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Sun Oct 21, 2007 9:20 AM
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What do you think about this quote?
"If your relationship with God is good, your relationship with other people with good."
A friend of mine who has had trouble with interpersonal relationships recently has been down because of it. Some Christians have told her this quote which has caused her some more distress. Do you think this quote is Biblical? I can't recall any passage that would support it directly. I'm sure a good relationship with God can often help with other relationships, but to say that because your relationships with other people are bad, your relationship with God is necessarily bad too doesn't seem right to me.
John
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Unbiblical. Jesus had -- well a PERFECT relationship with God and His relationship with others was not always - pleasant (i.e Crucifixion, the Phars, and Sads). Consider John the Baptist (Matt 14:10) and Paul (2 Cor. 12:23 ff) as well. John 15:19-19
If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Even Christians have problems with other Christians -- consider the church at Corinth and Paul (2 Cor. 5:5, etc.) or Paul, Barnabus, and John (Acts 15:36 f). <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/bif.gif" alt="" />
Reformed and Always Reforming,
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Joe is correct that the statement isn’t biblical. However, there is a sense that when our relationship with God is good, people can be attracted to the peace one has through the difficulties of life. The problem however is that the Gospel that we live and proclaim as Christians is an offense to those who are perishing. I have had the pleasure over the years to know Christians that have been under tremendous suffering either through physical ailments, or deaths or ailments of love ones. However, they still radiate a peace that passes all understanding despite their suffering. Even many non-Christians have taken notice of this and long to have this peace, but with out the Lord's drawing can not and will not embrace the secret behind these Christians peace. In fact many become irritated by the very presence of the Christian who has their mind stayed on God. Is. 26:3 "Though wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee."
I want to also relate something that happened to me about a year after I became a Christian, which perhaps might have some bearing to this discussion about what these people (giving them the benefit of the doubt) could be referring to.
When I wasn’t a Christian I was down right ornery to my sister’s boy friend. I just didn’t like him and treated him with contempt. However, after I became a Christian although I still didn’t like some of the things about him, because of my relationship with the Lord, I no longer treated him the same way. This was eventually noticed by him and during a conversation with him, he said to me. “Tom, before you became a Christian, I could not stand you, you were a jerk. Now you are a nice guy.” Eventually he became attracted to the Lord and for a time seemed to have actually become a Christian, but that was short lived and like many other things in his life he walked away from anything to do with Church and the Lord.
Tom
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The Boy Wonder
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...but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin (1st John 1:7, NASB, emphasis mine). Walking in the Light doesn't eliminate the differences between people, but it does transcend them. Our relationships with other Christians is maintained by the Light we walk in. Our relations with people outside of Christ will certainly be strained if we walk in the Light, because those who hate God will also hate His children, just as Jesus said. And it is also true that no Christian walks perfectly in the Light - thus our fellowship with one another will not be what it should be until our final deliverance from the corruption of the world and the flesh is done, in the resurrection.
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Journeyman
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I would agree that the quote is biblical.. but is this??
I heard just the other day that, and I quote loosely because I dont remember the exact phrase or passages, that God does not want us in His presence if our other relationships are not "right"?
I was hanging out at my friends dorm and one of the students next door was asking about that.. any ideas?
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Journeyman
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I meant to say UNbiblical in my first post.. sorry.. I need to edit before finalizing a post...
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Robin said:...but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin (1st John 1:7, NASB, emphasis mine). Walking in the Light doesn't eliminate the differences between people, but it does transcend them. Our relationships with other Christians is maintained by the Light we walk in. Our relations with people outside of Christ will certainly be strained if we walk in the Light, because those who hate God will also hate His children, just as Jesus said. And it is also true that no Christian walks perfectly in the Light - thus our fellowship with one another will not be what it should be until our final deliverance from the corruption of the world and the flesh is done, in the resurrection. Well said Robin. I will pass this along to my friend. John
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da_unlearned said: I need to edit before finalizing a post... You not only can specify in your "Personal Preferences" in My Home to automatically "Preview" your posts/replies, but you can manually do that too if you choose not to automatically "Preview" your posts/replies. Additionally, you have up to 6 hours to go back and edit any of your posts/replies.
simul iustus et peccator
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J_Edwards said:Unbiblical. Jesus had -- well a PERFECT relationship with God and His relationship with others was not always - pleasant (i.e Crucifixion, the Phars, and Sads). Consider John the Baptist (Matt 14:10) and Paul (2 Cor. 12:23 ff) as well. John 15:19-19
If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Even Christians have problems with other Christians -- consider the church at Corinth and Paul (2 Cor. 5:5, etc.) or Paul, Barnabus, and John (Acts 15:36 f). <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/bif.gif" alt="" /> I agree that Jesus is the perfect example to show this quote is not Biblical. I do think that our relationship with God influences greatly with how we treat other people though. This is especially true when we are treated badly and we desire to lash out in anger or desire to "get back at them". Sometimes my friend has trouble dealing with others and can get upset or angry easily. That is why this quote has been troubling to him. John
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john said: What do you think about this quote?
"If your relationship with God is good, your relationship with other people with good." Sorry, the quote should be "If your relationship with God is good, your relationship with other people will be good." I have no idea how I missed the mistake for so long.
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John
If the quote that you provided is in the context of what you just described about your friend, then I agree with you. How well do you know this friend? Do you know him well enough that he would be able to take some loving rebuke and encouragement to learn how to grow in the Lord? Regardless it would seem that this would go a long way towards solving his problem. 1Cor. 13:5 Romans 12:19-21
Tom
Last edited by Tom; Sat Oct 27, 2007 4:19 AM.
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Tom said: John
If the quote that you provided is in the context of what you just described about your friend, then I agree with you. How well do you know this friend? Do you know him well enough that he would be able to take some loving rebuke and encouragement to learn how to grow in the Lord? Regardless it would seem that this would go a long way towards solving his problem. 1Cor. 13:5 Romans 12:19-21
Tom Tom, I know this person pretty well. We have talked about this issue a good bit. I will pass along the Bible verses. John
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John
Here is something else I just thought of. There is an old saying that I believe are words to live by. "If anyone speaks badly of you, live so that noone believes it."
Tom
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Tom said: John
Here is something else I just thought of. There is an old saying that I believe are words to live by. "If anyone speaks badly of you, live so that noone believes it."
Tom Tom, I'm not exactly sure how the quote is supposed to apply, but it's a really nice quote <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />. John
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Given that God works from the internal first, I think how we get along with others is often dependent on this view that God's work is often unseen at first. "Get along with everyone, so long as it depends on you" is a good verse to consider. We are responsible for our own behavior, not the behavior of others. However, the first quote offered here is unbiblical at best - I like what Robin said about walking in the Light and how we do this imperfectly. And sometimes difficult people in our lives are that way because they have misunderstood or have not accepted God's forgiveness fully. We must choose how we treat people, but it is not a measure of a 'bad' relationship with God if we do this badly - we might just not have learned God's wisdom in this area yet. I suppose this is the difference between judging rightly, and being judgmental.
Just a Philomath...
"Immediate necessity makes many things convenient, which if continued would grow into oppression. Expedience and right are different things." -Thomas Paine
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