"ONLY A SITH DEALS IN ABSOLUTES": OBI WAN KENOBI
well. in response to nair's comments:
nair (or at least i think it was nair) raised an interesting point. the need for justification comes when we fixate on a viewpoint. however, correspondingly, if only we redefined our positions on things, we don't even need to ask for forgiveness and seek the Lord. in other words, there's no absolute standard for what is right and wrong.
if we identified a sin that we wanted to discuss, all we had to do was find the roots and the reasons, examine the validity of those justifications and explanations for our actions, which seemingly violate the Law taht GOd left us, and voila! guilt-free! in a postmodern generation, nothing is certain. ravi zacharias uses the illlustration of a car in motion, and the driver jamming the breaks. if he didn't see the thhings around him stop moving, he would have no means with which to be certain he stopped. his motion and stationary position are little more than relative to something he would have used as a point of reference.
friends, if we fail to recognise, at least with childlike faith, that there are absolutes in this world, our lives would be just like that- out of control, unable ot stop or move in a coherent direction. as much as i hate to admit it, obiwan was wrong. Jesus deals in absolutes. "I am the way the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Me." John 14:6
the world is really good at blurring the lines and making things seem foggy. remember the devil's temptation to Jesus? he didn't use some visual or base temptation. no, he used scripture, the foundation for truth. (see matthew 4) in other words, the devil's really good at weaving together facets of Truth together with falsities to construe a half-Truth- his second greatest weapon right next to apathy. there's a need for brave men to stand forward with teh Gospel of Truth in their hearts and say that the Word of God is the Absolute for Life and Faith.
john 14:21 "whoever hears My word and obeys it, he is the one who loves Me. he who loves ME will be loved by My Father, and I too will love him and show Myself to him". jesus says, do as i teach, as a show of your love and devotion for me- obedience. to martha: do the one thing needful. a elderly christian gentleman once looked into my life with wisdom and said to me, "don't confuse yourself too much with equivocation. cut aside the fluff that world puts around your decisions, and you'll see that in EVERY life circumstance there's two roads to walk- God's way and teh world's way. choose wisely."
as i get older, i see this same truth at work. there's two choices for us to deal with. God's way and teh world's. ask God to give you the eyes of faith to see through the fluff that the devil shoves in your face and make the choice that gives Him glory.
furthermore, when the decision isn't clear between God's and the world's? seemingly, could they be both God-pleasing alternatives? i mean, it's not an issue of sin or anything. then it's easier to choose, kind of- isn't it? paul talks about the liberty we have in Jesus, that there's no condemnation for those who are in Jesus (Romans 8:1) then bear in mind this maxim: all things are permissible, but not all things are beneficial. all things are permissible but not all things are constructive. (1 Corinthians 10:23) so! it's an issue of what is good versus what is better isn't it? and besides, as Romans 8:1 says, Jesus alone is our judge. so if we can stand before Him and say, "Lord the choices i made were for Your glory and your pleasure, in accordance to your commandments and your will. Lord i lay these at your feet," Who can fault you?
praise God for the clarity of His word! taht He has not "left himself without witness"! probe and scrutinize the Word!
Joshua 1:8 "do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth, medititate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. then you will be prosperous and successful".
nair (or at least i think it was nair) raised an interesting point. the need for justification comes when we fixate on a viewpoint. however, correspondingly, if only we redefined our positions on things, we don't even need to ask for forgiveness and seek the Lord. in other words, there's no absolute standard for what is right and wrong.
if we identified a sin that we wanted to discuss, all we had to do was find the roots and the reasons, examine the validity of those justifications and explanations for our actions, which seemingly violate the Law taht GOd left us, and voila! guilt-free! in a postmodern generation, nothing is certain. ravi zacharias uses the illlustration of a car in motion, and the driver jamming the breaks. if he didn't see the thhings around him stop moving, he would have no means with which to be certain he stopped. his motion and stationary position are little more than relative to something he would have used as a point of reference.
friends, if we fail to recognise, at least with childlike faith, that there are absolutes in this world, our lives would be just like that- out of control, unable ot stop or move in a coherent direction. as much as i hate to admit it, obiwan was wrong. Jesus deals in absolutes. "I am the way the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Me." John 14:6
the world is really good at blurring the lines and making things seem foggy. remember the devil's temptation to Jesus? he didn't use some visual or base temptation. no, he used scripture, the foundation for truth. (see matthew 4) in other words, the devil's really good at weaving together facets of Truth together with falsities to construe a half-Truth- his second greatest weapon right next to apathy. there's a need for brave men to stand forward with teh Gospel of Truth in their hearts and say that the Word of God is the Absolute for Life and Faith.
john 14:21 "whoever hears My word and obeys it, he is the one who loves Me. he who loves ME will be loved by My Father, and I too will love him and show Myself to him". jesus says, do as i teach, as a show of your love and devotion for me- obedience. to martha: do the one thing needful. a elderly christian gentleman once looked into my life with wisdom and said to me, "don't confuse yourself too much with equivocation. cut aside the fluff that world puts around your decisions, and you'll see that in EVERY life circumstance there's two roads to walk- God's way and teh world's way. choose wisely."
as i get older, i see this same truth at work. there's two choices for us to deal with. God's way and teh world's. ask God to give you the eyes of faith to see through the fluff that the devil shoves in your face and make the choice that gives Him glory.
furthermore, when the decision isn't clear between God's and the world's? seemingly, could they be both God-pleasing alternatives? i mean, it's not an issue of sin or anything. then it's easier to choose, kind of- isn't it? paul talks about the liberty we have in Jesus, that there's no condemnation for those who are in Jesus (Romans 8:1) then bear in mind this maxim: all things are permissible, but not all things are beneficial. all things are permissible but not all things are constructive. (1 Corinthians 10:23) so! it's an issue of what is good versus what is better isn't it? and besides, as Romans 8:1 says, Jesus alone is our judge. so if we can stand before Him and say, "Lord the choices i made were for Your glory and your pleasure, in accordance to your commandments and your will. Lord i lay these at your feet," Who can fault you?
praise God for the clarity of His word! taht He has not "left himself without witness"! probe and scrutinize the Word!
Joshua 1:8 "do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth, medititate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. then you will be prosperous and successful".
posted by leb at 7:50 PM
2 Comments:
Not my way or the highway, but YAHWEH! question though... you know how you quoted the "all things are permissable" verse? hmmm the question tt came to my mind is that then we can actually choose the good way and not the best way?
call me fatalistic but i think life is one of inevitability. the choices we made God knows them already. to us it may seem at the present, in the moment, but i dunno for me it has come to this. whether i see God at the end of it all or not only He knows for sure and all the decisions i will make in my life he already knows and has judged, so... i dunno... que sara sara?
not really true. let me see...how abt this.
. most girlfriends KNOW their boyfriends love them. but when the boyfriends actually DEMONSTRATE that love by performing an act of sacrifice or care or something like that, doesn't that make a BIG difference to the girl? but then again, the onlooker would be like," what's the big deal? u already know he loves you". god's relationship with us isn't necessarily just like lord and servant, or like lawgiver and lawreceiver.
it's also abt love. soo even if he knows what we're gonna do, it means all the world to him that we DO it, knowing that as futile as it may be an offering to give, it gives him pleasure anyway. filter thru the eyes of relationship as opposed of legislation.
and consider this: it's like giving the richest man in the world a gift. what can u give him that he doesn't already have? nothing! but, the idea of a gift, in and of itself, presented with charity/love, is enough to bring him joy. and His joy is all that matters.
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