Philip Dampier's Blog

“Whatever happens,” Paul writes, “conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” (Phil. 1:27) He was discussing a certain situation that could have gone either way so his admonition was act the same which ever way it turns out. There are a lot of positive and negative…

Why are there so many off color jokes? Why do we call them off color? We used to call them “dirty” jokes. Why do Christians tell these kind of jokes? We’re just joking, we say. Really. Should Christians use obscenities and “four letter” words? Should Christians be participating in the…

People often wonder why are they here. You may have asked that question yourself. Sometimes it is hard to make sense out of our lives, to find real purpose. So many of us fall into routines and life just goes on day by day. Shakespeare has Macbeth express that sense…

The Bible is known as a book of love and so many are surprised to learn that the book of love teaches hatred. Human beings come into the world neutral and most of them come into it through an environment of love. Most of us are so surrounded by love…

In Micah 6 God ask Judah questions about what it would take to please him. All sorts of good things are rejected. Its not that God doesn’t want them to do good things. On the contrary, God expects his people to always be involved in good works. He expects our…

These three names are associated with the great reformation that took place in the 1500’s. They made a plea for reform in the established church and were willing to stake their lives on what they believed the bible taught. It is from them we get the term sola scriptura, which…

Grace and I have about 70 rose bushes in our yard and when they all bloom the view is spectacular. It is so striking that most people want to stick their nose in a bloom and take a sniff. Usually you don’t have to do that as the yard has a…

“Jesus, Rose of Sharon, bloom within my heart; Beauties of thy truth and holiness impart. That where’er I go my life may shed abroad fragrance of the knowledge of the love of God.” I sang this song growing up. I always loved roses and so it seemed to have special…

Science makes a great attempt at explaining the origin of life. They deny purposeful creation and replace it with creation accident. Today we are led to believe that a great accident happened and life occurred. They tell us that the God story is too fanciful to believe. For them something stirring up…

Years ago there were two important questions that were asked about someone to establish where they fit in society. I know this was a southern thing but perhaps it existed elsewhere in some other form. Those two questions were, was the person saved and was the person raised right. The premise…