Faith & God

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False Prophets

In January of 2013 I did some rummaging around on the internet and came up with a series of “psychic predictions” for the new year. These are people who make their living from predicting the future—in the old days they’d be called seers or prophets. I’ve always wondered how these people maintained their aura of authenticity when their prophecies never panned out so, out of curiosity, I saved their predictions. In the past, when I went to look for previous years’ prophesies, they had somehow been deleted (I wonder why). So this time, I made sure I’d have access to them a year later. But then I forgot all about it.

Prophets, seers, whatever you want to call them, have only three possible sources for their predictions: God, their overactive imaginations, or demons. If God is the one speaking, we’d do well to pay attention. However, if the prophets are making things up or, worse, if they’re in contact with spirits or other evil powers, we listen at our own peril:

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I’m Out of Control

I love to plan stuff. In fact, sometimes I enjoy the planning more than the actual event. The anticipation is exciting—like the thrill I felt as a kid, waiting for Christmas.

I’ll admit, I also enjoy planning and organizing things because it gives me the sense that I’m in control. Of course, I know better, but organizing lets me pretend for a while. And the more life throws me a curve ball, the more planning and organizing I do.

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Fear of Food

What I learned from the internet in the last week:

  • Beans are good for you. (source)
  • Beans are bad for you. (source)
  • Whole grains are healthy and we should eat more of them. (source)
  • Grains are bad for you. Whole grains are worst. (source)
  • Saturated fats (lard, etc.) are good for you. (source)
  • Saturated fats (lard, etc.) are bad for you. (source)
  • A daily handful of nuts will reduce your risk of heart disease. (source)
  • Nuts are toxic and eating them causes heart disease. (source)
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Don’t You Care, God?

Jesus calming stormHave you ever noticed that as you read and reread familiar passages in the Bible, you suddenly see something new? I’m always amazed that something I’ve covered a hundred times can suddenly have new meaning.

This happened to me recently as I was reading the part in Mark 4 where Jesus calms the storm. I’m sure you know the story:

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Evidence of Belief

Are you a Christian? How about that person over there? They say they are—but are they really?

This question isn’t just an intellectual exercise—it has eternal significance. Will we see our beloved family member in Heaven? Should I believe that politician’s claim to faith?

A couple of weeks ago, in my post “Just Believe,”  I stated,

I sadly suspect that many who claim the title “Christian” have merely given intellectual assent to the fact that God exists, and that Jesus lived, died, and lived again. They think they’ve got their “fire insurance” and that they’ve made peace with God, when in fact they don’t even know Him.

This begs the question—how do we tell the difference? Is it even possible for us to know whether or not a person has “accepted Jesus”?

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Our Need, God’s Grace

sunday school destroying kidsYou may remember my post last summer when I directed you to read an insightful article on the blog, Beliefs of the Heart. The article, by Samuel C. Williamson, was called “I wonder if Sunday school is destroying our kids?”

Since that time, this one article has grown into a book—one that should be on every person’s reading list. Seriously, this is the best book I’ve read in a long time (and I read a lot of books). If you read Williamson’s original post, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

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Will You Be My Valentine?

Today is Valentine’s Day, the day we celebrate love. We’re bombarded with opportunities to declare our passion. Flowers and chocolate, some pretty steamy Valentine cards, Victoria’s Secret displays all focus on romantic love, or is it romantic lust? But for some, this is a difficult time. Not everyone is in a romantic relationship. Does lack of Special Someone mean you’ve completely missed out on love?

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Just Give It All Away!

Do you tithe?

Not many people do. Some believe that tithing isn’t taught in the New Testament, so it no longer applies to us. They explain that we’re living under grace, and tithing is legalistic. Others insist that all Christians are supposed to tithe, because of Jesus’ words to the Pharisees in Matthew 23:23. I’ve heard many sermons on Malachi 3:10, where the pastor explained that the local church is the “storehouse” and we must bring our entire tithe to them, with any other giving counting as an “offering” above and beyond our mandatory 10%.

Clearly, there’s lots of room for interpretation regarding tithing. Matt, at TheChurchOfNoPeople.com (one of my favorite blogs) recently wrote about tithing. I think he gives us a lot to consider, and urge you to read what he has to say. Matt inspired me, thus today’s post.

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Foolish and Stupid Arguments

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you interpret the Bible correctly.”

“And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to convince everyone that your way of reading the Bible is the only correct one, as he commanded us.”

The news has been full of last Tuesday’s debate between Bill Nye (the Science Guy) and Answers in Genesis President Ken Ham, founder of the Creation Museum. No matter what your take on the outcome, or where you fall on the creation-evolution continuum, (and it isn’t as black and white as some would have us believe), the whole scenario bothered me. No one was seeking common ground. Rather, it was designed to polarize the audience.

“Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels.” (2 Timothy 2:23)

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The Distrust of Doctors

Last month I wrote about our growing “culture of fear”—how information sources from the media to our Facebook friends are all telling us how dangerous the world is. As friend after friend shared their concerns about food or medicine, politics or the environment, I began to wonder. Should we be alarmed about everything?

God tells us that He has everything in hand, so we have no need to worry. Still. I had to ask—are the doomsayers correct? I decided to find out. Since medical choices affect us directly, and because of my biology background, I decided to start there.

Is conventional medicine making us sicker?

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