Question & Answer

Question:  I desire to be honest and transparent but struggle with how much is okay to share.  My parents taught me that a partial truth was the same as a lie.  Am I lying to people if I don’t share all of the details about a situation? Answer:  A half truth with the intent to deceive by omission is the equivalent of a lie.  The point of a lie is to deceive.  To withhold information for your or another person’s protection is often an important use of wisdom and discernment in a given situation. If you were unaware of all the details pertaining to a situation at the time of…

Questions: We have experienced immense conflict and division within our church family.  People in the church want us to reconcile which brings up several interrelated questions, such as: Answers: The same Holy Spirit that lives in you, lives in other believers; even those that do hurtful things.  I’m going to say something that may shock you; but sometimes, the other person is just as hurt as you are, because they received an offense from you or someone else.  How can this happen if the fruit of the Spirit is love, peace, joy, kindness, gentleness, self-control, goodness, faithfulness, and forbearance/patience?  The issue comes from the other parts of our personhood; our…

Question: Why is my struggle with masturbation a flippant thing one time and a very convicting one at another?  At one season of life justification takes place because you didn’t commit an act of adultery, then you read Jesus’s words that if anyone looks upon a woman to lust he has already committed it in his heart.  When Jesus says that it’s as if every man I know is an adulterer.  How do I have ongoing fruit that remains in this area, not just a roller coaster lifestyle? Answer: It is easy to justify our sin when we compare it to a “greater” sin such as comparing masturbation to an…

Question: Hebrews 6:4-6 says: For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. In light of this passage of Scripture, can one who willingly chooses a lifestyle in opposition to God be restored?  Does this apply to a Believer who falls into sin,…

Question: Paul sets high standards for ministry leaders (1 Timothy 3:1-13, Titus 1:5-16).  Once one has been in ministry and has a moral failure or other disqualification, can they be restored to a position of leadership in ministry? Answer: This is a tricky question in that God is able to do anything He chooses, including to redeem and restore the worst of sinners, however, we need to be careful with giving too simplistic an answer.  Yes, a minister who fails, either morally or in another area of life, can be restored to a position of leadership in ministry, but it is not a process to be taken lightly or quickly.…