Liar, Liar – Edition #2 - I Lied in Wait

Sunday, August 19^th, 2007

Liar, Liar – Edition #2

Genesis 18:10-15

Then the LORD said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”

Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?”

Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.”

Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.” But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”

The thing that caught my eye is that Sarah was afraid. Emotions and feelings are the cause that makes people say and do things that is contrary to the Bible. In CR, there are the basics of “hungry, angry, lonely, tired, and embarrassed.” Seriously, these are the basics. But, there are plenty more emotions, such as:

• Gratitude
• Fear
• Joy
• Jealousy
• Modesty
• Pain
• Schadenfreude (pleasure from someone else’s misfortune)
• Nervousness
• Remorse
• Euphoria
• Limerence (emotional infatuation or lust)

There are others but this is an abbreviated list. These emotions can cause me to sin. And, to be honest, I do at times due to them. I’m not perfect in this regard, and maybe I am the only one who hasn’t mastered control over my emotions, but I am getting better. This was a great weekend, with a ton of learning. I start school tomorrow. And my school schedule it COMPLETELY awesome. It’s the best schedule that I have had to my recollection. In the NIV (which is the scripture above), the word “lied” is used six times. That is one up above. Here is another:

Joshua 7:1, 3-5, 10-12, 24-26

But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the LORD’s anger burned against Israel.

When they returned to Joshua, they said, “Not all the people will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary all the people, for only a few men are there.” So about three thousand men went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai, who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted and became like water.

The LORD said to Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.”

Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold wedge, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor. Joshua said, “Why have you brought this trouble on us? The LORD will bring trouble on you today.”

Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since.

Now, something that I took away (one of the things) from this weekend was that “Is GOD enough, or do I need something else?” Do I need something other than God? Achan did. He tried to serve two gods, the god of Greed and the Holy God. But as I know, you can only serve one master. Achan expressed emotions of fear and jealousy. Jealousy played the part in taking the items and fear played the part in hiding of the items. And the reason I used the parts of the story (not the whole story) is to show that Achan’s sin affected not only him, but it caused the death of his family and thirty-six others in the battle. How does my sin affect others? What emotions do I exhibit that cause me to sin? What emotions do I struggle with more than others? All good questions. I am in search of answers to these and other questions. Johnny Out.

Liar, Liar

Saturday, August 18, 2007

It’s nice to have DSL back up. It feels like FOREVER since I was really back online and reading the Bible like this. What is an extra special pleasure is what has happened last night and this afternoon. I attended the “Pure in Heart” meetings with Dave from Chicago. I’ll be looking more into that and studying deeper in the next several days (at the absolute least). What I want to look at right now is lying. It’s just something that has been on my heart of late.

Liar, Liar – Edition #1

Deuteronomy 19:15-21

One witness is not enough to convict a man accused of any crime or offense he may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse a man of a crime, the two men involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the LORD before the priests and the judges who are in office at the time. The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against his brother, then do to him as he intended to do to his brother. You must purge the evil from among you. The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid, and never again will such an evil thing be done among you. Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

This is the “Old Law”… and this is “New Law”.

Matthew 5:38-42

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”

Now, I have tried this thing. It’s not easy, but what I like about both the Old and New Testament versions is that in the Old, the dynamic of what to do with sin. If someone finds another person in sin, it was dealt with in a TOUGH manor. They had the attitude of purging the sin or the “evil” amongst them. Did it work? Well, not quite what God had in mind, but at least at first, it did. Then people started going easy, making excuses, and became to accept the sin in their lives and in others. It’s not really all that different in today’s society. In fact, I think today is just the same as yesterday in regards to sin, but with more opportunity to create better excuses. That is what technology does for today. The internet is full of opportunity and excuses. It is also full of opportunity to do the right thing, but seriously, it doesn’t get used for the righteous things nearly as much as it should. I mean, how many pornography websites are created in one day? I couldn’t quickly find out what the “per diem” was, but there are more than 300,000 websites (according to nationalcoalition.org) as this moment.

More on this tomorrow... Johnny Out.