In step

[RiverOL]

Three attitudes to God's will

Acts 22

"... The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will ..." (v.14)
Another condition of continuing peace in the heart of a Christian is this -- joyful abandonment to the Father's will. There are three main attitudes to the will of God found among believers. Some resign themselves to God's will, some rebel against God's will and some rejoice in God's will.

Those who resign themselves to it are the people who, having been caught up in some trouble or difficulty, fail to see that divine love and wisdom are at work, redeeming every situation and turning it to good -- hence their hearts are filled with irritation and resentment. Eventually they get over it and by grace resign themselves to the will of God. They are not happy at what God has allowed, but they resign themselves to "putting up with the inevitable." One hears them say in half-hearted and grudging tones: "Well, I'm resigned to it now." But resignation is not a full Christian grace; beneath it lies an unconquered and unsubmissive spirit.

Others, as we said, rebel against the will of God. These are the people who don't just "put up with the inevitable" but take up arms against God and let Him know that they do not believe He is working in their best interests. Over the years I have met many Christians like this. They do not bring out the rebellion they feel toward God in their conversations with other Christians or even in their public prayers, but it is quietly suppressed and can break out at any time. Such people never enjoy the peace of God because, quite simply, they have never truly believed that divine love and wisdom can turn all things to good.

 

[Perspective]

Laws of Rape

"If a man is caught in the act of raping a young woman who is not engaged, he must pay fifty pieces of silver to her father. Then he must marry the young woman because he violated her, and he will never be allowed to divorce her." Deuteronomy 22:28-29

Deuteronomy 22:28-29 is to be read in conjunction with Exodus 22:16-17 where the rapist must pay a compulsory fine of fifty pieces of silver to his victim's family.

The victim's father may still turn down having the rapist marry his daughter. The rapist's rights to choose to marry his victim is forfeited; if the father agrees, he has to; if not, he cannot desire to.

 

[Frodo]

Deuteronomy 22:28-29 is to be read in conjunction with Exodus 22:16-17 where the rapist must pay a compulsory fine of fifty pieces of silver to his victim's family.

The victim's father may still turn down having the rapist marry his daughter. The rapist's rights to choose to marry his victim is forfeited; if the father agrees, he has to; if not, he cannot desire to.

We need to ask the abysmally ignorant village atheist what is his problem with the punishment cum restitution command? He thinks it is unjust, unfair, wrong, immoral etc?

 

[drifteri]

What wrong with the painting on lot immortality? Substantiate your claim.

 

[RiverOL]

Utter abandonment

Luke 1:26-38

"... Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word ..." (v.38, NKJV)
Those who know peace are those who know how to rejoice in the divine will. It is the attitude of Mary who, in our text today, says: "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word."One great writer, Francis de Sales, puts it this way: "To rejoice in God's will suggests mobility -- the mobility of a voyager who moves with the motion of the vessel on which he has embarked. It suggests also the abandonment of a servant in attendance on his lord, going only where his master goes. It is the attitude of a child leaving to his mother the care of willing, choosing and acting for him, content to be in her safe and tender keeping."

The biographer of Sadhu Sundar Singh, the great Indian Christian, says: "Realize that, to the Sadhu as to Paul, partnership with Christ was a passion and a privilege that transformed hardship, labor and loss from something which was to be accepted negatively as an unfortunate necessity into something positively welcomed for His sake -- and you will understand a little of the secret of the Sadhu's peace.

"Our Lord, of course, is once again the supreme example of this. As Robert Nicoll puts it: "He did not merely accept the will of God when it was brought to Him and laid upon Him. Rather, He went out to meet that loving will and fell upon its neck and kissed it." Saints down the ages have illustrated through their lives the quality of this ripened peace. Oh, that we, His present-day saints, might show it too.

 

[Frodo]

What wrong with the painting on lot immortality? Substantiate your claim.

Lot is not immortal.

 

[drifteri]

LOT is immoral. In spite of his flaws, the dumbass christians regarded him very highly as a righteous person. No wonder, christianity practioners are so savage for 1000 years.

 

[Frodo]

LOT is immoral. In spite of his flaws, the dumbass christians regarded him very highly as a righteous person. No wonder, christianity practioners are so savage for 1000 years.

Can you explain why his daughters need to get him drunk?

 

[drifteri]

Can you explain why his daughters need to get him drunk?

Sound like you know very well, why don't you explain?

 

[Frodo]

Sound like you know very well, why don't you explain?

I need you to think about this. What for give you answer so easy?

 

[drifteri]

I need you to think about this. What for give you answer so easy?

As usual, gong lanjiao...

 

[drifteri]

Fraudo who has the fondness of examing erotic details details in biblical painting still cannot find any speck in the painting on lot immorality after many days...so we move on to the next painting of the bible(sex)gazine series -the immorality of Abraham.
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The Bible's First Threesome?

 

[RiverOL]

Good temper[/B

Ecclesiastes 7

"... and patience is better than pride." (v.8)

The fourth fruit of the Spirit is patience. The central meaning of this word (Greek: makrothumia) is "good temper." It denotes a person who does not easily "fly off the handle." He maintains good temper amid the flux and flow of human events.

One commentator says of this word: "This fourth fruit of the Spirit expresses the attitude to people which never loses patience with them, however unreasonable they may be, and never loses hope for them, however unlovely and unteachable they may be."
Archbishop Trench defined the word as "a long holding out of the mind before it gives room to action or to passion, the self-restraint which does not hastily retaliate a wrong."
And Moffatt describes it as "the tenacity with which faith holds out."Good temper must not, however, be confused with apathy. In the days of the early Church, the group called the Stoics made indifference a virtue. They said: "Nothing is worth suffering for, so build a wall around your heart and keep out all sense of feeling." The early Christians did not share that view, however, for Christians care -- and because they cared, they suffered. Through the ministry of the Spirit in their lives, they found poise and good temper amidst their sufferings. The more we care, the more sensitive we will be to things that tend to block our goal of caring -- that is why the quality of patience is so essential.

An evangelist addressing a meeting was subjected to persistent heckling. Unfortunately, he lost his temper -- and also his audience. They saw he had little to offer except words.

 

[drifteri]

Abraham, Sarah and Hagar, The Bible's First Holy Threesome?

 

[Frodo]

As usual, gong lanjiao...

As usual, cannot think. No wonder always abysmally ignorant.

 

[Frodo]

Fraudo who has the fondness of examing erotic details details in biblical painting still cannot find any speck in the painting on lot immorality after many days...so we move on to the next painting of the bible(sex)gazine series -the immorality of Abraham.
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The Bible's First Threesome?

See what fills the ignorant village atheist's mind? This kind of images he is not abysmally ignorant.

 

[Frodo]

Abraham, Sarah and Hagar, The Bible's First Holy Threesome?

Drifteri the village atheist is secretly wishing he is the male character in the painting!

 

[drifteri]

Drifteri the village atheist is secretly wishing he is the male character in the painting!

You like to examine biblical errotic details, this painting is for your to find fault again. There are much better grades in geylang and I don't believe in incest. Christians are dumbass blind sheep who hold these immoral scums in high regard.

 

[Frodo]

You like to examine biblical errotic details, this painting is for your to find fault again. There are much better grades in geylang and I don't believe in incest. Christians are dumbass blind sheep who hold these immoral scums in high regard.

It is you who like to post erotic pictures from your huge personal collection, I'm just telling you that you are wrong.

 

[RiverOL]

"I got saved last night"

Ephesians 4:8-21

"... be filled with the Spirit ... always giving thanks to God the Father for everything ..." (vv.18 & 20)

The greatest single influence in turning a bad temper to a good temper is to be indwelt by the Spirit of God. Our text makes that abundantly plain. When the Spirit is allowed to dwell in us, He influences our reactions so that we respond to life's situations with praise rather than with pique.


A miner was notorious for his bad temper. His job was to look after the pit ponies, and whenever they did anything wrong, he would swear and hit out at them with a stick. When he got like this, strong men would keep out of his way, for they knew that he could as easily turn on them as he did on the horses.

One night he went to a Welsh revival meeting, got gloriously converted and experienced a mighty encounter with the Holy Spirit. Next day, at work, one of the horses stepped on his foot. The men with him waited for the explosion -- but nothing happened. One man asked: "Are you sick?" "No," replied the miner, "why do you ask?" "Well," said the man, "I know how quickly you get upset about things, and when the horse stepped on your foot and you didn't lose your temper, I thought you must be unwell." "I'm not unwell," said the miner, "I got saved and filled with the Holy Spirit last night."

There is an interesting moment recorded in the life of Saul in 1 Samuel 10:27: "But some rebels said, 'How can this man save us?' So they despised him, and brought him no presents. But he held his peace" (NKJV). Had Saul maintained that same spirit, he would have been a great man!