Matt. 5:17-20 The Value of the Rule of Law- Too often Christians neglect the Old Testament because they feel Jesus did away with it. Jesus said He didn’t come to do away with the law, He came to fulfill it. In Matt. 25, Jesus puts the Law in perspective. Children need rules to guide them until they are old enough to make decisions on their own. We don’t let small children use a stove because they don’t know how. They could be burned or leave a burner on and start a fire so we have to make a rule that they are not to touch the stove. They do not receive the right to use the stove simply by reaching a certain age. Someone has to teach them how to cook and use the stove safely. Once they are old enough and have learned to cook and use the stove safely, we allow them to use the stove. There will always be those who have not learned to be responsible and have to be held in check by the law.
MAGA-A-D
Parents have a big influence on children but society may have a lot of influence too if they aren’t firmly grounded in their beliefs. America was founded on Christian principles. Though there have been times during America’s expanding west that there have been areas without churches and their influence, the churches moved into those areas and tamed them through teaching Christian values. In the mid 20th Century, a vast majority of Americans either were active in church or at least had some connection to one. The church taught the values to the parents who lived it out in their everyday life. They voted for politicians and school board members that supported Christian values and read newspapers and listened to radio and TV stations that supported Christian values. The politicians enacted laws on Christian principles and school board members hired teachers and enacted policies based on Christian values or they got voted out. Those radio and TV stations that didn’t support Christian values often died out due to lack of support. As a result, many people who had no church connection held Christian values at least in theory. However, the churches no longer teach Christian values and the parents no longer teach their kids. As a result they don’t vote in politicians and school board members that support Christian values, they vote in politicians that feed their selfish greed. They also listen to radio and TV stations that don’t hold Christian values and don’t support stations that do. As a result, an increasing number of people don’t hold Christian values even if they attend church. The result has been growing crime and violence. Many politicians claim the government can solve it but the fact is, the government has been responsible for much of the problem because of the politicians voted in. In addition, the schools have helped create the problem because of the school board members voted in. The radio and TV stations have also added to the problem because people support them. As society becomes more corrupt, the schools and media corrupt many of those growing up in Christian oriented homes.
MAGA-C-C
Many today say we are inherently good and that it is society that corrupts us but all we have to do is look at a baby and we can see that we are inherently selfish. We have to learn to control our selfish desires. Our parents have to set rules to control us and enforce them. We all see kids whose parents didn’t teach them to control themselves and their selfish desires. But we have to learn to move beyond obeying to avoid punishment to where we can control ourselves when our parents aren’t around. Our parents won’t always be around. If children don’t learn to obey basic rules as a child, they will not obey society’s rules as an adult and there aren’t enough police to be everywhere. We are seeing an increase in crime and violence because children are not learning to control their selfish nature as kids due to the breakdown of the family.
Politics-AB-BC
Democrats blame Republicans for refusing to pass the budget but they aren’t willing to give in either. Democrats want to increase the debt limit and spend billions of dollars on health care for illegal immigrants but don’t want to increase payments to Medicare insurance providers. In fact President Biden cut payments to Medicare in the last couple months of his term, forcing Medicare insurance providers to cut services covered under Medicare or increase copayments hurting Seniors who are already hard pressed to meet expenses. Republicans are trying to hold the line on the debt limit and reduce spending so they can begin paying off the national debt. The mid-term elections are coming up next year. Voters need to decide if they want Democrats to continue bankrupting the federal government to benefit illegal immigrants who will then illegally vote to elect Democratic Congressmen or if they want Republicans to cut spending and stimulate the economy so the American people benefit.
Fifth Sunday of Kingdomtide-Oct 5-B
Value of Life-Since the world believes we are here by accident, people do not value life beyond themselves. Those joining the church for the first time must be taught the value of life through example. They must see the church honoring others as God’s creation, not just because they have economic value. They will see the value of the individual as the church supports those experiencing difficulty and celebrates the accomplishments of members. They will see it as the church involves members in decisions rather than merely making decisions in board meetings and informing the congregation afterward. They will see it as the church encourages them to discover their talents and use them to build up the church and to minister to those beyond the church that are in need. But they will see it most as the church seeks to protect the unborn, the crippled, and the elderly, who can not protect themselves and who have no economic value. Babies who may not be wanted by their parents, may be an answer to prayer of someone who wants children but cannot have them on their own. Those who are sick, disabled, or elderly may continue to contribute love, encouragement, or other benefits that cannot be measured. Even those whose only apparent value comes from the fact that they were created by God and belong to Him. Walking with Christ helps us see things as God sees them and not just what we see on our own. Unfortunately, many churches today have lost the value of the individual and members become lost in the crowd.
See our course on the value of life
https://www.udemy.com/course/christian-values-life/?referralCode=5EA3B1D6ED6DAB183AD0
Fifth Sunday of Kingdomtide-Oct 5-A
Value of Life As Christians, we recognize that every person is created by God for a purpose and only God has the right to say when that life ends. While liberals say that that they care about the girl who is pregnant and want to help her, they simply want to get rid of the baby so it won’t be a problem for society. They say that the girl has a right to take the life of her baby if it will inconvenience her, but once you state that, you open the door to allow other people to claim the right to kill someone who inconveniences them, whether it is an aging parent, a terminally ill family member, or simply someone that gets in their way on the freeway. In addition, every life is created with a purpose and we should not allow any life to be wasted. God wants us to have life and that more abundantly so we should seek to help everyone to reach their full potential by helping them find God’s purpose for them and helping them achieve it.
Spiritual Aspects-I
Scientists also puzzle over how there can be a gap in the geological record of millions of years. They assume there must have been a worldwide flood to wipe out the layers of soil during those years. They think that is some new and revolutionary idea, but the Bible already told us that there was a world wide flood. Carbon dating is very accurate but it has its limitations. It depends on knowing the amount of radiation when an animal or plant dies and measuring how much is left to determine how much is lost over time. That tells you how long ago it died. If you know that a timer counts down from ten to zero at a rate of one a second, it takes ten seconds to do it. If you see the timer reads three, you know it started seven seconds ago. Scientists assume that the level of radiation has been consistent down through time, yet they have no proof of that. The Bible says that isn’t true. The geological record is all there but their dating of the different levels of soil is in error. The Bible tells us that the earth once had a canopy of water vapor and we know this is possible because those conditions currently exist on Venus. That makes a difference. Scientists took a living mollusk (clam) and tested it. Tests showed it died 1500 years ago, yet it was still living. The mollusk lives under water and the water shields it from radiation so it absorbs less radiation than an animal on land. If the timer started at seven, it only takes four seconds to reach three. If you assume it started at ten you would be wrong in assuming it started seven minutes ago. The blanket of water vapor would have shielded the earth from the sun’s radiation and could have thrown their calculations off by millions of years. Something six thousand years old could have measured six million years old if you assume it started with today’s radiation level. The gap is easy to explain. If the flood happened 6000 years ago, something dying in the flood might measure six million years old while something dying a year later after the flood would measure 6000 years old. They also point to the Grand Canyon and petrified forests as evidence that the earth is millions of years old but when Mt St. Helens exploded back in 1980 it showed that both assumptions were false. See my course on Basic Christian Beliefs.
Spiritual Aspects-H
People tell me that religion is not compatible with faith and the Bible is just myth. I love science. I got hooked on science long before I came to know the Lord. I constantly read the latest science discoveries, especially in archaeology, and it only strengthens my faith. The theory of evolution is based on Charles Darwin’s research in the mid-1800’s but evidence shows that even Charles Darwin began to doubt his theory before he died. Discoveries since then have only further undermined the theory of evolution and proved the Bible. I am amazed how scientists puzzle over questions that don’t seem to have any answers when the Bible has already answered their questions. Scientists can’t figure out how ancient Egyptians and Inca could cut and move blocks of granite weighing 80 to 100 tons or more using only copper tools. Both Egyptian and Inca buildings show that they actually built on older structures that predate them. The difference between their building and the former building is like the difference between a child building a pyramid with toy blocks and an engineer building one today. In addition, the earlier blocks are cut with such precision that you can’t slide a piece of paper between them. We don’t have any technology that can do that today. The Bible offers a simple solution. The flood wiped out everything before it and only Noah and his family were saved. If nuclear war wiped out all of North America, Europe, Russia, China, and Japan, all that would be left would be Africa and South America and they do not have the knowledge and technology of the industrialized world. If any libraries or scientists survived, they might be able to eventually recreate modern technology but if no libraries or scientists survived, it could take centuries to rediscover them. Some claim it was Martians that built them but it could be that civilization was very advanced before the flood. If they could build the Tower of Babel, they had to be fairly advanced but it was all lost in the flood. Noah might have been from a back-woods area and had very limited knowledge. He only brought what knowledge he had and there were no surviving libraries. It is possible God saw the danger in great knowledge and chose to destroy it.
Politics-AB-BB
Planned Parenthood and liberals in Congress are continuing to push abortion drugs to States that do not allow abortions because the pro-life laws hurt their profits and have forced them to shut down a number of abortion centers. They continue to teach young children to engage in sex and reassure them that they can be protected by contraceptives but do not warn them that the contraceptives have a high failure rate and do not protect them against sexually transmitted diseases so they will produce unwanted babies and fuel the abortion industry. Then they convince them that an abortion will solve that problem. They get paid by the government to teach the sex ed classes, distribute the contraceptives, and do the abortions. Then they get paid selling the body parts of the aborted babies. They have a very profitable racket going. Now that their profits are being threatened, they are adding gender confusion to their sex ed classes and selling kids on the idea that all their problems stem from the fact that they were born in the wrong body, which is a figment of their imagination. They then reap the profits when the government pays them to administer the body altering drugs and the body altering surgeries even though there is no evidence that they are even helpful, and they do great harm to the children.
Fourth Sunday of Kingdomtide-Sept 28
God’s Values vs Man’s values Man looks at things from his own perspective, while God sees the whole picture. Man’s values are those that appear to benefit him and fail to realize the fact that what benefits others will ultimately benefit him. Without God, we are centered on getting things for us. If there are four people and one pie, man sees the benefit of getting the whole pie, but everyone can’t have the whole pie. There will be a struggle and only the strongest will get the pie. They all will only benefit if they divide the pie. God laid down His values in the Ten Commandments and throughout the Bible, to provide for the benefit of everyone, but they seem foolish to man. Why should we give in order to receive when all we have to do is take it. If we give, the other person may not give back, but if we take it, someone else will want to take it from us. We will only find peace and happiness as we understand the love of God and see things from His perspective. In the weeks ahead, I will be examining the various values and how God and man see them differently.