Loving Jesus Style

Scripture: 1 Peter 3-4 (ESV) 3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4  to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,   Meditation:             Peter here gives us a good follow up to Easter Sunday. Too often we simply celebrate the resurrection of Jesus on Easter and then go about our daily lives as if the resurrection doesn’t really matter. But the resurrection does matter.             Because Jesus has been raised from the dead nothing in our lives can ever be the same again. Life has been transformed into an amazing new adventure with the resurrection at the center, We have a profound hope for the future and a sure grasp of the present as we walk...

Scripture Matthew 5:39-42   39  But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40  And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41  And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42  Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. [1]   Meditation: Recently there has been a lot of attention paid to religious liberties in this country. Upon reflection it seems to me that our country may not be in a place where it is very friendly to religious liberty. So many other voices are demanding to be heard in our culture that it is hard for those of us who hold religious liberties to be so dear to get a fair hearing. I do not think we should give up the fight all together. But I think the scripture above may provide us a way forward through the cultural fog that has developed. The ...

              There has been much ink spilled over the new “Religious Freedom” act passed now in both Indiana and Arkansas. It is clear from listening to the arguments that it is time for some remedial logic training here in these United States. I am going to point out just two of the major logical fallacies that are being spread there are others. Then we will attempt to exegete the reasons for all of the confusion regarding this law.             The first fallacy is that of the “straw man”. Opponents of the law bring up the specter of segregated lunch counters and other images from our racist past. They say that restaurants and other places will be able to refuse service based on sexual orientation. This ignores the fact that in this economy no restaurant owner or manager I know would be willing to turn away someone on this basis. They may not like their lifestyl...