In Part 1 of this teaching, I made the claim that the early church focused on two avenues of giving, namely giving that (1) helped make disciples and (2) relieved suffering, and I elaborated on the wise application of the first of those two. In Part 2, I’d like to look more closely at some of the best ways we can use our financial resources to relieve suffering. But first, a little philosophic pondering:

When it comes to suffering, there is no shortage of those who need help. No one can debate that God allows a lot of suffering, and His reasons for doing so are sometimes a mystery to us. Yet Scripture makes it clear that God’s allowance does not alleviate us from relieving suffering when we can. On the contrary, it seems that God may allow some suffering to test our love for those who suffer—and for Him. God certainly does test free moral agents (see Ex. 16:4, 20:20; Deut. 8:16; Judg. 2:21-22, 3:1; 2 Chron. 32:31; Ps. 11:4-5; Prov. 17:3; Jer. 17:10, 20:12; Rev. 3:10).

For the last two Little Lessons, we’ve been looking at the Roman Catholic church, and I’ve been referencing a letter that I received from some viewers who are dear friends who were former Roman Catholics. They’re sharing their experience which I think many people could identify with, whether they’re inside or now have come out of the Roman Catholic church. And it’s my conviction that people who truly believe in Jesus, they’re not gonna be happy in the Roman Catholic church.

I gave a little lesson some weeks back titled “Can Roman Catholics be Christians?” And I affirmed that, yes, truly, if they believe that Jesus is the son of God and it bears fruit in their life, even with all the extra doctrinal baggage that they might have in the Catholic church, they still get to heaven.

Today we take a second look at Roman Catholics and consider whether or not a Roman Catholic can be a true Christian.

Was the thief on the cross saved by faith alone?

I sometimes receive caustic letters from strangers, and sometimes they’re long letters. I feel so sorry for them that they wasted so much of their time! And they start off with insults and demeaning, condescending statements, and I can’t imagine that they could possibly think that they’re going to persuade me, as they start off insulting me.

I started in our last Little Lesson reading a very kind letter from a person who disagrees with me on my Little Lesson about Mormonism, “Can Mormons Be Christians?”

How can you disagree without being disagreeable? Today we’re going to talk about something very common in human experience: everyday disagreements.