I am having a baby, but I am not married to her father.  My father said that this will be his child, not ours, if we don't get married.  He's a christian.  But is this in the Bible somewhere?!  If not, what can I say to him?

Sincerely,
Mad Mama

Dear Mad Mama,

There is a great deal involved in your situation, but you have only asked us to handle one piece of your difficult puzzle.  For the sake of clarity, we will only deal with the specific question of whether or not the baby belongs to you or your parent.

The baby does belong to both you and its father.  If for no other reason then the laws of the land stipulate that the biological parents, unless deemed legally unfit, have rightful guardianship over the child.  The Bible says to obey the laws of the land (1 Pet 2:13).  There is no Scripture that would provide a grandparent with the authority to take a child from the parent.  Having said that, there are quite likely some extraneous details that are involved in your situation that you are not making us aware of.  Anytime children are born outside of marriage there are thousands of issues involved because of the traumatic circumstances surrounding that child’s birth.  The Bible issue is clear; it is your baby… and your responsibility to do whatever is necessary to give that child a godly rearing (Pr 22:6).

5 minutes a day 5 days a week - a year of Bible Wisdom

5 minutes a day 5 days a week - a year of Bible Wisdom

The preacher of my church resigned. The last Sunday he was there, he brought another preacher and told us he was our new preacher and that he had the right to do this whether we liked it or not.  Us members of the church thought that we had to vote him in for him to become our preacher.  Can he do this without the members voting on him?  We don't know a thing about this man except he is our used-to-be-preacher’s brother-in-law.  We don't know what we are supposed to pay him or nothing.  He just took the job, and that’s it.  Weren't we supposed to vote on him as members of the church?

Sincerely,
Under New Management

Dear Under New Management,

Every congregation is commended to God’s Word, and that is what has charge over them (Acts 14:23).  All congregations must be very careful whom they allow in their pulpit.  It is each churches’ responsibility to keep false teachers at bay (2 Tim 4:3-4).  No one has a right to force his way into the pulpit.

In fact, the apostle John dealt with a situation where someone tried to take control of a congregation.  Diotrephes loved to have power and be honored in the church (3 Jn 1:9); he also loved to kick people out of the church that disagreed with him (3 Jn 1:10).  The apostle John made it very clear that he would punish and expose Diotrephes for that behavior.  Your congregation has the right and the responsibility to choose your own preacher… one that follows and teaches God’s Word.

5 minutes a day 5 days a week - a year of Bible Wisdom