The Trinity: 3-in-1 or Father and Son?

This article was written by a guest blogger.

The Trinity: it’s across the board the most revered, widely accepted, and most sacred of all the doctrines of mainstream Christianity.

Any church who does not accept this theology is labeled a cult and discredited.

Laying Down the Law

There’s this idea that’s been going around the world of Christendom for, oh, maybe a dozen centuries, give or take, which says Christ annulled a huge chunk of the Old Testament law with His death. Today we’re going to talk about why that argument holds all the water of a rotting bucket sitting at the bottom of a dry well filled with acid-spewing termites.

…And we will attempt to do it with the assistance of as few spectacularly terrible analogies as possible.

For My What?

Let’s set the stage here. The Israelites, thanks to an impressively large series of poor life choices, have just spent 40 years wandering around the desert. Having finally arrived (again) at the border of the Promised Land and taking into

Heaven & Hell

Ask most people in mainstream Christianity what happens after death. You’ll usually get “I don’t know” or “I’ll go to heaven.” In heaven, most suppose their portion would be to eternally pluck a harp and stare into the face of God. Or in hell, one’s lot would be eternal torture in ever-burning flames.

The traditional view of heaven and hell are mostly derived from folklore and tradition rather than God’s word. The bible doesn’t paint the same picture of heaven and hell that most people imagine.  The traditional misconceptions of heaven and hell are summarized in renaissance paintings. The fate of the faithful is not going to involve floating in clouds with angel wings and halos. The fate of the wicked will not involve a red little devil with a pitchfork in a communal cave of doom.

Neither “heaven” nor “hell” is the instant home for an ‘immortal soul’ after death. Humans who have died are “asleep” in Christ – they will awaken at His return when they are resurrected. (1 Thessalonians 4:14, Job 3:11, 13, 17, John 11:11-14)

Bearing Fruit on the Sabbath

Ok, so God kept the Sabbath, Christ kept the Sabbath and we’re told to keep the Sabbath too. But how much attention do we pay to the Sabbath day? How do we “bear fruit” on the Sabbath?

We’re all familiar with the parable of the sower in Matthew 13 and how the next to last group of seeds fell among the thorns. We read here that the cares of the world was one of the things that kept the seed from bearing fruit…

So how can we apply this to how we keep the Sabbath? In other words, how do we keep the world out of our Sabbath?

Stop Breaking the Law!

This article is written by teen guest blogger Sierra.

“What!?” you may ask, “I’m not- I keep God’s law! I observe the Sabbath and obey the commandments. I love others and all that jazz…”

God says in Titus 3:1, Acts 5:29, and Romans 13:1-2 (and many more) to obey man’s laws except when they contradict His laws. God also sets those in authority for His reasons and “Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. (Romans 13:2)” This isn’t something we should carelessly brush off or overlook. We need to constantly be striving to keep and exemplify the laws set for us because, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments (John 14:15).”