The Way Matt Sees It

“Do you actually take the Bible literally? ” is a common question posed to Christians.   What is the answer?   Is taking the Bible literally backwards thinking?   Is not taking it literally sinful? Thomas Jefferson's Edited Bible For example, Jesus says that He is a door (John 10:9).   Are we supposed to take this literally?   Does Jesus have a doorknob, hinges and is made of wood?   Then how can He walk?   How could He even communicate that He was a door? Clearly we have a problem. DEFINE THE TERMS When Christians claim that they take the Bible “literally,” I think they are really trying to assert that they believe the whole Bible to be true.   However, I think our understanding of the term “literally” is where we can get mixed up.   I’m going to use these terms: “ Literally” – meaning that we take the Bible as a collection of literary works, but we believe it to be wholly true in what it teaches. “Literalisticall...

CORDLESS DRILLS It’s really easy for Christians to focus so much on the Bible that they forget the one Who it testifies about.   This includes myself.   Sometimes we become guilty of worshiping the Bible over worshiping the one who wrote the Bible.   This is exactly what Jesus accused the Pharisees of doing. Not praying is like becoming a cordless drill.   We plug in, charge our batteries, unplug and go.   But if you know anything about power tools, their charge doesn’t really last that long.   You constantly have to plug cordless drills back in to recharge over and over again.   Many come with extra battery packs because of how often this happens. I think God would rather us be plugged into The Source.   If we operated as drills that stayed plugged into the cord, we would have more than enough energy to keep going!   Prayer is like that.   Prayer plugs us into The Source. WHAT IS PRAYER? Prayer is communion with G...

-Jesus Christ (John 11:25-26)

Easter is upon us, and lots of people who don't normally attend church will be present Easter morning.  Many people come on Christmas and Easter only (dubbed "CEOs" by some Christians) out of habit, tradition, or obligation.  But is church even worth going to?  What if your heart isn't really in it?   Can you be a Christian and not go to church?   These extremely important questions (and variations of them) deserve to be unpacked the right way.    Here’s how I’m looking at it:             1.  What is church?             2.  What does the Bible say?             3.  What does God think about church? 1. WHAT IS CHURCH? Washington Memorial Chapel, Valley Forge National Park Church can mean, “a building for public Christian worship,” as defined by Dictionary.com.   However, The Church is more than just a building.   The Bib...

National Geographic Article: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/04/140410-papyrus-jesus-wife-evidence-archaeology-science/ The recent discovery of an ancient text that shows “no evidence of forgery” seems to indicate that Jesus may have been married.   The text says, “Jesus said to them, my wife…she is able to be my disciple.” LET’S THINK ABOUT THIS Of course this makes a great news headline, but let’s consider some general facts that can help make an educated decision on how to view this.   There are 3 things I’d like to consider concerning “The Gospel of Jesus’ Wife”:             1. Date of Document             2. Reliability of the New Testament             3. Theological Implications of Jesus’ Marriage 1. DATE OF THE DOCUMENT The article states that this fragment was w...

We’ve been looking at several convincing philosophical arguments for the existence of God.  We’ve seen The Cosmological Argument, The Moral Argument, the facts concerning the resurrection of the historical figure Jesus of Nazareth, and examined The Problem of Evil.  These arguments show through sound logic and argumentation that the existence of God is more plausibly true than plausibly false, and shows that God is the best explanation for the argument. EXPERIENCING GOD This time, we are considering another thought, but is not quite the same as the other arguments we’ve looked at so far.  God can be personally known and experienced. This is the immediate experience of God .  We are claiming that we can know that God exists apart from just arguments, because God can be experienced.  This is what would be considered a “properly basic belief.” PROPERLY BASIC BELIEFS What is a “properly basic belief?”  Think of it this way...