Tough Questions | Jeff Mikels

Live Question and Answer

Last Sunday, I did a live Question and Answer session for the second half of my message. Here are the questions I was asked along with my answers.

Thoughts on Evolution, Creation, and Adam and Eve

For a few weeks now, I have been teaching in my church on the topic of belief and doubt, so I have been on a personal journey to understand the mind of the atheist so I can better understand the mind of the serious person who cannot cross the line of faith and possibly understand […]

Why do non-Christians go to church? (postponed)

Okay, it’s finally time for me to begin tackling this question. The problem is that I don’t really know the answers so this is going to be a general musing with some of my own hunches. Therefore, I’m really interested to know your opinions on it too. Perhaps together, we can figure some of this […]

Why do Christians go to church?

This last Fall, we took a survey in our church asking people to rank our church from “ick” to “wow” on various categories. This is a non-scientific study, of course, but the vast majority of our church attendees gave our church a “wow” on our preaching and mid to high marks on everything else. Also, […]

Why Christians Should Go to Church

Yesterday, I started a series of posts on why people go to church. Studies show us that large portions of the population claim to have a strong relationship with Jesus yet studies also show that large portions of the population rarely or never go to church. Today, I continue that discussion. Let us not give […]

Why do people go to church?

This morning, my wife heard on the Christian radio station that a recent study reports 67% of Americans claim to have a personal relationship with Jesus that affects their daily lives. However, just last weekend, I heard a statistic that currently 17% of Americans go to church. I think that means specifically that on any […]

3. Where do you stand on the inerrancy of Scripture and why?

What’s the issue? The question of Biblical “inerrancy” has been raised a number of times particularly in the past 50 years or so. Before answering this question, I think it’s important to simply highlight what the real issue is.

Exile & Renewed Hope

This post is part of a series on explaining the whole bible. Exile The kingdom of Judah ended with the destruction of Jerusalem and the deportation of the brightest young people to Babylon. However, Jeremiah had predicted that the exile would last only 70 years, and Isaiah even predicted a king named Cyrus would be […]

Why does God let us face trials?

James 1:2-3 gives the standard Christian answer to this question: Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance… Of course, knowing the Sunday school answer and being okay with it are two different things entirely, but this week, I […]

“for the Bible tells me so” — documentary on homosexuality

UPDATE: This film has been posted to YouTube if you want to watch it. link Tonight, our life group skipped our normal routine to watch a documentary purportedly on the relationship between homosexuality and religion called For the Bible Tells Me So However, the documentary was actually on the relationship between homosexuality and the conservative/fundamentalist […]

More on Homosexual Recovery

This week, CNN posted an article describing a recent report that attempts to help homosexuals “recover” do more harm than good. Since I wrote an article on this very topic (see Is There Recovery for the Homosexual?.), I thought it would be good to have a link to this new article here and to add […]

Quick Study on the Rapture

This week at my Life Group, we looked at the clearest teaching in the Bible regarding the rapture, and I’ve become even more convicted about one particular position. This post is intended to guide you through the same study we considered this week and to give an inside track on what I’m currently thinking about […]

You Can’t be Both Pre-Trib and Calvinist

If you are a Calvinist: you believe that God has “elected” or “chosen” those who would be saved from before the foundation of the world. you believe that those whom God has chosen have been predestined to respond to the gospel when God woos them. you believe that salvation comes entirely without regard to human […]

Statement on Human Sexuality

Apparently, with the legal pressure provided by pro-homosexual lobbies, there is a threat that churches will be liable to lawsuits for anti-homosexual practices unless our position on the issue is clearly stated in religious terms. The recommendation is that we amend our statement of faith to describe our core convictions in this matter. Therefore, I’m […]

What’s wrong with premarital sex?

What’s wrong with premarital sex? One of the questions I get a lot is the question about sexual morality as it relates to the Bible, and it’s one I have thought a lot about as well considering that I do quite a bit of marital counseling and also considering that I’m a guy and I […]