Response to Christianity without hell

In a recent Time magazine article by John shore, the thought of Christianity without hell was brought into question. This means that if we as Christians believed that there was no hell only God's divine love for us and that hell did not exist even in the Bible, how would we live? Shore brings up such points as "Christianity without hell would be fearless", and although he puts it nicely he basically says that Christianity would be pointless. The strange thing is that he is right. I never really thought about this until recently after being a Christian the majority of my life but if hell is taken out of the picture, what's left? The thing that Shore doesn't understand is that without hell there is no Christianity, that's like trying to take a fish out of water and telling it to live forever, a fish can't survive without water and Christianity without hell doesn't make sense. The question that Shore should really be asking is, why does hell exist? The reason hell exists in Christianity is to in a sense, separate the boys from the men and the girls from the women. If you can't get past the fact that God is a just God and can't grab the implications of that, you are the boys and girls of the Christian faith. The fact is that Shore is just trying to find a way to make Christianity work without bringing the hardships of hell into it. In a magazine article that Shore wrote in April of 2012 for Patheos titled The Bible and Homosexuality he stated that "the Bible is the bedrock of the Christian faith". If Shore agrees that the Bible is the bedrock, why doesn't he try to find his answers in the bedrock of the Christian faith the Bible and not in wherever he gets his strange notions. Here are the facts, God loves us all, he created us for his pleasure of course he loves us. The problem is that the fact that Jesus loves us is the Broccoli that your mom won't stop feeding you because its "good" for you. We as Americans are told so many times that Jesus loves us that when the hard times come and opposition stares us in the face, we sometimes duck under the opposition and give up and not fight it out like God would want us to. God is a warrior, He's coming back on a white horse not a donkey. As for Shore, all I hope is that before he writes anymore articles on the Christian faith that he would read up on his subject in the Bible. The "bedrock of the Christian faith".

Response to insured abortions

On august 22, 2014, every insurance carrier in California was ordered by the government to start including surgical abortions as "basic health care" in their clients policies. The thing was that this new requirement was passed around quietly and it wasn't until recently that the government has started cracking down on it. As it stands California has not bent to the will of the government and the government doesn't like that. It is rumored that California could lose all government funding if we do not give way to this new requirement. The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) senior counsel Casey mattox says: "No state can blatantly ignore federal law and think that it should continue to receive taxpayer money". Think of the government as a child for a moment who doesn't get what they want and throws a fit and then you'll understand this. Now to the main issue, us Christians. We may look at this and scoff at this and rally together and say this isn't fair or even that this is infringing upon our first amendment rights, which in its own way, is true. But as I've said before in one of my previous blogs, is this kind of attack new? Is this something that is unprecedented in Christian history? Well the answer is no. As I see it now, here in America, we are not running for our lives avoiding getting our heads chopped off, nor are we providing light for dinner parties. I'd say we're living a lot more comfortable than that. Now don't mistake those last few sentences for me being ashamed to protest against the rest of the world for I am not. I have the utmost respect for those who are leading these protests against the  government and the rest of the world. All I wish to convey to all those Christians who think this is the end of the world and that we have lost is this: The truth is that there is no reason to think we have lost, for God is on our side, no one ever said that being a Christian was going to be easy. I can personally testify that being a Christian is one of the hardest things I've ever attempted, I say attempted because everyday is an attempt to live for Christ and not for the world. However, the bad part is, I fail a lot. But in the end I know my little struggles will be worth it, us Christians will all be winners so don't lose faith, but be strengthened knowing that this life is nothing compared to what's ahead. But until that time comes, always remember that God's light always shines brightest when darkness is at hand.

Response to Missionary doctor criticism

Recently, Missionary doctors have been the subject of controversy over the treating of the virus Ebola. You see where secular organizations have pulled out because there is no more limelight in treating Ebola, the Christian doctors have stayed and continued to treat the virus. To non-believers this seems like a completely outrageous concept, why risk your life treating those lower than you? Yet the Missionary doctors continue to stay with no plan to pull out in the near future, and this bothers some people. An article written by Brian Palmer for "Slate" magazine, said "It's great that these people are doing God's work, but do they have to talk about him so much? Obviously this man is ignorant about Christianity and knows nothing about it. But is that not why we as Christians do acts like this? To show God's glory and love for us? Galatians 5:13 states that: "For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." Now to those who are unfamiliar to the Christian faith, I pray this sheds some light for you and answers your question as to why Missionary doctors stay behind and serve the people of Africa. It is because where secular doctors and missionaries do it to be in the limelight or get the paycheck, those missionary doctors are called to a higher purpose than a lame paycheck, and that is to be a servant to the rest of the world. Jesus was on this earth for 33-34 years before he was crucified, there wasn't a second that he wasted in doing something for a profit or doing something selfish. The creator of everything laid down his life for us sinners, that in and of itself is enough to answer the question of why Missionaries stay, why Missionaries risk their life, and why Missionaries can't stop spreading God's word. But those who refuse to accept that fact look for other answers, they don't find them and they justify their way to their own doctrine. And this is what has become the modern doctrine, welcome to the American Gospel. 

A complex God

As Christians we know that we are made in God's image therefore if we are made in the image of an all-knowing and perfect God, don't you think that He would make us complex and not simple? George Johnson writer of the article "Creation, in the Eye of the beholder" states in the article that "When we see such intricate symmetry, our brains automatically assume there was an inventor". Later in the article Johnson states "If God is so powerful, why would he need to assemble eyes with such an elaborate structure". If we were made simple and not complex and God claimed to create us, couldn't Johnson make the argument go the other way? He could just simply say, If God is so powerful why did he create us so simply? However, since God is so powerful he wants to put his power on display for the rest of the world to see. Johnson also states that "creationists and conspiracy theorists share is a deep disbelief in accidents". These "accidents that Johnson is relating to are accidents that are not recorded in any form of history. However, where Johnson questions Christianity and creation, we have documented proof (The Bible) that creation occurred and by knowing God's nature as perfect in other words He cannot lie, it is true. I am a seeing is believing person and for me it is sometimes hard to grasp and believe the things of God. However when I look around and see these complex fixtures from the beauty of the human eye to the hugeness of the Milky Way Galaxy I know that there is something else out there, something of so much more power than myself. In reality evolutionists aren't that far off because when God created the universe, I'm sure it was the biggest bang in the history of the world.