Author: Texas Gospel

Daily thought: Is the church full of hypocrites?

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EDITED CONGREGATION

Is the church full of hypocrites?  Absolutely!  Go to any church and you’ll find liars, adulterers and a list of sins so long I won’t even try to name them all.  Being a Christian does not mean never having sinned.  In fact, it means the opposite: it means knowing that everyone needs remission of sins. To be clear, remission is the act of deliverance from sin.   By definition, a Christian is one delivered from sin.  Because of this, all Christians are sinners, but they have been redeemed.

Being redeemed does not mean that Christians do not struggle with temptation to sin again.  Jesus told us not to puff up our chest and dare the devil to give us his best temptation. He said to ask that God deliver us from temptation.  Christians do struggle with sin, and this includes hypocrisy.

When someone asks, “is the Church full of hypocrites,” I sometimes wonder if they are actually asking if the people in the church are hypocrites BECAUSE they are Christians.  Of course not!  Hypocrisy is found among atheists, Buddhists, communists.  In short, it is a flaw in the human character. When critics point out there are hypocrites in church, it is kind of like the old joke where someone yells, “we’re all gonna die!” in a manner that insinuates something terrible is about to happen, when they are actually just saying that death is a certainty for everyone.  Christians are not hypocrites because they are Christians, they are imperfect people who acknowledge their imperfection.

Can you name any group as large as Christians, according to NPR around 2.2 billion, that does not have members involved in all of the above mentioned sins?   Perhaps rather than ask if this group or that group sins, we should ask what do men need because of their sins?

What do you think?

NJ congregation targeted by vandals for third time

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2018-03-30 CHURCH VANDALISM
Photo: Vandalism suspect caught on surveillance video

A New Jersey congregation is victim of vandalism for the third time.  It’s something that leads church members of Our Lady of Victories Church in Jersey City to believe they are being targeted.  WABC television Thursday aired surveillance video of a man ripping a Ten Commandments display from the building. Previous attacks have involved the destruction of statues.

Rev. Michael Gubernat told NBC New York, “It’s happening a lot more and that’s a dangerous sign.”

Jersey City Police have not yet determined a motive behind the attacks. Anyone with information about the vandalism is asked to call the department at 201-547-5477.

Daily thought: Why do few scientists openly proclaim Christ?

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TEXAS GOSPEL VOLUNTEER

When President Barack Obama announced in 2009 that he would nominate renowned geneticist Dr. Francis Collins as director of the National Institutes of Health, a number of scientists publicly questioned whether the nominee’s devout Christian faith should disqualify him from the position.  This observation is not mine, it is that of the very well-respected Pew Research Center and is noted in respected publications like the New York Times.

I find it amazing that such bigotry exists among some in the scientific community.  This is a group that should be focused on science, facts and numbers and not allowing bigotry to guide leadership decisions. But the fact that some scientists hold this view, that is, openly promote discrimination against anyone with a belief in God, answers (to a point)  a complaint some atheist are quick  present: Why is the percentage of those who say they believe in God lower among scientists than among the general public.

Given that such discrimination exists, and given there is no professional reason for a scientist to proclaim his or her faith while in a laboratory, wouldn’t you expect some scientists to choose to remain silent about their belief, especially when grant money and prestigious positions are on the line?

I’m not saying Christians should disobey God and keep their faith to themselves; I am saying that the anti-Christian bigotry some atheists claim does not exist is very much alive and well. Too, this bigotry is partially responsible for the higher percentage of those identifying as atheists in science compared to the general public.  This is not to say bigotry is the only thing preventing men and women of science from making an open profession of faith.  Bigotry, even among well-educated people, is not the way to promote truth.

What are your thoughts?

If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.

John 15:18

This article was originally published by Texas Gospel Canada in 2018

UPDATE: Three arrested in Colorado church vandalism

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(Photos: Thornton, Colorado police department)

Police in Thornton, Colorado say three 15-year-olds have been arrested for causing over $80,000 damage to a church the week before Easter.  According to the Denver Post, two were arrested Tuesday evening and one was arrested Wednesday morning. The identity of the suspects has not been released because of their age.

The trio broke windows, punched holes in walls and destroyed musical instruments at the North Huron Christian Center. A tweet from the Thornton Police Department described the act as, “malicious destruction of church property.”  A police spokesperson has not said why the three wanted to damage the church.

According to TexasGospel.com file stories, Pastor Renee Coventry says the congregation will hold Easter services in the building.

A Go Fund Me page with a modest goal of raising $5,000 to help the church has been set up.  As of early Thursday morning, the fund has reached $3,877.

Blind UT Austin student part of ancient papyri study

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Daniel Smith, a UT Austin religious studies doctoral student who became blind later in life, is now working with the UT Austin student disability services to interact with and study an ancient papyri fragment from an apocryphal Gospel.

 

The fragment itself is very old and is one of many that was discovered in an ancient trash heap in the Egyptian city of Oxyrhynuchs. It’s interesting in that it may preserve early traditions about Jesus ministry that do not depend upon the canonical accounts. If it in fact dates to 175-225 as has been argued, it is one of our earliest Gospel fragments, canonical or otherwise. Here are some images of the manuscript. The university’s disability services has helped create tactile images of this fragment and others like it, so that Dan is able to feel the handwriting he is studying.

 

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