The Book of Romans Chap 1 and 2

Romans is a letter written to the Christians in Rome from Paul. This letter was to tell them that he'd soon be on his way to meet with them and to worship with them. This seems like a fair enough letter and after you read the first half of chapter 1, if you were these Christians, you'd feel quite pleased with yourselves. But then the letter turns around and starts scolding these Christians for the way they living out their faith.
From verse 18 of Chapter 1 to the end of Chapter 2 Paul does lays down the law to these new Christians some of who were once Jews and some who were Gentiles (non-Jews). Paul draws a parallel to how these Romans are living their lives to the Jews in Exodus who turned away from God because if "sin, evil, selfishness and hatred... jealousy, murder, fighting, lying and thinking the worst of each other" (1v29).
In Chapter 2 Paul begins talking about those who belief in God who judge those who are yet to belief or who don't belief as well as they do. These are ex Jews who think because they grew up with the laws are better than others but Paul says that circumcision (act of accepting God) is not just a physical act but it is an internal act and if you belief and are then you 'circumcised' on the inside. That is a deep cut (excuse pun) to these Jews!
This letter of Paul's could be written to a church today, now, in the 21st Century. How many times do you hear about people not going to church or not believing in God anymore because of a group of people who thought they were better? Having Jesus as your saviour is not an exclusive club it is for everyone. In v24 of Chap 2 Paul quotes Isaiah by saying that those who are yet to belief speak badly of God because of us. We scare people off God by our religious, close minded BS (excuse me)!!!! We as believers in Christ must get over ourselves and see that we are not special because we know Christ and aren't better than those yet to meet Christ (Gentiles). These people are our brothers and sisters and we need to do everything in our power to introduce them to Jesus.
Further evaluation of the Book of Romans to come by Chapters

The God of Miracles?

When you read the bible its so crammed full of 'Gods wonders', the miraculous, God's spirit moving in a real and powerful way. PLUS it's written in a way that seems like this should be so obvious to everyone.

If anyone claims that kind of thing now, were all a little skeptical or were just a bit freaked out.

I wonder does God still work in miraculous ways that are as tangible as they seem in the bible?

That was a nice sermon

I heard a sermon the other day from a church in America and something that the Pastor said started to make me think a bit about behaviour in church. This Pastor mentioned that he was so surprised how many people will come up to him after a sermon to tell how much they enjoyed his sermon and how lovely it was. He was surprised because as a Pastor he is aiming to try and push peoples understanding and relationship with God.
Do we sit in church and just except that whatever the minister/preacher/pastor says is the truth and we have to agree with him/her? I know that this post is a conundrum because the theme came from something a pastor said but true... shouldn't we be trying to challenge one another in our faith?
What if the next time you heard something in a sermon or read something in the Bible that didn't make sense that you ask your minister about it or ask your small group leader about it. Sure they might not have the exact answer but they might have a thought or a new avenue that you hadn't possible registered.
Let us as brothers and sisters in Christ try to challenge and support each other in our growth with Christ because I promise you no one has all the answer not even your minister.
Grace and peace

What is God's opinion of Australia Army?

I have been reading 1 Kings lately and one thing you get a massive sense of is WAR. On almost ever page there some reference to a king going to war or a king being attacked by another king. This was a time of war, understandable, but that is a lot of war considering in 1 Kings alone there are 22 chapters. It continues on into 2 Kings as well. When King Solomon died he possessed one of the largest armies ever seen before as well as a massive slave labour force. Sure, he had a large kingdom that needed protection but one of God's commandments to David was not to possess a large army because if you trust in God he will protect you and defend you.
So while reading this book I suddenly began to think... what is God's opinion on Australia's Defense Force. In a report on the defense force website (http://www.defence.gov.au/minister/NelsonMintpl.cfm?CurrentId=5604) it states that "the Defence budget will grow from $12.6 billion in 2000-01 to $26.7 billion by 2015-16". $26.7 BILLION!!! That is a massive number.
Now don't get me wrong I understand that as a nation there should be focus on defense of one's home land. Sure got it. But $26.7 Billion??? On the save the children website that estimate that 11.6% of children in Australia live in poverty. For the moment forget about the children in Africa, this is 11.6% of children living in one of the wealthiest nations on earth.
God commissioned his people to care for each other especially those you needed extra care... in James 1:27 it states "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world". Is this what we are doing by having an army that will be worth over $25 Billion by 2015?
On the save the children website they state that $1 million dollars will feed 150 000 people.
Are we following God's request to love all his people to care for all his people?
Read 1 Kings 5-8 to just get a feel for how Solomon spent his money and how didn't care for his people by making them slaves.

Creation On The Web

Our family just returned from a Victorian holiday, a component of which was the Creation Supercamp. Never heard of such a thing? Basically, it was a family conference hosted by Creation Ministries International, (which used to be called "Answers in Genesis"). This is an organisation which aims to investigate, and disclose, real scientific evidences that the Genesis account of God's creation of all things within six 24-hour days can be safely taken literally- that God's revealed Word can be trusted. I really do recommend that you all go and read some the articles at http://www.creationontheweb.com and keep an eye on when the free seminars might be coming to Adelaide, (http://www.creationontheweb.com/events).
For anybody who has ever wondered uneasily about how Christians ought to approach Darwin's theory of evolution, and the geological "evidences" of the Earth's antiquity, it is such a relief to know that if we are willing to put our faith in the God of the Bible, the science will not leave us unsupported!

Welcome Everybody

Hello,

The purpose of this Blog is for people to post serious and thought provoking questions about Christianity. The idea here that you post a question that you'd like to discuss e.g. can we take the Bible literally, then people respond. But, if you do respond to a post please try and provide reason for your answers either from the Bible itself or from books that have been written on the subject. We're going to try and make this site more of an objective information site and less of a subjective site.
Basically this blog is an opportunity to learn a bit more from others and from your own research.
Enjoy and God bless