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Bible Questions and Spiritual Discussion
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Matthew 5:17
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"The poison of technical rule-keeping is that it shifts the focus from serious issues to ridiculous peccadilloes, thus allowing the legalist to live what he believes is a “righteous life” when in fact he is failing at the very things God majors in. Take as an example a man who hates his wife; he resents her. But he has never committed adultery; he is “faithful” to her. He prides himself on his selective morality—keeping the letter of the law while ignoring massive problems in his heart. Is this holiness?"
http://www.ransomedheart.com/daily-reading/selective-morality
Fits well with the 1/17 dialogue:
"The letter of the law is to obey in every fine detail everything that is written down. The spirit of the law is to obey the law because you actually believe in what it says. It is the difference between falling in love and sin management. Jesus says, “I want compassion rather than animal sacrifice.” He’s illustrating this as he begins to come against the religious leaders of the day and begin to kind of stir up thought and discussion and ultimately anger, the very anger that is going to fester and cause him to be killed.
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Let’s make this a little more practical. You have a spouse. When you entered into marriage with your spouse, you entered into a legal contract by the state that you live in. A marriage license was entered into, was documented and filed with the state. You and your spouse entered into a contract with each other and you have certain rules that you have agreed to live by. Then you went probably before a group of people in a church and made additional vows on top of that before God.
Now you do have to live within the confines of that contract or you break it and divorce ensues. So you can decide divorce isn’t an option so we will just live by the letter of the law. I made promises. I’m going to live up to my end of the bargain. Or you can live in love with each other and never even think about the fact that there is a contract between the two of you. The contract is irrelevant. You’re living within it because of love."
http://www.dailyaudiobible.com/Forums/Messages.aspx?ThreadID=1000034577#new
Thanks John and Brian.
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Ray 01/18/2013 11:43 |
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