The church of Christ at Luverne
Bulk Rate
US Postage
PAID
Luverne, AL
Permit # 28
67 North Woodford Ave.
Luverne, AL 36049
Address Correction Requested
Assembly Assignments for May 2014
The Lord’s Supper
Rodney McCartha / Andrew Moorer / Robb Sanders / Larry Hoffman
Announcements
Bob Williams
Transportation
John Frost
Building
Responsibilities/Greeter
Bobby Owens
Nursing Home Duties
Bob Williams
Lord’s Supper Preparation
Mary Jo Hoffman
Scripture Reading
Michael W alker
Privileged to Serve on May 18, 2014
Morning Prayer
Ronald Hilburn (opening)
Michael Walker (closing)
Evening Prayer
Reed Kilcrease (opening)
Calem Sanders (closing)
Song Leader
Ross Sanders
A/V Equipment
Mark Coggins
If you are unable to serve, please contact Bob Williams – 334-429-0705
All announcements need to be written and turned in before each assembly!
The Messenger
Minister
Raymond Elliott, Interim
Services
Every Sunday
Bible Study
9:30 AM
Morning Worship 10:30 AM
Evening Worship
1:00 PM
Every Wednesday
Bible Study
From
7:00 PM
The church of Christ at Luverne
67 North Woodford Avenue
Luverne, Al. 36049
(334) 335-5089
[email protected]
www.lcoc.net
Volume XIV
May 18 2014
Issue 17
EVAN’S ENDORSEMENT OF EVOLUTION IS ECCENTRIC*
Raymond Elliott
(*”irregular, foolish, crazed, capricious”, New Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus, page
744). Since no one living was present when life began on the earth, the acceptance of
evolution and/or the creationist story is a matter of faith. Which one is more reasonable:
that life began by mere chance and evolved; or, that a Supreme Being began life as taught
in the book of Genesis. Contrary to what Evans wrote, “Evolution, faith need not
conflict” (Montgomery Advertiser, February 22, 2009, page 2C), there is a conflict of belief
from the very offset based on the two premises stated previously. However we must
understand that true science and the truth of the Bible do not contradict one another.
Rather it is the theories of science (Evans admits that evolution is a theory) and the
misunderstandings of the Bible that are in conflict. Why would a reader of Genesis chapter
one not understand the six days of creation as being literal twenty-four hour days? In the
giving of the Law on Mount Sinai to the children of Israel, God commanded that the seventh
(Sabbath) day to be kept holy. God gave the reason, namely that in six days He created the
heavens and the earth and then He rested (from His work of creation) on the seventh day
(Exodus 20:8-11). How could the people relate to these facts and commands if the days in
Genesis were millions of years? Common sense demands that the people understood that
they were to work six literal days and rest on the seventh (Sabbath) day. What about the
making of man from the dust of the ground and the forming of woman from the side of
Adam? Are we to understand this story to be literal? If not, what about the crossing of the
Red Sea by the Israelites and all the miracles mentioned in the Old Testament? If the
miracles in the O.T. can be explained away by the natural, then why believe that Jesus was
born of a virgin and that He arose from the dead on the third day. Evans implies that we
can have faith in Jesus without a knowledge of the story of creation as recorded in the book
of Genesis. The fact is, if we believe in Jesus we will also believe in the story of creation.
Jesus gave credence to the creation story when he said, “Have you not read that He who
made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ “and said, ‘For this reason a
man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become
one flesh’? “So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined
together, let not man separate” (Matthew 19:4-6; Compare with Genesis 1:26, 27; 2:21-25).
Evans needs to reroll in a freshman class, Bible 101 when he writes, “And we can take the
Bible seriously without always taking it literally. After all, when Jesus said “I am the door,”
do we look for hinges?” One of the basic rules of biblical interpretation is that a passage of
scripture is to be understood as being literal unless the context would determine otherwise.
For example, Jesus referred to Herod as being “that fox” (Luke 13:32). Now, a Bible student
would understand that being a figure of speech. And so it is when Jesus said “I am the
door”. Finally, we should all be concerned whether we will be among the “sheep” or
the “goats” on the judgment day (Matthew 25:32).
NOTE: James L. Evans is the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Auburn, Alabama. He
has a weekly article in the Montgomery Advertiser that appears on Saturday.
In Our Prayers
Jim Capps – cirrhosis of the liver
Lyndsay Turner – scheduled for hip
replacement surgery on 5-28-14.
CANCER PATIENTS:
Dale Bethea, Greg Dean, Sherri Elliott,
Michael Hartin, Jerry Hogg, Margaret
Ann Holladay, Joseph Loftin, Vickie
Poole, Charles Richardson, Dusty
Taylor, Ginny Wilson.
CONTINUING HEALTH PROBLEMS:
Maxine Alloway, Wayne Blackmon,
Joyce
Bozeman,
Glenn
Daniel,
Margaret Deese, Gertrude Dickerson,
Mary Frost, Sara Head, Ken Helms,
Emma Herrington, E. R. Johnson,
Cecil Kelley, Dean Kelley, Lucy
Kilpatrick, , Alexia Mosley, Edward
Sanders, Gloria Sanders, Mary Sasser,
Addie Mae Sipper, Lynn Strickland,
Ryan Wilkes
NURSING HOME RESIDENTS
Marie Clemmons
Kate Moses
Edwina Rolling Mattie Lula Jeffcoat
Ginny & Dwight Wilson
EXPECTANT MOTHERS
Amanda Royal
Terrie Williams
Crystal Frost
Rachel McCartha
Jill Blackmon
Memory Bush
Megan Petty – (expectant mother whose
baby will require surgery when she is born)
- Pray for missionaries at home and
abroad.
-Pray for government leaders, for
our congregation, and for our
efforts to carry out God’s will.
- Pray for those who have lost loved
ones.
Sympathy is extended to sister Valera
Rolling. Her older sister’s funeral was last
week.
- Pray for soldiers, at home &
overseas.
Ethan Kyser - Chance Styron
GOSPEL MEETING
Fort Deposit church of Christ
May 18-20, 2014
Speaker: J. T. Harrison
Sunday: 9 & 10 a.m. & 7 p.m.
Monday & Tuesday: 7 p.m.
We will have a covered dish
luncheon on June 1, 2014t o recognize
our Graduates.
High School: Laina Baugh
6th Grade: Ian Coggins
Madison McDougald
Kindergarten: Kalaiya Dixon
If we have missed anyone, PLEASE let us
know.
Congratulations to Calem
and Kristen and big brother Eli!
Seth Bryant Sanders was born
May 12, 2014. He weighed 10 lbs 4
oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long.
Congratulations also to brother
Julian, his wife and family on the
birth of Julian Miranda Jr. born
April 26, 2014.