Tom is doing no such thing! Everyone with a genuine connection to Christ will continually be drawing old treasures AS WELL AS NEW from the Word of God. I know for myself, as tenuous as my own connection is, I frequently find new meanings and new understandings each time I read scripture, especially in the words of Jesus Himself. It is a LIVING Word, not a dead, static one.

Now let's look at the meaning Tom has extracted and set forth. It is simply that he is to seek first God's kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things (including food and clothing, the two examples of necessity given by Jesus) will be added. Jesus said take no thought for how we will be clothed. Certainly the primary meaning is to not worry as to how we shall be provided for but to trust in faith. However, might there not be a secondary meaning here which is applicable? I think the key lies in seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. If we seek those first, other things fall into place, including appropriate dressing. And I think the rest of scripture bears this up.

For example, when I read the scripture that tells how a woman should be attired, "not with gold or pearls or costly array ... but with a meek and humble spirit" -- what I read is essentially don't waste a lot of time fussing around with appearance; rather just be simple and modest and let your real "adornment" be the character you develop and "wear" through your personality. I see the focus as being AWAY from excessive attention to clothing rather than toward MORE attention to it. Those counsels are meant to say basically that less is more -- less attention spent on outward appearance and more spent on inward character, which in my mind relates to "the kingdom of God and His righteousness" to which Jesus referred.

I'm not presuming to speak for Tom here, just sharing what I see in all of this. I certainly don't see Tom hideously wresting scripture as he has been accused of doing. And I don't see anything productive emerging from those accusations, either. Tom is not the enemy and he did not come in like a flood. He merely shared a word of scripture in season. I think we should be very careful about this business of automatically attributing anything that disagrees with our opinion or emphasis as being "the enemy". Sounds like a recipe for a House Divided to me, and we all know what becomes of those. (And yes, I am aware that I've been guilty of doing likewise myself.)

Just my :2cents:

Nico

Well, I guess I am wrong. I guess some commentary is needed.

Jesus says in verse 25 that we should take no thought for what we should eat, drink or wear. He is not saying that anything goes. He is not saying that it is ok to eat pork, drink whiskey or wear immodest clothing.

In verse 26 Jesus points out that God provides for the fowls' needs. In verse 27 He tells us not to worry because it will do us no good. Verses 28 - 30 Jesus uses the analogy God providing clothing for the grass of the feild.

In verse 31 Jesus brings it all together again. The topic of His sermon is WORRY. He is not preaching about what is acceptable to eat, drink or wear. He specifically says here that we should not worry about where our clothing will come from. He is not talking about fashion rather about the bare nessesities of life - food, water & clothing.

In verse 32 Jesus drives that point home. He tells us not to worry about our needs like unbelievers do. God knows our needs so if we trust in Him we need not worry.

Verses 33 & 34 summerize this portion of His sermon. Jesus tells us to seek the Kingdom of God and all His righteousness and our needs will be provided. Interesting here we are told to focus on God's righteousness. That is because without wearing the robe of Christ's righteousness none of us can see heaven and by wearing His righteousness we will be a witness unto the world. This command to focus on God's righteousness is then follwed by a command not to worry.

Do you recall an old, popular melody that said, "Don't worry, be happy"? Well Jesus is saying, "Don't worry, focus on Me". That is what the passage is all about. That is a far cry from eat what you want, drink what you want, wear what you want.

Sister Nico,

The problem I see in Brother Tom's approach is what his foundation seems to be. It seems that he starts out with the assumption that the only reason we discuss standards of righteousness is so we can judge our brothers and sisters. That assumption is in itself a judgment of those of us that wish to discuss God's will for each of us.

I am not accusing Brother Tom of this. However there are some that want to live without God's direction and standards and yet claim to be followers of Christ. They get nervious anytime anyone starts discussing God's expressed will for our conduct. So they automatically start judging those of us that discuss it by accusing us of wanting to judge others. They are trying to silence us. Actually they are trying to silence the Holy Spirit and as the apostle Paul discovered, it is hard to kick against the pricks.

I can't speak for others, but the reason I discuss righteousness and God's will for His people is because I want to live as He would have me. In fact, I don't trust my own instincts. When I live life the way I think is best, I mess it up. I must seek God's will for me if I have any hope of happiness in this life. So I am not concerned about God's will so I can judge others. I am more concerned about the guy in the mirror.

Quote:

---

My apology was sincere, but I still believe that the words could be applied to any area of our faith. Don't you?

---

And I noticed that you avoided my question regarding the appology- What good is it? I suspect and this thought is begining to harden, your appology means NOTHING! Another piece of evidence that gives credence to the other thought-a cynic is rejecting the HS.

Quote:

---

Niel, I am grateful for your presence even though things have gotten out of hand. I must remind you of a couple things however:

---

BTW, the name is N *EI*l, not Niel...You have, over every single post, failed to notice this fact.

As for things 'getting out of hand', for you, maybe, but I have not even begun to talk about this subject. I have much more to say, but in my mind, it is of no use to persuade you of changing your attitude, let alone your posts.

Quote:

---

1.) I began the thread.

---

Granted, and one thought that I will concur and will conceed.

Quote:

---

2.) You mentioned that you were giving me the last word several posts back.

---

That is true too, but up to that point where your powers of observation have fail. There was an little item that you forgot to mention in this....See the next paragraph.

Quote:

---

Since then you have returned several times, which is fine. But don't come back time and again saying you arent interested in any more discussion. It is too complex for us simple-minded folk to handle.

---

You forgot that you asked for a clarification. I understood that to mean that you wanted to know further where I was coming from. I think that I made that clear, that is, you are doing the devils work in religious garb. Something the bible talks about 'even Satan appears in clothing of light" or something to that effect and in no good light.

Since your appology, and your request for more information, I have endevored to further your enlightenment, but to no avail. Since this is a rather painful subject for me, I may not be conversing on this thread anymore...even if you ask for further clarification. You are just too contentous for me to bother with. And while I do deem that those who condemn the church and/or members of it by using EGW to hide behind as hopelessly cynical, I will point that out to the individual from time to time. In the meantime, I have better things to do than argue every nuance of YOUR non-biblical, non-EGW sactioned dysfuncitions.

Shane:

Quote:

---

However there are some that want to live without God's direction and standards and yet claim to be followers of Christ.

---

Nico:

Quote:

---

is this not just as much an assumption as the assumption that one brings up standards in order to judge others?

---

Good question. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to clarify. My statment is not directed at any individual or group. I am simply stating that these types of people exist. It is also true that there are judgmental people that search the Bible for ways to judge others. Note, I did not assume Brother Tom's motivation.

Quote:

---

who or what is it that ultimately determines whether something is, in fact, God's will or not?

---

For Protestants the answer is the Bible. How do we understand the Bible? Of course God uses other people so discussing God's standards in a forum like this can aid us in discovering God's will. The Holy Spirit speaks to me and uses God's Word to do so. We must be humble to hear His voice. When we humble our hearts the word of the righteous will be a kindness to us. We will count the words of the rightous as an excellent oil (Ps. 141:5).

Quote:

---

BTW, the name is N *EI*l, not Niel...

---

Try not to get too excited. I have probally made the same mistake more than a dozen times. So much for the i before e except after c, right

I can't count how many times people have called me Sean instead of Shane