"If you mourn the fallenness of your world rather than curse its difficulties, you know grace has visited you." -Paul Tripp

I've been writing something I may present and was looking for suggestions. It's a rough draft. Keep in mind it will be presented to teenagers.

Today I want to talk about a topic that is very important to me: misquoting the bible. The one I’ve seen misquoted the most is “Do not judge.”

Let’s talk about “Do not judge” first, as it is the one I see most often. Some people say that we can’t tell them anything they do is wrong; after all, It’s in the Bible, right? If you actually look at the verses surrounding it, you can see the bigger picture. “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” This isn’t saying not to judge. It’s saying not to hold people to a higher standard than yourself. We can see the Pharisees doing this in the Gospels. STUFF

Another example; “Love your neighbor.” This can be used when you try to tell someone what they are doing is wrong. The thing is, love in the Bible isn’t letting someone do whatever they want; you just don’t care. If you really care about someone, you would try as hard as you could to keep them on the right path.

I’ll give an example. If you let your pet do whatever they want, are you a good pet-owner? Is it loving to let them go run around without a leash near a busy road? No! You love them, and want to keep them safe, even if they don’t want to be safe themselves. You should use your judgement to help them.

The same can be said for people. If you see you friend is doing something sinful, should you just let them go along with that. No. You, in your love for them, will tell them to stop in an attempt to protect them. This could get you called a scaredy cat, or maybe a wimp, but you are trying to help them. That’s what a good friend would do.

How can this be applied? Read your Bible! If you know what the verses actually mean, you will have a defense against this! Satan misquoted the scriptures to tempt Jesus in the desert, and he’ll do it to you to.

You might have heard that England has made it illegal to silently pray outside an abortion clinic. This massively encroaches on any freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion we still have. Their national anthem is “God Safe the King! Their unofficial anthem, “Jerusalem,” includes the words: “I will not cease for mental fight, nor let my sword sleep in my hand, until Jerusalem is built, on Englands green and pleasant land. How hollow those words are!

I was talking about this with some friend, and one brought up Isaiah 5:20-21

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,
Who put darkness for light and light for darkness,
Who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!

England is my homeland. This has been a shock to me as well.

This is Roni the frog. He has made his grand appearance on here before. He wants to do his little dancey dance across PMC. Help him reach that goal by sharing his lil dance!

"God has not unleashed his power into your life only to deliver things that quickly pass away and have no capacity at all to satisfy your heart. This means that often when you are tempted to think that He is loving you less because your life is hard, he is actually loving you more. The hardships that you are facing are the tool of his exposing, forgiving, liberating, and transforming grace.
These hard moments aren't in your life because God is distant and uncaring, but rather because he loves you so fully. These moments become moments of faith and not doubt when by grace you begin to value what God says as truly valuable. Do you value what God values?"
-Paul Tripp, New Mowing Mercies

(I think we all need to hear this when we're struggling; I definitely did)