We often hear the plea for preachers to make the Bible relevant to our modern culture. I think I know what is meant by that statement. However, we don’t have to “make the Bible relevant,” it is relevant. It is pertinent to the problems of our day.
There are answers to the issues we face today in the 21st century. The complex moral and ethical concerns with which learned men grapple can be solved by seeking God’s eternal Truth. Continue reading
Filed under Sunday Seed Thoughts
I’m not in the habit of reading random obituaries, but this one dated August 7, 2012 grabbed my attention.
Virginia Dean Whalen Farless got the last laugh Tuesday evening
According to the obituary in the Murfreesboro Daily News Journal Mrs. Farless was the source of smiles, laughter, jokes and funny stories. It read in part.
“She chuckled in the face of death from the time she was born, the baby child of Thaddeus and Lottie Whalen in Harrison County, KY, on May 10, 1932. She had severe asthma and on many occasions, the doctor predicted to her older brother Gerald that she would not live through the night.”
“She not only lived, but laughed a lot, when she graduated from Oddville High School (perfect), as a funny pastor’s wife in SC, KY and Ashland City, TN, a Kentucky Colonel, and a nurse at Deberry Prison. “ Continue reading
Filed under It's Friday. But Sunday's Coming!
Last week Jerry Brown, the Governor of California, signed into law The End of Life Option Act, which allows physicians to prescribe lethal drugs to terminally ill patients.
California now joins Oregon, Washington, Montana and Vermont where assisted suicide is now legal. In order to qualify, patients must be legal adults, be judged to be mentally competent and be expected to die of a terminal illness within six months, which is impossible for anyone to know of a certainty, even a doctor. Continue reading
A construction crew had been on the job site for about a week when one of their men was hurt and a new guy, named Jason, was hired. He was a broad-shouldered, powerful young man and a really good worker. But he was also very annoying.
Jason was always bragging that he was stronger than anyone else at the work site and he especially made fun of Ralph, one of the older workmen. Finally the old fella had enough. Continue reading
Filed under Great Bible Verses
“Alaska Renames Columbus Day Indigenous Peoples Day” read yesterday’s on-line Time headline.
Alaska has joined a growing number of states and local governments that are moving away from celebrating Columbus Day. Since less than half of the states celebrate the accomplishment of Columbus, most of you probably worked yesterday.
Columbus Day is losing ground to a continued social movement of political correctness. While fiction has always obscured some of the facts regarding the great explorer, it’s apparent that the average person knows little of his voyage and accomplishments. Continue reading
Filed under Persistence
Alan Smith tells a funny story about President Franklin Roosevelt, who often endured long receiving lines at the White House. He complained that no one really paid any attention to what was said.
One day, during a reception, he decided to try an experiment. To each person who came down the line and shook his hand, he murmured, “I murdered my grandmother this morning.” The guests responded with phrases like, “Marvelous! Keep up the good work. We are proud of you. God bless you, sir.” Continue reading
Filed under Word of the Week
Tomorrow is October 12, the day we celebrate the discovery of the new world by Christopher Columbus. Some contend that the Norse Vikings or Irish missionaries or even the ten lost tribes of Israel somehow discovered America before Columbus did; but the fact is it was he who returned to Spain and spread the word. Continue reading
Filed under Sunday Seed Thoughts
In his poem, In A U-Haul North of Damascus, Georgia poet, David Bottoms, expresses the lament of the soul that cries for redemption and wonders if it’s worthy of grace.
Lord, what are the sins
I have tried to leave behind me? The bad checks,
the workless days, the scotch bottles thrown across the fence
and into the woods, the cruelty of silence,
the cruelty of lies, the jealousy,
the indifference? Continue reading
Filed under It's Friday. But Sunday's Coming!
Well, I woke up this morning and the world hadn’t come to an end. Honesty, I can’t say that I’m surprised. But I wonder if Chris McCann is shocked?
McCann, the leader and founder of eBible Fellowship, an on-line religious group headquartered near Philadelphia, predicted the world would end on Wednesday, October 7th.
“It does appear that 7 October will be the day that God has spoken of: in which, the world will pass away,” McCann told The Guardian in a recent interview. Continue reading
Filed under Judgement Day
Many people today, even so-called religious leaders, consider Jesus as merely a great man. A social reformer. A cynical philosopher. A champion of human rights. A critic of organized religion. Or just a marginal Jew with delusions of grandeur with a Messianic complex.
The late Robert Funk was an American Bible scholar and founder of the controversial Jesus Seminar which was popularized by Polebridge Press. Funk’s view of the gospel accounts regarding Jesus’ life was regarded as mere fiction. He wrote, “Matthew, Mark, Luke and John ‘marketed the Messiah’ to make him conform to Christian doctrine that evolved after the death of Jesus.” Continue reading
Filed under Great Bible Verses
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