Just the Facts

Did you know that 13 people die a year from a vending machine falling on them, 40% of women have hurled foot ware at men, 50% of bank robberies take place on a Friday, 90% of boats sold are used for fishing, 90% of women who walk into a department store turn right, a car is stolen every 30 sec in the US, 200 babies are born every minute, approx 97.3978271128 of statistics are made up, assuming Rudolph was in front there are 40,320 ways to rearrange the other 8 reindeer, August is the most popular moth to have a baby, the average 4 year old asks 400 questions a day, adults spend approx. 14 minutes in the shower a day, average person speaks 31,500 words a day, average female spends 2 years of her life on the phone, average person spends 2 years of life waiting for traffic lights to change? Did you know that I may have just constructed the longest run on sentence, ever?

It’s amazing how many useless facts we keep track of. They are interesting to read and usually fun to look at but really they aren’t good for anything at all. If you memorize them they just become useless information stored in our brain that we do nothing with.

Here’s one for you. Did you know that 89% of the population of Nigeria attends a church of some kind as opposed to 44% of the population here in the United States ? In fact the U.S. is 11th among all the nations in church attendance percentage but is third in the world in population with 301,139,947 people. Last one, I promise. A recent survey showed that over 90% of unchurched people would go if someone would just ask them.

What’s the point? As believers in Christ we have an obligation to share with other people what we know about love, joy, peace, forgiveness, acceptance, heaven, hell, eternity, salvation, purpose and invite them to the church where you learned those things. Otherwise we are just retaining useless information.

Ben Stein Making the Debate Interesting Again!

Let’s be honest. The Creationism/Darwinism debate isn’t going away any time soon but Ben Stein’s new film “Exposed” sheds some new light on the debate. Not from the “God created” vs. “nothing created” perspective but from the freedom of speech perspective. Creationists are labeled to be narrow minded judgmental people but that couldn’t be more false. In fact, as this film exposes, it is the Darwinist who could be tagged with that label for their aggressive and hateful attacks on creationists simply for questioning a theory that isn’t backed by any hard evidence. (For great examples of this just look at the videos posted on YouTube in response to the trailer for Stein’s film.)

Darwinist are still frantically looking for the evidence that has been missing from the very beginning in order to validate their theory while Creationists have the evidence that all of creation points to a designer backed by the validity and historical accuracy of the bible. However it is Darwinism that is taught and regarded as actual fact and Creationism as some far out theory with no evidence that only the ignorant hold on to.

The debate will continue to rage on but as this film exposes the labels need to be swapped.

Is Capital Punishment a Sin?

There has been some talk in the news recently about the death penalty and whether it is constitutional or not. As the nationwide halt on executions is expiring I have to admit that my initial thought was disgust. Not in the fact that death row inmates will soon be facing the consequences of their actions but rather in the fact that there is such a huge battle to protect convicted killers but not unborn children. I don’t want to turn this post into an abortion debate but I do want to say that this issue speaks volumes to how backwards our society has become.

There is a biblically ignorant argument out there where people will tell you that the bible says, “Thou shall not kill.” The reason I say this is ignorant is because the bible doesn’t say that at all. In Exodus chapter 20, where God is delivering the 10 Commandments, we find that it actually says not to commit “murder.” Now, simple logic tells us that there is a huge difference between the two. Is a soldier engaged in battle or a man who is protecting is family guilty of murder if their actions result in someone’s death? Well…no! However, a person who commits a crime which results in the death of another person is and those are the men and women who we find on death row.

God does value human life and He does love each and every human on the face of the earth but the bible over and again teaches accountability. We are responsible for our actions! Newton’s third law teaches that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. We know that the consequence for murder could be the death penalty. If that isn’t enough to deter a person from committing the act then they should be prepared to deal with the reaction.

Since the beginning of civilization cultures have reserved the most severe penalties for the most severe crimes. Even among God’s chosen people, the Israelites, murder was dealt with swiftly and justly. Even living under God’s grace we must face the consequences of our actions. We can find forgiveness in Christ but the consequences for our actions against others remains.

Add to the discussion: Share your thoughts and views on Capital Punishment and vote on the opinion poll in the forum.

The Oprah Cult

This video should be a startling revelation to Christians all over the world regardless of denomination or location. Oprah is a world known figure and she is leading millions of people astray from the truth of the Gospel with a watered down humanistic view of God. Here are just a few of my responses to her contradictions of God.

Yes, there is only one way. Jesus made that very clear in John 14:6 when he declared, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Just because a person can’t fathom the reality of this statement doesn’t make it any less true. Jesus warned of false prophets and people who would attempt to lead others astray and that is exactly what Oprah is attempting to do. Regardless of how you feel about her show and the millions of dollars that she gives to charity the idea that there are other ways to get to heaven other than through a relationship with Jesus Christ is a lie that has severe eternal consequences.

Yes, God is a jealous God. He is everything that Oprah describes Him to be. He is all powerful, all present, all knowing and all loving but He’s also a jealous God. The Old Testament refers to God as being jealous 10 times. Here’s what many people don’t understand about God’s jealousy. It is motivated by love. You see we are all creations of a Holy God. He is an artist and we are His masterpieces. Of all his created beings we are the only ones that He loves enough to sacrifice himself on the cross for. Because of His amazing love for us He desires that we worship Him and Him alone. When we refuse to believe in Him or live a lifestyle that does not honor Him he becomes jealous of the attention that we are not giving to Him. This isn’t doctrinal its biblical.

10 Then the LORD said: "I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you. 11 Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 12 Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. 13 Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. 14 Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. Exodus 34:10-14

Rather than make an attempt to understand this concept Oprah is moving away from it because it is easier to serve and please ourselves than it is God. She is instead teaching that we can worship ourselves and find satisfaction it that. However, the worship of self is also what the Church of Satan teaches.

God wasn’t made in man’s image. Rather man was made in God’s image. Again what we are dealing with is a person’s inability to understand and live by biblical principles. To accept the biblical God a person has to accept the lifestyle that goes with it. Because people would rather create their own standard of holiness than the way the bible says we should live we try to “logically” say that is a religious law or doctrine made by man so in turn they actually do create their own man made religious laws and doctrines and follow them.

Yes, Christians are to be the light of the world and here is the full text of what Eckhart is trying to quote.

13"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:13-16

What Jesus is saying is that Christians (people who actually believe in Him) should live a lifestyle that benefits those around them through sharing the love, joy and peace of Christ and ultimately bring glory to God. This passage in no way indicates that because we are the “conscious of the world” that we should create a new image of God where the standard of holiness is different from what is lined out in the bible.

How ironic is it though that two people who are trying to deny the biblical view of God will actually use a quote from Jesus to try lure people away from the Gospel. Talk about a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The other thing is that he (Eckhart) says that he doesn’t think about eternity (life after death) but will quote the teachings of Jesus. What kind of hope is there if this world is all we get? What kind of religion teaches that you have your human existence (75 years) and that is it? Here’s the truth, you can’t have Jesus without an afterlife. You can’t quote one passage from the teachings of Christ and then deny the biblical view of God. It is all or nothing and regardless of your view of God there will be an eternity for everyone. Refusing to believe that and attempting to explain to millions of people why it isn’t logical to you doesn’t make is any less true.

By the way I don’t believe him that he doesn’t think of what happens after death simply because every person who has ever lived does. The difference is that this cult that they are trying to get people to buy into doesn’t answer the questions about eternity and therefore can’t be discussed because it leaves a big open hole in their belief system. That hole is called hope and discussing eternity would cause millions of people to realize that the Oprah Cult leaves you without any.
God is very much about a belief. Again we find humanistic logic that says we have to see (or in Oprah’s case feel) to believe. The requirement for a Christian lifestyle is that we believe in God and in Jesus Christ his son as our Lord and Savior.

9That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Romans 10:9-10

You are not a God and you never will be! You aren’t holy on your own account and you can’t be! Our natural inclination is to be rebellious towards the things of God putting each and every one of us in the need to be reconciled to God. Because of God’s love for us we can become reconciled to Him and made holy but make no mistake it will be totally because of God and not of ourselves. Submission to Christ doesn’t make you a God but it will make you a child of God.

26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:26

You can see more videos on Operah's beliefs on the message board.