04-06-2010, 08:53 AM
Seeing as a rather dark spirit has overtaken the board in the last few days and that it coincided with the death and resurrection of Jesus, but that now he is risen, I thought it would be good to raise the spirit of the board once again in the spirit of the resurrection. No matter how bad any situation is, we Christians are never out of the running. We never have a situation where there is no hope. Coming back from death proved that beyond doubt.
The immortal words of John F Kennedy come to mind regarding the recent problems we have had on the board. He said:
"And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country"
But whats the point of a good quotation if you cant change it, so i say:
`And so my fellow Christians, ask not what your board/church or sisters and brothers can do for you - ask what you can do for others!`
All the problems have had self as the root problem. Being hurt by comments is actually about self. Reacting defensively is about self. Bringing up past problems, grudges and issues is linked to non forgiveness an the inability to wipe the slate clean, which is again about self. Self justification is about self. Even saying God is with me is about self. Axes that people have grinding away which they then give vent to when problems occur that reveal the imperfections in others that we all share is also about self. Its done under the guise of standing up for justice often or on principle but its about self. Things about self of course is not always a bad thing and often things about self are linked to things about others at the same time in a positive way. Of course sometimes when it is about others only and not ourselves we can see a marked and obvious difference in spirit as opposed to self ,self and others at the same time, positive or negative! Putting into practice the idea of doing to others what we would want them to do to us is quantitatively different to the normal modes. To do it means ironically hard word and effort and often painful self sacrifice. Thats what is required for others to treat us the way they would want to be treated. It takes creativity and imagination along with a positive spirit towards others.
Even asking a question on the board that we don`t know the answer to is not as good as posting something that will with no strings attached up-build others. We give instead of take! Again i`m not saying its a bad things to ask questions but when problems occur and the spirit of the board is affected negatively, perhaps then its time change mode into the selfless only one until things are healed. The Kennedy quotation comes to mind at those times.
Talking about the spirit of the board, the fruits of the spirit are again worth a mention.
Gal 5:22 On the other hand, the fruitage of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 mildness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Its interesting because not one of these things above fall into the mode of self. They all take effort or are produced by effort. Non involve directly helping self but others and then the self gets the reward but only by proxy. If the things above were practiced, how far would the negative spirit that was on the board have prospered? Satan would have been driven out very quickly.
The works of the flesh are these:
Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, and they are fornication, uncleanness, loose conduct,
Gal 5:20 idolatry, practice of spiritism, enmities, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, contentions, divisions, sects,
Gal 5:21 envies, drunken bouts, revelries, and things like these. As to these things I am forewarning YOU, the same way as I did forewarn YOU, that those who practice such things will not inherit God's kingdom.
What is interesting is the Greek word translated to `things like these`. There would not be enough room in the bible to list all the works of the flesh as its talking about a predominant kind of spirit, and as such there are to many expressions of that kind of thing to list. They all are about self interest as opposed to the fruits of the holy spirit. The Greek word for `things like these` is also used in the list of the fruits of the spirit. Unfortunately, as with the human propensity to see the black mark on the white paper as opposed to the lovely pure white paper the same has been done with most translations of the text. All the negative works of flesh are translated with the open ended `things like these translation`. Which is a correct translation. Unfortunately the same is not true of the translation of the fruits of the spirit. Most treat the list as exhaustive. its not open ended. However the same Greek word is used as with the fleshly list.
Gal 5:22 On the other hand, the fruitage of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 mildness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.
The NWT translation is not actually that bad in this instance, unlike most other translations on this verse, however if the same Greek word was translated the same way as it is with the fleshly fruits it would readthis way:
Gal 5:22 On the other hand, the fruitage of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 mildness, self-control. and things like these, there is no law against such things.
The implication is of course that there are just as many fruits of the spirit as there are works of the flesh. The lists are open ended because its talking about two types of spirit a person can exhibit. We are not limited as to the amount of spiritual fruits as many think when they tend to read the bible like a shopping list or do`s and dont`s. We could all list many many things like love joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, and self-control. The same is true of the fleshly things. One fleshly work I would add to the bible if I were Paul is this one. `Talking from ones own disposition`! Again its about self and has no regard for the disposition, feelings or rights of others. I take it from this scripture:
Joh 8:44 YOU are from YOUR father the Devil, and YOU wish to do the desires of YOUR father. That one was a manslayer when he began, and he did not stand fast in the truth, because truth is not in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks according to his own disposition, because he is a liar and the father of [the lie].
Now I know i`m slightly lifting it out of the context connected with telling lies, but when one thinks about it, speaking from ones own disposition taken on its own, not only is only about self, as with the other works of the flesh, but is also completely incompatible with the command of Jesus to do to others what one would want others to do to us because that requires empathy for others. It is not ones own disposition in any way. Again this is what the board needs when problems occur and its spirit becomes fleshly. The only way to heal a fleshly spirit is to die to oneself, as with Jesus before us and inject Jesus` spirit which is selfless. Ironically doing such helps us but only by proxy but that help is far superior than directly helping ourselves. Jesus says it best:
Luk 9:23 Then He said to [them] all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, he must deny [or, disown] himself and take up his cross and be following Me.
Luk 9:24 "For whoever shall be desiring to save his life, will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, this [one] will save it.
Luk 9:25 "For what is a person benefited, having gained the whole world, but having lost or forfeited himself?
This is why negative people who only seem to talk from their own disposition never seem to get what they are after. Peace or justification! The more they grasp it the more the life boat slips away from their fingers. What such need to do is swim away from the life boat into uncomfortable waters towards the ocean of counterintuitive. Then the peace they crave could be theirs along with justification by proxy, through Christ! He is our proxy.
Well I hope this was an up-building post. It was meant to be as you are all Gods children.
`And so my fellow Christians, ask not what your board/church or sisters and brothers can do for you - ask what you can do for others!`
The immortal words of John F Kennedy come to mind regarding the recent problems we have had on the board. He said:
"And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country"
But whats the point of a good quotation if you cant change it, so i say:
`And so my fellow Christians, ask not what your board/church or sisters and brothers can do for you - ask what you can do for others!`
All the problems have had self as the root problem. Being hurt by comments is actually about self. Reacting defensively is about self. Bringing up past problems, grudges and issues is linked to non forgiveness an the inability to wipe the slate clean, which is again about self. Self justification is about self. Even saying God is with me is about self. Axes that people have grinding away which they then give vent to when problems occur that reveal the imperfections in others that we all share is also about self. Its done under the guise of standing up for justice often or on principle but its about self. Things about self of course is not always a bad thing and often things about self are linked to things about others at the same time in a positive way. Of course sometimes when it is about others only and not ourselves we can see a marked and obvious difference in spirit as opposed to self ,self and others at the same time, positive or negative! Putting into practice the idea of doing to others what we would want them to do to us is quantitatively different to the normal modes. To do it means ironically hard word and effort and often painful self sacrifice. Thats what is required for others to treat us the way they would want to be treated. It takes creativity and imagination along with a positive spirit towards others.
Even asking a question on the board that we don`t know the answer to is not as good as posting something that will with no strings attached up-build others. We give instead of take! Again i`m not saying its a bad things to ask questions but when problems occur and the spirit of the board is affected negatively, perhaps then its time change mode into the selfless only one until things are healed. The Kennedy quotation comes to mind at those times.
Talking about the spirit of the board, the fruits of the spirit are again worth a mention.
Gal 5:22 On the other hand, the fruitage of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 mildness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Its interesting because not one of these things above fall into the mode of self. They all take effort or are produced by effort. Non involve directly helping self but others and then the self gets the reward but only by proxy. If the things above were practiced, how far would the negative spirit that was on the board have prospered? Satan would have been driven out very quickly.
The works of the flesh are these:
Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, and they are fornication, uncleanness, loose conduct,
Gal 5:20 idolatry, practice of spiritism, enmities, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, contentions, divisions, sects,
Gal 5:21 envies, drunken bouts, revelries, and things like these. As to these things I am forewarning YOU, the same way as I did forewarn YOU, that those who practice such things will not inherit God's kingdom.
What is interesting is the Greek word translated to `things like these`. There would not be enough room in the bible to list all the works of the flesh as its talking about a predominant kind of spirit, and as such there are to many expressions of that kind of thing to list. They all are about self interest as opposed to the fruits of the holy spirit. The Greek word for `things like these` is also used in the list of the fruits of the spirit. Unfortunately, as with the human propensity to see the black mark on the white paper as opposed to the lovely pure white paper the same has been done with most translations of the text. All the negative works of flesh are translated with the open ended `things like these translation`. Which is a correct translation. Unfortunately the same is not true of the translation of the fruits of the spirit. Most treat the list as exhaustive. its not open ended. However the same Greek word is used as with the fleshly list.
Gal 5:22 On the other hand, the fruitage of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 mildness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.
The NWT translation is not actually that bad in this instance, unlike most other translations on this verse, however if the same Greek word was translated the same way as it is with the fleshly fruits it would readthis way:
Gal 5:22 On the other hand, the fruitage of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 mildness, self-control. and things like these, there is no law against such things.
The implication is of course that there are just as many fruits of the spirit as there are works of the flesh. The lists are open ended because its talking about two types of spirit a person can exhibit. We are not limited as to the amount of spiritual fruits as many think when they tend to read the bible like a shopping list or do`s and dont`s. We could all list many many things like love joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, and self-control. The same is true of the fleshly things. One fleshly work I would add to the bible if I were Paul is this one. `Talking from ones own disposition`! Again its about self and has no regard for the disposition, feelings or rights of others. I take it from this scripture:
Joh 8:44 YOU are from YOUR father the Devil, and YOU wish to do the desires of YOUR father. That one was a manslayer when he began, and he did not stand fast in the truth, because truth is not in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks according to his own disposition, because he is a liar and the father of [the lie].
Now I know i`m slightly lifting it out of the context connected with telling lies, but when one thinks about it, speaking from ones own disposition taken on its own, not only is only about self, as with the other works of the flesh, but is also completely incompatible with the command of Jesus to do to others what one would want others to do to us because that requires empathy for others. It is not ones own disposition in any way. Again this is what the board needs when problems occur and its spirit becomes fleshly. The only way to heal a fleshly spirit is to die to oneself, as with Jesus before us and inject Jesus` spirit which is selfless. Ironically doing such helps us but only by proxy but that help is far superior than directly helping ourselves. Jesus says it best:
Luk 9:23 Then He said to [them] all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, he must deny [or, disown] himself and take up his cross and be following Me.
Luk 9:24 "For whoever shall be desiring to save his life, will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, this [one] will save it.
Luk 9:25 "For what is a person benefited, having gained the whole world, but having lost or forfeited himself?
This is why negative people who only seem to talk from their own disposition never seem to get what they are after. Peace or justification! The more they grasp it the more the life boat slips away from their fingers. What such need to do is swim away from the life boat into uncomfortable waters towards the ocean of counterintuitive. Then the peace they crave could be theirs along with justification by proxy, through Christ! He is our proxy.
Well I hope this was an up-building post. It was meant to be as you are all Gods children.
`And so my fellow Christians, ask not what your board/church or sisters and brothers can do for you - ask what you can do for others!`