March 28, 2009 7:55 AM
Sam wrote:
For those of you 'suffering' through this book, only 3 chapters left...
Chapter 12:
The verse that struck me the most, I think, was 8: "Ephraim boasts, 'I am very rich; I have become wealthy. With all my wealth they will not find in me an iniquity or sin.'" HA!!!! The darn wealth is what CAUSES sin. Jeez, they just didn't get it, did they.
Now, also, of course, on the flip side, poverty can also be as bad as wealth when it comes to sin. In today's America we are seeing a lot more crimes (sin) against man because people are desparate, poor, angry and greedy (not to mention stupid).
I guess it would be a boring life if all people had equitable wealth. I doubt any of us would be satisfied to have exactly what our neighbor had, ate the same foods as they, and did the same things. America IS an example of feeding our greed...we call it 'the American Way', progress, and entrepreneurism (sp). But, it is simply a form of wealth seeking greed. Other countries DO have some places where money is not the 'god' of the people. Take yourself to some secluded village in the Amazon Forest and I'll bet you will find some contented people (not all, mind you, but I bet the percentage is higher than you'll find in most cities and towns in the US). They don't display as much wealth, nor crave it. I would tend to bet that there is also a lot less sin in some of those 'lost' villages.
I DO think that with wealth, comes a lot of 'opportunity' to sin; and because of it's attractiveness, the wealthy like to give in to it.
We all know we are all 'wealthy' when it comes to our lives, even those of us who are temporarily out of work. We have to keep reminding ourselves that our wealth will not keep us from sinning, but will probably encourage it.
March 28, 2009 2:54 PM
Dustin wrote:
The problem i am having with this book is that Ephraim is a country yet god speaks of it as a person. Then turns around and calls out peoples names James,Judah,etc. so i am having a lot of trouble with the name following and seperating the people from the country, kind of confusing.
7 The merchant uses dishonest scales; he loves to defraud.
so do you all remember the price of gas last year, today? i think it was over or just about 3.00 a gallon. It is the same gas that we are pumping today. nothing has changed about it. So is this a sign of a dishonest scale or a sign of greed or what? There is a lot of stuff out there today that is priced thru what is called competition 'the american way' so you say. The upper management takes huge bonus pay checks at the end of the year and the consumer (us) are left paying a hire price for something that has not changed. Gas is Gas. They say that there is a difference between summer blend and winter blend but in my experience there is NO change between the two. By the way, the gas that you are using in your vehicle today has been in storage somewhere in the world for at least the last three years.
So are we allowing these companies to sin against use so that we can drive to work each morning? Just going off your wealth statment sam. Dustin Reply to this
For those of you 'suffering' through this book, only 3 chapters left...
Chapter 12:
The verse that struck me the most, I think, was 8: "Ephraim boasts, 'I am very rich; I have become wealthy. With all my wealth they will not find in me an iniquity or sin.'" HA!!!! The darn wealth is what CAUSES sin. Jeez, they just didn't get it, did they.
Now, also, of course, on the flip side, poverty can also be as bad as wealth when it comes to sin. In today's America we are seeing a lot more crimes (sin) against man because people are desparate, poor, angry and greedy (not to mention stupid).
I guess it would be a boring life if all people had equitable wealth. I doubt any of us would be satisfied to have exactly what our neighbor had, ate the same foods as they, and did the same things. America IS an example of feeding our greed...we call it 'the American Way', progress, and entrepreneurism (sp). But, it is simply a form of wealth seeking greed. Other countries DO have some places where money is not the 'god' of the people. Take yourself to some secluded village in the Amazon Forest and I'll bet you will find some contented people (not all, mind you, but I bet the percentage is higher than you'll find in most cities and towns in the US). They don't display as much wealth, nor crave it. I would tend to bet that there is also a lot less sin in some of those 'lost' villages.
I DO think that with wealth, comes a lot of 'opportunity' to sin; and because of it's attractiveness, the wealthy like to give in to it.
We all know we are all 'wealthy' when it comes to our lives, even those of us who are temporarily out of work. We have to keep reminding ourselves that our wealth will not keep us from sinning, but will probably encourage it.
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The problem i am having with this book is that Ephraim is a country yet god speaks of it as a person. Then turns around and calls out peoples names James,Judah,etc. so i am having a lot of trouble with the name following and seperating the people from the country, kind of confusing.
7 The merchant uses dishonest scales;
he loves to defraud.
so do you all remember the price of gas last year, today? i think it was over or just about 3.00 a gallon. It is the same gas that we are pumping today. nothing has changed about it. So is this a sign of a dishonest scale or a sign of greed or what? There is a lot of stuff out there today that is priced thru what is called competition 'the american way' so you say. The upper management takes huge bonus pay checks at the end of the year and the consumer (us) are left paying a hire price for something that has not changed. Gas is Gas. They say that there is a difference between summer blend and winter blend but in my experience there is NO change between the two. By the way, the gas that you are using in your vehicle today has been in storage somewhere in the world for at least the last three years.
So are we allowing these companies to sin against use so that we can drive to work each morning?
Just going off your wealth statment sam.
Dustin
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