Updates

I have updated the Sunday School series and the Bible Studies series.

3 Important Standards of Diligence

Benjamin Watson, an American football tight end for the New Orleans Saints, has written an article, "Teaching Your Kids to Finish Strong." He gives 3 important points of not only starting with our best but finishing with our best. Even though the article deals with points of raising our children, the application to the Christian faith is obvious.

The 3 points are

1. Perseverance in Difficulty
   
2. Moral Character
   
3. A Commitment to Excellence
   

All Christians are called to preserve. There is no room for quitting when times get tough.

All Christians are called to have the moral character that pleases God. He watches our actions and motives. He encourages us and helps us in our race.

All Christians are called to excellence. There is no room for half-hearted Christians. It is all or nothing. Is your/my prayer life just one minute long? Is our Bible reading/studying only a couple of verses with an attitude well that is good enough?

A Christian must give it our all to finish strong. It is an attitude encouraged and helped by God Himself. Are we willing and will get to action?

I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4:7, EMTV).

(See 1 Timothy 6:12, John 4:34 (Jesus is an example of how to finish strong), 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Philippians 3:14, and Hebrews 12:1).

Behold the Beauty of the Lord

Psalm 27:4 is a favorite of many. It reads, "One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple." (Psalms 27:4, NKJV)

The phrase "…to behold the beauty of the LORD…" to me sounds like is an egotistical, narcissistic monster who wants everyone to stare at Him and be overawed at His physical characteristics. Most Bibles translate the Hebrew with those same words.

It seems that this passage is not speaking of God's physical form, rather it refers to His character. It is not His physical beauty we are to admire but His character, His personality, and His way of life. It is just comforting and pleasant to be around Him.

Physical beauty is not to be the judge of a person (Proverbs 31:30, Proverbs 6:25, Proverbs 11:22, 2 Samuel 14:25), but their character, personality, is (1 Samuel 16:7, 1 Peter 3:4, John 7:24). A pretentious lifestyle or look is not commended (Isaiah 3:16, Proverbs 30:13).

Some of God's character traits are found in Exodus 34:6, 1 Timothy 1:17 and Jude 25. Some traits worth admiring as love (John 3:16), peace (Philippians 4:7), wisdom (1 Corinthians 2:7), knowledge (Romans 11:33), just (Deuteronomy 32:4), merciful (Ephesians 2:4), strong (1 Corinthians 1:25), helpful (Jude 1:24), compassionate (James 5:11), keeps His promises (Proverbs 30:5), and doesn't lie (Titus 1:2).

These are not only worth admiring but traits we should be developing into our character. This happens by reading/studying the Bible, prayer, fellowship with other, being taught, confession of sin, and humility.

My Journey From Jew To Completed Jew

My Journey From Jew To Completed Jew.

I always like to read and/or hear someone's testimony of how they came to place their faith into Jesus Christ. This is the testimony of one woman's journey to conversion from the Jewish faith to faith in Messiah--Jesus Christ. Enjoy!

4 Things that are good for every person

1. Hear
   
2. Teach
   
3. Deliver
   
4. Wait
   

Psalm 27:7-14

Hear me

1. Means to listen. He is asking God to please listen to my prayer. It is always good to pray when there is a need or not.
   
2. Have mercy. Mercy is, even though we deserve punishment or the consequences of our wrong decisions, we do not get the punishment or consequences we deserve. Mercy is not getting what we deserve. We also need to show mercy to others since we have received mercy (Luke 10:37, Jude 1:23).
   
3. Answer. He wants a positive answer from God. God always answers prayer. The answer might be yes, no, or wait. The yes may be different then what we are expecting. We may pray to be hired for a certain job, but we may not get it, for God knows it to be better to have another one, or He wants us to learn something.
   
4. Seek. No human seeks God. Mankind as a collective or individually have no desire to seek God and do not seek God (Romans 3:11). God seeks us. He initiates the plan of salvation. He opens our eyes, mind, and heart to our true condition and the punishment for it. He then gives command to seek (Psalm 27:8, Mark 1:15). King David does, most refuse, resist (Act 7:51, 2 Timothy 8:8). In his seeking the Psalmist fears and so ask 3 things: do not hide from me, don't put me away in your anger, and don't forsake me. In faith he states that even if his parents forsake him, God will not.
   

Teach me

1. He wants to know God's ways of doing thing, His lifestyle, and His rules, to that he may also live this way.
   
2. He wants to be led by God so that he may know, understand, and obey God's rules.
   

Deliver me

1. Not to my enemies. The Christian has many enemies. Many times Christians are harmed and killed. The main enemy is the enemy of our souls—the Devil. The Psalmist knows that only God can deliver (2 Peter 2:9) and that we cannot deliver ourselves (Psalm 34:4).
   
2. Not to false witnesses. These lie so that the believer in God get in trouble Mark 14:56).
   
3. Then he shows his faith in believing that God will deliver him. Even if God does not and he dies, God receives him into heaven (Daniel 3:17-18).
   

Wait

1. We must wait patiently for answers to prayer and deliverance (Jeremiah 42:7, Acts 10:31).
   
2. We are to have courage while we wait. This courage is that God will answer when the time is right (Acts 28:15).
   
3. We need God's help to strengthen our hearts, for we need to be taught that His timing is best. It is God adding to our maturity as Christians (2 Peter 1.5-9).
   

Why Study Biblical Ethics?

This is another part in a series on Biblical Ethics.

 

Why Study Biblical Ethics?

 

A1 The Importance of Bible Study

B1 Not just reading but study

B2 This article on why we should read and study the Bible has some good reasons.

C1 It is God's Word to us.

C2 It is totally reliable and without error.

C3 We should read and study the Bible because God does not change and because mankind's nature does not change.

C4 We should read and study the Bible because there is so much false teaching.

C5 We need to be equipped to serve God.

C6 We need to see the consequences of giving into temptations.

C7 We read and study it so that we can apply it to our lives and situations.

 

A2 The importance of Biblical Ethics

B1 In light of Topic A1 we can know right from wrong.

C1 Things we must do.

C2 Things we must not do.

C3 Examples of what happens otherwise.

C4 Examples of people's choices/decisions to guide us.

C5 Principles that we can apply to situations that are not clearly labeled as right or wrong.

B2 We are to be a light to the world. The world is to look at us and see the difference between Christian living and unchristian or corrupted Christian living.

B3 We are to glorify God.

B4 We need to learn the laws of God's Kingdom.

B5 Choices do have consequences.

 

A3 The Old Testament and its laws are for a nation.

 

A4 The New Testament and its laws are for a people, a group called the church.

 

What Is Biblical Ethics?

This is a topic of a bigger work that I am laboring on.

 

What is Biblical Ethics

 

A1 Ethics is

B1 the study of moral values and rules.

B2 the study of right and wrong

 

A2 The philosophical study of ethics refers to people coming up with a rational (scientific) arguments for a code of right and wrong.

B1 Three broad views

C1 Virtue ethics has to do with the character of the person, not the act or deed.

C2 Deontology refers to strict adherence to rules, not necessarily character or deed.

C3 Consequentialism deals with rightness or wrongness from the outcome/result of the act or deed.

B2 Examples

C1 Virtue ethics would say it depends on whether the lie helps or hurts one's character or the group's character.

C2 Deontology would hold that lying is always wrong.

C3 Consequentialism would believe that lying is wrong if it hurts someone.

B3 Source of the rules

C1 Virtue ethics would rely on what would make the being of a person the best.

C2 Deontology has a number of theories one being the divine law and moral absolutes from these laws.

C3 Consequentialism bases its rules on what the outcome would be thus would be flexible or changing depending on the circumstances.

B4 What is desirable

C1 Virtue ethics would hold to desirable virtues or characteristics of one's being, however, how they derive their list of what is virtue is debated among them.

C2 Deontology would point to meeting a standard, an absolute standard. Murder is always wrong.

C3 Consequentialism often bases what is desirable on the principle of the greatest happiness. Murder would be wrong it the outcome is not for the happiness of a person, a group, a family, or society.

B5 Famous examples

C1 Virtue ethics--Aristotle taught that the greatest happiness comes from practicing virtues. Probably in the sense of having good, virtuous habits based on reason. Some of these would be reason, wisdom, justice, temperance, etc. The most common example is to meet a mean between two extremes, thus courage is the mean between cowardice and rashness.

C2 Deontology

D1 Augustine taught that humans are to seek the highest good for personal and societal happiness. This is done by loving God. If one loves God then he/she will do what God commands. God always does things according to love. Moral truth exists only in dependence of what God says, so his commands are mortality (right and wrong).

D2 Robert Adams teaches

E1 Two theorems

F1 It is wrong to do X.

F2 it is against God's laws to do X.

E2 God's laws do not explain what is moral (right or wrong) but the laws themselves show and teach what is right or wrong, thus why God made those laws.

E3 Laws and actions would have to be in agreement with God's character especially His characteristic of love.

F1 An action is wrong if and only if it defies God's character of love.

F2 God cannot command cruelty for instance because it is against His character of love. Cruelty is not loving. God is loving, thus cruelty is against God's character and is wrong.

D3 The Euthyphro dilemma

E1 Offered by Plato as, "Is X good because God commands it, or does God command it because it is good?"

E2 The first would imply that everything that God commands is good.

E3 The second would imply that God is subject to a law, a standard, greater than Himself.

C3 Consequentialism

D1 Basically is the end justifies the means

D2 Forms

E1 What is best for the state (government) is what is morally good. (State Consequentialism).

E2 What is best for maximum pleasure is morally good, and what is painful is morally bad. (Utilitarianism, Hedonism)

E3 What is best for me is morally good; everything else is morally bad. (Ethical egoism)

E4 What is best for others is morally good; what is best for me that might hurt others is morally bad. (Ethical altruism)

E5 What is best may be mistaken, but if the motive was good then it is morally good. (Motive Consequentialism)

E6 What is most loving (as defined by the individual) is morally good, and what is not loving is morally bad. It all depends on any given situation. (Situational Ethics)

E7 And many others.

D3 Many different adherents from Milton Friedman to Sam Harris, Peter Singer, and others.

 

A3 Biblical ethics is the study of what the Bible teaches on what is right and wrong.

B1 Philosophically Biblical Christians would be considered to be believers in some form of deontology.

B2 My view

C1 The Bible is God's revealed words.

C2 God is accurately portrayed in the Bible.

C3 God is good.

C4 God created all things good.

C5 Creation needed laws and regulations for everything to operate smoothly.

C6 Therefore, God's rules are good. (because the results are good according to the operator's manual).