Shepherd Project Ministries
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January 25, 2012 Category: Bible, Featured No Comments 
[please note that this article is written to be accessible to the average Christian, but deals with a complex subject that requires, at times, reference to detailed lines of evidence. Please refer to the footnotes for additional explanations and evidence for points made in the main body of the article]
Have you ever been following along in your Bible during a sermon and been distracted by seeing something like this: [the earliest manuscripts and some other ancient witnesses do not have verses 9-20]?[1] Worse, have you been distracted by such a comment only to be dismayed when the pastor skipped over it as though it wasn’t there, leaving your questions, concerns and maybe even doubts unacknowledged and unaddressed?
We don’t find these things very often in the Bible, but they are there, and it’s important for Christians to know how to think about them…and how to answer questions about them that come from our kids, from skeptics and seekers or even from an unsettled place in our own hearts.
In both of my roles as a pastor and a biblical scholar, …
Read MoreJanuary 18, 2012 Tags: ending of mark, ending of mark's gospel, longer ending of mark, mark, mark 16, mark 16:9-20
Category: Apologetics, Bible, Biblical Reliability, Biblical Studies, Craig Smith, Featured, Gospels, Tough Questions 1 Comment
by Craig Smith, Ph.D.
One of the common theological conflicts between Protestant and Catholic Christians relates to the practice of praying to the saints. Historically, Catholics have maintained that praying to the saints is a biblical practice while Protestants of averred that the practice cannot be justified biblically.
I am sometimes asked if there are specific biblical passages that speak against praying to the saints. While it might be nice to have that kind of direct teaching on the matter, there are no such texts. However, this does not mean that the issue is a gray area, open to debate and differing opinion. On the contrary, I think I can say with some certainty that praying to the saints cannot be justified biblically. The reason that there are no explicit statements against praying to the saints is simply that no biblical author had any need to address such a thing. This concept did not enter into the church until long after the canon of Scripture had been closed. Consequently, no biblical text directly speaks against a practice that the writers could not imagine needing to address.
In the Old Testament, it was well …
Read MoreJanuary 10, 2012 Tags: Catholic, Catholicism, chiasm, Philemon 1:5, prayer, prayers, praying, praying to the saints, saint worship, saints
Category: Apologetics, Biblical Studies, Catholic, Catholicism, Craig Smith, Featured, Prayers, Praying, Theology, Tough Questions 3 Comments
by Stacey Tuttle
I hear it all the time. A couple gets married and discovers that their families had very different ideas about how they celebrated Christmas. Not just in their traditions, but in the way they gave. Some see this as an opportunity to be lavish. And it’s not always that they are just unable to control their spending. Sometimes it is their heart to communicate the lavishness of God’s love. They love to give; they love to decorate; they love to fully experience every piece of it.
The other spouse however came from a more Spartan family. They took a more simple approach to the holidays, focusing on meaning and tradition, and less on gifts and decorations. They didn’t want anything to distract from Jesus in the season, so they were minimal in their gift giving. They would say the other family is just fostering greed and consumerism and entitlement.
Where is the balance? Are there some basic guidelines to help us know when we have gone too far? What are some principles we can use to help keep our hearts in check?
Check out our other Christmas Conversations:
We have 25 different ”conversations” going online and we’d love to hear your thoughts! See the list below …
Read MoreDecember 23, 2011 Tags: Christmas, Excess, holiday, Stacey Tuttle
Category: Christian Living, Christmas, Christmas Conversations, Faith & Culture, Featured, Holidays, Stacey Tuttle 9 Comments
It may be the “hap, happiest time of the year”… but it is also the “biz, busiest time of the year.” Between holiday parties, last minute shopping, holiday decorating, relatives coming to visit, travelling, cooking, and gift wrapping (just to name a few of the additional activities that find their way onto our to-do list at this time of year)—it’s a wonderful, but utterly exhausting time of year.
And yet, we are supposed to be focusing on Jesus during this time—one more thing to do for us type A types—and isn’t Jesus all about resting and being still…you know, “His yoke is easy and His burden is light” and all that stuff? For all you type A types, have you added REST to your to do list? I promise you, I have actually written that down on my list… many times. (A little ironic, I know.)
So, knowing that we are supposed to find rest and refreshment during this time. And knowing that we NEED to find rest and refreshment during this time (for our sanity, and for the sake of those around us!), how do we do …
Read MoreDecember 22, 2011 Tags: Christmas, Exhaustion, holiday, Refreshment, Rest, Stacey Tuttle
Category: Christian Living, Christmas, Christmas Conversations, Encouragement, Faith & Culture, Featured, Holidays, Stacey Tuttle 5 Comments
You may have family or friends coming in town for the holidays. Or maybe you are hosting a Christmas party at your home. Most of us will have opportunity in some way or another to practice hospitality this Christmas Season. But what does that really mean? Does it mean you prepare wonderful (possibly expensive) food? Does it mean you are really nice to everyone? Does it mean your home should be beautifully decorated? Do people have to be invited to sleep in your house?
The Bible has a lot to say about the idea of hospitality. It was actually a pretty important concept in Jewish life. But what do you actually know about it? What do you know about God’s standard for hospitality and how can you apply that to modern day American life in the Christmas season?
Check out our other Christmas Conversations:
We have 25 different ”conversations” going online and we’d love to hear your thoughts! See the list below and add your two cents when and where you can, and benefit from the collective think tank as you go!
How do you keep the spirit of …
Read MoreDecember 21, 2011 Tags: Christmas, holiday, Hospitality, Stacey Tuttle
Category: Christian Living, Christmas, Faith & Culture, Featured, Holidays, Stacey Tuttle 8 Comments
There are a million different reasons why family time can be challenging. Maybe there is strife in your family, maybe there has been loss, or maybe it’s just simply hard to be all together in a small space for a prolonged period of time when that isn’t the normal routine. Even the best of families are still comprised of humans, and therefore prone to sharp tongues, sin natures, jealousies, moments of impatience…
So, how do you do this thing well? How do you deal with just the expectations of a wonderful time of togetherness, when you know that’s not your reality? And how can you make your reality, no matter what that might be, better? How can you make it a little closer to the Christian ideal, where Christ and the fruit of his Spirit reign supreme?
We could all use some improvement in this area – so please share your thoughts!
Check out our other Christmas Conversations:
We have 25 different ”conversations” going online and we’d love to hear your thoughts! See the list below and add your two cents when and where you can, and benefit from the collective think tank as …
Read MoreDecember 20, 2011 Tags: Christmas, Family, holiday, Stacey Tuttle
Category: Christian Living, Christmas, Christmas Conversations, Encouragement, Faith & Culture, Featured, Holidays, Stacey Tuttle 1 Comment
Why is it that the Grinch is so comical and adorable, and Scrooge is just so utterly unloveable? They are both synonymous with negativity and hatin’ on Christmas. Maybe it’s because the Grinch is green. Unfortunately, the Grinches in our lives aren’t odd little furry green creatures who speak in rhyme. We might be able to find something more loveable in them if that was the case.
But they’re not. They are more like Scrooge. They are human and often utterly unloveable. They are negative, critical and in the way. They seem to take secret delight in not only their own misery, but also in sharing it with us—their own warped sense of Christmas giving.
Maybe it’s a stranger in the mall or a cashier, or maybe it’s something closer to home, a neighbor or a roommate or a family member you are forced to spend time with at holidays. Or maybe (and this may be the worst of all) you find that there is a Grinch inside of you looking for opportunities to ruin your Christmas by whispering discontent, insecurities and strife in your head.
Share your best …
Read MoreDecember 19, 2011 Tags: A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, Christmas, Dr. Seuss, Grinch, holiday, Scrooge, Stacey Tuttle
Category: Christian Living, Christmas, Christmas Conversations, Encouragement, Faith & Culture, Featured, Holidays, Stacey Tuttle 7 Comments
Yesterday’s question about “Happy Holidays” vs. “Merry Christmas” sparked another question in our minds at SPM. The debate over the importance of “Merry Christmas” caused some Christians to lead a boycott of stores. I don’t know if the only point was that they said “Happy Holidays”, but I know that was a large instigator. We have already discussed the significance of those phrases, so today we want to focus more on the issue of appropriate Christian response to those things which we feel are truly “lines in the sand” for us.
What do you think? Is boycotting a good response? When do you think that kind of response is absolutely necessary for believers? How do you feel about those who would say that they feel they should go TO those places other Christians are boycotting, so that someone can be sharing the love of God with those non-Christians?
I once heard a comedian say, “I’m against protesting, but I don’t know how to show it.” What do you think? How should Christians show what they protest? Should they boycott stores during the Holidays (or all-year for that matter) …
Read MoreDecember 18, 2011 Tags: Boycott, Christmas, holiday, Protest, Stacey Tuttle
Category: Christian Living, Christmas, Christmas Conversations, Faith & Culture, Featured, Holidays, Stacey Tuttle, Tough Questions 5 Comments
How important are the words we speak? Does saying Merry Christmas really communicate the love of God? Does saying Happy Holidays always mean a person is trying to take all things Christian out of the season? Is saying Happy Holidays more sensitive and respectful to others of different beliefs?
There is power in the words we speak…so how powerful are these words?
They say you should pick your battles. Is this a battle you think is worth fighting, or one better left alone? Is it possible that the significance of this may be somewhat subject to circumstance?
And frankly, I think we might need to ask what is the primary purpose of the fight anyway? What is really at stake…what are we really fighting over? Is this really about our right to free speech? Is it about defending Jesus? Is it that we are offended when others don’t see Jesus as central to Christmas? Is it that we are truly determined to use every avenue possible to bring others to Jesus, and feel that Merry CHRISTmas plays an important role in that?
OK everyone—weigh in. It’s a simple question…but it’s loaded….
Read MoreDecember 17, 2011 Tags: Christmas, evangelism, Happy Holidays, holidays, Merry Christmas, Stacey Tuttle
Category: Christmas, Christmas Conversations, Faith & Culture, Featured, Holidays 2 Comments
