Re: The devil has no hold on a righteous man.

It's true that the unregenerate and wicked need to learn to FEAR not being repentant (they need to fear ignoring God and not living in a Godly manner), but once a person comes to know God and have eternal life by accepting His Son's purification of the soul (Hebrews 9:14, and THEN also learn from God's spirit to purify our conscience), then our love for God should be perfected and we should no longer fear Him (only LOVE Him, truly loving Him and fear of Him at the same time is not possible). The fear of God is only the BEGINNING of true wisdom.

When I was a child and knowingly did something that was wrong, I feared that my dad would FIND OUT (yet I loved HIM very much) because he wanted me to learn to live the right way so that I would have a good life (and I feared doing wrong in the first place). Once I was old enough to make my own decisions (and knowledgable enough to know how to live properly), he didn't always agree with my decisions (he would even YELL at me if I was being really stupid or reckless...TERRIBLE temper, but very fair/just and generous/gracious), but he didn't insist on his own way (1 Corinthians 13:4) and pick on me or look for ways and reasons to "discipline" me. He had some REQUIREMENTS for good behavior, but no "demands".

When my parents divorced and my mother remarried, I absolutely refused to call my stepfather "dad" or "father". My mother HATED my decision. My family, relatives, boss, friends, strangers/aquaintances (I was even going to a church at the time and my pastor and everyone else shouted how wrong I was) and everyone I could ever know disagreed with me very strongly (even people in the military who know undying loyalty above all), but my love for my dad was steadfast and forever.

I suffered 51 years of suicidal Depression because it was a dysfunctional family (as many children of divorce do), my life was ruined, and when I realized how my life turned out, I felt that I was being very "unchristian" that I simply could not sincerely honor my father with GOOD honor (give him "good" honor, objectively, that's true), but I never stopped loving him AND his ways (except for the temper part, but then again, I am a stubborn holdout for justice too, not "tormenting/punishment" justice, fairness/righteousness justice, he was too).
My love is STEADFAST and forever.

Real love doesn't make sense, it goes BEYOND rationality (read 1 Corinthians chap. 13...it's called "the LOVE chapter"...remember, "God is love", in the churches, Christians hardly know any verses from it because they think it is supposed to be for the "AFTERLIFE",...NO, it is for NOW.....STRONG delusion).

Real love comes from (is dependent on) only YOUR heart (YOUR true PERSONAL feelings and graciousness), not whether someone does what you want them to. I appreciate (immensely) what my dad did and the way he was (I admire his ways). I will endlessly plead mercy to The Lord for him (Jesus is our advocate before The Father, we should also be advocates for each other, "Love covers a multitude of sins").

In scripture, God does explain humanity and human nature, etc. God gives us alot of information about the reality we will experience in this world, and gives us insight about the pitfalls of this world also. He explains that it is human nature that everything that a human being does is motivated by EGO (or else we would feel no reward/joy of accomplishment) and that is why He ensures that we learn that "All is vanity..." (all throughout Ecclesiastes we are told this).

http://cf.blb.org/search/translationResults.cfm?Criteria=all+is+vanity&Versio...


In scripture, God provides us with much more than history, He explains that we have a choice to either become obsessed with what this world has to offer, or obsessed with what He has to offer us...

http://cf.blb.org/search/translationResults.cfm?Criteria=he+who+hates+his+lif...


and so, the wise man of Ecclesiastes says...

http://cf.blb.org/search/translationResults.cfm?Criteria=so+I+hated+life&Vers...


(the bible is much more than history and what we're taught to see in it).

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