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Pride

In 1 Corinthians, Bible Study, Blog on
June 6, 2022

Was “Homosexuality” Added to the Bible?

One of the biggest arguments in the Church today surrounds the topic of homosexuality. Is it a sinful practice that ought to be repented of? Is it an innate identity that ought to be celebrated? Christians on both sides of the aisle passionately fight for what they believe is right, and the debates about this topic can get pretty heated.

As Christians, we should be getting our cues on cultural issues from the Bible, not from some activist or ideologue on Twitter or TikTok. And the Bible seems pretty clear and straightforward on where it stands. However, many “gay-affirming Christians” claim that the Bible does not prohibit homosexuality. In fact, they argue that the word “homosexuality” was actually added into Scripture. Is this true? Was “homosexuality” added to the Bible?

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In Bible Study, Blog, Matthew on
October 18, 2021

Judge Not

We live in a society where judgment is not tolerated. When a person makes certain choices or decisions in their life, they expect everyone to accept and affirm them. But if anyone pushes back or questions the decision, they act as if their identity and personhood is being denied, and they label their questioner as a hateful bigot. And this reaction is amplified if the person who pushes back is a Christian.

The Bible calls Christians to be kind and compassionate (Ephesians 4:32), to love their neighbors (Matthew 22:39), even if their neighbor is their enemy (Matthew 5:44). Because of this, many people, including many believers, think that Christians should not disagree with anyone publicly. Somehow, this is seen as being “unloving,” and if you do try to disagree with someone’s choices or actions, someone is sure to throw the common Bible verse at you: “Judge not, that you be not judged.” (Matthew 7:1, ESV) However, this Bible verse is very often misused, especially in the situation described above. To find out the true meaning of this verse, we must look at it in context.

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In Bible Study, Blog, Revelation on
August 23, 2021

Lukewarm Laodicea

For a lot of people, Revelation is a scary and daunting to book to read. It talks of various seals, bowls, trumpets, angels, and plagues. It describes a dragon, a prostitute, and a leopard-ish, bear-ish, lion-ish beast with seven heads and ten horns. It speaks of much death and destruction, but also of the final victory of Jesus and the beauty of the New Earth. The book of Revelation is difficult to understand and difficult to interpret, so many try to avoid it at all costs.

But these people often forget that not all of Revelation is filled with frightening images and confusing apocalyptic language. They forget that the first three chapters of Revelation are actually letters from Jesus to seven first-century churches. While these short letters were written almost 2,000 years ago, they are still very applicable to the Church today. And one letter that is particularly relevant for the American Church is the letter to the church of Laodicea.

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In Bible Study, Blog, Matthew on
March 8, 2021

Salt & Light

How are Christians to interact with the culture they live in? If you’ve attended church for any length of time, you’ve likely heard that we are to “be in the world, not of it.” But what exactly does this mean? What does “being in the world but not of the world” look like? Well, Jesus makes it clear in His famous Sermon on the Mount.

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In Blog, Book Reviews, Busyness on
May 25, 2020

Crazy Busy

How has your life changed since the COVID-19 pandemic began? Throughout this pandemic, I have kept my normal hours at work (thank God), though my duties look a little different than they used to. My college classes were already all online, so there was no transition for me to struggle through. I stopped going to church in person. My vacation was cancelled. My women’s conference was postponed. I couldn’t go to Disney World on the weekends. For me, things have been okay, but they’ve been different.

One day, though (hopefully soon), things will eventually return back to normal. Restaurants, stores, and businesses will reopen. We’ll be able to go to work, and our kids will be able to go to school. We’ll be able to travel again and go on vacations. And we’ll get back to our normal, busy selves.

But do we really want to return to that crazy busyness? Where we’re working overtime and it seems like we can never pull our eyes away from our screens. Where we’re driving our kids around to soccer games, and piano practices, and dance classes, and after-school clubs. Where we have so many things going on that we can barely keep our heads above water and our important relationships are oftentimes neglected. If we’re not careful, we’ll once again be consumed by our busyness. How do we fight against it?

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