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Post by Hotdog on Aug 24, 2006 20:18:18 GMT -5
Growing up, I made many vows during convention. I wasn't going to let the world rub off of me during convention. Nope. I was going to make some changes in my life. I didn't realize I needed to let God make changes as he saw fit. And I didn't realize I was stressing myself out trying to be what the workers felt like I should be. Pure stress. God wouldn't ask anything like that of me or anyone else.
I made too many vows. I renewed old vows. God doesn't burden us with trying to fit in or measure up to an impossible standard.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2006 20:50:01 GMT -5
Re "God doesn't burden us with trying to fit in or measure up to an impossible standard." You are quite right. But what is an "impossible standard."?
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Post by Old Bean on Aug 24, 2006 21:04:26 GMT -5
Growing up, I made many vows during convention. I wasn't going to let the world rub off of me during convention. Nope. I was going to make some changes in my life. I didn't realize I needed to let God make changes as he saw fit. And I didn't realize I was stressing myself out trying to be what the workers felt like I should be. Pure stress. God wouldn't ask anything like that of me or anyone else. I made too many vows. I renewed old vows. God doesn't burden us with trying to fit in or measure up to an impossible standard. Grace Walk by Steve McVey talks about this very issue. I thought I was the only one that kept renewing old vows and trying to measure up until I read this book. It really opened my eyes and helped me understand the Grace of God. Good read and I highly recommend it.
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Post by jxr on Aug 25, 2006 6:35:01 GMT -5
I wanna be one...
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Post by hotdog on Aug 25, 2006 6:38:26 GMT -5
No sense in making unreasonable vows that we cannot keep. Better NOT to vow according to the bible. Get in the grip of God's grace! We aren't expected to figure out what is right. Let God work!
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Post by Just wondering on Aug 25, 2006 8:52:16 GMT -5
Someone asked a question that no one here wants to answer what is an impossible standard? Perhaps some of these gracious people, moved by God, might like to answer it.
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Post by Zorro on Aug 25, 2006 10:23:23 GMT -5
what is an impossible standard?
Perfection. Sinlessness. Believe this or not, I was told by 2 workers just last year (one was an overseer) that if we could just learn to follow Jesus' example more fully, be more fully controlled by the spirit we could live sinless lives. The context of the conversations were regarding grace, which the workers were disagreeing with. I told them I couldn't imagine praying at the end of any day and thanking God that I had walked sinlessly that day. I can't imagine not asking for the cleansing of Christ's blood at the end of any day, for as long as I live. That's the way I look at "standards".
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2006 10:31:48 GMT -5
Zorro. It says "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." This statement applied to every great figure of the bible, bar One. What the workers meant is that you strive for that standard.
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Post by scottishviking on Aug 25, 2006 10:38:34 GMT -5
bert do you really believe we should be trying day after day to be perfect rather than, as zorro says, relying on the blood of jesus ? you must have experienced the frustration of continually trying to do, or be, something you can never do or be, and the peace when you accept you cannt.
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Post by Zorro on Aug 25, 2006 10:41:39 GMT -5
Zorro. It says "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." This statement applied to every great figure of the bible, bar One. What the workers meant is that you strive for that standard.
Bert, You weren't there. I challenged both workers with that very verse and was told that because Jesus was just a man (the discussion also involved their denial of Christ's deity) and he lived perfectly, we can too. As I said, you can choose to believe this or not, but I know what I was told. The way I took it was as an example of a prevalent problem in the fellowship: people take positions and try to defend them without thorough scriptural research and commitment. I'm fairly confident that neither man would take the same position today, if faced with the same topic. But they did at the time, and that's a fact.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2006 10:43:55 GMT -5
One of the things that intrigues me about organisations like AA is the appeal to a higher authority. People who have come to the end of their own efforts are asked to appeal to God or a god figure. The notion that we just accept something wrong about ourselves smacks me as being awful, lazy, derrelict in duty and disregarding of the warnings the bible gives us about conduct. We can appeal to higher figures to help us overcome things we know are not right in ourselves.
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Post by scottishviking on Aug 25, 2006 10:49:48 GMT -5
i dont think anyone mentioned anything about not trying; it was more about accepting we cannot be perfect
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Post by Zorro on Aug 25, 2006 10:52:30 GMT -5
Bert, You have just clearly laid the quandry out in living color.
Your first response to me was to quote this verse: "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
Your second response is this: The notion that we just accept something wrong about ourselves smacks me as being awful, lazy, derrelict in duty and disregarding of the warnings the bible gives us about conduct.
Why do feel that that accepting the reality of the actual Biblical teaching of your first response leads to the conclusion you stated in your second response?
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Post by NO on Aug 25, 2006 10:54:06 GMT -5
Zorro. It says "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." This statement applied to every great figure of the bible, bar One. What the workers meant is that you strive for that standard.Bert, You weren't there. I challenged both workers with that very verse and was told that because Jesus was just a man (the discussion also involved their denial of Christ's deity) and he lived perfectly, we can too. As I said, you can choose to believe this or not, but I know what I was told. The way I took it was as an example of a prevalent problem in the fellowship: people take positions and try to defend them without thorough scriptural research and commitment. I'm fairly confident that neither man would take the same position today, if faced with the same topic. But they did at the time, and that's a fact. no, you do not know what you were TOLD... you know what you HEARD.
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Post by Zorro on Aug 25, 2006 10:59:16 GMT -5
no, you do not know what you were TOLD... you know what you HEARD.
Actually, I have witnesses. You weren't one of them and aren't really in much of a position to tell me what I was told or heard.
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