From: bentkopj@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Paul J. Bentkowski)
Newsgroups: alt.atheism
Subject: Re: Examined by the judge
Date: 12 Apr 92 07:10:00 GMT
Organization: University at Buffalo
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <5305@pdxgate.UUCP>, news@pdxgate.UUCP (Net News Account) writes...
>From: allenroy@rigel.cs.pdx.edu (callen roy)
>Path: rigel!allenroy

Dick,
	Your on the wrong newsgroup to "preach" ... 
        try rec.religion.I'v_got_something_to_preach
        Please read FAQ.

> 
>"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my
>anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead 
>me in the way everlasting."  Ps. 139:23-24
> 
>David had a marvelous understanding of God, and it spills 
>out almost automatically in this psalm.  He is fearlessly opening his
>inner life without reservation for the careful examination of the King of
>the universe.
> 
>We who wish we could hide the secrets of our hearts wonder at his
>candor, his vulnerablility.  The secret, however, is found in his last phrase.
>He knows that, were the Father to find any offensive ways within him, the
>result would be instruction and not judgment.  He knows the Father's
>heart and his desire to lead David in the way everlasting.
> 
>We hide behind our fig leaves when we fear that our nakedness will 
>become the object of derision and scorn.  Adam and Eve hid, leaf-clad, in 
>the bushes of Eden because they had already fallen under the spell of
>Satan's view of God.  They believed God would harshly condemn them
>for their nakedness.  but God went in pursuit of them, holding out an 
>animal skin for clothing--not because His pure eyes were offended by
>their nakedness, but so their shredded self-esteem might not be further
>torn.

Yes. An intelligent god. who plays "peak-a-boo" with his creations.

> 
>Manay people fear the judgment of God because they see Him as one
>who can evaluate our performance only for the purpose of condemning 
>our failures.  They see Him as bound by a strictly legal system, in which
>the only thing one can do with wrong is condemn it.  But David saw Him
>as a father, and fathers relate to wrong in their children by nuturing and
>instruction them beyond such immaturity.

David must not have read his own "Old Testament" ... this was not only
a strict legal god, but one of bias,prejudice,violence,perversion,etc...
.. now there is real instruction in maturity or even beyond.

> 
>Our greatest need is to admit our great need.  but admitting need is not
>easy.  We cling to whatever scraps of adequacy we can find to bolster our
>bruised self-worth; why be "up front" about our inadequacies?  We shall
>never know God's strength, however, until we own up to our weakness.
>And so God Himself has every reasonn to make it easy for us to admit our
>weakness, that His strength might be perfectly displayed in us.
> 
>David knew God, not as the administrator of an abstract legal code or
>as an offended lawgiver.  He knew Him, as we may, as a loving Father and
>a wise Instructor in the ways everlasting--in ways that last forever!

As an Imaginary Friend.

> 
>(from God's Healing Love  by Dick Winn)

(from Paul's Skeptical thinking by Paul Bentkowski)
Newsgroups: alt.atheism,alt.satanism