Sufficient Self's Bible Study Group

[Denim Deb]

I think the verse you're thinking of is Galatians 6:1,2 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering yourself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

 

[MorelCabin]

You are right, of course. I did this when I was younger but I doubt if I would lie about it now....of course, I wouldn't be pregnant out of wedlock right now either. I did it to save my children from having to go to a stranger's house every weekend and be taken care of~not~by the latest stripper drug addict their father was mooching off of or to keep them from having to sleep in the back seat of the car while he was in the bar getting drunk~which is what his other young son was doing at the time we met.

Oh I TOTALLY hear you there Bee...I really do. I did something very similar, with my kids, and then later stopped Kat from involving Lolaa's father for the same reason, but in a different way...LOL! Sneaky, but no lies...it's the preachers kid in me...couldn't tell a lie if my life depended on it. took alot of bruises to teach me that as a kid, but I never forgot it!

I have been following along with your worries Morel. I just want you to keep the faith. My middle daughter got mad at hubby and I because we objected to the bad choices that she was making in her life and did not SPEAK to her immediate family for the next 3 years!! We had no idea where she was or how she was and she has life threatening wheat allergies that made it even more stressful. Still deep inside she knew right from wrong. She was raised in a caring Christian home and is a Christian herself accepting the Lord as a small child. In many ways the rebellion is against God more than us. Finally Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go,
Even when he is old he will not depart from it" began to start happening for us. Our family has a lot of scars and broken trust, but we are finally coming together once again.

The worst part of the whole thing is the watching and the waiting. When our children are adults they must make their own mistakes. There is nothing that we can do ... outside of totally breaking the law ... to help them. I've been there. It is scary and painful. Feel free to email me if you need to talk. I am always home... and usually awake... day and night.

I also wanted to say a bit about God's love. My MIL was raised in a "hell and brimstone" type of church. Her entire life she went around feeling fearful of doing the wrong thing and like she was not important. The partial (and messed up) verse that was pounded into her was "All our works are like filthy rags." The actual verse is Isaiah 64:6 But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. The verse is talking about the fact that people NEED a savior - not the worth of someone already saved. After all - For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son... John 3:16! The reason for the rules is that HE LOVES us, the reason for the sometimes painful lessons is that HE LOVES us. HE delights in the love we give HIM and HE is pleased when we do what we should do. The Bible is a book full of verses that show God's love. Try to believe those verses are just as true as the "thou shall nots"

Farmfresh,
sounds like your dd is doing what I did to my parents, but not for three years...I think it was about a year, but I didn't talk to my dad for a few years. My mom I kept in contact with after the initial year. looking back I can only imagine how hard it was on them.
My DD loves the Lord, and often hears his voice of both correction and encouragement, so she has come a long way in her faith, she is young though and continues to make mistakes...like the rest of us I guess LOL!
Anxiety is something I have dealt with for so many years...it is very discouraging and tiring. When I am at my closest to the Lord it does go away...it is just hard to stay at the 'spiritual high' stage fulltime. I only wish I coud stay there but i get off on one road or another. The biggest part of it is sticking to the daily bible reading...and I tend to go in and out of that.

I think the most damaging parts of my childhood have to do with guilt...I can feel guilty about ANYTHING...and dwell on how terrible a person i am because of even so little as a simple thought that is not right. I have been finaly breaking free of the full time guilt to some degree, but still have alot of it left to go
And pride is the other. In our family, pride was the ultimate sin....don't ever do something that might make you proud...that is a huge sin. The only thing I have ever done in my life that gave me any sense of accomplishment are my quilts...and I am afraid of the feelings of 'pride' I get when i pull off something fantastic...but it IS only God's grace that has allowed me to be gifted with this talent, so I do glorify Him completely when I finish a project. But as a kid growing up we were drilled huge about never having pride...and I think I may have a twisted idea of what pride is...but I don't know Ahhhh, and I am NOT trying to dishonour my parents when I say any of this, I lve them dearly and they did the best they knew how, I am very well aware of that. We were expected to be perfect though, and that was tough! Still is! LOL!

 

[FarmerChick]

You know Quail that is the kind of thing I would chat with the Priest. If you see something, it bothers you and you feel you need to 'do something'....I would explain to the Priest and let them handle it. Because if you personally speak with someone about a 'situation', regardless of how pure your intentions, most people get down right defensive...and boom...you are in a mess...LOL

so if you bring it to a higher authority then 'you did do something about it' and if God asks you, then you can say, sure I saw and did something

just throwing that out to help you decide maybe how you would handle that type of thing.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Yes, FC, I agree with you on that. But, I am not referring to an individual handling an issue if it should arise, but what I mean Christians in general have a "I don't want to get involved" kind of attitude, so we ignore it. I've seen it within 2 congregations. I've had one pastor tell me in regards to an unmarried living together couple serving in the church that it was a money issue that prevented them from getting married. Another pastor in regards to an issue that was brought to my attention waved the issue away by saying "we just have to hope they take a truth away from one of the sermons".

I'm sorry - but that's not biblical.

Denim Deb, excellent scripture! I was thinking of Matthew 18:15-17 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear [thee, then] take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell [it] unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

 

[FarmerChick]

oh sorry Aly I misunderstood and got it mixed up LOL

I see what you are saying now.


huh, that is hard.

 

[Wannabefree]

QA you should come to my church. I think folks don't really want it run biblically sometimes though. It is a hard thing to call a brother or siser on their blatant sin. It can be heartbreaking. I had to see a man who had been a deacon for as long as I can remember, even when I was a child, get asked to step down. He bought a lotto ticket and won, and his face was plastered all over the place. He represented our church, so our pastor asked his resignation as deacon. I know he had been there and was deacon for 20 years, but he obviously didn't take it seriously enough one single time(that we know of anyway) and he was out. Now he was not put out of the church, it was all done very lovingly, but it was publicly(within the church amongst the congregation), and they wound up leaving the church eventually because of it. But then, what was the pastor to do?! Act like it didn't happen? Act as if we condoned it? i think a lot of folks don't take seriously positions within the church. Serving the church is a responsibility that requires a person to be much more dedicated than those who just visit. Even church membership is a big deal, because we are representatives of the church, which is the body of Christ. Society makes it easy to paint the black and white a different shade of gray, but we should stick to the black and white IMO.

 

[BarredBuff]

Did he resign for winning the lottery or being displayed everywhere?

 

[Wannabefree]

Did he resign for winning the lottery or being displayed everywhere?

We believe playing the lotto is sinful. He left for his sin, he got found out because his face was all over.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Did he resign for winning the lottery or being displayed everywhere?

We believe playing the lotto is sinful. He left for his sin, he got found out because his face was all over.

I believe that, too, but a lot of Christians believe it is Ok. My step dad is one of them.

 

[BarredBuff]

Did he resign for winning the lottery or being displayed everywhere?

We believe playing the lotto is sinful. He left for his sin, he got found out because his face was all over.

I agree I think its sinful. But I was in a conudrum trying to figure out which one it was......