Bill wrote: > David, I truly did not write intending to hurt you. I hope you understand that you did not hurt me in the sense that you damaged me in some way. I was hurting because I thought you were saying that I came across to you as your accuser. I did not want to do that to you. Now that I know that I misunderstood you, there is no problem at all.
Bill wrote: > Because of how I felt by what you were saying, > a pseudo-motive immerged and I missed the actual > intent; I missed your actual motive. In other words, > I'm guilty of doing to you in yesterdays post, what > you were guilty of doing to me in the preceding posts. > The question is, what are we guilty of? If you judged the motives of my heart as being evil, then that would be a moral problem. On the other hand, if you simply did not understand what I was trying to communicate, that is not a moral problem. It really all comes down to love. If you love me when you are reading my posts, you will not fall into sin. This would reflect itself by your trying to think the best of me and assuming good motivations when there is some question about it. Having some doubt about good motivations on my part would still not be a moral problem, as long as you did not assume this to be true without checking it out, such as by asking me about it. With regard to my reading your post, I see no immorality whatsoever on my part. I thought you were associating me with accusing you. Even in that, however, I automatically assumed the problem was on my part in poorly communicating with you. I felt bad that I had caused you to feel accused by me. So, I backed off. Our problem here seems to me to be imperfection in regards to knowledge, not imperfection in regards to morality. In regards to the moral question, I still love you and you still love me. I don't perceive any imperfection in that. Bill wrote: > I think the accuser, the real accuser, is picking > up on whatever that quirk is of our personality type > and using it to our disadvantage. And so no surprise > there, right? Right, and this does go on often, as the accuser loves to cause trouble and divide friends. I am sure that the accuser is at work behind the scenes to rob others of the truth that you and I have to share with others. Bill wrote: > I don't think this is necessarily a sin problem, > but I do think it has moral implications. It is > certainly an imperfection on my part. What do you > think about this? I see an imperfection in knowledge and understanding, but not in regards to morality. From my perspective, the moral question comes into play when we consider our reaction to situations like this. If we divide from one another as enemies and hate one another because of the misunderstanding, then we would be guilty of sin. On the other hand, if we just have some misunderstanding between us and we clear it up with a sentence or two, then there is no problem. I'm not hurt at all now that I know that you did not feel that I was accusing you. You did indicate in this post that you felt attacked somewhat by my post. Hey, so what, I understand that. I was challenging your viewpoint. I get those feelings too sometimes when people challenge me, but when we put those selfish feelings aside and operate in love rather than in response to those feelings, then we have the victory. The fact that you are walking in love toward me, rather than yielding to those feelings of being attacked indicates to me that the love of Christ has victory over your flesh in this matter. The flesh would either bolt away and give up trying to talk with me, or it would fight angrily and try to hurt me back. You have chosen the path of love, so despite the misunderstandings, I do not believe that you have failed morally in this way. I consider you perfect in regards to the moral issues involved here. Now when I say "perfect," I don't mean that there might not be better ways that both you and I will grow into. I just mean that there is no darkness there. We talk about Jesus being perfect when he lived on the earth, even as a child, yet the Scriptures speak about him growing and learning obedience through his suffering on this earth. Clearly, then, we grow as Christ also grew. Speaking of perfection in regards to morality simply means that there is no darkness. Our light, however, can grow brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. There are good ways of doing things and there are better ways of doing things, and we will always grow and learn better ways as we walk in moral perfection. This attitude of always pressing forward to the high mark and always growing is the attitude of those who are perfect. I often think of little children. They don't always do things so well, but sometimes in their simplicity, we see absolute perfection, not because it is the best, but because of the absence of darkness. People often admire young children. It seems those who are older among us admire them the most. We truly look at young children as perfect sometimes. Why? Not because they are so great and mighty, but because they have not yet been spoiled by the world in which we live. This is the sense in which we might use the word perfect concerning the morality that Christ works within us. I may not be living like Christ did when he was 30, but maybe, just maybe, the life being manifested through me right now is like he was when he was 5 years old. Do you understand what I am trying to say? Peace be with you. David Miller, Beverly Hills, Florida. p.s. Judy, you might want to point out how terrible children can be... I know, I have five children... I'm just talking about certain specific situations when they just seem like little angels. :-) When I bring them to a nursing home to visit, the elder people there just light up like candles. I know that you know what I'm talking about. ---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and you will be unsubscribed. If you have a friend who wants to join, tell him to send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and he will be subscribed.
