What Happens After Death?

As I type, I sit at my mother’s bedside. Cancer is winning the battle. Soon she will with the Lord. What will happen when she draws her final breath? Within the Christian faith, there is a significant amount of confusion regarding what happens after death. Some hold that after death, everyone “sleeps” until the final judgment, after which everyone will be sent to heaven or hell. Others believe that at the moment of death, people are instantly judged and sent to their eternal destinations. Still others claim that when people die, their souls/spirits are sent to a “temporary” heaven or hell, to await the final resurrection, the final judgment, and then the finality of their eternal destination. So, what exactly does the Bible say happens after death? Read More...

Why Become a Church Member?

Membership is a public statement of one’s commitment to a church. It is a statement of belief in what the church stands for and indicates a desire to be actively involved. There are a number of reasons why a growing Christian should move beyond church involvement to becoming a member.
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Why Do Mormons Baptize The Dead?

Maybe you have seen the commercials for Ancestry.com. It is the largest for-profit genealogy company in the world. As of December 2013, it held records on 12.7 billion people. It is headquartered in Provo, Utah and was begun by two Mormon graduates of Bringham Young University. Why are the Mormons interested in your dead relatives?
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Why Do Mormons Practice Polygamy?

Mormons are famous for polygamy. Joseph Smith had 49 wives, including some he took from other men. Bringham Young had 25 wives. It was Joseph Smith’s adulterous advances that led four disillusioned converts to start the Nauvoo Expositor, the newspaper that led to Smith’s downfall. Bringham Young stated the Mormon position on polygamy plainly.
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Is Speaking In Tongues Evidence For Having The Holy Spirit?

There are three occasions in the book of Acts where speaking in tongues accompanied the receiving of the Holy Spirit—Acts 2:4, 10:44–46, and 19:6. However, these three occasions are the only places in the Bible where speaking in tongues is an evidence of receiving the Holy Spirit. Throughout the book of Acts, thousands of people believe in Jesus and nothing is said about them speaking in tongues (Acts 2:41, 8:5–25, 16:31–34, 21:20). Nowhere in the New Testament is it taught that speaking in tongues is the only evidence a person has received the Holy Spirit. In fact, the New Testament teaches the opposite.
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How Do The Contradictions In The Bible Compare To The Contradictions In The Quran?

What contradictions are you referring to in the Bible? We believe the Bible is God’s Word and is flawless in the original writings. Archaeology has only served to prove the Bible right, not demonstrate the Bible in wrong. From textual criticism we know the copy of the Bible we hold in our hands is 99.9% accurate to what was originally written down. There is no doctrinal question that is debatable because of textual ambiguity.

The Quran is a completely different type of book. Rather than being written by multiple authors in multiple languages and fitting together in agreement, it was written by one author and written down hundreds of years after his life. It is filled with contradictions. One resource I ran across pointed out over 100 internal contradictions in the Quran. Here are a few. Remember the Quran claims in Surah 39:23, 28 to be free from
all contradictions.
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Do Muslims Believe They Don't Have Free Will Or That Everything They Do Has Been Predicted?

Muslims believe that Allah’s moral character is ultimately unknowable and his ways beyond understanding. They have know idea about God’s feelings towards them. Practically this means Muslims lack assurance of Allah’s forgiveness simply because they are not sure of Allah’s attitude towards them. Spend any time around Muslims and you will hear them use the phrase “In Sha Allah”, which means “if God wills.” In practice this means whatever happens is God’s will.

Muslims affirm that Allah leads astray whom he wills and he guides whom he wills (Surah 35:8). While the Quran lays great important on moral conduct, popular thinking is fatalistic.
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What Is The Connection Between Muslim Faith And Culture?

Islam is a form of cultural imperialism in which the religion and culture of the seventh-century Arabia are raised to the status of divine law. In the West, there is a wall of separation between church and state. For instance, religious organizations can not set speed limits or determine public taxes. In Islam, this divide between sacred and secular doesn’t exist. This is why when you visit an American who converts to Islam they are wearing Arab clothing, listening to Arab music and eating Arab food. They will even say meal prayers in Arabic although they do not know the language. Read More...

How Many Muslims Live In The Lakes Area?

I was not able to find statistics on Muslims in the Lakes Area. I did find eight mosques in Iowa. Three are in Des Moines and two in Cedar Rapids. While the Muslim population in Iowa is small, Islam is rapidly growing. There are over 500 mosques in the United States. There are more Muslims than Episcopalians. In North American there are now more Muslims than Jews. In England there are more Muslims than Christians. Read More...

Why Is It Commonly Said Islam Is A Religion Of Peace When There Is So Much In The Quran That Says Otherwise?

Abdurrahman Wahid, the former president of Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, in an essay titled “Right Islam, Wrong Islam,” agrees that a literal reading of the Quran leads to what is popularly called Muslim extremism.

History speaks for itself. Islam is not a religion of peace. The Quran commands conquering by the sword. Mohammed’s followers conquered by the sword. When Islam takes over a country the people are given three options. Convert to Islam, die or become a
dhimmi and be enslaved into starvation. If Muslims were given the freedom to choose their religion, Islam would not survive.

Why do we hear that Islam is a religion of peace? Thankfully many Muslims do not read their Quran. If they did, they do not follow Mohammed and his practices literally. They are like many Christians who know a little of their faith and do not open their Bible.
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How Does Ishmael Relate To Islam?

Mohammed claimed the Arabs are descendants of Ishmael and are the legitimate descendants of Abraham and children of God. Is it true?

In Genesis 12, when Abraham left Ur, he went West to what is now called Israel. It was in Israel that God made a covenant with him, he fathered Isaac, Ishmael and many other sons and daughters.

The Quran contradicts the Bible at nearly every point. According to Surah 2:119-121, Abraham and Ishmael did not dwell in tents in Israel but in the city of Mecca in Arabia. Together they rebuilt the Kabah and placed the black stone in the wall. It was Abraham who started the tradition of an annual pilgrimage to Mecca, throwing stones at the devil, etc. Abraham took Ishmael (not Isaac) to nearby Mount Mina to offer as a sacrifice to God.
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What Does The Quran Say About The Role Of Women?

A woman’s role is primarily the birthing of children. Men are allowed to beat their wives.

Men are the managers of the affairs of women … those you fear may be rebellious admonish; banish them to their couches, and beat them. (Surah 4:34)


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What Does The Bible Say About Dinosaurs?

The topic of dinosaurs in the Bible is part of a larger ongoing debate within the Christian community over the age of the earth, the proper interpretation of Genesis, and how to interpret the physical evidences we find all around us. Those who believe in an older age for the earth tend to agree that the Bible does not mention dinosaurs, because, according to their paradigm, dinosaurs died out millions of years before the first man ever walked the earth. The men who wrote the Bible could not have seen living dinosaurs.
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Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?

Whether or not Christians should celebrate Halloween can be a very controversial topic. Some Christians celebrate Halloween simply by dressing up in a costume and having fun, seeing it as innocent and harmless. Other Christians are equally convinced that Halloween is a satanic holiday established to worship evil spirits and promote darkness and wickedness. So, who is right? Is it possible for Christians to celebrate Halloween without compromising their faith?
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How Do I Break My Porn Addiction?

Porn addiction is at record levels. The pervasive use of the Internet, ease of access to porn sites and advertisements that push nudity make porn hard to fight. 50 percent of men look at porn regularly. 25 percent of all Internet searches are porn related. A third of those looking at Internet porn are women.1

The results are devastating. Men and women are rotting sexually from the inside out as they drink from the toilet. Porn tears apart marriages. It emasculates men. It cuts off male leadership at the knees.

If this is you, what can you do to break free?
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If The Sabbath Is Saturday, Why Do We Worship On Sunday?

Most Christians traditionally worship on Sunday. Sunday worship is partly attributed to Sabbatarianism, the view that one day of the week should be reserved for religious observance and worship, as required by Old Testament laws regarding the Sabbath

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Exodus 20:8 (ESV)

And the Lord said to Moses, “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’ ” And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God. Exodus 31:12–18 (ESV)


In this view, man is to abstain from all labor except that which is necessary for the welfare of family and society. This interpretation of the law contends that only on the literal Sabbath, the seventh day of the week (Saturday), can the requirements of the law be met.
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Where Was Jesus After He Died On The Cross Before He Rose From The Grave?

Some people have said that after Jesus' death on the cross, he went to hell for three days. Some have even said that while Jesus was in hell, he was tormented by Satan. Is this true? Did Satan get a chance to torment Jesus?
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How Far is Too Far Before Marriage?

So how far is too far before marriage? That is a great question. The Bible doesn’t have a verse that says a boy should never kiss his girlfriend. It doesn’t have a verse that says a young man and woman should not go for a walk in the park and hold hands. How far is too far? Many young Christians want to honor God in this area, but with the pressure of living in a sexuality saturated society and the growing biblical ignorance of many young adults, most young Christians just don’t know what the Bible says about premarital sex.
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Is Hell One-Size-Fits-All?

Will the Lake of Fire be the same for everyone? After all, a sin is a sin. Isn’t one little sin enough to make us guilty before God? Many Christians confuse being guilty of sin with judgment for sin. As a result, they see no difference between jay walking and murder.
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Why Does the Catholic Bible Have More Books Than the Protestant Bible?

This is a great question. The Catholic Bible includes the Apocryphal books. These are books written primarily during the 400 silent years between the closing of the Old Testament and the coming of Christ. The early church did not consider them part of the Bible. They officially became part of the Catholic Bible in 1546 when the Roman Catholic Church voted, at the Council of Trent, to include them as Scripture. For the 1,500 years before this, they were not regarded, by the church, as Scripture.
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Isn’t It Smarter to Live Together Before We Marry So We Know If We Are Compatible?

This is a common question. It puzzles me. What is it that might be incompatible? If your personalities are incompatible, you need to get to know each other better, not move in. Are you wondering if you are physically compatible? Unless one of you is a guppy and the other an elephant, physical incompatibilities should not be an issue. The mechanics of intimacy are relatively straight-forward.
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I Am a Widow Getting Remarried, What Pitfalls Should I Avoid?

When I was a young pastor, an older couple shared with me one particular pitfall of remarriage to avoid. I haven’t forgotten their words.
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My Husband Is Not Really Interested In Sex Anymore, But I Am. Now What?

There may be a variety of issues behind this. As men age, their testosterone level decreases. In addition, if a man’s health begins to decline on account of obesity, lack of exercise or stress, his interest in sexual activity will decrease.
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At What Age Should You Start Thinking/Seriously Considering Getting Married?

This is not a one-size-fits-all question but here are some general principles to help.
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As a Young Person in College, How Do I Stand Up For Myself When I Don’t Want To Take That Step In a Relationship, But Feel It Is What The Next Step Is. Is Any Form Of Sexual Action a Sin?

I am not sure I totally understand the question when you say, “stand up for yourself.” It sounds like you are being pressured towards marriage but you are not interested/ready for marriage.
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Is There Just One Person God Wants Me To Marry?

Many young people are paralyzed with this question. They ask God for the Shekinah glory to shine like a halo around the head of the one they are to marry. They want to know without a shadow of doubt, they found the right mate. Last time I checked, men or women with glowing halos are hard to find. I wouldn’t recommend holding out for that option.
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How Does a Husband/Wife Cope With The Issue of Past Sexual Abuse When It Comes To the Marriage Bed And The Fears/Tensions It Leaves?

Past sexual abuse is particularly damaging to women. Previous sexual experiences cast a long shadow on present day intimacy. This is especially true if first sexual experiences are abusive in nature. A woman who is sexually abused can begin to associate all forms of sexual intimacy, even with a loving spouse, as abusive.
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How Do I Know If My Spouse Is The One God Wants For Me If We Met And Married When We Were Not Believers?

This is an easy question. If you are married, you are with the right one! Marriage are not like cars, they do not come with a transmission that can move you backwards and forwards. There is only one gear and that is straight ahead! When you face marital problems, you focus on working through them, not escaping them and wondering if you married the wrong person.
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Is Divorce Ever An Option?

There are biblically acceptable grounds for divorce. Experience has shown me these grounds are rarely met in most divorce cases. Since this is a complex issue where good biblical scholars disagree, I put together a few key biblical principles to help guide our thinking in this area.
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Is It Sinful To Put Your Daughter On Birth Control?

This is a great question. When a daughter is dating, parents are always concerned her boyfriend will not treat her with respect and purity. Parents are not only concerned their daughter could lose her virginity, they are concerned she will conceive a child out of wed-lock.
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Is Any Form of Sexual Contact Permissible? Can I Go By The Rule That As Long As Nobody Gets Hurt, It Is OK?

The New Testament contains two letters Paul wrote to the city of Corinth. After examining these letters, it doesn’t take long to realize the city of Corinth was a city struggling with sexual sin. It was a city that housed the temple of Aphrodite. Worship in the temple involved use of one of the over one thousand temple prostitutes in employed. The nickname for a prostitue in the ancient world was “a Corinthian girl.” Fornication in Greek was nicknamed “Corinthianizing.” Without a doubt, this was a city caught in a web of sexual sin.
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How Do I Tell My Kids Premarital Sex Is Wrong When I Indulged In It Myself?

This is not hard to answer. Simply tell your kids you messed up. You sinned and you regret it. You don’t want your children to make the same mistakes you did and pay the same, or an even steeper, consequences.
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What Should I Do If My Spouse Is Not Taking Good Care of Himself/Herself?

First, be gentle when you talk with your spouse on this issue. Find the right time and do not speak in anger or frustration.  When you talk, tell them what you find attractive about them beyond the physical. Praise them as a mate and friend.
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Is It Acceptable For a Wife To Wear Revealing Clothing At Home?

As a general rule, men are highly visual. Men find revealing clothing attractive.
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Why Did God Create Marriage?

God created the institution of marriage to be a living picture that helps us comprehend the relationship of Christ to his church. Ephesians 5 unpacks this and challenges our 21st century understanding of marriage.
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What If a Job Comes Between a Couples Love Life?

Cindy and I understand this challenge. In the first year of our marriage, Cindy worked 12 hour shifts at night, while I attended school during the day. I remember asking her to listen to one of my first sermons in our apartment. I stacked cardboard boxes on top of one another in the living room to form a make-shift pulpit. It was 7:00 in the morning, Cindy just arrived home from work. She agreed to be my practice congregation as she slouched in a chair in front of me. Two minutes into my first sermon, she was sound asleep. That was not a good omen for the future! We knew jobs needed to change. They eventually did.
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Is It Wrong For a Couple To Have Sex Anally or Orally?

Oral sex is increasingly popular, especially with the younger generation. Many young adults consider it no more forbidden than kissing. This is a good reminder that parents should not only teach their children about abstinence but explain to them that oral sex is still sex and is not permissible before marriage. Statistically, 61 percent of teenage girls claim to have performed oral sex.(1)

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How Often Should a Married Couple Be Intimate?

Sex is not like vitamins. It doesn’t come with a recommended daily allowance. That being said, the most vocal complaint in marriages is that it is not enjoyed frequently enough.

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What Do You Do When Your Husband Works Long Hours And You Have Little Time For a Date or Money for a Babysitter?

This is a great question. The economy is not great. People just can’t go out to fancy restaurants. If mom is the primary care giver because you have kids and dad is the primary income, that means you probably won’t have a lot of extra income floating around. You have to be prudent with your money. Here are a few ideas:
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I Am Single, Should I Use a Dating Web Site Like Eharmony.com or Christianmingle.com

The web brought a new dynamic to relationships. It is possible to meet and converse on-line with people you would never normally meet. While this new virtual reality provides exciting opportunities to meet Christians, it also provides a unique set of pitfalls. Here are a few things to remember when using the internet to meet new people.
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I Am a Wife Who Has Had Many Children. I Would Like to Get Breast Augmentation and/or Cosmetic Surgery For My Stomach. Is This Okay?

This is between you, your spouse, your doctor and the Lord. There are health risks to consider. A woman should make this a matter of prayer, asking God to help her understand her motives. These kind of surgeries are not wrong in themselves. They are done for survivors of cancer and other deforming diseases. It is not necessarily wrong for a woman to have these types of surgeries if her intent is to please her husband.

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Can Someone Be An Openly Gay Christian?

To answer this, it will be helpful to break this question down.
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Should I Tell My Spouse If I Look at Internet Porn?

Yes. This is a serious issue. Not only have you sinned against God, you have sinned against your spouse. Pornography will affects the intimacy in your marriage. Frequently, your spouse will be able to sense your distance and guilt. Pornography causes a spouse to suffer, even if it isn’t confessed to them.
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Is It Sinful to Be Sterilized?

Sterilization poses a significant issue if only because of how many people are resorting to it. Studies done in the 1970s show sterilization is the most frequently used form of contraception in the world, and as of 1979, the second most frequently used among Americans. By 1976, 30 percent of all widowed, divorced and separated women and single mothers aged fifteen to forty-four in the U.S. had been surgically sterilized. Nearly the same percent among all U.S. married couples had at least one partner sterilized. By 1977 nearly ten million persons in the U.S. had been sterilized. Those figures include an average of one million per year from 1974 to 1977.(1)
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If Wife Constantly Says “No,” Is It Acceptable For a Husband to Stimulate Himself?

The second part of this question is answered in another article on masturbation. The real issue is the first part of the question. Why is a wife constantly saying, “No” to marital intimacy?

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I Am Living With My Fiancé. We Are Having Sex. How Do I Talk To Him About Waiting?

Just tell him you are done having sex until you are married. I don’t care where you tell him or when you tell him, just tell him. Tell him today, not next week. I know he won’t like it. He needs to move out. You need separate places to live. Don’t tell me you can’t afford two separate places. You can’t afford NOT to honor God. The damage you are causing from your sin far outweighs anything it will cost in cash to live in abstinence until your wedding. If he can’t afford to move out, you shouldn’t be getting married to him because he is not prepared to take on the manly responsibility of a wife.
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Why Do Young Men Have Such Strong Sexual Desires?

I like the way Mark Driscoll answered this question. To motivate them to grow up so they can take a wife. Nearly every man wants to have sex and has a strong sexual desire. Those desires should motivate him to study hard, walk faithfully with God, compete courageously in life, leave home and pursue a career where he can support himself and a family. Then, when God blesses him by bringing the woman he should marry into his life, he can marry her and be a blessing to her, not a burden on her.
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I Was Intimate With a Previous Woman. How Will That Affect My Future Marriage?

The first thing to avoid is the false understanding that your previous sin won’t affect your marriage. Sin affects. That’s the nature of sin. It is destructive by nature. Can the affects of premarital sin be overcome? Yes. Jesus died to forgive sin and to make us into a new creation.
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What Are Some Common Reasons Marital Sex Is Not Enjoyable?

There are a number of reasons why marital sex may not be enjoyable:

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What About Masturbation? I Can’t Find Anything In The Bible About This?

In an effort to be helpful, let me address this both biblically and practically. First, we need to define it. Masturbation is genital self-pleasuring. I am not counting as masturbation genital pleasuring between a married couple. What a married couple does together is for their pleasure and freedom. What I am referring to by masturbation is self-pleasuring done in isolation, which is usually accompanied by unbiblical lust.

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