A Little Word Can Make a Big Difference

By Bob Myhan

In last week’s article, “What the Church of Christ Is Not,” by Anthony Genton, the statement was made that “The New Testament church is the roman catholic church.” Aside from the fact that “Roman Catholic Church” should have been capitalized, the word, “not,” was inadvertently omitted between the words, “is” and “the.” While only two readers contacted the editor of the Forest Hills Faith Builder with regard to this omission, the editor feels certain that almost everyone probably noticed it. And, while the word, “not,” was missing in the original (in an email from brother Genton), the editor should have caught it during the proofing stage.

 The word, “not,” is a little word but it can make a big difference. In Genesis chapter three, the word resulted in a lie when it was inserted into the truth of God’s words. God had said, concerning the tree of the knowledge of good an evil, “In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Contradicting this, the serpent said to Eve, “You will not surely die.”

The truth is, there is nothing resembling the so-called “Holy Apostolic Roman Catholic Church” in the New Testament. As a matter of fact, the New Testament pre-existed the Catholic Church by some 600 years. &

The Perfect Fool

By Steve Klein

No one likes to be thought of as a fool. Yet, according to the Bible, the world is full of fools. The Scriptures even de­scribe a number of ways to become a fool.

Here are seven ways to be a fool:

1. Doubt the resurrection. The resurrec­tion is a difficult concept for mortals to un­derstand. Some find this reason enough to doubt that there will be a resurrection. By doubting the resurrection, they have an ex­cuse to live in pleasure and moral foolish­ness. The apostle Paul observed that "if the dead do not rise" we could well say, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!" (1 Co­rinthians 15:32). Notice that doubting the resurrection leads to poor direction in this life. Given the fact that Christ rose from the dead, it is foolish to doubt the resurrection just because we do not understand how a dead person can come back to life. Paul notes that "someone will say, 'How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?'" He calls the person who would ask such doubt-filled questions a "foolish one" (1 Corinthians 15:35-36).

2. Build your life around worldly accom­plishments and prosperity. In Luke 12, Jesus told of a rich man who was so prosperous that he had to build new barns to store all of his stuff. The rich man said to himself, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry." "But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?'" (Luke 12:19-20).

3. Despise instruction. "Fools despise wis­dom and instruction" (Proverbs 1:7). They think they know it all, when in fact they have a lot to learn. "But fools hate knowl­edge" (Proverbs 1: 22). This kind of fool is commonly found in the home in the form of a teenager who will not listen to his father's instructions. "A fool despises his father's in­struction" (Proverbs 15:5).

4. Enjoy starting arguments. "Any fool can start a quarrel," and so every fool seems to enjoy doing so (Proverbs 20:3). Truly, "A fool's lips enter into contention, and his mouth calls for blows" (Proverbs 18:6).

5. Make light of sin. Fools mock at sin (Proverbs 14:9). Sin is funny to fools. They don't see the seriousness of it. So they laugh at filthy jokes, take pride in drunken parties, and brag about getting away with breaking laws or committing sexual immoral­ity. "To do evil is like sport to a fool, but a man of understanding has wis­dom" (Proverbs 10:23).

6. Act like you're always right and every­one else is wrong. "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes" (Proverbs 12:15). "A fool has no delight in understanding, but in ex­pressing his own heart" (Proverbs 18:2). "He who trusts in his own heart is a fool" (Proverbs 28:26).

7. Act as if you will never have to answer to God. Fools commit many sins, "Yet they say, The LORD does not see." They are only kidding themselves. The God who created the eyes and the ears sees and hears all. "Understand, you senseless among the peo­ple; and you fools, when will you be wise? He who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He who formed the eye, shall He not see?" (Psalms 94:7-9).

The number seven is thought to be the number of completion or perfection. If a person is a fool in all of the seven ways listed above, I suppose that would make him the perfect fool. Hopefully, we can all see the folly of that. – Via the Bulletin of the church of Christ at New Georgia, February 20, 2008 &

Does God Have a Dress Code?

By Eugene Britnell

In these days when both men and woman fail to dress modestly, neatly and appro­priately, they often declare that God does not have a dress code. That is true and false - more often false. Let's think about it.

The second problem God had with people was with their attire. (The first was rebellion in eating the for-bidden fruit.) After that, they realized they were naked and sewed fig leaves together for clothing (Gen. 3:7). God was not pleased with that and made coats of skins and clothed them (Gen. 3:21). There's a lot of difference between a fig leaf and a fur coat.

God and all people recognize the differ­ence between men and women (that is ex­cept homosexuals). Although it is possible for men to dress immodestly - and many do - God's instructions to woman are more explicit. To them He said, "....that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety which be­cometh women professing godliness" (I Tim. 2:9-10).

Women, more than men, are violating God's law. As an example, look at cheer-leaders at a ball game. The girls are almost naked, and the boys have on long pants. People are good at reversing God's order.

Some people respond to this kind of teaching by say­ing, "clothes do not make a man." True, but they do make a statement! They reveal much about the attitude, de­cency and spirituality of any person.

Some men dress for worship like they would not think of doing to attend a wed­ding or funeral of a dear friend. Is the Lord not worth that kind of respect? They get up before a congregation at the Lord's Table slovenly and unkempt. Such is the result of an attitude and disrespect for our Lord Jesus Christ. If you are going to serve your Saviour, look and act your best. He deserves no less, and you would not embarrass other members before visitors. Think about it.

Some preachers have a dress problem. They can hardly wait for Sunday service to end to get out of coat and tie. And for some reason, which I don't understand, they make a distinction between Sunday morning and Sunday and Wednesday evenings. I heard recently about a preacher in Arkan­sas who preached in a tee-shirt and blue jeans! Some others are headed in that di­rection! In almost sixty years of preaching I don't recall attending a service without my tie - and seldom without my coat. I can de­fend that attitude.

We hear sectarians and some liberal brethren talking about a casual and contem­porary service. I understand that to mean come as you are and do as you please.

There is much immodesty seen in maga­zines, news­papers and advertisements, but the worst source of im­modesty and por­nography is television. We even see much of it in the frequent, irrelevant and stupid com­mercials. They seem to think that sex sells, so they show some form of immodesty in many programs and commercials. We must teach and warn of the dangers.

Above all, let us respect God in every possible way. Brother Granville Tyler told of seeing his mother stop sweeping the floor and pick up a small piece of paper. When asked why, she replied that she saw the word GOD on it and did not want to sweep it out with the trash. What a wonderful atti­tude! (The Sower, May/June, 2008) &