Next few very controversial questions

Now we are getting into the meaty questions. In a couple of weeks, I am going to be interviewed, and expect my responses to these questions to be questioned more deeply.

16. What are your convictions in the area of Stewardship?
There are two areas of stewardship that need to be constantly relearned.
1) Money – My wife and I spend time every month going over our budget for the next month. We budget for our responsibilities, bills, gas, tithes, food etc. After we determine our responsibilities we also budget for savings. We usually have between $300 and $600 left after those things. We budget about $60 for dates and $40 for fun, then I pray and ask God who needs the rest, and we give it to who God leads us to.

2) Time – Nothing tells you your priorities like looking at your schedule. “Am I using the time that I have in the way God has called me to?” is the question that I ask, and struggle with. I am doing much better, but finding a balance between the responsibilities God has given me and my need for rest is a difficult task.

17. How would you state your own position in regard to the respect for human life?
I believe that human life is a gift from God. I strive for a consistent ethic that affirms the sanctity of life. I firmly believe that being concerned with life goes beyond the question of existence to “Do I in my actions and words affirm the image of God carried in every human being?”

18. What does it mean for you that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?
I should decorate it better. Seriously though, I think that we can very easily abuse our bodies in the name of getting God’s work done. I am not in the greatest physical shape ever, and I have come to see that when I am not healthy and taking good care of my body I am not as able to do the work that I am called to well.
We are set apart for the work of God, and we need to care for our bodies well.

19. What do you think should be the contemporary Christian witness to human
sexuality in the light of Scripture and the current debate?
I think that the Church needs to have a consistent witness to sexual ethics. I think the church is getting caught up in a pointless debate, of course the accepted lifestyles of our culture are not Godly! Welcome to the way things have always been. How is it such a shock that the people who come to church are sinners in need of a hospital? We have a lot of plank/speck stuff going on right now. Is the church just as vocal about ALL forms of extramarital sex and pornography? I think our best witness is to treat every person who walks through the doors of our churches the same way Jesus treated us when He first met us.