Sunday 05-03-15

A sign of the times

Sex Club Rebrands as Church to Thwart Nashville Zoning Laws

Do not deliver us, oh Lord, from temptation...

Last fall, The Social Club of Nashville left its current quarters for an isolated office park a few miles away. Owners spent $750,000 on the building and began renovations fit for "a private club for the enjoyment" of sexual activity. But when neighbors figured out the nature of club members' intended socializing, they packed the city council in support of a zoning change which would prevent The Social Club from opening. 

"The new building is geographically isolated at the end of a dead-end street," AP reports, "but it is near the back of Goodpasture Christian School, a large private school serving pre-school through high school children." Under the new zoning law, private sex clubs are prohibited from operating within 1,000 feet of any schools, parks, daycare centers, or churches. 
So The Social Club re-branded: It will now open as the United Fellowship Center, a house of unorthodox religious worship. The dance floor is now a "sanctuary." The dungeon is now a choir room. And dozens of small, private spaces have been designated "prayer rooms." The United Fellowship Center has even gotten a city permit to meet as a church—and "a church is something that cannot be defined under the U.S. Constitution," its lawyer, Larry Roberts, told AP.

http://reason.com/blog/2015/04/24/sex-club-rebrands-as-nashville-church

The First and Last Likeness

The Bible is filled with amazing “Firsts” and “Lasts.”
The first likeness in the Bible is Man being made in the likeness of God.

Ge 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

The last likeness in the Bible is God (in the flesh, i.e., Jesus Christ) being made in the likeness of Men:

(Speaking of Christ) Php 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

There are 26 other verses with likeness in-between those.
There are many such “bookends” in Scripture. This first and last likeness mirrors the fact of the first man bringing death, and Jesus bringing life (Romans 5:17, and the whole chapter), and is painted plainly here:

1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

What a wonderful “Last Thing.”

http://www.believingstudy.com/