What can we do to strengthen the faith of our brothers and sisters in Christ? What happens to infants when they die? Join Ken Boa as he addresses these questions and more in a Q&A session.
Looking at Paul gives us a good example. In his ministry, he preached both to Jews and Gentiles. These groups of people had entirely different ways of living. The Jews, after all, adhered to the Mosaic Law, but the Gentiles did not. As a result, the early church faced a problem when more Gentiles believed in Jesus—they had to decide whether or not the Gentiles had to keep the entire Mosaic Law.
Acts 15:20 tells us the decision of the church: the Gentiles were to “abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood,” but did not need to adhere to the entire Mosaic Law.
The question of idols here is not strictly related to a moral issue; it is a matter of convictions. Eating food sacrificed to idols fall under the category of adiaphora—a matter of convictions not strictly laid out in Christian doctrine. In these matters, we need to consider the convictions of our fellow believers.
God never holds us accountable for light we have not received, but He does hold us accountable for light we have received.
Consider the story of David in 2 Samuel 12:15–23, which tells us of the death of the child born to him after his adultery with Bathsheba. He mourns and fasts as he prays that God spares the life of his child, but when the child dies, he gets up and eats, saying, “I will go to him, but he will not return to me” (v. 23).
I believe, then, that those who die before the age of accountability will be in heaven. This is not something we can know for sure while on this earth, but we can know that everyone is in the hands of the living God.
In all things, as we wrestle with difficult questions, we need to remember to trust in the Father, abide in the Son, and walk by the Spirit.
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Ken will resume his series A Life of Wisdom next week. For more Q&A sessions, take a look at the archives.
These are the last recorded statements of Jesus Christ before His death on the cross. Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing. (Luke 23:34) When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and
Mortality and the purpose of life are prominent themes in Thomas Cole’s paintings. Through his paintings, he vividly brings out the human dilemma of mortality, a dilemma we ourselves must wrestle with. Given the inevitability of death, what are we to do with our days? We can try to stave
In the article below, Dr. Boa synthesizes material from several teaching sessions from his series Biblical Principles for Marriage and from portions of his spiritual formation text Conformed to His Image (primarily from chapter 18, “Holistic Spirituality”). Dr. Boa focuses on agape love as one of the five forms of loves (based on the different Greek words). After reviewing all forms, he gives reasons for why agape is the greatest.
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