Pathways For Sojourners

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078) 1Cor 7:21-22 . . Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it;
but if you can be made free, rather use it. For he who is called in The Lord while a
slave is The Lord's freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ's slave.

Were this the only life, then slavery would be a terrible fate because there would be
nothing better to look forward to; viz: Christian slaves should think of their
situation as only a temporary set-back. They're missing out on the best that life has
to offer for now, but I'm pretty sure they can look forward to Christ making it up to
them in the next life.

The situation of Christians behind bars, without possibility of either release or
parole, is little different than that of slaves. However, though their time inside may
be for life, it isn't permanent. No, their time inside is just a bump in the road: it's
not the end of the road.

* As I was watching a prison documentary on NetFlix some time ago, one of the
inmates interviewed-- an elderly man sweeping with a broom out in the yard --said,
in so many words: Guys come in here thinking their life is over. It ain't over, it's
just different.

That old guy was a lifer, but he was at peace with his situation-- an amazing
attitude for an institutionalized man with no hope of ever again having a normal life
on the outside.
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079) 1Cor 7:23 . .You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.

Selling one's body into slave labor was a very common method for settling debts in
a world where bankruptcy wasn't an option (cf. Matt 5:25-26) whereas selling one's
soul is something far more serious.

For example in the movie "Wall Street" Charlie Sheen's character reaches a
moment of decision where he can compromise his integrity and be somebody, or
retain his integrity and remain a nobody. I think we'll find that quite a few
politicians, business leaders, educators, scientists, church hierarchy, and medical
professionals have been faced with that very same prospect at some point in their
lives-- quite possibly more than once.
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080) 1Cor 7:24 . . Brethren, let each one remain with God in the situation in which
he was called.

In other words; we may, sometimes, have to consider our current situation with
God as "on standby"

So: if you're a slave; don't become a runaway slave. If you're a secretary, don't
quit your job and/or abandon your husband to run off and become another Joan of
Arc. Stay put; always keeping in mind that whether slave, free, or crusader; will
make no difference in your association with God.

NOTE: Ambitious Christians sometimes feel as though they are not being utilized by
God to their fullest potential, i.e. they could be doing more. Well; it just might be
that in His opinion you're doing enough, and more is a nice thought, but
unnecessary.
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081) 1Cor 7:25+28 . . Now about virgins: if a virgin marries, she has not sinned

The Greek word translated "virgins" basically refers to girls not yet married. Here in
American we assume virgins are girls not yet sexually active but in that ancient
culture, it was more about a girl's age and/or marital status rather than her private
life.

There's an ancient temple in Greece called the Parthenon; which was at one time a
sort of shrine to the goddess Athena (a.k.a. Minerva). Apparently it was common
for Athena's followers to donate their young girls to her service.

I'm guessing that the Christians in ancient Corinth, influenced by Greek and Roman
culture, were curious whether they were supposed to donate their young girls to
Christ's service; viz: make nuns of them; which of course would seal them into
celibacy and thus preclude the possibility of ever having a man and a family of their
own.
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082) 1Cor 7:26-28 . . Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for you to
remain as you are. Are you married? Do not seek a divorce. Are you unmarried? Do
not look for a wife. But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin
marries, she has not sinned.

The "present crisis" probably relates to circumstances that make it difficult and/or
inadvisable to settle down and raise a family, e.g. Jer 16:1-4 and Matt 24:19-22.

However, marriage, overall, doesn't displease God; and best of all, the Corinthian
Christians didn't have to donate their maidens to Christ as nuns; rather, the girls
were perfectly at liberty to settle down with a man.
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083) 1Cor 7:36 . . If anyone thinks he is acting improperly toward his maiden, and
if she is getting along in years and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he
wants. He is not sinning. They should get married.

We have a saying in America that goes like this: So and so married what's her
name and made a decent woman out of her. Well, most grown-ups know what that
means without me having to say so. The point is: if a Christian man finds himself
on the brink of exceeding the limits of propriety with his best girl; it's time to either
break up or tie the knot.

And then too there's the so-called biological clock that stalks women during their
productive years. It's cruel, unthinkable, and utterly selfish and psychopathic of a
man to keep a girl on hold during those years if and when he's fully aware that
she's longing to settle down and have a family of her own. A man who does that
has no clue as the meaning of words like love and honor.
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084) 1Cor 7:39 . . A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her
husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must be in The Lord.

When people sound-bite a verse like that one out of context, they run the risk of
coming to some very false conclusions; and one of those is that Christians can
never, under any circumstances, divorce and remarry while their spouses are alive.
Well, obviously they can, under certain conditions. (e.g. Matt 5:32) In other words:
an unfaithful husband is a dead husband, i.e. he's reckoned deceased.
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085) 1Cor 8:4-13 can be said to be a codicil to the 14th chapter of Romans.

Putting this into a modern context: In my State of Oregon, we have tavern-style
restaurants; viz: a section of the tavern is a bar, and another section is dedicated
to dining. The bar sections usually host State-sanctioned gambling machines and
typically off-limits to minors.

Suppose you have Christian friends who sincerely feel it's wrong to dine in a
tavern-style restaurant because of the alcohol and the gambling. Though you
yourself might be comfortable in your own mind that there is no sin in dining at
taverns, your friends are not so sure. So if you were to take them to a tavern, they
would be committing sin in compromising their conscience; and you would be
committing sin by knowingly leading them into a situation that causes them to
make that compromise. (Rom 15:1-2)

Another pertinent example is Hooters where the waitresses are cute buxom girls
filled out in all the right places clothed in short shorts, and clingy tops; so that the
situation is a double whammy of babes and alcohol. Supposing your Christian
buddy sincerely feels it's wrong for Christian men to dine at Hooters? Then you
would be wrong in taking him there for a burger even if you were convinced in your
own mind there is nothing wrong with Hooters because you would be leading your
Christian buddy into a situation that causes him to feel guilty and/or less of himself.

The Bible says that Christians should accommodate others to their edification
(edification means to build someone up as opposed to tearing them down), Well,
when we please ourselves to their detriment; that's very bad. Some guys feel that
cute buxom girls and yummy gams are a God-send, while other guys regard them
as the Devil in disguise. The correct route here is to accommodate the more
sensitive conscience. (Rom 14:3-4)

Self defense is another gray area. Some Christians sincerely believe they should
"turn the other cheek" in every situation, even criminal situations; while others
believe it is permissible to use as much force and violence as is necessary to
prevent the commission of a felony-- even lethal force and violence. Let each
individual be fully persuaded in their own mind rather than someone else's mind.
(Rom 14:5)
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086) 1Cor 9:13-14 . . Don't you know that those who work in the Temple get their
food from the Temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on
the altar? In the same way: The Lord has commanded that those who preach the
gospel should receive their living from the gospel.

The covenant that Moses' people agreed upon with God in the Old Testament
doesn't allow Levitical priests to own land where they can provide themselves
sustenance by working their own farms and ranches. It's God's decree that a
number of the sacrifices and offerings that the priesthood's constituents bring are
dedicated to not just sustaining a friendly association with God, but also to
nourishing His servants. (e.g. Ex 29:31-32, Lev 2:1-10, Lev 7:11-15)

Obviously then, 1Cor 9:13-14 is saying that Christian congregations ought to pitch
in and help provide their church's full-time Pastor with a decent standard of living.
This is not optional; no, it's something that "The Lord has commanded."

* Though pastors may not always preach, many are at least capable of doing so. Of
course pastors who never preach should maybe required to go out and get a job
somewhere and support themselves rather than depending upon a congregation for
their care. But of course it's up to each church's board to rule in cases like that.
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087) 1Cor 9:24-25 . . Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only
one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes
in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last;
but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

The prize that Olympians won back in those days wasn't much. No medals: just a
simple garland for the head consisting of a wreath made with wild olive leaves from
a sacred tree near the temple of Zeus at Olympia. In time the leaves dried out and
crumbled.

The important thing to note about 1Cor 9:24-25 is that the prize isn't a pass into
the kingdom of God. No; the prize is an award rather than a wage; and there is
more than one kind; e.g. Phil 4:1, 1Tim 4:8, Jas 1:12, 1Pet 5:4, and Rev 14:14.
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088) 1Cor 10:6-7 . . Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written:
The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to play.

The Bible doesn't provide much detail at Ex 32:1-6 as to what went on in camp
while Moses was up on the mountain. But one thing we know for sure is that there
was a golden calf; and the "eat and drink" to which the apostle refers was a ritual
where people sacrificed to the calf and afterwards consumed the sacrifice as an act
of communion with it.

The Hebrew word translated "play" in Ex 32:6 is somewhat ambiguous but it's the
same word at Gen 26:8 where Isaac's conduct with his wife Rebecca strongly
suggests something more than merely athletics. In other words: the play going on
in Ex 32:6 could very well have been a full-on cult orgy; and probably was.
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089) 1Cor 10:8 . . Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed,
and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.

That event took place at Num 25:1-9. The fornication he's talking about wasn't
believers with believers. It was believers with unbelievers. In other words; Christ's
followers need to avoid getting romantic with unbelievers lest unbelievers lead his
followers down the primrose path into something shameful and very unbecoming.

● 1Cor 15:33 . . Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character.
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090) 1Cor 10:9 . .We should not test The Lord, as some of them did-- and were
slain by snakes.

That event took place at Num 21:5-9.

The obvious lesson is that it's risky to become confrontational with God about the
quality, the quantity, the characteristics, and/or the absence of His providence.
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091) 1Cor 10:10 . . And do not grumble, as some of them did-- and were slain by
the destroying angel.

That incident took place at Num 14:2-38. The "grumbling" grew into a pretty large
anti-God protest a la Tiananmen Square. Anon it became violent and within a hair's
breadth of culminating in Joshua's and Caleb's assassination. That was a very grave
moment in Israel's history.
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092) 1Cor 10:11-12 . .These things happened to them as examples and were
written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. So,
if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!

The old testament has given Christians a tremendous advantage. It tells them
what sells with God and what doesn't, so to speak.

Communism, cultural revolutions, book burnings, and Islamic fanatics etc, have
thus far failed to eradicate the Bible; which is very fortunate because without a
knowledge of His people's history, God's modern-day followers would find it very
easy to repeat their mistakes.
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093) 1Cor 10:14 . .Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.

There's that word "flee" again; which in many of its applications in the new
testament means to run for your life.

There's more to idolatry than just bowing and/or praying to sculptures, shrines, and
paintings. It's possible to be an idolater without even being especially religious.

"Don't be greedy for the good things of this life; for that is idolatry." (Col 3:5)

Greed then, is one of the characteristics of an idolater. In other words: idolatry is
both a personality disorder and a religious issue. Even atheists qualify as idolaters if
they have a greedy personality; e.g. Wall Street's investment bankers and
commodities traders. Their "golden calf" is capital gains

It's okay to want the good things in life: after all; God has given us richly all things
to enjoy (1Tim 6:17). It's the insatiable desire for good things that makes people
idolaters; in other words avarice; which is never content; no, avarice always wants
more, more, more, more, and then some. Nowhere is that more rampant than
corporate practices that walk over the dead bodies of their employees if that's what
it takes for a better quarterly report.

I'm not exaggerating. A major retailer I could name used to take out life insurance
policies on its employees-- not for the families; but for itself. In other words; it
named itself the beneficiary so that when an employee died, the big-box chain
recovered some of the wages and benefits they had to pay the employee while they
were on the job.

The policies are called COLI-- corporate-owned life insurance. But they're better
known in the insurance industry as "dead peasant" and/or "dead janitor" policies.
Approximately ¼ of the Fortune 500 companies have them; which cover the lives of
between 5 million and 6 million workers.

COLI policies seem to me a ghoulish way to make a buck; but then it shouldn't
surprise us that idolaters have no soul to speak of seeing as how they revere
profitability rather than God.
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094) 1Cor 10:24 . . Nobody should seek only his own good, but also the good of
others.

That's not saying it's wrong to seek your own good; just wrong to seek it at the
expense of another's good; viz: selfish ambition might be an acceptable modus
operandi in professional sports, politics, and big business; but it's totally
unacceptable in one's association with fellow believers for whom Christ died.

And there's nothing new in that; I mean after all; it's just another way of
expressing the so-called golden rule; which states: All things whatsoever ye would
that men should do to you, do ye even so to them. (Matt 7:12)
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095) 1Cor 10:25-26 . . Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising
questions of conscience, for the earth is The Lord's, and everything in it.

A percentage of the meats sold by vendors in Corinth were prayed over in the name
of a pagan deity before they went on sale. The only way Christians could know the
difference between the pagan meats and the secular meats was by inquiry.

Well; Paul says don't do that. Stifle your conscience, and in faith, buy whatever
meats are for sale because pagan deities don't own those meats, no, Yahweh does.
In other words: God trumps the pagans; and He trumps your conscience too. So
then; trust God to be right even when what He has you do seems totally wrong.

NOTE: The natural conscience is disposed to feel guilty where no real guilt exists;
which is due to the forbidden fruit incident. (Gen 3:22) Because of its unreliable
sensibilities, the natural conscience was included when Christ went to the cross.
(Heb 9:13-14, Heb 10:22)
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096) 1Cor 10:27-29 . . If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go,
eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. But if
anyone says to you "This has been offered in sacrifice" then do not eat it, both for
the sake of the man who told you and for conscience' sake-- the other man's
conscience, I mean, not yours.

First and foremost: avoid using an invitation to dine with non Christian friends as an
opportunity to discuss the scope of your religion's dietary rules.

Plus: should it happen that we know in advance the food is either dedicated to, or
blessed by, a pagan deity, or that when they say grace around the table it will be to
a deity other than our own, or to a sacred personage that we do not accept; then
our host will quite possibly get the impression that his religion is just as valid as
ours if we don't decline.

But please, when declining; be kind, gentle, thoughtful, tactful, and diplomatic
about it, i.e. be considerate of the other person's feelings about their religion just
as we wish for them to be considerate of ours; especially here in the USA where
religious tolerance is normally regarded as good manners, i.e. civil.
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