At my congregation, we have at least ten members that either ride the bus or are picked up en route to the building by other members.  Can/should the church collectively provide transportation for them?  Thanks for your help on this question.

Sincerely,
Ticket To Ride

Dear Ticket To Ride,

The church has the authority to do anything that it believes is necessary to fulfill the work God has given it.  Part of the work of the church is to teach the saved and preach to the lost.  Read “The Purpose Driven Church” for more details on what the church is authorized to do.  Just like a congregation has the authority to purchase a building to make it easy for brethren to get together and worship, it has the authority to deal with other issues that come up regarding the church assembling.  If a congregation had a legitimate need to transport members to the church building, it could pay for that out of its funds.

However, can and should are not the same things.  We are also warned not to burden the church when we can take care of things as individuals (1 Tim 5:16).  The tendency of today’s society is to place the burden on the church first and then for individuals to only deal with the leftover responsibilities.  However, this is flipped from the biblical order and it robs individual christians of opportunities to do good and grow.

A congregation could begin providing transportation if it was appropriate and needed, but it also sounds like your congregation is already comfortably handling the issue by having faithful people step up to the plate and shoulder the responsibility – what an example of brethren letting their light shine (Gal 6:10)!

How can I justify hopping, clapping, and swinging back and forth while singing praises to God?  It feels so good; it can't be wrong... can it?

Sincerely,
Mover And Shaker

Dear Mover And Shaker,

Just because something feels good doesn’t mean it is good.  If our standard for right and wrong is whether or not something feels good… all sin would be acceptable because all sin is intended to make us feel good (1 Jn 2:16).

It is very important that whenever we try and find what is right and wrong, we don’t go looking to prove that something is okay.  You can find anything in the Bible if you want it bad enough – all you have to do is twist the Scriptures and take them out of context (Gal 1:6-7).  Don’t try and justify behavior; try and find the Bible pattern.

So what is the Bible pattern for singing praises?  We are told to make melody with our voices and with our hearts (Eph 5:19).  What God wants to hear is our voices – not instruments, not clapping, not hopping up and down like at a rock concert.  God wants us to soberly and faithfully approach Him with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (Col 3:16).  We are to worship in a way that is decent and orderly (1 Cor 14:40), so the unbeliever and unlearned will be convicted by our words and behavior (1 Cor 14:16).  Much of modern worship is about how we feel, and it caters to our entertainment instead of God’s Word.  If we don’t have an example of christians hopping, clapping, and swinging back and forth in the Bible – we shouldn’t do it either (Rev 22:18-19).

(This post is a follow-up to the post “Set A Date”)

I saw your post about dating, but is it true that not every one is blessed?  I believe that not every one finds their love.  There are a lot of people out there without a wife or a husband.  I don’t believe that there is a girl or boy for everyone.

Sincerely,
Lone Star

Dear Lone Star,

Matt 19:12 says that there are three reasons that people decide to never marry.

1. They are born without a desire for marriage.
2. Life circumstances lead to their bachelorhood.
3. They choose to abstain from marriage so as to better serve God.

You are right that some people never get married.  Though the majority of people decide to, marriage isn’t necessary to serve God.

The other issue that you bring up is the idea that people have one right person for them to marry – a “soul mate”.  The Bible never teaches the idea that there is only one fish in the sea for each of us.  The Bible says a lot about how to find a godly spouse, but it never implies that there is only one right person for each of us.  If that were the case, it would be wrong to remarry after your spouse dies because you had already found “the one”, and any other marriage would be with someone that wasn’t your soul mate.

Did Noah have authority to use metal in the construction of the ark?

Sincerely,
Builder

Dear Builder,

Every command that you find in the Bible has specific and general qualities to it.  For example, when God told Noah to build the ark, He told Noah to use a specific kind of wood (gopher wood – Gen 6:14) and build the ark to specific dimensions (Gen 6:15-16), but He left the details of how to cut, fasten, and construct the ark up to Noah.  It would have been wrong for Noah to use oak or birch, and it would have been wrong for Noah to change the dimensions of the ark, but aside from that, Noah had freedom to use his own wisdom in the engineering of the ark.  The things that God was specific on, Noah had to be specific on to… but the things God was general about, Noah had freedom to decide for himself.

Our understanding of God’s command to build the ark out of gopher wood is that gopher wood was to be the primary construction material.  If Noah had needed metal to fasten the gopher wood, there wouldn’t have been anything wrong with that.  However, if Noah had decided to replace the gopher wood with a metal construction, that would have been wrong because it would have gone against God’s command.

What are the general and specific qualities to the command "rejoice"? What are the boundaries by which I must confine my expression of joy and delight in the Lord?

Sincerely,
Bursting

Dear Bursting,

The word ‘rejoice’ means ‘to be glad’.  Php 4:4 says that we should rejoice at all times in Christ.  That is a blanket statement about the attitude we ought to have as christians.

However, you also asked a second question.  You asked what ways we are allowed to express that joy.  That is a separate issue.  Many religious groups break into all sorts of ludicrous behavior (shouting, wailing, rolling in the aisles, etc.) in the name of rejoicing.  In order to see what ways are appropriate to show our joy (especially during worship), you need to go to other verses.  A good article to read on worship is “Order Of Operations”.