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 Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2017 12:23 pm
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We are more than our thoughts and more than our desires, but we are certainly not less. What fills our minds and forms our dreams tells us who we really are, what we really long for, whom we really serve. Evil thoughts and evil desires reveal a deep captivity to sin and evil. This should concern us, for God assures us he has a deep loathing for evil thoughts. He has a deep loathing for those who think evil thoughts. We have already seen that God hates idolatry, sexual immorality, injustice, hypocrisy, deceit, and pride. Today we will look at God’s hatred for evil thoughts.
Continue reading: link
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2017 5:29 am
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Garland-Green Evil thoughts and evil desires reveal a deep captivity to sin and evil. This should concern us, for God assures us he has a deep loathing for evil thoughts. He has a deep loathing for those who think evil thoughts. Continue reading: link
stressed
I really prefer positive teachings vs these "scare the hell" out of people teachings. God doesn't have a deep loathing for people who think evil thoughts, He still loves them, He IS Love, Sure, He will judge sin, but sheesh, this makes it seem like if you ever have an evil thought you are going to hell.
It takes us all time to be cleansed and washed in the Word and grow up spiritually, it's a process and having an evil thought doesn't mean you are still held captive to sin, as long as "we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."
God forgave us and died for us when we were yet sinners, He wouldn't do that for a loathed people, but a loved people. |
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2017 2:38 pm
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Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2017 5:18 am
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Aoife Garland-Green Evil thoughts and evil desires reveal a deep captivity to sin and evil. This should concern us, for God assures us he has a deep loathing for evil thoughts. He has a deep loathing for those who think evil thoughts. Continue reading: linkI really prefer positive teachings vs these "scare the hell" out of people teachings. God doesn't have a deep loathing for people who think evil thoughts, He still loves them, He IS Love, Sure, He will judge sin, but sheesh, this makes it seem like if you ever have an evil thought you are going to hell. It takes us all time to be cleansed and washed in the Word and grow up spiritually, it's a process and having an evil thought doesn't mean you are still held captive to sin, as long as "we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." God forgave us and died for us when we were yet sinners, He wouldn't do that for a loathed people, but a loved people.
I think the problem with the article is how it doesn't expound on how judgment is not merely "eternal hell fire", or planetary-flood level judgment across all creation (though it is included, there are lesser degrees of that as well). His judgment also includes waves of divine justice sent against the individual on earth (even as light as, "you cut someone off [from the road while driving], then someone else will cut you off you in the future—immediate or far off—how you treat/trangress others [be it God or fellow creation] is how God treats you back"; your behavior brought back onto your own head. This is also judgment from God; I have a topic with the Scripture verses illustrating this concept across the Bible [Do Good: A Man Reaps What He Sows] including the timing of the reap). A thought can invite this type of judgment, manifested through others around you audibly (or circumstantially) in response to your unuttered thoughts that you said within yourself.
It happens all the time, especially to those in Christ—as a form of love! And in light of that, I just want to give a sober reminder (and more full description) of how that love is displayed (because it can, and does, include violence towards His loved ones at times):
For example, partaking of the Lord's Supper in an indecent manner invites His judgment (you violate His body, He violates you; Jesus brings sickness, even death, onto the one who believes in Him, yet is sinning in this way):
1 Corinthians 11:27-32 (NIV)
27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. 32 Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.
These ideas are echoed in the rest of the New Testament:
Hebrews 12:5-7 (NIV)
5 And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6 because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”[a]
7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?
Footnotes:
a. Hebrews 12:6 Prov. 3:11,12 (see Septuagint)
1 Peter 4:17-18 (NIV)
17 For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And,
“If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”[a]
Footnotes:
a. 1 Peter 4:18 Prov. 11:31 (see Septuagint)
Proverbs 11:31 (NIV)
31 If the righteous receive their due on earth,
how much more the ungodly and the sinner!
Judgment does come to the believer, the correction may even be as severe as our death, and the Holy Spirit calls this His love. We must accept all aspects of His love, and should not allow worldly conceptions of what love means, and how that looks like and feels like, to take precedence over what God reveals about His love in Scripture.
Another example of His love leading to the death of those in His church:
Revelation 2:18-23 (NIV)
18 “To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:
These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. 19 I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.
20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. 21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.
We must remain pure virgins to Christ (loyal to Christ, and to sound doctrine, not adopting idolatrous practices or leading others into it even if it's in Jesus' Name). Otherwise, we invite severe judgment from Him on earth—with ever-increasing severity the more we persist in it, ultimately culminating in our violent death (what He started out correcting through verbal correction, with enough stubbornness on our part [staying in the sin], can result in YHWH sending an ISIS after us like these Catholics [Iraqi Catholics return to church ransacked by ISIS]).
For the record,
Luke 13:1-5 (NIV)
13 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
There is a timing to the reap and a measure of sins that needs to reach its fullness before it gets to this, as addressed in the above topic ([Do Good: A Man Reaps What He Sows]).
But in keeping with the article, the photograph in the article even contains the evidence of their idolatrous practices (which they pass on in Jesus' Name): notice the image the woman is holding as she cries—it contains sun disk halos (from sun god worship practices that the Catholic church adopted into their art work, from the pagans), and the making of images of God in and of itself (a pagan practice, not Biblical, and actually condemned in Scripture if the image is of God Himself—Biblical verses and extra-Biblical historical evidence found here in the [Idolatry] topic; the topic also includes other examples of pagan practices taken into the church in Jesus' Name, that even Jesus Himself spoke against, yet people adopt to their own demise).
Another aspect of His love, that relates to the above, is that with His great love comes great jealousy. When someone loves you, they are also jealous for you—and that brings fire, either against you (if you are adulterous to the Covenant) or against the thing trying to get your affections and/or that succeeded in getting your affections. So, we're told to always keep fidelity to Him in mind when making decisions so that we don't think or act in ways that will arouse His jealousy, a godly jealousy, which Paul comments about and even displays in himself:
2 Corinthians 11:2 (NIV)
2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.
1 Corinthians 10:19-22 (NIV)
19 Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. 22 Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
And no matter where we read, we're warned not to arouse jealousy because no payment will be accepted to subdue it (so keep your lover/betrothed/spouse on your mind—to keep yourself from having unfaithful thoughts and acts).
Song of Songs 8:6-7 (NIV)
6 Place me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
its jealousy[a] unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame.[b]
7 Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.
If one were to give
all the wealth of one’s house for love,
it[c] would be utterly scorned.
Footnotes:
a. Song of Songs 8:6 Or ardor
b. Song of Songs 8:6 Or fire, / like the very flame of the Lord
c. Song of Songs 8:7 Or he
Proverbs 6:34 (NIV)
34 For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury,
and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.
35 He will not accept any compensation;
he will refuse a bribe, however great it is.
And lastly, He does loathe. By definition if you love something or someone, then you loathe whatever/whomever threatens its well-being. And either He will get rid of the wicked, deviant thought, attitude, or behavior within us (by His correction / divine rebuke / sending calamity and affliction to purify us of that thought, with heavy rebuke), or if we won't let go of the harm and deviant thought, then He rids us (from the body or from earth) because He wants to get rid of the sin we're clinging to / refuse to let go of, so that we don't mislead others whom He loves into the harm and deviant/idolatrous thoughts and idolatrous ways either.
Proverbs 6:16-19 (NIV)
16 There are six things the Lord hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19 a false witness who pours out lies
and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
Psalm 50:16-23 (NIV)
16 But to the wicked person, God says:
“What right have you to recite my laws
or take my covenant on your lips?
17 You hate my instruction
and cast my words behind you.
18 When you see a thief, you join with him;
you throw in your lot with adulterers.
19 You use your mouth for evil
and harness your tongue to deceit.
20 You sit and testify against your brother
and slander your own mother’s son.
21 When you did these things and I kept silent,
you thought I was exactly[a] like you.
But I now arraign you
and set my accusations before you.
22 “Consider this, you who forget God,
or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:
23 Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me,
and to the blameless[b] I will show my salvation.”
Footnotes:
a. Psalm 50:21 Or thought the ‘I AM’ was
b. Psalm 50:23 Probable reading of the original Hebrew text; the meaning of the Masoretic Text for this phrase is uncertain.
Deep loathing for what (and whomever) is evil is also an element of His love.
So, in summary:
1. Judgment is not just eternal hell fire in the lake of fire; He disciplines / judges / corrects those He loves on earth through divine rebuke, even death—even if they're in Christ / especially if He accepts you.
2, His jealousy is a consequence of His love; we're told not to arouse His jealousy with our idolatry, honoring false beliefs / false practices, deviated thoughts (and for more on that, read the [Idolatry] topic because idolatry encompasses a lot of things); otherwise, if we arouse His jealousy, there is no payment for said jealousy. We will feel its fire by the judgments/rebuke/correction He sends on earth—which can get violent.
3. Hate is also an element of His love. He deeply loathes that which (and whomever) threatens the well-being of those He loves and misleads them into false practices (or fails to deliver from false practices), and false thoughts.
All three are expressions of His love. |
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