Handbook for explosive subjects
Recently our small church decided to take on the controversial topic of homosexuality. Not in spite of the controversy, but because of it. Now I realize that many of you will read that and think that we are intentionally trying to be divisive and unloving but the reality is that our goals are quite the opposite.  Our aim in discussing this topic is to learn how to handle conflict in a more Christlike manner. How to maintain unity in the midst of sharp differences without compro

Can Christians support the death penalty?
To answer the question of whether Christians can, with honesty and clarity of conscience (not to mention with Biblical warrant) support and even promote the death penalty we must first make a distinction between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world. Greg Boyd calls them “the kingdom of the cross” and the “kingdom of the sword”. He derives the second from Romans 13:4 which states that the government doesn’t bear the sword in vain. Jesus also says in

Wordy Wednesday: aphiēmi
What it means Greek ἀφίημι Transliteration/Pronunciation aphiēmi/ä-fē’-ā-mē Strong’s G863 Definition This word has a rather broad range of meanings (well, broad from our western perspective) as it can mean “I let go”, “leave”, “permit”, and “forgive”. The broad range of meanings this word has permits for some interesting word studies, particularly when it comes to the cases wh

Tuesday bonus: The Secular case against abortion and homosexuality.
In a stimulating discussion with a friend of mine following my earlier post on homosexuality I was asked to provide further support from a wholly secular standpoint to substantiate my position against homosexuality. Here’s my response: My secular argument against homosexuality mirrors my secular argument against abortion and that is: Population. Human capital is the greatest asset any nation has. This has been true for all nations at all times in all places. In fact, there is almost nothing that can’t be solved with a brute force application of people (just ask the Chinese).

On homosexuality
Our simple church group recently took up the rather controversial topic of homosexuality. It is a prevalent issue in the public square as well as among the Christian community1 and we decided that the topic was worth perusing in order to know where we all stood on the issue (and, more importantly, where we are supposed to stand on this issue according to the Scriptures) and how to respond to those inside as well as outside of the Church