Good Question

Great internet site that answers questions you have from a solidly biblical perspective. It's a column from Christianity Today and can be accessed on line here.

Take this question, for instance:

The Bible tells us that anything we ask according to his will, we shall have (1 John 5:14-15). How is it, then, that not all prayers for the salvation of others are answered?—Amy Lynn Nuttall, Brooklyn, New York

You can find the answer at the link above. Other questions addressed include:

• If God is in us, shouldn't it be easier to love one another?
• What do we gain from a bodily resurrection?
• What is the difference between the brain and the soul?
• How can I reconcile my belief in the inerrancy of Scripture with comments in Bible translations that state that a particular verse is not 'in better manuscripts'?
• Is there a biblical principle behind the punishment of those who break the law?
• Is it unscriptural for a Christian to be cremated?
• Won't heaven's joy be spoiled by our awareness of unsaved loved ones in hell?
• Where exactly do "Oneness" Pentecostals stand in relation to orthodoxy?
• Do a man and a woman become married after having sex or after exchanging vows?
• How Do You Know That You Have Truly Forgiven Someone?
• Who Are We to Judge?
• Should We File Lawsuits?
• Can We Expect God to Forgive Unbelievers Who 'Don't Know What They're Doing'?
• Is the Stock Market Good Stewardship?
• Is Satan Omnipresent?
• Is Suicide Unforgivable?
• Was Slavery God's Will?
• A Little Wine for the Soul?
• Should We All Speak in Tongues?
• Did Jesus Really Descend to Hell?
• Take, Eat—But How Often?
• Is Christmas Pagan?
• Are Christians Required to Tithe?
• Is Revelation Prophecy or History?
• You're Divorced—Can You Remarry?
• If Grace Is Irresistible, Why Evangelize?
• Does the 'Bible Code' Really Exist?
• What's the Unforgivable Sin?
• What Bible Version Did Jesus Read?
• Did God Die on the Cross?
• You Must Be Born Again—But at What Age?
• Was the Revolutionary War Justified?
• Can the Dead Be Converted?
• What Is the Significance of the Shroud of Turin?
• Is Hell Forever?
• Why Are There Denominations?
• Did Paul Baptize for the Dead?
• Do Demons Have Zip Codes?
• What Is the Gospel of Thomas?

Raw and Uncensored…Sort of (Part 7)

Analysis continued:

• Too much "go" and not enough "grow"
• Change without enough reassurances/doses of familiar
• Not enough "Invest and Invite": Our primary strategy for reaching people for Christ is to keep the value and priority of evangelism alive in our congregation, encourage everyone to invest in the life of folks who don't know Christ and then invite those folks to our church community to investigate faith. We've talked a lot about "going" and compassionate outreach, but it's been a long time since we've had a sustained focus on personal evangelism. Way too long. Over my whole Christian life I find that I am active in evangelistic outreach when I'm reading about it, attending training...doing anything that gets me focused. I think it's the same for the church.
• Neglect of fundamentals: While gearing up to "go," we neglected some fundamentals, especially in the areas of small groups and worship. In worship, for example, we tasked our staff to focus so much on catching up on technology (we hadn't made any strides in this area since moving in to our building in 2001) and getting ready for our Hudson launch that they were not able to focus on recruiting new team members and developing the ones we already have. You can coast for a while in times of intense concentration on a goal, but I expected way too much from our teams and our congregation, and it hurt us. On the other hand, if I had better anticipated the cost and the length of time, and turned to our teams and congregation to explain things better and ask people to step up and help, we likely could have done better.
• Road work and the housing slowdown: No doubt this has contributed about as much as all of the above in our growth and financial situation. But, in my estimation, it kept our "recovery" from impacting growth. By the time we made some mid-course corrections and started picking up momentum we faced the road work that lasted about six months and isolated us from the Woodbury campus community. I was told that one woman from Hudson tried to come to the women's Wednesday morning Bible study and didn't find us until her third try. Add to that the slowdown in community growth and you have a pretty potent one-two punch that hit us hard in the gut.