Name It and Claim It Ain't It
So many Pastors today preach a "name it and claim it" philosophy, and they back it up with Bible verses like this one: "whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." The thing is, when you take pieces of the Bible you can use them to back up almost any belief you want to espouse. The Bible is a complete book, a picture of who God is, given to us to know more about God from a human perspective. You cannot take it in bits and pieces. For instance, the quote above was something Jesus said directly to Peter. Pastors will tell you it applies to us all, but that does not mean we can decide what to do and Heaven will okay it with a big stamp of approval. We don't bend God to our will - ever. That's not the purpose of prayer, that's not the reason to become or remain a Christian. God is not some Heavenly Grandfather peering down and winking at our indiscretions and looking for ways to bl...