Three Bad Church Words

Today, most people think all of us are naturally good. The Bible says differently (Romans 3:10-18,23), and from what I have observed in people’s interactions and in myself I would have to agree with the Bible. We are naturally bad, and there are three words, church words found in the Bible, that describe our condition, ‘sin’, ‘transgression’, and ‘iniquity’.

‘Sin’ is a bad church word that is defined as a thought, word, or action that breaks God’s moral law. It is wrongdoing, wrong speaking, and wrong thinking. But it is much more than that. The Greek and Hebrew words mean ‘missing the mark’ or ‘missing the goal’ with the Hebrew word also having the meaning of failure. We are to love God and love people (Mark 12:30-31). That sums up God’s moral law. When we fail to love, we sin. Note the love here is about putting others and their concerns ahead of ourselves. It is the selfless sacrificial agape love.

Sin is a big part of our lives. Our selfish desires cause us to act for our own benefit at the expense of others. We hurt others. We are truly self-centered to the core of our being. Sin is like a beast crouching at our door seeking to take us captive (Genesis 4:7). In fact, without Jesus, we are slaves to sin. As Christians we have been set free from sin through our baptism (Romans 6:3-8). Unfortunately, sin still lives in our bodies (Romans 7:15-19). We are not yet totally free from sin.

Another bad church word like ‘sin’ is ‘transgression’ which also may be translated as ‘rebellion’ or ‘trespass’. The word in Hebrew and Greek is about betrayal, that is the breaking trust in a relationship. Adam broke the relationship with God when he disobeyed God, and because of that we all lived in that broken relationship with sin, but Jesus came and graciously restored that relationship by making us righteous (Romans 5:12-17).

And the third bad church word is ‘iniquity’. The word in Hebrew and Greek is about crooked behavior and the crooked consequences due to our choices. It is sometimes translated as “guilt” or “punishment”. Note we call criminals crooks, because they have departed from the straight moral way.

Psalm 32:5 has all three of these bad church words, so I am going to be bold and use the meanings of these three words and create my own version of the verse.

I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. (Psalm 32:5; ESV)

I acknowledged to you that I missed the mark with my disobedience; I did not hide my crooked behavior; I said, “I will confess my fault in breaking trust with you, oh Lord,” and you forgave the crookedness of my failure. (Psalm 32:5; “my version”)

We need to confess our sin, but how often do we shrug off our sin and do not seek the forgiveness our gracious God offers. Many times these church words have lost their seriousness for me and I need to be reminded of the meaning of these words. These words are life and death words. These words show the bad that we all have in us. We do not love, and we end up hurting ourselves and others. We separate ourselves from God. We are broken and crooked. But “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25a). God does forgive us. Jesus paid the price for our sin, our transgressions, and our iniquity. Because of all Jesus has done, we can be set right and made whole and brought into relationship with God (John 3:16). Jesus has done it all for us.

This post was inspired by three great Bible Project videos. Check out “Khata/Sin”, “Pesha/Transgression”, and “Avon/Iniquity”.

American Federal Debt

American Flag Photo by Lisa Setrini-Espinosa

A year ago, I wrote about the USA debt. Back then I noted that 27% of federal spending was on borrowed money for fiscal year 2024. For fiscal year 2025, because of President Trump’s DOGE effort and his tariffs, 25% of federal spending was on borrowed money. (There was a deficit of 1.78 Trillion dollars and spending was 7.01 Trillion dollars.) That is a slight improvement, but if you had to borrow a dollar for every four dollars you spend you would be in serious financial trouble. And yet we continue to borrow more and more money.

So far this fiscal year (through June 2026), it is not looking good. Federal spending is up 3% and deficit spending is up 2% when compared to the same time period last year and right now the 15% of the federal spending goes for interest. The only category with a larger percentage is Social Security (23%). Every other category (e.g. medicare, defense) has a smaller percentage than interest. But that is not the whole story. 19% of all federal spending goes to maintaining the federal debt, so the effect is more than the 15% of interest payments.

We are not making any headway on the federal debt. In fact, we are digging ourselves deeper and deeper into debt. I predict in just a few years, interest payments will be the largest category of federal spending. We are and we will be paying for money we already spent in years past. We have to stop kicking the can down the road. This is a case of pay now or pay more later.

I have always been concerned about the federal debt. I first voted in1976 and the debt was 3.54 Trillion dollars in 2025 inflation adjusted dollars. 25 years ago, in 2001, there was the last federal surplus. The debt then was 10.55 Trillion dollars in 2025 inflation adjusted dollars. At the end of the fiscal year 2025 the debt was 37.64 Trillion dollars. It has more than tripled in 24 years, and is more than ten times the debt from 1976.

Some people will argue it is not that bad because the economy is much larger. There is some truth in that but if we compare the debt to the gross domestic product (GDP) we find disturbing record numbers. At the end of the fiscal year 2025 the federal debt to GDP was 124%. Outside of the last 15 years, the only time the ratio was close to that high was in 1946 when the federal debt to GDP was 106%. That was due to all the borrowing during World War II. And after the war, the post-war economic boom and government surpluses brought down the ratio. We need those government surpluses to bring the deficit and debt under control.

As I have always said, we need to raise taxes and cut spending. And we need to be smart about it. It will hurt a little, but it needs to be done now. If we wait, it will hurt a lot more when we finally address the deficit.

Two Kingdoms

Christians need to hold a Biblical view of civil government. The Biblical view is that we are citizens of two kingdoms, a spiritual kingdom and an earthly kingdom. For Christians, the head of the spiritual kingdom is Jesus Christ. The Christian Church on earth is the visible component of the spiritual kingdom. The Church shares the Good News of Jesus Christ and offers mercy, grace, and forgiveness. The earthly kingdom, our civil government, is the country we live in, and it offers a stable environment of laws that promote the common good. Neither the visible Church or the civil government are perfect. They both have their problems because we are broken sinful humans. So as Christians and good citizens, we should make our Christian principles known for the betterment of the people.

Some Christians disagree with the idea of two kingdoms, but when we look at what the Bible says, the two kingdoms idea fits. Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world” to Pilate (John 18:36), and later Jesus also told Pilate, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above” (John 19:11). This shows the two kingdoms, God’s spiritual Kingdom and the God instituted civil government. The Apostle Paul explains more about the role of the civil government in Romans 13:1-7. Note Paul, like Jesus, treats the civil government separately from the Church. We are to submit to the governing authorities because they are God’s servants for our good by punishing those who do wrong. We do good, pay our taxes, and give our civil authorities honor and respect. However, because the government is run by humans, there may be times when we have to obey God rather than the civil authorities (Acts 4:19-20), but I believe those cases in America are pretty rare.

There are those in the United States who endorse the idea that Christianity in America should be given preferential treatment and that Christianity in some form should be the official religion of the nation. This did not work out well in Europe. The Christian faith ended up as the secondary partner to the government and in my opinion Christianity was crippled. Having Christian laws and an official Christian religion did not change people’s hearts. Changed hearts is the work of the Gospel message and the Holy Spirit. It is found in the spiritual kingdom, the Church, not in civil government.

This does not mean as Christians we should sit back and do nothing. No, God has called us to be good citizens and to promote the welfare and wellbeing of the land (Jeremiah 29:7). This means we can promote Christian principles that would be good for our land. We are also called to pray for our leaders (1 Timothy 2:1-2). And we also can seek the welfare of the land by becoming leaders and officers in government. We have the examples of Daniel (Daniel 2:48-49) and Joseph (Genesis 41:39-40), who were high ranking officials in pagan governments.

Today, many Christians are concerned with America losing its Christian roots. We can pray, humble ourselves and turn from our wicked ways (2 Chronicles 7:14) and let God work. Our job is to share the Gospel message, the good news of what Jesus has done for us, and then let the Holy Spirit do the rest. Changed hearts, not more laws, will restore America.

Happy 250th Birthday, America!

Islam

Americans do not know much about Islam. Many assume that Islam must be a lot like Christianity since Islam is a Abrahamic monotheistic religion. Others are full of fear and are worried that all Muslims are potential terrorists. There is some truth that can be found in both statements, but both statements are false. Islam is very different from Christianity, and the average Muslim is not a terrorist and does not want to be a terrorist. Muslims need to come to know Jesus, the only one who can save us from our brokenness.

Muslims believe in one god, Allah. Christians also believe in one god, God, who is Triune (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). The Quran denies the Trinity saying that Allah is above having a son, and many Muslims believe Christians worship three gods, Father, Son, and Mary. I will use “God” for our Christian god and “Allah” for the Muslim god. (Allah means god in Arabic.) Allah can not be conceived or comprehended. He is transcendent like God. God is personal and desires to connect with us in a personal manner (John 14:23). Allah is completely separate from his creation. Allah is impersonal, unlike God. Muslims also believe Allah has preordained every event. This fatalism can lead to a denial of responsibility though there is also the idea of Allah rewarding those who do good.

Muslims believe in angels. Each person at birth gets two angels, one to record all the good deeds and the other to record all the bad deeds. One also gets a qarina (a jinn tempter (like a demon)) whose job is to haunt and distract people from the good straight path. Christians too believe in the spirit world of angels and demons. We believe in guardian angels and demons. We do not believe in recording angels who keep track of our good and bad deeds, because of Jesus paying the price for us on the cross so we are free from any good and bad deed accounting.

Muslims believe in prophets, Allah’s messengers, communicating the message from Allah to the world. The major prophets are Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and the final prophet, Muhammad. According to Islam, Jesus is a prophet and nothing more than a prophet though he was unique because he was sinless and had a virgin birth. He was not the Son of God, rather the Quran calls him, the Son of Mary. According to the Quran, Jesus did not die on a cross rather he ascended into Heaven. He will return for Judgement Day.

These prophets brought scriptures with them, and Muslims acknowledge the Torah, Psalms, Gospels, and Quran. Except for the Quran, all the other scriptures have been corrupted and since the Quran exists, these scriptures have been superseded and canceled. Muslims believe that the Quran is the final revelation and is eternal and uncreated, meaning it existed before the creation of the world. In 650 A.D., Caliph Uthman standardized or canonized the Quran, and again in 1924 Egypt created an official version of the Quran, which is the version used today. In both cases, any variant versions of the Quran were destroyed, so there is little evidence of the variant versions today.

The Hadith is a record of Muhammad’s sayings, actions, and approvals. The Hadith is also important to Muslims for it tells them how to live. From the Hadith is derived most of Sharia Law (part of Ahkam). As Christians we are called to imitate Jesus (1 Corinthians 11:1), and Muslims use the Hadith to imitate Muhammad.

Allah requires obedience. The Five Pillars of Islam (as well as Sharia Law) is what a Muslim needs to obey. The first pillar is confession. You need to confess that Allah is the only god and Muhammad is his prophet. The second pillar is prayer. The ritual includes washing, facing the Kaaba in Mecca, greeting your personal angels, and reciting a prayer. This is done 5 times a day. The third pillar is daytime fasting during the month of Ramadan. At night you can feast. The fourth pillar is almsgiving. You give one fortieth or 2.5% to Islamic causes or to the poor. It can cancel out some of your sins. The fifth pillar is a pilgrimage to Mecca. These acts increase one’s chances of making it to Paradise. Note that all these actions are to please Allah. The external actions are what are important. As Christians, we value all what God has done for us. We do not have to do anything to get into Heaven. Jesus did it all to restore a broken relationship with us. That relationship is internal and out of gratitude we do good deeds, not to earn our way to Heaven. We pray to a God who hears us and cares for us.

Islam is more than just a religion. It is also a political movement and a culture that ultimately wants to unite the entire world under a single Islamic government or at least having a single Islamic culture governing everyday life. Muslims have a religious and a political identity. Christianity is separate from politics (Mark 12:17). Jesus did not come to govern. He came to save us from our sins (1 John 2:2). (Those times when the Christian Faith and government were connected, Christianity took a back seat to government priorities and its mission was corrupted.) Muhammad militarily conquered the Arabian Peninsula. He created a government under him. His followers continued to conquer lands after Muhammad’s death. Under Islamic Law, Christians and other non-Muslims were and are second class citizens that have to pay a special tax for being non-Muslim.

Radical Islam promotes the idea of martyrdom (Istishhad) as the only sure ticket to Paradise. (Christians have the assurance of Heaven. Muslims do not.) It is all about waging war against the enemies of Islam. According to the Quran (sura 3:169-171), “those martyred in the cause of Allah” will be rewarded and transported to Paradise. Islam has always highly regarded martyrs, and Radical Islam has used this passage to promote suicide killings. These killings happen much more often in Islamic countries than in the West with rival factions using suicide killings to promote their version of Islam.

Islam is very different from Christianity, and I believe the difference comes down to the two primary individuals, Jesus who died a violent death and then rose again, and Muhammad who used violence to conquer Arabia. And Jesus taught about the unconditional love God has for us, while Muhammad taught about our required obedience to Allah. Christians imitate Jesus, and Muslims imitate Muhammad. I believe this is the big difference between the two religions.

When we talk to a Muslim, we need to show them the love that Jesus brings, and we need to be aware that we may not totally understand what is being said and our Muslim friend may not understand what we are saying. This is because of the differences between Islam and Christianity. Be sure to ask questions to clarify so that you can understand each other. And remember it is all about Jesus, the only way to Heaven (John 14:6).

Much of this information came from the excellent book “Engaging Islam” by Georges Houssney, and if a book is too much, I found that the booklet, “A Biblical Response to Islam” by Hesham Shehab, is also an excellent read and is only 32 pages.

Blessed

Jesus Christ Statue Photo - Myriam Zilles

Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we have peace with God (Romans 4:24-5:2). He has restored the broken relationship between us and God. Jesus paid the price for our sins (1 Peter 2:24). Out of love, Jesus died for us while we were still enemies of God (Romans 5:6-11). Because of Jesus, God forgives our wrongdoing and thoughts and counts us as righteous (Romans 4:6-8; Psalm 32:1-5). We are truly blessed (Ephesians 1:3-8)!

This blessing stretches all the way back to Abraham, when God promised Abraham that he would bless Abraham and through Abraham (in particular, his descendant, Jesus) all peoples would be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3). The blessing comes to us too through faith (Galatians 3:14, 29).

Blessing may be physical wealth or physical well being but many times it is not. Jesus stretches the definition of blessing. Jesus blesses those who struggle in life for righteousness sake and for those who promote peace and God (Matthew 5:1-12). Jesus blesses those who suffer for his sake. It is a different blessing that assures us and brings hope. In his grace, Jesus calls us to be salt and light to the world (Matthew 5:13-16). We are to share that blessing. We are not a reservoir, keeping God’s blessing to ourselves, rather we are like a river, sharing God’s blessing. This means we are blessed so that we can abound in every good work (2 Corinthians 9:6-15; Ephesians 2:10) and by doing so give glory to God. (Note God does not need our good works but those around us do.)

Since we are called to be salt and light to the world (Matthew 5:13-16), we repay evil with blessing (1 Peter 3:8-9), and we overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21). We are even called to love our enemies and bless those who curse us (Luke 6:27-28). We are to be conduits of God’s love, and not just consumers of his grace. The Jesus revolution is one of blessing and not one of power and control. So because of the great blessing we received, let us share that blessing of God’s love with the world.

Censorship in Finland

I believe clashing worldviews, between the old traditional Biblical Christian worldview and the new worldview which I call “Critical Expressive Individualism” (CEI), has led to a 24 page 22 year old booklet being censored with all copies to be destroyed. The booklet, “Male and Female He Created Them” (English translation), promotes the Biblical worldview of heterosexual marriage and argues against some of the common reasons to support same-sex unions. The booklet was written in 2004 after Finnish legislation that allowed same-sex partnerships to register. I think it might be a little like the idea of civil unions that was kicked around in America. This booklet was written many years before same-sex marriage became legal in Finland. Although the Finnish Supreme Court did not find the booklet to incite hatred or violence, it did find that having the booklet “made available, to the public and kept available to the public, opinions that insult homosexuals as a group on the basis of their sexual orientation.” Therefore in a 3-2 vote the Finnish Supreme Court found the two accused guilty and ordered all copies of the booklet to be destroyed.

This was a 7 year battle in the courts. It started with a tweet in 2019, and the tweet and the booklet (and the two authors) went through the courts in Finland. All the lower courts (and the police) found the accused innocent and no laws were broken but the prosecutors kept appealing the rulings. The Finnish Supreme Court found the tweet did not break any laws, but they found that the booklet did insult homosexuals on the basis of their sexual orientation therefore the two accused and the foundation that published the booklet were fined, and the court ordered all copies of the booklet to be destroyed.

Reading the English translation of the booklet, I did not find any inciteful or insulting language. No one or any group was degraded or threatened. It did state we all are sinners, and the Bible declares homosexual behavior to be a sin and homosexuality was not best for society. Interestingly, I did find the booklet felt dated, because the arguments were about homosexual unions and homosexual families. That surprised me and it makes me wonder if American Christians have accepted the premise of homosexual marriage and moved the battle on to Transgenderism. If so, we all need to read this booklet and realize homosexual marriage is not neutral but it changes society and not for the better. I did not find any “hate speech” in my reading of the booklet.

This ruling brings up the question of hate speech and what is it? Unfortunately hate speech is hard to define. Hate speech is offensive and it targets a specific group or individual based on certain intrinsic characteristics. It can be used to intimidate, vilify, demean, and/or humiliate. Its purpose is to incite violence or hostility, to promote discrimination, and/or to create divisions in society.

I believe the CEI worldview is how Western Culture views the world today. CEI is very individualistic. It says that every individual gets to decide what is true and what is false. You look inside yourself at your feelings and desires and you then decide who you are and what you believe. And CEI also wants to remove any oppressive social structures so that all people can express themselves freely. CEI sees people as naturally good, and with proper training and the removal of oppressive social structures a better world can be created. I feel that it was from this perspective that the court made its decision to censor the booklet.

I believe the traditional Biblical Christian worldview is the best description of reality, not CEI. The Christian worldview recognizes that we all are broken self-centered people. It is God, the Creator of everything, who sets the standards of right and wrong, and true and false. We find our identity in him. He created us male and female, and he gave the two sexes characteristics that complement each other. He loves us and wants to have a relationship with each one of us. Following God’s example, as Christians we are called to love and not hate. We love even our enemies and we want the best for everyone. We want to unite people in Christ and not divide. We do not want to oppress anyone and we are against “hate speech”, but in love we want to share with others the better way of life that better matches reality. That is what I think this booklet was trying to do. The booklet was not about insulting the homosexual community, rather it was trying to point out a better way of life. I believe the booklet should not have been censored and copies destroyed.

More information on this ruling can be found with these two articles, “Finnish Lutherans Convicted of ‘Hate Speech’ by Finland Supreme Court” and “Finnish Supreme Court Convicts Päivi Räsänen of ‘Hate Speech’”.

Reconcile

To reconcile means to restore a friendly relationship between two persons. Because of our brokenness, we are at odds with each other and with God. Broken relationships are common. In fact, all our relationships contain elements of brokenness, because we are broken. Reconciliation requires love and forgiveness. People are reconciled when in love forgiveness is given and accepted. It is not easy to love and forgive but with the help of the Holy Spirit we are able.

Reconciliation starts with God. Out of his great love for us, while we were still enemies and ungodly sinners, Jesus died for us to reconcile us to God (Romans 5:6-11), not counting our sins against us (2 Corinthians 5:18–19). On the cross, Jesus made peace with God by reconciling us with God (Colossians 1:19-20). We are forgiven because of Jesus (Ephesians 1:7). It is all God’s doing. He wants to restore that broken relationship he has with us.

With that restored relationship, we are blessed, and since we are blessed we are called to be a blessing (Genesis 12:2-3). Being a new creation, a blessing, means we are part of the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:16-21), where we share that message of reconciliation to the world. We called to imitate God (Ephesians 5:1-2). That means showing love and forgiveness to those around us . Just as we have been forgiven so very much, so we forgive others (Matthew 18:21-35). In imitating God, we get to love our enemies, do good to those who hate and abuse us, and bless those who curse us (Luke 6:27-28). We do not repay evil for evil, instead we bless (1 Peter 6:9) because we are called to overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21).

We are different from those of the world. We are truly countercultural. Today’s culture sees the world in terms of power. Many times it is expressed in terms of oppression. It divides the world into us versus them by pointing out that they have and we want, or they are in control and we are not. This view is very divisive. Christians on the other hand are in the business of reconciliation. We see the world through the lens of God’s love. We want to unite all people under Jesus Christ, because God desires for all people to come to know him (1 Timothy 2:3-6). So let us reach out in love and forgiveness and share that Gospel message of love and reconciliation.

Christian Collapse

There is a video going around called “The Lutheran Collapse”. I believe the concerns expressed in this video are about 20 years late and what is happening today is a Christian collapse. Yes, Lutheran denominations have lost a lot of members. The video focuses on the two largest Lutheran denominations, the much larger theologically liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) and the smaller theologically conservative Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS). I am a member of the LCMS, so this video is of interest to me, and for a long time now, I have been interested in the reasons behind why there are fewer people from the younger generations attending church.

The mainline churches, like the ELCA, embraced the current cultural values and went theologically liberal. Many people left those churches and many of them went to more theologically conservative churches. Unfortunately, that only slowed the decline in the theologically conservative churches. The problem is the Christian faith is not being passed on to the younger generations. And this is not a new concern.

In 2003, Reggie McNeal wrote a provocative book, “The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church”. In the book he tried to wake up the American church to the decline that was happening. That was 23 years ago and since then I have also read other books addressing the decline in American Christianity. It is not just Lutheranism in decline, and it is not just liberal mainline churches in decline. American Christianity is in decline. American Christians are facing this crisis because the culture is no longer supportive of the Christian faith and its values, and in general the American churches have not successfully transitioned to operate in the new culture.

1517, a theologically conservative Lutheran nonprofit, wrote an article addressing the video (and other similar videos). The article, “The Future of Lutheranism Belongs to Builders”, was well written and I liked most of it. Pastors and lay leaders need to be architects and builders, and not curators or deconstructionists. Discipling and mentoring needs to happen, and we need to keep our Lutheran doctrine. What I disagreed with was the “traditioned innovation”, which I interpreted as we keep our Lutheran traditions and innovate only within the bounds of these traditions. That sounds like curation and not innovation to me. Yes, there is a lot of good theological richness in those Lutheran traditions (e.g. our hymnody) and many are worth keeping in some form, but the question we need to ask is “Do they speak to our young people today?”

I do not know what the best answer to this crisis is, but here are some ideas that I would suggest. We need to make our Christian faith, especially our worship services, accessible to those who have never been in a church. We need to reach out with the good news of Jesus to those who know nothing of our faith. We need to disciple and mentor our church members to inspire them to share the hope we have in Jesus. For the LCMS and other church bodies, we need to put more emphasis on encouraging and training their laity in actively living their faith, and less emphasis on the pastoral office and the institution.

And above all, we need to remember what is most important. It is all about Jesus. He is the one that is important – not our church buildings, not our institutions, not our traditions, and not anything else. The Good News is all about Jesus and what he did on that cross and his rising from the dead, so that we might have life in him. That needs to be our focus.

Love, Intimacy, and Commitment

I believe marriage is all about love, intimacy and commitment. I think these three attributes help determine the success of a marriage relationship. All the different types of love need to be found in marriage. Intimacy includes all the different forms of intimacy. And it is an all out commitment that both share to make the marriage work.

When we think of marriage we always think of the romantic type of love. That is an important part of marriage but more important is friendship love and sacrificial love. It is good and important to share our lives with each other. And it is good and important to give ourselves to the spouse by putting their needs ahead of our own. Romantic love by itself devolves into nothing more than feelings, but true love that includes friendship and sacrifice along with the romance is so much more.

Intimacy is physical, emotional, and mental. We open ourselves up to each other and make ourselves vulnerable. We trust each other so that we can share our fears, our emotions, our successes, and our failures. We know each other physically, emotionally, and mentally. We understand. We know the ups and downs of each other and in that spirit of trust we can be a support for each other.

Commitment is the third attribute of a successful marriage. Because we are broken people in a broken world, it takes work to make a marriage successful. That honeymoon period is not forever. We have to deal with our own brokenness and our spouse’s brokenness to keep the relationship strong. We need to be willing to reconcile and forgive each other. We need to maintain and restore our marriage. We cannot just coast. And because of that commitment we can trust each other.

While a successful marriage relationship requires both the husband and the wife to actively pursue these attributes of love, intimacy, and commitment, I believe the most important part of a marriage is to put God first in your marriage and in your life. That gives you a firm foundation to build on. The blessings of the Father who created marriage, of the Son who shows us true love, and of the Holy Spirit who empowers us to love each other are immeasurable. Let God’s love reign in your hearts and rain down on you and your marriage. It makes a difference.

If you want to improve your marriage or think your marriage can use a tuneup, check out the Marriage in Christ seminar website. I think it is a great series of 5 lessons (with homework). It strengthened our marriage and I think it can strengthen your marriage too.

Science

Science was the authority in the modern world. People would try to prove their points by referring to science, even when there is no supporting evidence. Unfortunately, many people really do not understand what science is, and others use the word to deceive. Today in the postmodern world, science does not have the same authority, because each person is his own authority. Today, each person decides what facts they want to believe, and what facts they do not want to believe. Reason and rational critical thinking have taken a back seat to one’s own feelings.

Science is a discipline that builds and organizes knowledge about the universe. Modern science has two major branches: the natural sciences, which study the physical world, and the social sciences, which study individuals and societies. Some include a third branch called “formal sciences” which includes mathematics and logic, but this branch does not use the scientific method, so I would not include it. I would say the “formal sciences” are part of the foundation of science.

Science uses the scientific method. It can vary a little but scientists tend to follow these steps.

Make observations;
Research the topic and develop questions;
Formulate hypothesis for determining the cause;
Test the hypothesis by making testable predictions;
Collect and analyze the observations;
Develop conclusions based on the evidence;
If the data support the hypothesis then consider refining the hypothesis and returning to step 4.
If the data do not support the hypothesis then reject the hypothesis and return to step 1.
Publish the hypothesis and the results so that others can learn and replicate the results.

Note the scientific method does not prove anything to be true. Instead the scientific method is about proving things false. That said, there are hypotheses that have stood the test of time over and over again that are considered to be true. Newton’s Laws, which are used everyday and have been used for centuries, can be considered facts, but even Newton’s Laws needed to be refined after some observations were found in some special cases. Newton’s Laws were refined by Einstein with his Theory of Relativity. (The refinement does not affect our everyday use of Newton’s Laws.)

Science works because we have a God who is consistent and rational in his actions. On rare occasions, God may do something out of the ordinary and those occasions are known as supernatural events. Science needs to ignore the existence of God, because if I drop a pencil the pencil will go wherever God wants it to go, but the fact that God is consistent and rational means we can assume the pencil will fall to the ground. This means science is not at odds with God. It also means that science has a limited view of reality. Science cannot see the supernatural.

And it needs to be noted that science describes the how and not the why something happens. We usually equate the how to the why and that is useful but it is not totally accurate. On earth a falling apple may be increasing its downward speed at 9.8 meters per second for every second (due to gravity), but that is describing how the apple is falling and not why the apple is falling. (John was mad and threw the apple over the cliff.)

Some people say they believe in science and not in God. They are not understanding what science is. They may be believing the philosophies of scientism or methodological naturalism, but it is more likely they have created their own philosophy of life and have pulled in the parts of science they like into their worldview. This is more true today in our postmodern society than it was in the modern era. People today are less likely to acknowledge the findings of science they disagree with, because they are their own authority.

We are not rational people, not anymore (if we were ever all that rational). A Barna survey showed that most Americans base truth on their feelings. A Gallup survey says 70% of our decisions are based on emotions and only 30% of decisions are rational. (Think of the automobile ads on TV. They play to your emotions without giving you any specs.) Science belongs to the modern era, so in the postmodern era science will have a smaller role in society. Today the modern “Rational Human” is being replaced by the postmodern “Self-Determined Human”.