The Hard Questions.

There are certain questions that most churches don't always address; the questions that are controversial or risque. These questions are sometimes avoided due to their nature but they need to be addressed at some point. As Christians we sometimes forget that our faith and relationship with God still needs to look at the topics that we struggle with. Topics like the hard side of our faith, an honest look at our creation, and sex in the eyes of God. All of us have talked about these things at one point in time or another but have we really dug down to the core of them and been honest with ourselves?...

FAITH:
Jesus tells us in Mark 9:43-47: :

"43If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.[a] 45And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.[b] 47And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell,"

When He says these things they are meant in a figurative sense. If they were meant literally, we would all be blind and missing limbs. They are given as a metaphor that we should all avoid sin to this extent. Despite the fact that this verse says we should just remove and avoid these situations in our lives, I believe that God puts challenges in our lives to overcome, NOT to run from. If we are faced with a test in school that is hard, we must complete it to the best of our ability rather than avoid it, so how are our tests from God any different? If God were to put these tests in front of us and we were to run from and avoid every one of these situations what would that prove? Where would we be in Gods eyes if we skipped class every time where we were faced with challenges?

Science:
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: "The religion that is afraid of science dishonors God and commits suicide."

I was reading a website that gave some interesting insight on the topics of science in relation to our religion. I wanted to take some quotes from the site (including the one above). The author of this work said: "I think that science is a noble endeavor. We honor the Creator when we study His creation." Meaning that our study of our world is an honor to Gods work. God created our world and everything we know so why wouldn't we want to study it? I also believe that many people take this too far and start making assumptions about what we study. God never wanted us to make assumptions from His creation. For example: Just because He created all living creatures both large and small, and gave us the ability to adapt/evolve to our situations does NOT mean that we evolved from single cell organisms. Yes God did give us the ability to assess our situation, make necessary changes, and continue on in the best manner, but that does not mean that we evolved from primates (or any other creature for that matter). Albert Einstein said, “Science without religion is lame, and conversely religion without science is blind.” This is SO true. As a major of science I can see where there are just to many things in our world that are beyond our understanding. It is not our place to understand everything about our world. If it was, we would already know how to predict the future, solve energy and food crisis, and could travel to heaven and back whenever we wanted. God is the ONLY one that is to know these answers. If we were given these answers it would be the same thing as cheating on His tests.

Sex:
I am going to quote the same site from earlier as I don't think I could word it better myself:

"Let’s give credit where credit is due. Sex was God’s idea. Sex is a gift from God. Are there parameters? Absolutely! It is a gift from God to be enjoyed by a husband and a wife in the context of marriage, and in that context it is a gift, a beautiful thing, a good thing and we ought to celebrate it. God never gets any credit for that. Why? Because the enemy has corrupted it, and it is because the misuses and abuses in our culture are ruining people’s lives. But the truth is, it is a good thing, it is a God thing."

This quote is really self explanatory; be happy that God gave us these gifts to enjoy, however be sure to enjoy them at the APPROPRIATE times! Just like any gift we are bestowed with, the same rules apply; enjoy them only at the appropriate times, in moderation, and treat them with respect. Do NOT abuse our gifts from God! Do NOT take advantage of them! If we are serious about being responsible Christians we need to also be responsible adults and act as such. Being a Christian means showing our dedication through our actions, not just our words. Talk is cheap and actions speak louder. Try your best to set the example rather than follow someone else's.