Archive for the ‘Forgiveness’ Category:
costs
This is quite a sobering and sad testimony from the UK about women who undergo multiple abortions for the purpose of contraception.
According to a government statistics cited by the article, the number of women seeking more than one abortion is climbing. Approximately 1,300 women in the UK had their fifth abortion last year.
This, on top of another recent report from the UK’s Royal College of Psychiatrists, warning about the increased possibility of mental illness associated with abortion.
Is there any reason to believe this is much different in America?
Numerous faith-based ministries and pregnancy resource centers work to counsel women who feel trapped in their situations, and consider abortion to be the only way out. While there will always be folks who give the entire pro-life movement a bad rap (and they always somehow seem to be easy finds for the media), they are the minority compared to the folks quietly doing the blessed work of counseling women and providing help.
And there are encouraging stories out there as well, such as this one about a mother who’s delighted her child survived an attempted abortion.
“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.” -Psalm 139:13
The “Country Club” Church Is Crap.
Say that ten times fast…
Danielle recently made a comment concerning a post comparing Jack Bauer of the TV Series 24 with Jesus Christ:
And I think there’s a comparison to the church in there. Because although the suspense is pretty cool (as in what will happen here on earth, as well as after we die), it is the human parts of the story that compel people to keep reading/listening/feeling/believing perhaps. And the church has been nothing if not revolutionary in history. Jesus’ story is a prime example.
It instantly reminded me of a couple quotes that generally make me want to pick up sword and shield to charge headlong into this cosmic revolution. This is an axe I gring almost continually. Having not grown up in the church, paradigm for what church should be is not as convoluted by tradition and/or fundamentalism. I am perhaps more able to read how the church is portrayed in scripture without the baggage of moralistic rules and cultural taboos. Of course, I do have other things that cloud my judgment, and there are people who have grown up in the church and are able to see through much of that. But this is something that is particularly close to my heart because of my experiences.
For your reading pleasure, here are two of my favorite quotes Read more »
God’s Story: An Artistic Representation (Panel 1)
You may have seen the header for this site change once again, this time showing a four stage depiction of a tree. This is the digital print of a massive painting done by David Arms, an artist from Franklin, TN. The painting was commissioned by Pastor Scotty Smith of Christ Community Church, as a fulfillment of seeing a dream of his come true. That dream was to have a single painting depicting the whole of “God’s Story, as it progressively unfolds in the Bible, history and in broken hearts.” We have thumb-nailed the picture (above) to be displayed on a new page because it is too large to fit here without losing important details.
This next multi-part series will divide Scotty Smith’s explanation of this incredible work of art. The full explanation and article can be found here, but for the sake of introducing this work of art to commentary and discussion, I will divide it up into 4 parts. Each part will be dedicated to a separate panel in the painting.
If I’m Free From Sin, Why Do I Sin?
Lately I have been thinking on what it means to be free from sin. When mankind was created, we were sinless, but unfortunately we did not remain that way. Christianity believes man becomes perfect in God’s sight by Jesus’ death. By Jesus dying in our place, God is able to do so. But the declaration that we are righteous is not indicative of the way we behave. It is a judicial statement, like if a criminal was pardoned from their crime. I can praise God for this, but Jesus’ death means much more.
Sin’s reign in the life of one who becomes a Christian is ended. Check this verse out:
“We know that our old self was crucified with him (Jesus) in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” (Romans 6:6)
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