viewpoint – La Vista Church of Christ

Starting Point of Reference

Jeffrey Hamilton — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 18:39:19 +0000

by Terry Wane Benton

If I start with the premise or foundational belief that there is no Creator and Judge, then my outlook would lead me to believe that we got here by accident and that morals are just what we want them to be. Nothing absolute, and no accountability to anyone higher than ourselves. Sodom and Gomorrah wanted their morals to be that way. They were not wrong if their premise was correct. But if you start with the premise of "In God we trust," then your moral outlook is that we should be thankful to God and follow the morals He has revealed for us. You can see how people and society decline when you have the Sodom and Gomorrah outlook (Romans 1:20-28). When you learn that your starting point of reference was wrong, then, like the Corinthians, you repent and change your moral direction (I Corinthians 6:8-10). "Such were some of you." They got their starting point of reference right, and their moral sense of right and wrong changed.

You can't just pick a foundation. The two foundations are either godless or built on trust in God. One of those views is wrong and will result in godless immorality and, in the end, the eternal loss of good and well-being. It results in eternal misery (Romans 2:4-11). Why do people ruin their lives with drugs and alcohol? They have chosen a godless foundation. Why are pornography, fornication, homosexuality, transgenderism, and pedophilia such ruinous problems today? People want to follow lust over God. Lust grows, controls, and drives into more and more moral depravity. On the other hand, getting the starting point of reference corrected results in a better direction and a better result here and forever. When the Corinthians corrected their starting point of reference (trust in God), they made the wiser choice to redirect their lives according to the morals that come from God's holiness. We want to be holy as He is Holy.

What is your basic belief? What is at the core of your moral conscience? Is it faith in God? Or, is it all about pleasing your own desires, no matter how depraved they get? Your starting premise determines your life here, and that determines your eternal reward. Be wise about that!

By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them

Jeffrey Hamilton — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 18:27:28 +0000

by Floyd Chapellear
via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 16 No. 1, March 31, 1990

There are two major views of life—the view of the believer and the view of the infidel. The believer’s position is simple: God created man in his own image (Genesis 1:27). Man is the offspring of God and is to conduct himself accordingly. The atheistic view is that man merely evolved from slime and is no better morally or spiritually than a diseased rat. What is the product of the two views?

When men conduct their lives from a spiritual perspective, good always follows. Hospitals are built, colleges are formed, and crime rates always drop. On the other hand, when people are robbed of their self-respect that comes from knowing we are the handiwork of God, the crime rate goes up, illegitimate pregnancies increase, and the drug problem becomes uncontrollable. Do you wonder why there are so many major problems in America today? Well, it grows from the evil tree of evolutionary thought. To deny this fact is to bury one’s head in the sand.

To learn more about man and how he must live before God, visit, call, or write.

Perception Can Be Entirely Wrong

Jeffrey Hamilton — Sat, 07 Dec 2024 00:34:18 +0000

by Terry Wane Benton

Isaiah prophesied that there would be a wrong perception of the Messiah and a correct one (See Isaiah 53). So, all viewpoints would not be equal. Even though sincerely ignorant, going away with the wrong perception would be fatal.

Isaiah 53:4-5

"Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;"

This is actually what Jesus was doing on the cross, but the next statements tell how the bulk of the Jews looked at this situation, and this belief was entirely wrong.

"Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted."

This was an entirely wrong belief. To look at Jesus’ suffering on the cross this way will keep you from benefitting from what He was really doing.

"But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed" (NKJV)

Whether we get the peace and healing God wants us to have depends on whether we look at Jesus correctly. A wrong perspective will keep us from peace and healing from our sins. This prophecy shows that not all perspectives are formed by necessary inference from the evidence.

Drawing a faulty conclusion from faulty evidence handling can and will be fatal. Of the multitudes gathered on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), the same evidence was heard, but only 3,000 drew a necessary inference from it. The rest mishandled the evidence and drew a wrong conclusion. That is fatal, and it tells us to be careful that we handle the evidence fairly to reach the right conclusions and be saved.

We can be healed of the sin-cancer of the soul and enjoy peace with God and in our conscience because what Jesus was doing for us was suffering for our transgression and iniquities so that we can have healing of soul and peace with God. Jesus was bearing our inward grief and sorrow brought on by sin that breaks our fellowship with God. This is the only true perception of what Jesus did on the cross.

But, it is amazing that Isaiah said that the Jews would look at it incorrectly hundreds of years before the event took place. That is an amazing thing about the inspiration of the Bible!