True Freedom
The congregation was small as most people were at the retreat. The service was short yet meaningful. I present you Romans 8:1-8
1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature,God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
5Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. 8Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
In society today we are too easily submitting ourselves to evil. Mind you, it's a gradual process. The more we are open to it, the more evil we become. We are self-centred, ignorant and take freedom for granted. It is only Christ that can save us from the condemnation on Judgement Day.
46 Comments:
Numbers 11:33
and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague.
James 5:11
the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy
Gan
And why do you think the Lord is angry with us?
does this mean that u ain't going to watch any more m15+ movies to avoid being exposed to language, sex, drugs and bloody violent? or walk into an arcade where you will be surrounded by digital men beatting each other bloody. Or reduce the amount of lyric you listen to as most r'n'b/rock are about sex, drugs or violents... these are just the little things that you can shine away from so u don't become "more evil"
Geez, your hard to sway.. I too follow what God stands for but not to that extent.. here is a few interesting quotes from the bible...
Ezekiel 32:5
"I will strew your flesh upon the mountains, and fill the valleys with your carcass. I will drench the land even to the mountains with your flowing blood..."
Jeremiah 4:22
"For my people are foolish, they know me not, they are stupid children..."
and for Gan,
Deuteronomy 23:1
"He whose testicles are crushed or whose male member is cut off shall not enter the assembly of the Lord."
chronic
I can 'tone' down what I watch/listen/do but not remove it from my life completely. It's not possible...
HAHAHHAHAHAH
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Thats brilliant Paul... where are you getting all these quotes? Hahahhaa.... truly sublime
Gan
Oh yeah... and as to your question Kam,
I never claimed the Lord existed... you did, hence I do not claim he is angry... you are. I was just pulling some contradictory quotes from the bible in the hope of provoking you into a knife fight.
Matthew 5:22 - Anger is a sin
Gan
If the Lord does not exist as you say, then who is this 'Lord' that you are talking about?
Secondly, the Bible does not contradict itself. Period.
The Bible doesn't contradict itself?
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
That last comment wasn't me. But I would like to mirror his/her mirth.
Gan
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Why was it removed?
Gan
Because I like saying "This post has been removed by the author." ...
OK, find me passages (note: passages, not quotes) in the Bible that contradict each other
Just read that website you sent round about the rock. I might say that answer is one of the stupider answers i've read. My understanding of what they've written is "God can do everything that is in his nature to do", by their logic i believe i'm bloody omnipotent. "You can't fly, so you can't be omnipotent" i hear you say? Doesn't matter, flyings not in my nature, i can still do everything though.
'tone down'... isn't evil just evil? little or big does it matter? it's like saying which is a worst sin.. murder or stealing... besides it may be impossible.. but isn't that wat a christian is... to be god like.. to resist "evil"... not just make exception cuz u can't do it?
As for contradictions here's a nice website to get you started: http://ffrf.org/lfif/?t=contra.txt
It was at the top of the list when i searched "Bible Contradictions", i haven't looked overly closely and i will agree that some are stupid but i've verified a couple i found interesting like the one about how sons should or shouldn't be punished for the father's sins.
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?
Epicurus
How can you even look at that page and say there are contradictions in the Bible? Just pulling a couple of quotes together and stick a 'Vs' is not very convincing. It should very least have some sort of explanation. As for the question whether sons should be punished for the father's sins...I'll post a blog up later as this seems to be a popular question (someone else asked the same thing awhile ago)
What explanation does it need? There you have two contradictary quotes, that's all we were debating i thought?
I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires.
Susan B. Anthony
The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.
Benjamin Franklin
Jeez... I didn't know you had this many friends Kam.
Who would've guessed?
Gan
Ok, verify
Exodus 20:5
and
Deuteronomy 24:16
I thought i said that i had?
Are you saying that by putting two quotes together, you have contradiction?
Are you trying to suggest you don't?
Contradict
To be contrary to; be inconsistent with.
You kids...
Why don't you use msn?
Yup. It's meaningless.
Please enlighten me as to how it's meaningless.....
Mark
^thought i should start signing
Did you even read the whole passage? and put it into context?
Susan B. Anthony
i agree.. christians can be selfish.. they only do things that makes their life better.. they dont care wat happens to the people around them or if they hurt someone cuz they think it's wat god wants
and as for the parent vs children sin.. screw the qoutes ppl have given us but then tell me this.. which one do u think is true? is it the parents.. the children.. which
ps was from Ho
Perhaps Russell is correct for once and we should discontinue this debate in your blog? Does it explode if we make it to 100 replies?
I have read the passages and the only difference i can see is that one is what God will do and the other is what man should do. I will acknowledge there is perhaps not a contradiction between these two passages but there is most definitely a hypocrisy.
However Ezekiel 18:20 also deals with the actions of God so when you put that passage with the Exodus one i think there is a contradiction.
Mark
I think your post about christians was an over-generalisation and very harsh ho. Christians are far more likely to do things for other people's benefit and not their own in my experience.......
maybe.. but i did say "can be"... besides.. have u ever had one ask u for forgiveness... that makes em feel better... but do u think it always makes the other party feel better too?.. it might not be a good reason but it would be one in why i would turn away from christianity
I'm not sure a bad experience with a couple of christians is a good reason to refuse christianity. I can see how it would turn you off, but ultimately it should be the religion you consider not the followers.
I've never had a christian ask me for forgiveness and make me feel uncomfortable (i went to a christian school) and personally i can't see why that is such a horrid thing, if we all forgave each other the world might be a better place.
But then there'd be no wars... or murder... or anything that makes life interesting. I mean... what would they show on the news?
Gan
are u trying to say that cuz u've gone to a christian school u have alot more experiences with christians then i have? and that i'm totally wrong cuz i haven't been surrounded or grew up with alot of christians?
if we all forgave each other the world might be better.. but do u think people would forget the problems they have cuz ...
Stupid Blogger lost my comment, here we go again:
I was not trying to say that i was right and you were wrong. I have no idea what your life experiences are and am not going to presume i have had more experience. The comment that i went to a christian school was merely to give the comment context. If i had never spent any time with christians then my comment becomes pretty much useless. Much like if i said "i've never had a Jamaican be nasty to me so they are all nice" is a fairly useless comment as i don't recall ever meeting a Jamaican. If i'd lived in Jamaica for a while the comment becomes much more relevant.
Mark
"6The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. 8Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God."
Read verses 6 and 7 again. Now... what were you saying again guys? Something hostile was it?? mmm....
yea i see your point mark.. but i am of course assuming that u are a christian who is going to church so just adding that u went to christian skool i thought u were trying to say something.. extra.. so i just took it the wrong way.. my fault
Nope i'm not a Christian.
Mark
Don't you guys have better things to do than posting comments at 8 in the morning :P
then why are u putting in that u went to a christian skool.. it kinda shows that not everyone in that is in a christian school IS christian... and even if they are... they might not put it into practice.. it's like saying.. i went to a catholic school.. i don't c everyone praying before they eat.. saying the hail mary with beads every day.. but hey it was a catholic school
Because although there are people who aren't practising christians there is an unusually high number who are. This also means compulsory biblical studies, numerous mission speakers and praying and singing stuff in assemblies and whatnot. A requirement to teach there is being christian.
Mark
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