Is It Your Right ?

Dusty

Inactive
Is It Your Right ?

So many times in our society we hear the words ' It's my right" .... Really !!!! As a Christian we have to stop and not get caught up in the world's thought.

I was reading somewhere that a man fell out of a canoe and lost his temper . The problem was he was near vacationing families , when he was shouting his obsenities . Some of the families sued him . In court he said " I have my rights"

What are my rights you say ? Well God calls us to rise about our rights and ask ourselves " What is loving ?"

Paul in 1 Cor 13:5 .... It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

He put rudeness on the list defining what love is not " rude" . Rudeness in the Greek means shameful or disgraceful behaviour .

Example : Do you have the right to dominate a conversation ?
Yes , but , is it loving to do so ?

Is it your right to shout at the cashier if you deem something is wrong with your bill or snap at your kids ?
Yes , but is it loving to act this way ?

Love in not rude . Love is the greatest gift.
 
What do you think about Stephen? If he was not being rude for what he said, what was he? Obviously, others present thought of him as rude.
Acts 7:51-60

Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.


What do you think of
Proverbs 24:24,25?
He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous; him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him: But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them.

[FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]I could go on with verses involving rebuking in the Bible. And of course, there would be no Protestants today if certain people in history were not willing to pay the price of rebuking, in order to stand up for the truth. Defending the truth often becomes an ugly process, but that does not mean it is not Christian.

(Sorry if the post looks weird, but the software does not cooperate with me this time).
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Where is this thread located in the forum? I can't find it except on the index page as a button to the last post.

Never mind, I think I found it.
 
According to the gospel of John .. i have a right to be a child of God .. but that's it .

Amen .

And to MPaul .... I would say that those rebukings were directed at the Christians of that day who were not following the teachings of Christ and it was neccessary to give them a wake up call so am thinking that was a little different than being outright rude to those we come in contact with every day .
 
And to MPaul .... I would say that those rebukings were directed at the Christians of that day who were not following the teachings of Christ and it was neccessary to give them a wake up call so am thinking that was a little different than being outright rude to those we come in contact with every day .

Things have changed a lot over the years. My experience for the present for the most part is, that if someone disagrees with another person but not effectively, then that is perfectly acceptable Christian behavior. However, if someone disagrees with another person in an effective manner, it is considered rude to the degree the argument is obviously effective -- except the effectiveness is not acknowledged, just the fact that the response is rude. I think it is thought of as rude, as it makes a point. As long as a Christian does not make his/her point, then everything is OK. Or am I being rude???? Just kidding.
 
However, if someone disagrees with another person in an effective manner, it is considered rude to the degree the argument is obviously effective -- except the effectiveness is not acknowledged, just the fact that the response is rude.

James 3:13-18

13Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
14But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
15This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
16For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
17But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. 18And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

Matthew 12:34

You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

Titus 1:15

Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.

This illustrates a theme that you may run a good race with your mouth . but take heed that you are not disqualified by wicked motives . James illustrated that people who seem to want to make a point .. but do so out of bitterness or envy .. are speaking wisdom that is of the devil . seeing that such language is used . we should take heed . and speak truth in love . because without Love .. there is no truth . because God is love .
 
This illustrates a theme that you may run a good race with your mouth . but take heed that you are not disqualified by wicked motives . James illustrated that people who seem to want to make a point .. but do so out of bitterness or envy .. are speaking wisdom that is of the devil . seeing that such language is used . we should take heed . and speak truth in love . because without Love .. there is no truth . because God is love .

So are you saying Stephen had a wicked motive, and that is why God had him stoned to death?

The way I see it, Stephen spoke the truth, and it was effective. The quoted passage notes the people who heard were cut to the heart, and that is why they stoned him -- his message was effective. I think his motive was pure, as he asked God for his murderers to be forgiven, but the problem was he spoke the truth effectively. However, they just thought he was being rude. I think he is an example of speaking the truth from a pure heart and being condemned anyway -- that is the point I was making, and I did so from a pure heart.
 
So are you saying Stephen had a wicked motive, and that is why God had him stoned to death?

The way I see it, Stephen spoke the truth, and it was effective. The quoted passage notes the people who heard were cut to the heart, and that is why they stoned him -- his message was effective. I think his motive was pure, as he asked God for his murderers to be forgiven, but the problem was he spoke the truth effectively. However, they just thought he was being rude. I think he is an example of speaking the truth from a pure heart and being condemned anyway -- that is the point I was making, and I did so from a pure heart.

I believe the same way . And the people were convicted but did not want to accept that they were wrong and so in their anger at Stephen , they stoned him

The same is happening today with misssionaries in foreign lands . They are speaking the truth but people's hearts are hardened and insome instances the missionaries die for their stance.

I like the passage where it says To live is Christ , to die is gain . If we are doing all in the name of Christ and in love , that is what God asks of us .
 
So are you saying Stephen had a wicked motive, and that is why God had him stoned to death?

The way I see it, Stephen spoke the truth, and it was effective. The quoted passage notes the people who heard were cut to the heart, and that is why they stoned him -- his message was effective. I think his motive was pure, as he asked God for his murderers to be forgiven, but the problem was he spoke the truth effectively. However, they just thought he was being rude. I think he is an example of speaking the truth from a pure heart and being condemned anyway -- that is the point I was making, and I did so from a pure heart.

no, he pretty much knew he was going to die . so it was more along the lines of . "do not fear those who can kill the body but can do nothing to their souls . "

the people back then had the prophets as their examples . and the prophets quite often were hot heads . we cannot expect the apostles to always live up to the standard Jesus did 100% of the time . it's just not fair . they were regenerated but still human to some aspect .

what Stephen said would be akin to a missionary standing up to the council of Al Kaeda or some other religion . because when Jesus died on the cross, the Jewish religion was alienated from His followers . His blood ratified the new covenant . Though they claimed to be the true Jews for some time . after a while it was quite apparent they were something else altogether .
 
men are not perfect,and can be picked apart at ease.Christ says we are the body,this doesn,t mean we are all the same humanly but spiritually.satan has 1 mind,we have 1 spirit.his 1 mind is to defeat God.ours is to lead people to safety from self destruction.
 
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