Owner: The Blog for Today URL:http://blog.thegospelfortoday.com Join Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2007 14:59:32 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: An old school Christian perspective for modern times... with erratic bursts of sarcasm. Site statistics:Click here
Can't quite grasp Agape? 2007-02-22 05:27:43 [Copyright notice this is my stuff and carries with it jws blogprint] You ain’t alone, brother. I recently drove past a local church that was advertising a special ‘Agape Service’, “Wow,” I thought, “I’d hate to be at one of their regular services…”Â
              Â
It is this writer’s opinion that the idea of ‘agape’ love has been a bit blown out of proportion by modern day Christians. There are several different words that the Greeks used to talk about love and these words have been examined in great depth by many. I recommend the article “Love… Greek Style” by Bro. Tony Denton, if you wish to get into detailed definitions of these words. But I want to focus on the much bally-hooed word agape. Read on –>
I think there is an idea that there must be a specially set aside sort of love that can only be had in respect to our creator towards us or a specifically Chri Read more:grasp
Love Talk 2007-02-19 04:02:15 [Copyright notice this is my stuff and carries with it jws blogprint] I realize the Hallmark Holiday has already passed and I only managed to squeeze in two posts on love before this happened, being my blog, however, I don’t really care. I believe I will just declare this love month and dredge right along with with my labor of love. So with out further ado, let’s talk about talking.
I brought up Adam and Eve in my previous post and want to talk about them again now. I think that a lot of this couple’s problem was that they had a breakdown in communication. They were apart from one another, which made communication impossible and they evidently had not communicated to one another what to do if there was some sort of trouble in paradise. Had Adam communicated to Eve to come and find him if she ran across anything unusual (like a talking serpent) or making any rash decisions (like eating the FORBIDDEN fruit) then perhaps this could have been avoided. How?Â
Though marriage makes man and wife one flesh, it leaves "em still two fools 2007-02-09 05:55:51 [Copyright notice this is my stuff and carries with it jws blogprint] The title of this article is a quote from William Congreve who also wrote the following:
Heav’n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn’d, Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorn’d
Obviously this is a man of great wisdom. Indeed the time comes when many of us make the choice to cleave from those who have nurtured us and kept us safe in order to join ourselves to another (Gen. 2:24) in that ancient institution… dare I say, made in Heaven? Of course marriage
is made in Heaven, yet so, the saying goes, are thunder and lightning. We can see this even in that couple so hopelessly made one that she was literally formed from his own flesh
(Gen. 2:22). Yet even in this Eden of a marriage came temptation, blame, and turmoil. Let us study what makes
fools in love STAY in love as I continue in my V-day inspired series on love (a real risk for a conservative to take ;-)Â Read on –>
Many have Read more:leaves
Love only exists for selfish reasons - The Evolutionary Model 2007-02-08 05:02:14 [Copyright notice this is my stuff and carries with it jws blogprint] I feel sorry for the significant other in an evolutionist’s life, but more on that later.
For the next several days, leading up to that gloriously commercialized date on the calendar which is founded in fertility festivals and mythical stories about Catholic saints, that being Valentine’s Day, I will be discussing what else but…LOVE. This may come as a shock to some who believe I have the heart of the grinch, but hopefully these articles will show that I do have some small grasp on the subject     :-)Â
I invite my readers to please leave your comments and added thoughts as we go along, because love is nothing if not subjective, and you as the one being subjected to my thoughts on the subject, may have a totally different view.Â
The first ‘love’ topic that I want to address is that of love and the evolutionist, I see no monogomous monkeys and no evolutionary advantage to romant Read more:selfish
, Evolutionary
Snickers gets no snickers from gays… 2007-02-07 04:55:51 [Copyright notice this is my stuff and carries with it jws blogprint] Here’s the scoop: Snickers Pulls Anti-Gay Super Bowl Ads
So the moral of this story? No one out there who has an innate distaste for seeing two men kissing eachother is allowed to express such distaste in any way or else they will be labelled a ‘homophobe’. Most especially don’t laugh at such a reaction, because finding humor in basic human instinct is also frowned upon.Â
Next time a Muslim flies a plane into a building, don’t say anything about that either you islamophobic hate-monger… you know who you are.Â
Is it just me, or is this a little ridiculous? I wonder if a homosexual man makes an ugly face when they see a heterosexual man perform some sort of stereotypical ‘manly’ act, like letting out an excruciatingly loud burp, can we label him as a ‘heterophobe’ and let all the PC police make ugly faces at him for awhile?Â
God loves you folks, w
Not for my daughter, you don't! 2007-02-03 07:26:38 [Copyright notice this is my stuff and carries with it jws blogprint] Here’s the scoop:Â Perry orders anti-cancer vaccine for schoolgirls
Compulsory vaccinations to prevent an STD for all Texas schoolgirls? Can we say ‘government approved premarital sex’? This is outrageous, and it gets better, the shots are to be given to –>SIXTH GRADE GIRLS!Â
“Now we know your parents might have told you not to have sex until you’re married, but your friendly invasive government agency figures you’re gonna do it anyway, so step on up for your STD vaccine kiddos!”Â
Have I used the word asinine yet? Well, I should have. You Christian parents in TX must be outraged. You absolutely would not touch my daughter with such a thing that undermines all the purity so hard-fought to instill in her. Perhaps the dumbest thing since teaching abstinence in health class and then passing out free contraceptives… Ugh. Reason number 211 for homesch
A Sign of the Times… 2007-02-01 05:01:04 [Copyright notice this is my stuff and carries with it jws blogprint] There are an awful lot of churches out there these days whose signs need a bit of diciphering. I find it a bit overwhelming. If you were an ‘unchurched’ seeker, would you go into this church?Â
                        Â
How would you decide which service to go to? I understand the desire to make a church appealing to all, but does this dividing up into cliques help or hinder? Read on –>
In a recent interview about ‘religion and technology’ a reporter from Marshall University’s Parthenon student newspaper asked me about traditional services versus ‘technologically enhanced’ services. When I saw the above sign, I had to stop and take a picture because it illustrated the point I made in my answer to her, which was this:
“I feel that if there is a need to divide a church into a group that worships ‘traditionally’ and ano Read more:Times
A Quiz 2007-01-30 06:17:30 [Copyright notice this is my stuff and carries with it jws blogprint] I found this quiz interesting, here are the instructions.
INSTRUCTIONS:
Using the New International Version Bible, answer the following questions to this NIV quiz.
Do not rely on your memory. As the Bible is the final authority, you must take the answer from the Bible verse (not from footnotes but from the text). *Note: Don’t click on the bible links in this post as they will link you to the NKJV. Get out your NIV, or go to a site like biblegateway.com and use their online NIV. So go on, get real quizzed –>
 Â
Fill in the missing words in Matthew 5:44. “Love your enemies,__________ them that curse you, ______________ to them that hate you, and pray for them that __________ and persecute you.” Â
According to Matthew 17:21, what two things are required to cast out this type of demon? Â
According to Matthew 18:11, why did Jesus come to earth? Â
According to Matthew 27:2, what was
Prophetic Explosion "07 !!! (caption contest) 2007-01-29 22:46:52 [Copyright notice this is my stuff and carries with it jws blogprint] Let’s have a write your own caption contest for this picture I snapped while in Dothan, AL:
My Caption:Â “Pentecostals, fearing a decline in membership, plan a couple’s retreat in Dothan, AL”
Be sure to leave me a comment with your suggestion!
~JW, for thegospelfortoday.com
Read more:Explosion
Sixth service of the New Years Meeting 2007-01-19 04:53:24 [Copyright notice this is my stuff and carries with it jws blogprint] So at long last I recieved my laptop power supply in the mail and here are some more sermons from the meeting:
First is Floyd Harris Jr.
Second, Stan Owens of the Sharonville, OH congregation:
Thirdly is Paul Walker:
Fourthly is Doug Hawkins of the Blue Springs, KY congregation:Â
Enjoy! I’ll post more soon, I have one more service left to post, and some pictures too.
~JW, for thegospelfortoday.com
Read more:Sixth
, Years
These two should get together… “Next round’s on God, everybody!” 2007-02-28 22:43:41 [Copyright notice this is my stuff and carries with it jws blogprint] Two spiffy bits of news to share for today. One story I read awhile back, but hung onto it for awhile and the other just came out today. Here’s the scoop(s)
1. In God he trusts, but police don’t buy it
2. Beer-vangelism at young church has Missouri Baptists hopping mad
I was interested to note that God uses Bank One and that His checks won’t clear the bank! Our church has its account at Bank One and I am glad to know that this is the divinely approved establishment. His account is running too low to clear $50,000? I wonder what He spent it all on…
Ebay Auction
Another Auction
And Another
Oh dear, it looks like God has maxed out on his PayPal purchases… that explains it.
On the Evangelistic front, The Journey church in St. Louis figures, if young folks can’t find Jesus in the Bible, maybe they can find Him at the bottom of a beer stein. At least these folks would have a Read more:together
, round
How deep is Your love? 2007-02-28 06:11:16 [Copyright notice this is my stuff and carries with it jws blogprint] The books of poetry are contained within the old testament, yet the spirit still saved a little poetic inspiration for the writers of the new. One piece of new testament writing that holds a very poetic beauty for me is Ephesians 3:17-19:
…that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Please read on and I’ll try my feeble hand at speaking on the love of God –>
You can almost see Paul struggling to find the words to express what the Spirit has revealed. How do you describe the love we find in God through Christ Jesus? Paul puts it into terms of measurement… a hopeless endeavor. I believe that was his intention, to get a
Those Honkin’ Christians 2008-01-24 00:02:33 [Copyright notice this is my stuff and carries with it jws blogprint] Do you know which geese in the classic ‘V’ formation do all the honking?
Do you know why?
Read on for these pressing answers and a whole lot more –>
There are few things more important in a congregation than having comitted, qualified, zealous, and willing leaders. We often hear great messages preached on what it takes to lead the church and that is fantastic. We need this preaching and we need men that listen and step up and become comitted to living their lives in such a way that they can be effective leaders in their congregations.
Some congregations get a bit overzealous in their quest to install qualified men as leaders however. Never is someone forced into leadership (by an old genera Read more:Christians
Being Committed 2008-01-09 23:25:39 [Copyright notice this is my stuff and carries with it jws blogprint] A preacher’s illustration… illustrated.
It may have been Joe Hisle (or maybe not) who once illustrated true committment like this, “When a person sits down to have bacon and eggs, the chicken made a contribution, sure, but the pig… the pig was committed!”
I saw this picture today and that story immediately came to mind (don’t ask where I find these things!):
Disturbing, ain’t it? Just thought I’d share, you can thank me later…
Hey, after 4 months of neglecting this blog, I couldn’t just jump into deep theological pondering, that will come later, you know, after I find somebody capable of abstract thought to start posting to this blog. Stay tuned!
Praying fo Read more:Committed
A real life (or death?!?) illustration of Romans 6:23 2007-09-17 22:28:48 [Copyright notice this is my stuff and carries with it jws blogprint] Romans
6:23 tells us that ‘the wages of sin is death
’. A story from China today, I believe serves to illustrate this point well:
BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese man dropped dead after playing Internet games for three consecutive days, state media said on Monday as China seeks to wean Internet addicts offline.
The man from the southern boomtown of Guangzhou, aged about 30, died on Saturday after being rushed to the hospital from the Internet cafe, local authorities were quoted by the Beijing News as saying.
“Police have ruled out the possibility of suicide,” the newspaper said, adding that exhaustion was the most likely cause of death. It did not say what game he was playing. (Full story)
I hate you, ~love, Satan 2007-08-20 16:15:52 [Copyright notice this is my stuff and carries with it jws blogprint]
This is the message from the New Life Center in Cedar Grove, WV, a small community just outside of Charleston, the capitol of our humble little state. Evidently, some folks are offended by the display, here’s the scoop from the Charleston Gazette: Satan
hates a Kanawha County church, and the church has a billboard that says so.
Now personally, I’m not offended by the message. I would be honored for the Devil to count me and my congregation as an enemy, after all… the Devil is bad. A radical message to put out? Maybe, but Jesus was pretty radical with the messages He put out too. So am I supporting this church? Well, as a Christian who tries to live by the precepts of the New Testament, on
Is it part of God’s great plan? 2007-05-31 14:13:59 [Copyright notice this is my stuff and carries with it jws blogprint] Well, no one is arguing with me, which either means I’m on the right track or no one is reading… At any rate, I’m going to argue with myself a bit… and compare God with the roadrunner (meep! meep!)
In the first article in this little series (this being the third), I began the subject of ‘why do bad things happen to good people’ by speaking of the recent death of Jim Shaw. I then went on to say that something like this is most certainly not a part of God’s plan. I meant that, and I believe that, but I would like to now append a caveat.
I was looking at some of my brethrens’ blogs on a popular social blogging site and ran across the site of a family member of brother
Allow me to promote promiscuous teleology 2007-05-29 14:45:56 [Copyright notice this is my stuff and carries with it jws blogprint] No, it is not part of the free love movement gone sci-fi, it is the newest scientific method for explaining away us Christian types that don’t buy into the evolutionary worldview.
In a recent article titled, “Why do some people resist science?”, psychologists Paul Bloom and Deena Weisberg grope for some psychological problem to explain…. me. A grown-up-who-ought-to-know-better still believing that things have purpose… kinda pitiful, ain’t I? Here is an excerpt from their article that will explain the title of my post:
…One significant bias is that children naturally see the world in terms of design and purpose. For instance, four year-olds insist that everything has a p Read more:Allow
The Leviathan and the Lighthouse. 2007-05-28 22:56:00 [Copyright notice this is my stuff and carries with it jws blogprint] So after all the blame of his three friends, assuring Job that no one is punished unless they had it coming to them, and Job is unable to figure out why such horrible things are happening to him, he challenges God to speak already and show him what terrible thing he did to bring this punishment down upon him.
So God speaks. But His answer is not the account of sin that Job asked for… it is quite different. First of all, God says, “Gird thyself up like a man.” (Job 38:3). This pretty well shatters the effiminate image of a God who is all soft words and loving gestures. God is love, no doubt, but God loves masculinity as well and at this point in time, Job needed to muster up every bit of manhood Read more:Lighthouse
a mad world, a loving God, and a leviathan 2007-05-23 15:46:43 [Copyright notice this is my stuff and carries with it jws blogprint] I’m sure the madness and wickedness of this world has peaked in the minds of many of my brethren this week as they heard of the deplorable murder of a dear brother in Christ. Jim Shaw was 73 and while I never personally met him, I have heard his name come up on several occasions and know he was/is well loved by his brethren and was a diligent worker for the Kingdom. I also know assuredly that such a violent death was not owed him.
What sense does it make that the person who robbed him had to kill him? Surely if they could overpower him to take his life, they could have easily overpowered him and restrained him instead, leaving him hurt and frightened, surely, but leaving him alive… and yet the attack
Polka Dots of Gratitude 2007-05-20 23:53:21 [Copyright notice this is my stuff and carries with it jws blogprint]
A man had a son, whom, as father’s have a tendency to do… he loved dearly. One day while fishing at the lake, as they often did on a sunny afternoon, the man had to go back to their car to fetch their lunch. In the few short moments that he was away, his son fell into the lake and being small and a poor swimmer, he began to sink. A good samaritan saw him fall in and ran to his rescue just in time.
As you might imagine, the boys father was full of gratitude for this stranger who rescued his son. Being a poor man, he wanted to do something to express his thankfulness and affection towards this heroic fellow, but with limited means, could not think of how to do so. He asked the hero how to repay h Read more:Polka
, Polka Dots
Oh where, Oh where has my little blog gone? 2007-05-03 21:06:06 [Copyright notice this is my stuff and carries with it jws blogprint] Thirteen Reasons/Excuses why I haven’t posted in weeks
1. I’ve been somewhat busy installing 540 square feet of hardwood flooring.
2. I’ve been somewhat busy training for, testing for, and now recieving my next rank at Tae Kwon Do.
3. I’ve been in a slump and can’t think of anything of my usual high quality caliber to write about :-) Unlike some blogs out there, I don’t just throw out any ol’ thing for my readers to muddle through.
4. It’s warm outside and I’ve got kids… ’nuff said.
5. I wanted to give the liberals a little
bit of a break…
6. I’ve actually been busy at work and unable to waste productivity time on my blog.
7. Mowing. Mowin
One day you’ll have a kid just like you… 2008-04-13 19:25:47 [Copyright notice this is my stuff and carries with it jws blogprint] For those who haven’t already seen/heard this, this is absolutely hilarious, especially if, like my wife and me, you are just getting to that point where you say something to your kid and immediately say, “ACK! I’m turning into my mom (or dad).” Enjoy!
WPvideo 1.02
“Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord.” Colossians 3:20
Share This
Reasons to Homeschool #2038, 2039 2008-04-05 23:47:00 [Copyright notice this is my stuff and carries with it jws blogprint] Soo,
Its been awhile, etc. etc. Now that that’s out of the way here are two fantastic headlines that appeared side by side:
Elementary lessons on ‘gay’ issues now tied to reading, social studies, worried dad told: Butt Out!
Maine Middle School May Drug 11 Year Old Girls with Birth Control Patches
Here’s my platform when I run for school board:
Let’s teach all of our children to be gay as early as possible, that way we don’t have to worry about birth control and teen pregnancy anymore!
Oh and did I mention, HOMESCHOOL!
But I guess this means I’m still just a judgemental ol’ fuddy-duddy… and I hope I never lose the knack!
Praying for fuddy-duddy’s (and the Read more:Reasons
, Homeschool
Recommend Site To A Friend
