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Is all sin Idolatry?

What do you think of this statement that I found browsing the net?

"The root of every sin is a breaking of the first commandment"
Yes I think so. Thats why its number 1. It also relates to the greatest commandment to love God with all your heart and strength. This is not so much a commandment but an appeal. The spirit of the first commandment. That whatever is in your heart that you make God is what you will be and become. Is also the root of all evil in that it begins in the heart. Christ mentions this as being the fullfillmnt of the law.

I think it also relates to hierarchy. Who is the ultimate lord of this world and the universe. Many gods and truths are claimed as the one true way to enlightenment and salvation. But it is in the nature of truth and reality that there can only be one God and truth in Christ.

Satan rebels against this and wanted to be God. Wanted to be the god of the world. He put the idea in minds of Adam and Eve to disobey God so they could be like Him.

That why God made the 1st commandment as He knew that there would be many false gods and idols that were competing for devotion. As God was the one true God it makes sense that this be a commandment for our own good. Whatever you make your god is what you become.
I only have one distinction to categories my thoughts in this matter.

Pre-made. This is a person suppressing the truth in unrighteousness and heaping up for himself false teachers who tell him what his itching ears want to hear. This is a idol that was made to appeal to the flesh and attract the masses.
Thats why I think it begins with the 1st commandment and its fullfillment in the greatest commandment. Which leads to the 2nd greatest commandment.

Because if you begin with the one true God it leads to the keeping of the commandments and to Christs fullfillment as God promised. The foundation is God and the fruits are obedience to God in keeping the rest of the commandments. Which naturally leads to Christ.

But if you place false gods and idols as the basis for your devotion and worship then you are subject to this. Whatever that may entail. Much of the time with pagan gods and idols or with money and materialism or with science and tech and even worshipping other humans as the pharoahs did. This is usually based around making human desires and the flesh gods and idols.

Its a backdoor way to worshipping the world and self as god.

I think the main reason why God is resisted is because people have to give up the idea of self as the god of their own life and world. Bowing down to someone else as God. Due to our fallen nature we inherently rebel against God. Because satan wants to be God.
Custom made idols. These I would define as a person making a god in his own image. Making Him as he wants Him to be, and not trusting and loving Him as He is, even if we don't understand everything to get a clear picture of Him. This is a person who plucks out from Scripture all the things that he doesn't want, and replaces that with his own wants, thus creating a god in his own image.

Is all sin idolatry? Is it all motivated by the breaking of the first commandment?

Thoughts?
Your are right that we humans tend to make what we want into gods and idols. Its sort of a justification for allowing sin that we make it a god or something worthy of worshipping. Money is a good example. Many don't even realise we are slaves to money. When God said he would give us all we need.

The hardest thing I think is that in todays world it is full of false gods and idols that make people happy and give pleasure and that this has been made to be a good thing. A measure of what is moral and something that should be aspired to. Its a bot like how 'pride' has become a virtue. Which is basically the worship of self and others.
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Third Sunday After Pentecost (EF)

Morning Prayers

Divinum Officium

Daily Quote...A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love. - St. Basil the Great

Third Sunday After Pentecost propers & commentary (Gueranger)

Third Sunday After Pentecost propers & commentary

Fr. Leonard Goffine's instruction on the Third Sunday After Pentecost

The Merciful Orations of the Third Sunday after Pentecost

In Illo Tempore: 3rd Sunday after Pentecost

Daily Gospel

The Sacred Heart of Jesus – Short Meditations for June. June 14 — The Chief Desires of the Sacred Heart

Saint Basil the Great propers & commentary

Saint Basil the Great Bishop, Doctor of the Church

Sermons for Everyday Living - St Basil the Great 6/14/26

The Soul Worth More Than the Whole World | Third Sunday After Pentecost
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Audio version of Gueranger
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I found out why my mother is so angry at me

I am not sure what is going on with you and your mother. I think perhaps both of you need to sit down and you should ask her what she finds difficult with you living at home. Perhaps her telling you to wash the floor she meant to just dry it up after yourself with a towel. May be you need some clarification about what she means. There should be a set time for house work.
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Define the Rapture and history of various versions of it

It seems that the Judgment and the old earth disposed of, will happen at the same time. More or less simultaneously. Both after the Millennium.

It will be all of the earthly and mortal world finished and gone. Eternity is entirely Spiritual.

In the Nicene Creed we confess a belief in the resurrection of the Body and the life of the world to come, and eschatological texts in the New Testament very clearly describe a physical World to Come.
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30 trillion reasons sex can’t change

Instead of affirming that “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (Genesis 1:27),” the trans ideology states, “I create my own image, I can make myself to be male, female, or anything I choose.” (Embracing God’s Design by Walt Heyer and Jennifer Bauwens, Ph.D., Chapter 1)

My story

In the 1980s, I fell for the idea that I could make myself to be female even though I am male. I took cross-sex hormones, had numerous surgeries to feminize my bodily appearance, and for 8 years, identified as Laura Jensen, female. I came to realize that none of it changed my male body into a biological female. I knew I was a fake and not really a female.

Thanks to a loving church, Christian counseling, and leaning on faith, I offered my life to Jesus and Jesus offered me His divine grace. The Lord Jesus redeemed and restored my sanity.

I admitted to God I had been wrong and foolish to identify as a “trans” female. I came to see that I had elevated my fake “female” self above God and family and was living a blatantly sinful and self-centered life, missing out on God’s divine grace. Today I live as the man God created me to be, bringing Him honor with 40 years of sobriety, 29 years of marriage, and a ministry to others wanting to get their life back, as I did.

The body testifies to the truth

Continued below.

Do you have any Interesting stories to tell ?

On Wednesday, the day of the cup final, the Cats looked ready—all except Gary. He walked into the arena pale, glassy-eyed, and heavy-footed, his stomach waging a brutal rebellion. He blamed a bad night's sleep when Coach Santini asked why he looked off.

From the first possession, Gary was a shadow of himself. His explosiveness was gone, his footwork was sluggish, and he missed layups blindfolded, clutching his stomach after rebounds. The Foxes pounced relentlessly. By halftime, the Cats were down by twelve.

The second half was worse. Gary’s legs betrayed him, his vision blurred, and his passes sailed out of bounds. As cameras zoomed in on his pale face, unmistakably suffering from Monday night’s feast, the Foxes widened the lead. With two minutes left, the Cats were down by eighteen.

When the final buzzer sounded, Gary sat frozen on the bench. Coach Santini patted his shoulder. “Don't worry, Gary. We'll try again next year.” Gary could only nod.

The Foxes celebrated on the court as the Cats walked off in silence. Gary Meldrum, the league’s golden boy, had been defeated. He finally understood the truth: he hadn’t lost to the Foxes. He’d been defeated by himself. (The end)
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Weekly homilies

Homily Monday, June 15, 2026



1 Kings 21:1-16



God teaches us that the only true authority is love, the joy of a child, welcoming, and respect.



Matthew 5:38-42

Jesus said, "Offer no resistance to one who is evil."



There are two good reasons for this: to ease tension, and to allow time to find equitable solutions.



Biblical texts: NAB-RE

Normand Thomas.
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It Profits Me Nothing

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 NKJV

“1Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”

But Have Not Love

The word for love here in the Greek is agapé, and it means “to prefer,” especially with regard to preferring what God prefers. And what God prefers is all that is holy, just, upright, morally pure, honest, faithful, and obedient to him and to his commands. So this is love which centers in moral preference which is not dependent on our feelings (our emotions). We love others whether our emotions are feeling it or not. For we are to love others even when we are mistreated, hated, betrayed, and slandered by them.

Therefore, if we have not love, it would be the opposite of this, would it not? It would mean to not prefer what God prefers, i.e. to not make godliness, holiness, righteousness, moral purity, honesty, faithfulness, and obedience to God’s commands our personal preference, i.e. what we desire most of all above all else. So that would indicate that something else was what we preferred, instead. It would indicate that our primary desires are of the flesh, and not of God, and that they are self-serving, in place of God.

So, what would that look like if we “have not love,” even though we appear to be operating in the gifts of the Spirit? It would mean that we are making all the appearance of being of God, and of being led by the Spirit, and of being full of knowledge and giftedness, of the Spirit of God, but we are still selfish and self-centered in nature, and we do not regard the needs of others of value, and we do not grieve over sin and rebellion, and so we don’t reach out to people in love to help them to become free from their bondage to sin.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NKJV

“4Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

Love’s Character Traits

These are the characteristic traits of agape love, i.e. what this love looks like in daily practice, in how we treat others, and in how we relate to them. And the first mentioned here is long suffering, which is patience and endurance, refusing to retaliate with anger when we are mistreated by others, or when they promise and do not deliver on their promises, but do the opposite. But patience is not tolerance and acceptance of sin. And kindness is not lying to people to make them feel good. If we are kind, we speak the truth in love.

And if we are not envious of others we are not jealous of them because they have something we don’t have. We are happy for them if what they possess is something good, and we do not resent them having it and us not having it. And if we are not arrogant we do not think too highly of ourselves and we are not braggarts who always try to make ourselves look better than what we actually are. We are not show offs just wanting attention. But we do what we do out of obedience to our Lord and out of love for our fellow humans.

We are also not those who behave in an improper manner, but we are those who make it our practice to behave in a godly manner, in holiness and in righteousness, and in moral purity and honesty and integrity. Our minds are not set on what is evil and immoral and on what is contrary to the will of God, but on what is pure and upright and righteous and obedient to God. We are not those who rejoice when we see evil being done, but we rejoice with the truth and with what is good and is of God, for we love and obey God.

Bears, Believes, Hopes, and Endures

Now, when this says that love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things,” we must be careful that we interpret this in light of the teachings throughout the Scriptures. For we are not to bear with sinful practices going on within the church. And we are not to believe the lies which are being spread within the gatherings of the church, either. And we are not to put our hope in things which are of the flesh and not of God, and we are not to tolerate what is wicked, immoral, and against our Lord.

This is just providing a concluding remark to sum up all that was said previously. We bear up against being treated badly, and we walk by faith in our Lord, and not by sight. We are people of hope and not of despair who endure all kinds of mistreatments, sufferings, and persecutions for the glory of God. We believe God’s word and what it teaches us, and our hope in our Lord is based on truth and righteousness and not on the lies so many are telling. For our minds are set on the Lord and on the truth of his Word.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Love Never Fails

Based off 1 Corinthians 13 NIV
An Original Work / August 20, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love


If I speak with tongues of men and angels,
But do not have love, my speech is but noise;
It sounds like thunder from above.
If I have the gift of preaching,
Knowledge, faith and prophecy,
But I do not love my brothers, oh, what vanity!
If I give all I possess to help a neighbor who’s in need,
But I do not love my sisters, I gain not a thing.

Love is patient; love is kind; it does not envy;
Is not proud. It is not rude; not self-seeking;
Selflessly gives out. Love does not delight in evil,
But rejoices with the truth; Protects always;
Hopes and trusts, and always perseveres.
Love is not easily angered; keeps no record of the wrongs.
It forgives when wrong’s intended; returns hate with love.

Love will never fail when it is God’s love
Reaching out through us, selfless in its care for others;
Yielding to the cross. Prophecies and tongues
And knowledge, wisdom, teaching, miracles,
Gifts of healing, helping others – these will all be stilled.
When perfection comes the imperfect will surely disappear.
Faith and hope and love remain; the greatest of these, love.

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It Profits Me Nothing
An Original Work / June 14, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Christian History in 15 minutes

Not directly, no. Neither does Jesus say, "I am Theos." But that in no way means that Jesus did not claim to be God.
Quite right, Jesus didn't say, "I am Theos." However, He certainly said things that cause even His enemies to realise that He was claiming equality with God:

(Joh 5:18 NKJV) Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.

He also said:


(Joh 10:30) " I and My Father are one."

(Joh 14:9) Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?

So the meaning (that Jesus is God) is there.

The same cannot be said of what the vow was that Paul took at Cenchrea. It isn't said in different words. We are just pot told.
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Prayers for financial provision, emotional support

Hi, everybody, it's been a while.

I'm a lady from South-Africa experiencing tremendous financial- and emotional challenges. I am on national disability (Sassa) due to a chronic anxiety disorder that interferes with my ability to work. The government grant is not much and unfortunately with loan deductions, it was finished within a few days. I get little other financial aid and at this time, I'm completely broke, overwhelmed, and desperate. I was robbed of over R40000 in 2020, my last inheritance money, and started on disability in 2021. Please pray for me in this regard.

My fianceé and I have been living separately for over a month now due to an unfortunate set of circumstances. We have regular telephonic contact, but missing each other is terrible. Especially on my part, with my anxiety disorder. I would be thankful for prayer for the two of us to be reunited soon.

Blessings! ✝️

Where is "go to heaven" in the Bible?

AND THE MAN on. the cross says where he went too !!

dan p
The man on the cross didn't say where he went to, if by "the man on the cross" you meant the repentant thief. Jesus told him, Today you will be with me in paradise." (I'd almost forgotten the post you were replying to; it was some 6 or 7 weeks old.)
  • Agree
Reactions: Mark Quayle
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Does The "Weekly Sunday Services in NT" suggestion survive Acts 13? No?

He did but those verses are speaking of His Spirit and does not limit the Commandments that were written on stone to be that which is placed in our hearts. We are given His Spirit that we walk in His Commandments and statutes, all His Way. Not just that which was written on stone. All righteousness.
Here, verses in Romans 13 speaks about "Law (v8,10) and Commandment (v9)" only points to the Ten Commandments and nothing about statutes, when we shall love our neighbors.
That to "love our neighbors" was to not commit adultery, not to murder, not to steal, and not to covet, these all are in the Ten Commandments.
This implied that God's Laws in Hebrew 8, put on His people's mind and written their heart by God/Spirit as the new covenant refers to the Ten Commandments.

Notice, Ezekiel 36:26,27 speaks about the guidance of the Spirit but nothing about the Law written in their heart, only the Spirit's guidance to cause us to walk in God's statutes and ordinances.

Rom 13:8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
Rom 13:9 For this, "YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET," and if there is any other
commandment, it is summed up in this saying, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."
Rom 13:10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Eze 36:26 "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Eze 36:27 "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
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