Date:   11/21/2006 2:37:40 PM ( 18 y ago)
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URL:   https://www.curezone.org/forums/fm.asp?i=777499

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Abraham's faith is an example of ONE of the things that are necessary to please The Lord, but we are not required to limit our devotion to faith alone. Many Christians limit their devotion to that one requirement (they sacrifice their skepticism, Matthew 9:13, "I desire mercy,...") along with simple obedience to COMMANDS, but the apex of faith is based on having the courage to go beyond the written word (it is dangerous to do so and that is why it requires caution, the word that we should live by is of the spirit, Ephesians 6:17, divide morality as a sword divides, Hebrews 5:14). Trust your heavenly Father to always be with you if you REALLY DO have a contrite heart. If you have a contrite (pure) heart, you will want to be PLEASING to Him (Hebrews 10:5,"Sacrifices and offerings thou hast not desired,..." James 1:25, "But he who looks into the PERFECT law...".

The story of Job was not a story of faith, it was a love story. Faith can falter, but love never fails. Job could not have perservered the way He did if his love was not strong, faith must be borne out of love (Romans 13:10, "...love is the fulfilling of the law"). We are under NEW Testament Christianity law ("...I will put my law WITHIN them...", Jeremiah 31:33).

Traditional Christianity is taught in the institutions of Christianity in such a way that everyone should ultimately resemble (or be a product of) the bible, commentaries, scholars, pastors and fellow churchgoers...but we are supposed to be products of the spirit of God, not the spirit of man.

CREATION was the first gracious gift of God. He didn't have to make everything as wonderful as He did, but He made everything in such a way that we would be able to marvel at all creation everyday of our lives and enjoy life to the fullest (multi-colored flowers, collect rocks, etc.). His second gracious gift was His Son to purify our souls. His third gracious gift was that He left His spirit with us so that we could learn what true love is so that we will be able to stand before The Lord every day with a clear conscience. When we first come to The Lord, we recieve His second gracious gift to purify our souls and start learning the elementary doctrine of Christ (Hebrews 6:1), but if we learn from God's spirit instead of simply learning what man has to say, the spirit will teach us to be fair, kind, gentle and treat other with the respect a human being deserves (according to our own understanding). When we do that, we will be able to have a clear conscience (our conscience will be pure) because we chose to be good students of the third gracious gift. God engineered/designed scripture to convey the spirit to those who choose to recieve the spirit, and the LITERAL message to those who choose that instead (your choice).

Which devotion do you think is more pleasing to Him?

Hebrews 9:13-14, "...purification of the FLESH, how much more shall the blood of Christ, WHO THROUGH THE ETERNAL SPIRIT offered himself without blemish to God, purify your CONSCIENCE...". Of course we are to sacrifice our old ways, and we are to accept that what Christ did for us is the only sacrifice for our sins, but we also have the option to please Him (if that is what we choose to do).
Faith is good, but God is love.

Jesus did not come to bring peace on earth so that everyone could continue to do whatever they wish, He came to create a clear division between right and wrong so that the change from good to evil is clear and abrupt with no middle ground (no shadow or variation).

You will find much justification in scripture for whatever you want (depending on how hard you look), but if you 'only have eyes for Him', let His spirit be your teacher and yearn jealously (James 4:5).

All verses are from the RSV.
 

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