Blog Articles (Page 21)
Book Review – Wounded in the Church by Chris Hayward and Ray Beeson
We’ve all heard sorrowful tales of how certain Christian leaders and congregation members practice hypocrisy, psychological manipulation, shaming, criticism and rejection towards newer church goers. This feeling of hurt, dejection and betrayal of the most often heard reasons why people leave the church and shun organized religion. “Wounded in the Church: Hope Beyond the Pain,” by Chris Hayward and Ray Beeson, was written to address these issues. The book is rooted in Biblical truth and the Gospel, and authors Beeson…
How to Fight Writers Block
Everyone gets it, and it’s totally unavoidable: the painful and dreaded Writer’s Block. It doesn’t matter if you blog about your kids, write about local business and politics, or talk about your favorite heavy metal bands, or even pen New York Times bestsellers; at one time or another, you’ll run smack into a creativity brick wall with ostensibly no way around it. Not to worry, though, here are some tricks that will help you blast through that barrier and allow…
The Yellow Light – Are We As Christians Too Much Like This World?
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” – Romans 12:2 Although the practice of email forwarding is waning because of the proliferation of sharing on social media instead, I still get a decent number various messages, jokes, sayings and pics fulling up my inbox. Oh, I do have to quickly mention that…
Darth Vader in Church?
Some churches are adding movie and TV quotes, references, and even showing video snippets from these assorted media to draw in the “seekers.” Not too long ago, there was something that made me raise my eyebrows. I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and came upon a sponsored post advertising a grand opening for a new church here in Missouri. Instead of a typical marketing thrust featuring concepts and ideas surrounding Christ, the cross, God’s love, or being family-friendly, this church…
One of the Best Things You’ll Read All Week: Wrestling with God
I typically wouldn’t put up a direct “repost” of other blog articles, but here is something that I found today that is extremely powerful. Dena Johnson penned a great piece for iBelieve.com titled, “How Wrestling with God Will Change You Forever.” People, this Biblical message will open your eyes and transform you like few things have! It’s based on the wrestling match that Jacob had in Genesis 32. Instead of me summarizing it, I just implore you to just visit the link right now…
Want to Be a True Rebel? Be a Christian
You want to REALLY be rebellious and non-conformist? Don’t look to getting thirty tattoos, piercings, and dying your hair five colors. Everybody is doing that nowadays. Become a follower of Jesus Christ instead. I’m not knocking tattoos or anything else, but being a Christian is totally “against the grain” of what is currently accepted and conventional in Western society. The Father of “Shock Rock,” Alice Cooper (whose real name is Vincent Furnier), once said, “sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll…
Top 9 Reasons Why I Believe in God and in Jesus Christ
I believe not only in God, in Christianity, and in the Person of Jesus Christ, but I believe that Christianity is actually true, logical, and provable. There is substantial proof that God exists, that He created a complex universe, that He entered space/time in the Person of Jesus Christ, and that the Bible is 100% true. Although there are well over 20 different arguments that show evidence that God exists, here are my Top 9 reasons why I believe in…
Where’s the Joy?
Christians should be the most joyful people on Earth. Millions of Christians all across the nation and around the world have claimed to washed by the blood of Jesus Christ and born again by the Spirit, yet they are robotically plodding along living humdrum middle-class lives and just “don’t have it.” There’s no infectious enthusiasm and no heart overflowing. There’s a lack of something there that non-believers can see in us. These believers, instead, are just like the world. When we…
Book Review – Driven By Eternity by John Bevere
I’m doing a review for the audiobook version of Driven by Eternity from Audible.com. John Bevere’s Driven by Eternity: Making Your Life Count Today & Forever is not for the spiritually squeamish. Yet it contains a message that has eternal consequences for everyone. Too many people think it’s okay to recite the “Sinner’s Prayer,” ask Jesus to come into their hearts, and then go back to living their old lives without even thinking about developing a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Yes,…
Why I Won’t Drink Alcohol Anymore
What I’m about to say is full of my own opinions, along with my attempt at well-thought-out reasons why I do not drink alcoholic beverages. Except for point #6, these points are not presented or implied that they are Christian doctrine or theology. Instead, they’re mainly personal arguments about why I have no desire to touch the stuff. I wish to make a few important disclaimers before I start things off: A. Some people have natural inclinations towards becoming addicted…
How to Argue Your Faith Online, Part Two
Here is the follow-up article to an earlier post, How to Argue Your Faith Online, Part One. Before proceeding, I urge you to read that post in full to get a more well-rounded understanding before continuing on with these. Go ahead. I’ll wait. Are you back? Excellent! This time out I’ll introduce several more concepts, many of which tackle how you write and how you speak. Let’s get to it immediately… 6. Study Up On Christian Apologetics You do know…
How to Argue Your Faith Online, Part One
Don’t let your defense of Christianity turn into this! “But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.” – 1 Peter 3:15 Spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ is our mandate as Christ followers (Matthew 28:19). In doing so, we inevitably will encounter people countering our beliefs in many different forms – other…
The Bible Inspirations Project
If you didn’t know, I sometimes use my graphic design skills to create shareable images, Facebook cover photos and graphics for social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and others with Bible verses and quotations based on love, salvation, encouragement, prayer, the Christian life and more. I have a site called Bible Inspirations that features a bulk of those images that I make. I also share these, plus many other Bible-based pics and images, on the official Bible Inspirations Facebook…
A New Undertaking in Writing…and a New Beginning
Even though it doesn’t seem that long, I’ve been doing blogging for an entire decade, and then some. This whole adventure started with a general-purpose platform for my silly writing excursions on my “main” website of scottrobertsweb.com. You see, around 2006 and 2007, I, being a website designer, whipped together a rudimentary content management system (for you non-techies, I’m referring software such as WordPress that runs on the back-end). I hardly knew what the topic theme was, so basically winged…
Jesus is the Only Way!
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. – Romans 1:16 I am not ashamed of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! This is something that I can’t be silent about. It’s changed me in ways that I cannot even describe. I am no better than any of you. I’ve sinned, I’ve stumbled, and I’ve performed my share of boneheaded…
And Away We Go!
Just getting this brand spankin’ new site up and running. There will be more details soon on why I created this and what you can expect in the future. Enjoy, and I hope you all visit often!
FireTalkers: Busting Chile Myths with Dave DeWitt
Here is s re-publication of a popular blog post from 2009. Enjoy! It seems as though when I go both online and in the “real world,” whenever I mention the fact that I’m into chile peppers and hot sauce, there’s a good chance that the people I meet will drudge up a misconception, myth, or urban legend about the subject. To help clear the constant confusion, I’ve for the longest time wanted to make a blog post that would take…
What is Nashville Hot Chicken?
The assimilation of spicy food into regular American and Canadian culture is in full swing. Led by popular trends such as the sriracha craze, fiery cuisine is completely unavoidable now. In all of this, there is one smaller trend in spicy foods that has seemingly come out of nowhere that, for a lot of foodies and chileheads, remains mysterious. And that is “Nashville Hot” or “Nashville Hot Chicken.” Nationwide restaurant chains such as KFC and O’Charley’s have picked up on…
Review of Doc Love’s THE SYSTEM – THE DATING DICTIONARY
In the grand matters of life and love and dating, I’m definitely not a pick-up artist. I’m not looking for “friends with benefits” or a “no strings attached” sexual relationship (quite frankly, that concept sickens me) or a one-night stand. Instead, Scott Roberts is a regular, down-to-earth, single guy and a full-time dad to two teenage boys looking for “the one”. I’m seeking a healthy, long-term relationship with a woman that will hopefully lead me and this lucky lady down…
Is There a Pungency Scale For Garlic, Horseradish, Wasabi, Mustard, Onions, Cinnamon, Ginger and Black Pepper?
Most every fiery foods fan knows that it is the chemical called Capsaicin that gives chile peppers a “hot” or “spicy” sensation and that the amount of Capsaicin present in chile pods (and other things like hot sauce) is measured on the Scoville Scale. A question I sometimes get asked is, “Scott, is there a way to measure the amount of “heat” or pungency in other “spicy” items like black pepper, ginger, horseradish, garlic, wasabi, mustard, garlic, cinnamon, and onions?…