In our house hold, we approach parenting with a good cop/bad cop technique.  Most of the time I'm the diceplinarian or as i prefer, THE PUNISHER.  My daughter has no doubt in her mind that I love her dearly.  And she understands that i love her always and unconditionally.  She knows that I'll never put more on her than she can't bear.  When she used to get in trouble, (my baby been angel at school this year!), we always sat her down and talked to her to make sure she understood why she was in trouble.

A few times she would tell us what she did to get in trouble, tell us that she knew it was wrong before hand, and indicate that she knew she would get punished.  So often I catch myself knowing i'm about to do wrong.  Knowing how my Father will be disappointed, i turn up my headphones and blatantly sin.  I've learned that the term sin was derived from a Greek archery term to mean "missing the mark".  Are we missing the mark when we aren't even trying to hit it?  Is there anything worse than sin?  It hurt me more to know that my daughter wasn't even trying to please me even after consideration.  Are we hurting God more when we ignore him?  I kinda picture God as Willy Wonka going "don't. stop. please." sarcastically.  (Am i wrong for using Willy Wonka? Something ain't right about that movie)

As my daughter matured those responses got few and far between.  I guess all that unconditional loving is paying off.

Good points!  The main thing about sin is that we make it mean something the Bible doesn't say it is.  The definition you've discovered is exactly right.  So, how does that definition affect our decisions about which way we go?  You should have brought that last night, brother!

I don't know that there is anything worse than sin, because not trying to "hit the mark" is a sin in and of itself.  There is no question that God does NOT want ot be ignored, that's why he's very clear in Exodus 20:2-3:

Notice that he begins his statement of a law that would be the exclusive code of conduct for generations to follow in this way: "Just in case you don't know, this is who I am, and I better have first place in your life."  Any time we ignore or neglect or even make God subordinate to anything else, we sin right then and there.

BLOGGERS ALL OVER THE WORLD, PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER, COMING TO YOU LIVE FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, IT'S KIMBERLE JOHNSON...YEAHHHHHHH! :)

Now that that's out of the way, I think the first thing I want to comment on is about tithing.  First, I don't think not tithing will keep you out of heaven because tithing doesn't put you in heaven.  The only thing that we 'do' to get into heaven is accept the sacrifice made by Jesus when He died for our sins.  We don't tithe, or remain obedient to any of God's commands, for that matter, to get into heaven.  We tithe because God has required it of us. 

I can personally testify to tithing and not tithing, and I mean not tithing after I knew better.  Giving the Lord that little 10% (gross) multiplies that leftover 90% like you wouldn't imagine!  On the flip side, keeping that little 10% wipes out the 100% quicker than you can say tithe.  Now, that's not to say that when I was tithing, I never had any financial difficulties.  The thing is, those financial difficulties were to teach me a lesson that I needed to learn, and trust me, the lesson wasn't "tithe when you feel like you have the money to."  I think that tithing is as fundamental as not lying.  Everyone knows that it's a sin to lie....even folks that aren't saved know it's not 'right' to lie.  Tithing is the same thing.  Ever Chrisitan should know that they are supposed to be giving God their first fruits of every increase they receive.  That's important.  It's not just about paychecks.  If you get Christmas money, I think you should give a tithe of that money.  Any increase.

And because tithing is fundamental, we don't get any 'pats on the back' for doing it.  You don't expect to get a gold star for telling the truth.  Telling the truth is just what you're supposed to do...but tell a lie and let someone find out your lied to them.  There's going to be some consequences.  Same deal.  You have the option to not tithe, just like you have the option to do everything else.  Just know if you choose wrong, there will be consequences.

The other thing is that tithing is not the same as giving an offering.  It's like this.  When I ask Faithe for a kiss and she gives me one, it's great.  But boy oh boy, when she just comes up to me and gives me a kiss on her own, ump, that's the good life!  God is pleased when we tithe because we are being obedient to His Word, but when we offer him an offerning, it's an unsolicited display of affection.  The offereing is the 'above and beyond' portion of our giving. 

Now, about worrying where your money is going or how it's being spent, to be frank, that's not really your concern...to a point.  I have been taught that we are to bring our tithe to our local church where we worship and fellowship.  I would hope that folks are attending churches where they know that the people's giving is being used improperly.  I don't know how you can be fed from someone who you think is stealing your money.  That's just me.  I feel like if you think your church is mismanaging the money, you should address the issue and if nothing changes, that shouldn't be your church.

In our age of television ministry, I don't know if I agree with tithing to a television ministry in lieu of tithing to your local church.  For me, it's in the same vein as watching TV ministry instead of joining a local church.

Okay, so I think that's my spiel on giving (can you tell that I'm a little bit passionate about Biblical giving?).

Now, what do I say about the sin discussion?  That one's going to have to marinate for a minute.  I'll get back to you on that one... 

The things we're speaking of are things that keep us from intimacy with God, not keep us out of heaven.  Now, Paul asks a very important question that we would do well to ask ourselves from time to time:

So, what that says is that we can't just sin and take God's grace for granted.  We must work to come to a point where our faith is woven into the fabric of everyday life.    An important area of obedience is in our giving.

What does the Bible say about giving?  Good question...Look for a blog on that tomorrow! :) 

Hello everybody!  Regarding the issue of watching certain movies, listening to certain music, etc.  I have been in a place before where I'm like, I'm cutting all of this out but I didn't stick with it.  Part of that was due to a lack of discipline, but I also wasn't filling that space with holiness.  It was kind of like, turn off the TV (silence, crickets), ok that was fun, now let's put in a DVD, as opposed to pick up my Bible or pray or what have you.  I felt heavy and burdened with trying to change myself instead of letting God change me.  I stopped focusing on what I needed to take out and started adding in the Word and meditation time with God and those things began to fall away.  Out of habit I have tried to go back to some of those things and simply didn't have the taste for it (which was disappointing).  Adding in Light takes away a room full of darkness (John 1:5). 

Now, there will be a time where you get to a place where you really need to start cleaning house and do some of the hard things.  Get in the Word first, spend more time with God and you will not want those things anymore.  This is coming from someone who's favorite movie is GoodFellas and favorite artist is Biggie Smalls.  I still have them, but do not enjoy them.  I said, I still have them, I am a work in progress like everyone else.  Don't be too hard on yourself (see Romans 8:1), but start working on adding in light and your tastebuds are guaranteed to change.

Nikia,

You are so right.  God isn't asking us to get rid of mess just to get rid of it.  He wants us to have more time to spend with Him, ultimately, but in addition, more time for just holy fellowship and such. 

I think the main thing is to keep life in balance.  It's not that we are supposed to sit around and read our Bible for 12 hours of the day and pray and mediate for the other 12 hours of the day.  We do have time to hang out with friends and read books and even watch TV.  The question is, what do we do with that time?  How do we use our free time?  What is being fed to us during our time away from the Bible (notice I didn't say our time away from God.  Huh, that makes me stop and think right there.  When I sit down and listen to xyz or watch abc on TV, I'm really sitting there with God listening to that or watching that show.  Pray for me because that should probably make me want to stop watching a lot of different things of TV, but I really don't feel like I will.)  I'm rambling now...