The problem with icons

Throughout the bible God clearly steers us away from icons in any form--whether MATERIAL things like the ark or the bronze serpent or PLACES like Jesus' tomb and the exact spot where he ascended or even PHRASES like the actual words that Jesus prayed. Take the "Lord's prayer," for example. Turns out neither version in Matthew or Luke actually concludes with the closing phrase "for thine..." and an amen. Jesus purposely leaves us hanging. Record companies do the same thing when they market their songs. Customers are only given a snipet, a 30-second sound bite to sample. That's so we'll go to the original source. Life is found in the whole, not in the sample. Unfortunately, icons take on a life unto themselves and ultimately lead us away from dependancy on Christ. Jesus didn't intend the Lord's prayer to be mumbled like some sort of incantation, as if there was power in the words themselves.

Matthew 6:8 "...for your Father knows what you need before you ask him." Does that mean God knows our thoughts before we do? I think so. (He may even put those thoughts in our head.) Another nail in the free will cofin.

What I learned at school today...

It can't be stretching one's imagination too much to envision God giving Adam and Eve careful instructions on how, when and where to perform blood sacrifices as He provided them with animal skins for their own coverning. That could explain why Cain and Abel brought offerings to God in the first place.
And could Cain, who's name meant "possession," have been coddled so much by Eve that he was bound to be self-centered rather than God-centered? (In fact, if Eve HAD been instructed by God, shouldn't she have offered Cain to God as a first fruit? She didn't and look what the outcome was.)
These are thoughts triggered by my listening (once again) to Gene Scott's series of tapes on faith.

Why pray

I've always had problems praying. Is "thinking something" to God the same as actually "saying something?" Matt.6:14-15 may provide an answer-- "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." How does God know we've forgiven someone? Just because we've gone through the motions and said the right words? Nope. Because the Father, "who sees what is done in secret," (Matt.5:6) knows our hearts, he'll see if any unforgiveness still remains. So whatever it takes to drain our hearts of that residual stain, be that actual words to the victim, an action that demonstrates our change of heart, or maybe only an acknowledgement in our minds if noone else knows about it (we wish). Bottom line--a definite change of heart is required. Pull out all the stops necessary to make that happen.