevant.
The biblical attitude is one of persuasion, a will to verify and know what is true and to respond accordingly.
What is being communicated [in the Bible] is an accurate description of reality, not a belief system about it.
This reality orientation is the positive intellectual climate in which the core propositions and events of the gospel live and breathe. It is a mentality in which people are liberated by verifiable truth to challenge traditional, question power, and fight for life and healing against death and decay.
Despite this auspicious heritage, many of our contemporaries find solace in what Francis Schaeffer describes as an "escape from reason." They accept polite society's dumbed-down redefinition of faith as something totally privatized--that is, a commitment so private and so personal that evaluation and evidence are irrelevant.
The biblical attitude is one of persuasion, a will to verify and know what is true and to respond accordingly.
Thursday 25 August 2016
Cosmos: Carl Sagan
In Carl Sagan’s famous book entitled Cosmos, based on his television series of the same title, he makes the following statement: “Cosmos is a Greek word for the order of the universe. It is, in a way, the opposite of chaos. It implies the deep interconnectedness of all things.” In this seemingly harmless definition of the entire structure of Sagan’s work, he assumes that the universe under investigation by science is a cosmos rather than a chaos. He speaks of cosmos “implying a deep interconnectedness of all things.” This is the grand presupposition of scientific inquiry, namely, that the universe we are seeking to know is coherent. There is an implied deep and profound interconnectedness of all things. The alternative to cosmos, as Sagan has indicated, is chaos. If the universe is at root chaotic, then the whole scientific enterprise collapses. If the universe is chaotic and disconnected, then no knowledge is possible at all. Even discreet bits of atomic data cannot be understood within the framework of utter chaos, so the presupposition of a coherent, rational order of all things is the screaming presupposition of scientists.
Monday 1 August 2016
Do You Desire God above All Else?
Gary Habermas offers a thought experiment to help us examine our motives concerning what we’re asking God for in prayer:
Thursday 21 July 2016
Be Careful What You Claim
by Greg Koukl
The promises of God are both “precious and magnificent” (2 Peter 1:4). But I think twice when people claim them.
Promises are frequently abused. A promise not carefully tethered to the details of the text becomes an empty exercise of relativistic wishful thinking.
A biblical promise is a binding pledge from God to do—or not do—something specific. If the promise is made to you, you have a right to expect God to keep His word. If you are not the rightful owner, though, you may not lay claim to it. Those promises made to another can lead to disappointment and discouragement if unintended for you.
The promises of God are both “precious and magnificent” (2 Peter 1:4). But I think twice when people claim them.
Promises are frequently abused. A promise not carefully tethered to the details of the text becomes an empty exercise of relativistic wishful thinking.
A biblical promise is a binding pledge from God to do—or not do—something specific. If the promise is made to you, you have a right to expect God to keep His word. If you are not the rightful owner, though, you may not lay claim to it. Those promises made to another can lead to disappointment and discouragement if unintended for you.
Thursday 9 June 2016
Wednesday 18 May 2016
Is God the Author of Sin?
by Ligonier Ministries
The God of Israel “is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he” (Deut. 32:4–5). In fact, James seems to have real people in mind when he cautions, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one” (James 1:13). Sin and evil have their origin not in God or creation, but in the personal will and action of creatures.
The God of Israel “is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he” (Deut. 32:4–5). In fact, James seems to have real people in mind when he cautions, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one” (James 1:13). Sin and evil have their origin not in God or creation, but in the personal will and action of creatures.
Monday 4 April 2016
True Love
By John MacArthur
“All you need is love.” So sang the Beatles. If they’d been singing about God’s love, the statement would have a grain of truth in it. But what usually goes by the name love in popular culture is not authentic love at all; it’s a deadly fraud. Far from being “all you need,” it’s something you desperately need to avoid.
“All you need is love.” So sang the Beatles. If they’d been singing about God’s love, the statement would have a grain of truth in it. But what usually goes by the name love in popular culture is not authentic love at all; it’s a deadly fraud. Far from being “all you need,” it’s something you desperately need to avoid.
Monday 7 March 2016
Chinese Femur Refutes Human Evolution
by Brian Thomas, M.S.
Evidence for Creation
Textbooks around the world contain the well-known illustration of walking apes transitioning into a modern human. I recently heard a college student, raised in a Christian home, say these pictures convinced her of evolution. She probably represents countless others swayed by this simplistic icon. But those willing to question the concept that man descended from apes can welcome the recent study of a discovery from China. It adds to the list of important finds that refute human evolution and its illustrations.
Evidence for Creation
Friday 4 March 2016
Joy
It's clear that everyone wants to be happy. Every advertisement around you is trying to sell you joy. But they will only bring you a momentary joy. None of it fulfills your need for joy. We can all say that we are in bondage to the pursuit of happiness. Now to feel happy and to feel joy are entirely different. Happy is a moment of pleasure but joy is a pure state of happiness.
I would like to ask you to look at everything around you and what is taking up your thoughts. Everything has a tendency to lure you into a chase after joy. Advertisements are the biggest. "Buy now and save!", "Personalize your own..", "Now only for a limited time", "Roll up the Rim and Win!". The desire for entertainment, the desire to accumulate (cars, clothing, gadgets, money), I am sure you can name some more. But all these people or disaster can be taken away.
Nothing can give you joy except Jesus. That is joy inside you that no one and no catastrophe nor disaster nor illness can take away.
I would like to ask you to look at everything around you and what is taking up your thoughts. Everything has a tendency to lure you into a chase after joy. Advertisements are the biggest. "Buy now and save!", "Personalize your own..", "Now only for a limited time", "Roll up the Rim and Win!". The desire for entertainment, the desire to accumulate (cars, clothing, gadgets, money), I am sure you can name some more. But all these people or disaster can be taken away.
Nothing can give you joy except Jesus. That is joy inside you that no one and no catastrophe nor disaster nor illness can take away.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. - Psalm 51:12
Sunday 21 February 2016
Satan Hunts Among the Hurting
Article by Marshall Segal
Mountain lions detect vulnerabilities in their prey and attack the weakest — the young, the sick, the injured. Studies have confirmed this instinctive cruelty. It’s how the mountain lion lives, following the scent of suffering and feasting on whatever he finds.
The enemy of your hope and happiness hunts with that same instinct, with a cold-hearted and ruthless hunger for the weak or hurting. Satan prowls like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). And because he’s clever, he spends a lot of his time among the suffering. He lies in wait with lies, wanting to consume the fragile and vulnerable.
Sunday 14 February 2016
Why Did/Does God Allow Evil?
By Tim Callaway
DayBreak Community Church
Preferably, in 25 words or less, right? Every question, including this one, reflects certain assumptions made by the questioner. Assuming, for brevity’s sake, that your assumptions are accurate, let me try to be as succinct as possible on this “huge” matter.
DayBreak Community Church
Preferably, in 25 words or less, right? Every question, including this one, reflects certain assumptions made by the questioner. Assuming, for brevity’s sake, that your assumptions are accurate, let me try to be as succinct as possible on this “huge” matter.
Sunday 31 January 2016
How to Have Intimacy with God
Article by Jon Bloom
Intimacy with God is available to you. It is as accessible to you as God’s promises. And God’s invitation to you to enjoy intimate fellowship with him is that thing that is putting your faith to the test more than anything else (James 1:2–4).
Read more
Intimacy with God is available to you. It is as accessible to you as God’s promises. And God’s invitation to you to enjoy intimate fellowship with him is that thing that is putting your faith to the test more than anything else (James 1:2–4).
Read more
Friday 1 January 2016
When am I Ready to Become a Christian?
By John Piper
We open the week with an email from Karla, who writes in with a very short question, to the point: “Pastor John, how does a person know when he or she is ready to take the jump and become a Christian?” What would you say to Karla?
We open the week with an email from Karla, who writes in with a very short question, to the point: “Pastor John, how does a person know when he or she is ready to take the jump and become a Christian?” What would you say to Karla?
Affluence and Discontentment
by Tim Challies
“Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these,” Jesus said as He recalled the beauty of a common lily (Luke 12:27). And I suspect that even Solomon in all his splendor could not have imagined the sheer affluence that you and I enjoy today. The lily is here today and gone tomorrow, so eeting and commonplace that we overlook its intricate beauty and fail to acknowledge the glory of the God who made and sustains it. Is it possible that we have grown so accustomed to our affluence that we have lost the wonder of it, too? Is it possible that our affluence harms us even as it blesses us?
“Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these,” Jesus said as He recalled the beauty of a common lily (Luke 12:27). And I suspect that even Solomon in all his splendor could not have imagined the sheer affluence that you and I enjoy today. The lily is here today and gone tomorrow, so eeting and commonplace that we overlook its intricate beauty and fail to acknowledge the glory of the God who made and sustains it. Is it possible that we have grown so accustomed to our affluence that we have lost the wonder of it, too? Is it possible that our affluence harms us even as it blesses us?
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