Definition please

[Hunterpoet]

Or maybe a Christian who saw a situation, but couldn't think of what to do quickly enough.

I always hate that.

i always think that if God wanted me to do something, the Spirit would have brought to my mind what to do or say. the things i think about afterwards that i could have done may not have been what the person actually needed. this way, i'm not relying on my logic, but God's plan. it's when He speaks and i don't listen that messes with my spirit and mind.

Good points...thank you.

[OneLight]

I tend to agree with you.

As these things come up, I'm working thru some old, I'll say questions. Like 1) ignorance of the law is no excuse. 2) you were suppose to know this...things like that.

I do appreciate your input.

I sure hope you don't spend a lot of time beating yourself up over what you didn't know about, or about stuff others think you should know. You can never turn time back to correct past mistakes. We can only learn from them and move on.

Remember, God is full of grace and understands far more then we give Him credit for. If you are talking about yourself, and not about God, then be assured that we will never feel like we are "good enough" for the blessings we receive, nor are we perfect in any way. That's our nature ...

[Hunterpoet]

I tend to agree with you.

As these things come up, I'm working thru some old, I'll say questions. Like 1) ignorance of the law is no excuse. 2) you were suppose to know this...things like that.

I do appreciate your input.

I sure hope you don't spend a lot of time beating yourself up over what you didn't know about, or about stuff others think you should know. You can never turn time back to correct past mistakes. We can only learn from them and move on.

Remember, God is full of grace and understands far more then we give Him credit for. If you are talking about yourself, and not about God, then be assured that we will never feel like we are "good enough" for the blessings we receive, nor are we perfect in any way. That's our nature ...

No, I do not spend allot of time beating myself up...well, not anymore.....but at times I find myself not having the right answer to some questions or situations described to me, so I look for help.

Oh was in no way referring to God. I' very pleased with His blessings for me...ecstatic even. I find myself being very happy and appreciative, especially when it comes to understanding His word.

I know I'll never be good enough, just hope I never get comfortable with that notion.

[EricH]

What was the name of that man in the Bible who was to continue his brothers family name after his death by giving a son to his (widowed) wife? But instead he used the woman for his self-gratification? That is another good example of sin of omission. I think it was in Genesis if I'm not mistaken.

Onan

[Gentlewind]

Barb lives next door to Ty and Mary Jones, new neighbors who moved in just last week. Ty and Mary have a little girl, around 7 years old. Barb tries to befriend Mary one bright summer morning, attempting to speak briefly with her at the mailbox. She notices Mary seems unduly nervous, and that Mary keeps glancing over her shoulder at her house. Mary has the angry remnants of a black eye--a sour yellow and fading purple shadow. Barb and Mary don't speak long, because they are interupted by the angry voice of Ty.

"Mary! Get in here, now! What the *^#% is taking you so long?"

Barb notices Mary flinch at Ty's angry words. Mary whispers a hasty, "I'm sorry," and immediately turns to hurry up the drive in an effort to placate her husband, who grabs her arm and pulls her forcefully into the house.

Barb realizes that Mary completely forgot to check her mailbox, in her haste to obey.

A few days later, Barb hears loud fighting next door; actually what she hears is Ty. His voice thunders, and he is screaming obscenities about mess left somewhere by his child. Barb hears a distinct crash, and then pitiful wailing as the little girl begins to cry.

"Stop that noise NOW!" she hears Ty demand, his voice scarring the quiet neighborhood. The child's wailing is cut off, and a door slams.

Over the next several weeks, Barb hears more than a few similar noisy altercations from next door. One day, as she is hanging laundry out to dry, she notices the little girl lingering in the adjacent back yard. The child is beautiful, a fair wisp of a girl with huge brown eyes and silky blond tresses. The girl edges shyly toward Barb, obviously curious. Barb smiles, sets her laundry down and approaches the child with a welcoming smile.

"Hi," Barb says. "What's your name, sweetheart?"

The child turns to face her full-on, and Barb almost gasps! Her sweet face bears a terribly ugly black eye, painfully swollen almost shut. Her little lip is also damaged with a jagged, swollen split. "Honey, what happened . . ." Barb kneels before the girl, reaches out a hand.

The little girl touches a trembling finger to her lip. "I climbed the stairs with my shoe untied . . . and tripped, just like Daddy said I would . . . and then I fell," she muttered quickly in an answer that was obviously recited, eyes looking down at her feet.

"Sherry! Get your @#* in this house!"

Instant fear is obvious on the child's face, but she hesitates, and tears threaten in her eyes. Barb sees Ty step out on the back patio of his house, his stance solid, tense and unrelenting, eyes ugly with unwarranted anger. "Sherry!" he bellows.

The girl shrinks, turns, and then flees. She skirts past her father in a wide circle to avoid him. Barb locks eyes with Ty and he doesn't look away. She understands the challenge written on his face, feels the adrenaline rush through her veins. She, of course, is the first to pull away, and she returns, shaken, to her laundry. Ty storms back into his house, the door slamming behind him. Barb's heart takes awhile to slow itself to a normal rythym.

More fights ensue over time at the house next door, usually accented by Ty's enraged voice, occasionally followed with Mary's loud pleading, often culminating with the sound of things being thrown or broken . . . and too many times the pitiful cries of little Sherry rend the air.

One morning Barb runs into Samantha, who lives on the other side of the Joneses, while they are both retrieving their mail. They greet one another pleasantly, and begin to converse, but both turn their heads and go silent at the sound of Ty's voice, livid as usual, flowing out the open window of his house in a filthy flood.

"What goes on in there?" Samantha asks under her breath, staring at the house, eyes narrowed, brow furrowed.

"I know . . . " Barb says. "Things are not right. Have you noticed . . ."

"The black eyes and bruises? I sure have," Samantha interupts. "And that poor woman is afraid of her own shadow."

"The little girl is the same way. He seems very domineering," Barb says, and they both know who "he" is.

"He seems like a real jerk," Samantha says, emphasis on the word "jerk".

Barb and Samantha stand there, both troubled, both knowing . . .

One dark, rainy morning the fighting next door is worse than usual. It culminates in Sherry's screams. From her window, Barb sees Mary rush from the house with Sherry in her arms, the weight of the child bearing down on her, rain washing over the pair as Mary struggles to place the howling child in the car, then hurries to the driver's side and drives away, almost hitting another car that is parked across the street.

Mary and the child return several hours later. Sherry's arm is in a cast.

Barb is very disturbed. She knows what happened to the poor child's arm. She knows the source of all the bruises and black eyes. Troubled, she speaks with her husband and he tells her there's nothing they can do. He tries to convince Barb that if she gets involved it will only make things worse.

Barb wonders to herself just how much worse it can get.

Barb feels bad. She feels a strange nagging guilt at her failure to "do" something. Her heart goes out to Mary and her child. A part of her is relieved that her husband doesn't want her to get involved, but she doesn't allow herself to admit this. She tells herself there really is nothing she can do. She tries to ignore the large bags filled with beer cans at the back of the Joneses' house, tries to ignore the yelling and the pleading and the crying.

Finally, late one evening as summer is coming to an end, the yelling and pleading and crying can not be ignored. A loud crash is heard, and Barb sees Ty slam out of his house and drive away. Sherry is crying loudly once again, but this time the crying doesn't let up. A few minutes later an ambulance pulls up to the house and soon a stretcher is seen, carrying the little girl, her distraught mother laboring to keep up, clearly limping.

With her husband's assurances, Barb struggles to convince herself--there is NOTHING I can do--even as the tears spill down her own face.

* * * * *

Not wanting to get involved when a scream rings out, when a neighbor's dog goes unfed--chained to a stake with no shelter--day after day, when you see a crime committed . . . this is the sin of omission. As Christians, we are called to care and we are called into action. We are to be courageous and bold, knowing the Lord is with us. To sit on the sidelines and feign ignorance is not an option. We are called to act.

[nebula]

Sins of omission.

I have little understanding of this.

Explanations and scripture would be very helpful.

Oh, duh! Just recalled -

James 4:17 - Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.

[kat8585]

I tend to agree with you.

As these things come up, I'm working thru some old, I'll say questions. Like 1) ignorance of the law is no excuse. 2) you were suppose to know this...things like that.

I do appreciate your input.

I don't think God holds us accountable for things we don't know. It says this somewhere, but I don't rememver where.

[Gentlewind]

Or maybe a Christian who saw a situation, but couldn't think of what to do quickly enough.

I always hate that.

yep....

Last winter while driving down the street, I saw an old lady with a cane working her way towards the corner through allot of snow and ice on an un-shoveled walk. I knew I needed to help her, but couldn't figure out where to stop close enough to get to her in time. I went the rest of the day feeling guilty. I told the Lord if I saw that again I would do what needed to be done. Well, 2 days later, same spot, another old woman with a cane. This time I angered a few folks making my way to the curb and then a close by parking lot. I was able to help her and get her across the intersection.

Keep wondering about that first time though.

Hunterpoet~

I think you're doing just fine. You obviously hear the Spirit speaking to you, and the second time, when God tested you with another elderly lady needing help, you went out of your way to get to her. And you do have to be careful on the streets; some people will gladly run you over and then back up to make sure they gotcha. Actually, you may be lucky the old lady didn't whack you with her cane!

~Gentlewind

[other one]

Matt 25:31-46

"When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 3 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.'

"Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 40 And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'

"Then He will also say to those on the left hand,'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.'

"Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?' Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

NKJV

[mulling]

Hello '

Jesus said " I had not left you the Holy Spirit would not have come into the world to convict it of sin" So no man is without excuse. Do not use your freedom as a liscence to sin

In Christ name

Mulling