Love

Love has always been a confusing topic and all the time used in the wrong way. Most of the time people just say that they love Starbucks or “I love food” and not expressing true love for it. So what is love? Love is a subject very hard to explain but very important. In many places in the Bible it says that God is love. God shows love towards us constantly throughout our lives. He loves us enough to send his son to this earth as a sacrifice for all the sins that we have committed. There is also different kinds of love. There is unconditional love which is the kind of love that can’t be changed from actions but committed. A friendship or brotherly love is the caring for someone else. And there is also the love of having emotional feelings or a passion for someone or something. If I considered God one of these types of loves, I would consider Him an unconditionally loving father for us. For everything that we have said or done that is sinful, God overlooks our sinful flaws and forgives us. After anything that we do no matter how bad or sinful, God still loves us unconditionally.

Jesus

To start off explaining who Jesus is, I would start off saying that He is the Son of God and is also God. Even though this is impossible to explain, Jesus wasn't some invincible god that flew around and struck people with lightning when he was mad. Jesus was a man who was perfect. Jesus was so perfect that he never told a lie or stole anything. Jesus was a man sent to this earth to die on a cross to forgive us for our sins. His purpose for us was to be our Savior and save us from our sinful lives and give us the opportunity to live in heaven with God. He was born from a virgin even though that seems impossible. Jesus was God but he still had to grow up as a normal human being. Through out his life he also preformed many miracles such as: healing, raising people from the dead, walking on water, raising himself from the dead, etc. To compare how powerful Jesus is to God is almost equal. 

Christianity

If I was visiting a church and they happened to preach about something that I either disagreed with or have never heard before, I would question if what they said was true. Most likely if there was scripture backing it up, then I would be able to agree with them. Sometimes if there is something that is being taught at a church that people disagree with, they just leave the church. Personally I believe that the pastor should use the Bible when preaching.The way how I would respond to the pastor preaching on something I didn't agree with, I would probably find out if what he said follows scripture. Depending on what they said would determine if I would return to that church. 

There are essential parts you need to be a Christian. To be a Christian, I believe that you should believe in the trinity, that Jesus is God's son and the Savior, and that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. It is hard to determine if you have to believe in certain thing such as hell or satan. A lot of questions that aren’t answered in the Bible are almost impossible to find the answer to.

Money

The book of James talks about the topic of being wealthy versus being poor. The way how I think of it is that it doesn't make a difference if you are rich or poor. Either wealthy or not wealthy it doesn't make a difference in how you can get exepted into Heaven. James talks about how being poor is better than being rich. I don't agree with him because it can go either way. It can be bad to be poor or rich. A lot of the time the poor wish they were wealthy just like the rich. They could also just complain about how poor they are. Sometimes they could even blame God as the reason that they are poor. But the rich aren't any better. The rich could be gready and just want more and more money. They could also believe that they are better than God because of how much money they have, or they could make money their idol over God. Even though being wealthy or poor can be bad they can also be good. Sometimes the poor are the most content. The poor can have no money but still have God. And some rich can have all the money but could use it to give to others.

The Church

How structured should the church be? I believe that the church should have lots of structure. Having no structure to a church wouldn't even be a church. No structure would make the church very unorganized. Church should require leadership, a pastor, and worship. Even though a church doesn't require a building necessarily, you can have church anywhere. My definition of church is: A group of people that gather together to worship God with a pastor that is guided by God’s Word. The definition of church has nothing to do with the “Building with the cross on it.” 11 When a woman is learning, she should be quiet. She should follow her leaders in every way. 12 I do not let women teach or take authority over a man. They must be quiet. Who should have authority in the church? Who should be in charge? I think a man should be the pastor or the head of the church. Verse 11-12 are saying that a female can’t be a pastor. Can a woman be a pastor or be part of that authoritative structure? I honestly don't think a woman should be the head of a church, but I think a woman can be a part of the authoritative structure but not as a pastor. I haven’t personally been to or have heard of a church with a female pastor but I know my church is the same on this subject. 

Predestination

Ephesians 1:4 says, "God chose us to belong to Christ before the world was created. He chose us to be holy and without blame in his eyes. He loved us." This passage is saying that God has predestined how our lives, and he has planned how everything is going to happen before any of us were born. The question is: do we have free will to choose to be saved or is that up to God to choose who gets saved and goes to heaven? Ephesians 1:9-10 says, “He showed us the mystery of his plan. It was in keeping with what he wanted to do. It was what he had planned through Christ. It will all come about when history has been completed. God will then bring together all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.” One thing that I believe that Calvinists get wrong is that God chooses that path that either you get saved or not. I believe that we have the free will to choose whether to get saved or not. No matter what we choose God already knows what we were going to choose before we do. The whole meaning of predestination is that we choose our path freely, but God already knows what we picked.

Our School

In our school, we try our best be the best Christians we can. No matter how hard it is, it is impossible to be perfect. It's the hardest thing to not be influenced by the world or to follow the crowd. In Romans 12:14 says "Bless those who hurt you. Bless them, and do not curse them." This is hard because the automatic thing we think of doing after someone hurts us is we want revenge or payback. Verse 17 is also applicable, "Don’t pay back evil with evil. Be careful to do what everyone thinks is right." In our school, this is applicable but not only for our school but for everyone. 

Sometimes it is hard to also respect the authorities in charge of us. Romans 13:1 says, "All of you must obey those who rule over you. There are no authorities except the ones God has chosen. Those who now rule have been chosen by God." It is a hard thing to respect ALL authorities because not all of them treat you the same. One example is respecting substitutes that treat the class like kindergarteners. Even though how annoying that can be sometimes, God tells us that He want’s us to respect them because they were put into the authority position over us.

Romans

The book of Romans was originally directed toward believers in Rome. Paul wrote it mainly to give the Romans a concrete and solid foundation for their faith. The book of Romans told them that they should live and serve God to the fullest. Romans can both lead many people to Christ and strengthen many Christians in their faith. One main theme throughout the book of Romans is the focus of "The righteousness of God." Paul explains how salvation isn't obtained through doing good things but is obtained through faith in God's righteousness. Even today, the book of Romans is still applicable for believers and is still a great source in the Bible to lead others to Christ.

The hardest thing out of Romans to explain to non-believers would be the whole concept of faith in God. This would be hard to explain because most would be confused why you would need faith in somebody or something that is not physical. This would especially be hard to explain to an atheist. The most believable or sensible thing to a non-believer would be to explain that there is a God that loves them but all your sins would separate you from Christ. 

Death and Resurrection

The way how I think of death is the consequence of man's sins. 1 Corinthians 15:21 says, "Death came because of what a man did. Rising from the dead also comes because of what a man did." According to studies, death is the second most feared thing in America. As Christians, we believe that as believers in Christ, we are raised from the dead because Christ has also been raised from the dead. 1 Corinthians 15:16 says, "If the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either." Even though nobody knows exactly what happen's after death, we as Christian's should have faith in God.

If Christ has not been raised, our faith doesn’t mean anything. Because of our faith in Christ, we should know that he did die for our sins, and he has been raised from the dead. Even though we as Christian's believe in a heaven after we die, many other religions don't. Some people believe that you can get accepted into Heaven by being good or by doing good things. Some believe that after you die, you die. Hinduism believe that when you die, your body gets reincarnated into an animal. With all these different views of life after death, most of them seem depressing. Christianity's belief in an afterlife in Heaven with Christ isn't depressing mostly because it gives us more hope.

Marriage

In I Corinthians 7, Paul talks about marriage. He gives both his opinion on marriage and how marriage should be. Paul tells us that it is better to stay single than to become married in some cases. Even though he's saying pretty much that you shouldn't get married, he is also saying that if you do; there is limit to marriage. He says that a married couple should stay together, but if divorced, they can't or shouldn't marry anyone else. Because of sexual sin happening today, a man should only sleep with his wife, and a woman should only sleep with her husband. A husband should satisfy his wife's needs, and a wife should satisfy her husband's needs. 

Today, I think many couples take advantage of marriage by getting divorced and remarrying, cheating, and adultery. Paul says that if you are single, it is better that you stay single. Thinking for the future, I believe that for me it would be harder to stay single than to get married. Staying single the rest of my life would honestly feel lonely and boring. Today, many teenagers have different definitions of dating. Some date just to date and others date to get to know someone for marriage. I believe that dating at our age is being in a relationship and spending time with someone that you are attracted to. What do you think of dating?

Second Coming

In 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, Paul mentions the second coming of Jesus to the Thessalonians that has not taken place yet. He is mainly talking about that one day Jesus will return back to earth, but Paul reminds them that certain things could happen concerning nature. These letters were written to them to prepare them for this event. When Paul is telling them to prepare, he is telling them to build up the church and be at peace with one another. He also let’s them know that there are no signs of when exactly this could happen and neither does anyone know when He could return. Paul says that when Jesus returns, He will come to destroy the Anti-Christ and all of his works.

Even today we need to prepare for the second coming of Christ. Some things that we as Christians could do is build each other up and share the love of Christ. Why as Christians do we break each other apart? Even though we are corrupted with sin, we have been forgiven by Christ, therefore we should have hope. If you are a believer in Christ, there should be no doubt that you are going to heaven. 

Bible Bloggin

Paul Confronts Peter

In Galatians, Paul confronts Peter because Peter has been keeping away from the circumcised Gentiles influencing the Jews in Antioch to do the same. When Paul realized what he was doing he said to him, "You are a Jew, but you live like one who is not. So why do you force Gentiles to follow jewish ways?" Paul is pretty much telling him that he is not suppose to stay away from the Gentiles but share the gospel with them.

Today's churches and Christians sometimes can do the same as Peter by keeping the Gospel to ourselves and not spreading it to the non-believers. It says specifically in the Bible that we are called to love others as you love yourself and without Christ there is no point to life. Because we are the Christians, we need to share Christ with everyone.

An example of this happening today would be having the problem of sharing the Gospel to people who might do things that makes you uncomfortable to be around. Sometimes it’s even hard to spread Christ’s love with the people who don’t respect you or are jerks to you. Instead of sharing the gospel with them, you just try to stay away from them.

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