| Author |
Message |
Flyinglady
Registered user
Username: Flyinglady
Post Number: 365
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Monday, August 02, 2004 - 6:24 pm: |     |
At church a week ago the sermon was on the subject love is dangerous. When we love, we put ourselves in a position to be hurt, especially if it is not returned. He did say that the worst thing we can do when some one loves us is to neglect/ignore that love.
I do not want to neglect/ignore God's love for me. I am sure that when we got to heaven any hurts we have because we love God, will be forgotten. I like that. I think God lets that start here by telling us to pray for those who hurt us. That prayer does not always change the other person, but it sure changes my attitude toward the person I dislike.
God is awesome in all things.
Diana |
Ric_b
Registered user
Username: Ric_b
Post Number: 9
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Monday, August 02, 2004 - 7:51 pm: | |
I'd never thought about being too worn out from trying to keep the law. I always attributed it to not knowing firsthand the forgiveness that is in Christ. When I haven't experienced that kind of love, it is hard to give it. When I finally accepted that I'm not good enough AND God loves me anyhow, it becomes more natural to be compassionate to others who aren't good enough either. |
Sabra
Registered user
Username: Sabra
Post Number: 152
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Monday, August 02, 2004 - 8:41 pm: | |
Teleaves/Tanya
I prayed for your friend. God has sent her to you. Don't you feel special? Love is the best thing you can give her, Praying for you too, for wisdom.
For the SDA site, you might want to check out www.truthorfables.com he has a ton of info on EGW.
I agree Ric, if you don't have Christ, you can't love anyone. After I got saved I started seeing people the way God sees them, even terrible people, He created them and He is so sad for their choices. It's a whole different world from following the law.
Laws change actions, (sometimes) but never hearts.
They are worn out too, I'm sure, never measuring up makes them miserable and depressed. I always said I could spot an SDA out of church because they didn't wear jewelry and they looked sad. I said that when I was a sort of one! |
Pw
Registered user
Username: Pw
Post Number: 79
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 03, 2004 - 7:11 am: | |
I could never put this together. Jesus said that his yoke was easy and not burdensome, so why does the SDA church insist on making it so hard? Even if they do try and keep the sabbath, they still are not following the other festivals and high holidays that were ordained through Moses. Why is that? Another case of pick and choose what fits best. |
Colleentinker
Registered user
Username: Colleentinker
Post Number: 501
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 03, 2004 - 10:02 am: | |
Ric, I also agree with your observation that if we don't experience the love of Christ, we can't extent compassion to one another. And, Tanya, I so agree with your observation above that if we live by the Spirit, things will get messy, because hurting people come, and they bleed all over one.
The law is exhausting, for sure. I've pondered the fact that many SDAs have accepted Jesus and do want to live for Him, yet they are stuck. My older son described this situation so well to one of his friends. He said that even though an Adventist may have accepted Jesus, as long as he holds to the law (even just the Sabbath), he can't experience true freedom in Christ. I liked that explanation; it rang true with what I experienced for many years. It's like short-circuiting our gift of justification and freedom so we can't experience the light that a completed circuit would yield. Jesus knows we're His, but we still misunderstand our obligation.
If a person, though, has never truly surrendered to Jesus, the law will not merely exhaust him. He will, quite simply, not be able to be compassionate beause the Holy Spirit is not in him.
Praise God for changing us and breaking our bonds!
Colleen |
Sabra
Registered user
Username: Sabra
Post Number: 153
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 03, 2004 - 5:03 pm: | |
I do, on the other hand, have a Messianic friend that understands grace and observes the Sabbath, but not in the way SDA's did. He goes to worship with his congregation on the Sabbath and generally observes it but has no problem with anyone else that wants to go on Sunday or Tuesday for that matter. None of that condescending "I have The Truth" nonsense.
He assured me, after many discussions, that one can rest in Jesus and still observe the Sabbath. He knows it isn't required for salvation, doesn't think my salvation is in jeopardy in any way, doesn't hesitate to skip church and watch football if his favorite team is on,
I think he's well balanced and understands grace. He is a wonderful witness for Jesus, just sees things differently than I.
That is the whole Romans 14 concept. Let each be convinced in his own mind and God will make him able to stand, as long as He is the God of Heaven. To his own master he will stand or fall.
Harvest time will show which master that was. |
Ric_b
Registered user
Username: Ric_b
Post Number: 10
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 03, 2004 - 5:07 pm: | |
Very nice point Sabra. It isn't the day that makes for freedom or legalism. |
Susan_2
Registered user
Username: Susan_2
Post Number: 782
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 03, 2004 - 7:13 pm: | |
Sabra, How you describe your friend is the wonderful ballance I observed while I was attending the Seventh-day Baptist church for several years. In fact, I would still be attending there each week if the church still existed. Unfortunatelly it got down to just a handful of people and the rent for the meeting hall was too expensive for our little group to take care of and just about the same time as we realized the rent was getting to be too much the minister got the opportunity to pastor a large church Back East. However, the ballance was always there. If I am in the L.A. area over the weekend I try to make it to a Seventh-day Baptist service at one of the SDB churches down there. |
Colleentinker
Registered user
Username: Colleentinker
Post Number: 511
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - 11:12 am: | |
I've pondered that same thing: that some Messianic Jews and others observe Sabbath but still have a wonderful understanding of the New Covenant. I've tentatively decided that one of the differences between them and most former SDAs is that for them the Sabbath was never a Satanic deception. For Adventists it was the "seal of God", the badge of merit we had to wear in order to be saved. It was the test of salvation. It stood in the place of the Holy Spirit as the guarantee of our belonging to God. It took the place of Christ.
For most of us, it was a cult symbol with a deceptive (demonic) hold on us. Just as Paul could eat meat offered to idols with no problem but told the Corinthians they couldn't, so most of us (I'm tempted to say ALL of us but I know I can't be dogmatic!) must give up the Sabbath because of the false doctrine it stood for. I believe that people who have not had that twisted, deceptive theology connected with Sabbath can observe it without compromise. The rest of us have to let it go in order to act on our profession of faith. We have to abandon the symbol of our deception in order not to be subliminally sucked back into old practices, habits, feelings, etc.
Praise God for freedom!
Colleen |
Cindy
Registered user
Username: Cindy
Post Number: 631
Registered: 7-2000
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 04, 2004 - 10:08 pm: | |
I guess my questions would be: How does one "observe" a day...as in "Sabbath-keeping"?
To me it seems that a demarcation between what one considers "sacred" or "secular" to do on a day (for "observance" of a day to the Lord) can so easily get twisted into a subtle legalism....a slight turning of focus on what is "Sabbath-keeping" instead of an abandon to Jesus in whatever we're doing, wherever we are, and with whomever we are....every day of the week!
Perhaps it's more correct to just say that one prefers to live a disciplined life of a weekly cycle, doing specific activities on particular days?
grace always
cindy |
Colleentinker
Registered user
Username: Colleentinker
Post Number: 517
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, August 05, 2004 - 11:14 am: | |
Cindy, I agree with you. I believe that any other motivation than just a disciplined organization of one's life does stem from subtle legalism. Great point!
Colleen |
Susan_2
Registered user
Username: Susan_2
Post Number: 793
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, August 05, 2004 - 12:47 pm: | |
I am only posting this problem under the title Ykies! because it s the only heading that fits. And, this has NOTHING to do whatever with anything religious so maybe after I get some help with this problem Colleen can delete it. Everytime, and I mean 100% everytime I put on lipstick my lips break out in open, oozing, bloody sores. Even if I have brand new lipstick that has no germs on it at all and even if I use the kind that says non-allergic. I like having pretty lips. Does anyone have any suggestions? |
Belvalew
Registered user
Username: Belvalew
Post Number: 23
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, August 05, 2004 - 1:20 pm: | |
Susan, my lips crack and peel at the lick of a lip. There is a cosmetics firm called Philosophy, and they make lipsticks that are very nice. They also have lip conditions that come in pots (you know, you have to apply with a brush or your finger). I've found that they are flattering and healing at the same time. Good luck, and you are not having problems because God is punishing you for using cosmetics! |
Tealeaves
Registered user
Username: Tealeaves
Post Number: 96
Registered: 5-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, August 05, 2004 - 1:29 pm: | |
Susan
about your lipstick,
Have you tried using mineral cosmetics rather than standard ones? There are lots of companies that make mineral makeup, you can find it in the internet, and it is actually good for your skin, rather than being manmade and harmful to your skin. That may help.
I use a line of skincare called Decleor (also available on the internet. The base for it is essential oils, and I use one of the essential oils straight on my lips, and it has MUCH improved them... they don't crack anymore.
They actually have some actual lip products as well, though I haven't tried them.
Good luck with that, it doesn't sound fun.
(at nights, for cracked lips, you might want to try Aquaphor. you can get it at a grocery store, it may help condition them. It is recommended by dermatologists for cracked and burned as well as allergic skin conditions.) |
Belvalew
Registered user
Username: Belvalew
Post Number: 24
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, August 05, 2004 - 2:06 pm: | |
Susan, I fogot to tell you that you can get Phylosophy products at Sephora outlets, or over the internet at QVC.com. Don't give up. There are so many good products available. Another night-time treatment that is really inexpensive and available at drug stores is Carmex. |
Susan_2
Registered user
Username: Susan_2
Post Number: 795
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, August 05, 2004 - 3:36 pm: | |
I use Carmex. I think my next try will be with stuff I can puchase at a health foods store. I like the feel I get from mineral oil. Belvalew, your comment about not being punished for using make-up made me think of something having to do with my SDA upbringig. When I was in elementary school (SDA) my mom sold Avon. I totally loved it. She'd let me play and play with the make-up. During this same time I was taken to Sabbath School each week and I'd get my Primary Treasure. Or, was it The Junior Guide? Anyway, during this time that my mom was selling Avon in my weekly SDA kid magazine there was an article in there about a family with children. The father was not SDA. The mother was. She wanted her children to attend SDA schools but the father said public schools were good enough, plus they are free. He told the wife if she wanted the kids to go to church schools then she had to get a job and pay the tuition and expenses out of her earnings. She pryed and prayed that God would find her a job that would cover the chuch school bills. Finily in desperation she accepted a position selling Avon. But, before she ever got to actally sell any Avon God bailed her out of such a deplorable job and He provided her with an honorable job. One that she got Sabbaths off and paid the exact amount that was needed to pay the school expenses for her kids. I read that story and asked my mom about it. I'll never forget what my mom told me. She told me some SDA's are fanatics and are misguided where it comes to common sense and not to believe everything I read, even if it is in my Primary Treasure. I've always wondered if the SDA denomination has archives of those old magazines. I'd sure like to get that one. My SDA kin pretty much pick and choose what to agree with in the SDA beliefs. I think really all SDA's do that because if you really read the 27 Fundamentals and the baptizmasal requirements no one can realisticly observe all those rules and requirements. Thanks or the suggestions. |
Colleentinker
Registered user
Username: Colleentinker
Post Number: 522
Registered: 12-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, August 05, 2004 - 4:57 pm: | |
Speaking of Adventism and makeup, I have an indelible memory of my seventh-grade health book (or whatever it was called.) It was published by the church, and it had a chapter about appropriate grooming for good Adventist girls. I'll never forget reading (to my great confusion) that if one wished to have eye lashes that looked groomed and tended, one could rub a little vaseline on them, and they would be shiny and clump a bit. Thus one could have groomed but modest eyes with never a spot of mascara.
I remember wondering how anyone could ever do that. I was unfortunate enough to be saddled with glasses, and I had very oily skin with long, straight lashes. I had a perpetual problem with my lashes rubbing on my glasses and leaving greasy streaks right in the center of my vision. What, I wondered, would I ever do with VASELINE?? I didn't try that option.
I also remember that the book explained how to buff one's nails so they would shine without nail polish. Somehow all of this reminds me faintly of vege-meat--let's create a substitute that mimics but never duplicates the real thing....
Praise God for freedom in Him!
Colleen |
Belvalew
Registered user
Username: Belvalew
Post Number: 25
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, August 05, 2004 - 8:23 pm: | |
Good old Primary Treasure and Junior Guide. Lots of stories like you have enumerated. When I got to academy there was a series of studies we had to do through the GC that were about two young couples studying with a SDA minister. One of the wives was being hard to reach, and for some reason or another wanted to make a trip that would require her to fly on the Sabbath. At the last moment something happened and she didn't take the flight, and wouldn't you know it, the plane went down. After that she decided to join the denomination.
I can't begin to recite all of the scare tactic stories I have read while a SDA. It is too bad that they believe they have to scare people into loving Jesus when he is so loveable.
|
Pheeki
Registered user
Username: Pheeki
Post Number: 381
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, August 06, 2004 - 8:01 am: | |
I got kicked out of the academy library for the rest of the year for putting on clear lip gloss druing library time. Can you imagine? And this same librarian (she is ancient now) is the librarian for the little SDA school my kids attended for the last 5-years!
I once read an article in the Review (by this lady who has a regular running segment) as to why she became SDA...this is what she said. Everyone I spoke to about the SDA church kept telling me to get away from it so I was determined that no one was going to tell me what to do and I joined full fledged! (I paraphrased but she put it more eloquently). Isn't that crazy. I think the Holy Spirit was trying to warn her and she thought it was the devil trying to keep her out of the truth. |
Susan_2
Registered user
Username: Susan_2
Post Number: 808
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, August 07, 2004 - 9:35 am: | |
Do any of you remember those Memory Verse cards we would get at Sabbath School each week as little kids? I loved those things. Do you think I could find some "former" out there who would sell me his/her collection? Do the children still get them? Those little cards were just awsome. |
