Another Year
Another year is dawning, Dear Father, let it be, 
In working or in waiting, Another year with thee. 
Another year of progress, Another year of praise, 
Another year of proving, Thy presence all the days, 
Another year of mercies, Of faithfulness and grace, 
Another year of gladness, The glory of thy face. 
Another year of leaning Upon thy loving breast, 
Another year of trusting, Of quiet, happy rest. 
Another year of service, Of witness for thy love, 
Another year of training, For holier work above. 
Another year is dawning, Dear Father, let it be, 
On earth, or else in heaven Another year for thee!
Frances Ridley Havergal


It is so easy some times to push the work of God aside for our own desires and pleasures. It’s not a deliberate thing, it just happens. 

We must honestly look at our lives and ask if we are guilty of doing this in our own lives. What are the things that keep me from doing those things which I know God wants? Are those things really what’s important in life? 

One good test is to ask yourself, “How is this going to sound on Judgment Day?” Will this be a good excuse for not doing what God said to do? We do have emergencies which keep us from doing God’s will. Our children get ill. Water pipes burst. Automobiles break down. Family problems happen. But in spite of these emergencies we should return to doing the will of God.

How important are these thing compared to eternity? 

Matthew 16:24-27 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. [25] For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. [26] For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? [27] For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. 

As we begin this new year may we commit ourselves to serving God more than we did last year. Putting God first in our lives should always be the priority in our lives. - LP

BASAL METABOLISM - THE ENERGY TURNOVER OF THE BODY IN A BASAL STATE (BASAL INDICATES THE STANDARD AT A LOW LEVEL OF ACTIVITY)
If you live anywhere that has been suffering this miserable heat this summer, you have probably been trying to experience basal metabolism as much as possible. When it is 105 degrees with a heat index close to 120 we try to avoid any activity that isn’t absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, this attitude is present in our spiritual lives and the spiritual lives of other Christians far too often. Many of the ‘saints’ would more accurately be termed ‘ain’ts’. They just ‘ain’t gonna do nothing I don’t have to’.

There is an old cartoon that I have seen in church bulletins that illustrates this attitude. In the cartoon, there is a long line of people standing at the gates to heaven and one fellow is running toward the end of the line shouting, “He isn’t counting Wednesday night attendance.” Everyone in line shouts, “hooray”. This describes perfectly the attitude many have. They are doing only what they think they ‘must’ to get into heaven. Let’s test ourselves. Would you come to Wed. Night Bible study if you knew that you didn’t have to in order to be saved? What if you found out that instrumental music wouldn’t necessarily send you to Hell? What if it was discovered that you really only needed to be assembled with the saints once on Sunday, would you come back Sunday Night? What about singing, or praying, or giving? Would you continue to be active in these things if you found out that God would let you slide into Heaven without them?

Children will often ask the question, “Do I have to?” whenever there is something unpleasant like eating broccoli. It is disheartening to realize that many of those for whom Christ gave his life feel the same way about pleasing him. We are asking the wrong questions. There is nothing in life that we ‘have to’ do. We have free will and if we don’t want to there may be certain consequences, but we don’t have to do it. In Christianity, the question we should be asking is “can I?” not “must I”. The basal metabolism attitude and resulting behavior is more likely to keep most out of heaven than any other sin. If we have the proper attitude, God will freely forgive us when we fall and then get up to try again. Sadly, many are still thinking like the Pharisees did about completing a checklist instead of thinking in terms of giving their life to Christ. The Pharisees were condemned not because they didn’t believe the right things or even because of horrible sins in their lives, but Jesus condemned them because they had the detailed minutia figured out and had forgotten about the matters of greatest importance. Like many today they would be asking exactly how many Wednesday nights they could miss and still be okay and then miss them. (Luke 11:42) ”But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.”

In college there were two kinds of classes that I took. The first was the one that I “had to have to graduate”. The other was one that I wanted to take. You may remember similar experiences in school. The Gotta Have It class was missed as much as possible without failure, the work was done adequately, tardiness or last minute arrival was the norm, and interest was minimal. The Chosen class, quite to the contrary, was never missed, always arrived at early, extremely interesting, and aced in the grades department. I couldn’t understand why some people would skip these incredible classes. Of course, the reason was that to them it wasn’t a chosen class it was a have to class. The point, however, is that in actuality there was no difference in the classes. They were both necessary for graduation. The only difference was in my attitude toward them. The same is true in religion, one command of God is just as necessary as another, but we have different attitudes about different aspects of Christianity. I may have never had a desire to kill anyone, so not killing is easy. On the other hand, I may like to sleep in on Sunday morning, thus making Sunday school attendance undesirable. When we correct our attitude our eagerness and energy output will be increased and we won’t be suffering along at a basal metabolism rate. (Rev 3:15-16) “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. {16} So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”

BARBARISM - A BARBAROUS OR UNCIVILIZED STATE OR CONDITION
We live in a civilized land and of course, consider ourselves to be civilized. Oddly enough though, we often do things that the barbarian would never do. Let’s be realistic the heathen of the South American or African jungle would never even think of doing some of the things we do in this civilized country. When was the last time you heard of a barbarian killing his wife and their children and then fighting off others for hours before finally taking his own life. It happens several times a year in this country. Even though the barbarians as we call them will fight viciously against an enemy tribe, they do not make a habit of fighting among themselves like we do. Even those battles between tribes with spears and bows and knives over such petty things as tribal boundaries can't compare with our civilized wars with guns, tanks, bombers and missiles.

Spiritually we find some of those same human weaknesses in us as Christians. While the barbarian would shout a warning or possibly even physically intervene to stop a companion from going over the edge of a cliff, we are too civilized to do that. Everyday somewhere around 8 - 10 million people die in this world and the vast majority of them do it outside of Christ. Right near us the local papers are filled with obituaries of people who have stepped off the cliff into the great eternal abyss, and what are we doing about it? Nothing. How barbaric. We haven’t seen the worst yet. There are often Christians who begin drifting away from Christ in one way or another, and do we help hold onto them to bring them back? Do we even shout a warning to them? The fact is that in many cases we help push them off the edge. It happens with the new Christian who doesn’t say or do something just right and instead of exhorting them to continue to grow and encouraging their willingness to try, we jump on them and condemn them for not knowing everything we know. Or we see someone do something and immediately tell everyone in the congregation how wrong they were for what they did instead of going to them. In neither of these cases do we ever think that it has taken us a number of years to grow beyond the stage this individual is. In neither of these cases do we stop to first examine our own life, attitude, and motives.

I wish I could say I never faltered in this area. I know as well as you do how difficult it is to have the courage to say or do something, and how much more difficult it is to be sure to say or do the RIGHT thing. We don’t have the ability to see others’ hearts and minds to know just what will get through to them the way Jesus could, but we do each have the ability to look at our own lives and attitudes and to control the way we react. If we will go as we should the blood of those going over the cliff will not be on our hands, but if we fail to warn them we will be to some degree responsible. (Ezek 33:7-9) “So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. {8} When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. {9} Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.”

Are you your brother’s keeper? If not you should be.

Time for a short quiz for all of you English scholars out there. Since most of us have been speaking and writing in English all of our lives, this should be really quite simple. I’ll put some sentences and you just pick the one that sounds right to you. Ready or not here we go. 

On this first one imagine you called me on the phone and asked, “Is this James Pasley?”. Which of the following would be the right way for me to answer? (1) That’s me., (2) This is he., or (3) This is him. 

Okay, let’s just do one more and then we’ll check our answers and see what we’ve learned. This time suppose I ask you, “Didn’t I see you and the president together yesterday?”. Which answer would be right grammatically? (1) It wasn’t me., (2) It wasn’t he and I together., (3) It wasn’t us., or (4) Maybe it was me, but not him.

Sometimes it is hard to know what sounds right and even more often, at least with grammar, what sounds right is not correct. If you guessed number two on both questions you got the right answer, but those two don’t really sound right to us, do they? Most of us would have chosen any of the other choices before choosing number two. My wife is a certified elementary teacher and a writer and she missed them, so don’t feel too bad. Because of the rampant practice of misusing these pronouns in everyday speech even strict grammarians have begun to accept this usage.

What is the point of all this, you may be asking? The point really is quite simple. If something sounds right to us or we think it is right that doesn’t make it right. Even if the majority of people believe something is right that doesn’t make it right. Now in the area of grammar or even man-made laws like the speed limit if enough people make enough of a fuss those rules and laws can be and have been changed. There are some laws, however, that are beyond our ability to change. Gravity is one example of this kind of law. We can accept it, deny it, or ignore it, we could even all vote to abolish it. Regardless of what we say or do the law of gravity is unchanged, and stepping off of a cliff will still result in a nasty fall. That is the way all of God’s laws are. 

God told Naaman to dip seven times in the Jordan River to cure his leprosy, but Naaman didn’t think that sounded right, so, he headed toward home, rejecting the law God had given for his recovery. He even suggested some alternative rivers that he thought would be better. One thing that he couldn’t change was the fact that he still had leprosy. He continued to have leprosy until he submitted to the will of God. In the same way today we have people denying God’s laws, ignoring them, and suggesting alternatives. Unfortunately, as long as we do so we are lawbreakers and guilty of sin against God.

God established marriage, defined it as one man and one woman, and set it as the only acceptable outlet for sexual expression. Our society has tried to change any and everything to what sounds good to them or what they think should be right. What we have to get through our thick heads is that no matter what laws we pass in our country, no matter what is acceptable to society as a whole, and no matter what churches and their leaders compromise on; God’s laws regarding sexuality and marriage will still remain the same. His laws, not ours, will judge us on the day of judgment.

The congressional delegates of the state of Massachusetts may say that two men can marry, but that does not make them married(Matthew 19:4-5). Our society may accept that two adults who love each other are not wrong to become sexually involved even though they are unmarried, but God still calls it sin(1 Corinthians 6:19-7:3). 

Marriage and sexuality are just the tip of the iceberg. Space doesn’t allow us to deal with all of the moral and religious standards that God has put in place, but we will all stand before Him to give an account of the things we have done(2 Corinthians 5:9-11). Until we understand that God’s laws are immutable (unchangeable) and eternal, we will continue to be in danger of receiving his wrath. How do we think that we can receive God’s promises and blessings while we disregard his warnings, disrespect his ordinances and, in essence, spit in His face like rebellious teenagers. We’d better wake up and realize who is in authority; and who is not!

I regret that I do not have a copy of the article that is referenced in this one as being written in response to a series of articles on the Old and New Testaments that I wrote. You can, however, view the three articles on the Old and New Testaments here, here, and here. Those 3 articles as well as the one following were written in 2004.

A short time ago I wrote an article about the Old and New Testaments, three articles in fact. I thought they were precise and clear, but apparently was mistaken. There was an article, which you may or may not have read, entitled, “In Defense of Biblical Truth” and written as a response to my article and some other article that I have not seen and certainly did not write, though their article does not make that clear. The defense of Biblical truth is important, which is the reason for the articles I write and the reason for the article to which these men objected. I don’t know if they read all three of my articles or just one, since they don’t say in their response. What I do know is that they say that my article, “seemed to attempt to destroy the value of the Old Testament in our Bibles.” Within the same paragraph as the above quote their response says, “It is true that salvation is no longer obtainable through the ‘Old Testament Law and Ordinances,’ (moral, civil, or religious)....” I thought that this latter idea and not the former was the very idea that my own articles had covered. Though the accusation is made that my article, “was written as if all the Old Testament was completely fulfilled, and would seem to suggest that we had no further need of it in our day”, there is not anywhere a single quote from my article to substantiate the claim. 

I do firmly believe that the Old Testament is “completely fulfilled”, but that does not mean that I do not believe it is the inspired Word of God, nor does it mean that I don’t believe that it is a valuable portion of our Bibles, nor that we have no further need of it today. I should think that would be clear from the fact that I quoted from or referred to 5 different sections of Old Testament scripture and used them just as 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”, but I suppose not. Romans 15:4 says, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” There is no doubt that the Old Testament is scripture, and no doubt that we are to learn from it even though we are not saved by it or under that law any longer.

The only real argument in the entire response deals with whether the prophecy of the Old Testament has already been fulfilled or is yet to be fulfilled. Only one supposed proof that it has not been fulfilled is given even though we are to believe that there are “too many” to put in the article. The one prophecy they mention is Zechariah 12:10 "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn." The argument is made that since “They never mourned, they mocked. There was no bitterness but hatred. They killed him.” this scripture has not been fulfilled. Of course, I believe that the Bible teaches that it was fulfilled. So, let’s see.

First, since the Old Testament, including Zechariah, is inspired by God we should start with the immediate context. Certainly we could look at the whole chapter or even the whole book, and perhaps we will in another article. For now let us just examine the few verses around this one. Zechariah 12:9-13:1 says, "And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. {10} And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. {11} In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. {12} And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; {13} The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; {14} All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart." (13:1)  "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness." 

Many of these verses speak of ‘that day’, but what day? There are several clues. Verse ten itself says that God will pour out his ‘spirit of grace’. Chapter 13 and verse one says, there will be a fountain opened for sin. Verse ten also says that they will ‘look on me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him,’. All of these things are to happen in that day. So, if I may be so bold as to ask, which day (past, present, or future) did, are, or will all three of these things happen. Try this answer if you don’t have one of your own, or compare this one to the one you came up with. God poured (past) out his grace and the spirit of his grace on the day that he opened (past) a fountain for the forgiveness of sin, the same day that the inhabitants of Jerusalem looked upon me (Jesus) whom they had pierced. 

Second, John 19:34-37 clearly says that the piercing part took place on the day Jesus died on the cross and all of the rest was to be on the same day the prophecy said ‘that day’. It should also be noted that even though there were many who mocked, hated, and schemed to kill Jesus; those who were the remnant who remained faithful did mourn at the death of Christ. Jesus during his life had made it clear that not everyone who called himself a child of Abraham, or of the house of David, or a Jew was really and truly one (John 8:39-44).

What an odd question to ask. Acts chapter 8 is one of the richest chapters in the entire Bible. It contains so much teaching on so many topics that I could probably write an article a week for a year just on this chapter. But for now let’s just look at this question asked by the Ethiopian eunuch. Acts 8:36 reads, "And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?" The answer Philip gives is in the next verse, but let’s look at a few other things before we get to that.

First, let’s consider the kind of response this question might get today. Some preachers would simply say, “There is no point in being baptized.” Others would say, “You don’t want to be baptized in water, but in the Holy Ghost. Still others would say, “You can, but you have to wait for baptizing Sunday.” There might even be some who would say, “If you want to get baptized you need to go to another church, we don’t allow your kind in our church.” Then, there would be some who would say, “We will have to wait for the church to vote on you.” You can probably imagine some other responses this question would get from our mixed up religious world today. None of these answers were the ones Philip gave. We’ll get to it in a minute.

Second, let’s look back to see what caused the eunuch to ask such an interesting question. How did he know what baptism was? How did he know water was necessary? Wasn’t the water bottle he had for drinking on a long journey enough? Why would he make mention of another water source? If we look back a few verses and use some reasoning, we can answer these questions. 

In Acts 8:32-35 we read, "The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: {33} In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. {34} And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? {35} Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus." Notice that Philip preached ‘Jesus’. We don’t know how long he preached, but it was long enough to tell the eunuch all about who Jesus was, how He had lived, what He had taught, how and why He had died, how He rose again, what instructions He left for His disciples, and how He had returned to Heaven. That could take a good while. But, why did the eunuch respond to all of this teaching about Jesus by asking about being baptized? There is only one logical explanation that fits with the text. Somewhere in Philip’s sermon about Jesus baptism had been taught, and with enough emphasis that the eunuch felt compelled to have this done to him. He also understood that the baptism he needed was not the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but baptism in water. Holy Spirit baptism was special and Philip may well have taught the eunuch about it, certainly he would have taught about the Spirit beginning with the virgin conception and birth; but which one did the eunuch understand was for him? Water baptism.

As for the amount of water and the necessity of water, that also must have been included given the response the eunuch has and the action in verses 37-38. The Greek word for baptize (baptizo) literally means “to make fully wet, to cover in a liquid, or to dip” according to Strong’s Greek Dictionary in the back of the Strong’s Concordance. Given this understanding of the word it no longer seems surprising that the eunuch knew he needed water and a large amount of it. Oh, if only translators had accurately translated how much less confusion there could be today.

Now let’s look at Philip’s answer. The question implies that the eunuch is not sure if he meets all of the qualifications. ‘Hinder’ indicates there may be something holding him back. Is there something else he must do first: some fee to pay, some committee to go before, or some religious experience? No, Philip simply says, “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest" (verse 37). He already knew what he had to believe from the preaching he had just heard. The eunuch did, so, they got out and went down into the water and Philip baptized him (verse 38). They did it right then and there with no delay. The eunuch went home rejoicing (verse 39). And why shouldn’t he? He had found the truth and obeyed what he had been taught: he was saved. Sounds just like what Jesus said in Mark 16:16,  "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." The eunuch believed and was baptized, and I hope to meet him in Heaven.

ADIAPHORISM - ALLOWANCE OF ANYTHING NOT SPECIFICALLY CONDEMNED IN SCRIPTURE

This is the theory that many religious groups use to explain many of the practices they have. We should always try to “speak where the Bible speaks, and are silent where the Bible is silent.” Some have taken that to mean that if the Bible does not say something is wrong by name then it is silent on that subject and we are free to do it.  That is not at all what we should mean. Let us look at a few of the things that are wrong in principle, but that are not specifically mentioned in scripture.

Recreational drug use, gambling, racism, baptizing pets, speeding (along with many other laws of man), destruction of other’s property, abortion, pornography, rape, and child abuse are all things that are never mentioned by name in the Bible.

The list could go on and on.  We must be sure that we don’t fall into the trap of believing in Adiaphorism. We must understand that God speaks on many things by stating the positive action to be taken and not mentioning all of the negative actions to be avoided. The golden rule is a perfect example of this. Jesus could have given a 500 page thesis on all of the things that we should not do to our neighbors (i.e. kick, hit, poke in the eye, pull hair, stab, shoot, choke, etc., etc.), but He instead told us how we should treat them and saved us and Himself a bunch of time and energy. His universal principle, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” even though it is stated positively is still prohibitive.  Without the fuss of mentioning every sin that would ever be invented by man toward his fellow man, he managed to condemn them all.

To see the true biblical principle at work in our daily lives, let’s imagine the last time we went to a restaurant. Whether it was fast-food or sit-down there was a menu. On that menu there may have been something like this:
SANDWICHES
All sandwiches may be topped with Pickles, Mustard, Ketchup, Onion, Lettuce, Tomato, and are served with your choice of ; Baked Potato, French Fries, Onion Rings, or Hashbrowns.

Below this would be many different sandwiches listed. If you placed your order and specified “I want the Hamburger with Lettuce and Tomato and an order of Fries.” and the waiter/waitress returned with a Cheeseburger with Lettuce, Tomato, and Pickles (which you are allergic to) and a side order of Hashbrowns, what would you think, say or do. The server had obviously not done what you asked. Now let us follow the conversation that follows.
You: This is not what I ordered.
Server: What do you mean?
You: I ordered a Hamburger, this is a Cheeseburger.
Server: Oh no, it is just a Hamburger with cheese on it. I thought I would give you a little more than you asked for.
You: I didn’t want Pickles, in fact, I am allergic to them.
Server: Well you didn’t tell me not to put any Pickles on it.
You: I also asked for Fries, not Hashbrowns.
Server: Oh really, what is the difference they are both potatoes, just fixed two different ways.
You: But what about my order?
Server: Well, you should really have been specific about it.
You: I am not going to eat this, take it back and fix it.
Server: Fine, but you will have to pay for it and what you eat.
You: I am not paying for this it is not what I ordered.
Server: That isn’t true I brought you everything you asked for and even some extra. Why are you mad? 
You: You did not bring what I asked for, you changed it. Good bye. I will go eat somewhere else.

Absurd isn’t it? However, this is exactly the conversation that the doctrine of Adiaphorism creates between people and God’s word. I know the excuse, “you didn’t say I couldn’t” never worked with my parents when they had been clear as to what I could do, and we better know it won’t work with God. Let us be sure we do what he said how he said and nothing beyond what he said.

Can you think of anything at your church that is done because God never said you couldn't? If you can consider
how displeased you would be in his place, and what wrath He will pour out on those who don't keep his
commandments.

Notice what Jesus says in Matthew 21:28-32 "But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. {29} He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. {30} And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. {31} Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. {32} For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him."

Jesus is once again focusing on one of his most preached topics in this passage. He wants the religious leaders of his time, and ours as well, to know that actions speak louder than words. The religious world of our time had better wake up to this fact or there will be tons of disappointed people on judgment day. We can’t give God lip service and expect him to be happy. Jesus seems to teach this message in every way he possibly can. In Matthew 7:21 He says,  "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." But no matter how often or how many different ways he gave this message there were many then and now who proudly proclaim to be Christians, children of God, and followers of Christ and go about living like the devil. 

It is sad to know there will always be hypocrites, but it is sadder still to see churches and church leaders who condone, approve, or even actively encourage this sinful lifestyle. We all have sinned, but we should be ashamed of those things and work diligently to get that sin out of our lives. Just pretending to be holy on Sunday will never impress Jesus or His Father.

Jesus in asking, “what think ye?”, let’s us know that He wants us to think about what we do and what will please God. We live in a world that emphasizes emotions or feelings to such an extent that how someone feels has become far more important to most people than what they think. Just ask ten religious people if they are right with God, and most if not all will respond with, “I feel. . .” or something similar. But what think ye? It is a wonderful feeling to feel safe and saved, but God won’t be determining who gets into heaven on the basis of feelings. Feelings just are not always right and we know it. It would not be good, for example, for me to decide whether to slow down and stop at an intersection based on whether I felt safe. I might feel safe going right through a red light just before being smashed by an 18-wheeler. No, we can’t live life based on our feelings alone.

Christianity is a religion based on what we can know and reason from God’s word. It is a religion of the mind first and the heart second. We must learn to do what we know is right regardless of how we feel, and then learn to feel good about doing what is good.

That brings us to the two sons in Jesus’ parable. The father gave them both the same command. The first did not feel like obeying, and consequently told the father he wouldn’t. This son’s feelings about the task may or may not have changed, but his attitude (state of mind) did change. He did what he knew was right. The other son knew what was right and told the father what he wanted to hear. He apparently didn’t feel like doing it either, however, and followed those feelings. The people Jesus was talking to thought the first son was the one who did right, but there are many today who would probably argue that if the sons didn’t feel good about doing it then it was okay for them to not do the work. They would probably say that it was okay for the second son to lie to his father so the father’s feelings wouldn’t be hurt. That is certainly what people do.

So, what do you think? Which son did right? The one who followed his feelings? Or, The one who followed his reasoning? What about you? Are there things that you are doing because it feels good or right even though the Bible teaches that it is wrong?