TATER DAY

March 29th, 2013 | By admin

by Katt Anderson

Each year for the past 170 years, Marshall County, KY has celebrated Tater Day. Monday, April 1 is the official Tater Day this year. People show up to walk the streets, but not for the same reason the day was started so long ago.

Tater Day was started by the farmers to swap sweet potato slips, or sweet potato plants. The courthouse closed and all businesses so these farmers would have time to visit and swap their plants. Through the years it has changed to what it is today.

Today, Tater Day is a day to walk the streets of Benton with your dog and women dressed in their shortest shorts and halters. It is a day for Funnel Cakes, Corn Dogs, and other eats. I wonder how shocked the founders of this day would be if they came back and walked the streets of Benton.

This is a lot like the church. Many churches have wandered away from what the Bible teaches about Christianity. They have added things and taken away things that they felt were not important. What would Peter and Paul think if they walked into one of our churches today. I’m sure they would be shocked to see an organ, a choir loft, and cushy seats. They would also be shocked at how many times people looked at their watches in anticipation to finish the chore of church and get on with their Sunday.

Yes, churches have changed. A lot of times the Bible is not even read in sermons. How do you think Jesus feels about that? His Word not even quoted. Christ died so we could have remission of our sins. It’s that easy, but we must obey what is taught in the New Testament. We cannot add or take away from His Word. We have to take it like it is. I’m so thankful there are men who are willing to do this. If the apostles came to church with me, I feel they would not be so shocked. We sing, pray, take the Lord’s Supper, give of our means, and hear the Word of God spoken in each Sunday assembly. That’s what the Bible teaches. I believe Peter and Paul would be very comfortable and would worship with us. Can you say the same about the church you go to?

“IF YOU CALL THIS LIVING…”

December 24th, 2012 | By admin

by Paul Holland

            I recently called a local hospital to check on a patient. An automated response started and I began working on something else. After a few minutes, it sounded like the same voice came on the phone and said something. Because it was the same voice, I wasn’t sure if the woman was still the automated response or if it was a live person. So, I asked, “Are you a live person?”

            She responded, “If you call this living…”

            She didn’t have the tone of voice suggesting she was joking, although she did not sound cynical or depressed either. “If you call this living…”

            Well, she was alive. That’s living. She may not have been in the best of health, but she did feel well enough to be at work. That’s living. She had a job. That’s living. She came from somewhere which meant she had a family. That’s living. Surely working at a hospital she had some co-workers with which she was friends. That’s living.

            Just one phone call gave me five blessings this woman enjoyed. Maybe she needed to hear the lesson last Sunday on “The Good Life”. It really begins and ends with worship to God (Psalm 103:1-2; 20-22). If she worships God through Jesus Christ, then she lives the good life and she is “alive” in every sense of the word.

            If she does not worship God through Jesus Christ, she is dead, even though she lives. Jesus is the Bread of Life (Jn 6:35). Jesus is the Light of Life (Jn 8:12). Jesus is the Author of Life (Acts 3:15). He came to give us newness of Life (Rom. 6:4) by obeying the law of the Spirit of Life (Rom. 8:2)

            May you and I share the Word of Life (Phil. 2:16) that others may enjoy the resurrection of Life (Jn 5:29) and have their names written in the book of Life (Phil. 4:3) and thus wear the crown of Life (James 1:12).

            That’s what Jesus calls living.

ASK AUNT MARY-A TIME TO WORSHIP

August 1st, 2012 | By admin

The last Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday of July, the churches of Christ in Western Kentucky have an Area Wide Gospel Meeting. It is held in the Carson Center in Paducah, Kentucky. I have been for the last four years and it is wonderful.

Tuesday night is always Youth Night. Last night we sat behind three young teenage ladies. Each one had their Bible and they searched the scriptures as the preacher, Cliff Goodwin, gave them. Some of the other teens had their Bibles, and some talked to their neighbors all during the sermon. I didn’t watch the three girls that much, but I did glance over once or twice and their Bibles were open on their laps.

Why did this impress me? It showed they had been to church most of their lives. They knew what the Bible was, and they knew where they could find the books, chapter, and verses. Adults have trouble doing that sometimes. Even though other teens had not brought their Bibles, these girls had, and they were not afraid to use them. They were not ashamed to be seen with their Bibles.

Today we are so afraid of what others will say about us. We want to look like others, and we want to do what others do. We forget that Christians are different. In Romans 12:1-2, we read, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

We as Christians go to church. That’s unheard of by some of your friends. Probably a lot of them have never even been in church, not even on Christmas or Easter. We don’t cheat on tests. There’s probably a lot of things we don’t do that our friends do. Like drinking and using drugs. We don’t do them because Christ teaches us it is wrong and we respect our bodies more. This has to be strange to friends who do these things. They can’t understand why we don’t have this fun. There is nothing fun about a hangover or coming out of a drug induced high. You are the one having fun, not them.

My advice to the young Christians who are trying to live a life according to the Bible, select Christian friends if you can. If you can’t, have friends who think like you do and try to convert them to Christ. Study your Bible daily. Live the way Christ wants you to live. Attend church regularly. If your parents are Christians, talk to them when you have a problem, or talk to the deacon in charge of the youth at your church. If you don’t have that, talk to your preacher. Have someone to talk to.

When you attend a church service, take your Bible out and follow along with the preacher. Make sure what he says is according to the Bible. Memorize key verses in the Bible, Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38. Those will answer questions about baptism. Never stop learning.

DEAR AUNT MARY-TELL ME ABOUT ATHEISM

October 19th, 2011 | By admin

Dear Aunt Mary,

In my school, we are taught evolution and atheism. How can people believe that there is no God? A Christian

Dear Christian,

There are some advantages to being raised in the south, especially the Bible Belt. The beliefs in God run strong and deep in that particular part of the United States. We are raised to be God fearing, Bible thumping, and believers. God is first in our lives, next comes the home, and the country comes last. That’s the way people are brought up in the south.  (more…)