study course-Church in the 21st Century-free coupon
29
Aug
Up to the 1960’s, the church was successful in influencing the culture and Christian values dominated the culture but the church has allowed itself to rest on its success and the world’s values have spread throughout our culture. As a result, the church has declined from a position of dominance in our culture to where it is now considered irrelevant by much of society. If it is to influence our culture, it must restore the functions that were so effective in influencing the culture before the 1960’s. In “The Church in the World”, I examined the changes that have effected the church. In the “Church in the 21st Century” I deal with those functions and how to restore them. We are currently offering our course “Church in the 21st Century”” for free until 9/11/2025 to the first 100 who sign up at referral code https://www.udemy.com/course/the-church-in-the-21st-century/?couponCode=42089E8
Thirteenth Sunday of Pentecost-B-August 31
28
Aug
Problem pregnancies. Our society glorifies sex but does not warn girls about the dangers. Pro-abortion crisis pregnancy centers prey on such girls by promising protection against pregnancy but do not tell them that there is a high failure rate or about the multitude of sexually transmitted diseases that go with sex with multiple partners. They encourage frequent sex and profit from these girls by selling both the “protection” and “the solution to the problem” when the protection fails. As a result many girls and women find themselves pregnant and unable to care for a child. Christian crisis pregnancy centers have grown up in most cities and many larger towns to help girls caught by unwanted pregnancy. Volunteer counselors are needed to let these girls know that someone cares and is there to help them, as well as to educate them on preventing unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases in the future. Check out “National Right-to-life” on the web.
Thirteenth Sunday of Pentecost-A-August 31
28
Aug
Hospital Ministry- Those in the hospital are often not there by choice. Many people hate to go to the hospital when they are sick or injured, though it is sometimes necessary. In unfamiliar circumstances, away from family and friends, and often unable to do many things they normally do. Staff do not have time to stop and chat so days are long and boring. I spent a number of times in the hospital as a child and a couple times as an adult and I don’t like it either. When I was a child, I always looked forward to the “gray ladies” (retired women who volunteered in the hospital and would bring around pop and ice cream in the afternoons and stop to talk) and the “candy strippers” named after the red and white stripped uniforms they wore(teen girls who volunteered in the hospital who brought around books, magazines, games, puzzles, and crafts in the evenings and spent time with us playing games and showing us how to make simple craft items). When I was in the hospital at age 40 for my hip replacement, no gray ladies or candy strippers came around during the week I was there. They tell me they get very few volunteers these days. Many tell me they hate to visit friends or family in the hospital because it is so depressing. If you feel hospitals are depressing, think how the patients feel. In addition, many people work and don’t have a lot of time to visit. Lastly, many people have no friends or family close by who can visit. Days are long when someone is confined to bed all day and although hospitals have TV sets, they get old after awhile.
MAGA-A-C
28
Aug
Our society says it doesn’t matter what you believe but all we have to do is look around us and see the difference between America in the 1950’s and America today. The values of the culture have changed and it has deeply affected our society. The liberal attacks on the value of life, the value of the rule of law, and the value of the family have destroyed the fabric of our nation and opened the door to the violence that now grips our nation. Liberal politicians see situations and grab the easiest solution. Got an unwanted baby, abort it. It doesn’t deal with the problem that created it or the girl’s problem of dealing with it afterward. Got someone shooting up a school, take away everyone’s guns. It doesn’t deal with the anger. The shooter at Sandy Hook had a propane tank filled with explosives he intended to set off which would have killed dozens of kids but police were able to take him down before he reached it. If he could not have gotten a gun, he would have set off the bomb first which would have been far more devastating. They just try to put a band aid on a gaping wound which doesn’t solve the problem, it just sweeps it under the rug. We just saw where a shooter opened fire on children in a church. It was refreshing to hear Malania Trump call for a common sense solution. We need to identify potential shooters and try to defuse the anger or get them off the streets. Though the shooter did not give specific information, he broadcast his intentions long before the incident but nobody listened. Other shooters have also openly broadcast their intentions before hand but nobody was listening, they were too intent on taking away the guns from innocent people.
MAGA-A-B
28
Aug
When I was young, I was not taught about God but I was taught Christian values because my parents grew up in church. When we had massive medical bills from my illness, the church did not care about us, its only concern was that we pay our tithe so my dad demanded that neither God not church be mentioned in our home. Because I had Polio and was bullied a lot, my values were basically survival putting me first, yet I held Christian values as a standard because that is what I was taught by my parents. When I met a group of Christians in high school, they cared about others, including me. They encouraged me to join a church, and I found the same love and concern there. During high school, I worked for a while in the inner-city. It was vastly different then mainstream America. Christian values were so imbedded in mainstream society that even those who did not believe in God held them as a standard. In the inner-city, there was very little belief in God. Life was basically survival of the fittest. Over the years I have seen the influence of the church decrease as it no longer teaches Christian values, and its members no longer live out those values in their daily lives. Many of those in church now view life from a self-centered view and are very little different than those who don’t attend church. That is why I wrote the series on values.