http://voices.washingtonpost.com/posttech/2010/06/teens_increasingly_share_locat.html

The Bible doesn’t say not to talk to strangers, and you probably won’t be surprised to learn that it also does not contain any specific policies on internet use.  It does, however, speak a great deal about wisdom; it also reminds us that we are in a fallen, sinful world.  One of the things that Jesus told His disciples before sending them out to do ministry was this:  ”I’m sending you out like sheep among wolves. So be as cunning as snakes but as innocent as doves” (God’s Word Translation).  The context may be different, but the principle remains.  We must be very wise in all of our actions.

You can access the article by clicking here.

This article brings up questions regarding God’s design for rest.  The Israelites had a strict Sabbath policy that forbade work or activity on Saturdays.  You may remember (or, like me, have been told by your parents) a time when businesses closed on Sundays.  Today, however, it seems like the average American family is moving non-stop at a frantic pace every day of the week.  Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• Does your family take adequate time for rest together?
• Would your teen express a proper value for a day of rest?
• Do you set a proper example of sleep patterns?
• What is one or two things that you could do to better make rest a priority?

Sometimes God’s plan for us means pausing to simply enjoy Him.  I hope for you and your family that involves adequate sleep and a family day of rest.

Dear Parents,

It’s here!  About six weeks ago I mentioned to you that our summer calendar would be out soon.  I am excited to send you this letter with all of our summer information in it:  Event dates, deadlines, costs, etc.  This is all part of our summer theme called “SUBMERGE – Go beneath the surface of your faith.”  The youth will be receiving summer guidebooks with detailed information on the summer’s activities.  What you have received is the “fridge door version” (click here: Summer Events Parent Sheet) of those guidebooks.  Briefly, I would like to cover what this summer entails.

• Points Challenge – Youth will receive points for various activities all summer long, from attendance to bringing their Bibles; from participation in ministry projects to completing a weekly challenge.  Whoever gets 100,000 points will get to go to King’s Dominion on Labor Day (Sept. 6) AND have their ticket paid for!  Some youth are doing ministry that is not covered in our summer plans.  If they are interested in receiving points for those ministries, I am happy to talk with them about it.
• Fuel during the summer – Our Fuel meetings will continue during the summer (6:30-8:00pm).  One neat feature is that youth will be bringing the lessons! I am encouraging youth to give a 10-15 minute devotion each Fuel night.
• Two summer mission trips – You are already aware of the Ocean City trip in July, but we will also be taking a shorter trip to Lancaster, PA, in August.  More detailed information will be available for that trip soon.
• Weekly ministry projects – Each week there will be a ministry project for youth to have an opportunity to serve.
• Guys/Girls Bible studies – These will meet various Tuesdays throughout the summer.  Boys will be at the Wehunt home in Derwood.  Girls will be at the Harper home in Olney.

All of this summer’s plans – the points, ministry projects, weekly challenges, mission trips, teaching during Fuel, etc. – are geared toward helping youth truly deepen their faith commitment.  I encourage you to encourage your youth during this process.  Let’s be in prayer, asking God to be at work this summer in the lives of the youth, believing that He will accomplish big things in their lives!

Your partner in ministry,

Kevin Freeman

Abort73.com is filled with great information on abortion and the pro-life stance.

Jason Lovins is a part of a great worship band (youth will actually have the opportunity to hear him soon!).  This interview is long, but skip to the 4 minute mark to hear his story about abortion.

Tough Questions – Week 10

How can I know that life begins at conception?

Printable version

This is the final Parent Q for the Tough Questions series.  It can be a difficult one, too.  “How can I know that life begins at conception?”  How this question is answered can affect a person’s stance on abortion, contraception, and even God’s Word.  Conservative, Bible-believing Christians have an answer to this question.  It is very much related to the question that will be covered in the final lesson:  “Are there times when abortion is okay?”  Youth will be taught during the lesson that God’s standard to protect a developing life in the womb never changes.  We should always do what is right – even when it will cost us, even when we have been thrust into a situation that is not our fault.

You may have a past (or have loved ones with pasts) that is connected to either abortion or the choice you had to make about whether or not to have an abortion.  This question may become an opportunity for you to be transparent with your child.  This honesty will allow youth to see that their parents are not perfect and that God is loving enough to forgive us when we deviate from His standards.  Here are some notes on the subject of life at conception.

Scriptural evidence

Several verses of Scripture attest to the life of the child in the womb.  One could argue that these do not specifically address conception itself.  Those living during the time the Bible was written, however, would not have made the distinction – there was either a baby in the womb or there wasn’t (Maybe they were the ones who coined the phrase, “You can’t be a little pregnant”!).  Either way, these show that God certainly understands the life in the womb as just that – human life!  Passages are in the New International Version.

Did not he who made me in the womb make them?  Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?

Job 31:15

Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name.

Isaiah 49:1

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.

Jeremiah 1:5

But when God, who set me apart from birth [“from my mother’s womb] and called me by his grace, was pleased…

Galatians 1:15

Each of these verses reveals the life that was already present in God’s eyes while forming in the womb.  Another passage, which youth covered during their part of the lesson, is Psalm 139:13-16, which details God’s involvement in and plans for the life developing in the womb:

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

God’s Word reveals the truth that life definitely begins at conception.

Biological Evidence

The fertilized egg is called a zygote[1].  This means, as we know, that the sperm meets the egg, and it has formed a new genetic individual.  It is a single cell, and all of the resulting cells will all come from it.  This process, unaltered, will lead to the birth of a baby.  A pro-choice advocate will argue that it is okay to alter this process, because the embryo or fetus (he would not say “baby”) merely has the potential to be human but will not be until birth.  He may even say that cancer is also a natural process and that a pro-life person willing to interrupt the spread of cancer is being hypocritical.  Let’s keep in mind, however, that both pro-life and pro-choice adherents believe that human life is to be protected.  This means that the cancer argument should not be relatable.  Some have even used the argument that an embryo or fetus is like an acorn, which has the potential to be a tree; one cannot enjoy the shade of the acorn or climb its branches[2].  The fallacy here is the same as above, but it is worse.  The requirements put on the acorn belong to a mature tree, so that even a small sapling (analogously a baby or a child) could not fulfill the requirements of the analogy.  This makes the analogy pretty disturbing!  From a pro-life standpoint, there is very convincing medical testimony that life begins at fertilization[3], and the website, Abort73, is chocked full of great resources.

Final thoughts

In all, the argument that life begins at conception, more specifically, fertilization, is incredibly strong, and it reflects God’s design for humanity.  Any pro-choice argument will involve a combination of depersonalizing the developing baby and over-stressing the desires or safety of the mother.  God’s standards do not change based on our situations.  We are to honor Him in everything we do and respect His design for life.

[2] Huppi, Tom.  Retrieved April 19, 2010, from http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-personhood.htm

[3]Abort73.com.  Medical testimony retrieved April 19:2010 from http://abort73.com/abortion/medical_testimony.  This site is filled with great information to be educated on facts often shielded surrounding this controversy.

Parent Question

Tough Questions – Week 9

If Jesus was Jewish, are we considered Jewish, too?

This week youth will ask you, “If Jesus was Jewish, are we considered Jewish, too?”  Remember, if they don’t ask you, you should ask them.  The lesson that will be covered answers this question, “How are we ‘related’ to Jesus in the family of God?”  In that lesson we will discuss Galatians 3:26 – 4:7, which reveals that we have been adopted into the Family of God as His children, giving us as believers the legal spiritual standing in His family as God’s heirs.  The question asked of you is very much related, and the notes below should help you explain it.[1]

A quick answer to the question is that no, we are not Jewish just because we are Christians.  This topic, though, could be related to either religion (Jewish faith) or nationality (Jewish ethnicity), and that’s how it will be broken down.

Jewish faith

The early Christians did not see themselves as separate from the Jewish faith.  After all, Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament Law.  They continued worshipping in the temple (Acts 2:46).  Eventually persecution from the Jewish religious leaders and further understanding of what Christ did for them allowed these believers to see that Old Testament sacrifices were not necessary.  They would have remained very much Jewish, however, because that was how they were raised.

When salvation was first documented among the Gentiles (non-Jewish people), the Jewish Christians had to figure out what that meant – could they be saved and where did Jewish faith tradition come into play (Acts 10:43; 11:18)?  The Apostle Paul’s letters and missionary journeys reveal that he was not concerned with the Gentiles adopting Jewish faith practices.  Actually, he tended to stress the opposite.  The reason was that it was easy for the Gentiles to get confused into a works-based mentality for salvation.  The book of Galatians is actually a warning from Paul for those Gentile believers to not get circumcised.  Some Jews were pressuring them to do this in order to be “real” Christians.  Paul told them that if they were to get circumcised to be like their Jewish counterparts, then Christ’s sacrifice would be of no value to them (See Galatians 5:1-6 for a summary).

Jewish Ethnicity

We also do not become Israelites in race through salvation.  We do receive their spiritual promises, however, and Romans 4:13-25 reveals that we become spiritually part of God’s chosen people, calling believers Abraham’s descendents through faith.  Again, this is spiritual participation children of faith, which means we do not physically become Jewish in our ethnicity.

Final thoughts

Is it wrong to celebrate Jewish customs?  Arguably, no.  Jesus Himself appeared to have celebrated Hanukkah (John 10:22-23).[2] He also celebrated in the Passover (John 13:1) during the Last Supper.  Some Christians celebrate Passover each year, and in it they find spiritual significance to the rituals of the meal that point to Jesus’ death and resurrection.

It would probably not be a good idea to observe Jewish sacrifices, especially because they could lead to faulty thinking of a works-based salvation, just as Paul warned many times.  However, it is important to understand the significance behind all of the Jewish faith, because it is the foundation for our Christian faith.  In a very real sense, the two cannot be separated.  That is why Christians have the Old Testament in their Bibles.  God has entwined the two parts of His Word together, Old and New, making them tied to each other.  A tremendous amount of truth and significance would be lost if Christians were to reject the Old Testament.

As believers we are not Jewish, but our spiritual heritage, our roots, go all the way back to Abraham as our spiritual father (see above “Jewish Ethnicity” section).

[2] While John records Jesus as being present at the Feast of Lights (Hanukkah), he does not clarify that Jesus was celebrating it.  He probably was observing the holiday, however.  It is also worth noting that this festival was not a Scripturally mandated celebration for Jews, but an additional national celebration.