Opinion

Getting Practical With God

Allen Baumgarten
2 Jul 2012
one comments

Commentary     C. S. Lewis wrote a book called Mere Christianity which has become a contemporary classic of the Christian faith.  In it, he asks what the fundamental beliefs are of all who hold the Christian faith.  As I was turning this title over in my mind one day, I asked a similar question about how to live out our faith in Christ.  I asked myself what the “mere practicality” of walking with Christ is. What does it mean, basically and practically, to walk with Christ? I recently started asking this question more than ever after experiencing some rather momentous […]

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Contentment vs. Complacency

Jeremy McKeen
25 Apr 2012
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I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, and to make matters worse, I didn’t know how to respond at the time. I was talking with a Christian friend of mine who was in his early 30’s. He was well educated, intelligent and healthy. Yet, he happily lived at home with his parents, worked a low-paying part-time job and did nothing with his free time except watch movies and play video games. When I confronted him about his use of time and resources, he said, “I’m content with this lifestyle, and doesn’t the Bible say that I should be content?” Like […]

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Can guys and girls really be friends?

Cory Nickols
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Since the beginning of the world, God created men and women with an innate desire for companionship and the means to fulfill that need in the context of marriage. The Bible says, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall become united and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24 AMP). God wired us to pursue and long for an intimate relationship with a member of the opposite sex and cleave to him or her. With that said, having friendships with members of the opposite gender can be extremely rewarding, but […]

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Sexual Baggage

Justin Young
7 Mar 2012
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Last year, TLC released a new one-hour reality TV special called “The Virgin Diaries.” Purporting to be an objective documentary on those who have chosen to save themselves for marriage, the show ended up being a thinly-veiled mockery of virgins as unattractive, naïve freaks who are missing out on “all of the fun” the rest of the world is having.  Indeed, virginity is the exception and not the rule in 2012. According to a Guttmacher Institute study released in February 2012, the average American loses his/her virginity at age 17.  According to the same study, 70 percent of Americans, both […]

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Healthy Relationships 101

Marisa Zeppieri Caruana
17 Feb 2012
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I was really excited about the chance to write this month’s article on relationships. I love relationships. They are both complicated and essential. Whether it is your relationship with a spouse, parent, in-laws and so on, managing those relationships year round can be nerve-wracking at times. I’ve learned a few survival tips along the way that have helped me maintain peace (and sanity) in otherwise treacherous water. Tip 1.  Never engage in gossip Whether you’re the one doing the gossiping or the one being gossiped to, try to remember the old Spanish proverb, “If they’ll gossip to you, they’ll gossip […]

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Time to Train Young Leaders

Bob Barnes
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As we head into the primaries, every eye is on candidates.  This is important!  The election of a leader is very important and we should all be involved.  Having said that, let me also say that what is really important is not the next leader, but leadership. We need to be training leaders. We can’t elect and then sub-contract out the leadership of our future to an elected official.  We need to be leaders and we need to train tomorrow’s leaders. It’s the job of every parent to train their children to become leaders rather than followers.  No one is […]

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Scandalous Love

Dr. Tommy Boland
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scandalous

The message this month is about a love so scandalous that it was willing to leave the court of heaven and the throne of grace, take on human flesh, dwell among us, live a perfect life, be ridiculed, slandered, falsely accused, betrayed, abandoned, condemned to death, beaten, nailed to cross beams, and forsaken by His Father in heaven.  In the gospel of Luke chapter 7, verses 36-50 we read this: “One of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with Him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. And behold, a woman of the city, who […]

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How to Pray Effectively

Cory Nickols
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Have you ever wondered why God was not answering your  prayers, or at least not as quickly as you would like or not in the way you expected? I have on many occasions. There are several things to consider when praying. 1.God answers prayers in ways we do not expect. God’s ways are not our ways. God sees the end from the beginning and knows what is best for us. The Bible says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you […]

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When God and Cancer Meet

Rachael Geating
12 Jan 2012
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Holistic healing is a fairly untraveled path by many who are seeking treatment for cancer.  As a society, we sometimes stereotypically peg people who believe in alternative medicine as ignorant hopefuls, but what if natural remedies were cohesive with the biblical model?  After all, God did create this world and everything in it and who  is better able to explain His ways?  Now, that’s not to say that doctors should be out of business.   There are benefits involved with modern medicine, but there are also certain risks.   When one woman discovered a three inch, rock hard lump in her breast, […]

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Would You Reach Out to Me?

Marisa Zeppieri Caruana
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You may be familiar with the story of Ashley Billasano – the shocking headlines and details gripped readers of print and online papers worldwide and left them asking “Why?” Billasano – a striking 18 year old girl from Texas – took to her twitter page on November 7, 2011 and poured her heart out to her 500 followers regarding allegations of sexual abuse and forced prostitution. In a compilation of 144 tweets, she described how her life had been forever changed by not only the abuse, but also the struggle she was encountering to see justice prevail.  After spending six […]

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