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Deutsche Version | Wiki Start | Topics Collection vii
No unjust gain! ...
Monday, July 6, 2015. The words of wisdom start with a sincere warning. It is not good to pursue unjust gain. It is not good to try to reach something by unjust means. It is not good to steal, to lie, to cheat. No!
Very clear Insight …
The bible can be quite straight in its warnings. This is true for the Old Testament, but also for Jesus himself, for his speeches written down in the gospels, in the New Testament. We are reading the Proverbs, the words of Salomo:
8 Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching, 9 for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck. 10 My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. 11 If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason; 12 like Sheol let us swallow them alive, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; 13 we shall find all precious goods, we shall fill our houses with plunder; 14 throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse”— 15
my son, do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths, 16 for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood.
17 For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird, 18 but these men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives. 19 Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors. (Proverbs 1, 8-19)
We are asked to listen. We are asked to follow. And we are given reasons, why!
Destruction …
Why should you do good? Why should you be truthful? Why not to steal, not to cheat? Is it just some personal decision? Is it just something which is completely up to you - and you could choose differently?
The bible always sees our choices, our freedom. Humans can act badly. We can choose to cheat, to lie, to steal and to hurt or even kill others. We live in a world where evil behaviour is possible. At the same time, we are not free to be evil without consequences. When you lie, when you steal, when you even kill, you prepare your own destruction. We do not live in a world where all choices would be equal!
With these sentences we enter the world where God plays a role. We enter the world of faith. Is the world empty, no God, everyone can do what he or she wants? Or is the world one where God is searching to reach us, and where his justice will prevail? The answer is given by reality, even if we are not able to see it, to prove it, or to come to full insight or final conclusions. In the middle of this world we can encouter God himself, by his word, and by his grace and his spirit living in his people. (RWEP) ... more texts