Why did Adam and Eve eat the apple? Well, we don’t know if it was an apple, but we do know that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. What can be more confusing than what kind of fruit it was is trying to answer “why” they chose to eat it at all.
So far in this Christianity 101 series, our topics have been mainly centered on an individual’s relationship with God. Not only must individual Christians learn to love God, we must learn to love other people and we must also learn to be loved by other Christians.
While Christianity must always be personal, it must be lived out within a Christianity community, specifically within a local church. So what is the church? Why is the church so important for our personal transformation? And how can we love other Christians and be loved by them in the context of a local church?
When you are a Christian single who desires to please God, one of the most pressing questions is often, “How will I know when I meet the person God wants me to marry?”
What’s your calling? Who are you? How would you define yourself? These are the questions we seek to answer about ourselves from a young age.
According to the Bible, God’s grace saves Christians from the punishment we deserve, but it does not always save us from the consequences of our actions and it never saves us from God’s discipline.
When it comes to leading, parenting, responding to offenses, or just having authority over people in all the varies roles that exist on earth, it is crucial to know the biblical differences between punishment, discipline, and consequences.
If you were forced to explain the difference between Christianity and every other religion that has ever existed, you could do so in many ways, but also with just one word, “grace.” Grace is God’s gift. Grace is undeserved. Everything good God gives us, including our very salvation, is through Jesus Christ and then given to us in grace. Grace, however, can be abused so easily.
Whatever you want to be in public, you need to start training for it in private.
When you start studying the lives of those God has used greatly and told us about in his word, you notice a similar theme in all of their journeys. The details are different but every one of those men and women who God has used in significant ways have always gone through a period of private training with the Lord before he used them publicly.
Unless you are a stay at home parent, which is a full-time job with its own unique challenges, a huge portion of your life will most likely be spent in the work place. No matter how much you love your job, there will always be challengers in this area of life trying to steal your joy.
What should you do if there are theological differences in your marriage? Is interdenominational marriage acceptable? Does the Bible forbid interfaith marriage? Can a Calvinist marry an Arminian? Can a complementarian marry an egalitarian? Can a Baptist marry a Pentecostal? If you are dating to figure out if you should marry someone, but theological differences arise, is this a sign you should not get married?
As a Christian, there is nothing more despairing and hopeless that repetitive sin. How easy it is for doubts and confusion regarding our own salvation to begin to creep into our minds when we continue to sin over and over again. Overwhelming feelings of God’s anger and disappointment with our repeated rebellious behavior can crush us so completely we eventually do not want to come to him at all.