"All I Ever Needed Is Your Love"

To the Heart Breakers

So here's the thing, I was burned by the heart breaker once.  It truly bugs me, especially as a young woman who got caught up in a player's game, to see young men going around using girls like they are play things.  Women are truly special and created with a much higher purpose than to be emotionally abused by an immature jerk.  So here is my letter to the heart breaking player... seven things you should consider BEFORE you break another girl's heart!  

1.)    Dating is not a game

Seriously!  Say it with me now… “Dating is not a game!”  Dating is a great way to get to know somebody you are interested in, somebody who you may spend the rest of your life wife... but it is not a conquest.  It’s okay to determine you are not meant for somebody after dating them (and yes most sensible women know that a relationship may not end in marriage); however, dating for the sole purpose of getting a girl in your bed or to add to your list of “girls who fell in love with me before I broke their heart” is completely wrong.    

2.)   Don’t date without direction

Dating simply for the fun of it is hurtful.  When you date aimlessly with people you obviously will never enter a serious relationship with you are just confusing both your heart and her heart.  Most women are looking for commitment... if you can't give it to them, then let somebody else give it to them.  Which leads into the next point...   

3.)   Stay away from “Casual Relations”

Don’t be fooled by a woman who acts like sex is no big deal… That is not the way women were created.  We are emotionally tied to men we are intimate with.  In fact, even a simple kiss releases chemicals that causes us to connect with each other emotionally.  The fact is, it really is almost impossible to have a true casual relationship with no emotions... somebody WILL have emotions, it's just the way we are wired.  When your head is contradicting your heart... it is very confusing and very hurtful. 

4.)   Women are More precious than jewels

According to Proverbs 3:15, a good wife is more precious than jewels.  Women were not created to be a man’s play toy… we were created to be your spiritual and life partner, to be loved and protected by you, to love you and provide the perfect form of companionship.  Check out this quote by author David O. McKay: “Women were created from the rib of man to be beside him, not from his head to top him, nor from his feet to be trampled by him, but from under his arm to be protected by him, near to his heart to be loved by him.”  Women were created to be precious to you… treat them as such!   

5.)    A little Aretha Franklin would suit you well.  (R.E.S.P.E.C.T.)

Meaning… learn to Respect women, their sexuality and their bodies.  Don’t tease them into doing things they shouldn’t do!  Be the man who strives to keep your woman doing the right and spiritual things, not the snake who leads her astray.  Also, respect yourself… YOU were created with a purpose much higher than breaking hearts.  AND, respect the men who will marry the women you date... which leads me to the next point.   

6.)   She is Somebody elses' Gal

Close your eyes and think about your future for a moment.  Imagine you find the woman of your dreams and completely fall in love with her and build a future with her.  Now think about her years prior to meeting her… imagine her being in a relationship with a man who uses her and hurts her emotionally or even sexually.  How does that make you feel?  If it doesn’t hurt your heart a little… you should probably seek medical attention.  Seriously, you might be a sociopath!  All this to say, the woman you are abusing now is meant to be some other man’s future bride.  Don’t make things harder for him by adding a level of distrust and heartbreak for him to work through.  Treat any woman you date respectfully as if she might be YOUR future bride.   oHow

7.)   You determine your own “price tag”

To put it simply, you ALONE decide your self-worth and ultimately the kind of women you will attract.  If you ever decide you want to fall in love and settle down with the type of woman intended for you and the girl your parents would be proud of… then you will have to clean up your act... But YOU make that decision.  Remember, you were bought by the blood of Christ.  He paid your price so that you didn't have to.  This means, when you set your price tag... you should leave you past out of it, remember you were forgiven for you rocky past, and decided to be the Man God created you to be.  It's never too late... 

God Bless

-Morgan Nicole 

Inconsistency?

One of the most common and recent attacks on Christianity is the claim that the Old Testament is outdated and inconsistent with the New Testament.  Even Mr. Obama himself claimed in a speech a few years back that Leviticus tells us to never eat shellfish and take up slaves.  It frustrates me when people who clearly have never read the Bible front to back try to interpret the small amount of they have seen.  

You see, the Bible is not random or out of order; but, if you pick it up and read random bits here and there... it will never make sense.  Quite simply, the whole book is about God's plan to redeem his people through the ultimate sacrifice of His son.    

So, lets start with a brief discussion of the Old Testament Laws.  We are talking about a very very different time in our history.  Because God is perfect and Holy in every way, He cannot be in the presence of our sin.  Unfortunately, at this time in history, Salvation had not yet entered the world.  Therefore, the Old Testament takes up much time describing what should be done to be "clean enough" to approach a Holy God.  The people in the Old Testament had to atone for their sin through sacrificial systems.      

Taking this even further... lets think about what is going on in the early New Testament.  The Exodus  out of Egypt has taken place and the Hebrews are wondering around the desert.  These Hebrews, God's chosen people or not, have known nothing but slavery and the Egyptian ways for many generations.  They doubted him, they worshiped other gods, and they were probably not always "clean."  Don't get me wrong, I think there were many of them that were very faithful people... but they were out of touch.  So God gives them the Ten Commandments.  These Commandments dealt mainly with how we should morally live.  Then God created the Old Testament Law.  These laws are the "clean" laws that are constantly quoted from Leviticus.  These Laws defined how to live, how to worship and how to atone sin in order to approach a Holy God.  If broken, some of these laws were punishable by death.  Why?  because once again... times were different.  God's people were part of a nation-state where sin was a huge deal.  Let's be clear... all sins had civil penalties, be it death or something else.  So the point of all this... to make it Chrystal Clear that we NEED Purification.. we NEED Redemption and Salvation. 

Fast Forward to the books of the Gospel and Jesus begins to paint a different story.  Throughout Jesus' ministry he begins to overturn the sacrificial laws of the New Testament.  When Jesus dies on the Cross, the veil in the temple is torn literally symbolizing the end of the sacrificial laws and the beginning of redemption through a savior.  Because of Jesus' death... AND resurrection... we no longer need clean laws.  We no longer need to atone for our sin or offer burnt sacrifices in the temple.  The Law has been fufilled.

So this is where things become blurry for people.

If the Law was overturned then why do we continue to follow some laws in the Old Testament... why can't we completely ignore them all?  Because Jesus didn't didn't change how we live... but how we worship and how we receive atonement for our sins.  

What Laws are still in play?  Laws of morality and sexual laws are still laws we should live by and are backed up by the New Testament and Jesus' ministry.  Moral Laws define God's character and the character he created us to live up to.  

Why can we ignore the laws that tell us to execute sinners in the Old Testament?  We no longer need to punish people personally for "sins" by death because we no longer live in a nation-state with God as the figurehead.  God's people live across the world in many different churches and many different governments.  Sins continue to be sins... but the penalties change.  

When read from cover to cover... The Bible makes sense and is completely consistent.  People, however, are not.  Lets not charge God's written word with inconsistency!

To sum up... A blog article I read recently put this all into a great new perspective.  As Christians, when we refuse to to follow the moral law God set in place... we deny His very character, His plan and everything He created us to be.  Likewise...  following the ceremonial sacrificial clean laws of the Old Testament would deny the power of Jesus' death on the Cross, meaning you reject his gift of salvation.  Therefore, the Moral Laws must be followed and the Clean Laws must be ignored. 

-Morgan