Bloom where you are planted

Here is something I found on Facebook.

Bloom where you are planted

by Joshua Agan

We’ve all likely heard the phrase “bloom where you are planted.” It’s a great thought, but sometimes we do not actually live that out in a practical way.

I didn’t.

Having grown up in a family that served in full-time ministry, I expected to reach full bloom there myself. My parents never pressured or expected me to do so, often telling my brother and me that if God called us to be plumbers, be the best Christian plumber that a man can be. True to their word, my parents support each of us in our secular jobs as we continue to serve God day by day.

When given the opportunity, however, I jumped at the chance to leave the business world and dive head-first into full-time ministry. Yet God had not told me to abandon all else to pursue it.

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Do all infants who die go to Heaven?

Here is something I read on Facebook.

Do all infants who die go to Heaven?

by Joshua Arnold

 

I would like to prove that it is absolutely biblical to say that every human that dies in infancy goes to Heaven. Not only infants, but mentally handicapped people that are unable to grasp the reality of sin, and good and evil, but that’s not what I’m going to be discussing in this post. The post will be a quite long, and so it may not be very shareable, but God willing it will be informative, and worth the read. I don’t expect many people to read it all, but It should bring clarity and give rest to those confused or concerned with the matter. I answer a few common objections at the end.

Without a doubt in my mind, every single baby, unborn, stillborn, or born but dies before they are able to comprehend good and evil, goes straight to Heaven.
In fact, I believe that there is no greater display of God’s sovereign grace than a helpless baby, who has no personal, religious, or moral merits, inheriting the kingdom of Heaven by pure grace.

There are a couple things that must be understood about babies.

Interpreting the Bible

Here is some good advice from a Facebook friend, Joshua Agan, on how to interpret the Bible.

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When people hear me say, “Take the Scriptures literally,” they are quick to say, “So you believe that Jesus is a wooden door, AND he is actual bread?!”

Don’t be stupid.

Scripture contains poetry, prose, parables and prophesies. You must take these literary types in their given sense.

But that leads to a very important conclusion. When Scripture gives us a literary device, accept it in its basic form as given. So when Scripture gives us truths that are not in some literary device, but rather given as plain fact—do we accept it as given, or do we allegorize it anyway?

Some people are comfortable reading that God created in six days, and accepting six days. But then those same people read other truths given, and suddenly try to add deeper meaning to it than what Scripture provides.

I challenge you to approach the Scriptures differently tomorrow.

Accept the text as if it was given to you as a plain statement of Truth from a Father to His child. Well, because it is.

A child does not accept a plain statement and try to allegorize and theorize on the deeper meanings of the linguistic anomalies. A child receives what he is given.

Lean not on your own understanding, friend. Ask the Spirit of Truth to lead you. Follow as a child, wherever the Spirit leads. That requires humility, by the way. It offends our intellect.

“What if this plain statement were the plain truth? What else would God need to say differently in order to get you to accept the plain statement as it is given?”

This question will turn many a tradition on its heels. Ask the Spirit to help us. Mean it. Then listen.

You won’t be disappointed.