Bible Study Reverence

[th1b.taylor]

9/1/2012


My lesson for the Grumpy Old Men's class this week begins with Genesis 1 and the lesson this week is on the God that speaks. Right off the bat, as I began to study, an alarm went off. As a U.S. Army Soldier, I represented the United States of America, everywhere I went in the world. I was a paid ambassador for my nation, people, state and family. As a Christ follower, I am His ambassador representing Him, His Father, the Holy Spirit and the Kingdom of Heaven.


The text for the teachers study includes the passage, “...a God who speaks.†As God's Ambassador, it is very important the things I say. But, because we, as Christians, are on display and closely observed, how we say a thing is also, extremely, important, in my opinion. In this world, there are hundreds and perhaps, thousands of gods and in this day of Electronic Speak I repeatedly observe the lose of reverence for God.


Predominately young people will type for the world to see, “...worship god...†and then, as I attempt to gently chide and encourage the use of the capital letter as a form of reverence, my generation and, not so much today, the previous generation jump me for legalism. The danger for legalism is so very, very, possible here that, as I'm trying to point out here, we must be so careful with, not only what we say nut, how we say it also.


It is a personal thing with me that is, no doubt, ingrained but my dad taught me that what you do in secret is who you are! For example, when I search for things I can recall are in the Bible, I will type everything, proper names included, in the lower case except God, Jesus, Holy Spirit and Bible. In much the same manor, if I tell you my dad's name is Howard, I will not type it howard, that's disrespectful, and he has passed and can never see what I do now! On the other hand, God can and He does see everything all of us do.


This “a God†thing, God is not a god, nor is He a God, He is the God that speaks and the irreverence we teach and just let slides must cause His heart to ache... it dies mine!

 

[watchman333]

Listen Sarge, I'm a Viet Nam vet so I'm thinking we are about the same age. This generation simply did not get the manners, or the education, that we were blessed to have. They never learned they were to open a door for a woman or that water boils at 212 degrees. They never learned dangling participles nor that the act of thanking someone is somehow unmanly. Now Sarge, let us give the Lord a little credit, I believe He understands all of that, and He is big enough to forgive our kids if they don't have enough sense to give Him a big g.

 

[AirDancer]

Our Lord God knows our hearts, and He is more concerned about that than with proper capitalizations.

Having said that, however, using a capital "G" when spelling God's name is a small sign of respect. Even my 7 year old grandson understands that people's names are first-letter capitalized. Hence: Mom, Dad, Grams (that's me!), Jimmy Buffet, Donovan, etc .... all start with a capital letter.

Every generation is taught the proper use of small & capital letters .... it is each individual who decides whether or not to use capital letters for names. And each individual will be held accountable for his/her respect of our Lord and His name.

 

[tandemcpl]

9/1/2012
This “a God†thing, God is not a god, nor is He a God, He is the God that speaks and the irreverence we teach and just let slides must cause His heart to ache... it dies mine!

I agree. This is just my opinion, but I think it does matter to the Most High God. God commands respect and to use a little “g†is not a sign of respect.

I think the little things matter to God, if they didn’t He would not have been concerned that the people of Israel had dirty cloths when He came down on Mount Sinai. God told Moses,

“Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.†(Exo. 19:10-13, ESV)

Be blessed.

Toby

P.S. I think the use of the initials “JC†instead of spelling out Jesus Christ is also disrespectful.

 

[Carolyn]

I have to agree. The Jews did not even pronounce God's Name in fear of using it in vain. Today taking His Name in vain is a lifestyle.

Remember when they were taking the Ark of the Covenant back from the Philisteans to the city of David, someone who was not a priest saw it start to fall and put his hand up to steady it. God struck him dead. Ananias and Sophira lied to the Holy Spirit and were struck dead. We don't understand that a name represents a person's integrity or reputation. God's Name represents His holiness and righteousness as well as love and forgiveness.

Kids today have no teaching in the classrooms. They don't sing America The Beautiful or in any way mention God's name except to curse. They don't cover their hearts or even stand when the flag is presented at a parade. Personally I even stand for our POWs who ride in a parade. Often they don't even sing the Star Spangled Banner at a football game. Locally they are not allowed to celebrate Thanksgiving at school or even are taught about the pilgrims. Obama took away the day of prayer and chaplains in the armed services are not allowed to pray in Jesus Name.

I guess not capitalizing God's Name is a symptom of a deadly disease that is spreading in our nation.