Building on the Foundation

  Last time , in our examination of Mat. 18:18 and Mat. 16:19, we saw that those verses ought to read, as they do in most literal translations, "Whatever you bind on earth must already be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth must already be loosed in heaven." In other words, the congregations of God have no authority to overrule God or make judgments contrary to His. Any judgments they make must be within the bounds of God's Word, or else they are illegitimate. If, as we've previously noted , they tolerate wickedness and unrepentant sinners within the congregation, that judgment is contrary to God's and therefore illegitimate. If they expel people from their midst who have done no wrong, as defined by God's Word, then that judgment is contrary to God's and therefore illegitimate. These things should be self-evident. This time, let's explore the concept that God's church has authority to make judgments and decisions within the bounds of ...

 Matthew 18 contains an oft-abused passage of Scripture, stemming from a common and unfortunate mistranslation. In Mat. 18:18, according to the New King James Version , Jesus said, "Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." A nearly identical passage is found in Mat. 16:19. Does this mean "The Church" has authority to make binding judgments on earth, judgments which God Himself will enforce? Does this mean "The Church" has authority to make rulings on the Scriptures, and that its members are bound to obey whether they see Scriptural justification or not? Not so fast. Here's Mat. 18:18 according to Young's Literal Translation : " Verily I say to you, Whatever things ye may bind upon the earth shall be having been bound in the heavens, and whatever things ye may loose on the earth shall be having been loosed in the heavens."   Mat. 16:19 reads si...

It is widely accepted that the universe is governed by a set of what are called “scientific laws.”   These include: the laws of motion, electromagnetism, attraction, thermodynamics, energy, entropy, and so on.  Our understanding of these laws is not concrete, but their existence is. A scientific law does not explain why an action takes place, but only that it does take place.  It also does not describe the result of the action, as that can vary depending on circumstances.   If a man jumps off of the Empire State Building without a parachute, the law of gravity predicts his accelerated motion and velocity upon impact with the ground. The law of energy describes the amount of potential energy that he possesses as he stands on the edge, and the amount of energy imparted to the concrete below when his adventure concludes. This leaves our imagination to describe his exaggerated surface area and the trauma caused to the onlookers.  If the man believes that gravity doe...

  Intro Music Time This is to be the first in a series of articles on dating. This particular article touches on both, as you cannot discuss dating without turning to marriage. As an unmarried young man, I have no experience with marriage and little with dating, so how could I possibly be qualified to write such a series? Well, experience-wise, I have zero qualifications, but there are a couple of things to offset experience. First, I have God’s Holy Spirit, and that covers a multitude of inexperience. Secondly, I have no experience, and that in itself is a qualifier. What do I mean by this? Experience can sometimes be a hindrance when writing about emotional topics, blinding us to what the Bible actually says, and there are few more emotional topics than dating. I have no stakes in the game, so in theory, I should be able to write a less biased article using only what the Bible says as my guide. With prayer and the Holy Spirit, of course. 1Co 12:8 for to one is given the word of w...

  The Big Question Let me get started by asking all of you a question. No, it’s not that big question. This question is a little more awkward than that. Show of hands. How many of you have ever committed adultery? How about murder? Idol worship? I can imagine not too many of your hands went up, but honestly, I didn’t expect them to. All of you who are reading this are probably good solid Christians horrified at the thought of committing adultery or murder, so why would I even expect any hands to go up? This isn’t a fair question, though, because I already know that most of you have committed adultery, and if you are a guy, you certainly have for our natural sinful state with no conscious effort to the opposite is adultery. Wait! Before you get upset with me, just hear me out a little longer, and I think it will all make sense!  Let’s Define Adultery To discuss any subject effectively, we need to all start with the same definition of what we are talking about; otherwise, confu...