Why do bad things happen to good people?

I don't know, I've never seen a good person.

Sin the drug

Sin is a curious and deadly poison. It tantalizes and ensnares our senses with intoxicating flavors and aromas. It has a specific flavor for every person ever born, a flavor they have no hope of resisting. As soon as they enter the world the serpent sinks his fangs into their vulnerable flesh. This is his right ever since Eve took of the fruit and Adam fell. The more we have the more we want. Like a dog returning to its vomit we keep coming back for more. People talk about drugs and how addicting they become but all forms of sin are so addicting that no one has ever “kicked the habit,” so to speak Predicating when its deadly effects will take their final toll is impossible to determine and when they do it is to late. Or is it? There is one cure for the drug of sin, Jesus. He cures our addiction and wipes our past clean. He is the magical antidote for the most powerfully venom on earth. His blood is free of this deadly disease as part of his loving Father’s perfect plan he used it to make us clean.
We have been charged to help people find this cure. Just like the medic who give a snake-bite victim the antidote we are to give people the gospel. But just like that medic we did not make the cure and we deserve no credit for the wondrous effect. We are simply bearers of a mighty gift. Are you showing people how to escape from the ultimate drug?

Where are the answers?

Why are there no answers? Looking back at my first year of college and the summer I have realized I had a lot of questions. Most of which I haven’t and probably never will receive an answer to. Many of which deal with religion. Why are there no clear answers to important issues? Let me give you some examples. What is the right way to raise your children? How should you school them? What is the correct way to do church government?

As Christians (particularly in Presbyterian circles, though it is present elsewhere) we are very prone to pretend we know. Are we daring to say we have figured everything out and that all these other churches and families who love God are doing it wrong? Is there a correct way or is it more about the heart?Is it possible that it doesn’t matter if you send your children to public school or sing praise songs rather than hymns? These things aren’t evil or more proper in and of themselves. Maybe homeschooling isn’t the answer for your family. Is it possible that the “right” choice depends on the family, church, or individual and to apply your preferences/opinion/convictions on someone else as dogma is not a Christian attitude?

How would we then live if we though Christianity wasn’t about a list of proper ways to do things? (When I say that I mean one specific way to live out a righteous life that applies to all people). What if it was about a relationship with Christ and being open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit? I think most of us know that in our heads but haven’t let that knowledge flood our hearts. What if Christianity is not solely a way to live your life? What if it’s more than a process of learning what is the “right” thing. (Again when I say that I mean a standard of specific actions that applies to all people). There is nothing wrong with tradition or a way of doing things but we should have the humility to accept our way may not be the best way, or what works for us may not for others. Maybe I’m wrong. I don’t know. I just find it hard to believe that there is only one way or course of action to live a righteous life. Living a life that shows trust and faith in the finished work Christ is the right way but beyond that is there a specific course of certain actions that are more righteous than others? I don’t have the answer to that.