Sunday, July 30, 2006

Your Life is Just Not Complete Until...

You know someone who has been on Dr. Phil (it is the episode entitled, "Pregnancy Prison"). I kid you not, I know a couple who has been on the Dr. Phil TV show.

My wife found out about this while having coffee with the wife of the couple we are ministering to. Dr. Phil is not on our viewing list

I do not know the couple (who appeared on Dr. Phil) very well. They were members of our church and he was respected as a financial planner (though he worked for a company that I will *never* do business with, AIG). I did not know them other than by sight and reputation but we knew another couple who were friends with them...actually very close friends with them. They are all tied together by a tangled web that is just too sordid to go into, but needless to say it is pretty wild. The funny thing about this is that this has *nothing* to do with why the one couple were on Dr Phil, although it could. Alas, I digress.

No, the Dr. Phil show had do with the woman "Mary" voicing her opinion that she is trapped in a marriage because she was impregnated by her husband while they were dating. It was a good trick...he fathered 2-3 more children with her.

When I read/watch things like this I am not surprised that people have such a low opinion of Christians. If this was the only exposure to Christianity I had, I doubt I would be a believer as well. I feel that some Christians portray themselves as bullet proof...that nothing bad ever happens in their life. But this is far from the truth. Because we are Christians, we will suffer here and now. Let me try to put it this way. The price we pay for sin is death and Christ came to save us from our sin and that price. He paid our price by dying for us. He took our sin upon him and the price it requires. But Jesus is God incarnate and he was not imprisoned by death. He defeated death.

The reason we suffer as Christians is that the Devil has already lost us and he will tempt and torment us in this life because he cannot do so in the next. He wanted our souls, but Jesus stopped that plan. If we are sinners and do not accept Christ as our savior, then we may have a "good" or "fun" life sinning and feel that Christians are fools. But when an unbeliever dies, the Devil gets his soul and the eternal torment begins. The fleeting joy that we received when we sinned is quickly eclipsed by the eternal suffering we have in Hell.

Christ stepped in because he did not want any to suffer. He asks us to follow him so that our souls will be at peace with him when we die. We may suffer some during our short lives, but we will have all eternity to be at peace. That is a trade I am willing to make.

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