(John 14:15) "If you love me you will keep my commandmens." Do You?

[Church_Militant]

Giver:

The word of God may be your burden and Jesus said it would be light. He gives grace to carry his burden.
Giver

That’s not what I said at all Robert. You have not laid the Word of God on us as a burden, (for it is not), but you have (like the pharisees) laid the burden of your interpretations upon us.
Pax tecum,

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

And if thy eye causeth thee to sin, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell-fire. (WBS)

Ah Giver, have you cut off any body parts?

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

the acts proof texts of giver are not the norm, they have the context of festivals where all the Jews of the land go to the holy city and share lodging.

 

[Sherlock]

Giver:

I believe Jesus is God and the Bible is his Word.
Giver

This is odd, in a way: Jesus IS the Word. Your statement has the “Word” as a kind of byproduct of Jesus. I would suggest reading John 1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”.

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

Giver, do you believe in the Trinity?

Do you see the Holy Spirit as the third person of the trinity?

Do you believe that the Son of God had a beggining?

 

[Pax]

MikeinSD:

This issue – can one sin with money – has come up in other threads. The posters seem to agree that people cannot sin with their wallets. And the biblical cites you posted are “non-operative” because they interfere with a free enterprise market economy. Religion is all well and good but money is money.

My history with cold hard cash was a good investment with some (devout Christian) relatives. We would buy up distressed residential properties with poorly peforming mortgages. Then lobby the county or state governments to re-zone for commercial use. Of course the right amnt of cash in the right hands worked wonders. Once the re-zone passed, evict the people from their homes. This was mostly in the south and in exclusively black neighborhoods. Resell the properties. Got a 14% return. Not a bad investment. Obviously Christianity has nothing to with it. And why should it? This is the market at work.

I completely disagree…people frequently sin in ways related to money. Scripture even tells us that “…the love of money is the root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced their hearts with many pangs.”[see 1 Tim 6:10]

I believe that Giver is much closer to the truth on this one than you are.

 

[Pax]

Giver:

Pax, Help! All you are doing is finding more excuses that water down what Jesus had for his people. You don’t seem to be looking for how to live the Word of God, but how little you need to do to live the Word of God.
Giver

Robert,

I am not finding excuses and I am not watering down what Jesus has told us. Nor am I looking for some sort of minimum in how to serve God. What I am doing is pointing out where scripture says certain things that simply do not support your personal view.

Let me make a couple of observations.

You show a strong desire to be close to God, and you clearly understand the need for holiness. This is most worthy and commendable and I support this whole heartedly.

I believe that your gift is in your witness for loving God through holiness. Separating ourselves from the attachments to money, success, and possessions is essential in our walk with the Lord. I believe that you know this and that it is a significant part of who you are.

The problems and disagreements I have with you reside elsewhere. I simply cannot agree with statements that are contradictory to scripture. I cannot agree with taking the example of Christians pooling their resources in Jerusalem, as outlined in the Book of Acts, to an extreme. The verse should not be construed to mean that this was mandatory. The verse should not be construed to mean that it was a universal practice. The logic in doing such a thing is severely flawed.

I would agree with taking the passage all the way to your conclusion if the rest of the Book of Acts and the other NT letters supported the position. The problem is that there is no support for the conclusion. Moreover, the body of scriptural evidence points the other way.

Even the case of Ananias and Sapphira demonstrates this point. Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit in regards to the amount of money they would contribute to the common purse. In this case they attempted to make it appear that they were donating the “entire proceeds” from the sale of their land. This was the lie. Peter makes a statement that clearly goes against your view of everyone “having” to donate their resources in the case of Ananias and Sapphira. In Acts 5:4 Peter says to Ananias, " While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? How is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God."

Clearly, Ananias and Sapphira could have kept the property or could have kept the proceeds from the sale. They were not obliged to donate it. Clearly, it is a holy and worthy thing to make such a contribution, but they didn’t have to do so. What got them into trouble was the perverse thing they did in their donation by lying to the Holy Spirit.

I disagree with your mistatements and inaccurate interpretations of scripture. I commend you for your desire to be holy and detached from the things of this world. There is a difference between these things and I am not making any excuses. Quoting the word of God and respecting its truth and beauty is not making excuses. To ignore the truth contained in all of the scriptures would be another matter entirely.

 

[Eireann]

MikeinSD:

This issue – can one sin with money – has come up in other threads. The posters seem to agree that people cannot sin with their wallets.

The others can speak for themselves, but I never said people cannot sin with their wallets, infact people can sin with their wallets. (money)

As Pax said, it’s the love of money that is the root of all evils, not money in it- self.