Jack777
June 1st 2005, 11:35 AM
"Thus I write, as the truth seems to me."
Hecataeus of Miletus
God spoke the universe into existence from His "thought." How important is it to understand cosmology, cosmogony and the Creation? Not quite as important as knowing the Creator, but it helps.
When we pray we are sending our thoughts to God. Some people silently pray, knowing that our thoughts are heard as easily as our words by God. Thought precedes words and how well we think determines how the words come out. The ancients had a keen awareness of our way of communicating and the origin of actions on the part of people. The following verse from the Bible demonstrates the connection between thought and outwardly expressed actions.
And GOD saw that the wickedness of man great in the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart only evil continually.
Genesis 6:5
While it is true that the violence and harm is the noticeable thing that would draw our attention and drew wrath from God, it is singularly important that the thoughts are that which direct all of the actions. Jesus spoke directly to this:
O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
Matthew 12:34-37
The expression of the thoughts that we have eventually come out in words. While false words may provide a temporary show before others for a moment, sooner or later what we really think becomes obvious. What we think and what we say have a great deal to do with what we observe in ourselves to be consistently true of us. It is such a natural thing that we may not notice how important this is and actually miss an important factor is assessing things about us. God expresses the importance of thoughts through Isaiah, Yahweh says that
I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way not good, after their own thoughts
Isaiah 65:2
If they are not to walk after their own thoughts, then whose?
Again, God connects the actions that people do with thought. In this He tells people the content of the reason for their separation from Him
O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?
Jeremiah 4:14
Even the actions that are seemingly "good" that are merely show do not cover our thoughts and intentions with one another. Sooner or later we can know that what seemed to be an act of kindness or goodwill turns out to have only been a hollow gesture, part of a confidence scheme or an anomalous act not in keeping with the character of a person. Here again, the connection with thought and action is related by God:
Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what among them. Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it. To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.
Jeremiah 6:18-20
A life filled with thoughts directed towards certain ways of getting along evidences those thoughts. Sacrifices were outward shows of obedience to God, a sort of visceral training with something in the flesh to focus thought on the stream of life in our daily observations in the direction of God and not toward the physical manifestation of things or us, but toward the One Who created everything. The daily grind of life tends to pull us down, to wear on us so that we center our thoughts on the temporal and therefore the temporary. That focus on situations causes us to be directed by things instead of ourselves. The connection between maintaining our integrity, that better self, is with thoughts centered on God. We learn that thoughts centered on the fleeting events or people rob us of our ability to have our own thoughts in a certain way. Events happen and things happen to us to that we lose ourselves in that which we invested our thoughts and then we lose ourselves. Our ability to judge the truth of a matter, the situation at hand is impaired in so much as we lose the connection with thought and ourselves in ways that thoughts, words, and actions do not match up in a helpful or good way. There is a part to us that only fits properly with God and that part is our spirit. Paul tells us that the Law of Moses was a kind of tutor that was to get everyone on the same page until the Tutor, the Holy Spirit, came. Jesus came so that we are united in Him and therefore under the Law of the Spirit and not the Law of the flesh. We don't need thought police, that is not it. We are given free will and we operate from free will. It is extremely important to live in a way that we do not relinquish our free will to the situation at hand or to the domination of other people, other spirits, powers, principalities, or dominions. To do so results in slavery to creeds, beliefs, things, situations, or people. We must voluntarily direct our thoughts to the Creator, the One Who made us or we will lose free will.
For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts. Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.
Malachi 2:7-9
Keeping the Way of God is more important than the Law in that the Way of God is the source of the Law. That does not diminish the Law as being true. In fact the purpose of the Law was to show us where we need to do some work on things that enslave us and defeat us. The Law, if followed perfectly would bring good results. The problem comes in that we do have flaws due to human nature, the "flesh," the "sarx." Our eyes are drawn from God easily, our thoughts wander and if we follow a blind alley long enough, we forget God. It seems logical that if we focus on something besides God as He Is, then we have forgotten Him by that much. What we learn of Him takes place over a lifetime and coming into a knowledge of God and understanding of Him and life in His context is somewhat different for everyone to one degree or another. Still, there are some basics that are necessary. Solomon is credited in Ecclesiastes with the basic and the final thing to know.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:
Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Ecclesiates 12:13
Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God
Hebrews 3:7-12
The people followed God around in the desert, saw the pillar of smoke, pillar of fire, whined and belly-ached, and rebelled against God, right away. It does not seem like they caught onto something. Key is taking the fact that God is Creator. They missed out on knowing that He is the Creator. Having it straight from the very opening in Genesis 1:1 is of utmost importance. We cannot afford to skip over to the middle of the Book or after the first eleven chapters of Genesis before we pay attention.
Hecataeus of Miletus
God spoke the universe into existence from His "thought." How important is it to understand cosmology, cosmogony and the Creation? Not quite as important as knowing the Creator, but it helps.
When we pray we are sending our thoughts to God. Some people silently pray, knowing that our thoughts are heard as easily as our words by God. Thought precedes words and how well we think determines how the words come out. The ancients had a keen awareness of our way of communicating and the origin of actions on the part of people. The following verse from the Bible demonstrates the connection between thought and outwardly expressed actions.
And GOD saw that the wickedness of man great in the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart only evil continually.
Genesis 6:5
While it is true that the violence and harm is the noticeable thing that would draw our attention and drew wrath from God, it is singularly important that the thoughts are that which direct all of the actions. Jesus spoke directly to this:
O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
Matthew 12:34-37
The expression of the thoughts that we have eventually come out in words. While false words may provide a temporary show before others for a moment, sooner or later what we really think becomes obvious. What we think and what we say have a great deal to do with what we observe in ourselves to be consistently true of us. It is such a natural thing that we may not notice how important this is and actually miss an important factor is assessing things about us. God expresses the importance of thoughts through Isaiah, Yahweh says that
I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way not good, after their own thoughts
Isaiah 65:2
If they are not to walk after their own thoughts, then whose?
Again, God connects the actions that people do with thought. In this He tells people the content of the reason for their separation from Him
O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?
Jeremiah 4:14
Even the actions that are seemingly "good" that are merely show do not cover our thoughts and intentions with one another. Sooner or later we can know that what seemed to be an act of kindness or goodwill turns out to have only been a hollow gesture, part of a confidence scheme or an anomalous act not in keeping with the character of a person. Here again, the connection with thought and action is related by God:
Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what among them. Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it. To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.
Jeremiah 6:18-20
A life filled with thoughts directed towards certain ways of getting along evidences those thoughts. Sacrifices were outward shows of obedience to God, a sort of visceral training with something in the flesh to focus thought on the stream of life in our daily observations in the direction of God and not toward the physical manifestation of things or us, but toward the One Who created everything. The daily grind of life tends to pull us down, to wear on us so that we center our thoughts on the temporal and therefore the temporary. That focus on situations causes us to be directed by things instead of ourselves. The connection between maintaining our integrity, that better self, is with thoughts centered on God. We learn that thoughts centered on the fleeting events or people rob us of our ability to have our own thoughts in a certain way. Events happen and things happen to us to that we lose ourselves in that which we invested our thoughts and then we lose ourselves. Our ability to judge the truth of a matter, the situation at hand is impaired in so much as we lose the connection with thought and ourselves in ways that thoughts, words, and actions do not match up in a helpful or good way. There is a part to us that only fits properly with God and that part is our spirit. Paul tells us that the Law of Moses was a kind of tutor that was to get everyone on the same page until the Tutor, the Holy Spirit, came. Jesus came so that we are united in Him and therefore under the Law of the Spirit and not the Law of the flesh. We don't need thought police, that is not it. We are given free will and we operate from free will. It is extremely important to live in a way that we do not relinquish our free will to the situation at hand or to the domination of other people, other spirits, powers, principalities, or dominions. To do so results in slavery to creeds, beliefs, things, situations, or people. We must voluntarily direct our thoughts to the Creator, the One Who made us or we will lose free will.
For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts. Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.
Malachi 2:7-9
Keeping the Way of God is more important than the Law in that the Way of God is the source of the Law. That does not diminish the Law as being true. In fact the purpose of the Law was to show us where we need to do some work on things that enslave us and defeat us. The Law, if followed perfectly would bring good results. The problem comes in that we do have flaws due to human nature, the "flesh," the "sarx." Our eyes are drawn from God easily, our thoughts wander and if we follow a blind alley long enough, we forget God. It seems logical that if we focus on something besides God as He Is, then we have forgotten Him by that much. What we learn of Him takes place over a lifetime and coming into a knowledge of God and understanding of Him and life in His context is somewhat different for everyone to one degree or another. Still, there are some basics that are necessary. Solomon is credited in Ecclesiastes with the basic and the final thing to know.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:
Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Ecclesiates 12:13
Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God
Hebrews 3:7-12
The people followed God around in the desert, saw the pillar of smoke, pillar of fire, whined and belly-ached, and rebelled against God, right away. It does not seem like they caught onto something. Key is taking the fact that God is Creator. They missed out on knowing that He is the Creator. Having it straight from the very opening in Genesis 1:1 is of utmost importance. We cannot afford to skip over to the middle of the Book or after the first eleven chapters of Genesis before we pay attention.