Comments on: Ask the Pastor

By: Tracey Mayberry

Tracey Mayberry — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 05:20:08 +0000

Hi Pastor Jerry…

I actually have a question posed by a friend. She wants to know do animals have souls? She says when you look in their eyes they don’t seem souless. If you believe the “Darwin’s” theory (did I spell that right?), then how could you say Apes don’t have souls if we evolved from them. She is thinks there may be a reference in both the old and new testaments that states animals don’t have souls. I didn’t know what to say, so I will defer to you.

Thanks,
Tracey

By: Sharon Brown

Sharon Brown — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:55:10 +0000

This is such a hard truth that I think we just subconsciously reject it – people who never heard the gospel condemned, our kind, generous, upright morally and ethically friends, family and neighbors, also condemned. Without God’s grace and strength I could not get through a single hour with this realization. Never-the-less, God grant us a burden for souls, and a release from the bondage of self. (I say with fear and trembling!)
So glad to chat with the family.

By: Javon Oliver

Javon Oliver — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:52:45 +0000

(P.S.- the extended period of time is overnight, this whole Friday night and she would pick him up in the morning.)

By: Javon Oliver

Javon Oliver — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:51:42 +0000

Pastor, how do you get over people-pleasing tendencies and the misuse of Scripture in your own mind? For example, my mom asked me to watch my brother for a prolonged period of time and I really didn’t want to do it and said no at first. Then I prayed about it and the Scripture came up to do unto others as I would have them do unto me. So I called her back and agreed to do it even though I still really don’t want to. Another reason I’m doing it is because I usually watch him during the week for her in place of the daycare he was going to because of a situation that arose and the agreement was for her to pay me $20/day over 2 week intervals. In these past two weeks she kept him home some days and said she would still pay me for the 2 weeks. But after I said no she said she wasn’t going to pay me the full amount, that she was going to deduct the days that she didn’t bring him. So I feel pressured to watch him so I’ll get paid the full amount along with feeling guilty about saying no. Help!

By: Pastor Jerry McQuay

Pastor Jerry McQuay — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:04:02 +0000

Thanks, Ellis – I like that, and it is true that Jesus employed sarcasm with critics on occasion. Appreciate the added insights-

By: Ellis

Ellis — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:57:13 +0000

On Q1. Sometimes it sounds like Jesus gets a little sarcastic with his critics. He just use their own logic in reverse to make his point. The ESV says it like this:

Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt;* but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.