When we make sin bigger than it is ...
you got to be kidding MBG, SIN is not just a little accidentally spilled milk, it is high treason against a Holy God! can
you think of anything on earth in all of history that can be considered
more egregious than even one little peccadillo sin against an Almighty
God? I agree some may use it to obtain filthy lucre, but don't
throw away the baby with the bath water, many more are preaching and
teaching (at no cost) the seriousness of any and all inequities against
God. Two such consequences that result from lack of recognizing and confessing sin are: 1. being guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord (1 Corinthians 11:27-28) 2. your offerings to God will be un-acceptable (Matthew 5:22-24) I'm sure there is more but even if there wasn't, isn't that enough to understand God takes sin serious? Remember 1 John 1:9? After
we say sorry, let it go, we're forgiven, we're cleansed, no need to
walk around with a long face, but we do have to go through the motions,
and that with a contrite heart.
Actually Satan
wants to take us down a notch by using our sin against us. He uses the
principle like punishment for like sin. His words are skin for skin. Now
Job was sure that he had been righteous. But in trying to defend
himself, against the false accusers he may have been a bit to concerned
for his own skin. So you can see how Satan uses the pain of this life
and the people around us to tempt us to see God as in some way unable to
come to our aid. God tells us in His word that He is absolutely
sovereign over all things as He reminded Job. This is why when we
feel this tension from both sides its because we have this problem with
were our focus is. We are very weak because we live in this flesh and we
are given to going astray not because we do not feel the evil desire
that comes from within, nor is it because we are blaming our problems on
someone else. We have our eyes on the sin and the pain. Our natural
reaction is to grow timid and retreat. But the bible says to stand firm
against the wiles of the Devil. The devil is not going to reason with
us. He is going to attack us where we are vulnerable. When we find
that we are feeling as if we have been weakened by our minds struggling
with the accusations, we must put of focus on the majesty and
sovereignty of God. This is how we resist. Because as we grow we are
going to find this particular temptation from within and without to
increase. Now heres where i think we fail. We place our eyes on Christ
and we begin to rise out of the temptation to retreat but then we fail
to apprehend the victory that comes by the amount of power we feel in
the expectation to see the victory. This kind of rising on the wings of
prayer to find God to be all in all must be assisted by the increased
passion to fight in a kind of battle to protect our minds. We must
express the anger before Him. And as we are expressing this then we
begin to roll the problem and sin over to Him. We will learn that God
wants us to be expressive even if we are fighting hate. I mean that in
expressing this anger we actually feel the anger rise in us and then it
is expelled. I think this is what grief looks like to us who are not
entirely honest before God about how we feel. I think God is more
understanding if we are real before Him than if we are trying to show
our goodness. This i think is standing firm on the ground we have
taken. This is the first priority of being able to lead and not be
tossed to and fro.Our leading is as a high priest or an in between . We
are not the Holy Spirit. As we stand our ground we are able to help
those who are tossed to and fro.
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Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Straight to Hell for unbelievers?
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on: August 28, 2009, 11:17:58 AM
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Adding
to the confusion is the fact the King James translators translated the
words "Hades" and "Gehenna" both as "Hell". Hades is the word the
translators of the Septuagint used for the Hebrew "Sheol". Sheol in
the old Testament is the unseen, forgotten place where the dead go to
wait for their final destination. By NT times (you can see this
evolving in non-Biblical Jewish writings during the inter-testamental
period such as the Book of Enoch) , Sheol/Hades had developed a nice
section of town for the good guys ("Abraham's bosom") and a low-rent
district where the Rich Man went in the parable of Lazarus. Now,
"Gehenna" comes from the name of the valley outside of Jerusalem where
dead bodies and human excrement is burned and is the place of final
judgement, probably the Lake of Fire in Revelation where Hades itself
gets destroyed.
Yes, this is part of what I learned and read. Thanks for posting that. Another question I hear is: In
hell, will the suffering cease eventually (the souls will cease to
exist) or will it be an eternal suffering/ eternal existence of
suffering? Again, I have heard several teachers and read books that
have proven both using scripture. I have also heard of some
pastors tell of a candy coated version of hell saying it is the
separation from a loving God that is considered "suffering." They say
that not experiencing the presence of our awesome God is "suffering"
rather than an actual physical suffering. I don't believe this one.
I
do not think we can talk about real freedom unless we understand the
nature of the inability of man to achieve a level of peace in this life
without the threat of retribution both in terms of his being susceptible
to that experience and mans lack of power to this coming upon him.
Reality is that we go from being unable to live in this perfect
existence where there is no sorrow to having some one who we lean on to
procure this perfection. There is really no in between reality. THat is
what i mean from one moment being totally unable and the next moment
empowered to live with sorrow and joy without receiving the just
consequences of our state in sin. If hell did not exist then
there would be no real proof that God alone is the image of freedom that
we enjoy that separates our own evil desires from ourselves . Just like
hell is awful and in an absolute sense is mysterious for us to
comprehend so heaven is too wonderful for us to comprehend. And in
considering these things we are set free to know that He alone is worthy
of our freedom having set us free. This i think is knowing ourselves in
our own reflection. The only other choice is to undermine this in some
kind of works reflection.
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4387
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Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Straight to Hell for unbelievers?
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on: August 28, 2009, 10:18:12 AM
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In the story of Lazarus and the rich man...
the rich man went straight to hell. The bible talks about judgment as
being abrupt, as if a man is going along one day whistling and having a
skip in his step and then the next moment he is being dragged down to
the pit. This is why i think it is so hard for us to consider how we can
be reminded of the awful suffering that is going on in this place and
yet find the rite attitude of being sober minded. Our first reaction in
thinking of eternal suffering is being numbed by the absoluteness of its
punishment both in terms of the level of suffering and the duration. I
think there is a good desire of desperation that does not have cause to
make us so sorrowful that we do not believe. But there is a sense in
which the cry of a saint who is trusting in Christ to keep him from this
suffering is that by which we rise on the wings of faith. Our natural
sense about these things is brought along by forgetfulness. But when we
are suffering some illness in this life in a sense we come to a place
where there is no where else to go ... only He has the words of eternal
life... and that is our living hope that puts us on the wings of faith.
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Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Vivifying effects of the Word of God
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on: August 26, 2009, 10:07:43 AM
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If the Father allowed us to change by a human
agency then on the one hand He would need to apologize to His Son, and
on the other hand He would need to lower the eternal paradigms of
reality. Troubles in the human soul must be purged from the worlds norms
which are systems of philosophers whos ends are for the purpose of
working to please God. There is only one image that shines into a
personal experience with the glory of a supernatural transforming power.
That which is set apart to shine forth from before the foundation of
the world as the cause means and ends that are not influenced by any
power or will outside of their own purpose to work. We are saying here
that all change in this life is produced in a direct and personal
influence, design, and this secret agency that grants the power of
change in the limits of their own counsel. This counsel is the cause of
the working of all things since it was ordained in the presence of all
things from beginning to end before all things were created. Not only do
we know this to be a truth as it is revealed but we know this as we are
promised in the transformation in this personal transaction in the
comfort from the Holy Spirit. We live in the eternal world as it is
related to us in all of the power that is far beyond all second causes.
We have a new mind.
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Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Why should I be sorry for my sin? What does it do to God?
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on: August 25, 2009, 02:29:19 PM
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When we make sin bigger than it is we
sometimes are doing it to support the kind of orthodoxy we are converted
to. Its the same thing as producing a product that will not last or
parts in the product that will fail, in order to keep the customer as a
consumer. Theres a lot of money to be made on peoples troubles. It
actually could be that greed is the reason that people turn sin into a
sales pitch that in order to be labeled good you got to get rid of the
sin and we have the product that will solve your problem. It sounds
funny but people dont just order a sample of the kool'aid , they get the
program that gives you a perfect record. I guess when you die you no
longer need to buy. 
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Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Vivifying effects of the Word of God
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on: August 24, 2009, 12:37:10 PM
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When we try to figure God out we are ignoring
the normal way of communicating in a relationship in the free expression
of the potential that we have not reached in the new illumination. God
is the provider of the happiness in the truth that He reveals to us
about ourselves as the expression of our need to be loved as we are. I
think our frustration is not having enough knowledge about God and
reducing the reality of His presence to the same level as trying to know
people in lite of the tension we find between sinners. So my question
is... what does it mean, when God shows up and all is well?
The
problem of second guessing ourselves in the reflection we have in our
present struggles is related to the general condition of how we view
reality in obtaining this level of rest. We are not just dealing with
the conviction of the danger of sin, but our reflection of who we are is
learned in the experience of this open communication in the spiritual
coalescing in His love and kindness as a new imprint on our ability to
rest as we really are. In this way He defines who we are as the most
free acceptance of responding in trust to Him in this happy state. There
is an art form in the recreation of the new self.
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Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Why should I be sorry for my sin? What does it do to God?
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on: August 20, 2009, 06:20:42 PM
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I agree with you biggie,
but
we should never treat sin lightly, we should never forget our freedom
came at a price, I believe thats what the Lords supper is for, we should
be growing to hate sin just as God hates sin.
I KNOW God has removed my sin through Jesus, and yet I sin all I want, in fact I sin more than I want, I just don't want to.
I
am not depressed over one sin I have committed or even the next sin I
will commit. Through His promise and His Grace I stand before him
wrapped in the righteousness of his Son. I do focus on the Love affair
with my Savior, and I will never what he did to make that possible.
I
agree that we should hate sin, but we in a sense are all sin. I mean in
the sense that we are totally corrupted, not in identity. So there is a
certain detachment we have in the paradigm of grace. This is why i like
the term... we are "troubled" by our sins. I do not think the Psalmist
was saying that he was receiving "trouble"... because it was in the
context of being subject to some form of condemnation in his
circumstances. We are in a sense toying with a sinful anger when we take
these dis positional realities out of their biblical context.Our
tendency is to examine ourselves and condemn ourselves what God has not
required us to do. I would never take part in self examination in
the presence of a legalistic person, in the presence of someone who did
not have a like experience as to my sin, or in a purely incorporation of
some activity in order to find comfort in myself about my work on my
sin. I believe that God has given us the proper way of change in a very
clear warning to avoid the counsel of the ungodly. I mean, look at any
counsel through the application of the scriptural doctrine. Because this
is the balance in having wisdom in this illuminated teaching of this
disposition of grace... as the warning being the lack of natural
sensitivity to the ways of incorporated destruction in the production of
a motive that is increasing in love for Him. Its our pride that
produces the wrong self hate.
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4404
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Forums / Main Forum / Re: how would you live my life?
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on: August 20, 2009, 05:55:15 PM
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Well i was single one time. I am not big in
planning, or having a schedule, or worrying about who likes me. So since
the potential to struggle more is there when we are alone then we need
to deal with the voices of regret, sorrow, shame, guilt , fear,
jealousy, coveting, etc. It seems that the more alone we are the more we
have a tendency to fall into these conditions. Some people think that
if you surround yourself with the rite kind of people then you wont
struggle as much. But as i see it in lite of what we need in order to
find the real close relationship is that we need to develop a center in
our souls.
Its kind of like this... God determines how we are going
to live... and since there are so many things we could do to make things
easier in this life, cause people usually communicate on the level of
light hear-ted humor.... dont get me wrong here.. cause i am not
discounting these things.
Its like when we are talking to someone
about a particular subject and we come to the end of how to deal with
that particular problem, we exhaust all of the ways that we could
possibly make things better... then this is when that sharing on a level
that is closer begins. I do not think this can be developed in us
without dealing with ourselves when we are alone. God says that when all
men have left then He becomes our friend. I can show you chapter and
verse where He leads us to times in our lives where its an "either- or"
scenario. It could be that a man may have many friends.... has a
tremendous social life and still never have that close fellowship. God
becomes our friend when we are desperate enough to know Him without any
other obstacle.
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4405
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Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Why should I be sorry for my sin? What does it do to God?
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on: August 19, 2009, 09:47:52 PM
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Luv,
your
sin today is not a NEW nail driven, it is the original nail that held
him to the cross, tomorrows sin will also be paid for by the original
nails that pierced his hands. Now if that bothers you than good! it
should, If you ever get to the point where you can sin and casually cast
it off as already paid, and no big deal...that will be a sorry day
indeed.
Christians do not have to worry about if or when they
sin, they also don't have to be in constant sadness, quite the contrary,
we have the joy of the Lord, from the one who so loved us, we know
there is now no condemnation, we have his comfort, his counsel, and he
calls us friend.
As our sanctification is bringing us ever closer
to his likeness, all the more not only will we see our sin and confess
in contriteness, but the greater the joy in our hearts as we follow his
ways and commands.
It's a love affair, but it requires both feet.
Does
it surprise you if i said that there is enough sin in your heart that
if He were by chance to hold you to them you could live all of your life
and confess sin but still be so full of the weight of sin that you
would not be able to pull yourself out of that depression. If i may say
that the penalty for that sin has been atoned for as well. Sin no longer
has reign in us because we no longer are required to get to a position
of acceptance to Him because of our sin. He has removed our sins from us
as far as the east is from the west. If He kept a record of our sins
then no one could stand. Standing under the weight of His justice would
be impossible. The focus is not about our sins or our ability to
keep from feeling the guilt of our sins. The focus is in our union with
Christ and His rule over all mankind.After He provided purification for
sins He sat down on the rite hand of the majesty on high. Because we
are united with Him we stand in freedom from the accusations of our
sins. We not only have power over our sins in our union but we have the
ruler ship of the territory that Christ has taken in His subsequent
exaltation to heaven to be given all things under His feet. It... now
let me say something here... it is His sovereign will as to what we are
going to struggle with because when we are united to Him our
difficulties in this world are designed for us to cast ourselves on Him.
This suffering is ment for one purpose... to bring us to Him and learn
of Him. Because He grew by His suffering and once made perfect He is the
source of eternal salvation for all who rest in Him. When He makes us
feel the weight of our sins we gain confidence in our sufferings by
bringing the weight to Him and letting Him deal justly with it. Grace
demands that we enjoy our union with Him in our sufferings knowing that
He has our best interest in His sight. We will sin continually because
we are sinners.
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Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Vivifying effects of the Word of God
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on: August 19, 2009, 02:05:53 PM
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God rewards the saint based upon Himself
displaying His power through His people in spite of such unworthy and
weak vessels. This is why we say that Gods communication is not natural
or available to those outside of His care. So there is only two
realities in this world. Those outside of Gods care and those who are
under His care. The truth is that with God this world is nothing when it
comes to offering power and security. The way that He describes this
life is through the lens of the creation of a feeling of claustrophobia.
God has decreed whatsoever comes to pass. He has designed this world
exactly the way He desired it to be from the beginning of time to the
end of time. So that Gods working in a saving way is determined upon a
very narrow understanding of His ways and being under the pressure of
some force at all times. Man is born for adversity.This is always our
way of thinking even when we want to feel as if we are able to escape.
We are not able in ourselves to find the suspension of this
claustrophobic adversity. We may think that the pleasures of this world
are going to give us relief, but we are only as it were stealing time
and things. The only way to change this so that we are not
completely destroyed by the adversity is to find all of our hope in God.
If a man could help us escape then he would be more able than God but
men die and so does their memory. So God has designed this world
for us to not only be opposed by the temptations that are offered but
by the people who oppose God. The only explanation of being able to come
to a place where we are able to get some rest from the anxiety and
adversity of this life is getting away from the trials, the people and
the temptations by finding all of our rest in God alone. One of
the reasons why this life is so frustrating with this feeling of always
facing adversity is that we are not naturally drawn to the idea that
death and Hades is pushing this upon us. Maybe we would rather find some
hope in God giving us some of the things of this world but at the same
time settling for a low experience of the pressures, in other words we
divide our hope in finding comfort from what God has given us and
thinking on the goodness of God. But i think in order for us to find
true freedom we must find this adversity to be too strong for us. Death
is like a sprinter, its running at us. This is our problem, we long to
be free, to rest, but we do not see the impossibility to do it outside
of finding God to be all we need. Now then the only reality is
what is lasting in comparison to what does not last. In a sense we never
come to complete freedom because we do not really understand the
desperate condition of this world. But God does meet us with a simple
solution, and He rewards us based upon His decree to take care of the
adversity. I want you to see that we find our rest in God alone!!! Low
born men are but a breath, high born are but a lie. If weighed in a
balance they are nothing. Why because there really is only one settled
peace in this world. Its teaching ourselves a very simple plea. That our
honor in this world, our sense of desperation and claustrophobia, our
sense of lost ness is only relieved when we preach to ourselves to find
rest in Him alone!!!
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Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Why should I be sorry for my sin? What does it do to God?
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on: August 19, 2009, 11:39:44 AM
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God is so much greater than our sin. In this
way when we make the christian life about our level of our view of our
sins we place God in the position of being powerless to determine our
future happiness. God has existed through all generations. That is a
long time prior to our being born in this world. And God will continue
to exist through all of the generations long after we are gone. What
rite do we have to tell God how He is to deal with our view of who we
are by arguing that our lives are determined to be as they are by our
first reaction to giving into sin? God has been involved with the
process of sin since the garden. After all, if we do not have any
personal experience in effecting our view of the nature of sin as it
relates to the first man , then who are we do teach God how we are to
think and act in relation to our reacting to falling into sin? God
doesnt need the original thoughts of men in an age of the explosion of
scientific discoveries. These studies about the connection to the meta
physical world are foolish, and have no historical connection to a
personal understanding of the first man!!!
Only fools have a
single generational theology. God has declared that He has been from
eternity and He has existed before the worlds were made. God doesnt need
man to teach Him. God has connected us to history through the
imputation of Adams sin so that we cannot blame our immediate ancestors,
or our circumstances in relation to one generation. Our lives are ment
to be a drop in the bucket, a still born child blip in the screen so
that God can show that He alone will get the glory as the cause of
working in this world to procure salvation for man. He has declared His
mysterious working so that we must believe that in Him alone is the
total understanding of our sin, and in Him alone is the salvation power
procured over our sins. Men only get in the way when they take this
power on themselves.
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