It says that homosexuality is not okay in the Bible, but yet it says that God loves you for who you are. Why does this contradict? Because if you are homosexual, how does this apply?

“God loves you for who you are” is a common phrase that seems to be thrown around, but is nowhere to be found in the Bible. God is love – and Scripture is clear that he loves all people (John 3:16). Another common phrase that is similar is – “God hates the sin, not the sinner”. Both of these are saying the same thing – that God loves all people no matter what. While it is true that God’s love is unconditional, Scripture also teaches us that He is a God of hate, as well. “For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers (Psalm 5:4-5).” So what this Psalm is saying is that God not only hates sin, but also all people who do sin. That’s everyone.

Now let’s talk about homosexuality. All people are born into sin, and with a natural liking of sin (Genesis 8:21, Psalm 51:5). One of those sins that some are open to, for one reason or another, is homosexuality (Lev. 18:22, Lev. 20:13, 1 Cor. 6:9-10, Rom. 1:26-28, 1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Timothy 1:10).

So, what we’re seeing is that the Bible teaches that God is love, and loves all people. Yet, he is also a hater not just of sin, but of all people who commit sin. How can God love the sinner, and hate the sinner at the same time?

Good question. And the answer is… (in my best Sunday school voice) “Jesus”! God sent His only Son to take all of the sins of those who believe in Him upon himself, this includes all sins and sinners, and gives us His righteousness so that we can be free. So, now when God looks at Christians, he sees Jesus’ righteousness, instead of all of our sins.

And the other answer is… God’s wrath! Yayyy! But seriously… God still hates those who do not turn from their sins to believe in His Son. So what happens to them? God is just, so he must punish sin. So, sinners who refuse to repent and turn from their evil ways, will spend an eternity in Hell, where God’s wrath is being poured out.

So, in the end – there is no contradiction here. God loves us all, but because we all fall short (Rom 3:23), we deserve his wrath. But thank goodness he is “slow to anger”, and “gracious”, sending His Son to save us!

Jarred Boyd (Student Ministry Intern)

Here is another great explanation on the issue of Homosexuality. http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevinwax/2011/10/18/how-i-wish-the-homosexuality-debate-would-go/

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I’ve got joy, down in my heart, deep, deep down in my heart.  When I hear this word, my mind immediately takes me to this childhood song we would always sing at VBS.  I remember hearing this word for years and years, yet it wasn’t until I got older that I started to get an understanding of what joy is or what it means to be joyful.

A textbook definition would be something along the lines of “the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying.”  And to be honest, many of us could come up with a definition similar to this one or choose this definition on a vocab test.  But I think at the crux of this question, we have to evaluate what our source of joy is.  Think of someone in your life who you would describe as joyful.  Someone who is always seeing the good in people, who always has a positive attitude, who are always in a good mood and looking to encourage others.  When I say to think of a joyful person, who comes to mind?

For me, it’s my grandmother, my Meme.  This woman is always smiling, and always full of life.  When I was younger, if I wasn’t having a good day, she always had the right words, and ice cream, to lift me up.  When her mother and sister died, she cried tears of joy because she was celebrating the life that they had lived.  Sure she was sad, but she knew they were in a place far better than this world could offer them.  Meme is one of the most joyful person I’ve ever known.  But her source of joy doesn’t come in the hope for things of this world.  Meme knows Jesus is her Savior and knows that when her time on this earth is over, she’ll get to meet her Creator, Redeemer, and Savior.  This is why she can be joyful.  And this is why we can be joyful!

Our source of joy came in the form of man to take the place of our brokenness and our faults.  We can be people of joy because our hope doesn’t rest in the things created, but the Creator.  One of John Piper’s most famous quotes is “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”  Meaning – the more joy we find in the Lord, the more exalted He will become in our life.  Where is your joy found?  Who/What is your source of Joy?

-Nathan McDivitt (Student Ministry Intern)

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Why do we pass people on the street who ask for money and turn the other way?  Why do swallow the words we we want to say when we see someone getting bullied?  Why do we lash out at people and say things we know we’ll regret and that we know are hurtful?

There are so many different ways to answer these questions, and sadly, many of them just raise more questions, not even really answering the original question in the first place.  It’s hard to say why people forget to show compassion without knowing each individual story, but I think the answer lies in the truth that we are all sinful by nature and it is only Christ in us that moves us to show compassion

In Psalm 51, David writes “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”  From this we can gather that we are sinful by nature, and only by the saving grace of God, can we be anything other than sinful. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are anointed by the Holy Spirit and it intercedes on our behalf.  We begin to act in rebellion to our sinful nature.  For example, let’s you are an angry person by nature, and someone bumps into you causing you to spill your coke all over the place.  Instead of getting angry and causing a scene, you show compassion, even getting down and helping clean the mess.  You may even think to yourself “what is this compassion? I’m an angry person usually!”

So to answer the original question, Why do people forget to show compassion?  I don’t know think that most people set out to act in a way that isn’t compassionate, but it’s our nature without Christ to look out for ourselves and not look out for other’s needs.  But when we become a Christian and Christ is in us, we start to bear different fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, patience etc. We need Christ to intercede on our behalf, because we are sinful.

-Nathan McDivitt (Student Ministry Intern)

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Without making too much of an assumption here – I believe what this individual is asking here in essence is, “If God is good and sovereign, why doesn’t he just make us do only good things?” This question is rooted in the issue of sin. Why does man sin? Man sins, because we have a sinful nature. It isn’t just that man does a few bad things… without God all we do is sin because everything we do is for our own pleasure and good, instead of God’s. And it isn’t just that man does bad things, we ARE bad. In our sinful nature, we are totally incapable of doing spiritually good things (Rom 8:8, Isaiah 64:6). So, man sins because he has a sinful nature.

Why does man have a sinful nature? We are counted guilty and have a sinful nature because of Adam’s sin (Rom 5:12, Ps. 51:5). This further makes us wonder, “Then why did God create and allow Adam to sin?” Before I answer what I believe to be the most biblically supported answer in this area, please understand that there are some areas that God has not fully answered through His Word. This is certainly one of them. However, he has given us some Scripture passages that certainly point us in the right direction.

God’s desire is to be known, praised and made famous – you see this all throughout Scripture – God’s Word. God not only reveals himself through Scripture, but also through creation (Rom 1:18-20). God is constantly pointing all things back to himself by showing off WHO HE IS. He is powerful (created the universe – Genesis 1:1-25), he is beautiful (look at his wondrous creation – Eccl 3:11), he is loving (sent his Son to die for us – John 3:16), he is faithful (keeps all of his promises and never lies – Numbers 23:19), he is holy (perfect, pure, and transcendent – Isaiah 6:3), and most importantly for our argument’s sake – he is GRACIOUS/MERCIFUL (Ps 145:8). Besides, through Scripture, how does God show off his
attribute of “Grace”? By sending his one and only Son, to live the perfect life and die a brutal death upon a cross so that sinful man could go free. Wow! What a gracious God! Now, how could God show off THAT kind of grace, if there was no sinful man to save. If Adam had not sinned, and man continued in perfection and perfect relations with God, then we would not have needed Jesus the Savior. But God in His providence, ordained and allowed man to sin in order to show off his grace and love to his creation. So, why does God give us a choice to do bad things? In summary – to display His grace!

- Jarred Boyd (Student Ministry Intern)

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It is important here, first, to help you understand that, contrary to what many believe – this issue is extremely important to what we believe about God as well as the Gospel. Therefore, because this issue hits right at the heart of the Gospel – as Christians, we must not budge an inch on the fact that Scripture speaks of God as creator of all things… that being said, let’s dive in. Although this topic is incredibly packed with necessary things to understand, we’ll only concentrate on a few of the more crucial items:

• God created the Universe out of nothing.God created all things by His Word – NOT through or by any other molecules or matter – but literally out of nothing but the very word of his mouth (Psalm 33:6,9). Additionally, God directly created Adam & Eve. This is important because it gives all of creation, including us humans, a purpose for existing.
• The purpose for which God created the Universe, was/is to display his glory (Isaiah 43:7, Rev. 4:11)Contrary to evolutionary theories of “Natural selection”, Scripture teaches that there is purposefulness in God’s work of creation and that is to bring God glory and praise our maker.
• Everything that God created was “very good” (All throughout Genesis 1)This is crucial to understand, because God’s creation was perfect and good. The fact that things are not “very good” anymore, hinges upon the fact that man disobeyed God through sin and threw the entire universe into brokenness. God didn’t create sin, or death, or disease, etc. It was because of mankind’s sin, that all brokenness was born.
• Most importantly, we must consider how the theory of evolution destructively contradicts what we believe as Christians.If there was/is no God who created us, then there is no Judge to hold us accountable for morals. Therefore, without any guidelines, people’s moral ideas are completely subjective to themselves. For example, if I feel like murdering Johnny, I would be allowed to do such a thing – because after all, there is no higher authority to tell me it is wrong… However, we read in Romans 2:15 that every person has the Law written on their hearts. This is made obvious, for example, in the way that if Johnny lies to Phillip, he naturally feels a deep sense of guilt and wrongness – not necessarily because he broke his parent’s rules, but because deep within himself, he knows it is wrong to deceive other people. Why? Because God has created Johnny and has written his Law upon Johnny’s heart, to give him morals.

  Understand THIS: We must begin by sympathizing with the Darwinists (Evolutionists). The problem can be found in Genesis 3 – when Adam & Eve decided they wanted to become like God and chose their own way, instead of God’s way. Because of this, all human beings have an embedded rebellion and natural hide-from-God tendency to turn from the Creator and toward other created things – money, opposite sex, food, etc. (Rom 1:21-22). You see, all evolutionists are trying to do is explain creation in such a way that doesn’t make them accountable before God. What they are searching for is a way to serve themselves instead of God. Basically, they are saying, “How can we explain this entire amazingly complex universe, without putting us in a position to which we have to answer to somebody for the wrong we know that we have done and will continue to do?”

  -Jarred Boyd, Student Ministry Intern

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“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

John 1:1

When answering this question, it is important to know that the Bible would not exist without God.  Through prayer and guidance, the men who wrote the Bible were “inspired by God” (2 Tim. 3:16).  God intervened and influenced the words of the Bible.  Like John 1:1 tells us, the Bible would not exist without God.  Now that we understand that, lets get down to some of the historical details.

As you know, the Bible is divided into two sections, the Old Testament & the New Testament.  The Old Testament is believed by some to have been handed down through generations by word of mouth.  These words were written down, in Hebrew & a bit in Aramaic, but then a majority was lost in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, including the original copies.  A few copies of the Old Testament survived and from these we base our modern translations on.

The New Testament was not only written after the Old Testament but the setting is believed to take place after as well.  This portion of the Bible was originally written in Greek.  A large majority of the New Testament manuscripts date from the 10^th Century, with a few dating as early as the 2^nd Century.

–Maria Williams, Student Ministry Intern

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This question is heavy.  How do we know that the God of the universe exists? Well deep down, everyone has a sense that we all just didn’t pop up on the earth.  Something had to happen for mankind to come into existence.  We just didn’t start existing out of the blue.  Something happened, for us to come alive, and we believe that it was God that created man, through Adam and Eve. The very existence of man is evidence that God exists.

Also, through scripture, we can see evidence of God existing.  In the first verse of the first chapter of the Bible, it is written, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and Earth.”  Scripture couldn’t be anymore clear that God exists and created the universe.  We can see in scriptures that God exists.

Along with the existence of mankind, the fact that anything exists is reason enough to believe that God exists.  Walk outside and look to the heavens and see the stars.  They had to be made somehow.  Their very existence screams that God creator and that he exists.

-Nathan

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P-A-R-T-Y? Because I got to!!  This Saturday, the 21st, our church is going to be throwing a Block Party for the residents of Cherokee Place.  As a student ministry, we are partnering with the church to help serve, whether it be serving food, working registration, or just playing soccer with kids.  The party will be from 11-1, and we will plan to meet at Cherokee Place at 10:30.  Also, this summer we’ll be holding a backyard bible club at this place, so the block party will be a great time to meet some of the kids we’ll be teaching!  If there are any questions about this event, feel free to email Chase or any of the interns.  We’d love to see your smiling faces this Saturday!
Starting this Wednesday night, and for the next few weeks, we will be taking questions that students have as part of our new series Q&A.  In this series, students are encouraged to write down any questions they have about the bible, God or Christianity as a whole and place them in a box on the stage.  We will have many different approaches to answering these questions.  Some of the more difficult questions, Chase or one of the interns will address during a sermon type setting.  For other questions we’ll set up a panel during our Wednesday night activities, and we will also answer some questions on the blog or on Facebook.

This Sunday, we are offering our first Baptism class for students who want to be baptized and/or have questions regarding baptism.  Why do we, as Christians, get baptized?  Why is it important to get baptized?  Is baptism necessary to being a Christian?  This class will answer some of these questions and allow conversation between students and Chase or an intern, and will hopefully get rid of any doubts or fears students may have about getting baptized.  We are excited to provide an opportunity like this that would help strengthen our students’ faith and help them dive deeper into the call the Lord has on their life.  If interested, we will meet in the Backstage and then make our way to the conference room at 11.

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Beginning April 15, our High School students will be having small groups down the street at Chick-fil-a during the 11am worship hour. Doors will open at the Chick at 10:30am? Don’t expect to get in before then because no one will be there. Here are questions that may come up that I hope to answer:

1. What if I go to the 9:30am worship hour, how do I get to Chick-fil-a? If you worship at the 9:30am hour then we will shuttle you over the Chick-fil-a if you need a ride.
2. Where do I get picked up? You will be picked up at Chick-fil-a.
3.  Will we eat Chick-fil-a while we are there? NO!
4. Is this a permanent location for HS small groups? No. Hopefully we will be able to transition back to the Warehouse in the fall after the construction of  the children’s space. We just need to free up additional space for the younger age groups to do their small group time as well.

During these times of change the most important thing is to keep a positive attitude. God is doing incredible things through His Church and we are seeing growth, that is exciting news! With change comes new challenges, but I do believe this challenge could potential build great momentum in our Student Ministry. We need your support and prayers as we go through this transition.

If you have any more questions, please feel free to contact Chase, chase@rollinghillscommunity.org.

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Every year our teenagers have the opportunity to teenagers on a Summer Camp. In order to help out with the camp cost, we have created work days here at Rolling Hills to help raise money. On Friday and Saturday of this week, we are going to be working around the church cleaning, doing yard work, and washing cars. Here is the catch, yes there is a catch, in order for you to receive any money for camp you have to be here to work. At the end of both days our team will divvy out the money based on the amount of work done by each student.

Work Times:
Friday, noon-6 (lunch is provided)
Saturday, 9am-3pm (lunch is provided)

Click here to get our NEW! Student Ministry Calendar.

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