Charlotte ^ost
RELIGION
9A
THURSDAY
July?. 1993
Preachers Use Computers; Bible Goes On-Line
' V
Insights
JOHN ADAMS
The Church's
Response To
Homosexuality
he
church
es' re
sponse
to ho
mosex
uality
Is not
given
in the
so-
called gay church nor the ma
jority of established main
line institutional churches in
America. They are not capa
ble of presenting the saving
gospel of Jesus Christ. The
average homosexual who de
sires to change his or her life
style would not find an au
thentic liberating Word of
God in these churches.
The goal of the gay church,
according to Rev. Troy Perry,
a professing Christian who
dedicated the Metropolitan
Church on March 7. 1971 in
Los Angeles, is to have a place
for gays "to worship God in
dignity, not as lepers or out
casts but as his children." The
fundamentalist wing of the
gay church as well as the
Charismatic wing teaches
that two men or two women
may enter the church and
that in the name of Jesus
Christ be united in marriage
and live together acceptable
to God. The liberal wing of the
gay church has not hesitated
to consider the fundamental
ists kooky and the Charls-
matlcs as just a trip.
A homosexual who looks to
be liberated from homosexu
ality would find that the ma
jority of institutional
churches in America do not
believe that the omnipotent
power of God would be opera
tive in delivering homosexu
als.
Many institutional church
es today are not more than an
echo, not a voice. Such
churches not only lack hav
ing the zeal of God but also
having knowledge of God as
well. Very few Christians de
nominations today have re
mained faithful to the Bible's
clear affirmation that homo
sexuality is a sin.
But change is possible. The
average homosexual does not
have to remain forever
trapped in the vile bondage of
lust, sin and degradation.
Case studies have proven
homosexuals can change.
Darlene Bogle, a woman who
struggled with lesbianism for
17 years, is completely free
through the grace and mercy
of God.
Frank Worthen, a practic
ing homosexual for 25 years,
was delivered in 1973 and has
remained free without once
falling back into his old secu
lar behavior.
Where the majority of
churches have failed to evan
gelize the gay community,
other organizations are. Exo
dus International and Homo
sexuals Anon)rmous. These
organizations in New York
and California are dedicated
to communicating God's re
storative power to gays. These
organizations provide real
hope for those who struggle
with homosexuality.
By Se
ASSOC
lATED PRESS
CHARLESTON. W.Va.-In
the old days, pastors pored
over concordances and
Bibles to find the perfect one-
two punch for Sunday's ser
mon. The high-tech '90s is
changing all that.
About five years ago, com
puter Bibles came on line.
Though still a novelty to
most, users and vendors say
the speed and ease of these
programs are attracting
computer-literate religious
researchers and Bible read
ers.
"I dont have a computer yet,
but I'm plaiming on getting
one and will definitely use
that type of software," said
the Rev. J. Allen Dean of the
First Church of the Nazarene
in Charleston.
'We'll certainly use the
computers for record
keeping and bulletins, but I'll
use it for sermon construc
tion, too."
Depending on the edition,
the software programs offer
one of many Bible transla
tions, as well as useful refer
ence works such as Nave's
Topical Bible, Nelson's Bible
Dictionary, Strong's Greek-
Hebrew Dictionary, English
man's Concordance and
Vine's Expository Diction
ary.
Dean plans to buy a laptop
computer and sees the com
puter disks saving him from
lugging volumes of books
when he has to be away from
his home or church.
"It's a matter of taking ad
vantage of technology. I plan
to do my sermon on the com
puter since I tend to preach
from a manuscript type of
sermon anyway. This will be
more efficient."
As a 40-year-old budding
computer enthusiast. Dean is
precisely the type of person
that Bible software compa
nies want to capture.
"There has been a dramatic
increase in the number of
computers in the home and
in churches since we opened
in 1988," said Warren Bailey,
marketing director for
Seattle-based Biblesoft, the
maker of the PC Study Bible.
'We have a lot of pastors
and theologians who use our
products; but that's not our
target audience. Eighty per
cent are people like you and
me who just want to learn
more.
"If all you really wanted to
do was look over a Bible, you
probably wouldn't need us,"
Bailey said. "But most people
who get involved in the Bible
have questions and would
like access to answers. That's
where we feel our product
fits."
Bailey says the competition
is tough in the religious soft
ware business, with about 30
different companies making
some type of program for
personal computer use. Bi
blesoft is one of the largest,
with more than $2 million
in sales last year, mostly
through wholesale, he said.
Tim Spradllng, a part-time
salesman at the Bible Book
Shop in Charleston Town
Center, uses Bible software
on his home computer to
help prepare for youth
church lessons he leads.
"For example, it can type all
of Chapter Two of Proverbs
for me," he said. "My text can
then be printed out and
everything is right there in
front of me. I don't have to
flip through the pages to find
it."
The software sold at the
Bible Book Shop can range
from a Bible and concor
dance package for $69.95, to
the latest CD ROM disks that
cram huge amounts of infor
mation together for about
$500, Spradllng said.
So far, local vendors and
users say there haven't been
Macintosh Plus
any barbs thrown by tradi
tionalists who swear that
white pages with black ink are
the tried and true tool of bibli
cal study.
"Most people who have com
puters love it and are very
open to it," Spradllng said.
"When you look in a concor
dance book, only part of the
verse is shown. You still have
to go look up the verse to find
the context. With the comput
er Bible, it actually looks up
the entire verse at the same
time."
QuickVerse, made by Bibles-
oft's chief rival. Parsons
Technologies, based in Cedar
Rapids, Iowa, is a popular pro
gram sold by Spradling's store
because it's easy to use, he
said. It has an atlas, a con
cordance, a Greek lexicon
and a complete Bible, he
said.
"Many pastors, though it's
not true to all churches, have
a bachelor's degree and a
master's," Spradllng said.
"Along the way in college,
they will have had computer
classes. However, some min
isters who went to school
eons ago may be intimidated
by computers."
More popular to Charleston
than the software programs
are the hand-held computer
ized Bibles, said Diane Tol
ley, manager of Tolley's
Bible Book Store in Kana
wha City.
The $200 Franklin Electron
ic Bible looks much like the
small computerized diction
aries available to stores, she
said.
•The Rev. F. Leon Alexander,
of Blessed Sacrament Church
to South Charleston, says he
hasn't stepped into the com
puter age yet, but sees value to
the software.
"Anything that goes to help
ing access information for
scriptural scholarship is a
good thing to my opinion," Al
exander said. "It's still good
for people to leaf through the
Bible, but as far as using it
(software) for the purpose of
study, it's all right."
CfTT\TT\ AX/" T TPCfC/XTKT
f^LJISUAX
•TTte Sufficient Christ
Lesson Background
The opening verses of Co-
losslans 2 express Paul's
deep concern for the Colos-
slan Christians and others
whom he has not met per
sonally. He wants their
hearts to be encouraged,
joined closely to love, and
rich in understanding of
God's way. Paul is a prisoner
far from the Colossians, but
he rejoices as if he were with
them. We all do something
like that at times. While the
body is In one place, the
mind and emotions are
somewhere else. Paul finds
joy in two things among the
Colossians. First is their or
der. They are well organized
and disciplined, like soldiers
marching together in the
ranks. Then Paul rejoices at
the steadfastness of their
faith. Their confidence and
trust are strong, not shaken
by any fad, folly, or false
teaching. Their steadfast
faith Is to Christ, of course.
Otherwise it would not have
brought such joy to Paul.
We take our place to Christ
when we receive Him, and we
show that we are to Him by
the way we walk. That means
the way we live day by day.
Our walk is not just what we
do on Sunday: it includes
what we do every day to eve-
ly situation. Our weekday ac
tivities may be different
from what we do on Sunday,
but we should not have a
change of character. The
kind of character we show on
the Lord's Day should be car
ried through every day.
"Can two walk together, ex
cept they be agreed^' If we are
to walk to Christ, we must
agree with Him about the
right way to live. Are we
agreeing with Him in the way
we spend our monej^ In for
giving those who have hurt
us? In caring for the poor in
our communities? In letting
go of prejudices? In not being
nltpicky and complaining?
In the way we talk? In giving
our employer a full day's la
bor?
Rooted refers to our begin
ning; built up to our matur
ing. When we plant some
thing we expect it to take root
and grow. Its growth will be
of the same kind as the root.
Rooted to Christ, we are to
grow In Chrlstllkeness. We
must let go of concepts, pri
orities, feelings, activities,
and practices that do not re
flect our root, and we must
hold to those that do.
To be established is to be
strong that we will be un
shaken to all the storms of
life. Abounding in a faith so
firm, we can find in eveiy
situation a reason for
thanksgiving.
There are many things to
the world that are trying to
rob us of our Christian faith,
and so to take away our eter
nal life as well. Four of these
spoilers are mentioned in
this verse: philosophy, vain
deceit, tradition of men, and
rudiments of the world.
Various kinds of philoso
phy are capturing Christians
today. For example, human
ism teaches that there Is no
God above humans, that God
is only an idea created by hu
mans. This philosophy is
running wild In many uni
versities today. It makes fun
of Christianity. It denies
creation and says evolution
is the way we began.
Vain deceit is any kind of
teaching that produces noth
ing eternal. Such teaching is
empty and useless. Material
ism, for example, teaches
that our worth is measured
by how much we make,
where we live, what we drive,
and how much we have accu
mulated.
Jesus and His disciples
were criticized because they
did not keep the tradition of
the elders. Had Jesus kept all
their traditions, perhaps
they would not have cruci
fied Him--but they would
have kept Him from teaching
the truth.
It is okay to have tradi
tions: we all do. But It is not
okay to condemn others be
cause they do not value our
traditions as we do. Tradi
tions must not destroy the
unity of Christ's body, the
church. We have traditions
about many things: the time
of worship, the length of a
worship service, the order of
worship, the style of music,
when to use the Lord's Prayer
In worship, whether the
choir should wear robes or
not. None of these is esta
blished by the Bible. Then let
none of them disturb the
harmony that is taught to
the Bible.
Ye are complete to him does
not mean we now are all we
can be as Christians. It
means that to Christ we have
all we need to become all we
can be. We do not need to be
Jews as well as Christians;
we do not need to accept some
human philosophy or tradi
tion. We need to know Christ,
to follow His example and
teaching, to become more
like Him. He Is superior to
the philosophies, the tradi
tions, and the rudiments of
the world.
The Harvest Is Past, I
This Is A Paid Advertisement
he Harvest
Is Past, The
Summer Is
Ended, And
We Are Not
Saved."
(Jer. 8:20). Are these not the
sad words that can be ap
plied to so many who have
sat under the truth for so
many years? Yes. While
others have been brought to
a saving knowledge of
Christ as their Lord and
their Savior, some of you
here who are close to this
servant of the Lord are more
dead than ever. Some have
been under the truth for al
most 30 years. Yet there are
no impressions. You have
scorned the truth over the
years. It seems that you are
past all feelings (Ephesians
4:19).
Are you among the group
just not destined to be
saved? There is no safety in
just being under the truth. It
can be rightly said of some
that you are dead while you
live. "But she that liveth to
pleasure is dead while she
liveth." (I Timothy 5:6).
What a sad and tragic state
to be in. The Lord is still
saving stoners but you see
no need to be awakened. You
want to be left alone. And if
the Lord leaves you alone,
you will go to Hell just as
straight as a martin to his
gourd. Every sinner in the
death sleep of Satan wants
to be left alone. There is
only one thing that God has
to do for a sinner to go to
Hell, and that Is just leave
you alone and you will auto
matically go to Hell.
Yes, the harvest is past for
some here. Some of you will
never be saved, even though
you have been under the
truth for a long time. The
long-suffering of God leads
to salvation, but much
long-suffering fits a vessel
of wrath for eternal de
struction (Romans 9). The
most awful thing is to go
out into eternity without
Christ. There is a great
damnation in Hell for
those who sat under the
truth, but refused His call
from Heaven (Proverbs 1).
The greater the light, the
greater the damnation. You
take the truth lightly, if
that much, but, dear soul,
there is coming a day not
too distant in the future
when you will look back to
regret, but to no use. For as
death finds you, so shall
eternity hold you. There
will be no second chance to
come back and live your
life over. When you draw
your last breath here on
this earth you'll get the
greatest shock of your life.
You will be ushered out into
eternity and see your awful,
lost, and ruined and hope
less state as an enemy of
God. In this life, you spurn
the mercy and goodness of
God.
You count the Blood of
Christ as a common thing,
and do despite to the Spirit
of grace, according to He
brews 10. And when you lift
up your eyes to Hell, you'll
see all the space God gave
you to repent. You'll see all
your true lost stage but
you'll not be able to do any
thing about it. There are no
words to describe the tor
ment you'll experience
there. Perhaps the most aw
ful thing about Hell will be
memory.
By JJ^Uttle