I wonder about the question. Why is it “in vogue” to disbelieve in a Creator of the universe, who loves us and wants to have a relationship with us and not “in vogue” to believe?

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Prayer is conversation with God. Prayer consists of worship, praise and thanks to God for Himself and for all that He has done.

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There is a certain “fundamentalism” in the secular liberal approach to “global warming.” Even some evangelicals are getting into this “faith” that the earth is getting warmer because of human action.

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Christians are no longer under "the laws of the God of Abraham."

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Graduates of medical schools used to be required to take the Hippocratic Oath, which began: "I swear by Apollo Physician and Asclepius and Hygieia and Panaceia and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfill according to my ability and judgment this oath and this covenant:..."

So, the origin of the oath communicated a religious ideal, though a pagan one. It's purpose was to bind a doctor to a standard higher than himself.

In modern times, the Oath has been optional, but the sense of a moral, even religious standard, that would control the ethical decisions a doctor must make has remained. Most doctors respect the religious beliefs of their patients, except when they might conflict with sound medicine and the best interests of the patient. In circumstances involving, for example, Jehovah's Witnesses -- who mostly oppose blood transfusions, or Christian Scientists, who mostly eschew medical treatment -- patients need to make their wishes known in writing before treatment, such as in a will or other legal document that spells out precisely what an individual wants and does not want done.

In the case of children, doctors and the state are usually able to override parental wishes that are based on religion and not medicine if the best interest of the child demands it.

People can look up for themselves what various dictionaries and other "definers" say constitute a cult, but generally a cult is composed of several elements.

1) A human authority figure, usually of recent vintage, who claims to have the only true knowledge of God, or some other life force and who tells the follower not to listen to anyone else, or read anything else but what he (or she) instructs. Apparently no one in human history was as smart, or as holy, as this person, because only he (or she) has been given the divine truth. That cult leaders contradict each other, not to mention the Bible, apparently does not phase them or their followers. God can't be saying contradictory things or He would not be God.

2) Some cults require a separation from family and friends in order for the cult leader to retain physical and ideological control over people. Modern examples of cult leaders include Jim Jones of the People's Temple and David Koresh of the Branch Davidians. It is no coincidence that each of these cult leaders required their followers to die for them. The real God has died for us.

3) A book that adds to or detracts from (same thing) Scripture. Immediately, critics will say, "Everyone claims to have a book that is the revealed Word of God, so what makes yours so special?" My answer comes on at least three levels. The first is that what we call the Bible accurately explains man's condition (sin) and God's purpose (redemption), while offering hope for eternity. No other book can satisfactorily address such questions. It is a book written by different authors over thousands of years but it has a unity that only God could have brought about, because He is the true Author, using human instruments. Second, only in the Bible does God intervene on Man's behalf. Cults require followers to intervene on God's behalf by placating an angry deity. Third, only Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead, which no cult leader has done, or could do. The evidence for that is the hundreds of witnesses, none of whom recanted what they saw, even in the face of prison, torture and death. Human nature tells you at least one would have denied the resurrection if it didn't occur. And still many give their lives today for Him because only He gives back life as it was originally intended.