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 Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 12:42 pm
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2006 7:33 am
Admittedly I haven't read the entire thing (it's pretty long, but I will get it all today) but I did have a thought so far...
Truly, the truth rarely presents itself in a nice package. My great-grandfather was this way. He was the meanest, most prejudiced man I ever met. However, he did have a long lifetime of experience. The key was seperating his knowledge from his personality. Truth often hurts, like shining a light into a darkened room. If you've been in the dark, become comfortable there, then the light hurts. Our sin is like that. We cover our spiritual eyes when a Light is shined, and look for excuses to get away from it. We get complacent in a sin, and when it is brought up (even in a loving, caring way) it hurts because we don't like to think of ourselves as enjoying something that is wrong, and seek to justify the things we like so we won't feel guilty about them. We try to change God and His Word to suit our lusts, rather than changing ourselves to be in accordance with Him.
I think that's the way God works most of the time. He wants everyone to come to Him, but isn't going to force anyone. So, He allows us to find ways to ignore Him and His rules (by not liking the messenger, by a misspoken word, etc). However, it is OUR responsibility to check the message, pick it apart, to see if there's a gem of truth hidden inside it. Salvation and Godly Joy are free gifts, but there are manifold ways to reject it and feel justified in doing so. However, we are only denying and condemning ourselves to do so.
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Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2006 1:20 pm
This is one of the basic points I was trying to make in addition to what you just said Woodlock :
*Sincere Relationships in the Church*
The concept of *sincerity* may be the best blend of the values of loyalty
and truthfulness. A sincere person is a person who out of loyalty to God and
others speaks the truth without mixture. The word *sincere *comes from the
Latin word *sincerus. *It literally means *without wax. *This word comes
from the time when the Romans were building great buildings using marble
columns to support the weight of these monumental buildings. The builders
would go to the marble cutters in the quarries and inspect the columns. The
cutters would put wax in the cracks of columns to make them deceptively
appear to be solid in order to sell them. The builders could only use
the *sincere
*columns to build with. The columns that were what they appeared to be, that
were actually solid, without wax hiding cracks, were the only thing that
would sustain the weight of the building. If a builder built a building
using a column that lacked *sincerity*, the entire building could fall down.
The parallels are evident. The Spirit of Truth needs *sincere* people to
build the Church; people that value loyalty and truthfulness in harmony with
each other.
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Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2006 11:33 pm
pepperann18027 Really, I want to thank everyone, Woodlock Goth, ... Woodlock Goth? Who's that? I haven't seen them around here... xp Sorry....
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Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2006 2:39 pm
GothPunk4Christ pepperann18027 Really, I want to thank everyone, Woodlock Goth, ... Woodlock Goth? Who's that? I haven't seen them around here... xp Sorry....
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Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 5:51 pm
gonk "wall of text" gonk
Sorry but I don't see myself reading all of that even though I want to reply.
Can someone give me a spoon? sweatdrop
Gah, I don't like reading stuff that's informative. stressed
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 5:41 pm
About the whole truth thing, there's a lot of people who could care less about the truth, my friend being one of them. I've been talking to her about it, the Christianity/God is Truth thing. She was hurt badly by the church. I could tell, although it seemed she shrugged it and couldn't care less about it, that she didn't feel loved or accepted by the church. She and I have had many religious arguements and they've gotten nasty. The closest I've gotten her to Christ is burning the Hawk Nelson cds, which she absolutely loves and is now in love with the lead singer, Jason, who is, admittingly, very hot. I've learned that with the souls that have been broken by those who say they speak the truth, you have to take baby steps. She hasn't progressed much, but her boyfriend was once in her position and I think he wants her to turn back to the Truth. It's hard but when life seems unbearable, you've got God, who is the truth and won't lie and turn his back on you.
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Posted: Sun Apr 08, 2007 11:54 pm
I can understand that.... I mean, yes we do get burned by people who are (or sometimes just say they are) Christians doing God's will, etc. And sometimes they (these folks) say something in a tactless way or whatever and you get burned (so to speak). The main thing that a person needs to know is that sometimes someone who is a Christian may burn them, but God never will burn or hurt them in a heartless or mean spirited way (which admittedly we humans are capable of even though we know better sometimes). He will always love them... and that's what matters most in the end.
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