Carmen, a Christian girl, meets handsome Jeff. They fall in love and get married. Before the wedding Jeff promises to attend church regularly, but five years have now passed. He has never obeyed the gospel, and he only visits the church on special occasions. Carmen has resorted to arguing, manipulating, and pleading. But Jeff is…

 Some sins are tiny. They barely even register on Christian radar. Take gossip, for instance. Compared with the big sins—adultery, stealing, cursing, violence—gossip is no big deal. The only little thing wrong with gossip is that it destroys friendship. Solomon says that “a whisperer separates close friends” (Prov. 16:28). Of course, disclosing an offender’s faults…

I vividly remember reading a magazine article about the imminent advent of affordable cell phone technology. By 1995 or so, Americans would be able to carry phones in their pockets. These phones, via satellite communications, would work anywhere in the world. This prediction proved fairly accurate. Cell phones do work almost everywhere. They interrupt business…

Dr. William Bennett hosted the radio show “Morning in America” for more than a decade. One morning I heard him say that Democrats could sell freezers to Eskimos easier than Republicans could sell them blankets. He said this was so “because Republicans tell the truth.” I can’t agree that politicians of either major party consistently…

 A schoolteacher pours big rocks into a jar and then asks her students if it’s full. They say yes. Next she picks up a container of pebbles and pours them into the jar. Again, the teacher wants to know if the jar is full. The class is absolutely certain this time. The jar is completely…

The churches of Christ in this country are experiencing a preacher shortage. When a large congregation advertises an empty pulpit, resumes flood in by the score. This outpouring of interest is misleading, though. Primarily, it reflects the perceived opportunity for advancement a bigger church affords. When a smaller congregation looks for a preaching minister, the…

Jesus was traveling from Judea to Galilee. Tired, hungry, and thirsty, he and the disciples arrived in Sychar, a Samaritan village in the shadow of Mount Gerizim. While the disciples went to buy lunch, the Lord sat alone beside the well. When a woman came to draw water, Jesus asked for a drink. Astonished, she…

All Christians agree that people who die in the Lord will live eternally in his presence. But do true disciples go immediately into heaven when they die, or do they enter Hades, the world of the dead, and there wait for the Day of Judgment? I believe that the Bible supports the latter view, but…

 After the Jerusalem council on circumcision, Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch. In time Paul proposed a second mission trip: “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are” (Acts 15:36). Barnabas agreed to this plan and suggested that they take…

We sometimes wonder how God will judge people who commit suicide. The theologian Augustine (AD 354-430) harshly condemned it. He argued that suicide was worse than murder because the perpetrator died in an unrepentant state. Is this argument biblical? The Bible records five cases of suicide. Four of these are in the Old Testament: Abimelech,…