Sabbath: Creation and Morality
Read for This week’s Study: Gen. 2:16-17;Gen. 1:26-28; James 3:9;Acts 17:26;Prov. 14:31;Matt. 5:44-48;Rev. 20:11-13.
Memory Text: “And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die’ “(Genesis 2:16-17, NIV).
People love to talk about “human rights.” From the Magna Carta (1215) to the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789) to various United Nations declarations, the idea is promoted that human beings possess certain “inalienable rights,” rights that no one can rightfully take away from us. They are ours by virtue of being human (at least that’s how the theory goes).
The questions remain: What are these rights? How are we to determine what they are? Can these rights change, and if so, how so? Why should we, as humans, have these rights, anyway?
In some countries, for instance, women were not given the “right” to vote until the twentieth century (some nations still deny it). How, though, can a government grant to people something that is their “unalienable right” to begin with?
Hard questions, and their answers are inseparably linked to the question of human origins, the study for this week’s lesson.
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, February 2.
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We all got rights and that's true.
Now can anyone respond to me on situations where by a woman gets her husband in the act with another lady. Should she divorce him or what?
B'se in many instances the man is the one who is advised to divorce an adulterous wife.
Now don't the ladies have that right.
Denis, The answer to your question, I believe, isn't so much a question of feminine rights to divorce, but whether the relationship can be restored. The question then is, is this marriage ruined? Should I quick pounce on my guilty spouse with divorce papers thus exercising my right to divorce? Should I give it some time and let God deal with it? Things to prayerfully consider since God hates divorce as much as he hates adultery.
Amen! God did not create divorce and it surely hurts God to see people going through divorce! If you surely love someone just as Jesus loved us to the point of giving His life! Then surely you will workout your marriage with God involved - than running out with divorce papers! I come from Africa where my father was drinking and doing all sort of wiered things to my mother - including Adultery! But my mother never left him! Instead she worked it out with constant prayer every day! My mother passed away recently at old age! Together happy with my father! Lets give God a chance to workout things for us!
Isn't the most basic human right - the right that God gave to humans - the right of choice. So many times we as fellow humans try to take away the right that God Himself gave to each of us! But it should daily be our prayer that unlike our first parents we use that "inalienable right" to choose to love and obey God.
God's rights will never betray us, have we ever looked into the barrier that we have created between us and our loving Father. He gave us rights that suits our sinful nature so we can understand how sinful we are and repent to the right ways of God's standard rights which He has set for us.
A woman is just as part of a man's life as the man is of her life. God made us to live and have children together.. The child learns just as much from the father as from the mother. Without the one or the other.. The child still longs for the presence of the mother or the father.
We need to understand that God made a balance and created gender to function together.. Man and woman are made to feel and do things different.. Genetically we are but a little different from one another but the function of both is crucial..
We are about sexual beings and can both fall into temptation.. To love and respect God and ourselves will help us to work together and to think with one another..
The point is.. Man is not made to be alone and needs a companion.. To help and support each other and to rule as one.. The man is thou the head of the home and God gave him that authority..
In the case of adultery.. It's wrong and God despises it.. But as God forgives and we turn from sin.. The true heart of repentance and excepting the forgiveness.. Let the judgment be the decision of the spouse to make in the case of adultery.. Let God take care of the heart.. We must pray and stand together to support both of these parties.. To heal them and keep them close to God..
Ah yes…the right to choose. A topic packed with so many implications, conflicts, and confusion for most Christians. I believe the issues of today highlight this conflict more than ever. How do we not only agree in the right to choose but ensure that people have that right preserved while at the same time making sure it’s clear that not every choice is best for you and has consequences? I look to Christ’s example. He did not remove the right to choose that he gave us from the beginning of time by force or “legislation”. He instead built relationships with folks and showed love in order to influence a true change in hearts. It’s a delicate balance that most of us don’t do very well but need to pray long and hard about….
One of the rights comes to us from the sixth commandment, "You shall not murder" (Exod. 20:13 NKJ) but that is now philosophically being blurred. As a general culture we seem to be moving in a direction that makes things like euthanasia and eugenics appear rather acceptable. That is because according to evolution we really are no better that any other life form on this planet. As David Klinghoffer said in a current article on Evolution News and Views, "If we owe our existence merely to blind churning of physical stuff, then there's nothing special about us. Our lives hardly deserve more reverence or awe than do the lives of vermin. In the end, we are vermin" (http://www.evolutionnews.org/2013/01/wesley_smith_on068671.html).
That short article is based on another one on a website (First Things) titled, "Environmentalism’s Deep Misanthropy." Misanthropy is defined as a hatred of humanity and the article gives some serious food for thought about where humanity is headed morally. It can be found at this website http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2013/01/environmentalismrsquos-deep-misanthropy.
Since the lesson talks about moral, I have a question.
I never had sex in my life and I want to do it after marriage.
However my friends said that it is impossible, now a days men will never choose someone without having sex with them first. Is that true?
Junie,
Beware of men who take a stand for sin. Beware of any man who would 'never' do the right thing. There are still God fearing man out there who can be inspired with a lady who insists on doing what is right in the eyes of God. I believe that there are man will see the christian values in your statement even if they themselves have not been able to keep remain chaste. I believe that there are natural reasons why sex is reserved to a marital relationship and remember, God is the creator. Anytime sex occurs before marriage, it has the potential for serious consequences that transcends generations and may leave scars. In creating a sexual relationship between man and woman (Adam and Eve), God revealed himself to us in the highest and most intimate form of human love, God is Love himself. Sex was and is the way of procreation, God is The creator. Also, we have a sense of paternity when a child is born, God is our father. You see, Marriage and sex are instituted by God and in my opinion brings us closer to his image as he created humanity.
Dear Junie,
Your ideal is exactly is in harmony with God's plans for you.
The next time any friend tells you that it is impossible to be a virgin until marriage, please recognize it as the voice of Satan speaking through your friend. Don't listen! By the grace of God it is possible, and you will have a better marriage for it.
If a man says, "If you love me, you'll prove it by having sex with me," don't believe him. If he wants you to sin to "prove" your love, he is not worth your love. Let him go. (And, by the way, as often as not, men who want women to "prove" their love by having sex with them, will drop the woman as soon as they get what they want. So don't be afraid to say, "No.")
Commit your life fully to God, and trust Him to bring a pure man into your life -- one who will respect you and love you as a true husband should. There may not be many pure men in the world, but there are some. They are Christian men who have committed their lives to God. And God can arrange for you to meet one at the right time. It may not be easy to trust God in this, but it will be well worth it.
Years ago, I heard an atheist woman explain the benefits of virginity at marriage. Since she didn't believe in God, she didn't use biblical reasons, but her reasons were valid too. This is what she said: "Sex is like a strong glue. It bonds a man and a woman to each other. However, if this glue is used before marriage, it will not have much bonding strength left." And I believe she was right.
If men and women do not respect God's law before marriage, they cannot trust each other to respect it after marriage, and they lack the closeness and security in each other's love that God designed them to have. That doesn't necessarily mean that it's impossible to have a good marriage between non-virgins, but it is more difficult. The sexual bond will not be as strong, and the marriage will depend on other types of bonding.
While you wait for God to bring the right man into your life, pray and seek for good friends who want to serve God as you do. Then you can pray for each other and support each other in the Christian walk.
May you be richly blessed as you commit your life to Him.
Its not true and its worldly talk . Resist peer pressure because in this corrupted world there are still a few if not many who can be called my beloved by God and you can be one of them ...
Now, think about this, we chose to do adultery when God was faithful to us, now don't you think God has the right to permanently divorce us? Think about this brethrens!
I congratulate you for your decision to remain pure and undefiled for your husband. It is not true that all men believe that you must have sex before marriage. The majority probably does, but there are some worth being married do, who don't. Either the man, or the woman who think they must have sex before marriage, in my view are not worth being married to. You should always follow what the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy have to say about anything, if you want to be really happy.
If God gave us a right to chose, does it mean he knew that we would chose the tree of knowledge of good and bad. Don't you think he knew us before according to Ephesians 1:4, and who are those talked of in Revelation 13:8. Does it mean DEATH was created by God?, because eating from the tree leads to Death.
I believe God gave us the power to choose so that we might freely choose to love Him. He didn't want robots.
Yes, He knew what choice we would make, and that's why He put the plan of salvation into operation -- a plan that cost Him dearly but revealed the self-sacrificing nature of His character more clearly than it could otherwise have been revealed.
No, God did not "create death." Death is not a thing. God created life, and we live only as God continuously supplies life to His creation. Those who choose to disconnect from the Source of life disconnect themselves from life, and we call the absence of life "death."
Hi Junie,
No doubt you will hear a lot of sage advice from old people like me about what to do when the fires burn hot. I speak from high moral ground, not from choice but from circumstance (grin). When I became engaged to Carmel, almost immediately she was appointed by the church to a teaching position in another country. We did not see one another for 12 months; in fact it was only 8 days before the wedding that we set eyes on one another again. So I did not have to contend with the biological consequences of being close to a very attractive woman that I loved. And I have to say that if the circumstances had been otherwise, I would probably be very quiet on this subject. Who knows what would have happened!
There are a couple of things that we need to understand.
1) Sex is not a sport, nor is it the reward for having a really nice time together at a meal or entertainment venue.
2) Nor is it the prize for being good, or the test for marriageability.
3) Sex is an intimacy to be shared with two people who are committed to one another. It comes with responsibility and that involves more than just procreation.
The main problem is that when the biology kicks in, the battle with morality is already lost - especially for a man.
I also want to say this at the risk of being misunderstood. Many young people will make the mistake of having sex before marriage. (You only need to do a bit of genealogy study to realize that the first child of many marriages has a short gestation period even in Adventist families!) It is not the end of the world. All to often we condemn those who have made the mistake, or who have decided to live together for a while before they marry. Ostracizing them from church fellowship is not the answer. We have recently been through this exercise with a young couple who were in that situation and who felt estranged from church and families. Friendship and a place where they felt safe was important to them and we were able to provide that. They are now married and broken bridges with families mended.
God has the best plan, but he also has contingency plans and sometimes rather than moralizing, we need to hear His call to activate plan B.
Dear Maurice,
Thank you for those comforting comments. We need more people in the church like you. I did make the mistake of having sex before marriage and got pregnant. Being pregnant turned me to God since I wasn't a Christian. However, when my son was 2 years old, I became a SDA and joined SDA communities. I was not liked and was told to go out and spank my son for regular behavior. It took me years to recover from the two plus years in those communities and then the same people ended up running the church I am in. There were a few loving, caring supportive SDA in my life and it was them that helped me get thru life. Thank God for people like you and for God's healing power.
Thankx for those advices. i have had boyfriends.
At first they loved me. after they said that if u do prove it to me.
Time is running. i Will be 20 in 4 days.
Junie, men who want you to "prove" your love by giving up your virginity to them without marrying you are not the kind of men who will make good husbands and fathers.
There's a saying in this part of the world that men think like this: "If you can get the milk for free, why buy the cow?" (If they can have sex for free, why marry?) There is no guarantee whatever that a man will marry you after you give up your virginity to him!
You are still young. I suggest you explore possibilities of what you can do with your life for the near future as a single woman. I think most women who have had a bad marriage will agree that a bad marriage is worse than being single.
A man who truly loves you will marry you before asking you to give up your virginity.
May God bless you with wisdom, strength and faith that God will look after you.
Dear Inge and Maurice,
I wish I had heard counsel like what you and Maurice have shared. We didn't receive any counsel when we grew up and one of my sisters and I didn't know how to deal with men. There wasn't any love or affection shown at home, so that contributed to our future choices. Getting pregnant can happen when you least expect it and the two options, carrying the child and abortion and can change the course of a woman's life. My sister chose abortion, at least twice, which has really messed up her mind and she has never gone to counseling. I carried my son and he is now 35 years old and a successful husband, father and worker. I am glad I kept him but it was a tough life for about the first twenty years. It is not something I recommend to any woman. Thank you for putting your ideas into words.
I will copy them and someday share them with women who are stuggling and my granddaugher when she is older. Many heartfelt thanks!
Junie,
Please don't ever get into a situation where you will compromise your morals. Stay with men in groups in public places. Don't be alone together.
I know the power men can exercise over women. I did get pregnant before marriage and it is something I don't recommend. Please listen to all the comments from Maurice and Inge. Get these ideas stenciled in your brain so when temptation comes, you can do the right thing.
Always remember that you are loved by God and you are very precious to Him. Tell yourself those ideas every day. And I am sure that are people that love you too. Spend time with those people.
God bless you to stay pure and true to Him.
The word " dependence" and the word 'rights ' are the core of the study . As humans we all depend on the Creator because he created us . The only problem comes with the word rights: rights to choose what we eat , speak, wear , associates etc . ..
At creation, Adam and his wife were given dominion over everything on earth . That's a right . After they disobeyed God , they were given the right to choose good from bad either way . So I think we are like a child under the care of his parents , we only have rights in him who we depend upon . But we also have a choice to dis obey him
So if you are a child of God you have your rights in Him ...
Itai, I appreciate your very thought-provoking comment.
I believe you are correct -- that God gave Adam and Eve "dominion" over the planet. But when they listened to Satan, they became his slaves. After that, we have "rights" only in Christ, and He restores our freedom to choose. We maintain that freedom only as we choose in harmony with His will.
It seems to me, moreover, that all talk of "rights" in this world is essentially self-focused, so it is part of the sin problem. Christ, the Creator and King of the universe, came to demonstrate how to live as a child of God. And He taught that those who would be "great" among us should be servants of all. And He demonstrated a serving lifestyle. He did not talk or teach about "rights," only about serving. And the paradox is that only in submitting to Him do we become truly free. Only in service is true happiness to be found.
Thankx for your supports
Love you
Hi Junie and other folks here.
I want to be really honest with you, if you get yourself familiar sexually, it becomes very difficult to serve God the way we all desire to and must to see Him one day, since abstinence is much harder than if you never had the experience. The truth is if you were to become sexually engaged with some guy before marriage, while he is not obliged to marrying you, you yourself may not be interested in marrying him after the moment/s.
Sex is not something that happens 24hrs when you get married and i'm sure the married people can attest to this. Its therefore better to form an establish good friendships and more so with persons who are passionate about serving God. Dont be fooled though, not every guy you meet at church well dressed is true.
Get to know your spiritual gifts and get involved in ministry, eat well, exercise, develop yourself where needed and a God will send you the right mate in the right time and you will be able to discern him.
I'm a young lady like yourself (just a few yrs older), and i know your struggles. you are worth much more than a moment of pleasure,you are a child of God, you are smart and a man laying with you cannot determine that you're gorgeous(God already took care of that).
Hold your head up.
One last thing, many of us have been taught that our virginity is all there is to us and a man is proud of his wife as a virgin. While i dont particularly see why a man shouldnt be proud of his virgin wife, your virginity is not all there is to you and its also as important for a man to maintain his virginity as well, however, society has made it ok for men to be loose while imposing rules on the woman, thats why in some cases even though they get virgin wives, they're still unfaithful. The reason for purity is to please God, not man.
Cheers my sister is Christ!
Sin has taken this world so far from God
It's unbelievable
Yes Junie, it's a sobering realization when we arrive upon it. But we come to this conclusion by the grace of God and it leads us to fully depend on Him, and to immerse ourselves in His Word that we might find the peace and joy He promises.
I have followed the thoughts here this morning and commend you for your stand on the side of the Lord. We will always find the very best life possible in this present world when we trust our gracious heavenly Father, and wait upon Him. (Psalm 37:1-7) Claim His promises. He delights when we "prove" Him.
I would recommend committing to memory Proverbs 3:1-8. Such wonderful promises for the souls that embrace them through faith. The conditions are set forth plainly and it will be a sure guide and a shield from temptation. This is putting on the whole armor of God. We are in a fight of faith and this is God's means for keeping us and bringing us to victory. Jesus wore this "armor". David wore it when he went against Goliath who was "naked" in comparison. Satan himself will have to flee from all who wear it.
I appreciate the wonderful council shared by all in this post.