Can we choose evil and good?

[RickReads]

In other words opinion, not fact.

Well, not really. I`m trying to cut you a break because people disagree on this.

Proverbs 3
9 Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:
10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

In this passage, grape juice is called new wine. Further processing necessary to turn it into alcohol.

 

[Jeshu]

Are you sure..? Are you sure it's not more "cultural"..?

No i don't think so. It is much more spiritual than cultural. The sinful spirit of people longs for the things of the flesh and take great pleasure in feasting and what not. See 2 Peter 2:10-13. While a Spirit filled person will seek to love God and neighbour and is not near as concerned about feasting and getting drunk then a still sinful spirit does.

Ecclesiastes 7:2 "It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart."

Ephesians 5:15-20
"Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

 

[Carl Emerson]

We are obliged to avoid behavior that might cause a brother to stumble ...

Yes, of course, but there are those who want to manipulate the behaviour of others from their self righteous piety. Their demand for 'righteousness' need not be heeded.

 

[PaulCyp1]

The would depend on your definition of "party". If you mean having a good time with friends, music, games, conversation, etc., then sure, why not? If you mean underage drinking, drunkenness, drug use, sexuality, an orgy, then it isn't appropriate any time.

 

[Neogaia777]

I'm asking for a friend who was wondering if it is acceptable to party all Friday night long, and into the morning hours, and still do good deeds for others during the week after catching up on sleep, and living an up-style life 5 or 6 out of 7 days?

What's your opinion?

I don't know if this is something anyone has pointed this out yet, but is something I know from my own personal experience personally in my own life in my past personally, etc...

And that is, it only takes one time, and one time only, and only one moment only, of being out of control only, for the Devil to seriously mess up years or decades or more of your life, in only a matter of a couple of seconds, of being out of control, etc, if God so chooses to withdraw his protection from you in any way, in any particular moment just for a second, and your... Well, let's just say I want to use some "expletives" here that are not allowed on here on this forum, etc...

It only took one second of being like this for me, and God withdrew His protection from me for a second, and in one night and overnight, I crashed my car, got my drivers license taken away for life, almost killed somebody, and just about wound up in prison, etc, never having ever been in any kind of trouble like that ever ever before in my own life ever, etc...

And all it took was only just one night of getting or being inebriated to the point of still being awake and conscious, but not at all aware of what I was doing, or did or had done the next day in my life, etc, an "awake blackout", etc, and the Devil, by the permission of God that night or in those moments I believe, kind of was allowed to take over, and even take me over temporarily I believe, and almost totally wrecked it (the rest of my life) for good almost, etc...

I don't remember driving or making the decision to drive, nor do I remember doing the drug I did, or supposedly chose to do, that most likely caused it either, none of it at all...

I still had to do some jail-time, and still lost my license and my ability to have and drive and own a vehicle for life, but I didn't go to prison, etc, and I didn't kill anyone, etc, and I can't even remember ever doing it, or even starting to do it, or even engaging in it before or afterward, or even to this day, etc, it was an awake and aware complete conscious blackout, etc... So I wasn't awake or aware, but I also was, etc... Anyway...

So, you all want to play with fire, go ahead, but I personally don't ever anymore in my own life at all personally anymore, etc...

I learned my lesson, etc, and also learned that it only takes one moment, one mistake, and if God removes His protection from you, the Devil can quite literally "take over", and he wishes you dead, so...

Anyway,

God Bless!

 

[Neogaia777]

I don't know if this is something anyone has pointed this out yet, but is something I know from my own personal experience personally in my own life in my past personally, etc...

And that is, it only takes one time, and one time only, and only one moment only, of being out of control only, for the Devil to seriously mess up years or decades or more of your life, in only a matter of a couple of seconds, of being out of control, etc, if God so chooses to withdraw his protection from you in any way, in any particular moment just for a second, and your... Well, let's just say I want to use some "expletives" here that are not allowed on here on this forum, etc...

It only took one second of being like this for me, and God withdrew His protection from me for a second, and in one night and overnight, I crashed my car, got my drivers license taken away for life, almost killed somebody, and just about wound up in prison, etc, never having ever been in any kind of trouble like that ever ever before in my own life ever, etc...

And all it took was only just one night of getting or being inebriated to the point of still being awake and conscious, but not at all aware of what I was doing, or did or had done the next day in my life, etc, an "awake blackout", etc, and the Devil, by the permission of God that night or in those moments I believe, kind of was allowed to take over, and even take me over temporarily I believe, and almost totally wrecked it (the rest of my life) for good almost, etc...

I don't remember driving or making the decision to drive, nor do I remember doing the drug I did, or supposedly chose to do, that most likely caused it either, none of it at all...

I still had to do some jail-time, and still lost my license and my ability to have and drive and own a vehicle for life, but I didn't go to prison, etc, and I didn't kill anyone, etc, and I can't even remember ever doing it, or even starting to do it, or even engaging in it before or afterward, or even to this day, etc, it was an awake and aware complete conscious blackout, etc... So I wasn't awake or aware, but I also was, etc... Anyway...

So, you all want to play with fire, go ahead, but I personally don't ever anymore in my own life at all personally anymore, etc...

I learned my lesson, etc, and also learned that it only takes one moment, one mistake, and if God removes His protection from you, the Devil can quite literally "take over", and he wishes you dead, so...

Anyway,

God Bless!

And this was not something I did all of the time either, even back then, etc, I just thought it would just be one simple night of just relaxing and cutting lose for a bit, and then this is what it led to, or what happened, etc...

I had to have others tell me about it or fill me in from the last moments I did remember, to what all happened that night into the next morning, etc, when all I remembered was just waking up, etc, in fact the police told me first when I called them up to report my car stolen the next day/morning, etc, only it wasn't stolen, and they had to tell me what happened, etc...

I went to jail for a couple of hours that very night too, and even called somebody to come get me, and take me home, etc, was there during the whole accident/incident with the police/ambulance showing up at the scene, etc, don't remember any of it though, but my friends and the police said that I was very, very "different", etc, that I seemed to fully "there", etc, but that I was also laughing and making jokes about the whole thing, and that I was kind of arrogant and uncaring about the whole thing during, etc, which I know "wasn't me", etc, so I think someone else was in control of me for during the time that I can't/couldn't remember, etc...

Anyway, you all have fun playing with fire if you want to, but that incident, and what followed, ended all of that for me once and for all and for good, etc...

God Bless!

 

[chad kincham]

Yes. Getting drunk is a sin. It states in Galatians 5 that those who are habitually drunk will not enter the kingdom of God. Be not drunk on wine for that is dissipation.

The kingdom of God does not belong to drunkards. That much is obvious.

That and 1 Corinthians 6:8-10 which has the same warning.

 

[chad kincham]

No reason to believe it was fermented. Fruit juice was called wine in those days. You can stop worrying about that one

We have a term for unfermented wine - grape juice.

With no refrigerator back then, the grape juice would ferment quickly.

That the Bible says an elder is not to be the drinker of much wine, proves it wasn’t grape juice - unless you think God cares how much Welches an elder drinks.

And, it also says “be not drunk with wine, because that’s excess”, shows it’s okay to have a glass of wine with dinner, but not okay to drink until one is drunk.

I don’t think it’s saying to not be drunk with grape juice...since that’s impossible.

Shalom.

 

[Daniel of Sweden]

Ephesians 5:15-20
"Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

A powerful verse this is, God bless.

The title insinuates that there is being some form of Evil being done through the parties. I Will leave some verses, all the Glory to God.

Proverbs 8:13
"The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate."

Proverbs 4:27
"Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil."

Psalm 97:10

"O you who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked."

So, If you Love Evil, you don't Love or Fear the Lord. If you would Love the Lord, you would hate the Evil being done.

The "Good" thing, you would then only do to increase your own Pride and Self-righteousness. Doing Evil blinds the spirit.
Holiness belongs to God, and God only.

Romans 10:3
"For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness."

Think therefore very carefully, WHO is you Master?

Luke 16:13
"No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

 

[chad kincham]

Yet it is still a learning process and no one is to demand how one of God's seeds grow. That is His domain.

Yet my Bible says if any man be in Christ, he IS a NEW creature- old things ARE passed away, behold ALL things are become NEW.

That doesn’t say it’s a process, but a total transformation of the one who’s born again.

Shalom.

 

[chad kincham]

Agree, yet Jesus didn't fill the wedding jars with spirit.

Jesus didn’t want todo it at all, but His mother insisted.

 

[chad kincham]

That is often said with no scripture to back it. Are we talking a drunken man in his tent in the OT or perhaps that it does not put the will of God before the will of man?

1Co 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

1Co 6:10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

 

[chad kincham]

For those who think they’re the elect and can live a sinful lifestyle with impunity because of the P in TULIP, heed this scripture about anyone who continually lives in sin:

1Jn 3:6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.

1Jn 3:7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.

1Jn 3:8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

1Jn 3:9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.

1Jn 3:10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

That passage above means one of two things concerning living in sin as a believer: either OSAS is false, or they were never saved, never the elect, and they have to figure out how to get saved.

 

[Neogaia777]

For those who think they’re the elect and can live a sinful lifestyle with impunity because of the P in TULIP, heed this scripture about anyone who continually lives in sin:

1Jn 3:6 No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.

1Jn 3:7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.

1Jn 3:8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

1Jn 3:9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.

1Jn 3:10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

That passage above means one of two things concerning living in sin as a believer: either OSAS is false, or they were never saved, never the elect, and they have to figure out how to get saved.

Matthew 5:48- "You are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect."

 

[Neogaia777]

Jesus didn’t want to do it at all, but His mother insisted.

I always laugh at that, that even Jesus had to have a little bit of "push" from his own mother into what He was supposed to do or be doing, or into His own calling/destiny, etc...

And I could Just imagine also the "look" she must given Jesus when He said what He did to her also, if there was one, etc, about what He said about "what He had to do with her", etc, even calling her "woman", etc, and right after that, and right after what might have been a possible "look" that she maybe gave Him after that, etc, then turning and then "looking" at the people who were immediately around them, that heard all of it and witnessed all of it, etc, and then saying what she said to them about Him (Jesus) right after Jesus said that, etc...

I think it must have been hilarious to a "certain audience", etc...

Anyway,

God Bless!

 

[Strong in Him]

I'm asking for a friend who was wondering if it is acceptable to party all Friday night long, and into the morning hours, and still do good deeds for others during the week after catching up on sleep, and living an up-style life 5 or 6 out of 7 days?

What's your opinion?

What's the real question?
"Can I party all night, into the morning hours?" - yes, if you want to.
"Will doing good deeds make up for/cancel out the 'sin' of partying all night" - no.
All night partying is not a sin; if it were, the answer is confession, repentance and asking for God's help to resist. We can't "make up for" our own sins - otherwise there'd have been no point in the cross.
Doing good deeds does not earn us salvation; trusting in Jesus who died for our sins, does.

 

[disciple Clint]

I'm asking for a friend who was wondering if it is acceptable to party all Friday night long, and into the morning hours, and still do good deeds for others during the week after catching up on sleep, and living an up-style life 5 or 6 out of 7 days?

What's your opinion?

Yes you should be safe on that, anyone who has ever had a hangover knows that it is counted as time in purgatory.

 

[public hermit]

I'm asking for a friend who was wondering if it is acceptable to party all Friday night long, and into the morning hours, and still do good deeds for others during the week after catching up on sleep, and living an up-style life 5 or 6 out of 7 days?

What's your opinion?

Someone may have already said this, but the thread title is misleading. It gives the impression that we fallible humans can decide to just do what is good, just do evil, or perhaps if we choose do good and evil. But, the reality on the ground is that we all do good and evil, whether that is what we set out to do or not.

You friend, even if he tried, could not do only the good. I am assuming here that thoughts and motives matter, and that the human heart is prone to evil in various and sundry ways.

But, for the sake of argument, let's say your friends spends his Friday nights in dissipation, while the rest of the week every single thing he does is truly good, included all his (hers?) thoughts and motives. That's wonderful, and all things being equal, pretty righteous. And, if your friend has that kind of self control to be truly righteous the rest of the week, then his dissipation on Friday nights is all the more deplorable, since he abandons the good with the same ability that he sustains it throughout the week.

We are created to do what is good, without exception. The person who has done what is good on Tuesday has not gone above and beyond the call if duty, but is simply doing what should be done every day of the week, 365 days a year.

It's only because the norm is that humans regularly don't do what is good that the scenario offered in the OP has some initial plausibility. But it is not realistic. The reality is humans are under a condition so that at their best they struggle, at times, to do what is good. Sin is not simply a choice, but a power under which we are enslaved and must be freed.

 

[A_Thinker]

And this was not something I did all of the time either, even back then, etc, I just thought it would just be one simple night of just relaxing and cutting lose for a bit, and then this is what it led to, or what happened, etc...

I had to have others tell me about it or fill me in from the last moments I did remember, to what all happened that night into the next morning, etc, when all I remembered was just waking up, etc, in fact the police told me first when I called them up to report my car stolen the next day/morning, etc, only it wasn't stolen, and they had to tell me what happened, etc...

I went to jail for a couple of hours that very night too, and even called somebody to come get me, and take me home, etc, was there during the whole accident/incident with the police/ambulance showing up at the scene, etc, don't remember any of it though, but my friends and the police said that I was very, very "different", etc, that I seemed to fully "there", etc, but that I was also laughing and making jokes about the whole thing, and that I was kind of arrogant and uncaring about the whole thing during, etc, which I know "wasn't me", etc, so I think someone else was in control of me for during the time that I can't/couldn't remember, etc...

Anyway, you all have fun playing with fire if you want to, but that incident, and what followed, ended all of that for me once and for all and for good, etc...

God Bless!

and ... if his friend is as occupied as he says in doing good all the rest of the time, ... he has, in effect, put a big target on his back ...

 

[Neogaia777]

and ... if his friend is as occupied as he says in doing good all the rest of the time, ... he has, in effect, put a big target on his back ...

Maybe, I think it would all depend on a lot of things, etc, many things we probably just don't know, or probably ever will know about him, etc...?

God Bless!