In the meantime....

I am working on a blog post that will be titled "Deceived by Leaders".  It is not complete yet.  In the meantime here is a link to a series of blogs for John MacArthur entitled "Lies of the Prosperity Gospel".   That should be a good read!

Ask Jesus into your heart?

Recently a teen from my youth group asked me if I could write down my testimony for him (I found out later he was collecting them to later make into a song).  As I was writing, I found I had to keep catching myself in order to not use the phrase "ask Jesus into my heart."  I know many Christians have used this phrase before with good intentions.  But I have learned recently that it is misleading and simply not Biblical. For a more lengthy treatment on the topic, see the following article: http://www.wretchedradio.com/pdf/ten_reasons.pdf

Ask yourself, how does someone become a Christian?  I hope your answer would say something about repentance and putting one's faith & trust in Jesus Christ (see Acts 2:38 for example).  "Repentance" & "faith" to me seem fairly straight forward, but I'll say what I mean when I use those terms so there is no confusion.  When I say "repentance" I mean  - admitting that you have sinned against an infinitely holy God, truly being sorry, and turning from your sin (it is the "turning" part that is true repentance).  When I say "faith" (faith in Jesus in particular) I mean - believing that Jesus is who he says he is (the second person of the triune Godhead, God incarnate, who came down in human flesh to live a perfect life, to die on a cross to save mankind from sin, and to rise from the dead defeating sin & death).  "Trust" can be a little trickier to explain.  It's carries a bit of a stronger connotation than just faith or belief.  Even the demons believe there is one God (James 2:19), but you trust in Jesus -- it's trusting a person.  It means you trust everything he says and his way is the best way.  You entrust your life to him; that is what becoming a Christian means. 

I know many Christians and churches have used the phrase "ask Jesus into my heart" with good intentions.  But I fear it can really do more harm than good by leaving out the key components of repentance and trust.

Taking the Lord's name in vain?

Taking the Lord's name in vain: What does it mean?  What does it look like? And why do so many Christians take this command lightly?

Exodus 20:7 - “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

"in vain": in an improper or irreverent manner

There is the obvious application of this, when people use God's name as a swear word.  Consider this explanation from an excerpt of an article written by pastor Darrell Ferguson: 

When people say, “Oh my God!” as nothing more than an expression of surprise or some other emotion, and God is really the last thing on their mind, they are profaning the Holy One. That is a serious sin. The third commandment is “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” The word vain means “empty.” To utter the name of God when one is not actually referring to God is to use His name in an empty way.

As a believer, it bothers me when I hear this (on TV or movies), as much as, if not more than hearing other cuss words.  But what bothers me more is when I hear fellow believers use this type of language.  I cannot count the number of times I hear a Christian say, "Oh my God!" or see someone who is a believer use the Lord's name in vain on their Facebook status.  Now, don't get me wrong, I know Christians make mistakes and we all have sins that we struggle with, and I have struggled with my language at times too.  That is not what I am talking about.  I am talking about those who say it and don't even perceive it as doing something wrong.  Why is that?  Is it just something that has become so socially acceptable by our culture?  Should we, as Christians, defend and uphold the holy name of God?!?

Pastor Darrell continues:

It is noteworthy that when even the secular culture, when they invent expletives, makes them out of the most sacred and holy concepts. They are taken from the holy Scriptures. When a person wants to be profane he does so by taking the greatest realities and reducing them to a meaningless, empty expletive. The naturalists claim to believe that the greatest realities in existence are physical things, such as the stars. But when they hit their thumb with a hammer you never hear them yell out, “Oh sun, moon and stars!” Or get angry and say, “What in the name of Mt. Everest do you think you’re doing? You stupid trees-in-the-forresting, Pacific Oceaning, galaxying, super-novaing…” Why does no one swear like that? Because the whole point of profanity is to take what is holy and reduce it to the profane. The sun, moon and stars, and Mount Everest, and the Pacific Ocean are not holy things. You can’t make them profane, because they already are profane, temporal, earthly things. It is interesting that even the world seems to know intuitively what is truly holy. If you cut someone off in traffic, he might scream something about our precious Lord being consigned to eternal hell. But you never hear someone yell out his window, “You Buddha reincarnated as a toad!”  They will say things about Jesus Christ, but you never hear anyone say, “Oh Mohammad!”  In order for the profanity to be profanity it has to start with something that is truly holy. (The whole article is worth a read.  Here is the link: Pastor Darrell Ferguson's article page - Articles are listed in alphabetical order.  Scroll toward the bottom and click on 'Swearing')

Is that the only way we can take the Lord's name in vain?  I believe there are at least two other applications of this.  Another way treat the Lord's name with emptiness is when we take on his name (by calling ourselves Christians), but don't act accordingly.  As Christians we are called to do everything we do "in the name of the Lord Jesus" (Colossians 3:17).  There are some who only use the title 'Christian' when it is convenient or live their lives in such a way that no one would know they are a Christian unless they said so.  I believe this is also taking the Lord's name in vain.  

The next thing I say may be controversial, and I don't mean to offend anyone, but I think we are taking the Lord's name in vain when we say, "God bless you" after someone sneezes.  This is something that I have been convicted of recently (especially after reading Pastor Darrell's article).  Now, before you just pass me off as some fundamentalist nut, consider the following: 

• First of all, the practice of saying "God bless you" after someone sneezes has its origins in medieval superstitions when they believed that when someone sneezed their body was expelling evil spirits.  So, they would respond with "God bless you," hoping that God would literally bless that person (although again the belief was deeply rooted in superstition). 
• Secondly, most, if not all people say it as an automatic response to someone sneezing as if to say, "I want to acknowledge that you sneezed, and I want to give you some sort of polite response."  Few, if any actually mean to pronounce a blessing of Almighty God on someone just because their allergies are acting up.  This is taking God's name in 'vain' (treated with emptiness or devoid of meaning), because we taking the name of God and reducing it to a polite way of responding to a sneeze. I doubt anyone really has God on their mind when they respond this way. 

Feel free to agree or disagree with me; I will not condemn you as an unbeliever if you say, "God bless you" to someone.  However, I do think those of us who call ourselves Christians need to take this commandment more seriously.  If we aren't serious about how we honor God, how can we expect the world to take us (and ultimately God) seriously?

The 'ledger' of religions

I did not write this, but I thought it was too good to pass up.  This is from Tim Challies.  He has a great blog of his own.  Check out the article!  http://www.challies.com/articles/the-ledger

I will have some original material up later today or tomorrow. For those who are interested, the topic will be "Taking the Lord's name in vain?"

God Bless,
Mike

I know what you are thinking...

So you may be thinking, "Mike, isn't there a plethora of Christian apologetic websites/blogs out there?  Do we really need another one?"  While I agree there is no shortage of  apologetic sites and discussions boards & the like (and some really good ones too, such as: probe.org, Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry, & Apprising Ministries), my goal will be to find an interesting topic that is out there, present my view on it, and leave it open for discussion. I may, at times,  use one of these sites, or even link you to an article found there.  Or I may just start ranting about something that has been bugging me for a while, in hopes of getting your opinion about it.  My ultimate goal is to challenge Christians to pursue the Truth (and maybe challenge non-believers or agnostics to examine the evidence along the way too).

As a preview, topics may range from: false teachers within general Christendom, discussing & comparing other religions (with so many world religions, can only one be "right"?), general apologetics (reasons to believe, etc), questions about the Bible, God, Christians, etc.

Welcome to my blog!  This venture for me has been a long time coming.  I have said for quite some time (even if only to myself) that I need to start a blog.  The "need" for me comes from the fact that I have opinions (in most cases, strong ones) about certain things and I need a forum to express those opinions.  This will be my forum.  My goal will be to engage you, the reader, for the purpose of having an intelligent exchange on any given issue. The topics will include but are not limited to: religion, Christian apologetics, the search for truth, and the like.  Be forewarned; I will sometimes be purposefully controversial for the sake of sparking conversation.  I welcome your comments so we can discuss further (however vulgarity & personal attacks will not be tolerated).