Month: May 2017

Skeptics Can’t Have It Both Ways | CrossExamined.org

~ wzippler

     Former L.A. County District Attorney and agnostic Vince Bugliosi believes that the problem of evil is fatal to believing in Christianity.“I’m an agnostic only on the issue of whether there is a God, a supernatural being who created the universe. I’m not an agnostic on the Christian God… while God can be all-powerful or all-good, he cannot be both, since these are irreconcilable virtues in a world overflowing with the bloody crops of evil. Even eliminating all the other supposed attributes of God, if he is all-powerful, and hence capable of preventing evil, for him to cause, or do nothing to stop, the unbelievable suffering and horror in this world immediately tells one that God cannot be all-good, as Christianity believes its God to be.” ¹But then, in a later chapter in his book he mentions numerous parts of the Bible where God actually does something to put a stop to evil, and he is furiously outraged at Him for doing so. Ok, technically, he doesn’t say it that way. But he argues, as skeptics increasingly have in recent years,

Read more at: Skeptics Can’t Have It Both Ways | CrossExamined.org

Are There Different Degrees of Punishment in Hell? | Cold Case Christianity

~ wzippler

Are There Different Degrees of Punishment in Hell?

Are all sins the same in the eyes of God? Is lying just as bad as murder? The answer is not as simple as it may seem. In one sense our moral failings are exactly the same: Our sins (regardless of severity) expose our imperfection and separate us from the perfect God who created us. Even the smallest moral failing disqualifies us from the perfection of God. But God recognizes some sins are more heinous than others. Jesus affirmed this as He was standing in front of Pontius Pilate:John 19:11-12 Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me up to you has the greater sin.”Even Jesus acknowledged some sins are greater than others, and this is

Read more at: Are There Different Degrees of Punishment in Hell? | Cold Case Christianity

How Shame Drives Us From Christ

~ wzippler

My Only Comfort

This story came up in my newsfeed today. I am taking a sick day today, but there is so much wrong here, and it is so prevalent, that I wanted to make a few comments.

For some reason, Evangelical America has decided that shame is an effective way to battle sin. My whole life, I have heard that “Israel forgot how to blush” (Jer. 6:15) which led to their destruction. Therefore (so it is taught) when we catch someone in some kind of sin, the best thing we can do for them is publicly shame them so that they won’t sin any more.

This is actually practiced in so many churches, but it seems to always be selectively applied. The only people I have ever heard of being publicly shamed like this – forced to stand before the whole church, or the whole school, and confess their sins – are…

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Today’s Preaching Tip from Sir Winston Churchill

~ wzippler

The Recovering Legalist

Men, sometimes our best-designed outlines, our ingenious illustrations, and our attempts to convey a point without offending do nothing more than muddy the cleansing water, smudge the reflective properties of God’s Word, and lessen the needed blow to our hardened consciences.

Maybe we should heed the following advice:

“If you have an important point to make, don’t try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time-a tremendous whack.” – Sir Winston Churchill

Do you think the Apostle Paul and Churchill might have been related?

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