This is a follow on from yesterday’s post. Jesus gave us some advice about prayer, and it is to avoid the Christainese jargon, and to speak plainly.
Matthew 6:7-15
7“When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9“Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.11 Give us this day our daily bread.12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.13 And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.
14For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; 15but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
via Daily Lectionary Readings — Devotions and Readings — Mission and Ministry — GAMC.
We can speak plainly because of our relationship with God. God knows our needs. God delegates to is the power “of the keys” to forgive — being aware that if we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven.
It follows that cursing is not smart. In his teaching, Jesus noted that if you called someone a fool (minimal translation” “Raca” would be better translated as “Fuckwit”) then it is as if you murdered him — in the same way that looking with lust at a woman is the equivalent of adultery. So Cursing people is risky. Remember Balaam. He was hired to curse — but the Spirit of God took over and he blessed. Our prayers are not for hire.
On the issue of sexual lust, Paul had some very blunt advice tor the Corinthians: Marry and make love.
1 Corinthians 7:1-9
1Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is well for a man not to touch a woman.” 2But because of cases of sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. 3The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5Do not deprive one another except perhaps by agreement for a set time, to devote yourselves to prayer, and then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.6This I say by way of concession, not of command. 7I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has a particular gift from God, one having one kind and another a different kind.
8To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to remain unmarried as I am. 9But if they are not practicing self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion.
The irony is that the Corinthian elders, living in the most sexually diverse and perverse city in a perverse empire, were arguing celibacy. Paul argued for marriage. But not Marriage 2.0 — where the woman is allowed to control the rate of sex and claim rape whenever sex is inconvenient. Instead, you give the rights of your body up when you marry. You belong. literally, to your spouse.
And this is offensive to the current neo-pagan priestesses. They do not want to have sex unless they damn well want to. As a result, their husbands are burning with lust (and the pornographers are getting richer). The churches teaching is more humane. Most of us lust. So most of us should marry.
Looking at both texts, it’s fairly clear that the appearance of piety is less important to God than the reality of our actions and relationships. We cannot be saved by our actions, but our actions are how we should adjudge if a person is of God. Not by their pious words.
Well said, Chris. Spot on.
“The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5Do not deprive one another except perhaps by agreement for a set time, to devote yourselves to prayer, and then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”
I see. So a man cannot refuse his wife sex and a woman cannot refuse a man sex, except on common agreement? That sounds right.
“a man”
Correction: her husband.
@ Chris and Will S.
Re: Christianese
What do you guys think will happen if I were to refer to God as “Sky Father” to a bunch of Churchians? Heh heh… I can only imagine.
Svar: already happened — but in Maori. And I don’t know why you would be praying to that idiot Odin one-eye.
What Chris said; we worship the Lord God, YHWH, the great I AM. Why call him by an erroneous name of another culture’s false god – because yes, even if one considers that even false gods bear some aspect of truth about the true God, they nevertheless are wrong, and thus false. Calling our God ‘Sky Father’ is as erroneous and foolish as calling him ‘Allah’; we shouldn’t do it.
Oops; I meant to capitalize ‘Him’ in the last paragraph.