Challenging Issues
This page is not so much about teaching and doctrine, but just some challenges for your Christian life.
Hopefully you will find something here to challenge not just your thinking but also your living.
Why do I always have this nagging anxiety that there is something I should have done, but I didn’t do it?
Every hour, 6,000 people die. Where do they go?
What are you going to do about it?
How committed do I have to be to Yeshua? How much is enough?
How can you make change in your life that will last and be satisfying?
It’s very dangerous to quote single verses where the context might be misunderstood.
How much of the gospel do I need to be able to explain to get into Heaven?
Is it ever wrong to rush somewhere in a hurry?
Everything isn’t always black and white.
Here is a quiz to help you find out what you think about what behaviour is right and wrong.
In the Bible, famines, disease, drought, were usually caused by God.
When we give to the poor, especially with overseas aid, we have to be very sure we are not fighting against God.
Don’t you hate it when you do the right thing, but the other guy who selfishly does the wrong thing gets the reward?
Islam didn’t come onto the scene until 500 years after Yeshua walked the Earth, but perhaps the Bible isn’t so silent on this rising force in world religious and political circles.
What does it mean to be holy? Is it the same as being righteous?
When we question and criticise God because of people’s suffering we are revealing a basic misunderstanding of our role (and his)?
No battle anywhere in the Bible was ever won by one army having more soldiers. What does that mean for us and the modern church?
Your words have power to bless or to curse. Choose wisely. Once they’re out there, they can’t be taken back.
What is the world’s impression of Christianity?
What should it be?
It’s very easy to jump to conclusions about other people’s motives. But it’s much better to just stick to the facts.
Sometimes a relationship has gotten so bad that one person has completely given up hope and just wants to end it. Is there still anything that can be done? Or is it just too late?
Accountability, And Why It Doesn’t Work
Accountability is a thing now. But it doesn’t work. And there are good Biblical reasons why not.
Why do we turn to non-Christians to help us whenever we have a financial crisis in the church? Is there an alternative?
Doing what God tells us is nowhere near enough to please him. In fact it shows that we are worthless servants.
Why do we pretend that we are not what we are? Why do we hide the real us from other people?
Somehow it seems to be in our nature to add ritual to religion. At the cost of relationship.
What If You Were a Missionary?
What if you were a missionary just arrived to where you live now. How would you do church?
There’s No Such Thing as Random
We think some things are random, happening by chance. Coincidences. But is that right?
The church seems much more focused on uniformity than unity. How about you?
There seems to be a lot of suffering and pain in the world. Most of us think that if we were God we would do something to stop it. So why doesn’t God do something?
Will you step outside the gate and identify with Jesus, accepting his shame and disgrace?
Commercialisation of Christianity
It’s bad enough that the Olympics have become all about money.
But what is happening in the church is much worse and absolutely shocking.
It’s hard to imagine church without Sunday School.
But what if Sunday School has had it’s day?
Traditions are a big part of modern church life. But should they be? What if our traditions are doing more harm than good?
How important is it for Christians to be different from the world around us?
Or should we be trying harder to blend in?
Husbands - Are You Sacrificing Yourself?
I often hear people teaching about wives and submission. But I don’t hear anyone talking about husbands and sacrifice.
Why do we do that and what’s it all about?
The story of Les Miserables has a great illustration for us of the difference between a life of law and a life of grace.
The difference between a good crop and a poor crop is the quality of the soil.
How good is the soil that the message of God lands in when you hear it?
The church has been sent. But is it going?
They’re lost. Get it? They can’t find their way here.
Someone is going to have to go and find them.
Your culture colours everything you see. It interprets everything that happens around you.
How aware of it are you? And how much is it altering how you “do” Christianity?
How hard is it to change a church?
Is it even possible? Or should we just hit “Reset” and start again?
When you become a Christian it is like you become a beautiful flower that everyone suddenly notices and admires.
But is that all there is?
What kind of eternity should Hitler get?
What kind of eternity should you get?
Does the Bible say anything about Global Warming? And what the solution is?
Do you have much stuff?
Or does it have you?
How do you gain victory over sin?
You can’t. It’s impossible for you. Give up. Stop trying.
How bad a sinner are you?
With skyrocketing housing prices many Western Christians have become millionaires without doing anything for it. Just by living in their family home for 30 years and paying it off (at the price it was when they bought it).
But it’s pretty rare to find one of them who has given any percentage at all of that to God and to his work in the church.
In the West our Christianity is so bound up with our culture that if we were to take Christianity to another country, how would we separate our culture from real Christianity?
Gossip has become part of our daily lives.
But how bad is it really?
If John 17 is the real “Lord’s Prayer”? Then what is the one we learn to recite as children really saying?
Who’s in control of your life? You?
Is that a good idea?
How do you respond when people throw rocks at you?
Do you throw them back?
Poor people are just lazy. So they deserve it.
Rich people have been blessed by God.
Why Does a Loving God Allow Evil?
If God is loving why does he allow evil?
Or are we asking the wrong question?
How do we live on a fallen earth as citizens of heaven without becoming one of them?
Is it as simple as living like the exiles we read about in Daniel and Jeremiah?
The Bible says that every person on the planet shares at least 20 ancestors in common.
So there is only one “race”, the human race. And we are all literally one big family.
So what?
Most Christians think they keep the 10 commandments.
In reality they’ve probably broken all of them, but Western Christians seem particularly guilty of coveting, and we train our children to do it too.
What is prayer? What should we pray for?
Is there anything we shouldn’t pray for?
“User Pays” is becoming more and more the expectation these days. Things aren’t free any more.
So is it OK for churches to charge for sermons? Discipleship? Counselling? Coffee?
To recoup the growing cost of providing those services.
The world was secure. Things were good. Global finances were recovering. We had prevented a catastrophe.
And then someone in China ate a bat.
What do you do when things get too hard?
What can you do? Give up? Pray? Trust Yeshua? Cry? Suicide?
In Noah’s day, everyone was living their life apart from Yahweh.
Eating, drinking, living for pleasure.
And then suddenly - judgement.
Don’t Forsake Meeting Together
Hebrews tells us not to forsake meeting together.
But government restrictions because of COVID-19 mean we can’t do that.
Can we?
Who is your worst enemy?
Satan? God? Someone else? You?
God’s Promise, God’s Way, God’s Time
When God makes a promise, it’s very easy for us to help him out by coming up with a way for him to fulfil it.
But it’s much better all around if we let him come up with the solution, and if we let him choose when to do that.
If you were picking a team, who would you choose?
Who would choose you?
When we’re praying for God to “give us a miracle”… what should we do if it’s not happening?
Are we just lazy? Are we trusting God at all?
Would you torture God?
Would you be rude and unfriendly to him?
What if you didn’t realise it was him you were meeting?
Several stories in the Old Testament show us people who thought they knew better than God about how to do his will.
How about us, the church? Do we know better than God?
We each have a life. And it’s increasingly part of modern western culture that it’s our life. And nobody else can tell us what we can or can’t do with it.
But is that what the Bible says?
Christians seem so divided. There are so many denominations. So many groups that can’t associate with some other group because they believe some heresy or other.
Does it have to be that way? What if we focus on what we do agree on?
What would it be?
Is the church flirting with the world? Or is she actually cheating on her fiancé, and sleeping around?
Christians are all so different.
How can we possibly be united as one, especially when some of them are preaching things that are just wrong.
With our swiftly changing culture, and the growing influence of the media, it’s no wonder some Christians are confused about how they should live. But is it as simple as a list of what is allowed and what isn’t.
We are being bombarded with the message that we deserve it. Whatever it is, a new phone, a bigger house, a holiday.
And we believe it! We want it. We need it. Why shouldn’t we have it.
Feel like everything you earn goes to pay off your house, and there’s never enough left?
Feel like your wallet has a hole in it?
Does God really have a solution?
The church may well soon be completely gone from the Earth.
Why is that? Is it just “done” or is it because like Israel in the Old Testament, it has lost its way and it has lost its usefulness to Yeshua as his representative, his body, on Earth?
OK, so hopefully you don’t actually go to a witch for advice like Saul did.
But in one sense she represents the World, and way too often we do go to the World for solutions instead of only going to Yahweh.
Don’t Complain About Your Dice
It’s so annoying when things just seem to not be going your way.
But what if God has a plan, and he needs you to endure this to bring his plan into being?
Studying the Bible just to gain knowledge is a waste of your life.
When you read the Bible, the question you should ask every time is “So what?”.
Christians have been persecuted throughout history.
Sometimes even killed for their faith.
The way the world is going, it looks like it is about to be our turn.
The Appearance of Righteousness?
Who do you know that is righteous?
Who do you know, (apart from yourself), who appears to be righteous on the outside, but inside is actually full of hypocrisy and guilt?
Several times in the New Testament we see where well meaning Christians made decisions for the church, which seemed logical and sensible, but which actually worked against the holy spirit and against Yahweh’s plans for the church.
Church gatherings are for Christians to share their connection with God.
But we’ve made them part of our marketing material to non Christians.
Kintsugi is a Japanese art form of repairing broken pottery with golden glue.
When God fixes us he uses golden glue to show how treasured we are to him.
We often hear sermons encouraging people to come forward and make a decision to follow Yeshua.
And that’s it. They’re saved.
Almost every denomination has begun with a seemingly spirit inspired correction of existing error. But sadly deteriorated to the following of man made rules for who is in and who is out.
Yahweh is more inclusive. If you are born of his spirit - you’re in. Period.
It’s time to get back to basing church solely on the word of God, and not on the rules of men.
Churches are big business these days. And especially in Australia, the real-estate of the church is worth a lot of money.
It’s very tempting to use that to become self reliant instead of relying on Yahweh to provide.
How could the Galatians be so dumb!
Paulus had explained the way of Yeshua to them, they had accepted it, but now they’ve gone back to keeping the Jewish law!!
You do not need to be anxious about your life.
Yahweh has you covered, and you can relax and let him provide for you.
Not many Christians actually serve Yahweh.
Most don’t have the gift for it, or the time to do it, or even the opportunity.
It’s not just little old ladies who have too much shopping who need us to come alongside and help them carry things.
We have to keep reminding ourselves that we’re part of a body, and we need to keep an eye out for those who are struggling.
Is the church flirting with the world? Or is she actually cheating on her fiancé, and sleeping around?
None of us in our right mind would usually choose to suffer.
But can it ever be a good thing, and should we ever count it as a blessing?
Being a shepherd of God’s flock comes with responsibilities.
How is the shepherd of your flock doing? (And how are you doing?)
We expect our leaders to be perfect. When they’re not we fire them.
How does that fit with our theology that we’re all broken sinners?
Most of us have pretty ordinary lives.
How much of that is because we’re trying to build it ourselves?
What are the gods of this world, and have we let them into our houses?
Family photos are always happy, smiling, loving photos.
But is the family like that the rest of the time, or are we covering something up?
What have you achieved in the last 10 years? Anything?
Or is the world distracting you, and you just wasted them?
Yeshua said that you can’t put new wine into old wineskins.
Now that we have the holy spirit, we need to do “church” differently than they did in the Old Testament.
What is it about rituals that makes us feel like something spiritual is happening?
What is it about rituals that if there is no ritual we think nothing spiritual is happening?
We are so smart these days with all our inventions and our incredible understanding of the universe.
Who are we kidding! Were idiots.
Sometimes when we’re suffering we just want to make it through tonight and get to tomorrow.
But then tomorrow is so bad we can wonder why we bothered.
In Nehemiah’s day the wall of Jerusalem needed rebuilding.
To do that, everyone rebuilt the bit near their house.
What can that teach us about how to build the church?
Life is tough, and for many different reasons it can seem like our future is just endless continuation of the pain we are facing daily.
Many of us can see that death is not a negative thing for us. It’s release.
But is it what we should choose?
Equality is NOT “we all have the same”.
2,000 years ago Yeshua ripped into the Pharisees for putting the traditions of men in front of the commands of God.
What would he say to our church leaders? “Well done”? Or something else?
Keith Green’s song, “To Obey is Better than Sacrifice” challenges Christians to be full on or don’t bother at all.
Is that too much?
A story of husks and jars. Of the powerful and valuable contents they contain.
But of how tragic it is if they are never broken.
What would it take to get your country to turn back to Yahweh?
What are you willing to do about that?
Is it possible for a ministry to reach the end of its life?
How do you recognize that?
Can it be revitalized?
When do you have to just stop doing it?
Why do we constantly want to divide from people who are different from us?
What did Yahweh say about foreigners way back on Mt Sinai after the exodus?
Sometimes the little things we say can have big outcomes.
But only if we actually say them.