greggerypeccary wrote on Feb 13
th, 2015 at 11:07am:
Soren wrote on Feb 13
th, 2015 at 8:48am:
"There is nothing worse than to live only once and spend that single lifetime on cultivating spiteful stupidity."
Such as following a God. Luke 11:9
And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
Loving God, and loving his ways, and loving his righteousness,
is not 'cultivating spiteful stupidity'.
Loving God, is a path which leads to happiness, ...for a man, and for all mankind.
Man seeks what is selfish, and what is pleasing to himself, ...it is in our nature.
God seeks only our [mankind's] well-being.
Isaiah 48:17
Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel;
I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
18 O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:
Deuteronomy 5:29
O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always,
that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!
30 Go say to them, Get you into your tents again.
31 But as for thee, stand thou here by me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it.
32 Ye shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
33 Ye shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you,
that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.
Deuteronomy 32:28
For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.
29 O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
.
God [the creator] in scripture describes mankind, as having the status of his [Gods] created 'children'.
Deuteronomy 32:19
And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of
his sons, and of his daughters.
Isaiah 1:2
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken,
I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
Jeremiah 4:22
For
my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are
sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
Romans 8:13
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
14
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
1 John 2:15
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
Romans 14:17
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink;
but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
18 For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.
God's creation,
is in process.
Genesis 1:26
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:...
We, mankind, as his potential children, have been given an opportunity, ....to choose well, or, to choose poorly.
Choices always have some consequence.
Matthew 13:47
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:
48 Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.
Harvest.