Saturday, May 10, 2008
Shacking up? Sounds like a good idea!
First Julie's Keyboard:
"A Doer of the Work...."
This morning as our young son was enjoying one of his favorite indulgences (watching cartoons), I was struck by a remark made by one of the well known cartoon characters of this day. He said, "I just learned a good lesson, if I could just remember what it was!" We snickered a little at the irony in this, yet thought about the truth it really held.
This morning as our young son was enjoying one of his favorite indulgences (watching cartoons), I was struck by a remark made by one of the well known cartoon characters of this day. He said, "I just learned a good lesson, if I could just remember what it was!" We snickered a little at the irony in this, yet thought about the truth it really held.
This idea could prompt a valid question saying, "At what point is a concept considered having been learned?" As Christians when we look into God's Word and see the vast measures of knowledge unfolding, we begin to discover things many times that we just didn't see the last time we looked there. Surely this is one of the great mysteries of the Great God we serve. He's never ending in revelation for us if we'll pursue Him for the knowing.
What about the fact that we many times hear great teaching or simply read through the scripture and a light just seems to come on and show us something fresh and new. All of a sudden we're saying, "Hey, I get it!" This is certainly edifying and brings such encouragement to our lives as His children. But, are we holding on to these precious truths we're finding? Do we let these hidden treasures we've discovered get covered over again with the sands of the sea of life?
If we take a peep at the Book of James we can find some help with the things we're learning. There's another step that should bring security to our effort to hold fast to what He's given us. He tells us to "Be Doers of the Word, and not Hearers only...." If we only hear without action to follow, we deceive our own selves. What wisdom is revealed when we see "How it really is. Learn a good lesson and then do absolutely nothing with it to reveal any results?" How soon do we forget things never utilized?
May we ponder these verses this week to be sure we're really "learning our lessons."
James 1:22-25"But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed."
As we grow in grace,
Have a Blessed Week!
Julie
_________________________
"Shacking up? Sounds like a good idea."
I recently read an article on FoxNews "The Pros and Cons of 'Living in Sin'"
In
the article the author stated: "As a sex educator, I have always
strived to give people the facts so that they can make their own sexual
decisions based on their own value system. Unlike many of my critics,
I'm not here to moralize or judge."
Hmmm, now lets see, how can I respond and not moralize or judge yet still give the facts? You see, the problem is, is you have to know what is is! Confused? Seems we all are these day. It goes back to last weeks post and where your source of truth is.
There are three key statements the author (who seems like a very nice lady with genuine concern) made that caught my attention. 1. Facts. 2. own value system. 3. moralize or judge.
Lets looks at number one. 1.Facts. Just because something is fact doesn’t mean it’s the end of the story, as one fact usually leads to another. For instance, the author stated concerning living together before marriage: "It's great for those turned off by casual sex and who want a committed relationship, but do not feel ready to get married" It is also a fact that people who want a committed relationship should feel ready for marriage, that is what commitment is about.
Number two. 2. own value system. Can we have a stable society where everyone is free to have their own value system? How could we pass laws? How could we determine what is right and wrong? How would we set boundaries for our children? This list could on and on, society is based on a single value system.
Number three. 3. moralize or judge. I have heard it said; "you can’t legislate morality" but every law that is passed does just that. So if we state a moral law, are we being judgmental or just stating truth? Oh my, what a society we live in, everybody’s truth is truth. There’s my truth, your truth, his truth, and her truth. If my truth differs from your truth I’m being judgmental and vise versa.
According to the author of this article here is where we are today:
More and more unmarried couples are living together, and research indicates that most people have tried it.
- - - cohabitation is here to stay; up to two-thirds of American households began as "starter marriages."
"Living in sin" is not a new idea. According to Stephanie Coontz, author of "Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage," the only difference between cohabitation and legal marriage in ancient Rome was the partners' intent.
For more than 1,000 years, the Roman Catholic Church recognized commitment by simply taking the couple's word. If a man and woman had privately agreed to marry, then they were seen as a married couple. Many modern-day thinkers have felt the same way.
American anthropologist George Peter Murdock once defined marriage as "a global institution involving a couple cohabitating, engaging in sexual activity, and cooperating economically." For many couples, the actual act of officially tying the knot is just a technicality.
I am originally from a country (Iceland) where we don't tell other people what they can do in their own bedroom. When I moved from Iceland to the U.S. in the 1980s, I was surprised to learn that, in America's eyes, my Icelandic countrymen – and family members – were basically regarded as a bunch of heathens because they have no problem with the concepts of "living in sin," or having children out-of-wedlock.
But in the decades since I experienced this culture shock, the acceptance of unmarried cohabitation, as well as children out-of-wedlock, has steadily grown in North America and Western Europe. - - - - (see the link listed at the beginning for the full article.)
Our Founders simply had this to say:
He who is void of virtuous attachments in private life is, or very soon will be, void of all regard of his country. There is seldom an instance of a man guilty of betraying his country who had not before lost the feeling of moral obligations in his private connections. . . . [P]rivate and public vices are in reality . . . connected. . . . Nothing is more essential to the establishment of manners in a State than that all persons employed in places of power and trust be men of unexceptionable characters. The public cannot be too curious concerning the characters of public men. - - - - Samuel Adams.
[A]ll history is a witness of the truth of the principle that good morals are essential to the faithful and upright discharge of public functions. The moral character of a man is an entire and indivisible thing-it cannot be pure in one part and defiled in another. A man may indeed be addicted, for a time, to one vice and not to another; but it is a solemn truth that any considerable breach in the moral sense facilitates the admission of every species of vice. The love of virtue first yields to the strongest temptation; but when the rampart [resistance] is broken down, it is rendered more accessible to every successive assailant. . . . Corruption of morals is rapid enough in any country without a bounty [an encouragement] from government. And . . . the Chief Magistrate of the United States [the President] should be the last man to accelerate its progress. - - - - Noah Webster.
Of course their ideas were old fashion, strict and confining. It’s surprising that such old fashion and confining idea’s such as this built a nation with greatest experience of freedom the world has ever know! I’m sure glad we are finally breaking away from all those terrible moral restrictions! (pun intended)
May God bless each of you.
David
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