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March 17, 2010
Why do bad things happen to good people?

Why do good things happen to bad people?

  • Cheaters tend to win
  • We live in a fallen world
  • They don’t play by the same rules we do
  • We’re all sinners

Why do good people win?

  • they’re better
  • there’s randomness in life but there’s also a temptation to have everything you need, but when we as Christians look at that, we don’t have the material items and question why we don’t
  • just because they have all the “things” in this world doesn’t mean they’re really winners because we have the ultimate prize in our relationship with God
  • There’s a difference in definition of what success and victory is
  • Success can be found in God and doing good and that is VICTORY because it lasts forever but success is temporary
  • There’s 2 different types of success: Pay it off now and get it later or get it now and pay it off later
  • Our success doesn’t hinge on our faith but our ultimate victory is spending eternity with God
  • What about the painter Rockefeller?

A lot of times we look at success as good and failure look bad

Romans 3:23

What is a bad thing?

Moral Relativity – the belief that whatever you believe is right or wrong is for each individual to decide

  • this is not biblical
  • Benjamin Franklin said “Morals only come out of religion” so without religion we really don’t have morals.
  • When you take morals out of a society, it creates chaos
  • There is no gray moral area. We just don’t have the eyes to discern it all

What about in the workplace when we don’t like it so we only give 50% effort? not striving to achieve our potential is against God (Col. 3:23)

Is it wrong to be a millionaire?

  • No just as long as you use your resources for the glory of God and to grow the Kingdom
  • Matthew 25:21 – it’s one thing to be part of God’s family but for Him to be pleased with your work here, how much more special is that?
  • The one thing God tells us to test Him in it is your finances

But are failures really bad because I go thru mistakes but God teaches me in those?

  • Does God put junk in our lives or does He work thru our junk that we bring into our own lives
  • I’ve gone thru hardships and I have to ask God why it happens to me. I don’t think He puts them in my life that I can’t handle. But He does teach me.
  • 1 Cor. 10:13
  • He does put hardship in our lives so that we can show our trust in Him
  • Did God test Job? No, He was proud of Job and so it was Satan not God
  • God will never hurt you or tempt you but sometimes He may pull back a little so that you can be tempted because it makes you stronger
  • I hate some of the things I’ve done but I wouldn’t trade them because they’ve made me who I am and has allowed me to change lives
  • James 1:2; 13-14
  • God is sovereign over everything but this is also a fallen world and so we tempt ourselves because Satan doesn’t always have to tempt us to sin because we are born with Satan

Why we go thru hardships?

  • God allows us to go thru hardships (Job) which could be temptations
  • God puts us thru hardships (Abraham and Isaac) to test us
  • God punishes us with hardships (Israelites) because of our sin
  • God allows us to go thru hardships because it grows His kingdom because it is a witness how we respond to the pain

We don’t have a full picture of who God truly and fully is because we are finite but He can be vengeful on His enemies because He is God! But He is our Savior and we can’t look at Scripture and think His heart didn’t break when His people sinned in Old Testament

Stuff happens but we’re all sinful and so junk is going to happen

Exodus 14

  • not only is God going to gain glory but the kingdom of Egypt now recognizes God to be THE KING!
  • God is not going to tempt us

March 10, 2010
 Is It a Sin to … Part 3

Is it a sin to date non-Christians?

  • it could be a ministry
  • it’s not an actual sin but when you think about it logically what good could come out of it? Because the values are totally different
  • “Don’t be yoked with unbelievers”
  • you can minister to friends
  • there’s nothing wrong with it because you can bring them to church
  • if dating a non-believer they could come to church for the wrong reasons
  • it may not be a sin, but it could drag you down because you are trying to follow the word of God and they are not
  • as long as they have morals and have questions, why not date them because it allows for more intimate conversations
  • not a sin, but stupid because you have a stronger emotional connection with a person you’re dating because it causes more chaos because the moral beliefs … kind of like a ticking time bomb
  • it’s hard because your priorities are different
  • it doesn’t mean they’re evil and we don’t have the right to judge
  • as you get older it could highly put a rift in your marriage
  • it’s not a good idea because it leads to a mess of problems eventually
  • If you have the option to drink clean water, then why would you be reaching for the poop water Proverbs 25:26
  • Unless your intentions are wrong, you date for the intentions of a spouse
  • If you care about this person, share Christ with them
  • You have a responsibility to that person to love them with the love of Christ and are you ready for that responsibility?

Is it a sin for a father to hit his children

  • Hitting isn’t the right approach to discipline
  • Parents need to be selectful how they discipline their children
  • When you smack a butt, it is a fatty part of the body
  • We are supposed to submit to our parents
  • There is a huge difference between beating and spanking
  • MOTIVE

Make dragons or dinosaurs or hybrids from a lab?

  • If its natural, then it’s ok but if it’s gene-splicing in a lab then it’s not ok
  • Ligers and Tigons are naturally made but are unable to survive in the wild
  • Goes back to motives
  • If God created this for a reason it has to be good so when you are messing with that are you messing with God’s creation?
  • Man has perverted what God has given us and we end up falsifying what God can do
  • Well what about looking for genetic diseases? We never know what God can do beyond what science tells us
  • “Fertilize and raise what you make” – Tanner
  • This goes from hybrids to birth control pill.

Feb 17, 2010
Scripture and the “Holes in Evolution”

February 3, 2010
Richard Dawkins’ “Holes” in Evolution
(based on video from bigthink.com)

http://bigthink.com/richarddawkins (watch the first few minutes of this full interview)

After watching the first five minutes our discussion led us to discuss how the 2 parts of evolution (sex and consciousness) are what makes us set apart from animals and are the two facets of life that God puts emphasis on (the spirit and marriage).  Conversation to be carried over to next week.

January 27, 2010
Intelligent Design vs. Evolution … It’s got to be one or the other?

January 20, 2010

We finished watching the documentary, Expelled.  Discussion follows next week!

January 13, 2010
EXPELLED Movie Discussion

Is the debate of creationism one-sided?  people aren’t being open minded so yes

Why has it been science vs. religion for so long?

  • Galileo was saying the planets evolved a certain way and the Catholic church went out to fight him
  • The Catholic church had begun oppressing

Was it right to shut up Galileo?  No

We should understand what else is out there because it is beneficial

  • it allows us to strengthen our own faith and know what we believe
  • teaches us what others believe