How 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…
Read MoreHow can looking at pornography be adultery, especially since I’m not married?
Question: I have looked up some information on your site and found some to be helpful, but I can’t help but wonder still. It is said that looking at porn is a sin and it says that anyone who looks upon someone with lust commits adultery. But isn’t that term only for married people? I’ll…
Read MoreThe First One to Plead His Cause Seems Right
by Bryan Matthew Dockens “The first one to plead his cause seems right, until his neighbor comes and examines him” (Proverbs 18:17). Wise Solomon observed the reflexive tendency on the part of man to accept as truth the first version of events presented in a potential controversy. When gossip circulates through the workplace, the neighborhood,…
Read MoreWhat is a pacifist?
Question: What’s a pacifist? Because I know the Bible says to turn your swords into something that is not used to kill. Answer: A pacifist is someone opposed to violence for any purpose. He believes that every matter can be handled without violence. Thus a pacifist is opposed to the military and police because of…
Read MoreIf I give a gift, should I not say who it is from?
Question: The Bible says to give in secret, so does that mean we should not even let people know who it’s from, or does it mean we should just not go around saying, “Oh, yeah, I gave this to so and so”? And does that mean for a birthday or a random giving we should…
Read MoreWill God forgive me for cutting myself?
Question: Um, yes, hello. I have been having a problem for a very long time about cutting myself and hurting my body. I just wanted to ask if God will forgive me because I know that He put me there in the first place. What I am trying to say is can you give me…
Read MoreI’m trying to do what is right, but my mother is spreading gossip. What do I do?
Question: Hello, I am a Christian. Here’s the situation that concerns me. My family and I, including my sister who is involved in an adulterous relationship, lived together in one house. My parents and my sister are not Christians. However, since my stand in the matter, things at home started to get out of hand.…
Read MoreI’m supposed to mentor a young man, but he just won’t talk. How do I make this work?
Question: I have a little friend through one of the mentoring programs that helps young men. The relationship has not been the most encouraging experience as I have tried to connect with him, but he seems to be shy and unwilling to spend time. I understand he has friends, but I can’t even get to…
Read MoreWere Jacob and Esau identical or fraternal twins?
Question: I overheard an argument concerning Esau and Jacob. One was arguing that they were twins (Genesis 25:21ff) but not identical twins. What are your thoughts? Answer: Twins are when two children are born to one mother in the same birth. “So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in…
Read MoreCan two non-Christians, involved in adultery, be baptized?
Question: I want to hear about your views on this particular topic. There’s this man who is married with kids. He had some problems with his wife — she being aggressive and abusive. He met another woman while he was still married to his wife and had sexual relations with her. He eventually divorced his…
Read MoreFaithful Wounds
by Zeke Flores “Faithful are the wounds of a friend …” (Proverbs 27:6). I enjoy being in the company of insightful people with a lighthearted sense of humor. Who doesn’t like a jovial conversation just for the sake of having a few laughs? I also like serious discussions about current events, politics, moral issues, and…
Read MoreThe End of the World
by Irvin Himmel via Truth Magazine, XV: 38, pp. 8-10, August 5, 1971 Among many religionists, there is an expectation that Christ will come again and reign on earth. Some believe that the eternal abode of the righteous will be on the same globe which we now inhabit, following a remodeling, renovating, and purifying. Many…
Read MoreCan a Christian be a serious actor when so many movies have intimate scenes?
Question: “It is good for a man not to touch a woman” (I Corinthians 7:1). What is the guideline for dating and marrying an actor or actress, where a part of their job sometimes involves intimate scenes? Does this mean they have sinned? Can a Christian be a serious actor or actress during these times,…
Read MoreWhat should I do with a game that has an indecently dressed character?
Question: I’ve been reading some of the articles and questions, and I like your commitment to keeping sinful entertainment out of your life. I have been trying to keep all forms of this out of my life for a while now. My DVDs almost wholly consist of Disney movies save a few. But I do want…
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