Here it is December 31st again. I won’t tell you how many I have seen go by but it is quite a few. My wife and I are past the stage where we stay up and ring in the new year. I am now usually sound asleep when that time ticks by.   I try to live in Christ  day-by-day but it still doesn’t hurt to look at the last day of the year as a time of serious reflection. How did I do last year? I, as usual, have to mirror the words of Saint Paul in that I still do some things … Continue reading New Year Resolutions??

  Many Calvinists like to try and pin the pre-destination label on Lutherans. I think maybe the Calvinists are just a little lonely in their corner of Christianity ;) and are looking for someone else to huddle with.   In tune with the last post here is another blog post by the CyberBrethren blogger on that topic. http://cyberbrethren.com/2009/12/16/refuting-calvinist-claims-that-luther-taught-double-predestination/ It does a pretty good job of refuting the claim that Luther believed in pre-destination. The post is pretty long, at least by my standards, but is worth the read if you are interested in this topic. I especially like the t-shirt shown. Continue reading Lutherans and Calvinists???

 It’s good to remember that Jesus grew up as a poor Jew in a poor town. His life was not about having great material possessions, but about living for God in this humble and modest way.  – Stephen Chapman, associate professor of the Old Testament at Duke Divinity School, on the discovery of the first dwelling in Nazareth that dates to Jesus’ era. (Source: USA Today) Continue reading About Jesus

…Get off the couch and back to work. This is the final post in this series that highlight from Jesus’ direct words what he expects of us. I will repeat again what I said as we started this series.   I know that for those who believe that being a Christian just means taking an altar call and then laying back and letting the Lord’s grace flow over you these might have been some difficult posts. I hope you are at least struck by the number of times Jesus talked about these issues. Christianity is meant to be lived day-by-day. It is … Continue reading To the fair weather Christian — Part 4

…Get off the couch and back to work. This being the Christmas season where more emphasis is placed on Jesus and His birth I thought I would spend the next several posts returning to the roots of this blog by concentrating solely on the words of Christ with particular emphasis on how he tells us to live. For the most part I will let the words speak for themselves. I know that for those who believe that being a Christian just means taking an altar call and then laying back and letting the Lord’s grace flow over you these will … Continue reading To the Couch Potato Christian… (Part 1 of 4)

This is going to be one of those difficult and probably controversial posts. Is Jesus Plan “B” whereas Adam was Plan “A” that failed? In other words did God really plan on Adam being the benevolent seed of mankind and when that didn’t happen he changed gears and  came Himself (via Jesus) to do the job of fixing things? This concept has some pretty serious contentions among some Christians today. Some believe that nothing can happen that God did not previously ordain in that he had absolutely everything decided from creation to the end times  even before he started his … Continue reading Plan “B”?

One year ago I brought up the Red Letter Living blog. To be honest I did it primarily to put down my thoughts on the many books and topics I have been studying the last few years. I just needed a place to think things through and put them to print. To that end this blog has been very beneficial to me on a personal level and has strengthened by faith in the words of Christ. Amazingly as the posts accumulated so did the readership. I am humbled that there are Christians out there that think I have anything worth … Continue reading The One Year Anniversary of RLL