Author	Thread: A Huge Misunderstanding
Admin	A Huge Misunderstanding Posted : 24 Jan, 2010 02:45 PM This is the post I used in Walter's topic on "murder in the heart". "Hmm... there's a lot of heat on this topic, so I'll try to be brief. I don't feel like Jesus REPLACED the old commandments. I also don't see His teachings as new commandments. I don't think Jesus was trying to give us a new list of rules. In fact, just from reading about Him, I'd say he was against giving us lists of rules to follow! I think that what He was trying to do was to help us all better understand what sin is. To help us understand it a little better. He was trying to help us RECOGNIZE sin... at the core. I think God may have been tired of us following rules just because they were given to us. I think He wanted us to develop a deeper understanding of what sin truly is. I don't believe the people back in Jesus' time had any concept of this. They were just trying to follow the rules to the letter. They didn't understand what sin truly was. Sin was just a word for "you broke a rule". This largely summarizes the way the Pharisees and other teachers of the law acted during that time. They followed the rules as close to the letter as they could, yet were missing the point. As a result of their ignorance of what sin actually was, they were usually oblivious when they were caught up inside of it! In fact, the more I spend time in the "church", or the institutional church anyways, the more I see Christians falling back into this same pattern. "I better follow the rules to the dot so I don't go to hell." This is sad. Literally. It's depressing. What's even sadder, to me, is that no one is standing up against it. We're just all allowing it. We're teaching it our kids. Our own youth. I've been struggling with this for a little while now. I'm not quite sure how to respond or what to do. Maybe none of you feel the same way I do. Maybe you do. If you don't, that's okay. I have to answer for my actions as you have to answer for yours. If you do agree with me, please... share your thoughts. Please. (peacefully, hopefully)" In Christ Garrett Post Reply
View Profile History	A Huge Misunderstanding Posted : 27 Jan, 2010 11:54 PM I'm not siding with the preacher here... but it IS your choice. You choose to do your job, a life altering job, rather than attend church some weeks. Is that wrong? Heck no! It's like I was saying... it's not a sin to miss a church service. As for them treating you like a visitor... i dunno. That says a lot to me about the quality of the relationships in the church. I know it's probably a hard thing to go through considering you helped start this church, but think about this: Jesus himself went through something VERY similar... He is the one who said that a prophet will never be accepted in his hometown. He, I'm sure, felt a similar abandonment. Instead of trying to squeeze and fit back in, He moved onwards. There were plenty of other towns and peoples that were ready and willing to accept Him and bring Him in. That's all I have. I hope I have been helpful. Pray about it. Let God guide you. I promise... He won't forsake you. (as I'm sure you already know) I hope it all works out for you! In Christ Garrett Post Reply
View Profile History	A Huge Misunderstanding Posted : 28 Jan, 2010 06:02 PM in my last post i meant jesusfreak not storm, i keep doing that!!!!! sorry Post Reply
skinnywhiteboy View Profile History	A Huge Misunderstanding Posted : 30 Jan, 2010 12:14 PM I feel God gave us free choice. The more "rules" you have to follow, the more your free choice comes into question. There are a lot of things we have to draw our own conclusions on as Christians, and I feel too many of us get drawn into huge discussions regarding the minutia and smallest technicalities of His Word. Rules are good, don't get me wrong, but I feel God wants us to come to Him because WE want to. The more rules you have, the more "programmed" you are. The more intensive your "programming" the less free choice you display. Your computer is programmed. It doesn't make the choice to turn itself on and reply here. I chose to use my computer to respond. I feel God is the same way. He's up in Heaven being constantly adored and glorified by the angels. But WE here on earth are the ones he cares about. If God just wanted to lay down a set of rules for us to follow, I feel it would still be around today, somewhere in the Bible. (Yes, I know about the commandments, the greatest is love because it's all-encompassing) ;) God wants us to choose Him, not simply adore him. If he simply wanted adoration and worship, well, wouldn't He just make more angels? Post Reply
DontHitThatMark View Profile History	A Huge Misunderstanding Posted : 30 Jan, 2010 01:29 PM Angels have free choice too :goofball:, but you're right, God would leave His 99 sheep to search for the lost 1. Anyway...I believe following the will of God through our free choice...even though our flesh is weak...is what makes our love valuable to God, possibly even more so than the angels....or at least in a different way. Like the parable of the lost son. :peace::peace: Post Reply
View Profile History	A Huge Misunderstanding Posted : 30 Jan, 2010 06:09 PM he gave us the Torah (the instructions) and the Feast of YAHWAH as appointed times to come to HIM,,, the Feast are prophetic shadow pictures of what is to come,,and YAHSHUA and the set-apart ones kept them ,,it shows many times in the Scriptures where they were in the synagogues on Shabbat (not sungod day) YAHSHUA taught the Torah and kept it so should we,,love you Post Reply
View Profile History	A Huge Misunderstanding Posted : 30 Jan, 2010 10:04 PM SkinnyWhiteBoy (man i love that name. lol): I agree that God gave us freedom of choice, and I also agree that God WANTS us to choose Him instead of just forcing us to worship Him. I'm gonna have to say, though, that I don't think rules necessarily question our freedom of choice. The rules aren't there to control us. They're their to teach us. To help us understand. You see, by giving us the commandments and other rules, we have been able to better understand what sin is at it's core. Now we are able to steer clear of it with the knowledge that was taught to us through these "rules". We are not forced to follow these rules (freedom of choice). Once we develop our relationship with God and with Jesus, however, and we truly love Him, then we learn to love what He loves and hate what He hates. Sin is one of those things He can't stand. That's why the "rules" (commandments, whatever you wanna call em) are there. To guide us. Computers are run by rules. WE are run by ourselves. It is our choice on which direction we will go. Remember... it's a relationship... not slave ownership. Peace to you, brother. Thanks everyone for your responses and replies. It's been a great help. In Christ Garrett Post Reply
DontHitThatMark View Profile History	A Huge Misunderstanding Posted : 30 Jan, 2010 10:46 PM :peace::peace: Post Reply
skinnywhiteboy View Profile History	A Huge Misunderstanding Posted : 2 Feb, 2010 12:50 PM Dear Jesusfreak, thanks for what you said. I've often felt "constricted" by the Christian church myself, and what you said about rules not forcing your actions, I absolutely agree! I've also found that the deeper my relationship gets, the more "in line" with the rules my heart becomes. Funny how that works....I wish you best of luck, and hope you find some peace here! Post Reply

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