GuitarWarp

This line from the Christmas carol, We Three Kings , often stumps modern listeners.  What does it mean? " Incense " (or frankincense ) was a costly substance that created a fragrant smoke when burned. As the verse indicates, in this case it symbolizes our prayers rising to God. The phrase, " a Deity nigh " refers to the Christ Child himself, who was "near" (nigh) from the perspective of the three Kings who had traveled to worship him and offer Him gifts.  Nigh is an old word for near .  And Deity means divine, or God. "Owns" in this case probably does not mean the obvious fact that Jesus now "possessed" some incense since that was one of the gifts.  "Own" can mean to have the legal right to something.  Jesus is the one to Whom we pray. We rightfully give Him our prayers and praise. The kings gave him incense in recognition of this. The smoke from smoldering incense symbolized the prayers of God's people rising t...

From Christianity Today blog... What God Hath Not Joined Edith M. Humphrey  [ posted 9/1/2004 "H ave you not read that the one who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?" [Matthew 19:4-5]  So Jesus declares that in the first marriage and in every marriage since, it is God himself who joins particular members of the opposite sex together in a natural relation unlike any other. So Jesus declares that in the first marriage and in every marriage since, it is God himself who joins particular members of the opposite sex together in a natural relation unlike any other. All societies have honored this special union that Christians, Jews, and Muslims rightly recognize to be a gift of the Creator. Even in an atheistic context like Russia during the Communist period, Muscovite couples were married with festal trapping...

Because in this whole gay marriage and homosexuality debate very few ever bother to actually look at key Scriptures, GW has added them below: 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (New Testament) 9  Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, 10  or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. (Is stealing or idol worship a sin according to this passage?  Yes! Likewise everything else listed, including homosexuality.) 1 Timothy 1:9-11 (New Testament) 9  For the law was not intended for people who do what is right. It is for people who are lawless and rebellious, who are ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred and defile what is holy, who kill their father or mother or commit other murders. 10...

Ed Stetzer's blog post from May 10, 2012 talks of the "future of evangelical response" to the gay marriage issue. Of five principles evangelicals should consider, his last is this one: At the end of the day, all evangelicals will still have to deal with an issue on which the evangelical view is perceived as narrow and bigoted.   Evangelicals will continue to be pressured to accept a worldview rooted in cultural acceptance rather than biblical revelation. While President Obama's thoughts on certain issues have evolved, biblical truth has not. http://www.edstetzer.com/2012/05/president-obama-and-same-sex-m.html Many evangelicals are regular viewers of the conservative Fox News Channel.  Yet consistently there gay marriage is also seen as no problem, and something positive.  Even stalwart culture warrior Bill O'Reily commented 12/13/12 that if gay marriages passes the Supreme Court and becomes the law of the land it won't have any significant effect o...