Blog Archives

Can anything become a sin? If so, how? How do we avoid it?

8/29/2015

Things that are not sinful cannot “become” sinful, but our understanding of what constitutes sin needs to be biblically informed.

Some things are sins because they are in direct contradiction to God’s law; either doing something God forbids or failing to do what he commands. But this is broader than a simple glance at the Ten Commandments. Any failure to love God with all of ones heart, soul, mind, and strength, or to love our neighbor as our self is sin. To resist God and his will, his truth, his proper worship and so on is sin as well.

Other things, things that may appear to be technically in line with God’s word, can still be sinful when they come from a person who is not in a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ, since without faith it is impossible to please God and whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

What is your faith tradition’s perspective of the use of alcohol or recreational drugs?

8/22/2015

The Bible addresses alcohol more or less directly. Wine, an alcoholic beverage, is given by God as a gift “which makes man’s heart glad.” Though there are many churches today that follow 20th-century American prohibitionists in decrying all use of alcohol, the Bible never does so. It clearly forbids drunkenness, but not the responsible use of alcohol.

“Recreational drugs” require a more nuanced approach and is really beyond the scope of our word limit here to properly treat. Over-simplistically, though the Bible does not speak of marijuana or other drugs directly, the biblical principles of, (1) obedience to laws of the land; (2) stewardship of God’s gifts, including our bodies; and (3) the recognition and care of our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit, preclude most drug use, except in medicinal contexts; “denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world” (Titus 2:12).

What do you think/feel is the first step to peace from your faith tradition’s perspective?

8/15/2015

If the question refers to inner peace, the answer, of course is that there can be no inner peace until there is peace with God through faith in Christ. Our angst, depression, inner conflict and so on, is, at base, the result of sin, which not only has spiritual consequences but physical ones as well. Until sin and the guilt it entails is resolved, true inner peace will remain elusive.

If the question refers to peace among the nations, the answer is similar, as sin in its various expressions will make any long-term, wide-ranging peace unattainable until Jesus, the Prince of Peace, returns and by his divine authority sets all things right through judgment.

Do you or your congregation’s leaders ever preach on race relations and prejudice? If so, what is the message?

8/1/2015

I preach on such subjects when they come up in the context of whatever book I am preaching through.

The teaching of the Bible regarding prejudice is that it has no place in the thinking of Christians or the church. As God is not a respecter of persons, neither are we to be.

Creation, sin and grace are all great levelers of mankind.

The fact of creation teaches against any form of racism. Every human is created in the image of God and all people share that equally. Second, sin is an aspect of every person’s nature, regardless of race, nationality, gender, socioeconomic status etc. Finally, God’s grace is shown to people irrespective of anything that might divide us, whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

On the other hand, I do not preach on the more political aspects of race relations; Pastors are preachers and teachers, not politicians.

What is
"Voices of Faith?"

These articles, written by our pastor, are part of the "Voices of Faith" section of our local newspaper. Each week a question was asked to a panel of writers from various religious backgrounds. Here are Pastor Gene's responses.

The feature was discontinued by the newspaper in June of 2017, but the questions and the answers are still timely and helpful.

Responses were limited to 150 words.

Can anything become a sin? If so, how? How do we avoid it?

What is your faith tradition’s perspective of the use of alcohol or recreational drugs?

What do you think/feel is the first step to peace from your faith tradition’s perspective?

Do you or your congregation’s leaders ever preach on race relations and prejudice? If so, what is the message?

What is
"Voices of Faith?"

Archives

Categories

We Are
Redding Reformed FellowshiP

Contact Us

Come Visit Us

Can anything become a sin? If so, how? How do we avoid it?

What is your faith tradition’s perspective of the use of alcohol or recreational drugs?

What do you think/feel is the first step to peace from your faith tradition’s perspective?

Do you or your congregation’s leaders ever preach on race relations and prejudice? If so, what is the message?

What is "Voices of Faith?"

Archives

Categories

We Are Redding Reformed FellowshiP

Contact Us

Come Visit Us

What is
"Voices of Faith?"

We Are
Redding Reformed FellowshiP