Category Archives: Daily Word
Texas Public Schools Sex Education
Ok, right after blogging about being proud of praying on the Texas State Campus, I need to tell you about a study a couple of professors came out with.
A foundation called the Texas Freedom Network, paid Texas State University to study the effects of our state’s sex education curriculum. The foundation mentioned above has a mission to “counter the religious right”. So, what do you think the purpose of the survey was? It was to prove that “abstinence only” sex education is not working. The Texas Freedom Network wants to “free” our society of ‘imposed’ morality standards. They promote “religious freedom” (which really means freedom from religion) and “individual rights” (which means we should all do anything we want).
So, the faculty of Texas State, comprehensively studied all of our Texas public school sex education programs. What do you think they found out? Well, Read the rest of this entry
Hormones Are Dangerous
If you live in Central Texas and travel rural roadways in late February, there is an aroma that will ‘peak your interest’. In the 6 mile stretch between my house and the church, there are 3 places where I have to either hold my breath or hold a clothe over my face. Although, I have to admit, lately I have been trying to become one with nature and learn to enjoy odor from the cute little black and white weasel. What? You didn’t know that skunks were in the weasel family? See all the great things you learn here!
Why is it so stinky in February? Skunks are hit by cars because they are on the roads. Why are there so many skunks killed on the road during this part of the year? Read the passage below found online:
Adult skunks begin breeding in late February. Yearling females (born in the preceding year) mate in late March. Gestation usually lasts 7 to 10 weeks. Older females bear young during the first part of May, while yearling females bear young in early June. There is usually only 1 litter annually. Litters commonly consist of 4 to 6 young, but may have from 2 to 16. Younger or smaller females have smaller litters than older or larger females. The young stay with the female until fall. Both sexes mature by the following spring. The age potential for a skunk is about 10 years, but few live beyond 3 years in the wild.
The normal home range of the skunk is l/2 to 2 miles (2 to 5 km) in diameter. During the breeding season, a male may travel 4 to 5 miles (6.4 to 8 km) each night.
The males are driven by their hormones into dangerous traffic situations and sadly many of them lose their life. It leaves the skunk population smaller and virtual clouds of fumes in the air. Then, after they are hit and laying in the road, cars swerve not to hit the little guys and almost hit other cars. This causes even more problems.
A situation that is so deadly for the skunks is really not any different for other species. Is it? Deer go crazy in late summer, early fall. Monster bucks walk right out in the clearing in broad daylight, much to the delight of hunters.
And humans…well…men are crazy year around.
Of course, females deal with hormone issues also. Hormones open the door to procreation and other vital bodily functions. Without them, we would not survive. In fact, my daughter who was born with a brain abnormality, does not naturally get a hormone from her brain and would die if we did not medicate her twice a day.
There is something powerful about the movement of hormones. They alter rational thought. Life saving thoughts. Moral thoughts.
What are your thoughts on something so natural or physical impacting our spiritual life?
-pastor
The Language of Worship
This post is based off the last one.
God receives worship from us, how is it understood or evaluated?
My immediate response would be that He listens and He watches. But, that is so ‘human’. God must be able to evaluate our worship with a different sense. The reason? Listening and watching is not effective when it comes to judging authenticity. Sure, we can look at someone and think they are telling the truth or are sincere, but God is not that sketchy. When our ‘worship’ arises to God, He must know from beginning to end if that worship is real or forced…if the motive is true or alternative.
Most modern churches place a lot of emphasis on the production of our worship at church. We ask questions like: Are the melodies and tempo right? Is everyone on key? Are the instruments tuned and ready? What about lighting and video sequences?
The focus drifts from original intent (communicating with God) to impressing the five human senses. We feel like if we hear, smell, taste, see, and touch that the worship is good, then it is pure. I can’t help but think that God’s senses rely on sensors beyond the human capability. They must be so much more reliable.
What if God received worship by:
- The Intent of your Heart (Romans 2:29) – If melodies and words come from your inner most being…
- The percent of Talent you use (Matthew 25) – If you are using all your available resources and not holding anything back…
- The unity of the Believers (Matthew 5:24) – If you are unified with others, holding no grudges…
If you are wanting to please God with your worship, offering, and talents, I would look at how you match up with the three above. Even more than making sure you are singing on key, getting the music just right, or saying the ‘right’ words.
-robin
God’s Love
Ok, lets talk about something controversial…music.
One of my favorite parts of The Shack, is when they (God and Mack) are in the kitchen working on dinner listening to music and God says He loves the music. What is ironic is that the singer is a popular secular artist. It is confusing to Mack (and to most readers) that God verbally says He loves the music. My first reaction was….”wait a minute. This is crazy. God should only love the music that is sung in a certain key, behind a certain piano, by a certain Holy person, singing certain Christian lyrics”. Ok, so maybe I didn’t take it that far, but I was concerned with the theological accuracy of the concept. God loving a secular song. But, like several other great concepts of The Shack, it started working on me.
In the dialog of the book, God starts talking about how He loves to hear His ‘kids’ sing. Truly, we do not know what happens in God’s mind when we sing a song about stuff other than God. However, the writer takes a stab at an interesting concept. The concept is that God gives us all the raw talent, and when He places it in us, it is good. When we take that talent, whether it is singing, playing an instrument, dancing, etc, and use it for selfish reasons He is still proud of and excited about the skill we have. Maybe He is not moved by the motive of the song, but the raw talent is enjoyable to hear because it originally came from God. Where does it cross the line and become a stinch in the nose of God? What message or motive offends God to the point of turning His ear. Because believe it or not, God listens to every song ever written or recorded. From the Platinum to the childish. Every song might not go before Simon Cowell, but God hears it.
A bigger point beyond the secular music concept is the idea that God loves everyone, even sinners who sing secular songs. God is exited about all His kids and wants every single one of them to know about Him. I think one of the biggest failures of modern day Christians is failing to love the sinner like God loves the sinner. We are so afraid to hug, welcome, and minister to those who aren’t ‘acceptable’ because of their track record. I believe God loves the sinner all the way to hell and even after they are in hell. God still loves us all. Living in the fullness of the Gospel reconnects us “kids” to the father. We convert from sinner to saint, but the love of God doesn’t increase at this point.
Now, the “favor” of God? That is a different story, and that is what we talked about on the Weekend at PSM.
So, what are your thoughts?
-robin
Jesus Grew in FAVOR with God
Here is the diagram I used to help my memory for this weekend’s message.
Click to expand… You will be amazed at my artwork!!!!
Just kidding, I really need these types of drawings/graphs to digest the message.
Robin Steele 