Pastor Marc Bertrand

  What does the Bible say about polyamory? The word "polyamory" is a compound of two words: "poly," which is Greek for "many," and "amor," which is Latin for "love." It refers to a relationship in which a person has multiple sexual partners (not necessarily at the same time, i.e., threesomes). A polyamorous relationship is supposedly distinguished from "swinging" by the idea that polyamory involves love while swinging is simply recreational/casual sex. Polyamory has long been common in dating relationships. Recently, the idea has expanded into "open marriages." An open marriage is a marriage in which one or both spouses are allowed to have extra-marital affairs. After all, if you truly love someone, shouldn't you allow him/her to explore, to follow the desires of his/her heart? In reality, polyamory is poly-lust-ory. There is nothing "amor" about it. Polyamory is absolutely incompatible with what the Bi...

  How should I honor it? The Sabbath. The fourth commandment says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8). Once you’ve learned about the Sabbath, the next logical question is, “How do I keep it holy?” Keep It Simple. How many of the Ten Commandments have you debated the meaning of with your friends? Probably not very many! God is pretty straightforward. So why have we made the fourth one so complicated? For thousands of years, man has applied his interpretation to the Sabbath. By the time Jesus began His ministry, the Pharisees had hundreds of regulations regarding the Sabbath—as well as hundreds of corresponding loopholes to get around observing them. They were so tied to their cultural traditions that when God arrived in their midst, teaching and working miracles, they denied His divinity because He didn’t do what their cultural traditions dictated. How about us? Are we tied to cultural traditions? Principles of Bible Study In order to learn what God says about...

  Rest in God - Keeping the Sabbath Holy. Bible Principles: While this list of Bible principles on keeping the Sabbath holy is not comprehensive, it should help you as you search the Bible to learn how to be like Jesus and "do those things that are pleasing in His sight." 1 John 3:22. The Sabbath is a day to cease our creating, working with the creation, and appreciate what God has done in the world and is doing in us. Genesis 2 The Sabbath is a time to lay our burdens down and rest. We should not do any servile work on the Sabbath. This includes our entire family, even our servants and beasts of burden and strangers who live among us. Jeremiah 17; Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. The Sabbath is an holy convocation. We should meet and worship with others. Leviticus 23. We should be reverent and show God that we love, honor, and respect His authority. Psalm 89:7, Habakkuk 2:20. The Sabbath should be a day of delight and rejoicing, a day which we forsake our thoughts and words for ...

  Why Sunday is not the Sabbath. Some claim that Christians should still be keeping the Sabbath (Saturday) rather than worshipping on Sunday. Some even contend that Sunday worship violates the 4th Commandment, “Remember the Sabbath day – keep it holy,” and represents “the mark of the beast” of Revelation 13:8. How to respond? The Catholic Church heartily agrees that the Ten Commandments are unchangeable. The Catechism is clear: “the Ten Commandments reveal … grave obligations. They are fundamentally immutable ... No one can dispense from them.” So the disagreement is not about whether Christians should observe a Sabbath (Hebrew for “rest”), but about which day they should observe. The Catholic answer is that Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday. For this reason, it became the new Christian “Sabbath” – “the Lord’s Day.”(Which is false theology). Through his death and resurrection, Jesus fulfilled the Old Covenant and instituted the New Covenant – complete with a new priesthood (hims...

  What is the creation story in the Bible?. In short, the biblical creation story is the account of how God created all that exists. Genesis 1:1–2 sets the scene, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." So there was God and this empty, dark, formless water. Then Genesis 1:3–5 tells us, "God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light… God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day." It's interesting to note the order of morning and evening on that first day, and each subsequent day, that "there was evening and there was morning." For this reason, in Jewish tradition each new day begins at sundown, in darkness, and then continues into daylight ending at the next sundown. On day two, "God said, 'Let t...

  What makes you a pagan? The word pagan (without a capital P) is often used to describe anyone who holds religious beliefs that differ from the main world religions. A similar term is heathen. Today Pagan, with a capital P, often refers to people who follow Neo-Pagan religions that honour the Earth. The best known Neo-Pagan religion is Wicca. What does it mean to be a Pagan? It means adhere to one of several hundred different paths that allow one to think for themselves, and question the validity of there faith. It means to care for themselves, those around them, and the world in general without being forced to by religious dogma. But overall it simply means to have a religion, like billions of others (whether they agree with, tolerate, accept, or believe in their paths, or not). What Does It Mean to Be a Pagan? Touching upon the origins, history and diverse practices of the modern pagan. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word ‘Pagan’? 1-Bloodthirsty Viki...

  Avoiding Adultery. One book about extramarital affairs is titled The Myth of the Greener Grass. For many people, even for many Christians, the grass always seems greener somewhere away from one's own spouse. The world used to take adultery seriously, but how things have changed. The tabloids and TV chat shows send the message that adultery is -- well, normal. "Everybody's doing it" becomes a moral guideline, pushing aside that rather blunt statement in the Ten Commandments: Do not commit adultery. Exodus 20:14 But the attractions of the "greener grass" are strong. God's Word takes a painfully realistic view of the lure of adultery -- and of its consequences as well. The lips of an immoral woman are as sweet as honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil. But the result is as bitter as poison, sharp as a double-edged sword. Proverbs 5:3-4 A prostitute will bring you to poverty, but sleeping with another man's wife may cost you your very life. Can a ma...