Tonight Jim talked about the ten commandments and how we can use them to show what a true community should look like. The thing that really stood out to me tonight was when he was talking about using God's name in vain. It really made me think about what using God's name in vain really looks like. I used to always think that using God's name in vain meant saying GD (I hope you get my drift). Which it does, but I never thought about using God's name in vain any other way. After last night I feel like I have a new perspective on this topic. I know many times when I've pulled the "God card" out of my back pocket and slammed it down in some ones face. Whether it was to make me look good or just to get out of a situation in which I didn't feel comfortable in.
For me tonight's message really made me think about how I use the Lord's name, not only as a cuss word, but more as a scapegoat and in a contradictory way. I know I am guilty of this as well as messing up a lot of the other commandments, but I just have to keep checking my self and making sure that I'm staying on the straight and narrow.
So what did you think about tonight's message? What stood out to you the most to you? Is there anything that didn't make sense to you? Lets hear some cool stories about how you've seen the ten commandments work or not work within a community.............
Yeah, Charles I agree. You do pull the "God card" a lot. Haha, just a little joke. You are completely right. I am guilty of taking the authority of God's name for my personal uses too. I think once one becomes a follower of God, if he (or she ladies) isn't careful, he develops this underlying mentality that everything he does or says is foolproof. We decide that our decisions are God's decisions, and that we can, therefore, discount the opinions of others on God's authority. But the reality of life is that the scriptures (and everything else in life) are open to interpretation, and people are going to have differing opinions that may not be necessarily right or wrong. That is why we have so many divisions and denominations within the church! I've said enough for now. I could make this into an essay, but I won't. It is interesting though. Learning how to live in a community with such a wide variety of cultures, histories, and personal preferences can be crazy and hard. That is why God thought it was a good idea to lay some basic ground rules that people should be willing and able to follow: the Ten Commandments! Of course, we don't always follow them very well...okay that's enough.
ReplyDeleteHmmm. I cannot say that I have ever looked at the Ten Commandments as a structural basis for forming ultimate community. Yeah Greg, I do think God knew we needed ground rules. (Of course, sometimes we just want to know the rules so we can know what exactly we are getting away with..but that is beside the point.) Anyway, I imagine God just looking at us and saying, "Stop. It is not about the rules. It is about me presenting you with a way that is better than you could ever figure out for yourselves. The best."
ReplyDeleteSo, when Jesus speaks the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 in reference to some of these previously set laws, do you think He felt like we would just need a little more explanation? We had found ways to "get around" the rules, but then we had missed it all together. We missed out on the community just because we were confident in our abilities to refrain from killing people. I write this and realize how lame this ideal really sounds. I encourage you as I challenge myself to have confidence that God knows the "better." I have no clue what it truly means to be part of the Body. However, He knows. I want to start listening.
That is exactly the point. It's not about the rules. It's about learning to love and respect people. The community of believers described in Acts 2 is the closest picture of a true Christian community I think we will ever see. C.S. Lewis makes a great point in Mere Christianity that determining how Christian people or Christian societies should view difficult issues (i.e. welfare, taxes, the use of credit and loans, capital punishment, stem cell research, etc.) is difficult because the answers aren't laid out for us in the Bible. God left a lot up to us to discern, and the best people for the task are Christian politicians, Christian economists, Christian scientists, etc. You get the point. God can use us in the occupation that we choose to help the world see a more clear portrait of what a truly Christian society might look like. Jesus summed up the Commandments as love God and love others as your self. Now, it is up to us, with the help of God, to determine what that means.
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