(OK, except wool and linen instead of cotton and polyester, and Sodom instead of USA, but you get the idea!)
Thank God for clothing from blends that don't require ironing. We were fortunate enough to have an electric iron but I remember watching the mother of a friend iron using an iron she had to heat on top of the cookstove. The cookstove burned wood so the surface was hot. She had 2 or 3 iron bases on top of the stove heating and one handle which could click onto any one of them and lift it off the stove. She would iron until the iron she was using would cool, reach over and set it on top of the stove, unclick it so it could heat, click on the next iron which had been heating, bring it over to the ironing board and continue ironing.
Thank God for clothing from blends that don't require ironing. We were fortunate enough to have an electric iron but I remember watching the mother of a friend iron using an iron she had to heat on top of the cookstove. The cookstove burned wood so the surface was hot. She had 2 or 3 iron bases on top of the stove heating and one handle which could click onto any one of them and lift it off the stove. She would iron until the iron she was using would cool, reach over and set it on top of the stove, unclick it so it could heat, click on the next iron which had been heating, bring it over to the ironing board and continue ironing.
That's right. For some motorcycles are an terrible sin and so are black leather jackets. Other figure TV's are REALLY BAD, but spend every evening in front of their computer screen.
The sad part: it's all "works", pure legalism.
But there really are some things that are terrible sins, aren't there? I mean, sure, there is an argument about whether doing and not doing certain things will save you, but there is also the argument about what things are and are not sins, right?
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Hebrews 13:23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty
Well, we usually justify our gluttony and call it "fellowship" and we justify our lack of feeding and clothing the poor because "they are sinners and not in the truth" and saying that if they would "obey the truth" then God would meet all their other needs."
Many of us who call ourselves Apostolic or Pentecostal or Holiness or Charismatic or whatever label we prefer have set up our own lists of mortal and venial sins like the Roman Catholics have been known to do.
so this is an anti gluttany thread?
__________________ Let it be understood that Apostolic Friends Forum is an Apostolic Forum.
Apostolic is defined on AFF as:
There is One God. This one God reveals Himself distinctly as Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
The Son is God himself in a human form or "God manifested in the flesh" (1Tim 3:16)
Every sinner must repent of their sins.
That Jesus name baptism is the only biblical mode of water baptism.
That the Holy Ghost is for today and is received by faith with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues.
The saint will go on to strive to live a holy life, pleasing to God.
We hear about the sin of Sodom. We even have a term "sodomy" to define it.
What does God say the sin of Sodom is:
48 As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done.
49 Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.
The King James reads a little clearer...."48 As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.
49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
50 And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.
Well, we usually justify our gluttony and call it "fellowship" and we justify our lack of feeding and clothing the poor because "they are sinners and not in the truth" and saying that if they would "obey the truth" then God would meet all their other needs."
Many of us who call ourselves Apostolic or Pentecostal or Holiness or Charismatic or whatever label we prefer have set up our own lists of mortal and venial sins like the Roman Catholics have been known to do.
FYI... Biblical Gluttony is not simple over eating.... don't get me wrong... over eating is a lack of discipline of the flesh, and is wrong.... but over eating is not gluttony.
I actually love the scripture that Sam referenced, because most people like to hone in on the "abominations" in Sodom, but when you start discussing selfishness, idleness, pride and a lack of concern for the poor and needy...well, that hits a little close to home for a lot of people.
It is important to note that Sodom was destroyed for more than *just* her abominations. ...especially since the sins of Sodom can be observed from within church walls.
I don't believe Sam's point is to minimize the serious nature of homosexuality (I hope not), but rather to emphasize the seriousness of these other offenses. People have a natural tendency to create big sin and little sin categories, and it's crucial that we remember one who offends in one point of the law is guilty of transgressing against all the law. In recent news, Christians are up in arms over homosexual marriage and related issues, but yet they are not as easily offended by a proud, selfish, idle or ungenerous person. Why? According to scripture, Sodom was destroyed for these things as well as her abominations, so why are we offended *most* by homosexuality, to the point of taking political action against it? Should we oppose legislation as vehemently that supports the freedom to be idle, proud or selfish?
Maybe we should carry on the business of the church and stop trying to straddle the fence between politics and Christianity. That is not to say that I'm opposed to Christians being interested in politics, but I am concerned when people are so wrapped up in politics that they forget about being Christians--which should be their primary concern.
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"God, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. And sever any tie in my heart except the tie that binds my heart to Yours."
--David Livingstone
"To see no being, not God’s or any, but you also go thither,
To see no possession but you may possess it—enjoying all without labor or purchase—
abstracting the feast, yet not abstracting one particle of it;…."
--Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, Song of the Open Road
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