Healthy Questions

Can I really ask for anything in Jesus' name? I recently subscribed to http://www.icr.org/ for their terrific creation/evolution newsletter. Along with that I started getting daily nuggets and today's " Asking in Jesus' Name " was good. "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (John 14:13). In the Gospel of John there are at least six promises that, if we pray in Jesus' name, God in Christ will answer our prayer. ... The key, however, is the significance of the phrase, "in my name." This obviously means more than simply beginning or ending our prayer with this or some similar phrase. In the first place, we must recognize that it is only through Jesus Christ our mediator that we dare enter the presence of the omnipotent God at all. "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6), He said. That being true, it also implies that our prayer must be in agreement with ...

Is there ever a circumstance under which a person should have to die for what they believe? Had a couple of conversations recently where the matter of putting it all on the line came up. First one was with a friend at work, who is curious about Christianity. I was telling him about the times of persecution where Christians chose death before giving public worship to the Roman emperor Decius. My friend asked, "But couldn't you just say you worshipped the emperor, knowing all the time that you really worshipped God?" Good question... not one I haven't wondered myself. But let me ask this (and I did ask him), if you can say something completely contrary to what you believe, then what does it mean to believe something? I'm not saying it would be easy to put your life on the line - and many didn't - but, I don't think you can say you believe something if you're willing to claim the exact opposite in order to (literally) save skin. It begs the question ...

What price are we willing to pay for our own comfort and convenience? Saw a link to this story the other day: " Why I became an abortion doctor ." Read it for yourself, but here's a quick summary: Garson Romalis became an ob/gyn in the early 60's. Early on he saw the terrible side-effects of illegal abortions-gone-wrong. Seeing so many women suffering from back-alley abortions motivated him to become an abortion provider. "...I believed strongly that a woman should be able to decide for herself if and when to have a baby..." Despite two very real attempts on his life, he finds the work very satisfying because his patients are truly grateful. e.g. "Did you do an abortion on my daughter?" ... "Yes, I did." The mother replied: "Thank you, Doctor. Thank God there are people like you around." First, a couple of quick points: I don't think that there's any justification for the attempts made on his life. I am not a pacifist (a...

Is religion merely blind adherence to a set of ideas? Blind Faith "Blind faith lands evolution squarely in the category of religion." A friend made this remark the other day, and it got me thinking. I think there's some validity to the evolutionism-equals-religion claim, but a quick disclaimer first: I use the term "evolutionism" as distinct from evolutionary theory, which, as a theory, is simply a set of ideas that can be evaluated on their own merits, and may be accepted or rejected. Evolutionism, on the other hand, I use to describe the believe-it-at-all-costs approach some have taken when considering the theory. More importantly: I don't consider "blind faith" to be an accurate definition of religion. Believing something to be true when there is evidence to the contrary can be called a number of things, but religion is not one of them. Standing the Test Why do I care? Well, as a Christian, I have a set of religious beliefs... you might say I be...