Judgment (eating from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil) is strictly forbidden to humans. Even when something is clearly off-limits according to the Scriptures you read, please keep your mouth closed* and let the Holy Spirit do the work He wants to do and in the order He wants to do it. Who knows but that the Righteous Judge might render a different judgment from what you would do in His place?
*Admittedly there is a time to approach a Christian brother with a sin-concern, and to this I can only say "tread so carefully--tread so lightly--keep judgment far from you and watch your posture on that day when you do approach your brother about sin. Oh, tread softly."
The graphic below, and the current hoopla over marriage equality, is what drove me to write about judgment above. Is it clear to you how they're connected? If you're going to talk to someone about an emotionally-charged issue like same-sex marriage, you must keep yourself from the black-powder of judgment or the only friends you'll have when the smoke clears will be the ones standing behind you.
I can appreciate the sense and wit of the graphic below, even if my ultimate conclusion isn't that of its creator, clearly a marriage-equality advocate. It's worth reading and then taking careful stock of appropriate arguments for and against defining marriage more inclusively.
I feel like Christians are simply called to love like Christ did. That's basically my whole opinion on the matter.
ReplyDelete"eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil" = Judgment?? How so??
ReplyDeleteI don't think we were conscience-less before the Fall. That would be the alternative understanding to reach, right? Suddenly we knew right from wrong?
ReplyDeleteI think that when judgment is twisted in the hands of the self-serving (all of us created beings), it become accusation. Judgment and accusation are so similar that they look like cousins, except that when God does it, it comes out right and when Satan does it he is the Accuser.
Determining the rightness and wrongness of someone else's actions is judgment or accusation, depending on who you are. And I'm not the Judge.
Wow! That's hard to follow! I think I don't agree. I think my understanding of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is more straight forward. I think earth and everything on it was as God had created it - good. So with a conscience I guess, but without sin. But the Tree of the Knowledge of Good AND Evil was a door which opened to the presence of Evil in and throughout all parts of the planet. And our race opened it. Our planet is not a darkened planet because God made it that way or because God's creation was overpowered by Satan. The human race freely made the decision to entertain a new and different "Prince of the Power of the Air" with devastating results for the future of the planet and everything living on it which we can see some of from our perspective, but probably on the larger cosmic spiritual plane much more happened than we can know about or understand. I say that because The Way (or as I would say, The Way Out) God provided for dealing with this turn of events is through a sacrificial giving of life on behalf of us. That is a "Deep Magic" beyond my comprehension, I have to assume the meaning of it is clear from God's perspective and has to do with a battle being fought on a plane beyond me.
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