Happy Mother’s Day

To all you moms!  Have a great day.

The Real Reason Why People Stay Home From Worship

Everyone who attends church has heard, and maybe even used, some excuse as to why worship couldn’t be attended.  From the mysterious illness that strikes at 10 on Sunday morning but which clears up by noon so that the mall can be visited, to the sudden visitor who just dropped in as they were “leaving”; to the tiredness from a late Saturday night out; to simple laziness.  And anything and everything in between, including, but not limited to, bad preaching, boring sunday school lessons, and too many other things to do.

But the real reason, the 100% always accurate reason, the authentic truth of the matter is that people stay home from worship because they don’t want to have to mend their ways or change their lives.  They know, after all, that if they KNOW what God wants them to do, they will have no excuse for not doing it.  So, they stay home on Sunday or they trot home after sunday school so that they can avoid the inevitable claim of God on their lives.

They don’t stay home because something more important has come up- because there is nothing more important than God.  They stay home because they are afraid that God may want something of them.  Namely, them.

How You Raise Your Children Affects Everyone

Sometimes people imagine that how they raise their kids is no one’s business but their own.  And if you say anything to them about it they become quite offended, as though their children’s behavior has no impact on anyone else in the world.

But of course that is absurd.  If parents raise their children in an environment of drugs, then when those children grow up and become a burden on society (as welfare recipients or recipients of social security income because they aren’t able to work) it most certainly is everyone’s problem.

If parents raise their children to be disrespectful of others persons and property, then when those children commit crimes like vandalism then it most certainly affects others.

If parents raise their children without God, then that too most certainly impacts the wider community.  Godless parents raising Godless children, children without guidance, boundaries, discipline, or self respect, become, in the long run, detrimental to society as a whole, participating in evils which break down families and communities.

But when parents raise respectful, disciplined, faithful children, the whole of society benefits.

How you raise your children affects everyone.  If you don’t believe it, drive up to the prison.

Aiding Sin And Abetting Sinners

An interesting question was posed me today: is it right to help people sin?  And if you do, does that make you sin too?

The short answer is, no to the first and yes to the second.  Is it right to help people sin?  No.  For example, if someone is going to steal something from the store, and you know about it before they do it, but you give them your car keys so they can get to the store, then you have helped them sin.  Similarly, if you provide them with gas or you help them in any way to do the evil they plan, then you have helped them sin.

So, naturally, if you help others sin, then you too have sinned.  Let’s say that your son or daughter is about to go egg a house at Halloween and you give them the money to buy eggs or the eggs themselves, then you are a partner in their sin and thereby become as sinful as they.

In other words, when you help someone to do something wrong, you’ve done wrong too.  If little Nancy is on her way to make life miserable for the town, and you fill her tank with gas, you have a part in terrorizing the town too.  And God will hold you as accountable as he does little Nancy.

Toon of the Week