Noah’s Spring Break (10/21/08)

I’ve always talked about writing a book, Bizarre Stories of the Bible, and this one would have to be included. The reality is there are many puzzling stories in the Bible, and we don’t always know why they are included. But whether you agree with my assessment or not regarding the Noah story, our response to sin is certainly an important topic.

I had planned to go into the details of Jesus’ response to the adulteress in John 8:2-11, but I had to cut those scenes on the editing floor. In that example, Jesus does not deny or celebrate the woman’s sin. He’s not angry, and he does not judge her (although he would qualified to do so). In short, he avoides all the reactions that we talked about in the video. But he does do something. Before leaving, he says, “Go now and leave your life of sin.” He calls her act a sin and encourages her to change.

Here is a link for the above story: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%208:2-11&version=31

In this video, I conclude that Christians should instruct and encourage other people when they struggle with sin. But I emphasized that it takes a wise, skillful person to do this in a way that doesn’t do more harm than good. So be careful, smart and pray for guidance. And there are times where it’s probably better to keep quiet. But if we’re always quiet—-the “I’ll just worry about myself” attitude——I’m not sure we can defend such a position Biblically.

For you trivia people out there, I made a reference to John McCain at the end when I said “my friends.” Did you notice earlier when I said one of Barack Obama’s popular phrases? If you think you know what it was, send me an email at tom@faith360.org. You will win, well, my respect and admiration for diligent listening.

Election Pandering (10/12/08)

It’s always dangerous to bring up politics. But I tried not to allow my personal views to become apparent in this video….although I suppose some of you might claim that I didn’t hide them very well! Either way, the point wasn’t to endorse or condemn certain candidates. My only intention was to offer a friendly reminder about who we really should be studying and following throughout all seasons of our life. As I always say, when you study the Bible and read about Jesus, you’ll start to become a different person. What you read will rub off on you.

If you don’t know where to start, I would begin by reading the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). A lot of people think John in particular is a great place to start. You can also find a plethora of good books about the Lord at the bookstore, but I don’t think such books should ever be a replacement for reading the Scriptures. They can supplement, but they shouldn’t replace. I shouuld also add that many people think the entire Bible points to Christ. I know that after I read the Old Testament for the first time, I so much more appreciated the life and death of Jesus.

One final note. Near the end of the video, I made a reference to ancient sports. I’m writing my masters thesis on Paul’s use of sporting analogies in his letters. It’s a very interesting topic, and I spent the summer researching ancient sports. So I suspect I’ll work more of these examples into future videos and Midweek Messages.

Until next time, God bless…..

The Cone of Silence (10/1/08)

Well, I hope you enjoyed the special appearance by Agent 44! It was sure fun to write and film the “Get Smart” portions of the video (at the beginning and end), but I guess I had to work some serious stuff in, too.

Anyway, it is indeed important how we conduct ourselves in all situations, regardless of who is watching. Former U.S. Congressman and football star J.C. Watts has always said, “Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking…There are too many people who think the only thing that’s wrong is to get caught.” J.C. is exactly right.

And what I really want to emphasize is that we don’t try to be holy 24/7 because Big Brother is watching or because we’re afraid of the consequences. We should strive to be consistently good people because we sincerely want to. We want to be more like Jesus Christ. We know this will make our lives happier and more joyful.

Of course, none of us are perfect and we’ll make mistakes. We all have things about us that we’d prefer to remain non-public. But still, our hope and desire is to become more like Christ.