How to get to Heaven from Chris Mole on Vimeo.

This is an oustanding article on saving faith. Even if you are a mature believer, please look at this and “examine yourself”.

God bless.

-Neil

This might be the most popular bumper sticker in america.  A bit of a double-edged sword if you ask me.

While I partially agree with the message this bumper sticker is trying to promote, there is a second level message (at least to me) that this bumper sticker endorses that I totally disagree with (as would proponents of the of the vast majority of the three major world religions: Islam, Judaism and Christianity).

What I agree with:

I agree with the general sentiment that people, regardless of their religious values, should do thier very best to coexist with people around them in day to day life; caring for one another and being loving representatives of their varying faiths.  I think this is something that everyone can agree is something to strive for and good for humanity, not to mention the reputation of their people’s collective faith system.

What I disagree with:

I disagree with, what I perceive to be, an underlying message of this bumpers sticker, which is to “Keep your religion to yourself”.  This viewpoint not only begins to scratch at the first amendment of the constitution (while not completely undermining it, it does undermine the SPIRIT of free speech, which is to allow people to express themselves in nearly anyway they see fit.  Obviously there are some exceptions.) it also flies in the face of one of the main themes of most organised religion: securing converts.  The idea of “Keep your religion to yourself” hinders the evangelism efforts of these religions and, for the people who hold this view, it shows either a lack of knowledge of, or a complete disregard for, the beliefs and rights of the adherents to their respective religions.

Ultimatley, I feel that it is, at best, a weak faith and individual, that emphasizes peace more than spreading truth.  Peace at the cost of truth, integrity and generally doing what is right is just cowardice.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me as a prisoner, but share with the sufferings of the gospel, according to the power of God.” 2 Timothy 1:7

What do you all think?

God bless.

-Neil

When I was young, I went to a couple of churches, but none of them did a very good job in teaching me what faith was all about and what the bible teaches.

When I grew up here are some misconceptions I had about faith:

• Only 144,000 were going to heaven
• Only “good” people go to heaven
• The bible was just a bunch of stories

Obviously since that time, I have come to a better understanding of the the Bible, Jesus and the Gospel.  It saddens me that it took until my mid twenties to really get into the meat and bones of the faith, but I know that He had his reasons for it.  Maybe it was the fact that I didn’t poses the holy spirit until my twenties, or because it didn’t interest me, or I didn’t think it was import.  Either way, I regret not having known the essentials of the faith as late as I did.

Looking back now, there is a big part of me that wishes I had done a double masters, one in education and one in Christian/Apologetics studies.  Who knows, maybe one day the Lord will create the circumstances for me to have an opportunity to be formally trained in the academics of the faith.  I would LOVE to do something like that full time, but until then, I will serve the Lord in whatever circumstances he has me in.

What are some misconceptions that you all had in the past?

God bless.

-Neil

Outstanding points here.  How can the Qur’an be the word of God, if it makes errors about common knowledge in what other religions believe?  Answer: The Qur’an is NOT the word of God/Allah.

So, I use an HTC EVO as my phone/mobile device.  In fact, i’m practically married to the thing.  I absolulty adore this phone, and will probabbly do a review on it sometime in the near future.  However, what I wanted to tell you about is an app for android called CadreBible.  This app is outstanding.  I know there are a lot of bible apps out there (I have tried a number of them) but this one is by far the best in my opinion, with commentaries, paralell reading, the ability to upload notes and ideas to evernote, bible reading plans (you can make your OWN reading plans as well) the ability to download multiple translations so that you can read the bible even if you have no signal.  About the only thing this app is missing is a memory verse, flash card system.

If you have an android device and like to do in depth bible study, this is the app for you!

Enjoy!

-Neil

I pray this would give you confidence in the validity of scripture.

-Neil

Let us pray that Muslims may come to Christ by showing them the truth with love, never with intimidation or violence.

-Neil

On a side note, prayers for my wife, Jenn, would be appreciated as she is having some health issues right now (nothing serious, but the duration of her illness is becoming very frustrating for her).

God bless.

-Neil

So, Jenn (my wife) woke up with kidney stones this morning and we took a field trip to the hospital.  Hospitals are a place of high emotion and do a great job of stripping away distractions and showing you a persons true nature.  No cable tv, no internet (most of the time anyway…Jenn is getting a CT so I am doing this to kill time and to keep me from working myself into thinking this illness is something it’s not).  Just you, your loved ones and your thought life.  The fact that so many people near by are so close to Christ or hell is a bit overwhelming.

I would imagine that hospitals might be (outside of church) the most common place where people finally come to Christ.  Finally in a situation where our own mortality is staring us right in the face, we can no longer ignore the inevitable: we are going to die.  We will discover what lies beyond this life.  And as the Bible tells us, MANY people will not like what they find.  Only when it is too late will the truth become obvious to them:

Jesus IS Lord.  Hell IS real.  Our object of faith DOES matter.  Our deeds AREN’T relevant to our salvation.

This is one of the big reasons that I do and say what I do.  Heaven, Hell, God, Satan are all a fact of universal reality, NOT someone’s realities truth.

Let us act accordingly; always on the lookout to be used as a instrument of salvation for others by Christ’s sovereignty.

God bless.

-Neil