Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: TTAERUM@ualtavm.bitnet Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Human ==> imperfection? Message-ID: Date: 21 Jul 89 07:17:06 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 56 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article , zach@drutx.att.com (Za >One text comes to mind that helps me understand how I can know >what God's doctrines are about. > >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. John 7:16,17. BACKWARD > >The question now is what does this text mean ? > An interesting question Zac. I remember as a young teenager thinking that some of the good looking girls would look even better in bed. Aside from the problem of treating people as objects, it raised a moral qualm within me; after all, scripture said, "Thou shall not commit adultery". Now was this REALLY adultery, I said to myself, after all, they weren't married, and I was really only thinking those thoughts, and one of these days I'd be getting married (you know you've got to 'look' if you're going to see the one your going to marry), and there's nothing wrong with admiring a beautiful rose (in bed???), and how can I be certain everything works unless I try it out, and how do I know I should marry someone unless we know we're compatible, and I don't want to be known as a prude and ... I don't understand why but it wasn't until I "agreed with His word" that I began to (I believe) "understand His word". It has gotten to the point that, when I don't understand something in the Bible I sometimes ask myself, "is there some area of my life that this scripture is talking to or about that is in conflict with God's word." Remove the conflict (or at least agree with God's word on that point) and seemingly unrelated areas of scripture begin to make sense. The converse also seems to hold. I find it fascinating that many people who engage in 'witchcraft' do not simply engage in witchcraft (the casting of a few innocent spells, a dabbling into books on the occult ...) but rather they eventually take part in the ceremony - with its blood sacrifice, the pentagram, and even the fertility rites. As they move into it, scripture makes less and less SENSE to them until, eventually, they are in open rebellion against it. This may explain, for instance, the severe penalty against adultery and witchcraft in scripture (stoning). That is, ultimately these acts will, in and of themselves, lead to the death of the individual. Conversely, we can also see that this penalty was for those who were unrepentant and refused to turn from their ways (David, for instance, was forgiven for both his adultery and his murder after his confession. So what does all this mean? I would suggest we attempt a rather scary experiment. I suggest we agree with G-d that some specific area of our life is wrong - based on scripture (even if we don't immediately change our behavior in that area) and test whether or not particular scriptures, which didn't make SENSE before, begin to make sense. Terry Taerum