The Ninth Commandment

Old Testament:
Exodus 20:16 - Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor (KJV)

New Testament:
Matthew 19:18 - He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, (KJV)
AND
Romans 13:9 - For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. (KJV)

To bear false witness means to testify against someone falsely. Whether we want to say it involves speaking under wrong motives (ie. to retalliate against someone) or to speak a lie about someone, I do not think it matters. Both are wrong. To retaliate is to have hatred towards someone and to hate someone is to murder. To lie about someone is to bear false witness. Both break commandments which we as Christians are instructed to obey. I would consider even leaving "bits and pieces" out of a story to be bearing false witness since the parts left out could change the outcome of the situation.

Just as we are expected to tell the truth in the government's world, we are ordered to tell the truth in God's world.

Blessings in Christ,

The Eighth Commandment

This commandment has given me some problems trying to figure out how to elaborate on what Jesus has said. I am a fairly literal person, taking what has been said near word for word. I do look to definitions of words and try to elaborate that way, but truthfully I was not able to elaborate on this one very much.

Old Testament:
Exodus 20:15 - Thou shalt not steal (KJV)

New Testament:
Matthew 19:18 - He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, (KJV)
AND
1 Corinthians 6:10 - Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (KJV)

There are a few other places in the NT where we are instructed not to steal and that theives will not inherit the kingdom of God.

What does steal mean? Webster's defines steal as: to take the property of another wrongfully and especially as a habitual or regular practice.

Great treasures says steal is defined as "to steal, take by stealth (not by violence)" -- this is the definition for the greek word for steal.

Just because the greek word for steal does not include taking by use of violence, I do not think that it is allowable. We are taught by Jesus' example to do no harm to anyone. We know that stealing, by both government law and by Biblical law is wrong. Even though sometiems we may think of it as "borrowing and I'll return it later before she notices it's gone", that is still stealing, is it not?

I prefer to think of stealing as taking without permission. That is the definition I grew up knowing and I think even though it is more broad, it is a definition that I will be teaching my children if I am blessed to have any in the future.

If anyone has anything they would like to add to this, as always, your comments and thoughts are welcome :)

Blessings in Christ,

Smorgasboard of things :)

I actually tried to post this on Monday but apparantly internet explorer 9 and blogger don't work together? I removed it today and am back to IE8... Anyone else have this problem?

We have some typical spring weather here today...rain. I know it's necessary, but when it rains all day long, it just wears on you... Anyway, at least I had to work...didn't feel so bad about being stuck inside on a dreary day :) It's 66 today and tomorrow I guess it's supposed to be 43 or so :(

I have a few topics that are really brief each so I thought I would just post them all in one :)

Thought #1:
How do you search for a church? What is important to you? What do you feel you can overlook?

We're back on the hunt for a church to attend. We found one that after going twice we seem to like. We feel welcomed and the people there will speak english to us instead of only speaking dutch... but it's 35 minutes away. With gas prices being as high as they are (near $3.85 a gallon right now) we don't know how often we could make it there... But the churches really close to us, we have tried and we don't feel like they are a fit for one reason or another. Just would like to hear what some of you look for in a church :)

Thought #2:
Something I've been thinking about lately is going back to school to get a teaching degree. I really loved substitute teaching when I did it last year and miss it. I loved being in the classroom, teaching the students (when the teachers got to know me, they would leave actual lesson plans for me to go through with the students...especially for math -- my absolute favorite subject lol), and just seeing the light bulb go off in their heads when a topic finally made sense to them. That was just so rewarding. As with any job, there are down sides. But does that not make it worth it? If I could go back and change what I went to school for, would I? I think I might. I had thought about going to school for a science teacher, but at the time I was told no that it wouldn't be a good fit for me. Now I'm thinking of going for...math teacher! In a way I feel like this might be God's hand because for the past (near) 2 years, I have had this feeling of wanting to get an education degree. But on the other hand, I wonder if I should because will I be able to find a job or will I be getting married in the next couple years and then wanting to stay home to take care of my wifely duties? All these questions keep running through my head...

I know there was a reason why I went to school for mechanical engineering, but truthfully, I haven't figured out the reason yet. Do I think it was a mistake to get a degree? Absolutely not. But I wish I would have put more thought (and prayer) into what I went to school for and not just gone for what I thought would meet the approval of my parents. Hopefully with prayer and time, I will be able to sort this one out :)

Thought #3:
I have been pondering this slightly ever since reading the blog post on this. How do "superstition" and religion fit together? Over on About Amish's blog, she has been answering questions about the Amish lifestyle and one question was about supersitions that the Amish believe and how they link "luck" to God's hand. How do you think they fit together? Do you think being supersitious means not trusting God? Do you think those things are "signs" from God?

That's it for today! I look forward to hearing your thoughts on any of these :)

Blessings in Christ,

Freezer Jam

One thing that we love here is freezer jam...and strawberries :) So when the local store had strawberries $1/pound, I picked up 10 pounds! Yes, that's right, 10!!

We got the recipe from a friend here and made two batches and still had 4 pounds left over :)

As with anything that is homemade, it costs more at the beginning, but over time, you save money...and it tastes oh so much better than store bought jam!

4 cups mashed strawberries (we found it took about 3 pounds to get the 4 cups but it will depend on how good the berries are and if you have to cut much off)
1/2 cup of sugar or 3/4 cup fruit pectin
Mix these two together and let sit for 30 minutes
Add 4 1/2 cups of sugar

While your strawberries and the sugar or fruit pectin are sitting, you can start on this part.
In a sauce pot add 1 cup of Karo syrup or corn syrup and 1 cup sugar
Cook over high heat until clear (you need to let this boil and become really clear)
Add 1/4 cup lemon juice (from concentrate is fine it does not have to be fresh lemon juice -- and no I'm not joking, there is lemon juice in this recipe!)

Mix the karo syrup mix and the strawberries together. Put in containers and freeze.

This recipe is one that you do not have to pull out of the freezer and let thaw completely before using because as weird as this may sound, it never completely freezes! Let it sit out for a minute or two before spreading on bread and it will be fine :)

Hope you enjoy this one if you try it! I'm sure you could use raspberries or other berries in place of the strawberries as well just haven't tried it myself yet :)

Blessings in Christ,

The Seventh Commandment

Lovely spring weather we are having here...it is the very end of March and we had a couple inches of snow dumped on us this afternoon! It wasn't supposed to stick (according to the weather people) but it certainly did stick! Hopefully some of you are having better spring weather than me!

Anyway, I have three more commandments after this one to post on and I am praying I can convey my thoughts in a manner which will be understood.

The seventh commandment...

Old Testament:
Exodus 20:14 Thou shalt not commit adultery (KJV)

New Testament:
Matthew 5:27-28 - Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. (KJV)
and
Matthew 5:32 - But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause fo fornication, causeth her to commit adulter: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery. (KJV)

To me, this commandment is stated rather clearly...at least knowing that if you lust after a woman that it is considered adultery (or lusting after a man if you are a woman). But, what is considered lust? I do not consider lust to include the comments of "I like her hair" or "I like her smile", but that is my conviction. I get stuck on is that little skip of your heart lusting? In some ways I think it is, but in another way I'm not sure. It's kind of a natural reaction when you see someone who you are interested in. If this person is married then yes, I think that is considered adultery. But if the person is single? I'm not sure. How do we stop these natural reactions from happening? The commentary in my Bible says that Jesus did this to take the listener's attention off the physical and onto the spiritual side of a person. It seems that we would need to take our eyes off the physical image of a person and put it on their spiritual image and if we do that then there is less of a chance for us to fall into lust with someone.

An easy thing to say would be if all women would dress modestly then the men would be able to keep pure thougths easier. I agree with this, but is it realistic? In our society today, no I don't think so. I think it is wonderful when women respect their bodies enough to dress modestly and want to help the men stay pure, but unfortunately, not all women think this way. How would we train up our boys (and girls) to not lust after another person? Teaching them the right kinds of people to share company with would be a wonderful way to begin. Also, we must teach them that they should not get to know someone physically until they have married, but rather get to know the person on a spiritual and emotional level first. These are the two levels that will help them to understand if the relationship will work or not.

I do not think we can get rid of lust all together, but as with any sin, we must strive to avoid it and rely on God to help us keep away from it knowing full well that He will forgive us if we sin and ask for forgiveness.

There is another verse in Matthew that discusses adultery. The Bible also states in Matthew 5:32 that anyone who divorces, except for biblical reasons -- the only reason given is fornication, causees their spouse to commit adultery. And furthermore, if he himself remarries while his wife is still alive, he commits adultery as well! To me, this verse is pretty plainly stated...divorce results in adultery which is sin.

Now do I belive that someone who divorced and remarried and is now saved should divorce their current husband? I don't think that's for me or anyone besides God to say. That is for the couple to pray about. I don't necessarily believe that they should divorce just to escape that sin, because then they would both be living in sin once again. If I were in that situation, I would rely on Jesus' forgiveness and follow what I feel He is leading me to do. It's a tough decision and a touchy topic so if I have offended anyone I do apologize and ask for forgiveness, that was not my intention.

Blessings in Christ,

The Sixth Commandment

Old Testament:
Exodus 20:13 - Thou shalt not kill (KJV)

New Testament:
Matthew 5:21-22 - Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgement: 22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. (KJV)
*It is sidenoted in my Bible that "kill" in v. 21 means murder and in v. 22, Raca literally means "empty head".

It is easy for most of us to not kill someone, and as long as we do not kill anyone then we are following this commandment...but according to the New Testament, that is not the case. Jesus expanded on this commandment. We must now in addition to not literally killing anyone, we have to control our anger towards our brothers and sisters. If we get angry with a brother or a sister for no reason, then we have broken the sixth commandment.

Keeping our anger under control is more difficult for more of us than simply not killing someone. How do we control our anger? The most important part to this is prayer. Before we rush to anger, we should stop, take a deep breath and whisper a prayer for the ability to stop the anger brewing inside of us dead in its tracks. For some people this will be the end of it for that episode, but for others they will need to continue to keep praying for the strength and ability to let their anger go.

What if our anger is "justified" as we see it? Like we have a reason to be angry (maybe someone caused us harm in one way or another). Well, we need to forgive that person and when we forgive then we will be able to be released from the grasp of anger.

Blessings in Christ,

The Fifth Commandment

Old Testament:
Exodus 20:12 - Honor thy father and they mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. (KJV)

New Testament:
Matthew 19:19 - Honor thy father and they mother... (KJV)
Jesus says this commandment in the section where the young ruler came to Him and asked Him what good thing shall he do that he may have eternal life. After this question, Jesus said to keep the commandments and the young ruler asked which. Jesus recited six of the 10 commandments to this young ruler.

Honoring our fathers and mothers seems like it should be a simple command. But how do we really honor them (in God's eyes)? Is it listening to what our parents say? If that is the case then there are many instances where I have gone wrong, but if I had listened to what my parents had said, in some of those cases I would be going against what I felt led to do by God. Who is more important? In my opinion, God is.

Paul says several times throughout his letters Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. 2 Honor thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise (Ephesians 6:1-2 KJV).

This is one that I definitely need to continue to work on. Even though I no longer live under my father's roof, I still respect my mom and dad and want to make them proud of me, but to me, there is a balance between making them proud/honoring them, and doing what I feel led to do. I also would like to stick in there my happiness, but does that make me selfish? To want to be happy and enjoy what I am doing with my life? In some ways I do think so because I may be putting my wants before what both God and my parents want for me, but in other ways, the happier I am with what I am doing, the easier it is to be a good Christian to others. Maybe it's not always supposed to be easy to be a good Christian, but I don't think it should be hard to be one all the time.

As much as most people want to honor their parents, honoring our parents is harder than it seems like it would be at times, but it is something which we all must strive to do since Jesus commanded we do.

Blessings in Christ,