Creating A Better Life

"Sing as though no one can hear you."

In trying to narrow down the steps to creating a better life, I would like to identify three principles of life to live by. In considering this subject, I am immediately drawn to three plaques hanging on the wall in my office. Let’s take each plaque one by one:

“Sing as though no one can hear you.” 

 

I came across this plaque while rummaging through picture frames and other plaques at a local Goodwill store.  When I saw it, I was reminded of an incident that happened to me a few years ago.

It was a nice spring morning and I had come to work very early  to get caught up.  The sun was up, so I decided to go outside with my cup of coffee.  In just a few minutes, I thought I heard someone singing, but couldn’t see anyone.  I looked behind the building and saw a very old black man coming down the street.  He was all bent over, walking with a limp and digging his cane into the pavement as he moved slowly toward me.  Even though each step seemed to be painful, this old man was singing as loud as he possibly could.  As he approached me, I greeted him with a “Good Morning” and I will never forget what this man said to me.  He looked me square in the eye and said, “Sometimes you just gotta’ sing.” 

Christianity vs Religion

Christianity consists of beliefs based on the Bible

In order to clearly understand the differences between Christianity and religion, we must first
understand the meanings of these two terms.  The dictionary defines religion as

"A specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects." , 

while Christianity is defined as

"The religion derived from Jesus Christ, based on the Bible as sacred scripture, and professed by Eastern, Roman Catholic, and Protestant bodies."

According to these definitions, religion can be a set of beliefs on just about anything, while Christianity consists of beliefs based on the Bible and the teachings of Jesus.

Is The Bible The Truth Or A Lot Of Myths?

The Bible contains all the life lessons we need.

For Christians, believing that the Holy Bible is the inspired word of God and not a grouping of fables and myths is no problem, but to those who have no Christian beliefs and have actually never read the book, believing in the teachings of the Bible could be very difficult.

There are two things we should probably never discuss in any diverse group of people, one is politics and the other is religion. Most people believe in just what they choose to believe and those things that seem to make their lives more comfortable.

The Bible needs no defense. It is not like our Constitution, which must be defended each and every day. We will mention some of the history of the Bible and how thousands of years ago, some people knew about the problems that we all face today and actually presented solutions to these problems.

Should The Church Speak Against Homosexuality?

The church should neither hate nor condemn homosexuals.

In making a determination as to whether or not "the church" should teach that homosexuality is wrong, we would have to look at the governing principles of the church. Here we will view a "Christian" as one whose life is centered on the teachings of Jesus, thus the governing principles would be founded in the Bible.

Searching for the word "homosexual" within the pages of the Bible is a waste of time, because it just isn't there, but neither are the words "death penalty", "domestic violence", "abortion", "right to bear arms", "child abuse" and many other issues facing us today. Just because a specific "word" isn't mentioned in the Bible certainly doesn't mean that a particular issue isn't discussed.

Those who believe in God and believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God must also understand that the Bible is a complete book and not just a lot of chapters and verses, which can be interpreted differently. Taking one verse of the Bible and trying to understand its true meaning would be similar to reading the last paragraph of your favorite novel and trying to understand the theme of the book.

Should The Bible Be Used As A Textbook In Our Schools?

The Bible can teach children things they need to know.

The question "Is the information in the Bible relevant to today's classroom as a textbook on every subject?" is a very complex question and must be broken down into its separate parts.

First, the answer to the question "Is the information in the Bible relevant to today's classroom?" would be a definite yes. The problem here is in determining just which Bible we are referring to. Just the nature of the question would suggest that we are referring to the Christian Holy Bible, but other faiths have their own version of the Bible and its teachings would be just as relevant to the children of that particular faith.

God's word and the teachings of Jesus are extremely important to any child who must struggle through this world of hatred and greed, where we tolerate just about any kind of behavior or lifestyle.

Should Our Children Know God?

All children should know the love of God.

In my own personal quest to become the ultimate male channel surfer, I paused just for a moment on the 6 o'clock news. The lead story involved a police raid on a high school where numerous weapons had been seized. These weapons included guns, knives, chains, and even axes.

It is very important to understand that these deadly weapons were confiscated from kids ranging in ages from 14 to 17. I couldn't help but ask myself the question - Why would a 14 or 15-year-old kid want to carry a gun or an axe to school?

I was forced to continue in my surfing quest, but I could not get that news story out of my mind. I couldn't come up with any logical answers, but there were many questions and I was immediately reminded of Columbine, the school in Kentucky and all the other schools where kids had been murdered for no obvious reason.

Should Christians Work On Sunday?

Certain jobs must be done, even on Sunday.

The Bible makes no particular reference to working or not working on Sunday.  The Old Testament Exodus 20: 8-11: scriptures teach the following, found in

"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:  For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."

The Sabbath day that the bible speaks about is Saturday, the seventh day of the week.  People of the Jewish faith continue to observe a holy day of rest on the Sabbath, from sunset Friday until nightfall on Saturday.  For some reason, Christians moved their Sabbath to Sundays in recognition of Sunday being the day of Jesus' resurrection.