Stumbling Blocks

[newbeliever02072005]

Hello Everyone

I was reading in another thread called "smoking" and someone (Ginny) made this comment that got me thinking about something else. I am hoping to talk about or get some discussion on. It doesn't have anything to do with smoking and that is why I am starting a new thread.

Exactly, it is definitely a stumbling block.

What are some "stumbling blocks" for a christian? I was thinking that the bible could be one. We have the freedom in this country to read freely the bible. How many of us christians takes that freedom with honor. Giving honor to God by reading his word? By not reading His word we trip ourselves up (making a stumbling block) on our walk with the Lord. How can we possible grow as christians if we are not feeding that growth with the word?


What do you all think? Do you agree - disagree? Am I off base with this?


God Bless!
newbeliever
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[hindsey]

I agree with what you said.

I think when the Bible speaks of stumblingblocks, it is talking about you not doing something that woudl cause another Christian to stumble. Romans 14 speaks on this subject. If a Christian thinks that eating meat is wrong, even though I know that there is nothing wrong with eating meat, when he comes over to my house, I shouldn't cook up a big juicy sirloin steak. That would be making a stumblingblock for him.

 

[mesue]

Romans 14:21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.

Paul was using drinking wine or eating the meat that was used to sacrifice to other gods as an example of how we act. And it is how we act that may or may not be offensive to others, not just to other Christians, but the lost as well.
The people Paul was addressing were eating the meat that was used in a sacrafice. The Christians that abstained from eating the meat accused the Christians that were eating the meat of not really being Christian. If you go back to vs. 10 you'll see that Paul was saying "Who are you to judge the motivation for your brethren to eat the meat? You're not the one that will answer for him at the judgement seat of Christ." He goes on to say that we should do all things to the glory of God. (that was purely a mesue free translation.)
We are under grace, not the law. Does that give us occasion to sin every chance we get? God forbid! Romans 3:31
It does mean that we, as Christians have to watch what we are doing in front of others. If it does not bring glory and honor to God, or if you think that it may not, don't do it, at least until you seek Godly counsel. And if we do stumble and fall 1 John 1:9 is still in the Bible.
I hope this made sense.

 

[rural_preacher]

This is a great topic and one that every Christian should seek to understand...unfortunately it seems that few do.

Here is an excellent book to help you grow in your understanding of what God's Word teaches about stumbling blocks and the Love and Liberty that we have in Jesus Christ.

Free to Disagree by John Wecks


I highly recommed this book for every child of God!

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[mesue]

This is a great topic and one that every Christian should seek to understand...unfortunately it seems that few do ...


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Was it something mentioned in here that drew you to that conclusion?

 

[eldermike]

Thanks Rural_Preacher, I am going to read the book!

 

[eldermike]

What are some "stumbling blocks" for a christian? I was thinking that the bible could be one. We have the freedom in this country to read freely the bible. How many of us christians takes that freedom with honor. Giving honor to God by reading his word? By not reading His word we trip ourselves up (making a stumbling block) on our walk with the Lord. How can we possible grow as christians if we are not feeding that growth with the word?

I agree. Conviction comes from knowledge of things of God and knowledge of His ways. Without conviction we will not change our ways. This result is seen today in the church. New Christians read the Word that lives in and through us older Christians. We are mentoring others even if we do not know it.
Good thread.

 

[daveleau]

Hello Everyone

I was reading in another thread called "smoking" and someone (Ginny) made this comment that got me thinking about something else. I am hoping to talk about or get some discussion on. It doesn't have anything to do with smoking and that is why I am starting a new thread.

​

What are some "stumbling blocks" for a christian? I was thinking that the bible could be one. We have the freedom in this country to read freely the bible. How many of us christians takes that freedom with honor. Giving honor to God by reading his word? By not reading His word we trip ourselves up (making a stumbling block) on our walk with the Lord. How can we possible grow as christians if we are not feeding that growth with the word?


What do you all think? Do you agree - disagree? Am I off base with this?


God Bless!
newbeliever
​

A stumbling block is anything that gets in between us and God. So, yes, that could be a stumbling block.

 

[rural_preacher]

Was it something mentioned in here that drew you to that conclusion?

No, not at all. I am referring to the Christian community as a whole. Personal experience in ministry has led me to such words. Sadly, the struggle to place love above liberty is lost by many. My words were not intended to "point the finger" at anyone here in CF...it was just a general statement based on years of observation.


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[mesue]

No, not at all. I am referring to the Christian community as a whole. Personal experience in ministry has led me to such words. Sadly, the struggle to place love above liberty is lost by many. My words were not intended to "point the finger" at anyone here in CF...it was just a general statement based on years of observation.


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ahh! okay
You make a good point. We, as Christians tend to be either very legalistic or totally "free" and, seemingly, watered down. I wonder if that's because of our tendencies, as people who struggle with the flesh, (I speak for myself) to compare ourselves to others and make judgements on what we would do?

 

[newbeliever02072005]

A stumbling block is anything that gets in between us and God. So, yes, that could be a stumbling block.

Could it be turned around and christians be a stumbling block for the lost?

 

[IgnatiusOfAntioch]

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We have the freedom in this country to read freely the bible. How many of us christians takes that freedom with honor. Giving honor to God by reading his word? By not reading His word we trip ourselves up (making a stumbling block) on our walk with the Lord. How can we possible grow as christians if we are not feeding that growth with the word?

What do you all think? Do you agree - disagree? Am I off base with this?


God Bless!
newbeliever

​

There is a reason that the Lord had 31 proverbs. I read one each day along with the daily Mass reading from the Prophets, Psalms, Epistle, and Gospel.
God Bless you on your journey of Faith.

 

[mesue]

Could it be turned around and christians be a stumbling block for the lost?

Yes, when we do something the lost views as "un-Christian".

 

[ZiSunka]

What are some "stumbling blocks" for a christian? I was thinking that the bible could be one. We have the freedom in this country to read freely the bible. How many of us christians takes that freedom with honor. Giving honor to God by reading his word? By not reading His word we trip ourselves up (making a stumbling block) on our walk with the Lord. How can we possible grow as christians if we are not feeding that growth with the word?

I don't think the freedom to study the Bible is a stumbling block, but I think the ownership of too many Bibles is a stumbling block. Once you get more than two or three Bibles in a house, they get to be too common, too ubiquitous, so that you don't even notice them, let alone study them. We tend to think if we had more Bibles, we sould get more out of Bible study, but just the reverse is usually true.

In the US, the average Christian household has five Bibles, and the average Christian household spends a total of 30 minutes a week reading them. In households with one Bible, the members of the household spend 1.5 hours a week reading them. In Nigeria where there is one Bible for 6 Christian households, the members of each household (having to share a Bible with 6 other families) read the Bible an average of 3 hours per week! But when there are more than two Bibles present in the household, they fall right down to US levels of Bible reading--around 30 minutes a week.

Having access to several Bibles makes them less valuable to us. They become just like any other book around the house, something to be read when the mood hits us, but not something to be treasured or beloved.

 

[Sword-In-Hand]

I don't think the freedom to study the Bible is a stumbling block, but I think the ownership of too many Bibles is a stumbling block. Once you get more than two or three Bibles in a house, they get to be too common, too ubiquitous, so that you don't even notice them, let alone study them. We tend to think if we had more Bibles, we sould get more out of Bible study, but just the reverse is usually true.

In the US, the average Christian household has five Bibles, and the average Christian household spends a total of 30 minutes a week reading them. In households with one Bible, the members of the household spend 1.5 hours a week reading them. In Nigeria where there is one Bible for 6 Christian households, the members of each household (having to share a Bible with 6 other families) read the Bible an average of 3 hours per week! But when there are more than two Bibles present in the household, they fall right down to US levels of Bible reading--around 30 minutes a week.

Having access to several Bibles makes them less valuable to us. They become just like any other book around the house, something to be read when the mood hits us, but not something to be treasured or beloved.

I agree and honestly I've been "Bible Nuts" at times. I've got my trusty NKJV Study Bible that I have marked up, and it's really the only Bible I read now. But for a while, I was all like, "That Bible has a cool cover, think I'll get it, or Hmm, what does the ESV look like or how does the Message Bible word such and such. I thought of buying them all, knowing full well that I would still only read my NKJV, and honestly I think it was God speaking to me saying, that rather of buying a new Bible, read the one I have, so I did.

And to answer a previous question, yes Christians can be stumbling blocks. Paul speaks about Christians disqualifying themselves, because the lost see them act no different than they do, so they have ruined their witness. We are probably one of the bigger stumbling blocks in the world as a whole.

Also, we have...HAVE...to be in the Word of God. How can we be in His will, if we are not in His Word? My pastor has a saying. He says that we are all the time searching for answers to this and that, and most Christians don't go back to the source, the Bible, and see what God has already said. God gave us the Bible for a reason, to learn it, love it and live it.

 

[Flynmonkie]

This is a great topic and one that every Christian should seek to understand...unfortunately it seems that few do.

Here is an excellent book to help you grow in your understanding of what God's Word teaches about stumbling blocks and the Love and Liberty that we have in Jesus Christ.

Free to Disagree by John Wecks


I highly recommed this book for every child of God!

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Thanks! I plan to get this!

 

[Happy to be His]

Any thing of this world that gets our attention and drawls us away from God is a stumbling block....It could be even something that a person who is a christian says and dose.....Anything that might be affensive to God....

What are some "stumbling blocks" for a christian?
I was thinking that the bible could be one.
We have the freedom in this country to read freely the bible.
How many of us christians takes that freedom with honor.
Giving honor to God by reading his word?
By not reading His word we trip ourselves up
(making a stumbling block) on our walk with the Lord.
How can we possible grow as christians
if we are not feeding that growth with the word?

We as Christians need to be in His word everyday....or more. And unforunetly we are not. We need to give God the same amout of time or really more time than we do the tv or computer.
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