News You Can Use

News You Can Use

Premise:  Attention spans are short, even worse if the subject is religion.  Having an interesting one-liner can be important for maintaining focus long enough to make an interesting point.

  • Evidence: Christianity is the only religion based on evidence.  The Bible is the best attested book in the world.  Nothing else comes close.
  • Faith: Making decisions based on what God has promised – which implies you know what He promised.
  • Promises: Character development, the importance of people to the plan, joyful life, heaven.
  • Grace: It’s not fairy dust.  It’s a laid-back attitude, a gracious nature.  You benefit from God’s gracious nature in that He hasn’t already toasted you.  You gain a gracious nature as He makes you more tolerant.
  • Glory: A parade of godly character traits.
  • Mercy: One step beyond compassion; an intense desire to fix what ails someone else.
  • Love: Doing what is best for the other person without regard to the effect on me.
  • Spirit: The part of you that keeps going after you quit breathing.
  • Perfect: In the Bible, it means consistent, not flawless.
  • Commands: Trust God; love people.  End of list.
  • Forgiveness just gets you even; faith puts you in the black.
  • Everyone is redeemed because Jesus paid up the justice system (1 John 2:2). Then, God pushes aside your criminal record and trusts you anyway.  The question is whether you trust God or not.  Forgiven does not mean “Go to heaven;” faith (trusting God) does.
  • Grace versus Law: personal versus impersonal; laid-back versus hard-nosed.
  • Faith versus Law:   You can’t pay the price of admission with behavior just like you can’t use deutschmarks at Disneyland.  To God, faith is the most valuable commodity and the only valid currency.
  • Blessed (noun or adjective): above the cares of this life.
  • Jesus: (John 1:1, 14) The Word is God; the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
  • Rejoice: at the successes of faith, seeing someone be more than they are.
  • Fear: The Christian’s only fear is for those who aren’t.