We are twenty-one days away from the beginning of the “Read through the Bible in Two Years” campaign.  If you haven’t already signed up at www.newlife-glastonbury.org/bibleplan or picked up a booklet in church, I encourage you to do it!  Even if reading through the whole Bible intimidates you, this plan includes the option of reading through just the Old or New Testament, so think about joining us as we grow in our knowledge and experience of God through His Word.  I know that God is going to do some great things in our midst as we commit ourselves to knowing Him better.

As intimidating as it may be to think about reading through the Bible for some people, the harder challenge is actually living out what you have read. Read more »

This January, we will begin a “Read Through the Bible in Two Years” campaign that I am very excited about.  I know there are people out there who have found the secret to staying disciplined in the reading of God’s Word; I am not one of them.  Sure, I am in the Bible every day, since it is obviously a major part of my job, but the danger pastors face is that we often read the book in order to find something to teach others instead of reading it so that God might deal with us.  For this reason, I am excited to begin this campaign, because it gives me a built-in accountability structure that I know will help me spend consistent time letting God’s Word speak directly to me.

I know I’m not alone in my struggle to spend regular time with God in His Word.  Many Christians feel guilty over this, lamenting their lack of commitment, even though they “know they should read their Bible more often.”  Read more »

Two weeks ago, I listed twenty commands found in the Bible and challenged you to decide whether they were meant to be applied to every culture in every time or whether they were only meant for the particular cultural context in which they were written.  As hard as that task was, I think the harder task was to provide an answer to the “why” question – if you don’t believe a command is meant to be taken literally today, why do you believe that? 

Read more »

Do you ever wish God had been a little more clear about life and faith in the Bible?  I mean, there is a lot of material in the Bible, wouldn’t you say?  So why does it seem to leave so many questions unanswered?  Sometimes I think that if I were God, I could have done a better job putting together the most important book ever written.  I mean, did we really need 1&2 Chronicles AND 1&2 Kings, when they cover so much of the same material?  And what about Judges?  When was the last time anyone really read Judges and had a life-changing experience?  I think that if I had been in charge, I would have taken out Judges and replaced it with a much more important book – “How to Know my Will.”  And, with all the space I would have saved cutting out 1&2 Chronicles, I would have had room to include two other crucial books: “How to have a Perfect Marriage” and “How to Raise Perfect Children.” 

Read more »

Somewhere along the line you’ve probably heard someone say that “People can make the Bible say whatever they want it to say.”  And unfortunately, there’s a lot of truth to that.  Over the years, people have used the Bible to defend everything from spousal abuse to slavery and to argue everything from a flat earth to the sun revolving around the earth.  One person will defend capital punishment by quoting Genesis 9:6 – “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man”, while another will quote Jesus in Matthew 7:1 – “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” – to argue that it should be abolished.  You have some Christians who are convinced that God wants us to be rich - “for your sakes [Jesus] became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9) – while others sure that a true Christian will avoid wealth at all costs – “Sell your possessions and give to the poor” (Luke 12:33).

Read more »

If you grew up in the church, or have been around the church at all, you probably know that Christians can be very wary of the entertainment coming out of Hollywood.  Many Christians set strict standards for themselves and other believers, such as avoiding R-rated movies, because of their sincere desire to reduce their exposure to sex, violence, and language.  However, those who draw such lines were faced with a quandary when Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ was released a few years ago and received an R rating for the scenes of intense violence.  If a parent has preached against watching R-rated movies, for example, should they bar their children from seeing this movie as well?  Or is this an exception?  And if this is an exception, who is to say that there aren’t other R-rated exceptions?

Read more »