Attracted To Men, Pastor Feels Called To Marriage With A Woman

Allan considered following a Christian denomination that accepts gay relationships, but his interpretation of the Bible wouldn’t allow it, he says.
“I studied different methods of reading the Scripture and it all came down to this: Jesus accepts the rest of the Scripture as divined from God,” he says. “So if Jesus is who he says he is, then we kind of have to believe what he believes.”

I’m Old School About Church

I can see the rolling eyes now from those who feel free from legalistic constraints. But I don’t view these as legalistic obligations as much as they are opportunities to honor God. I also wonder if those who abstain from the above find other ways to honor God …or they just are glad not to feel like they have to be at church on Sunday morning!

Church

You see, church is not the songs we sing and the prayers we pray. Although it is that. And church isn’t just the people who are there. It is that too. But it is more. Church is the place where the mystery of God’s work in the world is glimpsed for a moment. Where a song of praise and a recovering addict and communion and a half-blind man and a sermon and a little boy with his play cars all somehow seem perfectly harmonious.

Strong, Silent Type

Though somewhat overlooked because he is not granted a speaking part in the inspired Christmas pageant, Joseph most certainly occupies a prominent place in the cloud of witnesses who have preceded us in faith, known not for what he said, but for what he so consistently and faithfully did.

Would You Skip Church for Football?

People have been skipping church for centuries. And though we may think we’re busier today than ever before, we should remember that in agricultural societies, harvest season sometimes interfered with attending church to the point congregations would gather for prayer in the fields.
Pastors and church leaders expect congregants to miss from time to time due to health reasons, vacation, or occasional conflicts. But skipping church for football rubs pastors the wrong way, perhaps because they sense an inherent competition with the event itself.

Religious People Much Happier Than Others, New Study Shows

The study found that people who attend religious services on a weekly basis are nearly twice as likely to describe themselves as “very happy” (45%) than people who never attend (28%). Conversely, those who never worship are twice as likely to say they are “very unhappy” (4%) as those who attend services weekly (2%).

Government fires employee who skipped work for 24 years

Verma, an executive engineer at the Central Public Works Department, was fired after last appearing for work in December 1990.
“He went on seeking extension of leave, which was not sanctioned, and defied directions to report to work,” the government said in a statement on Thursday.
Even after an inquiry found him guilty of “wilful absence from duty” in 1992, it took another 22 years and the intervention of a cabinet minister to remove him, the government said.