Christian parents are responsible for the growth of their family. In today's world we need all the advantages we can get. A good home library is essential. The following list contains our recommendations for a foundation, or a beginning of a home library. Any book list will ultimately be the opinion of the one making the list. This one is no exception, however, since we are in the information business we trust our judgement will have some merit. Most of these books can be ordered through a reputable Christian bookstore. If none is available in your area we recommend Christian Book Distributors, Box 6000, Peabody, MA 01961. Write for a catalog.

Definition:

A. Pagan: The realm of pure idea, pure mind or spirit, disembodied spirits.

B. Islamic: A place of male sensual delights. Beautiful women, food, water, etc.

C. Current misconceptions:

1. New Age: A warm friendly beam of light, renewed relationships with departed loved ones.

2. The Media: Heaven is somewhere off in space where inhabitants wear white robes, play harps, sing, and flit from cloud to cloud all day.

D. The Biblical Words: OT. samayim. NT. ouranos. Both have physical and spiritual meanings. The word occurs over 500 times in the Bible.

1. Physical: The most common is translated sky, air, or the abode of the heavenly bodies. In the OT when used with the hebrew word for"earth it means the universe" and is equivalent to the Greek word cosmos. The ancients thought of heaven as an inverted bowl.

2. Spiritual: The abode of the triune God (Our Father who art in heaven...), angels, and ultimately the redeemed. It is the total fulfillment of Immanuel, God with us. Just as evil is the absence of good. Heaven is a place and state of only that which is good. It is the answer to the Lord's prayer, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, i.e., a final condition in which only the complete will of God is expressed.

She had just undergone a hysterectomy. She was wheeled to the recovery room, but alas, confusion among the nightshift nurses left her to hemorrhage. With no one by her side she "died." Five hours later she "returned to life." During this time she floated out of her body, went down a dark tunnel and was met by a beam of light. She was then embraced by a being she claimed was Jesus who then preceded to give her a guided tour of heaven interspersed with some religious teachings. The being she claimed was Jesus then reluctantly informed her that her time on earth was not yet over. She then was revived. Years later she wrote about her experience and it was published by an obscure publisher. She dedicated her book to "My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." It became a record-breaking best-seller (EMBRACING THE LIGHT). The author's name is Betty Eadie.

Islam is the youngest of the 5 major religions of the world. According to best estimates, one of five persons on earth is a Muslim (around 1 billion). At present, 20 million Muslims reside in Europe (East and West) , There are over 2000 mosques now in England (approximately 900 were converted from churches)! There are currently about 4-5 million in the U.S. There are now more adherents of Islam in the U.S. than Episcopalians! Currently, there are around 50 nations where adherents of Islam are in the majority.

The Current Controversy: For most of 2000 years of church history men of faith have held to the teaching of the eternal punishment of the wicked. Currently, among evangelical Christians, some scholars of renown are espousing the position known as annihilationism. This is the belief that the wicked ultimately cease to exist, i.e. punishment is not eternal. These men are Clark Pinnock, John R. Stott, Phillip E. Hughes, and John Wenham. This view is also held by Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and The World-wide Church of God (Armstrongism).

One of the most important aspects of the Christmas story is the Star which lured the Wise Men from their homeland to visit the Christ Child. The emblem overwhelms us; it appears on Christmas trees, cards, decorations, at nativities, and is the subject of carols. It is a prominent feature in the story of Christ's birth. Was the star a totally supernatural occurrence? Or, if it was an astral event, can it throw light on a more precise date for the birth of Christ? This has been a question of much speculation over the centuries. New light from the science of astronomy and archaeology may indeed give us insight into an event that was undoubtedly the supernatural event of all time, but it may have been accompanied by some interesting providential handiwork of the Creator.

It has been stated that the root cause of the ecological crisis is religious, and only a change in orientation will bring about the needed changes. Lynn White, a historian, said back in the '60s: What we do about ecology depends on our ideas of the man-nature relationship. More science and more technology are not going to get us out of the present ecological crisis until we find a new religion or rethink our old one. (from: The Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis, Science. 155, 1967. p. 1203-1207).

Our society is (has been) in the process of abandoning its Judeo-Christian roots. There is no longer a Christian consensus.

Question: Can a person really be an educated person and be ignorant of Christianity's contribution to the culture of the West?

The word "occult" comes from the latin occultus which means "concealed". In its usage today it means "beyond the bounds of ordinary knowledge, the mysterious, the concealed, or that which is hidden from view. It involves practices such as magic, divination, incantations, and paranormal experiences".

Definition: When a person is truly born of God that person is forever a part of God's eternal family. He can never be lost again. It is sometimes popularly referred to as Once saved always saved.

Jacques Ellul, an important French Christian writer once said: "Ethics will not be able to control technology. Whatever can be done will be done."

Euthanasia is making more and more headlines. Recently, a doctor assisted a women in her own suicide. The woman had been diagnosed as having Alzheimer's disease.

Definition: Its root means "good death". Today it means mercy killing. The Euthanasia Society defines it as: "Termination of human life by painless means for the purpose of ending severe physical suffering.

Someone made the comment that the greatest question of our time is: Why should I be moral?

B. The current ethical dilemma in our society is well-illustrated by an incident at the U. of Calif. at Berkeley. A male student came to class wearing nothing but shoes. The authorities were at a loss as to what they should do. After all, we are a pluralistic society and who are we to impose our values on him? The student repeated his behavior for two weeks before it was concluded that he was guilty of sexual harassment!

C. Ethics is the study concerned with the question of oughtness. On what basis, or on what grounds, should I act one way rather than another? What makes an action good or bad? Is there some standard by which to judge behavior? Or, what is the good? In philosophy, this is known as the search for the summum bonum, the highest good.

How do we know God exists?

1. The only way we can know a personal God exists is through His revelation of Himself in the Bible.

2. The design of nature makes the existence of a Designer highly probable but this cannot result in absolute proof.

3. Man can reason that a God must exist, but the man doing the reasoning is finite and has been affected by the fall. All philosophical arguments fall short of proving God's existence. (though some of the arguments are quite good!).

The doctrine of the deity of Christ is a fundamental of the faith. Almost all (even critics of Christianity) agree He was a unique person.

The word comes from the Latin cultus. Any kind of ritual, ceremony, or liturgy.

In recent times it means a group or movement that deviates from orthodoxy while claiming to represent the true faith.

There are still different opinions as to exactly what a cult is. To some, it is any movement that is weird, sinister, authoritarian, or incomprehensible.

It’s safe to say that no issue in our country has been more divisive or polarizing than the issue of abortion. Whenever a society or a country is steadily and increasingly moving toward an economy of socialism abortion becomes popular as a means to control an economy. Why? Because in a socialist economy the government in self-interest must weed out those that do not contribute, i.e, the physically and mentally handicapped, even the shear number of inhabitants must be controlled.

The question of suffering relates to the larger question of why God allows evil in the world. Ultimately this is a mystery since God Himself is wholly good and is all-powerful in that He could prevent it. What we do see in Scripture is that evil and its ensuing suffering are purposeful in God's plan. It might be helpful to liken God's eternal plan to a weaving. The under side of a weaving compared to the top is often unsightly. Manytimes our perspective of things is comparable to viewing a weaving from the wrong side!

The major problem with the atheistic assertion is the nature of the man making the declaration; he is finite or limited in his own being, yet the statement: "there is no god" is an all-inclusive absolute. It is a well- known philosophical axiom that you can never arrive at an absolute or infinite beginning with the finite. Atheism makes the fatal mistake, as do all humanist philosophies, in that it makes man the ultimate judge despite the fact that man is finite.

THE PROBLEM: The interpretation of the "days" of Genesis One became a serious problem when the scientific establishment inaugurated the view that the earth was billions of years old. Think about it! If we put all scientific knowledge aside, using only the normal rules of interpretation, how would you interpret the "days" of Genesis One? It is interesting that the liberal commentators who reject the Bible as inspired, and therefore have nothing to lose, are almost unanimous that the "days" of Genesis One are normal days.

There are many reasons for rejecting evolution: lack of evidence, faulty logic, never been observed, etc. However, if the teaching of the Bible were our only consideration, would there be sufficient reasons for rejecting evolution? We think so. Why is this an important issue? Because today many theologians who call themselves evangelicals seem to see no conflict in believing in both evolution and the Bible. (By evolution we mean macro evolution as described by Darwin and his followers.) The following are some major reasons why we think this is not logically possible: