Question: How should Christians feel when they know that billions of people from other religions will burn in hell for eternity because of their beliefs?
Answered by: James Toland, who has been a volunteer with us since May 2010.
Answer: We should feel an earnest passion for the lost just as Jesus did, Luke 19:10, Mark 10:45. And it mattered so much to Him, He gave His life on the cross so that the lost could be saved, 1 John 2:2. We are called to be like Christ as John 2:6 states, “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did,” and if He lived for saving the souls of men and women, it should be just as important to us.
We should feel motivation to make disciples of all nations as commanded to us in the Great Commission by Jesus Himself in Matthew 28:16-20, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” “For God does not want anyone to perish, but for everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
In summary, we can feel sadness for those we can’t reach, those who we could not change their minds or those close to us who have passed on, knowing they died lost in their sins, but the most important feeling should be motivation. To reach as many of the lost as possible is what we as true believers of Christ should feel, whether it be through time, talent, treasure or all three. The feeling that we have a limited amount of time on this earth to use these three things in order to plant seeds for a great harvest. Action not helpless words.
Question: If women wearing head coverings in church is considered outdated, why isn’t women not becoming pastors outdated too?
Answered by: Mark Kraus, who has been a volunteer with us since November 2014.
Answer: Women wearing head coverings in church is based on 1 Corinthians 11:5 and following, “And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is just as though her head were shaved.” This passage, I Corinthians 11:2-16, is about propriety in worship. The cultural context was that the only women with their heads shaved were prostitutes. This is no longer the case. What the passage means is that there is a definite order of authority ordained by God and all who worship should recognize and follow that order of authority. Note that this is not saying that some people are worth more than others. In fact verse 11 states, “In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman.”
Pastors have and exercise authority in the church. In his instruction to Timothy, in 1 Timothy 2, Paul described the line of authority as ordained by God. That line of authority goes from God to men to women. Verse 12 says, “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.”
The 1 Corinthians passage says we should recognize and follow God’s line of authority, and it goes into detail as to what that means regarding outward appearance in the cultural context of the time. The basic idea is not outdated, but the description is outdated. The 1 Timothy passage also says we should recognize and follow God’s line of authority, but it contains no cultural description. None of the passage is outdated.
