Pictured: the bell tower of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, Houston, Texas. Americans struggle to appreciate the march of human progress because we are surrounded by it. Driving across this great nation today can seem like an endless line of truck stops and fast food, gas stations and coffee shops, oil wells and 300-foot wind turbines.Continue reading “PROGRESS: BUILDING LIVES, BUILDING SOCIETY. Mark 5.”
Category Archives: Governance/Politics/Law
The Death Penalty: Pros and Cons. Numbers 35.
The death penalty is controversial, but it is not unbiblical. The United States is not ancient Israel. We do not enforce the 613 laws of the Old Testament, nor should we. We pick and choose among them, using them only as guidance and a role model. We clearly do not follow dietary laws, sanitation rules,Continue reading “The Death Penalty: Pros and Cons. Numbers 35.”
What Can You Say About Slavery? What Can You Say About Politics? Ephesians 6:5-9.
The Apostle Paul took on one of the most controversial topics in history: slavery. Did he argue for the abolition of slavery? Or did he argue—as some American preachers once did—that certain people are better off slaves? Let’s look: “Slaves, obey your human masters with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, asContinue reading “What Can You Say About Slavery? What Can You Say About Politics? Ephesians 6:5-9.”
A Lawyer Looks at the Trials of the Apostle Paul. Acts 24-26.
Laws are built on beliefs about the nature of man, of justice and fairness, and how best to operate a society. No source played a larger role in the development of Anglo-American (“English-American”) law than the Bible. Not only did the Archbishop of Canterbury write the first draft of the Magna Carta, but the bookContinue reading “A Lawyer Looks at the Trials of the Apostle Paul. Acts 24-26.”
WHAT’S WRONG WITH COMMUNISM? 1 Corinthians 9:10.
Communism sounds good: workers pool resources, then divide things up so everyone gets what they need. Each player sitting at the poker table puts in what they have. Then the all-seeing government divides up the “kitty.” The man with eight kids gets eight shares more than the man with no children. The widow who livesContinue reading “WHAT’S WRONG WITH COMMUNISM? 1 Corinthians 9:10.”
INCENTIVE. 1 Corinthians 9:7-10.
Satan is the father of lies; one of the worst is COMMUNISM. Communism KILLS. Karl Marx blamed the world’s problems on class warfare: the rich have the capital (money) and keep the poor impoverished, jealous, and resentful. Marx invented COMMUNISM: everyone works, the government takes everything, and then hands out money in a way thatContinue reading “INCENTIVE. 1 Corinthians 9:7-10.”
IF WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE, THEN WHY ARE THERE SO MANY LAWS? Galatians 3:24.
How many laws are there in America? One thousand? Ten thousand? One hundred thousand? The truth is, no one knows. In 2013, a Senior Legal Research Specialist with the Library of Congress wrote that “trying to tally the number” of federal laws “is nearly impossible.” [1] The laws governing life in ancient Israel were alsoContinue reading “IF WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE, THEN WHY ARE THERE SO MANY LAWS? Galatians 3:24.”
Some People LOVE Rules. John 9:16.
Some of us find our security in rules. Social rules—both written and unwritten, etiquette rules, grammar rules, rules on the job—there are rules for everything, and believe it or not, there are those among us who crave rules. Rules provide security. If I know the rules and follow the rules, the result I want isContinue reading “Some People LOVE Rules. John 9:16.”
THE CULTURAL MANDATE: God Used Christians to Make the World a Better Place. Matthew 5:14-16.
Today my Bible reading included a king who punished his enemies by “ripping open all the pregnant women,” and another who captured 10,000 men, then drove them off a cliff to be “dashed to pieces.” Other Bible stories speak of cannibalism, being thrown to lions, burned in a furnace, eating newborn children and fighting overContinue reading “THE CULTURAL MANDATE: God Used Christians to Make the World a Better Place. Matthew 5:14-16.”
CAN YOU BEAR ARMS?Nehemiah 4:17-23.
Christians are not in agreement about America’s Second-Amendment right to keep and bear arms. Pacifists argue the Prince of Peace would not approve of weapons. When Peter cut off a man’s ear, Jesus said to put away the sword, that “he who lives by the sword, shall die by the sword” Matthew 26:52. But earlierContinue reading “CAN YOU BEAR ARMS?Nehemiah 4:17-23.”
Household Words: 