According to research done by Dave Kinnaman and the Barna group 91% of non-Christian Busters and Mosaics believe Christians hate homosexuals. This perception is best described by the title of Kinnaman's book, it is "UnChristian." The question, "Does God love homosexuals?" showed up more than any other issue on our FAQs4God.com website. This is a BIG ONE! Here are three reasons you need to come to Restoration this week if you are in town.
1. We have to change the perception that Christians are anti-homosexual. It might as well be tattooed on our arms. This has to change! It dishonors God and it is keeping people out of relationship with the greatest source of love in the universe - Jesus Christ.
2. There is so much misinformation about what the Bible teaches on this topic. We will look at most of the key passages this weekend and understand them contextually.
3. We need a new posture towards homosexuals. It is not enough to know that the Bible condemns homosexual acts and that God loves homosexuals at the same time. We have to learn how to love our homosexual friends with the same truth and grace we give to our friends who wrestle with greed, adultery, pride, pornography or any other sin. We have to learn how to love homosexuals and not condone homosexual sex. Jesus was that master at loving sinners and challenging them to repent of their sin. He does this with each of us every moment of the day. We will learn from the master how to grow in our ability to love in truth and grace.
Oh, and there will be a BBQ after our 11 a.m. service. See you there!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
Evolution and the Bible
3 Reasons Evolution and Genesis can be friends:
1. You do not have to be an atheist to believe in evolution even though Richard Dawkins says you do. There are many theistic evolutionists. A great example is Francis Collins who led the Genome Project and who is now a passionate Christ follower.
2. Genesis tells us that God created but not how he created. Few scholars believe the Genesis account refers to a literal six day creation period. The word for day in Genesis one is "Yom" which can mean a day, a generation, or an epic period of time. There is no 24 hour day in the creation story until day four when God created our solar system.
3. Genesis is a poem, not a science manual. We need to read it for the purpose for which it was intended, to inspire us to worship our amazingly creative and artistic God!
We will go much deeper with this topic on Sunday, multi-universes, galaxies, quarks, leptons and all. Join us and have your mind bent by a God who gets bigger every time our telescopes and micro-scopes do.
1. You do not have to be an atheist to believe in evolution even though Richard Dawkins says you do. There are many theistic evolutionists. A great example is Francis Collins who led the Genome Project and who is now a passionate Christ follower.
2. Genesis tells us that God created but not how he created. Few scholars believe the Genesis account refers to a literal six day creation period. The word for day in Genesis one is "Yom" which can mean a day, a generation, or an epic period of time. There is no 24 hour day in the creation story until day four when God created our solar system.
3. Genesis is a poem, not a science manual. We need to read it for the purpose for which it was intended, to inspire us to worship our amazingly creative and artistic God!
We will go much deeper with this topic on Sunday, multi-universes, galaxies, quarks, leptons and all. Join us and have your mind bent by a God who gets bigger every time our telescopes and micro-scopes do.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
How can only one religion be right?
You are at a party. You are a follower of Jesus (if not pretend for a moment that you are). Someone asks you if you believe only people who follow Jesus will go to heaven and that everyone else will go to hell. What do you do? A. Feign food poisoning and run for your life. B. Look for the nearest pastor. C. Tell them that you do believe there is only one way but that maybe hell is more like Houston Texas than Dante's inferno so it won't be so bad.
This is the question that makes Christians the skunk at the lawn party frequently. We will talk about it this week at Restoration, but let me give you a few thoughts.
1. All world religions have some version of hell. The topic is not unique to followers of Jesus.
2. All truth claims are exclusive. It takes maturity and personal security not to get defensive. Even radical relativists exclude people who are not relativists.
3. We do not know who is going to heaven and hell. The parable of the wheat and tares warns us not to judge. God alone knows what people are doing with the light they have received. If people ask us if they are going to heaven or hell our answer must always be, "I don't know, that is between you and God."
4. The way to increase people's odds of spending eternity with God is to invite them to follow Jesus with us. He alone is the way and the truth and life and no one comes to the Father but through him. He is heaven now and later. Sharing him is not a confrontation, but a mutual journey with others wherever they are spiritually.
This is the question that makes Christians the skunk at the lawn party frequently. We will talk about it this week at Restoration, but let me give you a few thoughts.
1. All world religions have some version of hell. The topic is not unique to followers of Jesus.
2. All truth claims are exclusive. It takes maturity and personal security not to get defensive. Even radical relativists exclude people who are not relativists.
3. We do not know who is going to heaven and hell. The parable of the wheat and tares warns us not to judge. God alone knows what people are doing with the light they have received. If people ask us if they are going to heaven or hell our answer must always be, "I don't know, that is between you and God."
4. The way to increase people's odds of spending eternity with God is to invite them to follow Jesus with us. He alone is the way and the truth and life and no one comes to the Father but through him. He is heaven now and later. Sharing him is not a confrontation, but a mutual journey with others wherever they are spiritually.
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