man i wish everyone had read Les Miserables. it's such a Christian book. :) so here's a reason why i love that book:
there's 2 characters you should know: Javert (a French policeman) and Jean Valjean (an ex-convict)
Jean Valjean seeks with all his heart to help people and live a good Christian life. Javert wants to abide by French law and imprison Jean Valjean for past injuries. he doesn't understand that we're covered by grace.
what does that mean?
hmmm... it means that we need to stop seeking what seems right and wrong and start seeking the heart of God, which will show us what to do for every specific situation. the problem with laws is that a single law cannot foresee every single case that might come up. i believe there are cases in which normally "wrong" things would be ok to do. for example, a lie of mercy. if a woman says "i despise my child and never want to see him again!" you will NOT tell the child "your mom said she hates you and never wants to see you again" you will most likely say "your mommy is very sick, she needs to go find a cure, but she will get better and she wants you not to be afraid."
THAT is a lie my friends! the mother never said anything like that! but why lie? isn't lying bad? not necessarily, for this case it isn't. a child does not have the capability to understand what his mom might be going through, and an adult has to protect a child's innocence. it's on a case by case basis, and God sees a case per case basis.
for the note-- this is not relativism, this is the universal law of love. in the case above, because of love to the child, you protected his integrity. if you had told the truth, you wouldn't have loved, you would have caused immense pain and future problems to the child. you would take a child's fragility and broken it only to speak the "truth" which might end up being momentary truth (the mom said that in a moment of anguish and disturbed mental state instead of truthfulness)
anyhow.... where i'm getting with this? let's stop being so legalistic. let's start loving and abiding by the law of love. to follow it, you must look at God (aka LOVE) and you can make moral judgenments through that.
Kelley Haven said something very interesting to me yesterday, she said--- if you're in line with God, then everything else falls into place. i've been fighting that so hard, i've been trying to put everything in my own hands. i've been trying to follow the law, instead of looking up and seeing love. it all finally made sense and fell into place. (oh so very God-sent!)
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we need to compare notes sometime! hahaha...
Luke 6
1One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. 2Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”
3Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” 5Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
6On another Sabbath he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. 7The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. 8But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” So he got up and stood there.
9Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”
10He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was completely restored. 11But they were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.
---matthew
Acts 10:9-16
The next day, while they were on their way and nearing the city, Peter went up to the roof terrace to pray at about noontime. He was hungry and wished to eat, and while they were making preparations he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something resembling a large sheet coming down, lowered to the ground by its four corners. In it were all the earth's four-legged animals and reptiles and the birds of the sky.
A voice said to him, "Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat."
But Peter said, "Certainly not, sir. For never have I eaten anything profane and unclean." The voice spoke to him again, a second time,
"What God has made clean, you are not to call profane."
This happened three times, and then the object was taken up into the sky.
Kelley Haven pointed out after Peter accepted, a whole household accepted Christ... ya know? :)
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