You ever hear someone smugly tell you some wise saying and you believe it? Then you start to thinking, "Does it really say that in the Bible?" Not that people can't be wise, but every good and perfect gift is from above, so if it's true wisdom it should reflect a well-known source for wisdom...which for Christians is the Bible. Here's some things that really make me think twice when I hear them said:
"Actions speak louder than words."I'm not an expert on the Bible, but I do and have read a lot and I don't remember this one. I remember ones along similar lines, such as "Even a child is known by his actions, by whether his conduct is pure and right" which is simply saying that even children's characters can be deciphered by what they do, whether they do it with mischief or sincerity. Another verse is "Out of the mouth the heart speaks." Here's the kicker: an action is a function carried out through output of the conscious/unconscious of the mind. So basically, if you are "speaking" from what's in your heart, you are committing the action or function of making sounds/syllables into language others can understand, communicating what is deep in your soul. So how can the action (of speaking) be louder than words? This is a null and void statement. Another verse along these lines says "Faith without works is dead." This means that you can believe all day but unless you back up that belief with actions your faith means nothing. This supports the people-ism that actions speak louder than words by showing that you have faith that God exists and in His plan for this world and the people in it by being faithful and obedient to what you believe God is telling you to do. However, with the above evidence I do have to dub this phrase a "people-ism."
"Only God can judge me."
Stay with me here; this can get technical. The Bible says "Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord" and that "God will judge the just and the unjust." Jesus also says "Judge not, lest you be judged." So technically, yes. Only God can judge you and administer punishment/consequence/ruling. God will also judge those who are right/fair/just and those who are wrong/unfair/unjust. So everyone gets judged. Just know that no matter whether you're right or wrong only God can make a ruling or consequence that accompanies your actions.
Now here's the kicker: We actually are ALL judges inherently by our occupations. Parents are judges, making rulings of consequence over their children and even the characters of other children their kids hang out with. Judges are judges, responsible for keeping our streets and cities safe from trouble and danger. Teachers are judges, judging the abilities of children and distributing consequences based on their behavior. The President is a judge, signing bills and making declarations of ways they think will move our country forward. And YOU have to be a judge of who will/will not be in your "inner circle" based on their toxicity/positivity in your life and well-being. I mean, after all I do believe God gave all of us a good dose of common sense...does He have to spell every little thing out to us? Not that all of us use it. I believe the "Judge not" we refer to is Christ's way of telling us to not rule over someone's character, whether they are good or bad. This is why in my last post I said we must become objective and separate the person from the action. Actions are good/bad/wrong/right/fair/unfair, but people are people, humans who are imperfect and can't be expected to do all right all the time.
The Bible also says "Give to Caesar's what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." Meaning, even the earthly judges we have must be respected with that authority. We can't exactly "screw the government" and avoid taxes and all that because we don't like what's being done with it. That's why we vote (chirp chirp). That's why there's jail and the death sentence. So with all this being said, is "Only God can judge me" a people-ism or a Bible-ism? I say it's a draw based on context. It is strongly Bible-led but not always acceptable for political/societal use.
Passing blame and pointing fingers is you not taking responsibility for your actions.
God has given us clear orders, and Jesus broke them down into even simpler terms for us to understand. When you are given great responsibility as Christians are, you have to be willing and able to accept blame/to blame as is due so the problems can be addressed and fixed so that God's will can be done and His glory attained. God wants us to be on one accord, not in discord. In agreement, not in confusion. Many people say "Let go and Let God." This is a strong partial people-ism. We are called to be good stewards of our orphans, widows, elderly, finances, churches, evangelism, character, praise, worship, and leadership responsibility within our families. We are given a lot of responsbility PERIOD. For this to be done, some blame must be assessed, passed, taken, and corrected. The Bible, better yet JESUS says if your brother sins against you, go to Him in private, then if he will not listen, take another along, and if he still will not listen, bring the matter before the church. Then if he STILL will not listen, treat him as you would a pagan/tax collector/taboo person...smile and keep on walking. He did NOT say don't forgive, but He simply asked us to move on after confronting the issue and seeing that person stuck in their resolve. We have been given too much responsibility to sit as a bump on the log and "let God" handle...God uses YOU. He can't use you if you're sitting down waiting for it to pass on its own. At least move on. Sometimes when we lose something precious or are in danger of losing it, we look for ways to get it back. The lady who lost her coin (in the Bible) tore the house apart looking for it. It was that important to her. So, move on. I guess that's the letting go part. So letting go would be a Bible-ism, and letting God would be half of a people-ism; Letting God use YOU would be a Bible-ism. That's where I'm leaving it.
And another thing: blame is assigning responsibility for a deed or set of actions; judging is providing consequence/ruling over a person's punishment and character. Those are two different things. Just make sure you take the "log" out of your eye before you take the "speck" out of your brother's. If you are not taking blame for things, don't expect others to readily accept blame for their mistakes and misdeeds. Don't run to them telling them to forgive someone when you haven't forgiven them for the past. (Good-charactered) people who are forgiven are grateful to the forgiver for their mercy. People who can't forgive merely remind that person over and over again how much they owe them; if they had truly forgiven, the (good-charactered) wrong-doer would be grateful, not annoyed and resentful because they can't "pay up" with enough sorry's or acknowledgements. So the "stop pointing fingers" people-ism is a people-ism. Oh, I just said that.
God will not be mocked.
Mocking is the emulation and imitation of a person done in a sarcastic/disrespectful/teasing demeanor. It can be done lightly or whole-heartedly. God truly will not be mocked; He is not able to be imitated, replicated, teased, brushed off, or left for something "better." He made us, the whole Earth, the heavens, all of the systems it takes for our bodies and our Earth to produce health and abundance for survival. There is nothing or no one who can replicate that. Look at the Tower of Babel. Look at Job. God is a replenisher, a punisher, a provider, a safe-keeper, and omnipresent and omnipotent all in one. He just "IS." Like He said in the Old Testament when Moses asked God who should he tell Pharaoh had sent him (basically given him authority to say what he had to say) God told Him to tell Pharaoh that "I AM" sent Him. Classic God. He needs no further introduction or representation. If you don't know you better find out. This is definitely a Bible-ism. However, it can become a people-ism if someone uses it out of context. Heck, anything in the Bible used out of context becomes a people-ism. The Bible says that it is the inspired Word of God, and that nothing can either be taken away from it or added to it. When we make our own remix and use partial verses how we want to and don't add the previous or succeeding verses to shape the context, we "take away" and "add" our own flavor, making it a people-ism.
Long story short: STUDY to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who will NOT be ashamed and who RIGHTLY divides the word of TRUTH. I ask God often for the understanding to decipher His word for myself. I figure with the common sense, guiding of the HS, and request for wisdom and whole-hearted seeking of His will (and the reading skills I learned in first grade) I will be ok! Don't live by people-isms...if the Bible is your handbook for life, know it well enough to know when things other people say just simply don't apply to you. Know what God says about you, and care less what people say.
Monica
"Actions speak louder than words."I'm not an expert on the Bible, but I do and have read a lot and I don't remember this one. I remember ones along similar lines, such as "Even a child is known by his actions, by whether his conduct is pure and right" which is simply saying that even children's characters can be deciphered by what they do, whether they do it with mischief or sincerity. Another verse is "Out of the mouth the heart speaks." Here's the kicker: an action is a function carried out through output of the conscious/unconscious of the mind. So basically, if you are "speaking" from what's in your heart, you are committing the action or function of making sounds/syllables into language others can understand, communicating what is deep in your soul. So how can the action (of speaking) be louder than words? This is a null and void statement. Another verse along these lines says "Faith without works is dead." This means that you can believe all day but unless you back up that belief with actions your faith means nothing. This supports the people-ism that actions speak louder than words by showing that you have faith that God exists and in His plan for this world and the people in it by being faithful and obedient to what you believe God is telling you to do. However, with the above evidence I do have to dub this phrase a "people-ism."
"Only God can judge me."
Stay with me here; this can get technical. The Bible says "Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord" and that "God will judge the just and the unjust." Jesus also says "Judge not, lest you be judged." So technically, yes. Only God can judge you and administer punishment/consequence/ruling. God will also judge those who are right/fair/just and those who are wrong/unfair/unjust. So everyone gets judged. Just know that no matter whether you're right or wrong only God can make a ruling or consequence that accompanies your actions.
Now here's the kicker: We actually are ALL judges inherently by our occupations. Parents are judges, making rulings of consequence over their children and even the characters of other children their kids hang out with. Judges are judges, responsible for keeping our streets and cities safe from trouble and danger. Teachers are judges, judging the abilities of children and distributing consequences based on their behavior. The President is a judge, signing bills and making declarations of ways they think will move our country forward. And YOU have to be a judge of who will/will not be in your "inner circle" based on their toxicity/positivity in your life and well-being. I mean, after all I do believe God gave all of us a good dose of common sense...does He have to spell every little thing out to us? Not that all of us use it. I believe the "Judge not" we refer to is Christ's way of telling us to not rule over someone's character, whether they are good or bad. This is why in my last post I said we must become objective and separate the person from the action. Actions are good/bad/wrong/right/fair/unfair, but people are people, humans who are imperfect and can't be expected to do all right all the time.
The Bible also says "Give to Caesar's what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." Meaning, even the earthly judges we have must be respected with that authority. We can't exactly "screw the government" and avoid taxes and all that because we don't like what's being done with it. That's why we vote (chirp chirp). That's why there's jail and the death sentence. So with all this being said, is "Only God can judge me" a people-ism or a Bible-ism? I say it's a draw based on context. It is strongly Bible-led but not always acceptable for political/societal use.
Passing blame and pointing fingers is you not taking responsibility for your actions.
God has given us clear orders, and Jesus broke them down into even simpler terms for us to understand. When you are given great responsibility as Christians are, you have to be willing and able to accept blame/to blame as is due so the problems can be addressed and fixed so that God's will can be done and His glory attained. God wants us to be on one accord, not in discord. In agreement, not in confusion. Many people say "Let go and Let God." This is a strong partial people-ism. We are called to be good stewards of our orphans, widows, elderly, finances, churches, evangelism, character, praise, worship, and leadership responsibility within our families. We are given a lot of responsbility PERIOD. For this to be done, some blame must be assessed, passed, taken, and corrected. The Bible, better yet JESUS says if your brother sins against you, go to Him in private, then if he will not listen, take another along, and if he still will not listen, bring the matter before the church. Then if he STILL will not listen, treat him as you would a pagan/tax collector/taboo person...smile and keep on walking. He did NOT say don't forgive, but He simply asked us to move on after confronting the issue and seeing that person stuck in their resolve. We have been given too much responsibility to sit as a bump on the log and "let God" handle...God uses YOU. He can't use you if you're sitting down waiting for it to pass on its own. At least move on. Sometimes when we lose something precious or are in danger of losing it, we look for ways to get it back. The lady who lost her coin (in the Bible) tore the house apart looking for it. It was that important to her. So, move on. I guess that's the letting go part. So letting go would be a Bible-ism, and letting God would be half of a people-ism; Letting God use YOU would be a Bible-ism. That's where I'm leaving it.
And another thing: blame is assigning responsibility for a deed or set of actions; judging is providing consequence/ruling over a person's punishment and character. Those are two different things. Just make sure you take the "log" out of your eye before you take the "speck" out of your brother's. If you are not taking blame for things, don't expect others to readily accept blame for their mistakes and misdeeds. Don't run to them telling them to forgive someone when you haven't forgiven them for the past. (Good-charactered) people who are forgiven are grateful to the forgiver for their mercy. People who can't forgive merely remind that person over and over again how much they owe them; if they had truly forgiven, the (good-charactered) wrong-doer would be grateful, not annoyed and resentful because they can't "pay up" with enough sorry's or acknowledgements. So the "stop pointing fingers" people-ism is a people-ism. Oh, I just said that.
God will not be mocked.
Mocking is the emulation and imitation of a person done in a sarcastic/disrespectful/teasing demeanor. It can be done lightly or whole-heartedly. God truly will not be mocked; He is not able to be imitated, replicated, teased, brushed off, or left for something "better." He made us, the whole Earth, the heavens, all of the systems it takes for our bodies and our Earth to produce health and abundance for survival. There is nothing or no one who can replicate that. Look at the Tower of Babel. Look at Job. God is a replenisher, a punisher, a provider, a safe-keeper, and omnipresent and omnipotent all in one. He just "IS." Like He said in the Old Testament when Moses asked God who should he tell Pharaoh had sent him (basically given him authority to say what he had to say) God told Him to tell Pharaoh that "I AM" sent Him. Classic God. He needs no further introduction or representation. If you don't know you better find out. This is definitely a Bible-ism. However, it can become a people-ism if someone uses it out of context. Heck, anything in the Bible used out of context becomes a people-ism. The Bible says that it is the inspired Word of God, and that nothing can either be taken away from it or added to it. When we make our own remix and use partial verses how we want to and don't add the previous or succeeding verses to shape the context, we "take away" and "add" our own flavor, making it a people-ism.
Long story short: STUDY to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who will NOT be ashamed and who RIGHTLY divides the word of TRUTH. I ask God often for the understanding to decipher His word for myself. I figure with the common sense, guiding of the HS, and request for wisdom and whole-hearted seeking of His will (and the reading skills I learned in first grade) I will be ok! Don't live by people-isms...if the Bible is your handbook for life, know it well enough to know when things other people say just simply don't apply to you. Know what God says about you, and care less what people say.
Monica
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