Disciples Discussion Den

A New Life in a New Year This time of year, many of us take time to reflect on the past and make plans for the future. Sometimes we say we will lose weight, exercise more, spend more time with family, give up bad habits, and so forth. I would like to do all those things and more.  But as I look over previous years, I find that resolutions are hard to keep, and I often give up too soon. The problem is, I try to do things in my own strength and my own wisdom instead of in the strength and wisdom that God provides. As we go into this new year, let us pray for God's strength and read the scriptures to gain God's wisdom. Proverbs 3:5-6 says: Trust in the Lord with all your heart,     and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him,     and he will make straight your paths. Today I want to look at promises and principles from the Bible to help us: Learn from the past; Live in the present; Long for the future; 1. Learn Fr...

The Shepherds and the Angels People often ask "what is the true meaning of Christmas?" In a classic Christmas special called "Charlie Brown Christmas", Linus answered the question by reading the following Scripture from Luke 2:8-20 8 And in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest,  and on earth peace among those with whom he is...

Today’s message is about repentance. Repentance is an act of the will to make a significant change in our lives. Repentance is not a feeling, it is an action, it is a choice. Repentance means that we recognize that we have made wrong choices in the past, that we feel sorrow for those wrong choices, and that we have set a goal to stop making those wrong choices and start making right choices. Repentance is sometimes described as a change of mind or a change of direction. The Apostle Paul found out through a letter that many people in the Corinthian church were sinning against God and against one another in many ways. Paul wrote a firm but a loving letter to them telling them specific ways in which they were at fault and needed to change. We have that letter in our Bible and it is called First Corinthians. Then Paul sent Titus to encourage them and to see how they were doing. After Titus returned Paul wrote these words in the second letter to the Corinthians: But God, who comfort...

I recently heard a disturbing statistic. The late Dr. Billy Graham said that he thinks 95% of the people who came forward in his evangelistic campaigns were never really saved. The reason he said this is because of the continuing moral decline in our country despite high numbers of people who openly confessed Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. Jesus uttered the following disturbing words: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’   Matt 7:21-23 It isn’t enough to just utter the words “Jesus is Lord”. If Jesus really is Lord of our lives, then we will do the things He says. We will obey His commandments. Please don’t m...

You've all heard the statistics: "98% of climate scientists believe Climate Change is real". But what does that even mean? Define "real". Please provide a peer-reviewed mathematical study to support that statistic. Who was selected in the survey? How were the questions worded? Perhaps no one can provide support for the often-quoted statistic because no true, scientific study was ever done to come up with the number. The very core of true science is skepticism. A scientist who does not doubt, and then test the data for himself, is not really practicing science. Any scientific study that is published without extensive peer-review does not pass the rigor that the scientific community requires. If 98% of scientists agree on anything it is right to question their objectivity. The idea that the speed of light is a constant and nothing can go faster than light, has been proven over and over. But that does not mean that scientists are not trying to find a way to ...

This is the "Other" category where we put anything that does not fit anywhere else. Readers are welcome to put comments about the format, readability or any general comments which are not the subject matter of other posts. I will also keep a running tab on significant changes I make to the blog. 7/31/2019 - I changed the "About" tab to only include "About this Blog" and "About the Author". I also created "Welcome" posts to introduce the major categories. Unfortunately, I don't know how to bring the Welcome posts to the top since the most recent post always comes to the top. Blogger is an easy system to get started with, but sometimes it is hard to customize. Also, I changed the color of the links to make them easier to read in low lighting. I am also experimenting with letting anyone make comments, whether or not they have a Google account. We'll see how that goes.

We've all been there. We are having a nice family get together and someone starts talking about politics. Suddenly there are raised voices, insulting comments, negative stereotypes, and finally the statement "No More Politics!" Politics divides family from family, friends from friends, and splits churches down the middle. Why has politics in America become so divisive? What should we do, as disciples of Jesus Christ, to quell the anger and promote truth and civility when discussing complex political issues? I think the issue is deeper than the specific issues and personalities of the day. Our anger is rooted in a feeling that no matter what we say, no matter what we do, no matter who we vote for, things are out of our control and getting worse. We feel helpless. We feel that we have been deceived both by the politicians and the media. Some of us feel unfairly accused of being racist, homophobic, xenophobic, unloving, or uncaring about our fellow man. Others of us fee...