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Claire’s Baptism

Yesterday, our daughter Claire Emmanuelle was baptized.  :-) I know that many babies usually get baptized a lot earlier than our daughter's 9 months. And the main reason for the delay was due to our church's serious stance on baptism — we, as parents, had to take several classes to prepare, to decide whether we wanted her to be baptized or not, and to finally become eligible. According to our faith (our denomination is Presbyterian, more specifically PCA), baptism actually does not automatically save, and there are two reasons for this. The first is that there is biblical evidence that at least one man went to heaven without being baptized: the thief who was crucified next to Jesus. The second, and more central reason,...

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Merry Christmas Eve!

This year we celebrate Claire's first Christmas and J made sure to make it a special one by putting up our very first Christmas tree and decorating it with fancy-schmancy ornaments from Crate & Barrel. We decided not to get the baby any gifts this year because (1) she will not remember it; and (2) she will be happier with a diaper change than with any material object. That being said, our almost-3-month-old daughter has received more Christmas gifts than her parents...

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The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

A few weeks ago, the American Atheists caused quite a stir in the NY/NJ area by placing this billboard at the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel in New Jersey: The Catholic League soon countered with its own billboard, aptly placed at the New York entrance to the tunnel: Now it is no secret that I am a Christian, so I confess that I was a bit miffed about the Atheist billboard. However, I was no happier with the Catholic League's response (although it must be noted that the billboard was paid for by a donor who specifically instructed that the money should be used for this purpose). Christmas has always been a religious holiday for me. When I think of Christmas I immediately...

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I Am Not a Christian Because I’m Scared of Hell

One of the many misconceptions that non-believers have about Christianity is that Christians only attend church, follow the Ten Commandments and the teachings of Jesus, and claim to believe in God because they are scared to spend eternity in hell. They say that the Church uses hell as a scare tactic to gain more followers, that this method is not only unhealthy but also unfair. While I am sure that there are some churches and individuals who use hell as a scare tactic, (and sadly, only follow Christ because they are scared of hell), I strongly disagree with this way of thinking. Because as stated in the title of this post, I am not a Christian because I'm scared of hell. Do...

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