Weekly Once-Over (12.11.2014)
Christmas Spending Is A Test Of Your Treasure: ‘Tis the season to test your treasure. Not only are we on gift-expectation overload with Christmas, but then comes the year’s end and that one last chance for tax-deductible charitable giving. December bids us dig deeper in our wallets than any other season.
7 Things Christians Should Know About Torture: But this report should be the beginning, rather than the end, of the discussion on the morality and legality of torture. To aid in future discussions, I’d like to highlight seven things I believe all Christians should know about torture.
Confessions Of A Hardcore Homeschooler: It do strongly believe that insisting on a particular education method is harmful to the church and runs contrary to God’s word. When we insist on a certain practice, we create an “in” crowd and an “out” crowd, with those who are in being more “spiritual” than those who are out. When we take principles and turn them into hard and fast practices, we make the commands of Jesus burdensome. God doesn’t do “in” and “out”. In Christ, we’re all in, and that’s good news. Let’s not mess with God’s good news.
Don't Get An Emotional Divorce Before You Are Married: A dating relationship should gradually and normally progress to a point where a boyfriend and girlfriend are emotionally attached and deeply fond of one another (especially when they get engaged!). But again, hear my warning: Don’t let this happen in the early stages of dating. Why do I say this? Let me suggest two principles to guide the early stages of dating.
How To Build A Disciple-Making Culture: Many people much smarter than me have wrestled with the question “what is culture?” At the heart of it though, culture is composed of beliefs, values and practices shared by a group of people. Building a disciple-making culture in the local church is driven by foundational beliefs, shared values and common practices.