Gershom_young Posted March 28, 2020 Group: Junior Member Followers: 2 Topic Count: 2 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 109 Content Per Day: 0.07 Reputation: 54 Days Won: 0 Joined: 03/28/2020 Status: Offline Share Posted March 28, 2020 (edited) On 1/21/2020 at 4:28 AM, Jayne said: I would have said the same thing before.....until I read 1 Samuel. In chapter 27, David was so fearful of Saul that he just gave up and went to live with the Philistines. He took 600 men and their families with him and they asked the King of Gath for a city. He gave them Ziklag. For resources, food, animals, and things to survive, King David and his men just started slaughtering people. This was not an act of war or under the direction of God. The Bible says he took what he wanted and killed the people so they couldn't tell the King of Gath that David was a raider. He lied to the King of Gath and told him that he was killing Jews. So long before David had Uriah killed to shut the truth up - he already did that on large scale. I would put this under the category of warfare. David was attacking his enemies. Deceptively, I agree, but I would still argue the killing of Philistines was warfare, not murder. His killing of Uriah was not - Uriah's death happened during warfare, but the instructions to Joab were designed to let Uriah die. On 1/21/2020 at 3:37 AM, other one said: I think the problem is using the term "any circumstances" It's really hard for us to fathom any or all circumstances... sometimes circumstances change who we are. Finding Jesus certainly did for me... I can't fathom myself going back to my old self, but I know people who have.... and I was totally shocked when it happened. My motto has always been since I met Jesus is, "But for the grace of God, there go I." Could I go back to my old self or worse since I don't believe I've ever killed anyone?????? Without the help of God I truthfully can not say no. Could I turn my back on God..... I can't fathom that however I know people who have.... One of the curses of being over 70 is that we have seen and second hand experienced things that we didn't think possible.... That's why I trust God..... not that I am not capable of evil, but he's not capable of letting me do so as long as he is my God. I really agree with this. If any of us had been brutally beaten, raped, mutilated etc. all our lives, and the guilty finally put on trial, and subsequently declared innocent and celebrated by society, I think we would all take a very dim view of society, justice and the courts. Treated badly enough and without Jesus, I think all of us are capable of the most heinous crimes, if only to get a justice we believe we would not otherwise obtain. Edited March 28, 2020 by Gershom_young Additional thought 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warrior12 Posted March 28, 2020 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 5 Topic Count: 53 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 2,412 Content Per Day: 0.88 Reputation: 1,508 Days Won: 0 Joined: 10/05/2016 Status: Offline Share Posted March 28, 2020 (edited) On 1/20/2020 at 1:35 PM, ReneeIW said: I was listening to a sermon early this morning and the pastor said that we are all capable of committing the same heinous and violent acts as serial killers and others if given the right circumstances, and that only a self-righteous person believes otherwise. I’ve heard this statement many times over the years and used to believe it, but now I do not. While we are all born with a sinful nature, it takes a certain type of personality to commit certain crimes. I can say unequivocally that I would not murder thirty people and hide them in my basement as one serial killer did. All glory goes to God for keeping me from those acts, but I don’t think it’s self righteous to say I am not capable of certain acts. I’m simply acknowledging that by the grace of God, I am not capable of doing certain things. Maybe someone already said this, but this is what I think. The pastor is not necessarily meaning that you would commit or have the capacity to do the same crime, but the message is really what the heart is capable of. The bible says the heart of man is desperately wicked and who can know it. You see, in tough situations , you really don't know the extent of what your heart is capable of , because you have not been there. You are supposing at the moment, but you really don't know is the point. The believer on the other hand has values that he is focused on and understand, this world is not our final abode , but we are just passing thru. The unregenerate one is of survival of the fittest and is under the rule of the evil one and that goes for all. The concept though is the heart and what it is capable of . Though the acts are not committed in the physical, what it conceives and holds, who can know it but yourself, which is that self-righteous person. Jeremiah 17 King James Version (KJV) 5 Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. 6 For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. 7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope theLord is. 8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10 I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. Edited March 28, 2020 by warrior12 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplejeff Posted March 28, 2020 Group: Mars Hill Followers: 12 Topic Count: 12 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 7,689 Content Per Day: 2.39 Reputation: 2 Days Won: 20 Joined: 06/30/2015 Status: Offline Share Posted March 28, 2020 On 1/20/2020 at 12:35 PM, ReneeIW said: I was listening to a sermon early this morning and the pastor said that we are all capable of committing the same heinous and violent acts as serial killers and others if given the right circumstances, and that only a self-righteous person believes otherwise. I’ve heard this statement many times over the years and used to believe it, but now I do not. While we are all born with a sinful nature, it takes a certain type of personality to commit certain crimes. I can say unequivocally that I would not murder thirty people and hide them in my basement as one serial killer did. All glory goes to God for keeping me from those acts, but I don’t think it’s self righteous to say I am not capable of certain acts. I’m simply acknowledging that by the grace of God, I am not capable of doing certain things. This used to be seen commonly on the forum - in 'lighter' cases of sin. You and I and other Ekklesia are "capable" of doing certain things, but CHOOSE not to do those things. See in the Epistles the choices that they made, and when, and why. The will is important. Just like a football player on the red team, is "capable" of traitor - helping the other team, but rarely does - he plays with and for the red team according to ALL the rules (not just SOME of the rules). So sin, like God told Cain, is to be resisted/ rejected/ not given in to, and the choice is given to men: CHOOSE TODAY who to serve, and most CHOOSE to serve demons/ idols/ false gods. But those who endure to the end will be saved, as written. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts