jackie d Posted January 28, 2008 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 2 Topic Count: 25 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 1,081 Content Per Day: 0.17 Reputation: 1 Days Won: 0 Joined: 08/29/2006 Status: Offline Birthday: 02/08/1967 Share Posted January 28, 2008 Someone mentioned in another thread that they haven't figured out what "in a box" is supposed to mean and as I have used the phrase "in a box" on a couple of threads and thought I would clarify what it means to me..... to me, putting me in a box is like a finished product at the end of an assembly line, the finished product which is exactly just as all the others before me. For myself when I am using that I am saying I am not you or the next guy or the next. I am me, with different needs, functions, thoughts etc....and what is true for one person's life is not necessarily true for me. When I say putting God in a box...I am saying that God is being limited in what He does in individuals lives and that just because He performed one way for one person does not mean He will do it the same way for another person. And I have often used the term when I hear people saying things like God doesn't talk to us anymore or God doesn't do this or that anymore...again He's being limited and put into a box to perform mechanically and must remain in certain boundaries that an individual has set for Him...anything outside of "the box" becomes impossible for people to imagine thus limiting their minds on ALL the abilities of God. anyone else have any phrases they use that are lost on people that we could post here so that when we are communicating people understand our meaning? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Biblicist Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 I have been accused of putting God "in a box" before and truly I have absolutly no idea what it means. If someone could clairify that for me, I'd be eternally in your debt! How strange that you would post this question, when I have been considering posting the same exact thing. Great minds, I guess!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsth Posted January 28, 2008 Group: Royal Member Followers: 2 Topic Count: 297 Topics Per Day: 0.04 Content Count: 5,586 Content Per Day: 0.69 Reputation: 193 Days Won: 1 Joined: 04/09/2002 Status: Offline Share Posted January 28, 2008 (edited) Actually, what you're saying jackie, sounds like: "What's right for you, may not be right for me" And that's been the downfall of Christianity, they got into relativism, rather than TRUTH. There are absolutes in God's design and ways. (I would also add that most people just don't try God's Ways, because on the surface, they don't seem like they would make sense, i.e., submission, tithing, waiting, walking out into a Red Sea , doing the right thing, when everybody else is doing something else, ...well, you get the picture.) It normally doesn't make sense at outward appearances, to do what God calls us to do. The outside the box part is "the doing" what He has already set in stone/absolutes!!! In His Love, Suzanne Edited January 28, 2008 by tsth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GloryToGod! Posted January 28, 2008 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 24 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 624 Content Per Day: 0.10 Reputation: 25 Days Won: 0 Joined: 09/20/2007 Status: Offline Birthday: 11/21/1952 Share Posted January 28, 2008 I use a term "think outside the box" every once in a while. By that I mean that sometimes we need to think ooutside of what we normally come up with......we need to brainstorm....put any and all possibilities on paper and then slowly and prayerfully weed out the really not so good ideas. My husband and I have come up with answers to difficult questions when we do that. Does that make any sense? Kathy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackie d Posted January 28, 2008 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 2 Topic Count: 25 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 1,081 Content Per Day: 0.17 Reputation: 1 Days Won: 0 Joined: 08/29/2006 Status: Offline Birthday: 02/08/1967 Author Share Posted January 28, 2008 Actually, what you're saying jackie, sounds like: "What's right for you, may not be right for me" And that's been the downfall of Christianity, they got into relativism, rather than TRUTH. There are absolutes in God's design and ways. (I would also add that most people just don't try God's Ways, because on the surface, they don't seem like they would make sense, i.e., submission, tithing, waiting, walking out into a Red Sea , doing the right thing, when everybody else is doing something else, ...well, you get the picture.) It normally doesn't make sense at outward appearances, to do what God calls us to do. The outside the box part is "the doing" what He has already set in stone/absolutes!!! In His Love, Suzanne I understand the difference between absolutes and then there are those things that are not absolutes. I guess it is kinda like Paul said. Let us each work out our own salvation with fear and trembling and stop telling people that what appears on the outside must be wrong because someone elses walk isn't a carbon copy of how they got there. Nor can we all say that someone is right or wrong regarding the things that aren't absolutes just because they don't do it the way it is or was done in our lives. those are boxes, they are limiting and they are also forgetting that God made us all very different and it is HIM who will dictate the non-absolutes not people who envision that we should be like them. These things are also downfalls in Christianity because we put such solid boundaries around everything that no one is able to live up to the standards of people and leave frustrated, often afraid and quite frequently with a very sour taste in their mouths toward Christianity and God....... Christ left me with two commandments Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul. And love your neighbor as you love yourself. Those are the commandments that I live by, albeit not perfectly, and the rest follows. If people would just let those two things be in existance the downfalls of Christianity would probably be less for people wouldn't be trying to live up to the standards set of them by man, regarding the debatable and not so absolute as the folks putting others into their own boxes, seem to think they are...it is overburdening and defeating.....and I don't really think Jeus likes that kind of stuff. In fact I'm pretty sure of it since He managed to let the Jews know about it in not so gentle terms.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackie d Posted January 28, 2008 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 2 Topic Count: 25 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 1,081 Content Per Day: 0.17 Reputation: 1 Days Won: 0 Joined: 08/29/2006 Status: Offline Birthday: 02/08/1967 Author Share Posted January 28, 2008 I use a term "think outside the box" every once in a while. By that I mean that sometimes we need to think ooutside of what we normally come up with......we need to brainstorm....put any and all possibilities on paper and then slowly and prayerfully weed out the really not so good ideas. My husband and I have come up with answers to difficult questions when we do that. Does that make any sense? Kathy yep! it sure does Kathy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsth Posted January 28, 2008 Group: Royal Member Followers: 2 Topic Count: 297 Topics Per Day: 0.04 Content Count: 5,586 Content Per Day: 0.69 Reputation: 193 Days Won: 1 Joined: 04/09/2002 Status: Offline Share Posted January 28, 2008 These things are also downfalls in Christianity because we put such solid boundaries around everything that no one is able to live up to the standards of people and leave frustrated, often afraid and quite frequently with a very sour taste in their mouths toward Christianity and God....... Christ left me with two commandments Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul. And love your neighbor as you love yourself. Those are the commandments that I live by, albeit not perfectly, and the rest follows. If people would just let those two things be in existance the downfalls of Christianity would probably be less for people wouldn't be trying to live up to the standards set of them by man, regarding the debatable and not so absolute as the folks putting others into their own boxes, seem to think they are...it is overburdening and defeating.....and I don't really think Jeus likes that kind of stuff. In fact I'm pretty sure of it since He managed to let the Jews know about it in not so gentle terms.... Dear jackie, I think our differences may be in the idea that you are viewing it as "standards of people", which a doctrinally sound church won't be following standards of people, but rather standards of God, set forth within His Word. Albeit, those 2 Commandments, are foundational, there is SO MUCH MORE with regard to what God tells us in His Word, and this is where I think you are mistaking it for "people's standards", which God's Word is not. In His Love, Suzanne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackie d Posted January 28, 2008 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 2 Topic Count: 25 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 1,081 Content Per Day: 0.17 Reputation: 1 Days Won: 0 Joined: 08/29/2006 Status: Offline Birthday: 02/08/1967 Author Share Posted January 28, 2008 Suzanne, I don't want this to come across as being rude to you or anyone else. I understand that there are depths of the still waters of God that go much deeper than those two commandments. And so that you understand, I am not some chump that just fell off the turnip truck. Christ spoke plainly about building on the laws made in the OT and how it was wrong to do to others. And even though things have changed some since the times of the OT, people still do the same as they did then. They make life harder than it has to be for people because of preconceived ideas and notions of how things should be because they see it in their eyes as that being gospel when the gospel of Christ had a purpose of simplifying things for all people. I am not speaking about the absolutes, as I have tried to explain....I am speaking about the debatable and how people get all riled up when they think someone is speaking against the precepts of God. As a mother I can't beat my child into learning how to walk, I must allow for the natural growth and development to occur and she will learn to walk on her own.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emily~Anne Posted January 28, 2008 Group: Royal Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 146 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 2,308 Content Per Day: 0.36 Reputation: 6 Days Won: 0 Joined: 10/11/2006 Status: Offline Share Posted January 28, 2008 This comes to mind: Matthew 7:13-14 (New International Version) The Narrow and Wide Gates 13"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricH Posted January 28, 2008 Group: Royal Member Followers: 3 Topic Count: 366 Topics Per Day: 0.05 Content Count: 10,933 Content Per Day: 1.57 Reputation: 212 Days Won: 1 Joined: 04/21/2005 Status: Offline Share Posted January 28, 2008 I have been accused of putting God "in a box" before and truly I have absolutly no idea what it means. If someone could clairify that for me, I'd be eternally in your debt! How strange that you would post this question, when I have been considering posting the same exact thing. Great minds, I guess!! Putting God in a box means trying to put limits on Him, so we can quantify Him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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