Ok. I admit I do get a bit offended every time someone tries to be legalistic with religion. Or at least Christianity.
But it's because I know from personal experience the dangers of legalism....I know people who have turned away from Christ because of it (not turned toward Him)----and it makes my heart ache that your well-meaning intentions could actually do the opposite of what you want them to do.
This isn't legalism, legalism says don't eat pork, it's against the Levitical law, which was fulfilled in Christ's atonement, but this does not include Poker cards and dice, they are tools of the gambling industry, let it be used for that purpose only, not in our homes...
Do I keep idols in my home, simply because I like them ??? No, and they are unclean and we should rid them from our homes. In Japan nearly everybody had mini Shinto shrines in their homes, in which they had pictures of their ancestors placed and food, especially fruit, placed in front of their pictures daily, with incense burning and prayers offered..
This was offensive to the Lord, according to revelations given to the LDS church and all LDS members were required to rid their homes of these mine Shinot shrines...
The shrines were not evil in and of themselves, but it's what they represented an unhealthy dedication to the dead, prayers and food offered to them as if they were that particualar person's god..
God is a "jealous" (not in the earthly fleshly sense which we know) god, there is a better word I think, just can't think of it now, but that's the way scriptures describe it/him concerning this issue, and he requires our total worship and all our prayers be directed towards himself only and none other.
This is not legalism, it's getting rid of all things which draw our minds away from the things of God and onto the things of this world.
Our minds should be heaven centered, not bound to this temporal earth..
We need to keep our eyes on the prize, not on the earthly things of this world..
I know you mean well, FFH. I don't question that. But it's so, so important to realize that what may not be ok for you, may be perfectly ok for someone else. Instead of saying playing cards, dice, and a million other things are evil, perhaps you should qualify that statement and say, "they are only evil to me." Otherwise you are encouraging legalism.
No, they are also offensive to God, of this I know for a fact...
The spirit has whispered strongly to my mind about this over and over and over, almost more so than other things. It's like an entry way into a much much much darker world of sin, like fornication, adultry, drugs, smoking, drinking, gambling etc., which destroy soooo many lives...
I see it time and time again with soooo many people I work with. I feel helpless to warn/stop them from messing up their lives..
One guy I work with just called me up in despair, he has just gotten his girlfriend pregnant, he hadn't told anyone yet and he needed someone to talk to about it. I reassured him everything would be okay...
But nothing it seemed could calm him down or make him feel better. He's totally totally stressed now and I felt helpless to warn him before this happened.
I keep my mouth shut 99 percent of the time, which I should, but many times I would hope i could warn/help another by helping them see the destructive path they were on..
I won't keep silent if I feel I must say something..If I feel it will help in any way or that someone might need to hear what I say..
I make no apologies for what I've said here.
Ignore me if you need to...
So I make my argument out of genuine concern, and out of a passion to see as few people as possible turn away from Christ simply because they cannot play cards, or do a million other harmless things. Because that's not what following Christ is about. It's not what you do that matters to God----it's the state of your heart.
I disagree, we will be judged for "deeds done while in the body," which are outward signs of our true hearts intentions...
"By their fruits ye shall know them".
The state of one's heart can be determined by their actions. Their actions give them away every time...
A hearing impaired young girl came into the place where I work Saturday night and I got chills. I mentioned this to another and said I don't know why it is but whenever hearing impaired children come into the place where I work, I get chills.
I vividly remember a large group of very young kids came into a restaurant where I used to work and it was an amazing experience. Instead of yelling and screaming there was a "deafening silence," hands flying everywhere.
Chills ran throughout my being and it seemed as if I was in a heavenly place...
I asked a customer why it was that I might be feeling this.. She said, "it's because you have a heart".
I had never looked at it that way..
I do have a heart for those I see suffering in any way, whether in body or in spirit...
