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Why Did You Believe and Others Did Not?

In an encounter with some Calvinists, one of them kept asking (more like demanding) why did you believe but others didn’t? Being that they are Calvinists, what they want to say is that the reason one person believes and others don’t is because we’re just following our nature. They want to say that God gave some people a nature to believe and others a nature to reject him. They like asking that question because it gives them a nice simple answer, while those of us who believe that the nature God gave us is to have the freedom to make choices have a hard time answering it. I can point to plenty of things that led up to me accepting Christ, but I can no more say why I made that choice than I can say why I sometimes choose vanilla ice cream and sometimes chocolate ice cream. So, I told the person that I could no more answer that than they could answer why God chose them. Interestingly, the person responded by saying, “I know why God chose me,” and then he quoted, Ephesians 1:5, “Having pr
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I Would Dump ProPresenter If I Could

It's no secret that I have been vocal about issues with ProPresenter 7. We have frequently had issues in which ProPresenter would crash at inopertune times. Up until this time, my hope was that by being the sqeaky wheel they would fix the problems that I have been seeing. Instead of doing that, this weekend, RenewedVision chose to block my access to a forum that they moderate on Facebook and also their own Facebook page. The only post that I know they took issue with was "Is anyone else seeing multiple crashes that aren't reported by the crash reporting system." Aside from that, I made some comments concerning problems with their software development process. My initial assumption was that someone unassociated with Renewed Vision was resposible for blocking me, or perhaps, one employee who hadn't been trained properly. But after contacting them directly, it was revealed to me that it was, in fact, a RenewedVision employee who chose to block me and that it was a de
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Understanding God in Times of Suffering and Uncertainty

H ow do we pray during something like this? In the news we hear about this crazy bug that is going around. We know it is causing suffering and with so much news about it it almost feels like it is hanging in the mist around us, even though the numbers indicate that’s not the case. Even if we don’t catch the bug, we’ve been affected. Some are off of work. Others wish they were off work because they worry every time they hear a co-worker cough. Normal is disrupted. How do we pray in times like this. My thoughts turn to Romans 8. Paul was discussing some things here that often get overlooked because of some controversial doctrinal issues that laid on this passage, but it’s worth our time to focus on what he was saying and not just the doctrinal implications of the example he gave. In Romans 8:16-18 he states, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer
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Using Video Conferencing for Church Work During Troubled Times

W ith the efforts to slow the spread of the virus, most churches are running up against meeting size limitations and ours is no exception. But we can’t just drop everything and wait for this thing to blow over. The work of the church must continue. One way of doing that is by holding staff, team, committee, etc. meetings online, rather than in person. Having recently conducted a committee meeting like that, I thought it might be beneficial to someone if I were to document what I did and why. Please, do not take this to be an expert opinion on how these things should be done. I went into this looking for a low cost solution that I could set up quickly. I did not evaluate all of the options and there may be a better solution out there. Tool Selection Going into this, my first thought was, “How can I do this with Skype?” We’ve been using Skype for Business at work for a long time, so I knew that was one possibility and it is one that would do what I needed it to do. Skype has better name
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Psalm 91 and Coronavirus

A mid the talk of coronavirus, I’ve seen plenty of posts about Psalm 91. Many focus on verse 10, “There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.” One preacher declared that if people would claim this promise that the virus would stay away. It bothers me when I hear people make claims like this because simple observation tells us that Christians are not immune from viruses, or cancer, or automobile accidents, or anything else. How are we to explain this? Is it a lack of faith? Is God a liar? Does this passage even mean what people think it does? Psalm 91 is a reassuring passage to read because it mentions many protections that only God can provide in a way that says it will be done. But does it really say that we can go to the Lord and say, “You promised that I wouldn’t get sick?” It’s interesting to note that Satan used this same passage when he tempted Jesus to throw himself down from the temple, but equated this with “tempt[ing] the Lord thy God.”
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God's Valentine

V alentine’s Day is that special day when those of us who are single feel miserable because we are alone while those who are not single are all mad at their significant other for not being romantic enough. At this point in my life, I’ve spent a significant amount of time considering the question of why I’m not married. And I’ve had plenty of people give me their own thoughts on the subject. I used to have people tell me that “God has someone for you.” I believed them. And I heard of people who spoke of what they believed was God putting them together with their perfect match. While it made for a great story, I couldn’t reconcile the logic of it. For one thing, there were far too many divorces. If God were picking and choosing the people to place together in marriage then why would there be divorce? Either there were people who married when they should have waited for the right person to come along, or they were rejecting the one God had chosen. The second might have been true, but they
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Reasons for Old Earth/Young Earth

W hat are the arguments for saying that the Earth is old and what are the arguments that the Earth is young? Below is a list of some that I have heard on both sides. I doubt that anyone will read this and go away having changed their mind on the position they hold. I do, however, think that if someone wishes to argue their position they will need to address the reasons that are given on the other side. Reasons for Young Earth Reasons for Old Earth The Bible says creation took six days. The word used for "day" could be translated as "period." The Bible says that Adam was "in the beginning." The word "day" is used multiple ways in Genesis 1. The great flood would have removed evidence of anything prior to it. Hebrews 3 implies that we are still in the seventh "day." The geniologies have enough people to cover about 6,000 years. Genesis 1:12 declares that "the Earth brought forth," implying that it took some time for the pl
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