If you and your wife date girls together... than firstly I hope you were making a joke. But just in case you weren't.
A cursory look at my profile would strongly indicate i'm not
Oh I'm quite lucid. You're the one in a dreamlike haze without the clearly defined lines. If you had such lines you may not have made the mistake you indicated you did.
But hey... let's be civil about this.
Civil. Interesting choice of words. A tetriary definition of it is '
6. of or in
accordance with Roman law' Which is exactly what I'm not.
I understand you mean it in the sense of '
4. polite or courteous', and it is always good to be courteous.
You want to go and see how far you can push your boundaries.
Not at all. There are much more important reasons for what I'm doing. I'm going to roll out a quote from "Thelyphethora" (a treatise on the ruination of women in Chrisitan societies from the early 1700's) that starts to show that. I'll make it my sig for now, so take the time to check it.
I've warned you in the nicest way possible.
And yet you're the one who's wound up seeking forgiveness in your life, where I have not had occasion too in mine. It is not the greatest source of a warning.
You want to try and outsmart it and be clever. Go ahead. Be smart. Here is a few scripture for you about those SMART people mentioned in the Bible.
Scripture is not anti-intelectual. Christ is the Reason and Purpose of the universe, he is not and cannot be himself unreasonable. But if your only gripe with me is that I'm intelligent you're values are quite twisted.
Rom 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Rom 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
Rom 1:23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Rom 1:24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Rom 1:25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
Rom 1:26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
Rom 1:27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
Rom 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Rom 1:29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
Rom 1:30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
Rom 1:31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
Rom 1:32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse:
I glorify God for what He is continually, if you are attempting to use this verse against me you have grievously misused and misunderstood it. I implore you to take more care with Scripture in the future, it is not good to handle it so carelessly.
It is inexcusable to skip the verse that provides the context and highlight only the words that you believe to support your case. Again I say, handle scripture with more diligence.
2Ti 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
2Ti 4:4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
This verse is again why it is important to understand exactly what
lust is.
1st Timothy explains what their ears itch for and what
fables they make instead of truth.
1Ti 4:1 But the Spirit saith expressly, that in later times some shall fall away from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons,
1Ti 4:2 through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron;
1Ti 4:3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by them that believe and know the truth.
1Ti 4:4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it be received with thanksgiving:
1Ti 4:5 for it is sanctified through the word of God and prayer.
1Ti 4:6 If thou put the brethren in mind of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished in the words of the faith, and of the good doctrine which thou hast followed until now:
1Ti 4:7 but refuse profane and old wives' fables. And exercise thyself unto godliness:
The heart of man often lusts for more laws and rules so that it may feel pious. Hypocrasy is more often in creating new laws than ignoring true ones.
You wish to find people that will listen to you so that you can say that you are right. Don't worry. You will find them. But believe you me when I say, in no way are you going to reach what God intended for you.
I get people to listen to me because I tell them things that are important to understand. The Kingdom is not promoted by people who do not understand what God wants in His Kingdom.
But hey... don't let me stop you. Try to rip these pieces also out of porportion. Go ahead. The way I see it, you have two choices which God gives you at this very moment.
There are usually many choices available.
He shows you the error which you have concluded in. Giving you a choice to choose Him. Or you can choose to ignore God's warning.
In fact you have similar choices. You can learn to trust God, trust Scripture, and work that brain of yours to understand exactly what God wants from people and thus engage seriously in this discussion, or you can cling to your culture because it is more secure for you. But if you choose that later it is you who will not become all God has for you.
But just so you know. If you want my sympathy for what is going to take place in your life if you choose wrong. You completely have it. Been there done that. Got the life scars, and NEVER going back again. But that's just me.
What you have done was done in secrecy, against your vows, and treacherously. You most likely created several sins by what you did, possibly more than you know. I am glad you have work it out and found forgiveness, and you have my pity.
That said, never equate that which is done openly with mutual agreement and study with something done secretly, treacherously, and ignorantly. What I do has nothing to do with your error.
Maybe I am too unintelligent or dumb to fully comprehend just how exactly you want to mean things.
You are not. If you have trouble with what I'm saying its because you're wilfully and intelligently misusing scripture, just as you convinently cut Verse 20 out of your Romans quote. It is not your intelligence that is the problem, it is your choices.
Even though I can understand how each of the seven gifts of offices work and their over 70 combinations in total in the human species and I can identify each and every person on his gift as soon as I've spend 30 minutes with him one on one, I can tell him exactly what bugs him, what traps are ahead of him in the future, what he can do to improve his spiritual progress.
An empathetic gift is not a bad thing. In general that gift is not fully effective using the internet medium as reading people takes many physical cues. But I didn't ask for your resume, why do you feel the need to post it?
I guess since I received all this by grace I am pretty dumb and foolish.
Throwing yourself a pity party is unproductive. It's a way to disengage from proper dialogue. I generally resent people that do it.
Understanding how patterns in human lives occur and how various concepts of how churches are combined into unison and how they can improve their bond between each other and God.
Indeed. But the pattern I speak of is arcane, it is unlikely you have done any research on it.
But I guess you to SMART and intelligent that anything i know might even in the remotest part of your world apply to you. OK. Not a problem. You know what.
I never said anything of the sort. If you're intimidated by the form and style of my language that is your own business and something for you to get over.
I am not so intelligent and not so smart.
As I said again, pity parties are a waste. I don't care how smart someone is, I care how they apply themselves. That is all that counts.
For if I were I probably wouldn't have made the mistakes I made.
Your mistakes come from your own will. They have nothing to do with how smart you are or not. Our sins come from our volition, not our abilities.
But by God's grace, He saved me from my own stupidity. And if I can go back in time I would change every stupid mistake I've ever made. But guess what. I can't. But don't let me stop you.
Turning back time is unnecessary due to Christ sacrifice. But that is another conversation
In fact... I've said my peace. I have warned you. I tried to help you. But since you know better, I guess I can't teach you nothing.
But you have not yet been warned. A decent dialogue includes both learning and teaching, if you come only to teach you're being too presumptuous.
So by grace you won't have to read further in this thread from me. May you find grace... because you choose a bitter path for your family.
I do choose a difficult path, but joyful.
But the quote is too long for my sig, untill I re-format it I'll just post it here:
"The only real and substantial difference between the ancient Jews and the Christians is this:
The former took a plurality of women whom they maintained, protected and provided for agreeably to God’s word.The latter take a plurality of women and turn them out to ruin and destruction not only against God’s word but against every principle of justice and humanity. Or in other words, if the jew took as many as he could maintain, the Christian ruins as many as he can debauch...We may boast of our marriage and condemn polygamy, but there is not a nation under heaven where polygamy is more openly practised than in this Christian country, for, though a man can marry but one at a time, he may have as great a variety as he pleases without ever marrying at all...
To punish a poor deserted creature for being a prostitute, when it is put out of her power to force her seducer
to provide for her as the divine law enjoins, is equally cruel and foolish, not very unlike the man who threw his
child into a ditch and then beat him for being dirty."
From Thelyphthora by Martin Madan 1701
This is why I take offence to you paralleling your error with my choice. It very much sounds like you did the typical 'christian' thing of taking a woman other then your wife and using 'adultery' as an excuse to get rid of her. When in reality if she was single you ought to have taken care of her for the things you did to her.