"Preacher...pornography, dinosaurs, and the trinity...discuss."

Today, I thought I'd tackle a few interesting quesitons I got through our "Preacher, I've got a question" series.  And they run all over the place:

• There does seem to be somewhat of a preoccupation in the Baptist/Methodist branch of Protestantism with porn/sex over other sins like, greed, for instance.  Hugh Heffner, Larry Flint, and MTV get lots of attention while Bernie Madoff, Enron, and Wall Street seem to get a free ride. 
• Carter, Why do you always talk about pornography.

I thought these were interesting because my first response was a relatively simple one. We (I) talk about pornography a lot because no one else does.  Pornography is a huge problem in America, particularly among men.  It is leading to affairs, the objectification of women and plenty of other deviant sexual behavior.  There are men sitting in pews all across America who are addicted to pornography and no one is challenging them about it.  It is destroying marriages and lives.  It is an addiction that the Church has been afraid to talk about.  Moreover, it's even ripping apart the ministries of good men who have gotten caught up in addiction and the lies that come with it.  So, I bring it to light.  I talk about it often because it's a big problem.  Some stats say as many as 90% of men look at pornography.  Most studies show that at least 50% of men do.  Those numbers are staggering.  The Bible teaches that we are all image-bearers of Almighty God, so pornography objectifies women into objects, de-imaging them from God's image in which they were created.  This is unacceptable in the Kingdom.  Morever, pornography rips at the heart of the marriage covenant and skews mental images of sexuality.  It's just bad.  For whatever reason, I've never struggled with pornography, but I've had many friends that have, and the battle they have fought has been a difficult one.  I want to help men (or women) be free from the bondage of that sin.  As far as the finance guys, I know at Church of the Way that moving from selfishness to generosity is something we talk about a lot.  That's the goal for all of us.

• As large of an event you would think the creation and demise of dinosaurs are, why no mention of dinosaurs in the Bible?

You got me.  I do know that the Bible says that, to God, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day.  I think a lot happened we don't know about, maybe even from creation day to creation day.  I believe the story of Genesis 1 is that God did it, not how God did it or the details behind it.  The Bible actually talks of some great beasts of the sea and Leviathan.  Who knows what that means.  Maybe there was something around you and I haven't seen.  There's also no mention of the platypus in the Bible, but they exists.  I'm not sure the creation and demise of dinosaurs are that big of a deal to God.  WE are the ones made in His image and have been given dominion over the birds of the air, beasts of the field and fish of the sea.  God is weaving His story in history through humanity. 

•  The greatest controversy outside the protestant faith is the term “trinity” (which is not used in God’s word). Consequently, even some Christians have a hard time explaining it.  If you were to explain the Trinity to someone who feels they have to understand it, how would you do it?

Well, the best way I can understand it is this:  I am a husband, a father, and a son...but I'm still me.  In each of those roles, I have a different part to play, but I'm still me.  I think that's an easy way to understand how we can be many things but the same thing.

The other thing that has always made sense to me is the H2O.  That's right...water.  At room temperature, it's a liquid.  At 32 degrees, it's a solid.  At 212 degrees, it's a gas.  However, it's still two Hydrogen and one oxygen, just in different forms.  The same is true of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Same stuff...different forms.