The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
Sorted by date Results 1 - 22 of 22
Q: My husband and I are retiring and he plans to play golf and rest. I want to do something worthwhile. Is it wrong to spend retirement years enjoying all the things we couldn't do when we were busy working and raising our children? - R.Y. A: God knows our need for rest and relaxation. The writer of Ecclesiastes said, "Enjoy the good of all his labor -- it is the gift of God" (3:13). After a grueling period of ministry, Jesus urged His disciples to go with him to a quiet place...
Q: The church today seems much the same as the world. What does it mean to take up the cross of Christ, and would this make the church stronger? - B.D. A: While our nation is seeing an increase of crime, immorality, adultery, drunkenness, irreverence, infidelity, and open apostasy, millions of professing Christians have forgotten the Scripture that says, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Matthew 16:24). Jesus rega...
Q: Is it true that Jesus Christ is intolerant (or narrow), as some Christians claim? - I.J. A: In loving, compassionate intolerance Jesus says, "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction... [and] narrow is the gate... which leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Matthew 7:13-14). Intolerance seems to many a divisive word. But consider the intolerance of a pilot who maneuvers his plane through the storm, realizing...
Q: My mother claims to be a Christian but there is no evidence of it at home. How can this be? - B.M. A: Living for Christ in the home is the acid test for any Christian. It's far easier to live an excellent life among our friends when we're putting our best foot forward and are conscious of public opinion, than it is to live for Christ at home. Our own family circle knows whether Christ lives in and through us. A true Christian will not give way at home to bad temper, impatie...
Q: When I was young, my Sunday school teacher helped the class memorize an Old Testament passage when the world was very wicked: "Everyone did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 21:25). When I was little I couldn't quite imagine that kind of living, but doesn't it seem that the world has regressed? This verse describes our world today. - W.R. A: When everyone does what is right in his own eyes, there is no possibility of order and peace. Too many people today feel that mo...
Q: I've struggled with my spiritual life, examining every form of faith, every god, every proverb, every church, and every truth. I've concluded the best way to get to Heaven is to practice each of these theologies and patterns to cover the bases. I believe that the true God will accept this effort and allow me into Heaven when the time comes. The effort certainly speaks for itself, more than those who run after every imaginable evil. At least my thoughts are centered on...
Q: No wonder Christmas is a more favored holiday than Easter. Christmas speaks of a new life [the infant Jesus] that brought joy. Easter brings thoughts of death [His gruesome death], yet there is the new life found in resurrection, which is curious. What does the Bible verse mean when it says that death is swallowed up in victory? - B.I. A: Think about the holes children make when they dig in the sand on the seashore. When the waves come in, the holes are swallowed up by the...
Q: I read a lot about blending various faiths from around the world and many support a one-world religion. Years ago, this was frightening to some, but now people from all faiths are coming on board as "people of faith." We're told that we should concentrate only on the common ground of our beliefs, which is to be the best we can, do the best we can, and love others. The world says this is what can bring humanity together. Is there room in Christianity for this kind of...
Q: It's surprising to see young people fighting for social action and at the same time completely steeped in the pursuit of self-pleasure. It doesn't seem that these two lifestyles can work together. – S.A. A: Human nature seeks to please itself. When something brings pleasure, we are inclined to call evil good, even if we know that down deep it is dead wrong. To make ourselves feel better when things go wrong, we blame others. Evil cleverly disguises itself as good, and human...
Q: My teenagers think their mother is quite old-fashioned because of my warnings about pornography. The culture has done a very bad thing by teaching young people that there is nothing wrong with obsessing about sensual images, cleverly changing the meaning of words to take the sting away. - P.P. A: Pornography is both a symptom and a cause of the widespread immorality and corruption of modern society. It reaches people of all age levels through a multibillion-dollar industry...
Q: I've had a lot of sorrow in my life and it seems my friends are weary of my troubles. I suppose others have problems equal to mine but for me it can't get worse. My family tells me that I shouldn't share my troubles because it drives people away. How does one go about as though nothing is wrong? Isn't that dishonest? - N.F. A: There are anguishing scenarios of human suffering. All one has to do to hear the cries of the hurting is to listen to the news for just a few...
Q: How troubling to hear talking points about social justice standards defined by identity, diversity, and social action. This is causing confusion in areas of education, public service, and even in churches, saying that all people are basically good and deserve to live as they like regardless if it hurts anyone else; and that preaching against sin is robbing people of their individual rights to live free from any imposed standard. Is there an answer? - T.S. A: Many people who...
Q: I hear more news commentators proclaim that the world's in a real mess with no answers on the horizon, completely dismissing that Jesus is the answer. Yet much of the world still celebrates the birth of Jesus while denying who He really is. - C.C. A: The human race continues to rush from crisis to crisis as war clouds hover. One editorial asked, ""What shall we do to be saved?" -- almost the very question the jailer at Philippi asked the Apostle Paul. Sir James Orr, one of...
Q: I believe that if all of our politicians could get on the same page we could reach world peace. With the scientific advances and expanded knowledge that have been made in the last 100 years, why is this so hard? It's frightening to stand by and watch our nation die. - W.A. A: Our hope is not in a political party. It's not in social improvement, for we have some of the greatest social institutions in the world, yet the world becomes more lawless. Education is not the answer...
Q: Will a person who dies ever live again? - L.D. A: When we've been to a funeral, for a few moments we're solemn and thoughtful. Perhaps we ask, "Is this the end?" Someday we'll be taken out to the cemetery, and someone will say a few words over us. No matter how final it seems, we're prone to ask, "If a man dies, shall he live again?" The answer from the Bible is a resounding yes. The cross and the resurrection of Christ offers everyone eternal life with Him. This brings us...
Q: My dear mother is lamenting her life away as she battles with two of her three children about the importance of choosing the right mate for life. She pleads with them the importance of establishing homes that will be centered on the Lord. My brother and sister think her views are too old-fashioned. How can something this important become "out-of-date"? - M.O. A: The home is the foundation of any society. But something is wrong with many of our homes. We've never had more...
Q: What does the Christian message mean to say that there is a cost to following Jesus? Didn't Jesus pay the price? - C.F. A: God has paid the greatest debt we will ever incur, and once we understand the incredible sacrifice He has made for us, we will be compelled to turn to Him in obedience and love. Many people want the benefits of their faith, but they hesitate at the cost of discipleship. To be a disciple of Jesus means to learn from Him, to follow Him. The cost may be...
Q: My sister's very intelligent daughter is working her way through college and has turned her back on God and believes everything the professors teach concerning social matters. I often wonder if this is the delusion mentioned in the Bible. - D.C. A: The Bible plainly teaches that one of the characteristics of the end of this age is that people will develop a capacity for delusion rather than the truth. The scientific revolution has produced an overemphasis on the secular...
Q: I watch the needless wars that accomplish nothing; they only end in gruesome death. Then I wonder what hope there is for a man who has lived a life of sin like I have and now am facing the reality of death with no possibility to make amends for a life ill lived. - L.S. A: The Bible teaches that all of mankind is rushing toward death. Even though wars rage around the globe, it does not increase death because death comes to every generation. Everybody dies. God's Word teaches...
Q: I watched a documentary in school about the "tales" of the Bible and the afterlife. The one that bothered me the most was the lie about there being many roads to Heaven and that because Hell is a fictional place, there are no roads to this awful place. Most of the students believed the documentary over the Bible. Didn't Jesus speak of Hell often? - T.R. A: Many answers about life after death are deceiving and will lead people right into Hell; the very place they are told...
Q: Why do people resent the message of Christians today that Jesus is the answer? Surely they cannot believe that the world will ever find a way out of the mess that the world is in today. - D.D. A: The world is in unending conflict. Lawlessness is in conflict with the lawful. Intrigue and dishonesty are in conflict with truth and honesty. Intolerance is at odds with tolerance and human understanding. Lust and pleasure are in conflict with propriety and purity. Godlessness is...
Q: I'm a Christian but I disagree with the teaching about the narrow road -- a rejection of all that is exciting about life. I can still be a follower of Christ but take part in all the world has to offer, right? - W.C. A: When American astronauts astonished the human race with their spectacular first visit to the moon, they took Apollo 11 on a very narrow trajectory through space. Now suppose the NASA control center in Houston had received word from Apollo 11 that the...
