Church Blog (Page 6)
Pride
The early Church father Augustine, who was the bishop of Hippo in Africa and one of the most important theologians of that early period, considered the sin of pride to be the fundamental sin, the root from which all other sins proceeded. He pointed to the sin of pride that motivated Satan to seek to desire God’s place, as well as the sin of pride that consumed Adam…
The End of the World As We Know It
A favorite children’s story is “Chicken Little,” which is about a naïve fowl who has the proclivity to believe the end of the world has begun as the result of some rather mundane event (in many tellings of this fable, an acorn falling out of a tree and hitting her on the head). Chicken Little begins to run to all her friends in order to warn them – quite hysterically –…
Our Reasonable Faith
Apologetics is one of the ways the Lord works through us to draw the lost to Himself.
The Beauty of Diversity
Where I grew up (the northeast Georgia mountains), there was not very much diversity, however you would like to define it. The county was pretty close to 100% Caucasian, and at the time, there were not all that many residents who could not trace their roots back to some of the earliest settlers of the area. This lack of diversity, sadly, often led to ideas and…
The UMC and the Moral Revolution
Ever since the United Methodist Church (UMC) was formed in 1968 by the merger of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church, the question of how the denomination should view homosexuality has been a recurring issue at each of their quadrennial General Conferences. This conflict existed despite the fact that The Book of Discipline, the…
Doors
Children of God?
On his historic trip to the Arabian Peninsula this past week, Pope Francis reiterated a position he has not been shy of promoting: the “brotherhood” that exists between Christians and Muslims. While some aspects of his comments and speeches are not controversial (for instance, his call for an end to violence between people of different religious belief…
Snow
Rushing to Judgment
One of the aspects of our fallen human nature is the rush to judgment we often observe, an aspect that has been a part of us since the expulsion from the Garden. Consider Cain’s murder of his brother (Gen. 4:1-8), brought on by a rush to judgment about why God chose Abel’s offering over his which resulted in his envy and rage. What if Cain had asked God why…
Serving the Body
On a regular basis, we will have posts here from one of our Elders. This week’s post is from Jason Woodard. The Pareto principle or what is commonly known as the 80/20 rule, says that about 80% of outcomes come from about 20% of the causes. Some examples of this are that 80% of the problems a teacher encounters comes from 20% of their students! In business it is…