|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 11:02 pm
I am a sinner... "1 John 1:8"
I'm going to take you through 100 Myths from my "True Identity, The bible for Women - NIV". I am going to try to make this a daily thing, sometimes I may post more than one myth in a day and some days I might miss. I do hope that this will give some help to the fellow woman in this guild though!
"We should live together before we get married to make sure we're compatible."
"I am what I do"
"If I were a good Christian, I wouldn't struggle with this sin"
Everyday you hear (and subconsciously believe) Myths that the world tells you. Satan's tried-and-true weapon against you is lies. In this bible 100 of the most common myths are exposed. For each "myth" you'll read a story (based on true stories of women's lives) about how believe that myth affected the woman's life. Then you'll explore what God's Word says so that the next time you hear the myth, you can name the lie and replace it with the truth.
... Saved by God's grace "Acts 15:11"
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 11:40 pm
Myth # 01 "I'll never be free from my past"
I feel as if I've lived two or three different lives. And if any one of those past lives ever catches up with me, then everything I can safely call my own today is gone - my reputation as a leader at work, a successful marriage, loving family - my past threatens all of it. I fear someone somewhere will claim to know what I'm "really like" Only I'm not that person anymore. Not perfect, but thank God not what I used to be. I truly believe I've changed and am growing into the person christ wants me to be
But that person still carries a secret burden. As bright as her future is she's never free from her past.
I'm never free from the haunting accusations surrounding yesterday's mistakes that may ambush me today. Imaginary scenarios and entire conversations play out in my head. they sneak into my thoughts with crafty subtlety. Sometimes when I tuck my baby girl under the covers for the night and she whispers, "I love you, mommy." I want so much to enjoy the moment and soak in her affection. But a faint, persistent voice inside tells me, "You don't deserve her, you know. Not after what you've done..."
And when I meet someone that I genuinely like, whose friendship I really enjoy, the thought inevitably traipses through my head that if she knoew my past, she wouldn't think so highly of me.
When my boss compliments me at a meeting for my "innovative leadership," I beam with a sense of accomplishment. Until I begin to remember all my failures.
It sounds hypocritical to say I believe Jesus has forgiven my past. I do believe. I just want to know, will I ever be free from it?
-Karen
---->Have you ever felt like you're the only one with something to hide? That sense of isolation magnifies your feelings of guilt. Satan wants you to feel alone, crippled by a false sense of guilt. Yet the truth is that every person on earth has a "past" - even those we consider "Mother Teresa" types who seemingly never did anything wrong. The book of Genesis describes how we inherited a sinful nature. Adam and Eve instilled a sinful nature into the entire human race (see Romans 5:12,17).
However, we must understand and accept that we are free from the penalty of our past because we trust Christ's sacrifice as the ultimate and final payment for sin (see Hebrews 7:27). Even so, sometimes the pain of our past comes calling. Many women have an emotional disposition or personality type that lends itself to dwelling on bitter memories. Our adversary, the devil, often misuses this sensitivity to accuse and discourage us. He tempts our thoughts with guilt over past deeds. He calls into question the penalty of our past as if it is somehow unpaid - an outstanding debt he convinces us we must pay ourselves. We respond to his perverse persuasion by feeling as if we don't deserve the love of family or friends, much less God's love. After what you've done? Who are you kidding? This is the language of lies - a familiar tongue to anyone who longs to be free from a shameful past.
Satan tries to slip the chains of guild back on our shoulders. And sometimes we again pick up those old familiar chains - our guilt feels so comfortable that we revert to it out of habit. But Christ has set us free! He paid the FULL penalty for our sins. every wrong thought, word or action - all paid for.
Don't believe the lie. God set you free; Christ died that you would be free - but you must choose to live that way.
"Christ's call on our lives is a call to liberty. Freedom is the cornerstone of Christianity." - Brennan Manning
"So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed." - John 8:36
see also:
Romans 8:1-4
2 Corinthians 5:17
Galatians 5:1
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 12:48 pm
Myth # 02 - "Having a child will make me happy"
My other friends couldn't believe I went for it. But why not? The professional single-mom-by-choice is hardly the pariah anymore. We live in an age of technological wonders that give women options they never had before. I have a successful business, a large home with room for a child, good friends and stability. I'm at a good place in my life for the "next" thing, and a baby just seemed to fit the need.
I'm the same as most any other woman. god gave me this nesting urge, so do I just ignore it until I find the right man? Set my sights on other goals? I deserve to be happy as much as the next person. unfortunately, contentment seems to always be on the next horizon. When I bought my new home, I thought that would satisfy me. It did for a while, and then I resumed the search and focused on a baby. this nagging feeling of incompleteness is undeniable. I'm tired of waiting for all the circumstances to be "right".
I was talking with some other moms at my birthing class last week, and they asked me why I decided to have a baby as a single mom. Sure, I think it would be ideal if I were married and decided to start a family. But I can't see why experiencing the next best thing is a bad idea if it makes me happy. I told them I wanted to hear the sound of a baby's laughter in the house at Christmas time. I wanted some central pleasure to bring my family together and build a unity around. I wanted to give a baby all the things I never experienced when I was a child.
I'm bringing life into this world - a baby I can love and one who will love me back unconditionally. I'll be there for him and build my life around him. He will never know what it's like to be lonely. What could possibly be wrong with that?
-Leslie
----> the search for happiness and significance is central to what it means to be alive. As long as we're breathing, we wil deepl desire happiness and meaning in our lives. God created us to crave significance and to know with certainty that we matter, so that he could provide himself as our heart's one, true fulfillment. However, we tend to fill in the blanks with any number of pursuits. "Having ______ will make me happy." More money. Success. A relationship. A home.
So we try everything to bring closure to the idea that if we only had that one thing, then we would be ultimately and finally happy. And we'll get that one thing any way we can. It's why Sarah pushed for her maidservant, Hagar, to carry Abraham's baby instead of waiting on God.
Mind you, it's not that having a child won't make a person happy. It certainly will! God's pleasures and blessings, such as the precious gift of a baby, do bring our lives a measure of happiness - some extraordinarily so. However, only God's love will satisfy us for a lifetime of joy, which surpasses mere happiness (see Nehemiah 8:10). Depending on him to satisfy the elusive search for happiness enables us to be happy. Otherwise, we may expect a baby, a job or a relationship to meet a level of satisfaction that created things were never designed to bring us. Then, we soon find we are disappointed with our unmet expectations, and the desire for a second child or a new job or a new relationship becomes the only feasible antidote. And the cycle begins again.
"the Bible talks plentifully about joy, but it nowhere talks about a 'happy christian.' Happiness depends on what happens; joy does not. Remember, Jesus Christ had joy, and he prayed 'that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves' " - Oswald Chambers
"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." - John 10-10
see also:
Psalm 90:14
Psalm 145:16
John 15:11
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 5:21 pm
Myth #03 - "If I commit my life to God, he'll make me a missionary to Africa"
I had a the dream again last night. I'm walking down the aisle of my church, but there's no wedding march playing (sigh), just the off-tune ramblings of the church organist struggling through another vers of "just as I am." A preacher is there waiting for me, and so is my mother, sister and third-grade teacher, Mrs. Boulter. (Remember, this is a dream.) It's at the end of a revival service. The preacher a** those who want to "commit themselves wholeheartedly to God's purpose for their lives" to come to the front of the church. In my dream, I tell the preacher I am ready to do whatever God wants me to do. Everyone is so happy. Mrs. Boulter is happy. I'm happy. The organist is happy.
The next scene, however, is something altogether different. It's a nightmare. And I'm stumbling around inside this primitive hut with a mosquito net wrapped around my head and body, blindly swiping at the insects with a gigantic King James Bible. I try to scream, but it's useless. A small town girl from Ohio has turned into an unwitting missionary. In the middle of Africa. And I'm miserable. I wake up the same way ever time - drenched in sweat, with the sheets twisted around my head, clutching the phonebook.
I know it's only a dream. Still, I've heard the stories. If you "give it all up to God," something terrible will happen to you to test your faith and see if you're really a good Christian. It would be just my luck to have to quit my job and leave my family so God can ship me off to Africa to be a missionary. And I've never even been outside Ohio.
I'm a Christian, I want to be totally, apologetically obedient to God. But if I give God my entire life, I'm afraid he'll do something extreme to prove a point. He might take away my boyfriend to see which one I love more - "him or Him"? Worse yet, what if something happens to my family because I said God could "have it all"? My mom will get cancer. Or my best friend will be killed in a car wreck. (You know, those things you never say around the doughnut table in Sunday school, but they're legitimate fears.)
I love God. And sometimes I'm this close to giving him everything. But in order to prove my life for God, I feel like I have to do something drastic. And I'm not ready for that yet.
-Kate
----> Let's be honest - most of us are afraid of God. And we should be. He's the all-powerful King of the universe. In comparison, we are helplessly powerless. but because we fear him, we hold back from his a few things we feel we can't live without, afraid that he'll strip them from us. A relationship. A job. a standard of living. Health. Dreams. It's scary to know that God wants what's best for us - because it may come at a price.
Anyone who's familiar with the story of Abraham and Isaac knows that sometimes God asks us to give him what we're clutching protectively to our chests. What if God asked you to give up what's most dear to you? What would you do? How would you react? the danger is camping out in that line of thinking. If you continually live in fear ofGod and what he will do if you surrender your life to him, you likely won't surrender. The Bible teaches, "there is no fear in live. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in live" ( 1 John 4:18 ).
god's will is always tied to who he is. (Read that again.) The rumor that god is a sadist in the sky, waiting for some unsuspecting woman to give her life to him just so he can toy with her, is a twisted myth. that's not how the Bible describes God. It's not his nature.
Instead of fearing him, if we believe he is a loving God, we will be convinced all his plans for us will be full of love and for our good. If we trust the Father, we will trust his plans for us... even if they take us through difficult times, down roads we wouldn't otherwise choose or even to the "Africas" we fear the most. Life with God may not always be "safe," as we'd define it; but he will always always be good to us. Our lives are in good hands.
"The real issue in life is not the search for God's will; it is the search for God. the issue in faith is not knowing what God is doing, rather it is knowing that God knows what he is doing. The issue of faith is seeking God's presence, not God's plan for my life, because there is no plan outside of my knowing him."
-Mike Yaconelli
"for I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11
see also:
Psalm 34:8
Psalm 84:11
Philippians 1:6
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2011 11:41 am
Myth #04 - "He's not Christian but he's a good guy."
I didn't know what to say when Richard asked the question. Does Kevin go to church? Hello, I thought you were going to be happy for me! I remember thinking, I've finally found someone I really like, and things are going great.
Still, Richard is my partner at work, and he and his wife know everything there is to know about me. They know I grew up in church. And they also know I dated a few guys from the church singles group. But there just wasn't any chemistry. I had always dreamed God would have the perfect person picked out for me and deliver him right to my door. However, I was fast approaching the big 3-0, and it still hadn't happened. In fact, I had almost given up, figuring I was destined to be single for the rest of my life, and then Kevin comes along. We met at the gym. I would have married him on the spot for his calves alone. However, it was his smile that really got to me. We kept running into each other in the mornings before work, and he finally asked me to go out one weekend. We talked for hours that first night, as if we'd known each other forever. He was wonderful.
Over the next few weeks, as my relationship with Kevin grew, Richard started to ask me more questions. "Does Kevin know you're a Christian? Have you told him about your faith?" I fended him off with a few cursory answers. "Kevin didn't grow up in church like you and I did," I told him. "But I think he gets it, or at least he's pretty close." Richard didn't seem satisfied with my answer. Truthfully, something inside of me cringed when I said it. But I'm not going to let anything or anyone spoil my happiness. Who's to say Kevin isn't the man I dreamed of all along? He'll probably become a Christian at some point in our relationship, and then everything will be perfect.
-Christy
----> Do you believe love stories like Isaac and Rebekah's can happen? Two people who aren't even fro the same country brought together by God's hand. But oh, the things we're willing to believe in the midst of a man-drought. When the phone isn't ringing because no one's calling. when we spend another Valentine's Day with the cat. there's a "certain age," you know , past which all of our mother's friends believe the odds for us finding the man of our dreams plummet. Add to the mix the complication of a Christian woman looking for a Christian man- and the situation becomes even more discouraging. We begin to convince ourselves that we somehow missed God's best. Maybe that's the problem. We just weren't open before - our standards were too high. And so, now we're not being desperate; we're being open. Unfortunately, that's when we begin to rationalize whatever we want to fit the ideal.
He's not super-spiritual, but show me a man who is.
He has such great potential - he needs someone like me to encourage him.
It's important to not that we won't change God's mind, even though we can list all sorts of factors in favor of our decision to marry outside our convictions. the Bible's warning not to marry a non-Christian is very clear ( see 2 Corinthians 6:14 ). Think about it. How will you celebrate Christmas and Easter? Or discipline your children? Will your husband understand wanting to tithe from your joint account? Will he mind if you're gone for part of every Sunday? How do you feel about having a quiet time alone? The issues range from minor to major.
If you're single and lonely, God knows it. If you're approaching a certain age, God knows how old you are. And he is not worried. The important thing is not to be married.... it's to be married to the right person. And God can bring that person unexpectedly, just as he did for Isaac and Rebekah. feelings and emotions can be disastrously misleading in this area. that's why we have to hold onto God's Word, not a wish list, and let God dictate our decision wheter or not to marry someone.
"He's Mr. Almost for now, but perhaps with one change he could become Mr. Right. Before your heart rides off into the sunset... hold out for someone who has the same goal and the same faith. By not settling, you will have peace of mind in knowing you did what was right for yourself, your children and yes, even Mr. Almost." - Alice Crider
"Do not be youked together with unbelievers. For what do righteous and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?" - 2 Corinthians 6:14
see also:
Genesis 2:24
Proverbs 4:23
Jeremiah 17:9
1 Corinthians 2:14
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2011 11:26 pm
Myth #05 - "If I'm a good Christian, then nothing bad will happen to me"
This isn't what I asked for, thank you. I want my old life back.
the one where my parents were the perfect couple. Where I was the only one among my friends whose parents were still together. And seemingly still in love.
The one where I was voted most likely to succeed and everyone, right or wrong, envied my life because it seemed so perfect. And I believe it was.
I want to go back to the times when I knew You were involved in my life. The ones where I pray and You answer. I talked to You, and You listened. The times when I knew You were alive. Loving. And on my side.
I want the life where all I had to do was show up for class, and I got good grades. Name a job opening, and I landed it squarely. Speak my needs, and my husband moved heaven and earth to meet them.
That... that's what I want.
This... that I have right now... You can take this all away.
This split in my perfect family that I didn't ask for, and this side of my parents' relationship I never knew.
This embarrassment of being a college graduate and yet unemployed. The shame of being "let go" from my first real job - the one I e-mailed everyone about and was so confident I'd be successful in.
This heaviness of the heart from knowing that I can't make my husband love me. This crushing realization that he may leave me for someone else someday. This fear of being divorced before I'm 30 years old.
This stagnant spirituality that barely gets me by. And makes me question all I've known up to this point.
this can all go. Because this isn't what I asked for when I first came to You. I want life the way it was suppose to be.
-Teresa
----> If we Believe a true Christian ought not to experience adversity, then the moment our lives fall apart, so does our faith. We begin to question a fundamental issues: "Am I really a Christian? after all, if I were really following God, then this wouldn't happen to me."
Following this line of false thinking, we perceive adbersity as God's punishment for unknown sin. As if God is dropping hints from heaven with every tragedy or that he has deserted us somewhere along the way. How easy it would have been for Joseph to question his belief in God and to assume God was punishing him with ever misfortune ( see Genesis 37; 39-40 ). Instead, the Bible records his remarkably opposite attitude of faith.
Similarly, we can look to Jesus as the ultimate example to debunk the idea that bad things do not happen to good people. Isaiah prophesied centuries before that the Messiah would be ""despised" and "rejected" and well-acquainted with sorrows ( Isaiah 53:3 ). If Jesus' life is the Christian ideal, an example in every way, then we must accept Jesus' suffering as a part of God's divine impartially and learn how Jesus handled it. If we were to believe the claims that adversity is unfitting for a believer, then we must discount the examples of Moses, Hannah, Naomi, David, Job, Hosea, Jeremiah, Paul, Mary, John and countless others who experienced great adversity as believers.
The Bible is, able all, realistic its approach to life. Life sometimes hurts and threatens to crush us beneath its weight. but life in the Spirit is about perseverance and peace in the midst of struggle, not absence of struggle. To believe otherwise is to join the disillusioned throng who encounter life on its own terms and are unprepared for the blow.
"The deepest level of worship is praising God in spite of pain, thanking God during a trial, trusting him when tempted, surrendering while suffering, and loving him when he seems distant." - Rick Warren
"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." - Genesis 50:20
see also:
isaiah 53:3
Romans 8:28
2 Corinthians 12:9
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 12:42 pm
Myth #06 - "True Success means Always Reaching For the Next Rung on the Corporate Ladder."
I've achieved a level of success my parents only dreamed of. I was a National Merit Scholar and the valedictorian of my high school class with a perfect 4.0 GPA. I earned for academic scholarships (a full-ride) to college, and I was the first in my family to graduate from law school. I'm one of only a few attorneys in my firm who passed the Bar on my first attempt. And I'm on track to be a partner in five years. The workload is enormous. I'm working 17 hours a day, especially when I'm studying for a case. And for an African-American woman, the pressure to succeed is even greater.
So why am I frightened by what lies ahead? Why doesn't the idea of becoming senior partner in the firm excite me more? I own my own home and drive a sweet car. I'm dating a wonderful man who supports me in my career and is my undisputed biggest fan. Yet when I think about how I'm spending my life, I feel empty. When I dream about where I'll be in 1- years, I don't see myself as power-hitter for Pryor and Schmitt. I picture myself as a mom. I see myself staying home with the kids, just like my mom did for my brothers and me.
I know my parents would support me in anything I choose to do, but I sense I would be letting them down if I didn't take advantage of all the opportunities they never had. They worked so hard so that I could be here. I don't want to be know as "The Woman Who Walked." I want them to be proud of me. I don't don't know if I'm comfortable with the price of that success. I feel torn between being a person everyone else wants to be and making the sacrifices I'm not yet willing to make.
- Toya
----> The refutation of this myth is not based on the premise that something is inherently wrong with a woman who's climbing the corporate ladder. Look at Miriam, who was a significant leader in the book of Exodus. It's worth celebrating that we live in an era where women have executive-level positions in many Fortune 500 companies. It wasn't always that way.
Rather, the idea that women should always reach for that next rung is dangerously misleading. Some women feel that in today's era of liberation they are somehow letting down their gender if they decide to step down from high-ranking corporate positions. They feel enormous pressure to stay.
most women will agree that to continue enjoying the perks of a top-level position requires trade-offs when family needs are involved. early hours and late nights. travel. Missed baseball games and dance recitals. Broken promises. These are inevitable components of the often stressful juggle of career and family - for both women and men, though the price often higher for women. At some point, we must ask ourselves, "Are these the trade-offs that I'm willing to make?"
God has a specific plan for you that will maximize your talents and gifts, bringing maximum glory to himself and provide for your maximum good. Ask yourself:
-Is God able to carry out that plan where I am now?
-is God nudging me to make a change in my priorities?
Women in the workforce must take a good hard look at the price of corporate success. they have at least two valid choices. Some may decide that career advancement is not worth the price. they may continue to work and contribute but without the pressure of climbing the ladder. other christian women may feel called to rise higher in the corporate world, and they equally deserve our support so that they can represent Christ in spheres of great influence ( see 2 Corinthians 5:20 ).
"No matter how much they make, most Americans believe twice as much income is required to 'live well'... Americans seem programmed to deny that they are well-off, which only detracts from our ability to appreciate what's going well in our lives... If there was ever doubt, modern American life proves that money cannot buy happiness" - Gregg Easterbrook
"But Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing in the world, and we can take nothing out of it." - 1 Timothy 6:6-7
see also:
Matthew 16:26
1 Corinthians 10:31
1 Timothy 6:8-10
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 1:06 pm
Myth #07 - "If We Don't Love Each Other Anymore We Should Go Our Separate Ways."
My parents stopped loving each other years ago. It's as if they're strangers living together in the same house. Mom says divorce is not an option, no matter what. And Dad refuses to talk with me about it. But it's obvious to everyone that they're unhappy.
It hasn't always been this way. I remember my dad taking my mom out for romantic dinner dates for Valentine's or their anniversary. But over the past few years, it seems like they've simply fallen out of love. aside from being devoted parents to my brother and me, I wonder what they still have in common with each other.
I would never come right out and say that I want my parents to get divorced. But I wonder if they could find happiness with someone else. It seems to me that people change. things change. that's just life. So why stay trapped in a relationship that isn't working anymore? Just so the neighbors won't talk? So you can go to Bermuda with your "couple friends"? It seems to me that if you no longer love each other, then going your separate ways is something you to consider - for both of your sakes.
Which is why I'm taking my time when it comes to getting married. I've heard the statistics. they say one out of every two marriages ends in divorce. That means divorce is basically inevitable for half of all couples. It's a fact. With any luck, I'll be in the 50 percent whose marriage doesn't self-destruct. But I know one thing. I'm not following my mother's example. I refuse to endure a relationship God meant for me to enjoy.
-Allison
----> Some women justify walking out on their marriages after they love dies. Well, they reason, we had a 50 percent change of failure anyway. but that's not true. the one-in-two statistic originated from misinterpreting the research originally released by the National Center for Health Statistics during the late 1970's when the introduction of the no-fault divorce contributed to a skyrocketing incidence of divorces. The research stated that a number of divorces in one year was precisely half the number of marriages. the media helped deduce the one-in-two theory, and the rest is history. However, what about the millions of existing marriages (more than 50 million at the time) who neither married nor divorced that year? Those who propagated the 50-percent headline "forgot" to account for this second category. The result was a skewed representation of research that still makes its way into articles and news reports (and even well meaning pastors' sermons), bemoaning the "inevitability" of divorce in the U.S.
It's no wonder that many women who sense a pall wash over the passion in their marriages assume it's the beginning of the end. they conclude with fatalistic resolve that they must have wound up on the other side of the on-in-two dividing live - just the luck of the draw.
so, what do you do when your marriage seems to be waning? When you don't feel in live anymore? When you wonder if you made a mistake?
Beyond the fact that this statistic simple isn't true, the reality is that "going our separate ways" is not as easy as it initially sounds. Divorce court is not picnic - alimony, custody battles, division of property. any divorce is a life-altering decision with lasting effects. Women and men may heal from the emotional damage divorce causes, but the scars remain for a lifetime.
The Bible endorses mature marriage commitment based on love. It's a choice we make - whether we feel like being loving or not ( see Colossians 3:12-14 ). In every relationship, we will face times when we feel as if the love is lacking. Like the Israelites who didn't feel like they could go on ( see Exodus 16:3 ), we may desperately want to give up during difficult seasons. While fluctuation feelings are a reality in marriage, they are not a loophole in the marriage vows.
"Fifty percent of all marriages do not end in divorce. While any divorce is tragic, recent research suggests that one marriage in four is closer to the true divorce rate." - Rich Bulher and Jim Killan
"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins" - 1 Peter 4:8
see also:
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
1John 3:11
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2011 9:01 pm
Myth #08 - "God Doesn't Want Me to Have Any Fun."
Growing up in a strict fundamentalist home, I wondered why God let the devil have all the good music. But I would never too my parents that - they didn't even let us go to school dances, much less listen to pop music. Our church's summer camp had strict rules about PDA (public displays of affection). Mild flirting was tolerated, but there was absolutely no hand-holding. We had to sneak off in the woods with the boys just to kiss, and we often came home with mysterious patches of poison ivy.
when I got older, I guess I rebelled against my conservative upbringing. So much had been "off-limits" for so long that I kind of went wild once I was out on my own. I smoked pot with some friends in college and started drinking pretty heavily. For the first time in my life, I was popular with the right people. i was free and enjoying every minute of it.
I thought about God from time time, especially when I would come home for school breaks. I knew he wouldn't approve of my new lifestyle (or my new boyfriend), but I did not intend to give up either. My boyfriend and I moved in together right after we graduated so we could both look for jobs in Boston, but that turned out to be a disaster. The job and the boyfriend. Now, five years after college, I hardly talk with any of my college friends, though the girls from work and I hit the bars after work every weekend.
I suppose it's time to grow up and settle into the routine of being a devout religious person again. I just keep putting it off. Maybe I'll wait till I have a real career and start a family. Even then, I'm not sure I'll be ready for high-maintenance Christianity again. There's a lot on God's list I'm not ready to forgo just yet.
- Kim
----> Why do we think God's rules are designed to strip all the fun out of life? Perhaps for the same reason that kids think their parents' job is to make their lives miserable. We don't like to think of ourselves as children, but from God's perspective, that exactly what we are ( see John 1:12 ). Why is an indignant attitude toward God's commands childish?
-We see what looks like fun - temptation has a beautiful face - but God sees the misery it would bring us.
-We don't fully trust God. we suspect that he's holding out on us..
-When God draws the line, we manipulate and stretch the rules to place a single toe over it.
-We think God is trying to rein us in from experiencing all of life when in reality he is lovingly protecting us from dangers we're not smart enough to avoid.
If only we could see. If only we could see the suffering that our choices bring. If only we could see the lifelong consequences we'll face. If only we would take God's commands to heart. If only we'd take him at his word.
God wants us to respond to him with obedience, but not out of a sense of duty, resentment or compliance ( see Isaiah 29:13 ). Not because he is a cosmic control freak. And not because keeping rules can earn his approval. god wants us to obey him for the love of him ( see 1John 5:3 ). Once we move from rule-keeping to a relationship with God based on love, we'll see his commands in a different light.
"God's will is what you would choose for your own life, if you had sense enough to choose it." - Anonymous
"My yoke is easy and my burden is light" - Matthew 11:30
see also:
Deuteronomy 28:2
John 14:15
Hebrews 12:10-11
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2011 9:04 pm
I am a sinner... "1 John 1:8"
Please, I just would like to say I encourage anyone to discuss these posts that I'm making. Talking about your feels about this. If you have questions, please ask! I want the members of this guild involved in this, please, join in!
... Saved by God's grace "Acts 15:11"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 9:09 pm
 We are allowed to post!?! Awesome =) I don't have any questions so far but I can relate to some of the myths. I used to think the same way before I was a Christian.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 11:45 pm
I am a sinner... "1 John 1:8"
I should have made more clear in the beginning that I would like participation of the members, or just simply saying you relate to it or something stuck out to you.
...Saved by God's grace "Acts 15:11"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 12:07 am
Myth #09 - "I'm Accountable Only To Myself."
They said to bring a Bible, something I must have packed in the same box with my old Billy Joel cassettes that I haven't seen since my last move, so I had to buy one. Honestly, I was the last person who wanted to go on a singles' retreat - people I figured were such losers they had to form their own club. But I was desperate for something new. I didn't want to fall back to old habits and old relationships. So, I reluctantly signed up for the weekend retreat.
That first night we split into small groups after the speaker talked. They leader asked if we wanted to share something that was going on in our lives so the group could pray for us. I panicked and began scrambling for something I could say. Somehow I thought that "Please pray for me because I really, really want a drink right now" probably wouldn't go over well.
As people started opening up to each other. I was shocked. They weren't asking for prayer about trivial items. These people were real. Some of them were going through almost the exact same thing I was experiencing. one guy shared that he and his girlfriend were struggling with sexual temptation. Another girl asked us to pray about some old friends from the party scene who were calling her again. When another person shared about being a recovering alcoholic, I was floored. When it came my turn, I eked out some thing lame about my job. I wasn't ready to open up just yet, but I believed them when they said they'd pray for me.
I've tried to love my life on my own, but I found out that I wasn't able to hold myself to much of anything for very long. The only person I had been answering to was myself. If I wanted to party until 3:00am and go to work hung over the next day, I did. If I saw a pair of stilettos, and it wasn't even close to payday, I charged them and wore them home from the store. I swore a million times that I was going to get out of debt, stop drinking so much, get to bed at a decent hour and maybe even go to church this Easter.
In reality, I couldn't even talk myself out of eating half a boxy of chocolate eclairs,. I was out of control.
At this retreat, I realized that answering to myself just wasn't working. I was on course to self-destruct. Being accountable to other Christians was my first step on a long journey back to God.
-Carla
----> Thinking you can be accountable to yourself is like trying to kiss your own elbow. It's impossible to do. (Tried it, didn't you?) We may try calling the shots, but we aren't equipped to handle the responsibility of running our own lives. Life is not designed to work that way.
Accountable to God
Giving control over to God is to work ourselves out of a job. It means we being to operate with one simple understanding: God is God; we are not. As the Israelites had to learn (and relearn), deciding to be accountable to God and answer to him makes life much less complicated. The Creator made us and even wrote the owner's manual for how our lives "run" best.
Accountable to Each Other
Knowing there will be many times when we want to squirm back onto the throne of our lives, our Creator also made us accountable to each other to help us do the right things. It's called community. Christians are instructed to "carry each other's burdens" and, by doing that, to build one another's resolve to remain under Christ's control ( see Galatians 6:2 ).
"Woman's participation in small groups that met during the week for the purpose of prayer, Bible study or spiritual fellowship has risen to 26% in 2006, compared to 19% in 1996" - Barna Research Group ( 2006 )
"Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." - Ecclesiastes 4:12
see also:
Ecclesiastes 4:10
Ephesians 4:14-16
Hebrews 10:24-25
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:11 am
I really love this thread. 3nodding With the #9 myth, how exactly do you give full control to God? I have been wondering that for awhile now.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 3:50 pm
Testicular Diabetes I really love this thread. 3nodding With the #9 myth, how exactly do you give full control to God? I have been wondering that for awhile now. I am a sinner... "1 John 1:8"
This is something you will have to constantly work on. It isn't something you just say, here God it's all yours, and wipe your hands of it forever.
Giving the control to God can be a daily, hourly, and minutely process. You have to make the conscious decision to not allow things to affect you. It's knowing that God will take care of everything in your life. It's about having faith and trusting him to take care of you.
For me personally, I have to pray constantly for God to take it from me, help me to not worry about it and know that he is doing what is right.
It may not happen within a couple days, it may not happen within a couple weeks. I know Christians who have been saved 15-20years plus that still have a hard time giving it all the Christ, but that doesn't mean it isn't possible. We just do our best to have faith.
...Saved by God's grace "Acts 15:11"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
