UBC Wed For Life

    As Believers we know that we are supposed to obey God’s commands and take the Bible as his Word. Still, it can be difficult understanding how some of the Bible applies to us given how different our world is from the one in which the Bible was written. However, when we read the Bible, we see that even in Jesus’ time, some had that same problem. God in his wisdom, through the Bible, has provided answers whose relevance does not fade with time. Consider the question, which was posed to Jesus about which commandments we should follow.   Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All ...

Nothing in life happens in isolation. Things happen in context or in relation to their environment. With this in mind, let us consider what is carried within the word relationship. A relationship is a connection between people, places, and/or things that can be either physical, emotional, psychological, or a combination of these three elements. Furthermore, relationships with other people and the world around us is what composes our realities. These relationships provide us with a sense of self, which can be understood as the element of a person that thinks thus establishing the desires, feelings, and aspirations through which one perceives his or her environment. We also learn how to respond emotionally and psychologically to certain situations/circumstances that we are exposed to through our relationships with and within our environments. It is possible to have varying relationships with our environment depending on how we perceive and experience it. For example, if we feel a...

  What is a Christian?  It seems like a simple question, but when you do a little research into the number of Christian groups operating in today’s world, you’ll realize the answer is not so simple.  Most people know that Catholicism was the first major international standard for Christianity after the fourth century and remained so until the great schism of 1054. The  Protestant Reformation emerged in the 16th century. It wasn't long after that, Protestantism led to denominational rifts among Believers.  Now, it is hard to say how many different sects of Christianity exist.  Some conservative estimates claim that around 40 true denominations of Christianity exist.  Other less conservative estimates suggest that more than 40,000 different belief systems exist under the umbrella of Christianity.  Some of the differences are as simple as which day should be considered the Sabbath (Saturday vs Sunday).  Other differences are more signifi...

Ask most Believers and nonbelievers alike and they’ll both probably tell you that being a Christian requires that you follow a lot of rules. Depending on the denomination, you may run into rules governing what you wear, what you eat, where you live, how much technology you can use, etc… In many of these cases, the rules may just represent a minor inconvenience. In others, the rules may be dangerous. Recently, a couple, Seth Welch and Tatiana Fusari, found out they would be going to trial for murder because they allowed their 10 month old baby to die. Their defense is that they were following their religious beliefs. Apparently, their Christian pastor told them that going to the doctor was wrong. Who told him that? It certainly isn’t Biblical. As Believers we are to seek knowledge about God, but we have to be careful how we obtain such knowledge. We can be educated and we can also be indoctrinated. Education can be defined as the process of giving or receiving systematic i...

  Do we ever stop to look at the cages we put ourselves in? Cages of family, friends, work, leisure, and religion; cages we build based on our understanding of these areas of life and what they entail. We try and create spaces where we can safely live out our assumed expectations; spaces where we can keep out the uncertainty and retain authenticity. Here we become like zoo animals in a sense. Wild exotic creatures who were meant to roam and enjoy the earth God created who now have to settle for a limited artificial environment. In captivity these animals are unable to develop properly on all levels. They do not have the opportunity to learn social structures and habits such as nurturing and hunting. They become dependent on human ways to now meet their needs. This lack of natural development also causes animals in captivity to suffer from boredom, lack of exercise, and poor-quality food. Furthermore, being deprived of their natural environment and social interactions, ani...

 It’s not so uncommon these days to turn on the television or other media outlet and find an argument between a Christian and a non-believer regarding the existence of God and the legitimacy of the Christian Faith. The non-believer may try to point out the lack of empirical evidence supporting God’s existence. The topic of the universe’s creation may come up. Of course the Believer will acknowledge that God created the universe, which, not coincidentally, is why Believers are often referred to as Creationists. The non-believer will invoke the Big Bang Theory. The Believer, if savvy, may point out that the Big Bang Theory really only proposes how the universe came to be; it doesn’t give the cause. The non-believer, if well-read, may bring up quantum fluctuations, a mathematically backed theory that claims the universe could have come from nothing. Maybe then, the Believer asks who or what created the circumstances where such quantum fluctuations would even come into play...

As Christians, we must never forget how important love is. Christianity truly is a religion of love. You can probably judge how much a person adheres to the Faith by how loving they actually are. The Bible is clear on this. 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 says: 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. For anyone who has read the Bible, this should be an amazing pass...