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[beforHim]

For youth, it might be hard to see why we call everyone sinners and why we say we can never be good enough for God.  Well, I'll give it a go.

A white t-shirt gets a smudge on it.  No problem, throw some bleach in the washer, and it comes right out. . .yeah right.  Tha stain is there until the day the shirt wears out.  I mean, even one little stain is recognizable, right?  Take a look at your socks- even though your mom bleaches them, the never come clean, do they?  I mean, they get bleached, but then they get walked on.  Bleached again, walked on again, endless cycle.  How in the wrld do you ever expect that to get clean?

OK, now to get all "philosophical", or all "High and Holy"- but stay with me!  OK, here goes:

God is perfect, period.  He's the all-shinning sock and bleach in one.  As such, it is impossible for Him to be in the presence of other dirty socks, for when He comes into our presence, His all-powerful bleach wipes the whole sock out (look at your socks, they've even got stains around the part not inside the shoe). 

God, being perfect, just can't be with imperfection.  We are obviously imperfect.  We can do nothing to please God, nothing to make Him love us.  Grace= He loves us anyway, so much that He Himself used His divine bleach to wipe out our stains in such a way that we are not obliteraed (thorugh the cross).  Now, our stains are gone, and we can actually be with the all perfect God. 

Remember, since we are stained through and through, we can't bleach urselves- our bleach is not perfect, and our bleach is already dirty because we get it dirty.  But God's bleach makes us white as new socks. 


OK, for all those of you who are theologically sound, this is not meant to be theologically exhaustive.  So please, try to refrain from critiquing the theology aspects- just reply about the concepts of pleasing God.

[redjacket]

Okay I understand that. So man's bleach is like the generic brand and GOD is the only one with the Clorox? I am cool with that completely. Now the one thing that is difficult is for the people with the filthy white clothes that like to live dirty. How do we persuade them to take their clothes to the cleaners?

[redjacket]

Would you suggest that we all have good friends that notice spots on us that we need to clean, when we fail to see the grease and dirt stains? How do you go about pleasing God?

[RAVENOUS]

A philosophical aspect would be that "pleasing Him" is a matter of degrees when someone makes the argument that it is imperfection that he cannot be around. For instance, sin is imperfection... a heavy degree. Remove the sin, and you have a person capable of sinning, still imperfect. Remove that capability of sinning, and the person still cannot hope to match the perfection that is the Almighty creator who is the ultimate ideal of perfection. Basically man will always be imperfect, but the almighty accepts various degrees of imperfection.

Yet there is the idea in scripture that man can become perfected, but when fully evaluated - this ideal isn't the general ideal of perfection, but a perfection that is specialized for something that makes the person acceptable to be in the presence of perfection. Will man ever be "perfect"? No. Will he be "perfect" for dwelling and worshiping in the presence of the Almighty? Yes.

Peace

[beforHim]

WoW!  Awesome questions, redjacket.  And yes, great insight RAVENOUS- I agree whole heartedly with your evaluation of perfection.  My reply is rather long, but I hope it helps.

Now the one thing that is difficult is for the people with the filthy white clothes that like to live dirty. How do we persuade them to take their clothes to the cleaners?

How clean have you gotten via the cleaners?  What has happened in your life because of the cleaners, which would benefit others?  I think you've got to show people this, but not in a dorky way.  We're not to be Billy Mays “OxyClean” telecommercial evangelists, you know- don't go around to kids at school loudly preaching how much Jesus loves them, inviting them to youth group in a dorky way.  Instead, learn ways to tell people about God's love wthout seeming like a fundamentalist Chritsian or total dweeb, and also live the life.  This is a quote by the people who made the movie “To Save a Life”: You're never more like Jesus than when you're helping the hurting and the lonely.”  Go see the movie, it's awesome.

Also, some apologetics (like when people say “the Bible's been translated tons of times, or when they say “God sends babies to Hell”, or “The crusades and witch trials. . .”, or “We can't see God, why doesn't He show us”?) are good.  Study up and get answers to common questions asked, not to argue but to actually help people past intellectual roadblocks.

a)Would you suggest that we all have good friends that notice spots on us that we need to clean, when we fail to see the grease and dirt stains? b)How do you go about pleasing God?

a) Yes, totally.  We all sin and fall short, but us Christians are all made new and able to help others out.  So when a good Christian friend (esp. a good Christian adult) points out mistakes, don't get all mad and haughty- think over it and learn form it.

b)There's no formula, no ritual.  Communion, baptism, fasting, etc. these things aren't like “a squared + b squared = Closer to God”.  That's like thinking “If I lift weights everyday, I will be closer to my coach”.  No no no. . .being closer to God is not really a matter of pleasing Him, but a matter of doing His works.  In the Bible, God always got pathetic, pitiful humans to do His work.  They fasted, they prayed, they studied their scriptures, they kept the commandments, etc. and as such, they were able to be used by God more.  Since Jesus died, all of our praying and fasting and preaching are not in vain. 

So here's what I'd say:  lifting weights and doing football drills don't bring you closer to the coach, but they do help you do better on the field.  Now by doing better on the field, the coach is going to play you more, expect more from you, give you more help, ride your tail more, etc.  So. . .reading your Bible, praying, fasting, worshiping, preaching and teaching, studying (stuff like apologetics, Christian history, theology, etc.), all of this stuff is like lifting weights and doing drills.  Now by being able to “perform” better in life, you will inevitably be used by God more, and come closer to Him.  The analogy is by no means perfect, but basically:

Practice you spiritual disciplines (outlined above), and because of this your life should start reflecting Jesus more.  Humility is always the key, though- if you miss a prayer time, or always skip Bible reading, then don't get all mad and sad, but stay humble before God; and if you always pray for long periods of time, and you study much, and you're at church more than anyone else, stay Humble, because God can take it all away faster than you got it.



Hope this all helps. 

[dattaswami]

For youth, it might be hard to see why we call everyone sinners and why we say we can never be good enough for God.  Well, I'll give it a go.

A white t-shirt gets a smudge on it.  No problem, throw some bleach in the washer, and it comes right out. . .yeah right.  Tha stain is there until the day the shirt wears out.  I mean, even one little stain is recognizable, right?  Take a look at your socks- even though your mom bleaches them, the never come clean, do they?  I mean, they get bleached, but then they get walked on.  Bleached again, walked on again, endless cycle.  How in the wrld do you ever expect that to get clean?

OK, now to get all "philosophical", or all "High and Holy"- but stay with me!  OK, here goes:

God is perfect, period.  He's the all-shinning sock and bleach in one.  As such, it is impossible for Him to be in the presence of other dirty socks, for when He comes into our presence, His all-powerful bleach wipes the whole sock out (look at your socks, they've even got stains around the part not inside the shoe). 

God, being perfect, just can't be with imperfection.  We are obviously imperfect.  We can do nothing to please God, nothing to make Him love us.  Grace= He loves us anyway, so much that He Himself used His divine bleach to wipe out our stains in such a way that we are not obliteraed (thorugh the cross).  Now, our stains are gone, and we can actually be with the all perfect God. 

Remember, since we are stained through and through, we can't bleach urselves- our bleach is not perfect, and our bleach is already dirty because we get it dirty.  But God's bleach makes us white as new socks. 


OK, for all those of you who are theologically sound, this is not meant to be theologically exhaustive.  So please, try to refrain from critiquing the theology aspects- just reply about the concepts of pleasing God.

Pleasure of God and love from God are quite different.

Love is far greater than pleasure. If an employee performs his duties well, without causing any disturbance to the office, the employer is pleased and grants promotion to the employee. But the promotion is not permanent because the employee has to retire from the job one day or other. The employee performed his duties well to get the benefit from the employer and this is not the love on the employer. But the employer loves his wife and children and gives all his wealth to them permanently.

 Pleasure of God and love from God are quite different. The employee gets the benefits of promotion up to certain specified period only i.e., up to the date of retirement. Similarly, a good person involved in social service without the element of God, gets temporary heaven. This is the result of the pleasure of God which is temporary because the social worker did not love God. But if you take the family members of the employer, they loved him personally and their love is main point for them.

(Of course, if you take the absolute reality, their love is also selfish compared to the love of God. But relatively with respect to the love of employee their love is better). They may help the employer in the office also but their help is based on their personal love to him. In such case, the employer loves his family and love is greater than pleasure. Therefore, the employer gives all his wealth to the family forever.

Similarly, a devotee who loves God personally and does the social work also due to his love on God only, is treated as the family member of God. God loves such devotee and gives him all His divinity to him forever. Therefore, your aim should not be becoming mere employee but your aim should be to become the family member of God.