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.