My name is John, and I’ve always tried to embody meekness in my daily life, guided by my deep-rooted Christian values. For me, meekness is not a sign of weakness but a reflection of inner strength, and I believe it can help resolve conflicts and bring about positive change in the world.
I firmly believe that meekness is…about addressing conflicts with a gentle yet unwavering commitment…
In my interactions with others, I’ve always strived to be a calm and gentle presence. Whether it’s at work, in my community, or within my family, I believe in the power of listening and understanding. When conflicts arise, I take a step back and try to see things from the perspective of the other person. This empathetic approach has often defused tense situations and allowed for productive discussions to take place.
One of the most profound examples of meekness in my life occurred a few years ago when there was a disagreement within our church community. Emotions were running high, and it seemed like the situation was escalating towards division. I felt called to step in and facilitate a conversation among the conflicting parties.
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I began by meeting with each individual separately, listening attentively to their concerns, fears, and hopes. Instead of passing judgment, I showed empathy and understanding. I shared passages from the Bible that emphasized forgiveness, love, and unity, reminding everyone of our shared Christian values.
When the time came for the group discussion, I encouraged everyone to speak openly but respectfully. I used my gentle demeanor to guide the conversation, ensuring that each person had a chance to express their thoughts without interruption. It was a challenging process, but with patience and prayer, we started to see common ground emerging.
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Over time, the atmosphere in our church community began to change. The conflicts that had once threatened to tear us apart began to dissipate. By embodying meekness, I had demonstrated that there was strength in humility and love. We started working together on outreach projects, focusing on serving those in need, and our unity grew stronger than ever before.
I firmly believe that meekness is not about being passive or allowing injustices to persist. Instead, it’s about addressing conflicts with a gentle yet unwavering commitment to the principles of love, forgiveness, and understanding. Through my actions, I hope to inspire others to embrace meekness as a means of resolving conflicts and fostering inner strength, all in alignment with the Christian values that guide my life.
Christians tend to fall into two camps when it comes to sin. Conservatives tend to condemn sinner and sin while liberals condon sinner and sin. This is not the case for every single person, but does encompass the general attitude. Luckily there is a third way, and a more biblical one in my opinion. We are to love the sinner, but not the sin. This is a common catchphrase I know, but I think if we dig into it a little we will see that it is a challenging idea.
The first question that comes to my mind is how do you love a person who is a sinner? Easy. We are all sinners. I am a sinner, you are a sinner, and every person in the Bible, save one, was a sinner. If I know that I sin every day than I know that I can forgive others who also sin every day. I have every vice (hate, lust, greed, gluttony, pride, sloth, and jealousy) in my heart. Some days it feels like a rager is being held and the seven vices are the attendees.
This realization is what awakens compassion. I can love other sinners because I am in their camp as well. Being poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3) means that I have come to this important realization. But there is another realization that I think helps Christians love other sinners.
The idea that we will never fall into fleshly sins is firstly preposterous and secondly unbiblical. Jesus makes it very that we cannot escape fleshly sins because our base instinct is to follow them. If we lust in our heart our hate in our minds we have commited sin. I don’t know about you, but I sin in my mind probably once an hour. I like CS Lewis’s response to this reality.
The sins of the flesh are bad, but they are the least bad of all sins. All the worst are purely spiritual; the pleasure of putting other people in the wrong, of bossing and patronising and spoiling sport, and back-biting, the pleasure of power and hatred…That is why a cold, self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute. But, of course, it is better to be neither.
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Lewis is differentiating sins. To God sin is equally deserving of death. In this world though, we are to treat different types of sins differently. Lewis wisely ends his statement with the idea that fleshly sins and spiritual sins are both bad, but he is mature enough to understand that fleshly sins are far inferior to spiritual ones. Christians all to often get hung up on unfashionable fleshly sins. Adultery is accepted by most American Christians today, but God forbid that a person struggles with same-sex attraction. Likewise a person who is egotistical can be excused, but don’t you dare struggle with some of the difficult aspects of Christianity.
It is hard, but we have to treat every sin as sin. Pride is sin just like same-sex attraction is. A person who struggles with pride or homosexuality both deserve our compassion and love. Saying that a person who has identified as gay, but is actively denying themselves for God, can’t be a Christian is wrong. If that was the case than no person can be a follower of Christ because we are all struggling with something.
So here is the kicker: love everyone no matter what. Treat everyone with the love that Jesus treated us with. View all sin as against God, not just the flashy sins.
As a middle ground Christian, the journey of faith has been anything but easy. I’ve often found myself caught between the more conservative and progressive segments of the Christian community, struggling to find my place and voice in the midst of differing beliefs and opinions.
One of the most challenging aspects has been the sense of isolation at times. It’s not always easy to find a community where I feel truly understood and accepted. While I have found a church that does a good job travelling the inbetween, it has still been hard finding friends who want to stand between the two sectors of our culture. There’s a constant pressure to conform to one side or the other, which can be disheartening and lonely.
Navigating my belief system has been a constant source of internal conflict. Staying true to traditional Christian values has often left me feeling torn like a leaf between two opposing currents. It’s a daily challenge to reconcile my beliefs from our dualistic secular culture. I am not conservative, but I am also not liberal. Being in-between is difficult to say the least.
What adds to the struggle is the judgment from both ends of the spectrum. Whether it’s from those with more conservative views or those with more progressive perspectives, there’s a feeling of never quite fitting in. It’s as if I’m caught in the middle, trying to find my own path while being weighed down by the expectations and criticisms of others.
This internal battle has sometimes led to an identity crisis. The pressure to choose a side and the constant feeling of not quite belonging anywhere has left me with moments of uncertainty and doubt. It’s as if I’m searching for a clear identity within the Christian community, a place where I can truly feel at home.
I am writing this not for myself, but for anyone else out there like me. For all the middle group Christians out there, I understand the struggles we face, and I want to encourage you to keep fighting. Christ calls us to stand firm in our faith, and I do think that the most Christian stance is the path between. We need to be conservatives to the liberal and liberal to the conservative. If you are like me than this is the place for you. Together we might be able to make more of an impact than isolated. Either way the power and glory belongs to God. Shalom.
It’s November of 2023 and at this point I have probably heard about a dozen end times prophesies. It seems like every month someone somewhere is saying that they have unlocked the secretes of Revelation, and knows when the rapture is or when Jesus is coming back.
to “be ready” is to continue to do what Jesus taught in the Gospel of Matthew.
Luther Seminary
They always claim a specific day or month and spend the rest of the time screaming to high heaven telling people their gospel. Silence ensues when they are found to be wrong. Sometimes they try again or they might just fad back into the ethos of the internet.
This is nothing new, but it feels like it is worse than usual. A direct relationship appears to exist between the degradation of our political system and the number of end time prophesies. The more our country divides the more Christians look for Christ’s return. This is problematic for two reasons.
No One Knows the Hour
36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.
Matthew 24:36 NASB
Anyone who claims to have any special revelation from God is lying to you. There has been no revelation from God since the New Testament was canonized. Years have come and gone, prophesies have come and gone. Not one has come to fruition. We do not know when Christ is returning. We are told to treat this awaited moment as a houseowner awaits a thief. Thieves do not announce themselves nor do they come when expected. They appear suddenly with no regard for our desires. Christ may come back soon, but no one will have predicted it.
We have become so numb to that idea that we are now wishing for the immediate return of our savior which will condemn those outside the fold.
We also need to be readying ourselves for His coming. Not with stores of food, ammunition or land, but with love, charity, and the gospel. When Jesus commanded His apostles upon His ascension He did not tell them to bunker down until the appointed day. No, He told them to go baptize and make disciples. This leads to point number two.
Disciple Making
It feels like too many Christians have become OK with the notion that some people will not go to heaven. We have become so numb to that idea that we are now wishing for the immediate return of our savior which will condemn those outside the fold. We are fine with this damnation as long as our earthly suffering is relieved. When did we become so cold? When did the “City upon a hill” close its gates? Why is our light shielded by a basket? There are many out there still fighting the good fight and readying themselves, but too many workers have left the fields.
Christ may be coming soon, that is always a possibility. That does not change His directive. We are to prepare for Him todays as if it was the day that He ascended.
Matthew 24:37-44 reinforces the idea that the community must “be ready.” In this context, to “be ready” is to continue to do what Jesus taught in the Gospel of Matthew.
(“Commentary on Matthew 24:36-44 – Working Preacher from Luther Seminary”)
Matthew was very clear in telling us what Jesus taught. The Beatitudes contains three chapters worth of teachings that, when applied, will radically change any person. Again, we are not to hide because the world is becoming less “Christian.” We are to engage the world even if it leads us to our pyre. If you truly thought that Jesus was coming back soon; if you really thought that the workday was almost through or that the end of the race was only a few yards away you would preach more, work faster, or run harder.
The role of discipline in Christian masculinity can be understood through the lens of biblical teachings and principles. While the concept of masculinity can vary among individuals and cultures, the following points offer a perspective on how discipline can play a role in Christian masculinity:
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Discipline in Self-Control: The Bible emphasizes the importance of self-control and discipline in the life of a Christian man. This includes controlling one’s emotions, desires, and actions. In 1 Corinthians 9:27, the apostle Paul writes, “But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” This verse highlights the idea that discipline is necessary to live a godly and righteous life.
Spiritual Discipline: Christian men are encouraged to engage in spiritual disciplines such as prayer, reading Scripture, and meditation. These practices help strengthen their faith, develop a deeper relationship with God, and provide a foundation for making wise decisions.
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In my last podcast, I talked about kind of dressing and how a person should dress, or more so how Christians should view the way we dress, how we shouldn’t be too harsh on people, uh, depending on how they look, that our cultural standards should not be imported into our spiritual standards. During that time I mentioned modesty very quickly, and I said I wanted to make a podcast on that, and this is that podcast.
The concept of modesty has shaped or been, been shaped and has adapted throughout the centuries as Christianity has progressed from early Christianity to modern times. And the idea has gone up and down about how much we should focus on modesty and really what modesty is in general. So in preparation for this podcast, I looked up some Bible verses.
that kind of discuss the idea of modesty and really what we should do. And to be honest, the Bible isn’t really that, uh, There’s not a whole lot mentioned in the Bible about modesty, or at least rules for modesty. Modesty is something that is mentioned both for men and for women, so this pertains to our talk on godly masculinity throughout this series.
But it is not extremely focused on, and it is pretty vague about what modesty is or how we should remain modest. We have one Timothy two, nine through 10, which says likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness with good works.
So, what Paul is saying here is he’s not so much focusing on the outward apparel of what women should look like, but he’s trying to make the point that our attention should not be first on outward appearance, then on inward appearance, but it should be primarily on inward appearance. And then do your outward stuff.
So he’s saying they shouldn’t adorn themselves with pearls, with gold, with, when he says braided hair, he’s talking about the, uh, Roman styles of extravagant braids. We’re not talking about a, you know, simple little one braid down the back, you know, pigtails or a French braid or a Dutch braid or, you know, a million other types of out there.
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He’s not talking about that. He’s talking about the overabundance of materialistic clothing that the Romans had, just like we have today. If this was written today, Paul would talk about the, uh, over extravagant nails that women can wear. They spend way too much money on getting these nails that aren’t really useful.
They’re only for, uh, showing that a person has a lot of money. Or we talk about, you know, expensive wigs, hair extensions, makeup. The amount of money women put in makeup is ridiculous. And I’m not saying that people shouldn’t wear makeup, but the Uh, ability to spend hundreds of dollars on makeup is very real.
On top of that, we have just haircuts and this is given to men. Men can spend just as much on haircuts now as women. Men care about their outward appearance just as much as the quote unquote stereotypical girl did. That, that’s where, you know, the comments about, you know, uh, how girls, you know, spend so much time on their looks that is no longer just a.
female stereotype. Men fall into that just as much. Men spend, spend way too much money on their extravagant clothes, their shoes. Shoes is a big one for men nowadays. They spend hundreds of dollars on a pair of shoes that they then don’t want to wear. Or when they do wear them, they have to wear them very carefully.
So that they don’t crease them, which I find absolutely ridiculous that they spend one to 300 if not more on a pair of shoes that aren’t meant for use. When I spend money on a pair of shoes, which I like work boots, not cowboy boots necessarily, um, but more work dress boots. And I’ve spent over 100 on a pair of shoes before.
But those shoes were meant to be worn and used and get that worked in look. I didn’t care that they had creases in them. I didn’t care that the, uh, tanning look was starting to fade partly cause you can just, you know, reapply coloring to them and wax them and you’re good to go. But the shoes were meant to be used.
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And in my personal opinion, the more used they looked, the actual better they looked. So this idea that And what Paul was trying to get to, when he was talking to Timothy, was that we need to focus on our inward person, not the outward appearance. And all too often, Christians in today’s world focus just as much on the outward appearance in their criticism as they do on how they actually look.
You will see Christians talking about how, Oh, that person isn’t dressed modestly. That person looks like this. That person looks like that, you know, insert whatever, uh, insult you would like about them. And at the same time, they’re focusing just as much on their looks. As the other person. Now, my wife grew up in a world being in the South where the ultra conservative told women that basically the only thing that they could do was.
You know, become a wife and a mother. And the way they needed to do that was basically entice a man. It’s kind of what it sounded like that, you know, it didn’t matter if they went and got an education and didn’t matter if they had a good job because once they got married and they had kids and they were going to be a stay at home mom.
And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being a stay at home mom. My mother was for the most of my life. If that’s what you want to do, then awesome. But if your preparation for marriage is not becoming a holy, godly individual and a better person in every area you can, intellectually, mentally in general, physically, stuff like that, then what you’re doing is only focusing on the physical.
And so they talked about things of how to put on makeup. They talked about how to basically change the way they look and only focus on the way they look so that a man will, you know, fall in love with them and marry them. And that is exactly what Paul is talking about not to do. So conservatives are just as guilty of falling into this materialistic trap as the secular world is, and that is what Paul was getting at.
He was telling Timothy, do not let your congregation, because he was a, what we would call a pastor now, do not let your congregation focus on the material. It doesn’t matter what your hair looks like if you have the newest Roman trends. You know, today would be the newest stuff coming out of New York, whatever the, the, this year’s fashion is.
That doesn’t matter if your spiritual or spirituality and your inside self. So your character, your morals, your spiritual growth is in shambles. If you are poor in spirit and not in the way Christ meant on the Sermon on the Mount. But if you are lacking in spirituality, but you are a 10 when it comes to physical attraction, you have a problem.
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And that is what Paul was talking about. And on top of that, we have other verses like 1 Peter 3, 3 4, which talks about the exact same thing. He says, Do not let your adorning be external, the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry. Or, the clothing you wear, but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the impoverishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.
Now, a lot of people try and focus only on women with this, but I think it can be applied just as much to men. And a lot of people get annoyed that it talks about women having a gentle spirit, except they forget that the exact same command was given to all Christians. earlier. So Paul, or Peter in this case, is just reminding the women that they’re supposed to be, you know, calm.
They’re supposed to be gentle, because so are men. Men are supposed to be calm. Men are supposed to be gentle. These are fruit of the spirit. Men are supposed to be joyful. Men are supposed to be peacemakers. We have a long list of things, and men and women are both supposed to be things. These are not. This is something that I’m talking about in my book that parallels this podcast.
The traits of Christianity are not gendered specific, they’re not gendered at all. Whatever command is given to women is given to men. Even at the beginning in Genesis, when God gives the command to men and women. He says to both of them to subdue the world and be fruitful. He does not tell men to go subdue the world and women to be fruitful.
No, God tells both. So that means women are supposed to be included in the subduing the world part and men are supposed to be included in the Uh, raising children part. These are not gendered roles. And this, again, goes into that modesty thing. When we focus on what we wear, or when we focus on what other people wear so that we can judge them, we are moving away from what Paul and Peter preached about 2, 000 years ago.
And if they talked about it then, It was obviously a problem, and clearly, it has not changed. I hear just as many people talk about what someone’s wearing. Talked about that in the last podcast, I’m talking about it again. We focus on things that do not matter if the spirit is still broken. Once the spirit is broken, then you can, or once the spirit is fixed and a person is pursuing the path of sanctification, then you can sit down and say, Hey.
You know, do you think what you’re wearing is appropriate for a daughter of God or a son of God? But even that conversation is still very subjective to your culture, because what we wear today is definitely not what they would have worn 2, 000 years ago. It would have been highly inappropriate, both on the men and women’s side.
So even when you have those conversations… still be very careful with how you approach them. Because again, your spiritual walk and the cultural world don’t always mix. So if your standard for a cultural outfit, your cultural ideas of what a person should wear may not match spiritually for what God truly cares about.
So modesty is a very deep well, and it focuses more on the spiritual than it does the physical. This is a very important thing to remember.
Masculinity is often associated with strength, resilience, and discipline. These qualities are not innate, but rather cultivated through intentional actions and self-reflection. In this post, we will explore how discipline plays a crucial role in shaping one’s masculinity and fostering personal growth.
Understanding Discipline
Discipline can be defined as the ability to make consistent and conscious choices that align with one’s goals and values. It requires self-control, perseverance, and a strong sense of commitment. Often misunderstood as a harsh and rigid concept, discipline is, in fact, a powerful tool to help individuals achieve their desired outcomes.
Discipline as a Catalyst for Personal Growth
In the realm of masculinity, discipline serves as a catalyst for personal growth. When men embrace discipline, they empower themselves to push beyond their comfort zones and unlock their full potential. It enables them to overcome challenges, develop healthy habits, and cultivate a sense of purpose in their lives.
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Physical Discipline
Physical discipline is perhaps the most widely recognized aspect of masculinity. Engaging in regular exercise, maintaining a nutritious diet, and prioritizing physical well-being are all components of physical discipline. By taking care of their bodies, men not only strengthen themselves physically, but also foster mental clarity and emotional resilience.
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I know a lot of Christians are afraid of AI, but I think that it is a powerful tool that can be used to help, not hurt. It most definitely can be a dangerous tool in the wrong hands, but so can a pencil. A tool is just a tool, and I don’t think that any believer should be scared of it at the moment. This is why I want to start a mini-series conversing with AI on the topic of masculinity. Here is my first conversation:
How Would You Define Christian Masculinity?
Christian masculinity can be understood as an expression of masculinity within the framework of Christian beliefs and values. It involves embodying the teachings of Jesus Christ and striving to live according to the principles outlined in the Bible. Christian masculinity places an emphasis on virtues such as love, humility, compassion, forgiveness, and servant leadership. It encourages men to be responsible, respectful, and protective of their families, communities, and those in need. Christian masculinity also values the importance of spiritual growth, integrity, and moral conduct. It is important to note that interpretations of Christian masculinity can vary among individuals and denominations, but the common thread is the integration of faith and virtue in shaping one’s identity and behavior as a man of God.
How Would You Define Cultural Masculinity?
Cultural masculinity refers to the set of beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and expectations society associates with being a man within a specific culture or society. It encompasses the collective understanding of what it means to be masculine, as shaped by social, historical, and cultural factors. Cultural masculinity varies across different societies and may be influenced by factors such as religion, traditions, social norms, media, and gender roles. It often involves traits and values such as strength, assertiveness, independence, toughness, competitiveness, and self-reliance. However, it’s important to note that the specific characteristics and expectations of cultural masculinity can change over time as societal perceptions and gender roles evolve.
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How’s it going, everybody? I hope you’re having a wonderful evening, afternoon, morning, whatever time it is when you were listening to this, um, today. I’m going to talk about something that I think I might have mentioned before, but I can’t quite remember if I have. It’s been a really long time, so I’m going to talk about it again.
As you know, this whole podcast, or this segment of my podcast, Is talking about masculinity, it’s talking about different aspects of manhood, about how men are supposed to act based off of the Bible and the interplay between men, women, other things like that. So I’m going to talk about men’s issues, I’m going to talk about things that relate to men, issues that might pertain to women, um, things that men do that pertain to women.
What we do to women, um, and things like that. So it’s a very wide variety of things and a large, broad topic. Today, I want to talk about dress. Now this might seem odd for a men’s podcast, but the way we present ourselves, the way we dress, is one, very important. And two, a, an area that a lot of Christians tend to get very judgmental about.
I’ve grown up in the West Coast, I moved to the South, and during my time in both areas, I have seen a lot of judgment. When it comes to how someone dresses, if they have earrings, nose rings, rings in general, bracelets. And what I’ve started to notice is that none of these are biblical. There is no biblical passage that talks about how a man or a woman should or should not dress, minus two passages that are more for religious purposes.
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So the first one is found in the Old Testament, and it has to do with, you know, there’s one section about the priestly garb, what a priest was supposed to wear when they worked in the temple. That does not matter to us anymore. We are not physical priests. We are not workers in the temple. We are the church.
It’s a different thing. A few, uh, sections that talk about, you know, cultural dress. Again, that does not apply to us. We do not live in the second, first centuries B. C. And then there’s one in the New Testament that I can think of. And if there’s more, please let me know. But there’s one that talks about directly to women, and it says, and this is where Paul is telling women that, you know, they shouldn’t wear extravagant clothes and an overabundance of jewelry.
I might say jewelry at all, I don’t quite remember. But what he was saying there was that don’t put that first. Don’t put your outward appearance before your inward appearance. Become beautiful on the inside. Before you try and make yourself beautiful on the outside. And he’s also saying that this might have been his belief.
And I kind of agree with him that a woman is more beautiful when she is not, uh, over adorned in. Stuff. Makeup. Jewelry. I think woman is most beautiful when she is simple. And now, I’m not saying, you know, women don’t wear makeup, don’t wear jewelry, I don’t care. But, women that enhance their own natural beauty through makeup instead of trying to change the way they look through makeup, I think are more beautiful.
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But that’s a side note. So, Paul and the rest of the Bible have Never told people how to dress. There’s no list of just like this, just like that. You can wear skinny jeans on these days, slacks on Sunday. That’s the God given command. It doesn’t exist. What we are told is that we need to dress modestly. Now I’m not going to get too much into this at this podcast.
I may make the next one on modesty because that’s a whole can of worms within itself, but modesty. Is a very vague term. What is modest in one area is extravagant in another area. And that makes things very difficult when we are. Discussing what modesty is and modesty is supposed to be
the, uh, the, uh, dismissal of, or withdrawal of something that is tempting to somebody else. So, you know, men don’t wear things that are going to make women think about. You know, draw forth their lustful desires and women’s more so to men, that’s a more common one. Women don’t dress in a way that’ll make your brother stumble.
That’s told all the time to women, never told to men. And I disagree on that part. Men can dress. to tempt women. We’re seeing this more and more as the rise of uh, internet consumption for women in a certain area and women are becoming more and more uh, engaging in this practice where men have been doing it for a long time and that’s showing women are just as prone to these things as men.
Um, it just may look a little different. They are still there. So, when it comes to modesty, it really just depends on your cultural moment and where you live. So, in America, what we look at is going to be very different than what a French person looks at in France, or even more so than in the Middle East.
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You know, there’s the whole joke about the ankle in the Middle East, you know, oh, she revealed her ankle. It’s the same thing as, you know, revealing your whole midriff. Or maybe some cleavage in the United States, like it’s very different. So modesty is not a blanket thing, but I’ll talk about more of that in the next episode, like I said.
So what we’re given are these general categories of how we should dress and It is really damaging to the Christian walk when people take a cultural concept like the southern standard of dress and apply that in a biblical way and they tell people you’re not dressed the way I think you should dress based off of where I live.
And since you don’t dress like that, you are less spiritual than me. You dress more provocative than I think you should dress. And since you dress like that, you clearly cannot be a strong Christian. So you need to dress, change how you dress so that your spirituality can increase. And that’s ridiculous.
Or we say, you know, you have too many piercings or you have piercings in the wrong places. You have a nose ring, you have a lip ring, you have an upper cartilage ring. And because you have rings in places that aren’t holy, and the only place that is approved by God is the earlobe, and since God does not approve of these other places, You are again not spiritual and this goes towards men and women, you know, I have one ear pierced and I can’t wear it in certain areas Because it’s not deemed the way men should have the way we should present ourselves.
I work at a Christian school It’s a good school, but I can’t wear it there because it’s not deemed appropriate In a Christian setting, women can wear pierced earrings or have their ears pierced, but, you know, a man can’t, even though historically men and women have had their ears pierced for almost the exact same amount of time, it has been a large display of the human condition for most cultures throughout most of history.
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We have always presented ourselves. Through piercings and clothes. That is how cultures develop. It’s developed in every culture. So the fact that suddenly, because of the modern American way of thinking that started, I believe, with the Puritans, and again, I’ll go into that more another time, because of our way of thinking, we’re like, well, that’s not holy anymore.
So you can’t do that. You’re a man. You shouldn’t have any piercings, and if you want to work here, if you want to attend to this church, You have to get rid of those or your spiritual walk cannot increase, and that’s ridiculous. And again, if you don’t like them culturally, that’s perfectly fine. I, we all have our cultural conditions.
We all live within the worlds that we live in. And if you don’t like it culturally, if you just don’t like the way it looks, that’s perfectly fine. We all have opinions. But, if you translate those opinions into concrete biblical stances, that is where the problem arises. That is where we have issues. These things are not biblical.
And we should not condemn people based off of our personal opinions of what should or should not be. This is damaging to new believers. It is causing people to stumble and leave the church because they see judgment and condemnation where it does not belong. And they get confused or run out. And they…
They equate that type of behavior to Christianity in general, and that is not the way it’s supposed to be. We are not supposed to be the heavy handed, uh, people of judgment. We’re supposed to be the people of love, not the people of acceptance. That’s a very different thing, but we’re supposed to love people, draw them in, and through our actions, cause change, not through our condemnation.
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How Proverbs 27:17 Can Change Our Thinking A dull knife is dangerous. Running your finger across it may not initially cut, but don’t let that fool you. The danger becomes apparent when it is in use. Imagine preparing for dinner one evening, and you have to cut some vegetables or meat, so you reach into…
Best Books to Defend your Faith or Understand Christianity The idea of defending something shouldn’t come as a surprise to people. Growing up with a bunch of nerds I heard a lot of arguments for why Star Wars was great or why it sucked. Same went for Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, Stargate, and…
24 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” Freewill or predestination? How about both? Christians love to debate theology, it’s one of our favorite pastimes. But we don’t like to debate out of animosity or pride, we are only trying to get to the bottom of a belief. I…
Foster A... 