A Message of Life or Death

I received a very disturbing comment from a reader who is very angry at my recent posts regarding the current situation in the Middle East. My message regarding the sovereignty of God in the midst of the Arab-Israeli war was not well received by this reader:

Curse your God and his "scriptures". People are suffering and all you talk about is "God's will". The world will not stand by and watch as Israel rapes Gaza. Call me Satan if you will, for even though he does not exist as an entity, he exists in the minds of the angry; and we are growing stronger by the hour. Each drop of blood spilled fills our hatred until one day, the state of Israel will burn. - Anonymous

Now I must state unequivocally that no sane person can take any solace in the death and destruction of human life. A Palestinian life lost is no less valuable than an Israeli life lost. However the issue here (as always) is what is this issue within God’s context? God’s context is always life! Not death. This blog is about putting things that transpire in our world within the context of God. The issue however is that these messages will be received in one of two ways. Here’s how the Bible puts it: But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. To those who are perishing, we are a dreadful smell of death and doom. But to those who are being saved, we are a life-giving perfume. (2 Corinthians 2:14-16 NLT)

Christ died for all Palestinians, just like He died for all Jews…and for every reader of this message for that matter. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (Romans 5:6-8)

Ignore God and Decrease Your Birth Rates

I read a very interesting article yesterday in the New York Times on the topic of the shrinking birth rate in Europe over the past few decades. The article outlines the demographic danger facing Europe with the high likelihood that several countries (Italy, Spain and Germany among others) will see their native populations decrease by up to 40% by 2050. According to the article, the replacement birth rate necessary to maintain an equal population size from generation to generation is 2.1 children born to each woman. In Europe according to the article the rate is well below 2.0, with some countries closer to 1.5 and dropping. It is a lengthy and very interesting read that sheds some light on a phenomenon that in all likelihood will reshape the face of Western Europe within 100 years. The interesting thing about the article is that it was published after extensive research and interviews with many experts and it offers various possible explanations for why this situation has developed....

Funerals for the Unsaved or Unbelievers

I am not a leader of a church, but I oftentimes wonder how does one lead a funeral service for someone who dies without knowing Jesus Christ as Lord ? Admittedly I have not been to many funerals in my lifetime, though they are appearing to come more frequently lately, but the fact is that funerals are held daily throughout the world and as such this is a pertinent question to someone just about every day. I’ve been to the funeral where the person lived a fairly routine life, taking care of their families and other responsibilities as best they could, paying taxes and doing the average things that we as human beings do on a consistent basis. They however had no visible relationship with God through His son Jesus Christ. When this person dies, the surviving family members are oftentimes left scrambling trying to find a person and a place to officiate the funeral services – generally because the deceased did not have a regular church that they attended. Funeral homes sometimes ...

Richard Dawkins’ Wisdom of the Wise

The subject of Atheism has been quite popular in the literary mainstream over the past few years, as “Atheists as Celebrity” Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and others have enriched themselves with self important intellectual books, talk shows and other benefits of our enlightened society. That there are people who willfully claim a disbelief in God is nothing new. That it has become so militant, with legion of sycophants worshipping at their feet may very well be. Or it could simply be another case of the Internet making something seem far more widespread because we now know more about it. Whatever the case, I always find it interesting to read the comments of people on the subject of whether or not there is a God. This interest brought me to an article on Richard Dawkins on the London Times website over the weekend. The article is ostensibly a primer on Dawkins, and some TV show that he is apparently going to host in England on the subject of Charles Darwin and his theory of e...

Treasure In Clay Jars

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