WELCOME TO BIBLICALTHOUGHT.COM!
The purpose of this website is to interpret and discuss various issues of the day as much as possible through a Biblical lens. The site will be refreshed with new content weekly – specifically, you’ll find a new Bible verse of the week with comment, a quote of the week with or without comment, and a statistic, poll, or data item of the week, again, with or without comment.
As the main content on this site, you will find brief essays, starting with three and, typically, with one new essay a week added. Whether or not you’re a Bible believer, these essays may give you some new insights on a variety of issues.
Verse of the week
Temptation to Sin
“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell fire.” (Matthew 18:6-9 ESV)
Comment: In these verses, Jesus is speaking to His disciples. First, we need to note His earlier statement that “unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” In other words, true believers become God’s children and have the innocence of a child – so woe unto him that leads a child (especially a new believer) into temptation and sin. Temptation is going to be in the world, Jesus says, but don’t you be the one to tempt others, particularly believers, into sin.
The second half of the passage deals with general types of sins. The references to hands, feet, and eyes are obviously metaphorical. For example, hands that cause sinning are hands that steal, assault, and even murder. So we must be careful what we do. Better to make our hands helping hands by helping a friend or a neighbor – or use them to open a Bible or fold them in prayer.
Our feet can metaphorically cause sinning because they can take us to places (and people) that we should avoid, like red light districts, gin mills, and other bad places, or to the presence of evil people. Better to use our feet to take us to church, or to a PTA meeting, or to hike in God’s beautiful countryside.
The eye can cause us to sin in two ways – (1) by looking outwardly at things like pornography or looking enviously at our neighbor’s goods and property; and (2) by looking inwardly, envisioning adulterous plans or revenge on an adversary. Better to go outdoors and look at God’s beautiful world or envision how you can make life a little better for your spouse or a sick friend, for example.
So we won’t need to undergo literal amputations or eyeball excisions – but we do need to keep a careful awareness of what we do, where we go, whom we associate with, what we look at, and what we think. And never tempt others, especially children or fellow believers, and lead them into sin.
Quote of the week
No Excuses for Violence
“After 9/11, America could identify evil. Today, we are increasingly tempted to empathize with villains who are ‘misunderstood’ and excuse their evil while carelessly and callously blaming the victims or not thinking of them at all. We have replaced political opposition with moral dehumanization. People are no longer morally wrong; they are dangerous. They are not neighbors to be persuaded but threats to be eliminated. Once that premise is accepted violence becomes easier to excuse.”
Jenna Ellis, columnist
Comment: From 9/11/01, we’ve come a long way, baby – but backward. Immediately after that catastrophic terrorist attack, our nation was as unified as it was in the days after 12/7/41 (Pearl Harbor). The latter unity pretty much lasted until the 60s. The 9/11 unity lasted only a few months, if that.
Too many of us today have succumbed to a fear of being labeled Islamophobic, even though those same forces have never ceased plotting and acting out our demise. But at the very leas,t we should all remember those who died on 9/11 – 2,977 people in all, including 343 firefighters and 71 police officers. There were a lot of heroes that day, too – especially the firefighters and police officers who were first responders.
Most of the heroes aren’t known by name to the general public, but we do know a few. For example, there is the 24-year-old equities trader Welles Crowther, who worked on the 104th floor of one of the Towers. He is known as the man with the red bandanna, which he always carried in his pocket. He saved the lives of at least 18 people but didn’t make it out himself.
Then, there is firefighter Stephen Stiller, who lost his life saving many others. His brother Frank founded Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which continues to help families of fallen first responders, veterans, and Gold Star families.
And there is Todd Beamer, a passenger on Flight 93, on which the passengers fought back against the hijackers, retook the plane, diverted it from Washington, and crashed it into a field. The passengers were all killed and were all heroes, but who could forget Todd’s call to action that was heard over a cell phone – “Let’s roll!”
So remember them all – but remember the perpetrators, too. We can at least be united in remembering what they represented and why they chose to do what they did, and we need to pray there is not a repeat performance. And by the way, 9/10 was the first anniversary of the assassination of Charley Kirk – a man who was in the process of re-teaching us how we can debate our differences without killing each other.
Statistic of the week
Where Do We Go From Here?
As of August, there were 35.9 million individual Americans in poverty, with 12.3% of the population on food stamps. The average American also carries over $63,000 in personal debt – which includes credit cards, auto loans, student loans, and other debt. At the end of 2024, there were 770,000 homeless Americans out on the streets, the highest ever.
Comment: While some Americans may be doing well (or at least staying even), the majority are facing strong financial pressures. Those who are working and barely make minimum loan payments month-to-month after paying for housing, utilities, food, and fuel have little left to spend on “quality-of-life” items or activities. That’s not the America of the 1950s through the early 2000s. What happened?
For one, the Great (welfare) Society of the 60s happened. For another, the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, in addition to costing 7073 American lives, cost $8 trillion. Then there’s the Covid pandemic that shut down the economy and cost over $4.6 trillion in recovery and stimulus payments. And the Iran war is costing us plenty right now. We are also spending heavily on our “immigration problem.”
It’s time to take stock.
Brief Essays Touching Issues of the Day.
Essays included on this website are divided into three basic categories – Spiritual Issues, Cultural Opinions, and Government Issues. There will be some overlapping, of course, but virtually all will relate to one or more Biblical principles that support the points of view expressed.
Versions of most of these articles were previously published in the Wisconsin Christian News from 2019 to 2023, but they have been edited and updated to better reflect current events. We are opening this website with three essays, one in each category – and typically, we will add one new essay a week. The latest title in each caregory will be in red letters.