Christianity 101 | Ain't Complicated

A Gold Ring in a Pig’s Nose

I saw a picture today that reminded me of this verse:

“As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion” (Proverbs 11:22).

The picture featured an attractive woman cozied up to a handsome man.

With no apparent shame on her part.

Too bad.

I’ve seen lots of pictures like that. And far worse.

Too bad.

So how about this next verse?

“Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised” (Proverbs 31:30).

Lady, don’t cozy up to a man who’s not your husband.

Guard your virtue. Protect your reputation. Honor God. (Of course, if you don’t fear the Lord, this post likely means little to you. But the proverb still applies.)

Men, what’s your role in this?

And what type of woman do you praise?

And would you enable or encourage or entice a woman to be “as a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout” with you?

Tired Of Questions

Mr. Obama is.

About his religion

Democrat Barack Obama said he’s tired of questions about his religion.

Here’s a bit more

Barack Obama yesterday lashed out at political enemies who are spreading false rumors that he’s a closet Muslim as he proclaimed, “I pray to Jesus every night.”

“I am a devout Christian,” he told voters in this key state.

“I pray to Jesus every night and try to go to church as much as I can.”

Tired of questions about your ~~faith~~ religion, eh?

In his shoes, I suppose I would be as well.

But when I saw that story, I thought of some verses (though they are about faith in and relationship with Jesus, not about religion).

“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15).

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16).

“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).

In further looking, I found this verse:

“In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth” (2 Timothy 2:25).

Somebody please pass the word along to Mr. Obama.

Thanks.

Sister-Wives

Here’s a good story for those who shun their denominational names in favor of “only” Christian. 😉

Polygamists hit the Web in search of ‘sister-wives’

Albert Morrison is a religious man. He prays, he reads the Bible and says he has a deep connection with Jesus. It is this devotion that helps explain why Albert and his wife, Sarah, are searching for a second wife.

“David, Abraham, Jacob, Solomon — they all had multiple wives,” he said, referring to the four of the Bible’s most revered prophets. “The Bible never banned polygamy, it glorified it.”

The Morrisons are part of a group of Evangelical Christian polygamists who believe that polygamy, the practice of taking more than one wife, is spiritually and even economically more favorable than monogamy.

I included the Christianity 101 category for this post because I wonder if any readers have any Bible passages that refute the above abomination.

(And what passage does that guy use to show the Bible “glorifying” polygamy?!)

Kosovo’s Faultlines

So Kosovo is independent.

Now what?

And what is happening below the media’s radar?

Here is my question: What do readers need to know in order to understand the emotions that are currently being unleashed in Serbia and in Kosovo, especially in northern Kosovo?

[…]

Now, click here and tour some of the destruction in Kosovo. Yes, this is a one-sided, pro-Serbia site. But just think of this in terms of art and history â€” like the Bamiyan Buddhas. These holy places are also irreplaceable.

Again let me state that these Serbian church websites documenting the destruction tell only part of the hellish story that is post-war Kosovo and Serbia. Of course. But the destruction goes on and the churches and the monasteries cannot be replaced. That is part of the story.

Search the news reports in the next few days and look for the material on these treasures of art and faith. While many are celebrating, others are â€” sheltered in tiny enclaves protected by foreign troops â€” in mourning. Are there enougn troops to guard all the churches in northern Kosovo? Does anyone in Europe care? How about the United States? This is part of the Kosovo equation that should be included in balanced, accurate mainstream reporting.

This seems a good place to point you to something I wrote way back when: Kosovo and Serbia: A Case Study Regarding Christians in the Military.

Found: Transitional Life Form

Scroll down for updates. Original post date/time: February 18, 2008 @ 09:04

No, I’m not talking about Big Foot or PlatyPus.

Nor am I talking about a winged lizard nor a walking turnip.

Not even a man with the head of a bird and the ears of an elephant.

Nope, it’s something I saw on the Web on Saturday evening and again this morning.

If you want to see in real-time my incredible discovery for yourself, go here.

Dare I hope a Key Bank person sees this?

Now tell me, how’s that a transitional life form?

And another question, what general life lessons do you see in the screen capture above?

And this one yet: How might this post fit under Christianity 101?

OK, now it’s 7:54 am on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 — and nobody’s tried answering my questions.

To answer the first question, here’s what I just got done commenting to Key Bank:

www.key.com/managecredit seems to me to be a transitional life form.

That is, it’s between Brick-and-Mortar philosophy and Web-Business philosophy.

We can do account management online . . . if we do it during certain business hours on business days.

So Saturday I noticed that my payment was due on 2/18. But I couldn’t pay online since it wasn’t Monday-Friday.

So Monday I tried to make a payment, but couldn’t since it was a holiday and your Bricks-and-Mortars were closed.

This morning I was finally able to make a payment. (Thanks for the convenience of using the Web!) Alas, it’s late.

Transitional life forms are frustrating. And in my online banking experience, Key is so far unique. In a not-so-positive way.

Do you have plans to transition fully into the Web-Business philosophy?

Thanks.

Unforgivable?

This type of crime is particularly despicable and contemptible.

Soldier Accused of Raping Girl

Japan’s prime minister on Tuesday denounced the suspected rape of a 14-year-old girl by a U.S. Marine on the southern island of Okinawa, an episode with echoes of a 1995 case that jolted the U.S.-Japan alliance.

[…]

“It is unforgivable,” Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told a parliamentary panel in his first public comments on the latest incident on Okinawa, host to a huge U.S. military presence.

“It has happened over and over again in the past and I take it as a grave case.”

Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba expressed anger over repeated incidents despite frequent promises by U.S. officials to prevent them.

That story reminds me of this event:

Soldiers Rape Girls

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East stated that 20,000 (and perhaps up to 80,000) women were raped, their ages ranging from infants to the elderly (as old as 80). […] According to some testimonies, other women were forced into military prostitution as comfort women.

Has Japan formally asked forgiveness for those World War II events (and many other cases of rape during that war)? It seems it has.

But any possible hypocrisy and double standard aside, and the affairs of nations aside, and the posturing of politicians aside, these stories remind me of what Jesus had to say on the subject of forgiveness.

In Luke 11:4 we have this: “And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.”

And in Matthew 6:12,14,15 there’s this: “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Then in Matthew 18 Jesus tells a story on the subject. Here are the concluding verses:

32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:

33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?

34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.

35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

So, now, which sin will I refuse to forgive?

For which offense or wrong will I continue to hold a grudge?

Who is currently on my No Forgiveness for These list?

Known but to God

I’m not talking about the identity of the remains buried in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

I’m talking about the next President of the United States.

Only God knows whether it will be Obama or McCain or Hillary or Huckabee or Romney. Or Fred Thompson. Or Mark Roth. Or some other unknown-to-us.

Because God will set up whom He will.

McCain may be the Republican frontrunner who, after yesterday, has added to his Inevitability Quotient, but so was Luis Donaldo Colosio on March 23, 1994.

Hillary may have won the California primary, but so did Robert Kennedy.

Am I predicting an assassination that upsets the political applecart? 😯

Of course not. 🙄

God has all manner of ways of setting up whom He will, death by various means being only one of them.

The old stream media may think they’re setting things up.

The conniving politicians may think they’re doing the arranging.

The bloggers and radiotalkers may think they’re going to pull off something (though McCain’s successes yesterday, coupled with Huckabee’s, should put a damper on such thoughts).

The “powers that be” may be using all of the above — plus “tinkerers” who are “adjusting” all those electronic voting machines — to continue “running the show.”

But it’s the sovereign omnipotent God who’s doing the setting up and taking down.

I may not like the choice. But I submit to the Chooser and, thus, rest in His omniscient wisdom.

All glory and honor and praise and obedience and love to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!