Archive for 2011
It is complex, but is my third marriage adulterous?
Question: I have a question for you. It involves a complex matter, but I trust your biblical response after having read your web page. I am married currently and was also married twice before this marriage. I have since repented and grieved over all of my wickedness when I saw biblically what I had been.…
Read MoreIf intelligent life were discovered elsewhere, how would views of God change?
Question: Hi! I am an astrophysics student. IF life of intelligence was ever discovered elsewhere in the Universe, what do you think their opinion on God would be, and how would it affect your opinion on God and the Bible? Thanks! Answer: If life exists elsewhere in this universe, then it would have been created by…
Read MoreWhy did Jesus allow divorce when the Law had a death penalty for adultery?
Question: I’m trying to figure out how to reconcile a couple of Jesus’ statements in the Sermon on the Mount. First Jesus said, “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them,…
Read MoreI enjoyed the story of the early church in Europe
Question: Thank you for putting Bro. Grimm’s story on the Internet! It took a long time for me to read it, but it was worth it. My husband’s ancestors came from Alsatia. He had no roots in the churches of Christ but this story has brought real meaning to me. Just to know that ancestors at…
Read MoreShould I let my son be in a play that contains a short waltz?
Question: Hello, I am a mom with a particular problem: my son wants to be a part of a play and in it, he would be waltzing for a few seconds. He is a 17-year-old with an aim to preach. He has been raised in the Scriptures all of his life, and we are so…
Read MoreIs God preparing me to be a preachers’ wife?
Question: I have been in the body of Christ for nearly a decade. Struggling through it all, I have learned to deny my own will and go with God’s plans for my life and that has made me successful. I had heard the call that anything I do with my career, I do it for…
Read MoreDoes a person leaving the Christian Church need to be baptized again?
Question: What is your thinking (based on Scripture) on a situation where someone has been baptized in the Christian Church but says they were baptized for the remission of sins and they want to place membership in the church of Christ? Do they need to be baptized again? The argument is that we are placing…
Read MoreI keep messing up with lust and laziness. What can I do?
Question: I am 18. I got saved a few months ago. Although I love God, I am constantly messing up. I have a stumbling block for lusting homosexual thoughts and laziness to name a few problems. I know what I am doing is wrong, and I keep confessing, but I still mess up. I am…
Read MoreWhat syllable should be stressed in the name Jeshua?
Question: I have a pronunciation question for you. I did read “Understanding the Tetragrammaton: How is it Pronounced” on La Vista’s web site, but it does not answer this question. Whether Aramaic, Hebrew or Greek, the name “Jeshua,” is the accent on the first or second syllable? In the film “The Passion of the Christ” the accent was on the…
Read MoreHow do we know if we have God’s approval?
Question: We should seek the approval of God and not man. I absolutely agree with this. My question, however, is how do we know if we have God’s approval? Since I became a Christian, I have developed a fear of dying. I fear I’m going to Hades and then hell because I feel I’m not…
Read MoreWhy do you feel the need to promote killing animals when God did not mandate this?
Question: Why do you feel the need to promote killing animals when God did not mandate this? I am a Christian and I don’t feel the need to kill an animal when I have other alternatives. Why do you think choosing compassion over death is wrong? Answer: “And the fear of you and the dread…
Read MoreIs veganism bad?
Question: Hi minister, About veganism, is it bad? I had broken my heel in two places by just barely jogging. Doctors said diet is not to blame, but I am not so sure. I’m still not better, Doc says my vitamin D is so low I will need a prescription! And now my white platelet…
Read MoreWhat do you do if a girl offers to lead a prayer?
Question: Some new friends I’ve begun spending time with recently are all religious people. Two or three times now, one of the girls has offered to pray before we eat. I have absolutely no idea how to handle that properly. I know I’m responsible for doing or saying something, but I don’t know when or…
Read MoreHow do you argue against abortion with a non-Christian? And how do you know when it is time to end a debate?
Question: I’ve found myself in a pretty heated abortion debate. I’ve had no problems finding inconsistencies in most of the arguments, but I’m seeing no progress made, and it’s taking quite a bit of time to answer the arguments, especially with things I’ve already said a number of times. I’m not seeing an end on…
Read MoreThank you for placing your emphasis on the soul of man
Question: Greetings La Vista Church of Christ! I’m a fellow minister in the church of Christ. I was doing some Bible study and was looking up what a broom tree looks like and find a link to your page on the google website. Because I’m curious, I looked at your home page and read your…
Read MoreHow can John not know what we will be like in I John 3:2?
Question: Please explain I John 3:2. I have tried to understand, but can’t. Why doesn’t John know what we shall be? Answer: “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved,…
Read MoreShould announcements come before or after worship?
Question: Can announcement be done before the Lord’s Supper, preaching, praying, singing, or done at the end of service? (Matthew 6:33). God’s business first, then the church’s business last? Please I need help! Thank you. Answer: When God does not make a rule, it is not proper to make one for Him. The order of…
Read MoreDo I have to keep a foolish promise that I made?
Question: I want to talk about something that has troubled me for a couple of years. My hobby was to make websites, and I had a couple online. One night, I felt compelled by something to utter a promise to Jesus. A promise to remove my web sites. Feeling compelled by this (thought or whatever…
Read MoreShould I continue seeing this divorced woman?
Question: I have a question that is tough for me to come to conclusion on. I hope you can reply after careful consideration, but in somewhat of a timely fashion. I am dating a woman who has divorced her husband. Initially, she did not tell me why and over time she revealed that her ex-husband…
Read MoreI’ve continued to commit fornication after I was baptized. How do I convince my boyfriend that it is wrong?
Question: I have committed fornication with my boyfriend before and after baptism. Now I feel so much guilt and I don’t know how to ask God for forgiveness. I have been asking God to guide me and help me with my situation. I’ve been asking Him to change me. I’m trying to seek the Holy…
Read MoreHow can we make things right and be committed Christians?
Question: I am a middle-aged woman in a relationship with a middle-aged man for about a year. We have talked of marriage, but I am not sure if this man is the one that God wants me to marry. I am a born again Christian. I’ve been praying to God to give me a sign…
Read MoreHow can I be a Christian in a Hindu family?
Question: I am a strong believer in the Lord, but I am a Hindu. My teacher has told me that if one person believes in Him, the household would soon become believers as well. True enough, my parents have a Bible at home and they have bought for me a crucifix pendant of gold. However,…
Read MoreExperience with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes
Question: Thank you for all your work with this site and for answering hard questions that sometimes members of the Church are unprepared and unequipped to answer. I graduated from High School in 2010 and have experienced first hand the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. I was never personally a member, but once I did happen to be…
Read MoreNeglect
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Neglect.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Judges 4:4-16 I. The story of Deborah and Barak is one that many remember A. In part it is because it involved a woman who was both a prophetess and a judge 1. She didn’t fight the battle, that was left to Barak, but she did travel with the army 2. Because…
Read MoreGrandpa, Tell Me ‘Bout the Good Old Days
by Jefferson David Tant In 1986, Jamie O’Hara wrote a hit song with the above title. It was popularized by Naomi and Wynona Judd. Allow me to be nostalgic as I cite the words with a few comments. (If you don’t know the song, you can Google it.) “Grandpa, tell me ’bout the good old…
Read MoreAm I still in adultery?
Question: I need some advice about my situation. There is a lot that has happened, but I’m going to try to summarize to keep it short. Several years ago I had sex with a girl who was barely married a few months before to a guy (I’ll call him “J”). We kept on in it,…
Read MoreDid David have two sons named Solomon?
Question: I’m now reading II Samuel and I am confused about David’s children. In II Samuel 5:14, the passage reads that one of the names of the eleven children born in Jerusalem was Solomon. In II Samuel 12:24, the passage reads that Bathsheba gave birth to another Solomon. My question is which of these two…
Read MoreLove is Different
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Paul’s description of love in I Corinthians 13:4-8 is both well-known and unheeded. Despite knowing what love is and is not, people still expect more of love. They want the fluttery feeling of butterflies in the stomach and the emotional high. To many, love isn’t real without the emotions. But are…
Read MoreWhat do you say to people who left the church when you run into them?
Question: Over the last couple of years, members (particularly young adults) have fallen away from the church. It concerns me, as I have heard that they are going their own way and some now have relationships (boyfriend or girlfriends). I am not sure how to deal with the situation as these people have been an…
Read MoreWhy was there an idol in David’s house?
Question: In I Samuel 19:13, why was there an idol in David and Michal’s house? I know Saul erected a monument for himself in Carmel (I Samuel 15:12). Did Saul and his children worship other gods? Answer: The Hebrew word teraphim is often translated as a “household idol,” but some translators, such as Koehler-Baumgartner, think that it…
Read MoreGiving Up on the Little Church
by Robert E. Speer via Think on These Things, April-May-June, 2011, Volume 42, Number 2 Many years ago — Ouch! Has it really been that long? — my family and I responded to a plea from another family to join them in a work they were trying to establish on the southern shores of Lake Superior.…
Read MoreThank you for posting your sermons
Question: Thank you for posting your sermons, such as When Good Men Do Nothing, in this way. Thank you for teaching clearly and simply. This issue is not just about what is happening in our country politically, it’s how we turn away from the needs of our families, our kids lost in the Internet and worldly…
Read MoreMy husband and I are just not getting along
Question: I have written to you before and you really helped me with your advice and I am in need of it again, as I really don’t have anyone I can talk to about this problem. I was married for over twenty years to my late husband. We had a wonderful and blessed life raising…
Read MoreShould Christ be put into Christmas?
Question: It just doesn’t seem right that we shouldn’t bring Christ into everything. I thought that’s what we were supposed to do. Wouldn’t it be alright to sing carols about Christ because they are just songs about his birth, even though some of them might have Christmas in them? This is really difficult for me…
Read MoreWhat should be done if a visiting speaker starts teaching falsely?
Question: If an elder at a congregation puts a visiting speaker in the pulpit who has no business being there, and you have a lot of visitors in the audience, what should the preacher do or say about that? I might add that the elder’s knowledge is nowhere close to where it should be to…
Read MoreCan you join the church?
Question: I do appreciate the sermon outlines but figured this was an oversight that could stand some tweaking. In Why Are There Denominations? V. “Join the church of your choice” is a foolish idea A. It is advocating pleasing self. B. We need to join the church of God’s choice. We cannot “join” but we can be added to…
Read MoreIs it wrong to report less than what something costs so as to pay less tax?
Question: I have some questions. Part of my job is running an importing business for my small shop. My supplier asked if she can lower the invoice price to make my tax smaller. Is this a sin? The people at the customs office offered me a cheaper solution to the taxes I pay. Instead of…
Read MoreIs it necessary to fast or to give something up for God?
Question: Is it necessary to fast or to give something up for God? For example, I love video games. So does me giving up video games for a week please God? Answer: “Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject…
Read MoreCan a daughter at 18 go to college without her parent’s permission?
Question: Would it be a sin to move out at 18 despite your father telling you that you will leave only when he approves? I know a father who will not allow his daughter to leave home until she is married. However, she is mainly confined to her house when she is not at school…
Read MoreWhy am I suffering like this?
Question: I’m in my early twenties. I’m suffering from arthritis for several years. I took many treatments, but I’m not able to find a cure. I’m a Christian. One more thing is that I was in a relationship with a girl. I loved her like anything. I have touched her several times and I have…
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