October 30, 2013
Do You Not Know
So often when we come face to face with sin in
society, we either don’t know what to say, or we are afraid to say anything to
the offender. The Apostle Paul has an interesting teaching method that he used,
particularly with the church in Corinth. When he encountered a sinful situation
he would ask the offender, or the audience, ‘Do you not know…?’ To me it is as
though he is saying, ‘Didn’t you get the memo?’ I’m thinking we could
incorporate Paul’s method into our conversation skill-set today. Modern day
examples that I can see using would be: Do you not know that abortion offends
God? Do you not know that sexual immorality is an abomination to God? “Don’t you know that you yourselves are
God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” (1 Cor 3:16 NIV)
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----I think our problem today is that the truth of the Bible is so much more openly denied. "Science" has stolen title to the truth. If you want to talk about something as being a sin now, you had better have done the scientific research which concludes its categorization as such. Then any behavior not scientifically studied and determined to be sin is fair game to enjoy.
-----It doesn’t help that many, maybe most, Christians play into this fallacy. Their acceptance of it establishes a social image for expected reflection. And if the Christian doesn’t reflect it, then he is labeled a kooky fanatic, or at least deeply naive and hilariously deceived. His penchant for calling certain social norms “sins” they regard as proof.
-----But those who’ve placed Christianity in this social straight-jacket did so by marking Christian belief’s as social sin, also without showing scientific proof. They portrayed their own notions as truths based upon their own inhabitation of scientific camps. In other words, because they truck with "science" their accusations of sin are valid, they claim, while Christian accusations are invalid. For Christians truck with the Bible.
-----That isn’t proof. It’s an heuristic illusion leading to the gate through which they will be cast out, because their accusations have no proof, being false. Simple logic proves the Bible’s claims regarding the sins it directly addresses. This is to what Paul referred by writing, “When Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or perhaps excuse them…” (Rom 2:14-15) The Greeks reasoned law perhaps better than any other commonly known society, except maybe what America was. The ancient Persians also did well. Where any society concerns itself about justice between its members there is an approximation of truth about sin and righteousness, because right and wrong is based upon that one fundamental, logical truism: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. It is the logical process of proving right.
-----Logical process, in fact, is a good place to stand within this society gone awry. Why not a stand upon the Bible? The Bible is culturally rejected, while logic is not, yet. So, logic becomes the handhold for reintroducing the Bible; it actually stands upon the Bible, “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD…” (Isa 1:18) Therefore, a stand upon logical process is a stand upon the Bible. God presents the Bible in a logical format, calling us to a well reasoned decision about the rational consequences of actual realities which can be reasonably understood by any simple, thinking person. Moreover, knowing God with the mind is imperative, because language is first logically processed; His Word has been given to us linguistically. Logic, being the basis of science, ties science to the Bible simply and truly, because science is about obedience to physical parameters; the Bible is about obedience to discernable truths (which logically includes revelation as well as physical parameter;) logic is mental process’s obedience to reality; and God is that reality by which obedience has any meaning at all. Without logic, nothing interrelates.
-----Failure to relate is the fundamental element of sin and the very nature of falsehood. It is that God is, “I AM THAT I AM” as He put it, which requires man to relate, else to sin. That man believes he must think God exists for God to exist lies at the base of his illogical disobedience.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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