The Veritas Forum: Belief in an Age of Skepticism?

And interesting video, of Pastor Tim Keller speaking at UC Berkley:

J.I. Packer on teaching the youth

What is a Worship Leader?

Contemporvant

An interesting, and thought provoking video on Sunday Service:

"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

From UC Berkeley News -

"Speak out"

University Medalist Josh Biddle's commencement address ...

UC Berkeley Link: Read Here

The Moral Life of Babies (and the Ideological Life of Adults)

A very interesting article that is a review of another article that ran in Time's magazine. The Time's magazine article was about babies having a sense of morality, contrary to popular belief. Albert Mohler gives his review of this article. Once again, a very interesting article with a lot of interesting insight!

Link to Article

The Death of a (Former) Atheist — Antony Flew, 1923-2010

"Antony Flew’s rejection of atheism is an encouragement, but his rejection of Christianity is a warning. Rejecting atheism is simply not enough." -Al Mohler

The once world renowned atheist philosopher who later rejected atheism in 2004, passed away this year April. Albert Mohler gives his thoughts on Antony Flews life and death, and it is very insightful.

Link to Article

True Worship

A very interesting video on true worship.

The Power Team!

UP!!!!

Something fun!

James 5:12 / I swear to.../ 4-25-2010

Intro: one of the common phrases we hear in modern time is “I swear to God” or “I swear by so and so…” Even though these phrases are usually uttered by the non-believers, it isn’t uncommon to hear these phrases from young believers. However, the Scripture forbids the believers to swear by anything, and Christians need to understand why we are not to swear.

I. Swearing by God

A. Swearing by the name of God is forbidden for two reasons.

1. The name of God “Yahweh” (Hebrew word) was considered so holy and sacred that the people (Jews) were not allowed to use it for any reason. Instead, another word “adonai” (a general Hebrew word, which means “lord”) was substituted in its stead.

2. The 3^rd Commandment commands God’s people to not to use the Lord’s name in vain.

B. The common understanding of swearing by God’s name.

1. Because of above reasons, Jews, Christians and Jewish-Christians (in 1^st century) alike, understood clearly that they were not to use the Lord’s name to swear.

2. Hence, swearing by the name of God was absent and it was never an issue.

II. Swearing by others

A. Issue of swearing in the 1^st Century

1. Neither Jews nor Christians swore by the name of God, however, they did swear by anything and everything else.

2. During the time when this letter was written, Jews, Christians and Jewish-Christians alike swore excessively as means to cover up their deceitfulness and manipulativeness rather than to confirm the truth of their speech.

3. Hence, Jews and Christians swore by any and everything such as animals, objects, people and etc.

B. History

1. Swearing or making oath occurred from early on in the Biblical History. The first recorded event was Abraham making an oath to Abimalech regarding a well (Genesis 21).

2. The book of Genesis also records others patriarchs such as Jacob and Isaac making oaths.

3. When the patriarchs made oaths and promises, it was to demonstrate the validity of their statements, however, by the time when this letter was written, Jews, Christians and Jewish-Christians alike were swearing excessively as means to cover up their evil works.

C. The idea of swearing

1. The underlying idea of swearing or making oaths is that the speaker’s word is not good enough; hence, extra evidence is needed to verify the truth of the claim.

2. Hence, the concept of swearing goes beyond the phrase “I swear by…”. It denotes the speaker’s intention or thought not aligning with his spoken words. Ultimately, swearing denotes the speaker’s character, which is perceived by others as untrustworthy.

III. Conclusion

The passage is teaching the Diaspora Christians that there is no need for Christians to swear whatsoever if the spoken words of the Christians are accepted as truthful and serious by others. Hence, Christians are not to swear; rather, Christians are to focus on speech that is truthful and serious.

1. Speak in truthfulness: this means that there is neither a hint of deception nor ulterior motive in spoken words of Christian. Rather, there is simply truthfulness like a child's answer to a simple question.

2. Speak in seriousness: this means that speaker says what he or she means. There isn’t constant change of positions or opinions in what was said; rather unwavering loyalty to spoken words are demonstrated by constant resoluteness.