Professional Christians
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/ProfessionalChristian.mp3 by Andrew Long
Read MoreOn Faith
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/OnFaith.mp3 by Andrew Long
Read MoreI got drunk and had sex. I don’t know what to do now.
Question: Well, here goes. My family members are Christians and when I was a kid I believed in it all. But in my late teens and early twenties, I got involved in the wrong things and hung around the wrong people. I was involved in a lot of drinking. My dad finally kicked me out…
Read MoreShould I leave my wife because I got her pregnant before we were married?
Question: I have a question about marriage. I’m going to start off on how my wife and I came together so you know the whole story. A small group of friends and I used to go out to eat after church on Wednesday nights. I met this one girl who went with us. For some…
Read MoreI’m addicted to alcohol. I want to quit, but I just can’t seem to help myself
Question: I have an addiction to alcohol. It started when mom bought wine or beer for me and my friends at 13. I’m a Christian and asked the Lord to take this desire from me time after time. I’m so sorry that I grieve Him with my behavior. I had a very bad childhood. My…
Read MoreSure, we did some things wrong, but my boyfriend broke up with me for no valid reason
Question: Hi, I’m 22. I’ve been having a hard time because my boyfriend broke up with me for apparently no valid reason. We are both Christians. We almost had sex, we didn’t go all the way, but there were a lot of physical contacts. It was wrong, and we both knew it. We talked about…
Read MoreCan you make bad things happen by speaking about them?
Question: Can you put bad things and words into the universe by saying them? My husband says in Mathew 12:35-37 it says you can. When I try to tell him his son is going to die if he keeps using drugs, he tells me I am putting that into the universe and it will happen…
Read MoreThank you for speaking the truth!
Question: Thank you for speaking the truth! God lead me to your site. It is so hard to even find a church that speaks the truth anymore without watering it down. I so appreciate your messages and am drinking them up! I so love your answers to questions and how you really just speak God’s truth.…
Read MoreI don’t like the answers you give about sexual sins
Question: Dear Sir, I was reading on your website a letter that a young woman had written to you about feeling very guilty about going too far with her boyfriend. Being that she was away from home and at college with new friends she put God out of her life and that was how it was…
Read MoreMy husband returned to his first wife and now I’m confused
Question: Good day, I have been separated for over a year from my best friend of over 10 years and my husband for less than a year, though legally we were married for over a year. He had been married once before to a woman who continuously committed adultery with multiple people every time he…
Read MoreWhy are Acts 2:16-21 and Joel 2:28-32 not word for word the same?
Question: Read Joel 2:28-32. After reading the verse check Peter’s quote in Acts 2:16-21. Does this mean Peter is not quoting Joel if he is not using the exact words of the prophet? Answer: Joel is written in Hebrew which is then translated into English. Peter quotes Joel in Greek, which is then translated into…
Read MoreI feel terrible. I had sex with a friend and damaged my relationship with my boyfriend
Question: Hello, Please answer, I don’t know who to turn to. I have questions regarding fornication. I’ve sinned, I couldn’t resist the temptation. Now I’m feeling terrible. What happened is I’m in a relationship with a guy I’ve known since high school. When I went to college I had a new friend who is about…
Read MoreYou very clearly and simply explained the time Jesus was in the grave
Question: I was questioning what appeared to me to be an inconsistency in Scripture. Knowing every word is true, I was stuck. I found your web page very clearly and simply explained the time between Jesus’ Passion and Resurrection. I appreciate your effort in posting your teaching and pray to be able to use this…
Read MoreMy girlfriend is marrying someone she claims she is not happy with. She wants me to be her lover after she marries. I’m so confused!
Question: Hi, My life is messed up because my relationship with my girlfriend is very bad. I am suffering from epilepsy, diabetes, and I lost an eye. But all of this is fine if she is with me. I’m involved in my family’s business and belong to a very rich family. She belongs to a…
Read MoreI sinned with my girlfriend. I want to marry her, but my parents don’t agree. Will God support my marriage if I marry her anyway?
Question: Dear sir, I am in a relationship with my girlfriend. We have had all types of physical sexual relations except deep penetration. I know I am sinning and have been trying to get away from it, as I am going far from God. I acknowledge that God has been kind to me in many…
Read MoreThe pastor in the church we are in slapped my wife and called her a derogatory name. What should we do?
Question: Hello, I have a problem. The church that I am attending is very disrespectful to women and people of color, calling them second-class citizens and that God put them on earth to serve men and nothing more than that. They say women cannot be saved unless they give birth, that Jesus died for only…
Read MoreWhat Constitutes Obedience? (Thetford)
by Richard Thetford A passage of Scripture comes to mind when I hear the word “obedience” and that is from I Samuel 15:22 which says: “And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and…
Read MoreHow do I solve the religious differences in a serious love relationship?
Question: How can I solve the religious difference in a very serious love relationship? I met a girl who has a boyfriend at work. After we became good friends we both fell in love. She realized that she didn’t love her former boyfriend, quit the relationship, and continued with me. We have been in a…
Read MoreIf I realize that I had sins after baptism, does that mean I need to be baptized again?
Question: Hi, After spending most of my teenage and early adult life in the Baptist Church, I came upon the Interactive Bible Study by Ronald Boatwright, which talked about how to be biblically saved. I was actually baptized for the correct reason a few weeks ago. However, I’ve been wondering if I should be baptized again, mainly…
Read MoreI hope you are all right!
Question: Mr. Hamilton, This is not a question, simply a note to say I was so happy to see your new posts under the Q&A today. Each day I go to La Vista’s website to read your answers. Many of the topics I do not struggle with (although some relate!), but I am eager to…
Read MoreI behaved so badly with my former girlfriend that I think I should remain single for the rest of my life
Question: Dear Minister, Recently I broke up with my girlfriend, but now I am experiencing guilt because I engaged in sexual activity with my ex. We did a lot, except penetrative sex, such as hand jobs, oral, and sexting. Now I feel like I should remain single my whole life because I believe whoever God…
Read MoreI’m suffering from anxiety after coming off of drugs. Is it a bad thing to skip some things, like the youth group meetings?
Question: After prolonged drug use, I have in some ways developed social anxieties, to say the least. I have been sober for almost four months sounds like nothing, but I’m only 18 and I was not sober pretty much every day of high school). The area I live in has harmful influences. I was delivered…
Read MoreWas John ever put in a boiling pot of oil and came out still preaching?
Question: Was John ever put in a boiling pot of oil and came out still preaching? Answer: Tertullian in A.D. 200 wrote, “at Rome, the Apostle John, having been immersed in hot oil, suffered no harm at all from it” (The Prescription against Heretics, chapter 36). The claim is that because John wasn’t killed that…
Read MoreYou’re right. Christians need a healthy fear of hell
Question: During the five years I attended a church in my area, I never heard the preacher once mention Hell or God’s wrath, or the fact that Christians need a holy fear of God. Your “If I Don’t Preach on Hell” summary was excellent. Is a church that doesn’t preach the full counsel of God…
Read MoreWe’ve been sexual. Are we going to hell?
Question: My boyfriend and I have done some sexual things. We love each other, and I know I’m going to marry him someday. We’ve been struggling to stop, but I think the time has come to give up these things, as I know that it is not right in the eyes of the Lord. Are…
Read MoreStudy of Identical Twins Show Homosexuality Is Not Genetic
Source: Holland Davis, “Identical twin studies prove homosexuality is not genetic.” 13 May 2013. Source: Whitehead, N. E., Ph.D., “The Importance of Twin Studies.” Narth. Source: Whitehead, N. E., My Genes Made Me Do It. After years of trying to prove a genetic basis to homosexuality, the evidence is mounting that homosexuality is not caused by…
Read MoreIs missionary work scriptural?
Question: Mr. Hamilton, What is “missionary work” and is that scriptural? Does God call us to a particular occupation, such as God has “called me” to this career or that career? Is all this scripturally sound? Thank you. Answer: Missionary work has come to mean going to foreign countries to teach the gospel. Sometimes it…
Read MoreIs it a sin to be with a man who has a child?
Question: Should I be with a man who already has a child? What does the Bible say about men leaving the mother of their child to be with the women he loves? Is it a sin for me to be with a man who has a child? Answer: You are asking the wrong questions. The…
Read MoreHow can I tell what God wants from the Bible?
Question: Hello, I am very confused regarding the church. I read articles and studies from different areas around the brotherhood and just can’t wrap my mind around the division that we have. I know you have discussed the process of growing as a Christian and finding out if things we did were right or wrong.…
Read MoreCan a man, converting to Islam marry another wife?
Question: My friend married a Christian in a church wedding. After 20 years of marriage, her husband converted to the Muslim religion and married again to a Muslim woman. Is his marriage to a Muslim woman legal? My friend and her husband still have not separated. Thank you. Answer: “And He answered and said to…
Read MoreWhat was the source of light on the first day?
Question: Which light did God create on the first day? Because we know the sun is the only source of light. If there is an eclipse there will darkness on the surface of the earth. Answer: Light is a form of energy. The sun as well as all the stars produce light. Just because a…
Read MoreShould I take responsibility for another man’s child?
Question: I have been going out with this girl for about five years now. Just recently she got pregnant with another guy. She confessed to me that she doesn’t love that guy and does not believe she can be happy with him. I later told her if the other guy does not take up his…
Read MoreI love your article on tithing
Question: I love your article on tithing. As someone who has faced financial hardship while raising 11 kids on one paycheck, I, as well as my husband, have felt like a failure for not giving enough. At first, we tried to keep tithing but our checks were bouncing, and why should God support a false belief…
Read MoreThe Sovereign Love of God
An Examination of Romans 9 by Bruce Reeves Introduction June 23,24,26,27, 2005, Bruce Reeves debated Calvinistic Baptist Gene Cook on the campus of the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, Arkansas. The first two nights Mr. Cook affirmed, “The scriptures teach that the alien sinner is forgiven of his past sins by faith only, before…
Read MoreI messed up with sex. I know it is wrong, but how do I change the situation?
Question: Hi there, I’ve come across your site and read a few articles on what you’ve been writing on with regards to sex outside marriage and all. I have a little problem and I would like to discuss it with you. I’ve been dating my girlfriend for almost about half a year now. I take…
Read MoreHow do I teach a withdrawn-from family member who thinks God is directing her?
Question: I have a family member who was at one time in the Lord’s church. Recently she told me she is “rebelling” against the ‘church’ (was in a denominational church), so I finally asked what was meant by ‘rebelling’ and she said there were so many errors and problems in this church or that one,…
Read MoreI would like to take a girl out, but she has had bad experiences with guys. How do I convince her I’m different?
Question: How do you ask out a young lady who is so convinced that guys are all the same — i.e they are liars and cheats in relationships? She is a nice young lady, hardworking with a good character but seems to have been hurt from previous relationships. I know I’m not perfect. But I…
Read MoreHow do I forget an event which I’ve already forgiven?
Question: Hello, I would like to first say thank you for having a wonderful website. It helped me view matters in a different perspective. My question today regards letting go and moving forward. How do I drop my personal pride and move on? How do I forget an event which I’ve already forgiven? (This matter,…
Read MoreYour notes on the “Sons of Thunder” were particularly poignant for me today
Question: This morning, I read your notes on the sermon entitled “Sons of Thunder”. Thank you for posting them, as they are particularly poignant for me today. Answer: I’m glad it is helping you in your studies.
Read MoreThe Q&A is a great resource!
Question: I have been a member of the church for almost 30 years and attend regularly. Thank you for the service that you provide through your Q&A site — it really is a great resource! Answer: I’m glad you are finding it useful.
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