Is giving a hand job sinful?
Question: I’m a Christian girl and I have been dating a Christian boy for almost a year now. We kiss and hug but now he wants me to give him a hand job. I know that he loves me for me not because of my body, etc. I’m truly afraid that if I give him…
Read MoreWas Goliath six cubits and a span or four cubits and a span?
Question: The King James Bible reports the giant Goliath as “six cubits and a span” in height — over nine feet tall, (over 2.75 m) (I Samuel 17:4), but the Septuagint, a Greek Bible, also gives Goliath’s height as “four cubits and a span” (~2.00 m). So by the interpretation which one is correct? Answer: This…
Read MoreI am Compelled
by Ronny E. Hinds via Biblical Insights, Vol. 11, No. 11, November 2011 I checked my thesaurus to make sure. Yes, the synonyms for compelled are bound, obliged, forced, obligated, duty-bound, required, and constrained. Yes, that describes my attitude exactly. About what? — About the recent news from New York and California. The New York State…
Read MoreIs I Corinthians 7:9 a command or a recommendation?
Question: I’ve always wondered about I Corinthians 7:9. I’m unsure of how to take it: as a command or a recommendation? I read that “let them marry” is a better translation than “they should marry,” but I’m not sure how strongly it’s intended to come across, or even the difference in implication between “let them…
Read MoreWhile drinking I had video sex with a stranger. I feel so ashamed of what I’ve done.
Question: I have a wonderful wife and family. I have been happily married, and we wonderful children. Our life is great. However, I have let sin into my life. I started looking at porn about a year ago and thought nothing of it. However, it has crept in, and I think I have a problem.…
Read MoreShould I divorce my husband?
Question: I am married with two children and one on the way. I recently discovered that my husband was having an affair with another woman. I am questioning if divorce is the right decision. My husband flirts with females online and I have found inappropriate pictures of various females in his phone as well as…
Read MoreMy husband abandoned me right after the wedding. Can I marry again?
Question: I married a man five years ago, only for the wrong purposes. He was born in another country, and he needed me to help him with legal documents. We married and never lived together because shortly after he was nowhere to be found. To this day I haven’t heard from him. I have a…
Read MoreMy ex-husband has been engaged in sex since our divorce. Is that fornication?
Question: I was in a physically and emotionally abusive marriage for 30 years and finally decided to divorce after I thought he was going to kill me in a fit of rage. Since leaving, he has engaged in intercourse with his first cousin and pornography. Are these acts considered fornication? Incest is a first-degree felony…
Read MoreIs homosexuality innate or natural for some people?
Question: I have a question about something that I’m really confused about. It deals with homosexuality. In Romans 1, it talks about men and woman going against nature and having unnatural relations with the same sex. I’ve read on a pro-gay theology site about how the original Greek words phusikos and phusis, which both mean…
Read MoreWhere is hell?
Question: Can you tell me what the Bible says about hell? Is it in the earth or is it a spiritual place like heaven? Can we find hell on earth? Is there an opening in the earth? People say that there is hell in the earth. Is that biblical? Answer: See: What Is Hell Like? Hell…
Read MoreI broke my promises to my boyfriend. Will God punish me?
Question: I am a girl in my mid-twenties. I had a boyfriend for about five years. I was deeply in love with him. We almost regarded each other as husband and wife. We saw our future together. I cared for him a lot and he always supported me at all times. He took the best…
Read MoreWhat do you think about Christianity and heavy metal music?
Question: What do you think about Christianity and heavy metal music? As an avid listener of the genre and a Christian, I’m always plagued with people telling me that it’s wrong and satanic. Since I’m the one who actually listens to the genre, I find that those people aren’t very educated on the matter. From…
Read MoreAfter the terrible and unthinkable things I did, is there any hope for me, at all, not to be cast to the lake of fire?
Question: I have a question to ask you: In my youth, I was baptized and gave my life to Jesus, but I did not take it seriously. I fell back into sin and lived in sin. After a couple of years, the Lord drew me, delivered me, and started working in me, changing me. But…
Read MoreThe article on gambling is one of the most helpful I ever read.
Question: Just wanted to say thank you for the article, Is Gambling Sinful?, by T. Sean Sullivan on your website. One of the most helpful I have ever read! Answer: I am glad to hear the site is being useful to you.
Read MoreBeing Made New
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/BeingMadeNew.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Isaiah 42:1-12 I. It is that time of year when we begin thinking about the new year. A. Sure, it is just a date, a marker in the sand, but it becomes an opportunity to look at what was done and resolve to do better. B. Paul talked about that in…
Read MoreMay we use some of your material?
Question: I’m writing to let you know how much I enjoy reading your web site. You have so many great and inspiring sermons, articles, and studies. We are a small congregation and are currently studying the development of the denominations. We are really concentrating on the Catholic Church and its traditions, etc. You have a…
Read MoreI’m not certain what group you are with, but I find your website helpful
Question: I am a disciple of Jesus Christ who attends a fellowship of churches once known as the International Churches of Christ. I was googling opinions and articles on various biblical topics when I saw your website. I just wanted to tell you how refreshing it was to see such an uncompromising stand on being…
Read MoreIs it wrong for a church to give out a form letter to its members to send to their representatives?
Question: I received a church bulletin with a sample letter to be sent to Senators and Representatives demanding the defeat of the Respect for Marriage Act since it broadens the definition of marriage beyond one man and one woman. Although I agree with the content of it, I am of the opinion that it is…
Read MoreThe Holy Spirit’s Intercessory Prayer
by Tanner Campbell In this article, we will put Romans 8:26 under a full investigation. The text explains that “the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” This difficult…
Read MoreHigher Learning
by Bryan Matthew Dockens A common question visitors seem to think appropriate of preachers, at least in this writer’s experience, is “Where did you go to school?” But folks just never seem to know how to react when I tell them about my year at Moorpark College, the community college near my hometown. They expect…
Read MoreI feel the need to thank you for your efforts on the website
Question: I have examined your website for a few days and feel the need to thank you all for your efforts on all of it. I am a member of a church of Christ We also have a web presence. It appears we have a similar congregation (200) attendance. I plan to at least reference…
Read MoreWas Jael morally right in killing Sisera?
Question: I was wondering about Jael. Was what she did right? It’s shocking to our modern sensibilities (or at least to mine) to read the story as presented in Judges 4. And yet Deborah and Barak (who seem to be relatively moral people?) praise her for everything she did in Judges 5.24-27. Just curious how…
Read MoreMy pastor says I’m disobeying church law by wearing color outfits to services. What do I do?
Question: Dear Minister of God, Thank you for the clarification of wearing white dresses to church and not wearing jewelry. Our pastor says that I’m disobeying the church law by wearing color attire to church. I feel it is a conspiracy (Isaiah 8:12) he’s placing on me. I don’t wear jewels because my parents didn’t let…
Read MoreWhen Jesus said he didn’t know the day or hour of his return, was he speaking in hyperbole?
Question: In Mark 13:32, it says that “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.” During our Bible study, somebody said that Jesus really does not know the day of His return. Is this true? Can we take this…
Read MoreWhat does integrity mean?
Question: What does integrity mean? Answer: Integrity means to be complete, upright, innocent of willful wrongdoing, a person with a clear conscience. For example, Job was a man of integrity. “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God…
Read MoreCan a preacher be supported by multiple congregations that he is working with?
Question: Is it scriptural for a preacher to accept support from two churches at the same time? e.g. from the church where he is located and the other from the church which he helped established (currently preaching in both churches). Answer: “I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to minister to you. And when…
Read MoreWhy was David wrong in numbering Israel?
Question: In II Samuel 24:1-2, it was written that David commanded Joab to take a census of Israel. After the census was taken, in II Samuel 24:10, David knew that he had sinned and God sends a pestilence upon Israel as a consequence. Why did God consider David commanding a census of Israel sin? And…
Read MoreIt 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 More