Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ginosko!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!uwm.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: geoff@pmafire.UUCP (Geoff Allen) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Jewish Wisdom Message-ID: Date: 7 Oct 89 23:12:49 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: WINCO Computer Engineering, INEL, Idaho Lines: 36 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article I wrote: >So can anyone explain why the article Ken quoted so deliberately avoids >writing `God'? And our moderator replied: >[Probably one of our Jewish readers can give more detail. But there >is a Jewish tradition of "building a fence around the Law", i.e. of >voluntarily following rules stricter than those that are directly >commanded, simply to make sure that they never get close to a real >offense. ... >So there's a long-standing Jewish tradition to avoid using any >version of the word God at all. ... >Before making fun of this tradition, I never intended to make fun of it, and apologize if my question came across that way. >consider its effectiveness. It >is very common to hear Christians using the word "God" in casual >expressions: "God, it's hot!" You certainly don't hear such things >from Jews (at least not those who practice the traditions). --clh] I couldn't agree with you more. As Christians, we can `approach the throne of grace with confidence' (Heb. 4:16). When Jesus died, the veil in the temple was ripped from top to bottom and the way into the Holy of Holies was opened up to us. This is good, and was the reason Jesus came, and died, and rose again. But I think it has the negative effect of producing Christians with little or no concept of the holiness of God. There is a difference between approching God with confidence and approaching Him with impudence. As Christians, we often slip into the latter category. -- Geoff Allen \ Since we live by the Spirit, {uunet,bigtex}!pmafire!geoff \ let us keep in step with the Spirit. ucdavis!egg-id!pmafire!geoff \ -- Gal. 5:25 (NIV)