Cause and Effect

Cause and Effect
Or is it vice versa



As I have been studying several papers on philosophy and Kant; I came across a paper entitled: On the Way to a World Republic? Kant on Race and Development. The remarkable thing that I found in this was the accusation that Christians were responsible for slavery and racism. The thought process is that if people who claimed to be Christians were responsible then Christianity promotes slavery and racism. That would be like us saying that because non-Christians commit murder then all non-Christians are murderers. The purpose in doing this is to promote their own way of thought and in doing so they break the rules of their own argument. The problem with this is that we do not argue the fact because we know the Bible to contain passages on slavery, especially in the Old Testament. However there were specific rules regarding slavery and in many cases the slaves were actually people who had sold themselves into bondage to people to whom they owed money to. This was the same as tenement farming where I settle on your land and work for you in order to one day own the land I settle on. The rules put into place in the Old Testament limited service to 7 years at which time, the debt if it had not been repaid would be released. We have a similar thing today called bankruptcy in which if we file for it remains on our records for at least 7 years and then it is supposed to be erased from our credit rating. We also have slavery today in the form of debt because if we owe anyone money we are slaves to that debt until it is paid off but the majority of us will not be released from that bondage for at least 30 years and while we don’t work directly for the lender all that we work for goes to cover that debt and to keep up the collateral for that debt. The other difference is perspective. When we view certain words in other languages they might have several different meanings so we choose one that best describes what we assume the word to be and since bond men is not one that is used regularly another word that describes a bond man is a slave, one that is indebted to another.

1 : a person held in servitude as the chattel of another
2 : one that is completely subservient to a dominating influence
3 : a device (as the printer of a computer) that is directly responsive to another

Chattel: an item of tangible movable or immovable property except real estate and things (as buildings) connected with real property.

One also has to interpret their objective for making such claims especially in light of their denial of God. If there is no supreme being then it is not Christians who are making others slaves but mere men utilizing their own free thought. The other observance is that other nations practiced slavery long before the Israelites came on the scene and who themselves were slaves before they actually became a nation. Now to fully understand their actions we have to understand their agenda and that agenda is to discredit not only God but all who claim to be His and the easiest way is to indoctrinate these beliefs into the minds of our children and in doing so they can build up the case against God, which generates the doubt that He really exists, because if God is love how could He endorse such things or how could His people do such things and by altering their perception they then continue to do so by portraying all those who were instrumental in the abolishing of slavery as actually humanist. This now reinforces everything they are being taught and anyone who appears racist is now clumped together and defined as Christians. This is helped along with the false believers and teachers that Satan has had infiltrate the body of Christ who make radical claims or bomb abortion clinics or any of the other senseless acts that are carried out by them. All of this is so he can make his claim against Christ and us to justify the persecution during the Tribulation. Once we have realized this then it is up to us to live as Christ asked us to live regardless of outside situations because all of the accusations against us now are a result of us living as we are of the world and not of Him. They are able to judge based upon our actions, which confirms their perspective that God does not exist. And we do the same thing when it comes to obedience to Him. We rationalize that as long as we go to church and tithe it is enough. We rationalize that as long as we look but don’t touch it is okay and meanwhile your son is sitting right next to you saying to himself, ‘ if it is okay for dad to look and not touch because he is married, then it is okay for me to look and touch because I am not married and if that is okay for him as a Christian then God’s word must not be the truth in fact it is possible that he doesn’t exist at all therefore because I am attracted to my girl friend in a sexual sense then that makes it okay and once they have gone the whole way and nothing happened it keeps building up. They may still attend youth group and be involved in church but that does not mean anything because dad looks at other women even though the bible says, he who looks after a women to lust after her has committed adultery with her in his heart,’ dad is still active in the church. Maybe he is a deacon or maybe he holds some other position within the church but if his son sees anything that is against what the bible claims then in his mind it is not true because dad does not live it. The same goes for money or taxes. It does not matter where we fail at because that is the point that they are going to begin with and from there who knows where they will go. It includes our relationships with others and grudges we may hold against others because if they don’t see us as loving and forgiving how is God supposed to be loving and forgiving. It doesn’t matter that we are only human. That is the same philosophy that they preach and it doesn’t hold water because we are called to be different. We are called to lights in the world and if a light is hidden by any human characteristics it can’t be seen by any one.

Yes we are under grace but grace does not exclude works and since we are under grace we are to provide grace to others regardless of the results, especially regardless of the results. The grace is evident the greater the sacrifice especially when it affects us personally. The greater we are hurt by others but we continue to show grace towards them the greater our example becomes to our children. However the more we resort to vengeance or the greater the grudge we hold the more it tells our children and others that God does not exist. We are the evidence that they are seeking. We are the proof and the reasoning that they seek. Consider for a moment an empty glass. It is useful if you have something to put in it, if I were to put ice and filled it up half way with water it would be refreshing but if I were to fill it up the rest of the way with vinegar it might look refreshing but the taste of it would disgust you and that is how we are. We look good outside and we have the presence of the Holy Spirit but it is the rest of us that makes Jesus disgusting to others. It is why they have a bitter taste in their mouths towards Christianity and God. The glass is still usable, it still has purpose but it has to be emptied out, cleaned and filled back up again with good water and that is what God is asking us to do. He is asking us to cleanse ourselves from our own will and desires. He is asking us to let go of those preconceived self centered notions and be filled up by Him. It is only then that we can be seen truly as His children by others because now all they see are; people who believe in someone who is not there and the reason is that while we acknowledge Him with our lips we deny Him with our actions. Thus the effect is the result of the cause.


Truths of Grace


Grace is a gift of kindness given to someone who does not deserve it.

Grace is not reciprocal. It goes one way

Grace is costly. Someone has to pay the price for it.

Grace looks at what people can become and seeks to help them reach their potential.

Grace does not condemn those who have not yet arrived.

Grace focuses on solutions, not problems.

Grace leads to action.

Grace is what motivates God to relate to us moment by moment with perfect love.

Grace is the lubricant that eases the friction in any relationship.

Grace expects the best but offers the freedom to fail.

Grace celebrates success and does not keep score of wrongs.