5 minutes a day
5 days a week
1 New Testament in a year

There are 261 weekdays in a year, and there are 260 chapters in the New Testament. By reading one chapter, Monday through Friday, you will read the whole New Testament by the end of the year. The Daily Cup series is to help with that goal.

Happy Studying!

"The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup." -- Psalm 16:5

Click here for a pdf of the study schedule - CLICK HERE

I am forty-three and have been a christian since I was nineteen.  Since then, I have seen so much judgment, condemnation, hatred, and intolerance within the church towards other christians.  Finding a church and other christians that don't make me want to gouge my eyes out has been impossible.  The Bible seems to be very contradictory, and God claims to be loving, but according to the Bible, He is more angry than loving.  My life has been horrible, and Christianity has brought no relief.  A friend of mine who is a Nichren Buddhist has introduced me to Buddhist chanting.  In one month, I have gotten more peace and relief from that than from being a christian.  I have always felt that my pain and prayers have fallen on deaf ears by God.  I am very conflicted and am standing at a crossroad.  I really don't know what direction to take.  Why has Christianity been such a dissatisfying experience for me?  Why has every church member I have ever known been such a hypocrite and fake?  I would like to believe that God really wants us to be happy, but my personal experiences have not been the case.  What should I do?

Sincerely,
Ohm

Dear Ohm,

Corruption, hypocrisy, and scandal have been hallmarks of religion for as long as there has been religion… even in Jesus’ day.  The entire chapter of Matthew 23 is devoted to Christ lambasting the hypocrisy of the religious leaders of His day.  Paul warned that false teachers would commandeer Christ’s message for their own gain (2 Tim 4:3), and Peter sternly rebuked many of his contemporaries for their evil motives that would cause people (just like yourself) to doubt the truth because of the corruption of the messengers (2 Pet 2:1-2).  But there is hope!

Just like in Jesus’ day, there are pockets of people who actually practice what God preaches.  Most churches that proclaim Christ aren’t doing what the Bible teaches and are warping and twisting Jesus’ message (Gal 1:6-7), but there are congregations that truly do want to do only what the Bible says… people who are hearing and sincerely trying to do what God teaches (Jas 1:22-25).  We here at AYP remember that feeling of frustration with the religious confusion and hypocrisy.  We remember what it was like to feel frustrated to the point of giving up – and then we found the truth and people who love each other and love the Lord.

We can help you find a congregation in your area that can show you that there are sincere, honest people trying to serve God.  Christianity isn’t complicated when people do it God’s way.  Don’t give up just yet.  If you are willing to give it a try, we would be happy to help find a congregation in your area.  Just e-mail us at askyourpreacher@mvchurchofchrist.org.

(This question is a follow-up to “Forked Family Tree”)

I thought that was probably it because I knew that both Joseph and Mary were of the bloodline of David.  I guess my next question would be: could Joseph being listed at the end of both lineages (and I realize this is probably mostly inference) have to do with the culture/language of the time?  Thanks!

Sincerely,
Tree Tracker

Dear Tree Tracker,

You hit the nail right on the head – Joseph’s name being at the end of both Matthew’s and Luke’s genealogies is a cultural issue.  Every Jewish genealogy (both mom’s and dad’s) is tracked through the males in the family.  Regardless of how today’s cultural might view that tradition, that is how it was done.  Joseph is listed at the end of both because he is the final male in the family tree… before Jesus, that is.

We have recently been told at our church not to visit any church because that is church prostitution, and anyone who does visit other churches is a spiritual prostitute.  Is there any such thing as church prostitution and spiritual prostitution?

Sincerely,
Faithful Member

Dear Faithful Member,

The Bible does talk about spiritual prostitution – but never about church prostitution.  Spiritual prostitution is idolatry (Judg 2:17).  If someone decided to regularly attend a congregation that wasn’t faithful… that would be a very real problem, but simply visiting other faithful, God-fearing churches in your area isn’t wrong.  It also isn’t wrong if you are searching other churches because you want to find a church that is more faithful!

The problem is that many, many churches aren’t faithful.  Corruption is so prevalent in religion today that it is deeply disturbing.  God even warned us that false teaching would come (2 Thess 2:3).  Be very wary of churches that only tell you what you want to hear, instead of what you need to hear (1 Tim 4:3-4).  Compare all churches to the Scriptures; test all preaching against the Bible (1 Jn 4:1).  We recommend you read “Finding A Church” and “Down With Denominationalism” before visiting around.

I was wondering why the genealogies in Matthew and Luke are not completely the same.  Its been explained to me before but I have forgotten.  Thanks!

Sincerely,
Tree Tracker

Dear Tree Tracker,

They are different because they follow the bloodline of different parents.  Matthew starts the genealogy at Abraham, and Luke starts the genealogy all the way back at Adam.  The genealogies really begin to differ once you hit the generation after David.  Matthew traces the history from David’s son Solomon (Matt 1:6), while Luke follows David’s son Nathan (Lk 3:31).

The most likely explanation for this is that each book is tracing a different side of Jesus’ family tree.  Matthew is tracing the legal family tree through Jesus’ foster father, Joseph.  Luke is tracing the maternal side through Jesus’ mother, Mary.  We often forget, but Jesus (like all humans) has two lineages – his mother’s and his father’s.  Both Mary and Joseph were of the tribe of Judah and the lineage of David… just slightly different sections of that bloodline.