disease

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Health & Safety?

What do we do when the Bible seemingly contradicts our life experience? How can we reconcile what God says with what we see happen, when the two don’t match?

How do we handle these verses? Does it lead to a crisis of faith?  I know a number of former Christians who have lost their faith over these issues. Do we just accept that the Bible is a bunch of nice thoughts, but it doesn’t apply to real life? Do we conclude that God isn’t to be trusted? Or do we skip over the hard parts, ignore the promises, and muddle through until we die? That’s what I’ve always done. In fact, I have a whole list of questions that I plan to ask God “when I get there.”

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Ewww, Gross!

Today I take a break from some heavy topics to settle an issue I’ve wondered about as long as I can remember.

For years as I was growing up, my mother cautioned me against perching my rear on a public toilet seat. It was unthinkable— you never knew who had been there before you. Why, one could pick up all sorts of horrible diseases!

This impression was heightened by those tissue paper toilet seat covers, available in all the finer public restrooms. Obviously, they wouldn’t be there if they weren’t needed for our safety. But they seemed so… flimsy. With my mind full of huge, anatomy-eating microbes, I wondered—could a simple layer of tissue really keep them at bay? Perhaps hovering was the better alternative.

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