August 9, 2008 8:37 AM
Michael wrote:
What a beautiful morning.This morning I was eating breakfast with my son-Aaron and my middle daughter-Chloe the little one-Elizabeth was still sleeping.I started reading this chapter to myself when Chloe suddenly asked daddy does GOD speak to us.So I read the chapter to her and Aaron explaining everything in terms that they could understand.What a great teaching moment that GOD gave me.Chloe always asks me daddy are you afraid of anything and instead of my manly response that first comes to mind that daddy is strong and is scared of nothing I always say sweetheart I fear one thing and that is GOD.That one day we will all stand before him and be judged for everything we have ever done.And that is the one thing that scrares me.To have the ultimate Judge know everything I have ever thought or did and be judged for it.Because I think I have broken 9 out of the 10 commandments.Thank GOD for Jesus or I would have to sacrifice my entire herd and starve to death. Reply to this
August 9, 2008 4:48 PM
Sam wrote:
"You shall not", or "Thou shalt not"...or "You shall", or "Thos shalt". Either way you slice it, it comes down to obeying God. Unfortunately, we don't do very well at that obeyance thing. We repeatedly 'forget' the commands of God; not necessarily these TEN, but the 'others' we see scattered throughout the Bible, but mainly, those spoken by Jesus as being 'commands'. LOVE is the central theme of Jesus' teaching, yet we usually fall far short of loving others--whether it be our spouses enough, our friends enough, our acquaintences enough, or even our enemies 'at all'. Yes, we are weak, and do not follow all the commands given. THANK HEAVEN (and God) for giving us the opportunity to keep trying by allowing Jesus to die, not only for our past sins, but our current and future ones as well. THIS is the secret that needs to be spread to everyone. How are we doing in that category? Probably the same as in the others... :-( Reply to this
August 9, 2008 5:41 PM
Anonymous wrote:
good day all. not much to say. I have bee keeping up with the comments. thank God for GRACE!!! Reply to this
August 9, 2008 6:52 PM
rich wrote:
It is interesting that the first 3 commandments involve loving and respecting God. It is also curious to me how many times in the OT that God says that he is a jealous God.
I believe that God needs to be loved! I John 4:8 directly says that "God is love." We are commanded throughout the book of John to love God. Jesus says that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. God wants his creation to love him. He wants us to tell him that we love him and to show our love in our actions.
We all grow up fearing God because many of us were taught that if we sin we will be punished. We are taught that sin kills, sin destroys. I think many churches/preachers find it easier to keep people in line if they teach this fire and brimstone type of religion.
What is the logical human way to get people to come to church every Sunday and/or to give money to church? I think it is to scare them. If you scare them into thinking that missing church is a sin or not giving money might lead to eternal damnation, they will give. Same goes for sharing our faith. Teach that not sharing faith is a sin that displeases God and then they will go share their faith. But is it for the right reason? NO!!!
Or another way is to teach that if you do X, Y or Z, God will bless you. The more you give, the more God gives back to you. This is "get rich" religion.
I do not think this is God's way. God just wants us to love him. He wants us to tell him and show him that we love him. Just like our spouses and children want us to love them. How do we do this? By being perfect? Of course not. If you try to be perfect to your kids, if you "act" like you have no problems or faults or weaknesses, they will not feel loved. They feel love by us being honest with them when we tell them that we messed up and when we apologize. I think God is the same. He does not want us to be perfect, to act like we do not sin. Instead he wants us to confess our sins and love him. If you go to church because you love God, then go to church to show God you love him. If you read your Bible everyday because you love God, then read everyday. If you give because you love God, then give. If you share faith because you love God, then share. But always check motivation (and ask God to help) to make sure that what you (I am speaking to myself here actually) do is because you love God and not because you want to be loved by God or blessed by God or forgiven by God. We have already been given all of these freely. There are no conditions to God's love for us. Reply to this
What a beautiful morning.This morning I was eating breakfast with my son-Aaron and my middle daughter-Chloe the little one-Elizabeth was still sleeping.I started reading this chapter to myself when Chloe suddenly asked daddy does GOD speak to us.So I read the chapter to her and Aaron explaining everything in terms that they could understand.What a great teaching moment that GOD gave me.Chloe always asks me daddy are you afraid of anything and instead of my manly response that first comes to mind that daddy is strong and is scared of nothing I always say sweetheart I fear one thing and that is GOD.That one day we will all stand before him and be judged for everything we have ever done.And that is the one thing that scrares me.To have the ultimate Judge know everything I have ever thought or did and be judged for it.Because I think I have broken 9 out of the 10 commandments.Thank GOD for Jesus or I would have to sacrifice my entire herd and starve to death.
Reply to this
"You shall not", or "Thou shalt not"...or "You shall", or "Thos shalt". Either way you slice it, it comes down to obeying God. Unfortunately, we don't do very well at that obeyance thing. We repeatedly 'forget' the commands of God; not necessarily these TEN, but the 'others' we see scattered throughout the Bible, but mainly, those spoken by Jesus as being 'commands'. LOVE is the central theme of Jesus' teaching, yet we usually fall far short of loving others--whether it be our spouses enough, our friends enough, our acquaintences enough, or even our enemies 'at all'. Yes, we are weak, and do not follow all the commands given. THANK HEAVEN (and God) for giving us the opportunity to keep trying by allowing Jesus to die, not only for our past sins, but our current and future ones as well. THIS is the secret that needs to be spread to everyone. How are we doing in that category? Probably the same as in the others... :-(
Reply to this
good day all. not much to say. I have bee keeping up with the comments. thank God for GRACE!!!
Reply to this
It is interesting that the first 3 commandments involve loving and respecting God. It is also curious to me how many times in the OT that God says that he is a jealous God.
I believe that God needs to be loved! I John 4:8 directly says that "God is love." We are commanded throughout the book of John to love God. Jesus says that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. God wants his creation to love him. He wants us to tell him that we love him and to show our love in our actions.
We all grow up fearing God because many of us were taught that if we sin we will be punished. We are taught that sin kills, sin destroys. I think many churches/preachers find it easier to keep people in line if they teach this fire and brimstone type of religion.
What is the logical human way to get people to come to church every Sunday and/or to give money to church? I think it is to scare them. If you scare them into thinking that missing church is a sin or not giving money might lead to eternal damnation, they will give. Same goes for sharing our faith. Teach that not sharing faith is a sin that displeases God and then they will go share their faith. But is it for the right reason? NO!!!
Or another way is to teach that if you do X, Y or Z, God will bless you. The more you give, the more God gives back to you. This is "get rich" religion.
I do not think this is God's way. God just wants us to love him. He wants us to tell him and show him that we love him. Just like our spouses and children want us to love them. How do we do this? By being perfect? Of course not. If you try to be perfect to your kids, if you "act" like you have no problems or faults or weaknesses, they will not feel loved. They feel love by us being honest with them when we tell them that we messed up and when we apologize. I think God is the same. He does not want us to be perfect, to act like we do not sin. Instead he wants us to confess our sins and love him. If you go to church because you love God, then go to church to show God you love him. If you read your Bible everyday because you love God, then read everyday. If you give because you love God, then give. If you share faith because you love God, then share. But always check motivation (and ask God to help) to make sure that what you (I am speaking to myself here actually) do is because you love God and not because you want to be loved by God or blessed by God or forgiven by God. We have already been given all of these freely. There are no conditions to God's love for us.
Reply to this