Faith is an expression of confidence. The Hebrew writer says that the person that comes to God must believe that He is – that God exists. It is a confidence that God not only exists, but a confidence that he responds to those who diligently seek Him. (Heb. 11:6) Christians are called “believers”. Repeatedly we encounter the concept of belief in the New Testament. When a new Christian is baptized we ask them, “Do you believe that Jesus Christ is…
A line from the gospel song enjoins us to, “count your blessings, name them one by one”. It is an encouragement to not forget how God has blessed us. It is easy to reduce this counting to the tangible things we experience day-by-day. Maybe things like a new job opportunity or a recovery from illness or the arrival of a new baby in our home. There are so many blessings we experience and usually we do have a sense of…
In the discipline of logical reasoning, there is the assertion that there exists logical fallacies. What people sometimes use as logical reasons for an argument or proposition are simply not valid or sound. I have been thinking about the slippery slope fallacy. A very simple way to describe this supposed fallacy is to describe it as an argument that suggests that if a small or minor action is taken it will lead to major consequences. In other words, if…
Cultures are fascinating. They are also powerful. Cultures develop almost anywhere there are human relationships. Ethnic groups develop their own culture. The things that might be unique to any given ethnic culture could be things like food, family and clan structures, religion, how they celebrate life’s joyful occasions, wedding traditions, how they deal with death, etc. Corporations and businesses develop a culture. Universities have a culture. Families have distinct cultural habits and beliefs. Churches also develop a culture. Culture is…
The Church Covenant The New Testament norm would seem to be that a new Christian would be received into a local assembly of believers. Does a new believer need to make any kind of commitment to the local congregation? In our world today, this commitment may be broader than to the local congregation. Many churches have some form of a statement or covenant that a candidate for membership must agree to before being received as a member. Church covenants…
Most Christians today embrace some level of approval of formal church membership, although this may be changing. Even though there is a general acceptance and approval of the concept of church membership, in practice there often exists a shallow understanding that results in a weak commitment to the church. It is important for Christians to turn again and again to the Word itself to discover the needed corrective truth that will open to us the fullness of the blessing…