Growing in the Lord & Walking in the Spirit

If you don't know me there is likely no way that you could no, but when it comes to understanding the Bible, I am not a shy person. You know the thing my pastor said that I did understand or agree with about accountability? Well, I talked to him in person. I had not been able to put all of my thoughts into words, but what I do remember saying was that I knew that Christians would face the Bema Seat and that Romans 6 obviously discourages us to keep on sinning just because God will keep on forgiving. We were not able to finish the conversation then, but he texted me later to give me more information about what he was feeling. Names redacted for privacy, obviously:  Pastor:   My apologies for the hurried nature of our conversation the other day. I would like to address some things we did not have time to cover during that conversation: First, you mentioned the great white throne judgment, and more than one judgment that was to take place. I was confused, because I was unaware of...

This past week my pastor preached on Matthew 12: 22-37. This is a passage that talks about the "unforgivable sin" as well as how we need to watch the words that we say. Oddly enough, I did not have much of a reaction to what he had to say about the unforgivable sin. I know what I believe to be true, and I understand his perspective, even if it is different than my own. However, that was not what stood out the most to me. Instead, it was what he had to say about Christians and their "punishment" for the unclean words they say. This was what my pastor said verbatim:  "Our words and our actions on the judgment day will be rewarded. The good will be rewarded; the bad will be punished. But there is one little caveat to that and it's so beautiful. [Congregation member name], who is sick today, he asked me about it one day. He said "Pastor [name], where is it that the Christians get punished for the bad things that they do?" And I said "The Christia...

There are so many views & opinions on what Christians should do with Halloween. Simplifying the two sides, one Christian side will argue that the point of Halloween is dressing up and wearing funny costumes and getting candy out of it. The second side will argue that participating in any Halloween activities is interacting with the devil (Satan) and demonic activity. Both sides have valid points. Both sides seem to have a biblical worldview to back up their answers. But there seems to be some missing pieces in the puzzle. I asked some of my friends & some of you to explain what you believed on this issue, and I received some variety of answers. I don’t know why this came as a surprise to me, but many people including my friends were of the mindset that if we Christians have the right intentions and still dress modestly, that there is nothing wrong with trick-or-treating in the honor of Halloween. Some people explained that it could be viewed in the same light as fantasy- there ...

Define your terms, they said. It will be fun, they said. Whenever I heard the expression "Define your terms" I felt like I was supposed to be preparing to speak in court and to catch someone in a trap by making them say something that means something to them and that means something totally different for me. In fact, that is quite the opposite of what it actually means, though. I have heard it in the context of apologetics and theology conversations that I have had with friends, peers, and co-workers over the past few weeks.  It is important when having a discussion with others to remember that what they are saying might make you want to argue back, but oftentimes you mean the same thing but you are just not on the same page with communicating the terms and your definitions for them. At the same time, you could be assuming that you agree with someone for a long time and then later come to understand what they were thinking of when it comes to defining their terms.  Here is a ...

 At my church, we have a Young Adults group that meets together about once a month to study God's Word together and discuss it as a group. This summer, the hope is to meet twice a month instead as we go through asking questions that are either difficult to answer or something that many people will have conflicting opinions in. The end goal is not to agree necessarily, but to know how to use discernment and to come to a logical conclusion with evidence to support our answer.  My goal is to write down my notes and observations as I listen to what others have said. I will use pen names for each of my peers for their privacy, but if they want to correct what they had said, they can reach out to me and ask me which of the pen names is associated with what they had said. I want to write down more than just what I have said because I value all of their opinions and conclusions. I also want to be able to see where they got their evidence so I can evaluate what I believe with the evide...