Faith rules verses heart

[englishredrose]

Faith is of the heart isn’t it? ‘We’ believe in God. How come ‘we’ are so tied up in a list of do’s and don’ts and anxious when we break the rules. Gods’ Love is given freerly to us. How come we not able to give Love freerly back, but got to stick within rules and more rules.
Your opinions please

 

[Church_Militant]

Rules? What rules?

I am Catholic because it is the original, New Testament, “full gospel”, Christianity. All that that entails is ever more inspiring and helpful to me. “The rules” are not a problem because the Bible is quite clear on what we need to do to follow Him.

Take up my cross daily…

John 14:15
If you love me, keep my commandments.

 

[Allegra]

Because when you love someone, you do your best not to hurt them. It’s easy to hurt someone, even when we love them and we don’t intend to, if we don’t understand their expectations. God has set his expectations before us and we do our best to follow them out of love for Him.

 

[Becca3]

Faith is of the heart isn’t it? ‘We’ believe in God. How come ‘we’ are so tied up in a list of do’s and don’ts and anxious when we break the rules. Gods’ Love is given freerly to us. How come we not able to give Love freerly back, but got to stick within rules and more rules.
Your opinions please

You sound like my step-daughter. She lives in England too.

 

[bzkoss236]

By following the rules we are proving and showing our love of God to God.

If we don’t follow the rules, it is like saying that we could care less about God, even though God freely loves us, we are not loving God.

Think of a father who works all the time and spends little time with his family. He thinks he’s doing the right thing by providing for his family (which is true), but with the lack of time he spends with them he is essentially estranging himself from them. By not being with them, he isn’t able to understand their wants and desires, or what they actually need from him, part of which is his time with them.

It’s good and admirable to do good things, but we aren’t really showing our love for God by that alone. We need to spend time with Him and follow His rules which are expressed by the “rules” of the Church He established. This is good and pleasing to God, that we follow His commandments: to love God above all else, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

 

[simpleas]

By following the rules we are proving and showing our love of God to God.

If we don’t follow the rules, it is like saying that we could care less about God, even though God freely loves us, we are not loving God.

I personally don’t think that when i don’t follow the rules i care less about God. If anything, trying to understand some of the rules makes me think more about my relationship with God and how I can love him more even though I don’t understand.

 

[St_Francis]

Christ said, If you love Me, you will follow My commandments.

So the “rules” are important, because they are the way God has given us to show how we love Him.

Imagine a young man is in love with a beautiful woman. She says, if you love me, don’t ever buy me lilies. So, would he go out the next day and buy her lilies? If some time later he forgot and bought her lilies, would he apologize like crazy?

So it is with God. He has given us gifts with which to show our love for Him in certain ways, as if the woman above had given the man the money to buy the flowers!, and we must use the gifts in the way He tells us, in the way He gave them to us for, in order to show our love (and gratitude) to Him.

And if we mess, up, He has given is the gift of Confession.

 

[Michael_Allen]

Faith is of the heart isn’t it? ‘We’ believe in God. How come ‘we’ are so tied up in a list of do’s and don’ts and anxious when we break the rules. Gods’ Love is given freerly to us. How come we not able to give Love freerly back, but got to stick within rules and more rules.
Your opinions please

Hi EnglishRedRose

I think we have to keep the cardinal ‘rules’ always close in mind - love our God and love our neighbour. But, yes, as our Lord clearly taught, all our rule keeping counts for ought if our heart is hard towards God or others. At the end of the day it’s all about love.

God bless +

Michael

 

[fhansen]

Faith is of the heart isn’t it? ‘We’ believe in God. How come ‘we’ are so tied up in a list of do’s and don’ts and anxious when we break the rules. Gods’ Love is given freerly to us. How come we not able to give Love freerly back, but got to stick within rules and more rules.
Your opinions please

To the degree that we love very well, meaning with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, as God promises to help us do, we don’t need rules/the Law, because we already fulfill it! To the degree that we still* fail* to love fully as we should-which most of us do fail in-then rules/the Law continue to play their important roles of instructing us in how we “should be”.

 

[englishredrose]

By following the rules we are proving and showing our love of God to God.

If we don’t follow the rules, it is like saying that we could care less about God, even though God freely loves us, we are not loving God.
Think of a father who works all the time and spends little time with his family. He thinks he’s doing the right thing by providing for his family (which is true), but with the lack of time he spends with them he is essentially estranging himself from them. By not being with them, he isn’t able to understand their wants and desires, or what they actually need from him, part of which is his time with them.

It’s good and admirable to do good things, but we aren’t really showing our love for God by that alone. We need to spend time with Him and follow His rules which are expressed by the “rules” of the Church He established. This is good and pleasing to God, that we follow His commandments: to love God above all else, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Why are we not Loving God? For a time, a considerable part of my adult life I only believed in God but now I Love God, at least, when I am not angry with God

 

[Becca3]

Well, this is the way I see it. Look at the OT stories in the bible, for example, Jacob and Rachel. They followed their hearts but they did have to follow the rules of her father before they could be married. God does love those who follow their hearts and His commandments. From what I have read of the OT stories. God honours those who follow their hearts cuz I believe that is how He was able to bend them towards His will. Do you know what I mean?? In other words, He lets them wear their hearts on their sleeves knowing what they will do beforehand and it is all going according to His plans for them.

 

[englishredrose]

Well, this is the way I see it. Look at the OT stories in the bible, for example, Jacob and Rachel. They followed their hearts but they did have to follow the rules of her father before they could be married. God does love those who follow their hearts and His commandments. From what I have read of the OT stories. God honours those who follow their hearts cuz I believe that is how He was able to bend them towards His will. Do you know what I mean?? In other words, He lets them wear their hearts on their sleeves knowing what they will do beforehand and it is all going according to His plans for them.

But can you wear your heart on the sleave at the same time as following rules? Or do the rules stop us from wearing our hearts our our sleaves? Are we slaves to rules which stop us from Loving God and each other?

 

[Becca3]

But can you wear your heart on the sleave at the same time as following rules? Or do the rules stop us from wearing our hearts our our sleaves? Are we slaves to rules which stop us from Loving God and each other?

I don’t think you can do both. It would be hard to wear your heart on your sleeve and still follow rules. And I think you are right, rules will stop us from wearing our hearts on our sleeves. But we being slaves to rules does and should not stop us from loving God and each other. At least it hasn’t with me.

How many of you here are able to wear your hearts on your sleeves and at same time follow the rules???

 

[simpleas]

I have finally gain confidence to speak to my pp and so have asked and told him things which i struggle to understand while trying to stick to the rules, is this the same as wearing your heart on your sleeve while following the rules?
I think you can let yourself believe that you separate yourself from God while trying to follow the rules, i’ve been driving myself mad trying to understand how a certain mortal sin cuts me off from God, but we are told God will still love us as long as we repent.
Sorry if i’ve gone off the OP…

 

[Allegra]

But can you wear your heart on the sleave at the same time as following rules? Or do the rules stop us from wearing our hearts our our sleaves? Are we slaves to rules which stop us from Loving God and each other?

There’s a difference between following your heart in faith and love and “wearing your heart on your sleeve.” The first is doing what you know is right, which is informed in God’s teachings. The second is following your feelings, which tends to lead people from one crisis into another. If following the “rules” does not coincide with loving God and your brother, than I think one needs to reevaluate their understanding of what the rules are.

 

[fhansen]

But can you wear your heart on the sleave at the same time as following rules? Or do the rules stop us from wearing our hearts our our sleaves? Are we slaves to rules which stop us from Loving God and each other?

The two aren’t mutually exclusive, as if rules and love are enemies. To the degree we really do love, the rules become relatively superfluous because “love fulfills the law” Rom 13:8.

 

[Michael_Allen]

But can you wear your heart on the sleave at the same time as following rules? Or do the rules stop us from wearing our hearts our our sleaves? Are we slaves to rules which stop us from Loving God and each other?

I think if we’re trying to enforce rules on ourselves or others then, yes, the rules may suppress our hearts, or worse it may crush the hearts of others. But if we have grace transform us from the inside then we’ll naturally follow the laws of God. As Paul taught us, the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:6). The following of God’s laws is the result of grace, and grace is not the result of externally imposing laws on ourselves or others.

Anyway, that’s just my opinion. Soli Deo gloria.

 

[St_Francis]

Hmmm, it seems like you, English Rose, are putting rules and love in opposition to each other. Like the rules are arbitrary restrictions on our fun to prove we love God, but that’s not the way the rules are.

The thing is, people are easily distracted. We have rules for hisband and wives to show their love for each other, no? And I don’t think to myself, gee, I hate this rule that I can’t date other men because that wouldn’t show my love for my husband. The rule helps me set my priorities and reminds me of those priorities. The rule actually helps me love my husband better.

And if my husband, out of love for me, gave me a fully restored antique Rolls Royce, would I run it in a demolition derby? If I trashed the wonderful gift he gave me, would I be showing love for him? Or is that the sort of thing a very angry wife would do after she found out her hisband was seeing other women?

So, God helps us to love Him by explaining exactly what to do. If my husband frequently did not come home at night and was always off doing things without his family, how strong would the relationships be? Not so strong. So there is an unwritten rule: come home every night and spend time with the family.

In the same way, we have the written rules: spend time with God every day, and for sure visit Him at least once a week. Don’t trash the gifts He gives us. Show your happiness in Him by sharing the love He sends us with others.

 

[Becca3]

The two aren’t mutually exclusive, as if rules and love are enemies. To the degree we really do love, the rules become relatively superfluous because “love fulfills the law” Rom 13:8.

You couldn’t have said it better.

 

[englishredrose]

You couldn’t have said it better.

I asked the question based on what becca said about hearts on sleaves… I didn’t answer the question but asked the question so I wasn’t determining anything as is being suggested.

It just seems to me there is a lot of worry on these boards about whether you guys are doing this and that right and to me being anglican I don’t have any of those kind of worries because we or at least I don’t have that set up. I can simply Love God. I am not perfect am not saying that and nor am I saying anglicans are better for we aren’t as have a lot of nitty gritty stuff. Just different stuff that needs sorting out. But the amount of worry about the rules on here seem to squash the Love of God because there don’t seem to be the same amount or more of any talk about our Love of God. It all about worry on here and that what lead me to flag up when Becca suggested hearts on our sleaves. If we are with God in our Hearts then we wouldn’t be worried about the rules. Some rules help us nearer God but it seems on here that most seem very distracted by the rules as in they see them as worries rather than arrows that help bring them to God. that is my reason for the whole thread. The amount of worry about the rules on here seem to distract people from their Love of God which sadly isn’t so proclaimed on here because of the distraction on rules.