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Wilderness Voice
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Posted: Sat Mar 29th, 2008 08:23 pm |
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Ambiguous is a term frequently used by lawyers to call into question the meaning of words that in times past, formed concrete images in people's minds. It is frequently used to weaken the impact and meaning of words that they wish to erode and bring doubt into the minds of the reader/hearer as to the real interpretations.
That said, I think Guitarist's interpretation is also correct. I would just use the phrase "broad" or "encompassing" to capture the self-centered attitudes and practices so prevalent today. But then to get a full meaning - one should weigh it in context that the "lovers of their own selves," is also deemed as being "perilous." Certain activities are definitely perilous to one's soul.
The Bible was left very broad in some areas as to capture all manners of sins because of man's desire to find loopholes and ambiguities where there really isn't any. But that sort of thinking can lead one to believe that having a "Shoe Fetish" isn't covered as a sin in the Bible. It is most-certainly captured in lasciviousness, concupisence, uncleaness, and inordinate affection all of which encapsulate masturbation as well.
Turning everything into ambiguities is the bane of a society determined to overthrow its moral compass.
I am not accusing Guitarist of having done this. Only that we have been so conditioned by our lawless, iniquity filled culture that we as Christians have picked up on many of their ideas without realizing it. This is one of the many reasons that Christians are having such trouble overcoming sins. They just don't hold the weight of a problem having been reduced to "maybe so - maybe not" discussions.
This "maybe so - maybe not" approach ((Not Guitarist's comments)) is a tactic of Satan to take away the power of the Word that is there in the Bible for those who need it to fight and overcome this terrible plague upon men. It is sacrificing the Word to Idols. We are warned not to eat that which is sacrificed to idols. The sharper than a two-edged sword Word does come against the idol of masturbation and in it is the life giving cut dividing asunder that whispering evil spirit from the soul in bondage to it. The Holy Spirit does not inspire a person to masturbate - it comes from another source.
The Truth will make you free.
Wilderness Voice
Last edited on Sat Mar 29th, 2008 08:42 pm by Wilderness Voice
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guitarist63
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Posted: Sat Mar 29th, 2008 09:26 pm |
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WV, thanks for making this point.
I don't want to make masturbation out to be permissible under any circumstances. I still call it a sin and I still say I want to be without it.
How I become free is uncharted territory for me. Perhaps I may not know how it was done, if I trust in faith because it could be done and I wouldn't even know how it was done.
Last edited on Sat Mar 29th, 2008 10:22 pm by guitarist63
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Wilderness Voice
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Posted: Sat Mar 29th, 2008 10:53 pm |
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I really understand. I believed God could or was capable of doing the work, but I just couldn't picture myself free of the lust and habit. After all those years of all those bad choices.
It was really hard to believe it was possible. One of the biggest battles of all I think. I remember struggling so hard to keep the lies of the enemy out of my mind that continually said: "You always were and you always will be." But this is a lie just like all his other lies. I just kept on and on asking God to help me. And also continual confession of even the mere play of thoughts, not having even reached the temptation stage, and praying for others to have strength.
But I found that the lie almost comes instaneously after or even burried with the very first thought of lust. I mean the enemy can throw something into your head and immediately start accusing you. Even when you don't give in and don't entertain and aren't really even tempted. It was like see! see! This is what you like and why you'll never be free.
This doesn't bother me that much any more. If a stray thought comes my way it goes right on down the road and those accusations follow with it. They don't stick any more.
But this is part of the reason (by the Grace of God!) I'll never go back. The awfulness of the pit and snare is ever burned into my mind and is far more unattractive than the sin could ever propose to be. The sin is truly hideous and abhorrent and so filled with self-loathing. Why on earth would we ever choose this ?(asked rhetorically).
I told you all that just to let you know, I understand. But I also know that the only way out is to stop. To refuse to like the sin. Refuse to find the lust appealing. Refuse to find yourself liking this kind of pleasure. It's like a drug addict that finally finds the key, they refuse to spend a single second thinking about the pleasure a high is going to bring them. Sometimes this battle goes on in our gut, right where lust causes the blood to carry the hormones that activate nerves, etc. It is that love of pleasure that conditions our bodies to like it and shuts out the truth. We must refuse to love the pleasure and instead fill ourselves with Love for God. It has the complete opposite affect of the sin: it makes you strong and gives you courage and determination. And it is impossible to stop for any real enduring time, yeah eternally, without the Love of God strongly present.
Remember the key: Love is stronger than Death.
WV
I remember one time a very Godly old lady wrote: if sin winks at you, refuse to wink back. I.e. don't give it not one tiny, tiny ounce of heed or encouragement. And trust, trust, trust God. He really does work.
Last edited on Sat Mar 29th, 2008 11:02 pm by Wilderness Voice
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guitarist63
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Posted: Sat Mar 29th, 2008 11:11 pm |
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WV,
Thank you for your understanding.
Last edited on Sun Mar 30th, 2008 08:39 pm by guitarist63
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