Q16. Are sins ranked?

Sin can be defined as any evil action or evil motive that is in opposition to God. Simply stated, sin is failure to let God be God and placing something or someone in God’s rightful place of supremacy. So are some sins worse than others? This question may be answered either yes or no, depending on the sense in which it is intended.

Q15. How far is too far sexually?

Sex is so pervasive in everything we do as a culture. Advertisers use sex to sell everything from cars, clothes, shampoo, sunglasses, even milk. Once, I saw an advertisement using sex to sell milk. The slogan was, “Milk…It’s my obsession.” Is nothing immune?

One study estimates that the average person views over 9,000 sex acts, or implied sex acts, every year on television alone. I mean, let’s be honest, would our favorite TV shows (i.e. Friends, Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, etc.) be at all interesting without them? Of that, over 80% is by people who aren’t married. The average kid watching television, from age 8 to 18 watches 93,000 scenes of sex, over 72,000 of these scenes being premarital or extramarital affairs. With this amount of exposure, we ask questions like: How far is too far sexually? How far is considered okay? Where do you draw the line? How far can I go?

Q14. Why is dating so hard?

If dating is so wonderful, why is it so hard? Whether you’re 18 and single, or any age for that matter, dating is much more likely to lead you to anxiety and disappointment than to your marriage partner. So if that’s the case, why do so many people keep dating? Some common reasons are: lonliness, impatience, they want to have fun and/or feel good, parents/peers expect them to, etc.

Even the secular world has started to admit there must be something wrong with a dating system that creates so much hardship in people’s lives. Just over 10 years ago, with some 900,000 copies in print, a tiny little paperback book titled “The Rules: Time-tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr.Right,” soared to number 1 on the New York Times’ How-To Bestseller list. In this book, the authors listed 35 old-fashioned courting tips that essentially advised women to play hard to get: don’t call him, don’t see him more than once or twice a week, don’t open up too fast, don’t live with him before marriage, etc. Why was this book such a phenomenal success?

Q13. How does God let you know whether a guy/girl is right for you?

Did you know that 65% of the weddings that will be taking place in 2008 will be getting engaged in the next 7-14 days! It seems Christmas is that perfect romantic holiday when couples pop the big question. Just think of movies like Love Actually, The Holiday, and Serendipity to name a few. In the average church, 20% of the congregation are single. However, in a church like Cornerstone, where over 90% of the people who attend are unmarried, questions regarding relationships are always being asked. So, for the rest of the week, I’ll be posting relationship-related questions and answers.

Q12. Why doesn’t God perform miracles today similar to the ones in the OT?

A miracle is a direct intervention of God in the world. John Frame, professor of systematic theology at Westminster Theological Seminary defines a miracle as:

“a less common kind of God’s activity in which he arouses people’s awe and wonder and bears witness to himself.”

Miracles in the Bible aroused people’s awe and amazement and indicated that God’s power was at work. For instance, the miraculous signs that Moses did when his staff turned into a snake and back again, or when his hand became leprous and then clean again (Ex 4:2-8), were given that Moses might demonstrate to the people of Israel that God had sent him.