Reflection on Matthew 5:27-37

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Scripture

“If your eye – even your good eye – causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.”

Observation

Jesus takes the commandments and applies them to our thinking and not just our outward appearances.

The Law forbids adultery, but Jesus says if we even look at a woman with lust in our heart, we have already committed adultery. if our eyes causes to sin, we should gouge them out if necessary to avoid hell.

While the law allows for divorce, Jesus says that the only valid reason for divorce is an unfaithful partner.

We must not make a vow. Instead of swearing on something, we should simply say, “Yes” or “No.”

Application

God does not want us to be good just on the outside. He wants to transform our thinking so that the thoughts and desires that lead to sin will not happen.

He warns us of the reality of hell. Those who sin without the forgiveness of God will find themselves in such torment that losing an eye or another body part in order to escape sin seems like a good deal.

Jesus is clearly not advocating self-mutilation as a pathway to holiness. Holiness comes as we constantly commit our minds, hearts, and bodies to the direction of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, i confess that I still sin, at least in my mind. Please cleanse my thoughts and teach me how to submit every part of me to you. Amen.

Quote for the Day

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The Scriptures taught that God lifts up the lowly while bringing down princes from their thrones. But that is the difference between communism and Christianity: in the Bible, God is the equaliser. If humans take that role into their own hands, bloody revolution is usually the result. The death toll of the 20th century has borne that out. The problem with “power to the people” is… people. Glen Scrivener

People Don’t Believe The Climate Change Religion

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At last the people can see that the emperor has no clothes.

Jo Nova writes:

This is Kryptonite for fake science preachers: 60% of voters agree Climate Change is a religion

By Jo Nova

The faith in Wind Power. It's like a religion.

…

The expert science bubble has popped. New polling shows 60% of US voters agree that that Climate Change is a religion and has nothing to do with the climate. Even more shocking is that 47% of US voters strongly agree.   

It’s an Exocet for the priests of Climate Science. Their power depends on people believing “they are The Science”, and The Science is sacred. But word is spreading that the experts are more like prophets-of-gloom than disciplined researchers. And once the idea is seeded, it won’t go away. People who didn’t notice before will suddenly see the failed predictions, the ice age that never came, the droughts that become floods and the snow that children wouldn’t know. Humans are excellent at pattern matching, just give them the right pattern to look for…

This is an idea that has barely been mentioned in mainstream TV yet half the nation are already 100% sold.

Ten days ago Vivek Ramaswamy talked about the climate religion on Fox News, and so Rasmussen asked the punters. And thus the emperor has no clothes —  fully six out of ten agree that “Climate is a religion”.

Vivek Ramaswamy  on FoxNews:

…the climate religion actually has nothing to do with the climate. It is all about power, control, dominion and apologizing for America’s own success. And the reason why is that this religion looks the other way when PetroChina picks up the projects that American companies drop. Last time I checked, it was global climate change, and also it’s hostile to nuclear energy, which is truly bizarre because that’s the best form of carbon-free energy production known to mankind.

This Rasmussen question is Kryptonite

There is no pussy footing around the question, no ambiguity, no caveats:

“Do you agree or disagree with this statement: Climate change has become a religion that actually has nothing to do with the climate and is really about power and control?”

AGREE – by Party

      • DEM: 45%
      • IND: 59%
      • GOP: 79%                        All Voters: 60%

Even nearly half the democrats agree.  Does anything show better that democracy is not about voters anymore? There are no vote winners for pushing the climate faith, instead there is a vast untapped sea of voters who think climate change is a money making scam. They want someone to vote for, not a politician who says I’ll be less of liar than the other guy.

Strong questions bring out strong answers

In a world of wishy-washy surveys, just saying the flagrant bleeding truth in full technicolor will bring out a stronger response than tip-toeing around the point.  Sometimes just asking the question provokes the answer. How many people heard the question and went — oh yeah, now that you mention it…

The last dynamite poll in the world of surveys was in late 2015 when Donald Trump stepped out and said “climate change is a total hoax”, and when asked, 31% of US voters agreed, which was astonishing in an era when three quarters of Americans would also say “climate change is happening” and “was a threat” to the US.

Now, half the voters are so cynical they believe the media is actively trying to deceive them.  And the meme is even more dangerous because it’s closer to the truth — “climate is a religion” not only includes the hoax, but also explains the blind passion of the teenage throwers of soup and glue. They are not hoaxers, they’re just deluded kids.

Live by the smear, die by the smear

For 30 years the Climate Crisis Team have talked about the dark influence of fossil fuel money, like it was Gore’s Law of Physics, and it worked to inure sleepy people against skeptical points. But now the tables are turning and the insidious suggestion that “it’s all about power, control and money” will work every bit as well against those who never once spoke up to stop the namecalling and demonization of other scientists.

They could have told the world there are no sacred cows in science, instead they created the cows —  “there is a consensus!”. They could have said that science is not a religion because there is no bible, but instead they held up the IPCC reports like The Word of Mother Nature. Instead of debating skeptics, with their overwhelming evidence, they called them deniers and fled from the room.

97% of climate scientists acted like science was a religion. Karma comes back to get them.

h/t ColA via Gateway Pundit

Quote for the Day

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Baptism (the ritual washing which marks membership of the church) and the Lord’s Supper (the commemorative meal of bread and wine) were offered to everyone in the church of Christ, slaves included. Therefore, it became impossible, theologically, to deny the full personhood of those who were members of the same spiritual community. Laws began to be enacted which forbade the enslavement of fellow “brothers and sisters”, and increasingly the equality of the spiritual community began to be reflected in the political realm too. Before we ever got to the Renaissance, slavery had melted away in much of Europe: another bright development in that “dark” medieval age. Glen Scrivener

Reflection on Matthew 5:21-26

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Scripture

“When you are on the way to court with your adversary, settle your difference quickly. Otherwise your accuser may hand you over to the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, and you will be thrown into prison.”

Observation

Murder is a serious crime, but just being angry with someone will make us subject to judgement. Calling someone an idiot or cursing them may send us to hell.

If we remember someone is angry with us, even in the middle of church, we should go quickly and be reconciled to them. if we are in a court case, we should try to settle the conflict lest we end up bankrupt and in prison.

Application

Jesus make some strong points here about the importance of proper conflict resolution. Anger can lead us to the place of judgement.

Anger is a good thing because it warns us that there is bad stuff going on in our heads. I heard a psychologist once who compared it to a light on the dashboard of a car. The light is not the problem, but it warns us of a hidden problem that might even be dangerous.

Anger can cause us to lash out and separate us from other people. It can cut it off from receiving love and may result in destructive actions.

So Jesus tells us to beware of the dangers of anger and to seek as much as possible to be reconciled to people. Even if we get who the level of legal action, or in the middle of worship, we need to stop and resolve our differences.

Relationships are vitally important in God’s Kingdom.

Prayer

Lord, I confess that I do get angry sometimes when I am under pressure. Please help me to let your peace displace angry reactions. Amen

Quote for the Day

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Nowadays, it’s obvious that science is our guide. And not just science: the science. We have the sense that there is a unified thing called “the science” which shines its light, which commands our allegiance, and which will deliver us from evil. And what do you notice about this description? It sounds suspiciously like the traditional role for God. Glen Scrivener