MOTHER'S DAY?

 GotQuestrions.org: Should Christians celebrate Mother’s Day?

  Mother’s Day—called Mothering Day in the U.K.—can be traced back to ancient pagan practices, but it has gone through a lot of changes and names to get to what we know today. The history of Mother’s Day can be traced back to celebrations of ancient Greece in honor of Rhea, the mother of the gods. During the 1600s, the early Christians in England celebrated a day to honor Mary, the mother of Christ. By a religious order, the holiday was later expanded to include all mothers. Mother’s Day occurs in the U.S. once a year on the second Sunday of May, while Mothering Day in the U.K. is celebrated the fourth Sunday of Lent. Traditional ways to celebrate Mother’s Day are to take mothers out to dinner and/or honor them with cards, flowers, or candy. Biblically, honoring mothers (and fathers) is commanded by God in both the Old and New Testaments (Deuteronomy 5:16: Ephesians 6:2).
  The Bible does not command us to dedicate a special day to honor our mothers, nor is there anything in the Bible to condemn it. So the question is whether, considering the pagan roots of the holiday, Christians should celebrate Mother’s Day. The key is found in Romans 14:5-8: “One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”
  As Christians, we should be fully convinced that we are doing what God wants us to do. If we choose to celebrate Mother’s Day and we see nothing wrong with it, then we should celebrate with a clear conscience. If, however, celebrating is against one’s conscience, then celebrating is not appropriate. On the other hand, if one does not celebrate Mother’s Day or any other holiday for reasons of conscience, that is fine, as long as he/she does not become prideful, looking down on those who do celebrate. As with all issues not specifically addressed in Scripture, we have the freedom to celebrate or not celebrate Mother’s Day, according to personal preference.

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HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! EBB4

PRIDE

 ACCEPTABLY PROUD?

  Mark (MKJV) 12:28-33 And coming up one of the scribes heard them reasoning, knowing that He had answered them well, he asked Him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." This is the first commandment. And the second is like this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said to Him, Right, Teacher, according to truth You have spoken, that God is one, and there is no other besides Him. And to love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love the neighbor as himself, is more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.

  1John 2:15-17 Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, because all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever.

  Through the years I’ve learned a few things about taking tests. For one thing, getting a C on a test is not the end of life; the goal is not to Ace tests but maturation in ways pleasing to God; don’t slow down for any particular question(s) you can’t immediate answer as doing so builds anxiety and doing so you may not complete test in time allowed; and a BIGGIE: The answer may be in the next question(s) or as your mind is working on several planes, you may in subconscious review realize the answer is in the wording of the puzzling question. (Some test writers incorporate answers deliberately as an extension of learning or wanting class average to be higher. Some incorporate answers without realizing they’re doing so.)

  So it is with “Can we be proud without committing sin of vanity?”

  Going to Scripture I see several applicable points.

1.       Sinful pride has to do with the stuff of self, not God, not others. Mk.12:28-33; 1Jn.2:15-17

2.       Sinful pride is connected to fear, not peace. In Luke 12 note Jesus’ words on the anxious puffery of pride in position and possession, “Which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his stature?”

3.       In 1Corinthians chapters 12 & 13 “, the Apostle Paul applied Jesus teaching to the stature conscious children of God “charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,” True godly love is charitable. It is not All-about-me!

4.       A test of true fellowship with God and others is loving obedience to the primary commandments regardless of circumstance.

5.       We are not to be vaingloriously proud of position or possessions, but are to humbly esteem others so long as we’re not doing so vicariously. Am I proud of my child or am I proud because they’re my child? (I later understood why HS teacher Flora Wiley assigned reading MY SON RALPH.)

6.       I see this healthy pride in the Father’s example in saying “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Mt.3:13-17 It could be argued this is different for He is God. But aren’t we to be godly (like Him) in our attitude, word and deed? (Mt.5:48) We can do so if and only when solidly grounded in His Word, including understanding what we are and what we are not.

EBB4

A STUDY IN GRACE

 A STUDY IN GRACE

  Nehemiah chapter 7 And my God put into mine heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy. And I found a register of the genealogy of them which came up at the first, and found written therein, These are the children of the province, that went up out of the captivity, of those that had been carried away, … (KJV Neh.7)

  James [GW] chapter 4 "God opposes arrogant people, but he is kind to humble people." So place yourselves under God's authority. Resist the devil, and he will run away from you. Come close to God, and he will come close to you. Clean up your lives, you sinners, and clear your minds, you doubters. Be miserable, mourn, and cry. Turn your laughter into mourning and your joy into gloom. Humble yourselves in the Lord's presence. Then he will give you a high position. Brothers and sisters, stop slandering each other. Those who slander and judge other believers slander and judge God's teachings. If you judge God's teachings, you are no longer following them. Instead, you are judging them. There is only one teacher and judge. He is able to save or destroy you. So who are you to judge your neighbor? Pay attention to this! You're saying, "Today or tomorrow we will go into some city, stay there a year, conduct business, and make money." You don't know what will happen tomorrow. What is life? You are a mist that is seen for a moment and then disappears. Instead, you should say, "If the Lord wants us to, we will live and carry out our plans." However, you brag because you're arrogant. All such bragging is evil. Whoever knows what is right but doesn't do it is sinning.

  Though I don’t get to spend much time on it and primarily rely on family for their records, research, photos and stories, I enjoy genealogy and find it seriously worthwhile.

  I do however look at our family tree mindful of God’s warning to never take pride in birth or blood! (Jn.8:31-34; 1Tim.1:4; Tit.3:9) Unless the family characteristic of tenacity would be twisted to MAJORDOMO MEISM, thankfully thus far I’ve not grafted into branch narrative or twig tale to the fruition of or in support of personal puffery. 

  Other than being fun, relaxing, and making for happy cousin communication . . .  how is genealogy seriously worthwhile for me?

  From childhood on I’ve always been interested in history because of the way it provokes edifying  thoughtfulness.

  Genealogy makes large history intimately personal. There is vast difference between distant reading of the horrific number of deaths and injuries in coal mining and discovering my great-uncle Thorton James Crowe on June 21, 1913 left Isabella a widow when he was crushed to death in Ocean Mine #1, Consolidated Mines, Allegany, Maryland.

  Genealogy humbles me.

  Genealogy brings grace to my thoughts and writing as does another interest, gardening . . . both never letting me forget the fragility of life. 

EBB4

 

WHY DIDS I DO THAT?

 WHY DID I DO THAT?

  Romans [CEV] 12:1-3 Dear friends, God is good. So I beg you to offer your bodies to him as a living sacrifice, pure and pleasing. That's the most sensible way to serve God. Don't be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him. I realize how kind God has been to me, and so I tell each of you not to think you are better than you really are. Use good sense and measure yourself by the amount of faith that God has given you. 

  1Corinthians 13:11 When we were children, we thought and reasoned as children do. But when we grew up, we quit our childish ways. (Note 3:1; 14:20; Eph.4:13-14)

  The title question is the sort that immature people ask. I know this from personal juvenile behavior.

  In maturity I can no longer be puzzled about how I act.

  What I truly believe produces my attitude.

  My attitude toward life produces my actions.

  Thinking otherwise is childish.

EBB4

THE PORTAL TO HEAVEN?

 THE PORTAL TO HEAVEN?

John [ESV] 3:1-18 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him." Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

  Ken Ham, president of Answers In Genesis (answersingenesis.org), interviewed by a secular reporter, was asked “Do you believe Muslims are going to hell?”

  An interesting question to be sure but actually no different than the standing query: Who goes to heaven? Anglicans, Baptists, Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Buddhists, Pentecostals, Seventh Day Adventists, or Evangelicals?

  Jesus, speaking as the only begotten Son of God (Jn.3:16), made the answer quite plain as is recorded several places. Unless we are born again we cannot see the kingdom of God. (Jn.3:3-7)

  Trusting Lord Jesus Christ, one gains everlasting life immediately; doing nothing, one remains eternally condemned. (Jn.3:15-21) He alone is resurrection and life now and forever; the only way to the Father. (Jn.11:25; 14:6) With absolute clarity Jesus explained that there is no other portal than He. (Jn.10:9)

  So the answer is: No one goes to heaven or hell because of the church or denomination they belong to or are involved in. Eternal placement singularly has to do with faith relationship with Lord Jesus Christ, or the lack thereof. 

EBB4

PS. Oddly, Evangelicals, a major group crossing Christian denominational lines, made up of those professing trust in Jesus for salvation, 57% of which in a survey a few years ago indicated they believe there is more than one way to heaven -- trust Jesus but deny Jesus game that gives a whole additional meaning to the question “Who goes to heaven?”

 

REPENTANCE IS REFORMATION?

 REPENTANCE IS REFORMATION?

2Corinthians 5:1-4, 17-18 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. … Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 

  Biblical repentance is not reformation. 

  Biblical repentance is John 1:12; 3:3; 2Corthinians 5:17 regeneration.

  Dr. Carl McIntire often explained that reformation is putting a new set of clothes on the old man. Whereas regeneration is putting a new man in the old set of clothes.

EBB4

LORD . . . Lord

 LORD . . . Lord

Genesis 15:1-2 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? 

  As you read Genesis 15:1-2, looking closely you will note that God’s name is different in 1 and 2. The first spelling, “LORD”, means Creator. The second., “Lords”, means Master or Ruler. These are a word picture of our spiritual lives. No matter whether a person ever believes in and accepts Jesus Christ; God is their creator. It is only after we acknowledge Him as our Lord and Master that He truly becomes our Savior!

Leslie Nivens (12/12/1928-3/1/2020)

PS. Leslie teaches us of how easy it is to be engrossed in a story and miss other important significant points. EBB4