The Promise of a Brand New Beginning

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We published an old commentary by Mr. Jonathan McNair recently that was (1) related to Passover, (2) referenced recently in a sermon by Mr. Weston, and (3) so very, very encouraging. It highlights that Passover isn’t just about looking backward and that all of us can gain hope from the promise that’s available to us through God’s forgiveness and merciful aid—the promise that we can, at any time, create a brand new beginning.

We’d like to link to it here for you to consider reading as the Spring Holy Days approach. It’s a very short read and well worth the little time it takes: “The End of the Beginning.”

A Lesson from (sigh) the Oscars: “Love will make you do crazy things.” Really?

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OK. This is not meant as encouragement to watch the Oscars each year. The audience levels for the Oscars are dying, and they should be allowed to die. But when something newsworthy (or “newsworthy,” with appropriate quote marks) happens during them, there is can be something to learn from it. Here’s a hot take about last night’s.

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Podcast: So, if Christ has a tattoo, can I get one?

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Today’s podcast features a novel take on the age-old question of tattoos! Does Revelation 19:16 imply Jesus Christ had a tattoo? And if so, does that mean we can get one?

The answer is straightforward, but there’s more to consider, starting with a follow-up question: Why do you want one?

We hope you enjoy the podcast! And afterward, you might want to check out a related oldie-but-goodie: Dr. Scott Winnail’s Living Church News article “Body Ink: What Does God Think?” (Clicking the link should open it in a separate tab so you can keep playing the podcast.)

One of the Most Successful Arguments for God’s Existence

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Sometimes you know how worthwhile something is because of how much it is hated by some people. And the famous Kalam Cosmological Argument is such a thing.

The argument, affectionately known as the “Kalam” by some, has been promoted by popular apologist (guy arguing in debates that God exists) Dr. William Lane Craig, and it is simple but powerful. It has inspired passionate resistance among atheists—even whole documentaries devoted to trying to explain it away—all of which always falls short. (Concerning the categories of proof and evidence in our booklet The Real God: Proofs and Promises, it seems to fit in the “Creation Demands a Creator” category.)

The argument says, essentially, that everything that begins to exist at some point has to have a cause behind it, and, since the universe began to exist at some point in the past, the universe, therefore, has to have a cause. Pretty normal stuff. Yet, the cause of the universe can’t be some “ordinary” thing—the cause has to exist beyond space, beyond time, and matter, and beyond energy, since all of those things are part of the universe. In fact, the more you explore what that cause must be, the more you find yourself exploring attributes of God.

While apologetics (reasoned arguments in favor of something—in this case, in favor of God’s existence) are not everyone’s cup of tea, being able to defend why you think God exists is increasingly important. If those sorts of discussions are interesting to you, then the video below might be of interest, as well.

Podcast: If We’re “Salt”… Should We Vote?

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Today’s podcast involves a question that has floated around among some Church of God youth in recent years: If Jesus calls Christians the “salt of the earth” (He did) and if salt is used as a preservative and purifying agent (it is), then does that imply we should vote in elections in today’s world to help preserve and purify the world in some way? As the world gets more “exciting” (that is, “awful”), the pressure to participate in worldly ways of “fixing” it will grow, and this statement by Christ is sometimes used to justify a “Christian obligation” to vote, etc., that frankly [Spoiler Alert!] does not exist. As usual, in discussing the topic, we tend to roam a little, and you may learn more about salt than you ever wanted to. Hopefully, we get most of it right, but you “salt knowledgable” scientists out there are welcome to weigh in and let us know otherwise!

Sermon Snippet: Rights vs. Responsibilities

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If you listened to last week’s podcast, you heard us talk with Mr. Mark Sandor about the U.S. Constitution, and we noted how the freedoms our governments provide shouldn’t prevent us from restricting ourselves based on God’s laws and desires, and how a “return to the Constitution” is not enough to save the U.S.—we need real repentance and a turning to God’s laws, not man’s.

As I thought about it, I was reminded of a recent sermon by Mr. Jonathan McNair in which he made a very similar point. The video below is cued up to the moment in that sermon where he explains a major reason why those of us who are Americans currently live “in a land that is being torn apart [and] ripped apart.” It’s a reason that illustrates a key difference between man’s approach to government and God’s.

It’s worth a listen, and the video below is cued up to that specific point in the sermon.

Podcast: Christians and the Constitution

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Many in the world want to distract you from what God wants you to do with your life by pointing you to their political causes, and some of those causes can seem attractive and can pull us away from Jesus’ standard, stated when He explained “My kingdom is not of this world.” People are throwing around words like “freedom” and “liberty” out there, but how do you think about those words and ideas biblically? We hope this episode of the podcast can help with that.

On this second podcast recorded during Mr. Mark Sandor’s visit (well, second attempted, first recorded), we spend time reflecting on the U.S. Constitution, our relationship to it as Christians in America [which is hopefully helpful to our non-American brothers and sisters, as well!], whether “getting back to the Constitution” is really sufficient to save the country [Spoiler Alert: It’s not. But why not?], and viewing the freedoms we have through the lens of our responsibilities before God.

As mentioned in the podcast, part of the spur for this discussion was Mr. Gerald Weston’s excellent article “The Bible vs. the U.S. Constitution” in the March-April 2022 Living Church News. If you don’t have the print version, you can click on the title there to read it.