What To Do In Place Of Sin

Let’s think of sinfulness as a black dot on what would be a clean, white block. I’ve given some examples above – you can pick your own visualization of what sin looks like at this point in your life. Let me assure you, we all sin. Even Christians will add a blot during the day, hopefully confess it to our Lord and have it covered as promised when we feel remorse and change our actions.

That’s the only thing that removes the sin from our lives – but doesn’t remove the consequences.  Remember that, please. I can forgive the woman whose negligence took the life of a loved one, but I cannot remove the consequences of that event. God forgives us, taking our sins away from His presence, but the consequences remain in our lives.

Consequences are often painful, but there is greater pain – and truly greater consequences – for rejecting God’s provision of forgiveness and His assistance in ceasing sinfulness in our lives.

Think you haven’t sinned?

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23 KJV)

He knew we would, so there were plans:

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. (Romans 5:8-10 KJV)

But what is sin, why is it important, and how do we live without it?

I ran across a blog entry recently that addressed several questions I’ve faced and I’ve heard from others, written by Brad Hambrick about accountability partners. If that’s a new phrase to you:

An accountability partner is a person who coaches another person in terms of helping the other person keep a commitment. The term is a neologism and has gained relatively wide use since the 1990s. The term is often used by Christians where the accountability partner helps a person adhere to a moral commitment

Becoming a follower of Christ is definitely a moral commitment. There are suggestions across the Bible how to be close to God and know His will in our lives. One is to keep us from continuing in sin – which is living outside of God’s will. But – when those sins are gone, what do we do to replace them? That’s a question addressed in Hambrick’s blog:

We sin because sin is fun. We enjoy sin; at least for a little while. The more we deprive ourselves of legitimate pleasures, the more we will be susceptible to the temptation of illegitimate pleasures. A friend who spurs you to avoid illegitimate pleasures (e.g., sin) should, just as passionately, call you to pursue legitimate pleasures – in balance with your life responsibilities.

What are “legitimate pleasures”? Depends on the individual. One of mine is Christian fellowship with people who enjoy playing the Texas domino game 42. Definitely a pleasure! Another is gathering to hear (and sing) gospel music. No murder, mayhem, lost loves, crying in a bar found there. Some are sad, true, but all hold promise. In two weeks we’ll be listening to a concert by The Rochester Family. Show up at First Baptist Church, Cottondale, Texas, Saturday, March 23rd at 6:00 pm and share that fellowship (and BBQ sandwiches after the singing.) Then come back and hear them again Sunday morning,

I also like museums, volunteering, traveling (including cruises – ask me about those – I’ll be happy to share!) there are many pleasures in life that do not break the two Commandments Jesus defined:

Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:35-40 KJV)

Remove the sinfulness and keep them from growing back by comparing pleasures against these two commandments.  Keep them, and learn what it takes to love God and your neighbor. The Bible provides awesome lessons for achieving a walk with Him.

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:8 KJV)

Rewriting Quotes

I recently read this post on Facebook:

A.W. Tower once said, “If a hundred pianos were merely tuned to each other, their pitch would not be very accurate. But if they were all tuned to one tuning fork, they would automatically be tuned to each other. Similarly, unity in the church isn’t the result of running around adjusting to everyone else. Rather, the key to unity is becoming more like Jesus Christ.”

It is a beautiful thought, and very valid – if we are to be unified in the body of Christ, we need to focus on Him. We need to learn of Him and be aware as we learn what is and is not accurate. Such as this lovely quote. Being the skeptic I am, it didn’t look quite right. Can you see off hand where it began to go wrong?

So, I spent some time googling and discovered this quote:

Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers met together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become 'unity' conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.
A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine

Quoting someone should be very important. That’s a good reason for including the scriptures I reference in the blog, along with the version. As I’ve stated before, my personal preference is the King James Version. I’m used to it. It is understandable in spite of words not regularly used in English today. Modern versions have been marketed as better translations, more easily read. Frankly, I find it odd that would be necessary. This is a book where we find:

let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay (James 5:12b)

Yes, that is a partial verse taken out of context. Go ahead and look it up in context if you think it doesn’t fit. However, I believe that God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33) and good old King James has been used for centuries to help people know God. Still works pretty good, too.

Yesterday I quoted Jesus:

For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? (John 5:46-47 KJV)

There are other writers who wrote to be believed:

These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. (1 John 5:13 KJV)

I am not called to be as Tover, teaching people how to live as Christians. I am called to get people to read their Bibles, to get people to know God, to understand He is interested in their lives, to join in with praying they find Him close when they seek Him:

But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. (Deuteronomy 4:29 KJV) 

And it’s repeated:

I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. (Proverbs 8:17 KJV) 
And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:13 KJV) 

That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: (Acts 17:27 KJV)


Are you ready to look for Him? Are you ready for the unity offered through Jesus? Or do you ignore Him because of the many people who ignore Him, too?

When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:) Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it. (Ecclesiastes 8:16-17 KJV)

Harmony? Not In Everything

Christ Feeding The Multitude

Eye witness accounts differ. Although Matthew and John were Disciples, and with Mark and Luke they all four were with Jesus in a wide variety of places, not all of them wrote exactly the same words, times, or incidents. There are many who searched the gospels for the same incidents to create what is called a Harmony of the Gospels. Reasons for their existence vary – from the above article:

Harmonies are constructed for a variety of purposes: to provide a straightforward devotional text for parishioners, to create a readable and accessible piece of literature for the general public, to establish a scholarly chronology of events in the life of Jesus as depicted in the canonical gospels, or to better understand how the accounts relate to each other.

One of the incidents that appears in each of the Gospels is the feeding of the 5,000, which was Pastor’s sermon Sunday morning.

And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased. (John 6:2 KJV)

These people did not follow Jesus for what they heard, what He said or what His friends said – “they saw his miracles . . .”, especially those that were done “. . . on them that were diseased.” Wouldn’t that be enough for any one of us to want to be close to a healer? I drive 50 miles each way monthly for a specific procedure that I’ve seen renew my husband’s health in his fight against Myasthenia Gravis. Yes – if I saw such healing, I’d stay close.

Think of another thing – it’s about 20 miles to our closest full service grocery store. We can buy bread and processed items at six miles, but no fresh produce. To get a head of lettuce, it’s at least 30+ miles round trip. What do you think it might have been in the hills around the Sea of Galilee? And, there were at least 5,000 people in this multitude when Jesus said:

When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? (John 6:5 KJV)

Philip responded just about the same way I would if someone told me we needed to feed a family of thirty on an hour’s notice. We do that at holidays, but that takes planning. At least Philip could do sums in his head:

Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. (John 6:7 KJV)

Andrew, whom I know as being one who brought people to Jesus, saw a possibility but understood the impracticability of his own suggestion:

One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many? (John 6:8-9 KJV)

Go back to Jesus’ original question – which He asked while knowing the answer. He didn’t ask how much money it would take, which was Philip’s focus. He didn’t ask what would be bought. He didn’t ask anything except: Where? None of those around Him responded to what He asked, just to the problem that had no answer.

Christ knew – and knows now – the answer to questions He asks, and that we ask. What miracle did He do with what was offered? What was available was put in His hands:

And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. (John 6:11 KJV)

The miracle was through Jesus’ handling the problem. One person gave all they had to Him. He took what was available and shared it with thousands. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John wrote down what happened what they saw – the same way men wrote what they heard and saw of God’s work in their own time. Jesus spoke of that in the last verse of John’s 5th chapter:

For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? (John 5:46-47 KJV)

He spoke of it again after His resurrection:

Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. (John 20:29 KJV)

I haven’t seen, yet I believe and have been blessed. I doubt that you’ve seen Him, though you may have seen the results of His works. Do you believe? Are you blessed? Ready to give all to receive what He has to offer? The answer may be different than mine.

Revival At Sea

Isn't that a gorgeous capture of . . . sunrise or sunset? I don’t know because I didn’t take the picture, Second Daughter did and I find it a perfect reminder of our cruise, Revival at Sea. That’s a tour put together by a pastor and his wife for pastors, staff, families, and extended families each January. 2019 was our first trip with them (as extended family of a church staff employee.)

I had every intention of taking notes of the trip each and every day – but that didn’t work. Too busy having a good time, fellowshipping with like-minded Christians and enjoying being catered too by the Carnival Cruise crew. They did a good job.

I did take notes during our at-sea worship services in the Jazz Bar. I know – but at that time it was filled with people ready to hear preachers. January 6 was a sea worthy topic – don’t be a castaway.

The Bible has a couple of castaway stories – the whole book of Jonah is about a man who declined to do what God asked of him, at least the first time around. After spending three days in the whale, he changed his mind and made the trip to Nineveh, only to get angry when the people listened to him and changed their ways. There is a point there that is applicable to our lives.  Go ahead - read the book.

Paul ended up shipwrecked while doing what was required of him. Luke writes of this in Acts 27 – note here the “we”:

But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon. And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive. (Acts 27:14-15 KJV)

At least the ship made it to a shore after a couple of weeks, though it broke up afterwards:

And falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the forepart stuck fast, and remained unmoveable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves. (Acts 27:41 KJV)

But that’s not the castaway concept Paul meant when he wrote:

But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. (1 Corinthians 9:27 KJV)

The word translated “castaway” here is Greek, Strong’s G96 ἀδόκιμος (adokimos pronounced ad-ok'-ee-mos) which comes from Strong’s G1 (as a negative particle) and G1384; unapproved, that is, rejected; by implication worthless (literally or morally): - castaway, rejected, reprobate.
Speaking of one God has to cast away at the end of time because they have rejected Him. Their lives have been spent worthlessly. Best shown in the definitions of “reprobate”:

rep·ro·bate
noun - an unprincipled person (often used humorously or affectionately). Synonyms: rogue, rascal, scoundrel, good-for-nothing, villain, wretch, unprincipled person, rake, profligate, degenerate, debauchee, libertine;
adjective - unprincipled (often used as a humorous or affectionate reproach). Synonyms: unprincipled, roguish, bad, wicked, rakish, shameless, immoral, profligate, degenerate, dissipated, debauched, depraved, corrupt;

How such a person or action could be deemed humorous or affectionate is beyond me. Good-for-nothing, unprincipled, degenerate – nothing humorous about that. And, nothing showing a love for God, either. Something to be cast away.

It was in such a manner that God loves the world He created that He saw to it there was always a way for the created to see Him and return that love. Why? I like Peter’s explanation:

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9 KJV)

Why then does hell exist and is inhabited? Definitely not God’s will – but a place where God’s will is cast away by those who end up being cast away themselves.

Don’t be a castaway. Please.

Ripples

By Biel Morro bielmb -   Gallery at the Wayback Machine (archived on 23 June 2017)

You can find a lot of pretty pictures of ripples on the web. This one came from WikiMedia.org after searching “ripples.” I liked it because it isn’t ripples from a single drop into still water, but because it shows the interaction from multiple ripples.

Let me back up a moment. Our Sunday School class opens with a request for Praise. The members speak of something that happened this past week that gave them reason to praise God. Then we have announcements, followed by Prayer requests, then offering our prayers.

This past Sunday, one of our members had a praise. Her son-in-law met a man at a conference on the east coast who had been brought to the Lord by our Pastor, in our small Cottondale church, close to 20 years ago. What a small world! At that same conference, a lady mentioned that she knew of Cottondale, too, from a blog she follows written by Grammy Blick. Definitely a small world.

This blog does not have a large following. I do not “advertise” it, nor do I monetize it. The reason it started (in another media – in fact it has been on three different websites, two which no longer exist) was to share Bible study hints for girls in our Junior High Sunday School Class. I thoroughly enjoyed Bible study and just continued to post.

As steady readers know – how often I publish has slowed to almost once a month. I could explain, but most of the explanations entail excuses, along with a few exceptionally good reasons. That’s life, isn’t it. And, I’m in good company:

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. (Romans 7:18-19 KJV)

Did you notice that ripple? Words written almost two thousand years ago ripples across those centuries for me to read – and I not only understand them but I can relate to them in my own life. That is what is so beautiful about Bible reading. It relates to our own lives.

Recently a large denomination voted on a divisive issue. People are faced with divisive issues in religious and secular life. What surprised me was the people on the “losing” side – the one with the least positive votes – were not willing to accept the vote. One media article referred to the denomination’s equivalent to Robert’s Rules of Order as not being followed. No media article quoted the Bible, as though it was not relevant to a Christian's actions.

That didn’t surprise me, really, for so many have moved away from God’s word at the source for decisions and are demanding man’s traditions. The Bible addressed that centuries ago:

He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. (Mark 7:6-9 KJV)

Paul wrote of this, too:

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: (Colossians 2:6-10 KJV)

How can we know if we are following Christ’s doctrines or man’s? Jesus gave us the answer, and while there are multiple references to His doctrine across the Gospels, I like this for now:

And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. (John 7:15-18 KJV)

There’s another ripple across time from God's word and applicable to our lives – and I hope it touches your life, too, encouraging Bible reading as well as prayer, seeking God's will – eternally.

Infanticide - Yes, This One's Political

Percent of pregnancies terminated by abortion in the United States by state in 2011.

Based on the above, is it any wonder that New York’s governing body passed a law that abortion – requested by a mother and agreed to by a doctor – can be done up to and including birth? We are not talking about a fist full of cells, but a full term baby, capable of life outside its mother’s body. I can’t help but think of innocent blood:

Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law? They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.  Psalm 94:20-21

The vision remains in my mind - a newborn crying its life away as it is laid aside to die. Since I’m an American, I think in terms of our country’s laws – a baby born in America is an American citizen. A brand new American citizen, born in spite of not being wanted, and this past week 44 Democratic elected Senators - even those running to be this child’s president - voted NOT to require medical aid to this citizen.

They said that the child was not alive, was not a human entitled to life, was not an American citizen.

A woman’s right to “privacy” is the reason these babies die after they are born. If you don’t believe the Supreme Court decided based on privacy, please read the original petition and the Court’s decision.  “The Supreme Court decided in favor of Roe in a 7-2 decision.  Justice Blackmun wrote the opinion for the majority, which recognized that a woman’s choice whether to have an abortion is protected by her right to privacy.  Justices Stewart, Burger and Douglas wrote concurring opinions.  Justices White and Rehnquist dissented.”

Think about that - one person’s right to privacy overrides another person’s right to live.

Is that what America is now? We have laws to protect children from harm from their parents, but a mother’s right to privacy allows her to kill her child?

Please do not bring up the subject of health or rape - abortions are available.

This baby is no longer in the womb of the mother. The mother is not required to care for this baby, it can be given in adoption. However, 44 elected Democratic Senators voted not to require medical care - but did vote to require all citizens to buy medical insurance and are running on the promise of medical care for all — except these babies who will cry until they die.

Other scripture comes to mind. Whether it is Matthew 18:6, Mark 9:42 or Luke 17:2, we know that if a person offends (and what greater offense is there than killing them) an innocent child it would be better that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.

Media – and those 44 Senators – would lead us to believe all women in America desire abortion available throughout pregnancy. According to a Gallop poll in 2011, that has not been the case, and the numbers are changing:

Wiki Commons File:  USA Gallup abortion opinion poll  Created: 13 July 2009
  Responses of US adults from 1975-2008 to the question "Do you think abortions should be legal under any circumstances, legal only under certain circumstances, or illegal in all circumstances?" in polling by Gallup. Plotted as stacked percentage areas to more intuitively show the change in opinion holders over time.

I could cite scripture until most of the Bible is listed here to show that God considers life precious, that every life has purpose. I could cite scientific facts to show through DNA that from conception certain things about a person are formed and remain unique, that the embryo is living and will continue to do so when treated as a human, when given provision of shelter and sustenance. But I cannot change another person’s mind. I can only lay before you specifics that have meaning to me and ask that you verify, research, and consider with a critical thought process to determine personal beliefs.

You see, I lived through a time when a segment of human society was considered less than human and people died by millions. A century before that, a different segment was determined less than human and were killed or enslaved.

Why, then, would we take the most innocent and destroy humans before birth – and especially afterward? Did you vote for this to be done? Do you want our next president to have voted to kill newborns?

What Is Fake About The News?

Newspapers and Periodicals - 1915 Issue

This blog started as a result of a Lexis/Nexis article, “A Little Truth About Fake News—and the Law”.  My first thought was about how applicable validation was to my genealogy research, which sent me to a good article by Family Search Organization’s  “Rookie Mistakes”. I know – a lot of reading, isn’t it? A little more generalized education that you expected? Well – as a Christian, truth is very important. Especially now with such wide divisions in our county and it’s impact when semantics make a difference.  Not all we take into our minds is worth being there. So, let’s take time to learn to discern:

Barbara Gray, associate professor and chief librarian at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, recently spoke on a LexisNexis webinar titled 10 Tips for Fighting Fake News: How to Fact Check Like a Pro. Gray offered these tools for smart and efficient research to help validate “news”:

1. Be skeptical
2. Create your own habit of fact checking
3. Ask yourself "who says" and "are they biased"?
4. Use your gut
5. Look for citations of sources of information
6. Be aware of your own confirmation bias
7. Take notice if you are feeling emotional after reading the information—it could have been manufactured to exploit your bias
8. Write fast, but fact check slowly
9. Check primary sources such as government reports, court documents, and scholarly articles found in databases such as those provided by LexisNexis
10. Always give attribution, and be transparent about where you get your information

There are "red flags" to look for in web pages - most in blogger pages, but some "news" sources display these, too. This list was compiled by Thomas O’Toole, founder of Second Chair Media LLC.

1. Suspicious domain names
2. No "About Us" Page
3. Missing byline and contact information
4. Questionable currency or lack of post dates
5. Lack of sources and hyperlinking
6. Lack of uniform style
7. Poor design aesthetics
8. Headline and social media misdirection

O'Toole voiced hope for the future: " [T]he way to combat false or misleading speech is with more speech, offering rational, factual information."

Reminds me of genealogy research. It is easy to use another's research to increase our family trees - but that opens us up to errors. Which is one reason I pulled my tree from all but one online location. I know mine is a "work in progress" and contains errors that I continue to work to prove or disprove. Which brings us to a "Rookie Mistakes" quote:

"Experienced researchers should realize that solid evidence from multiple sources is needed in order to draw valid conclusions about individuals and family relationships. Since all the needed information may not be available, this means that a tentative conclusion is put into their research logs indicating that more sources are needed. They look for multiple records for individuals, including birth, marriage, death, and census records. They use these records to create a complete picture of individuals and families so that the conclusions they draw are strongly supported by the evidence. The more sources you can cite, the less likely your conclusions will be over-turned later by yourself or someone else." [Italics are my added stress to article.]

The same is true if you are researching today’s news, any era in history, a family’s genealogy, or biblical doctrines.

Yes – you knew this would come back around Bible reading, didn’t you? We need to understand the source of anything we are going to accept as “true”, “valid”, “real”, and that we will make part of ourselves to support. What you do about politics is not in my interest – and mine should not affect you. But – what we believe about the Bible, God, Jesus, salvation, and punishment has an impact on how we see eternity.

What do we want to do with it? Deny, embrace, or ignore? When we decide, shouldn’t we validate what sources we use to make that decision?

Acts chapter 17 opens with Paul and Silas arriving in Thessalonica, and the city was not happy about their being there. They rejected what he was telling them – both politically and violently. For their safety:

And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few. (Acts 17:10-12 KJV)

Which brings me to a steady theme I’ve written for decades now – search the scriptures daily simply to determine if what Christians believe are true. Learn how they were written. Why they are held as valid. Be skeptical about them, but do the research. Find out what Paul was teaching, why he chose to, and the results. Be a Berean.