Ahah! part one
That term is similar to "Eureka!"
It means that suddenly I realize or learn something that can make a big difference in my life and in the world.
I had an "Ahah! moment this morning. We Christians consider that sometimes when we suddenly realize an important or helpful truth- especially if it is after we have asked our Creator, God, for help- that it is God Himself who has communicated this truth to us.
So, this morning's ahah! moment was about the story of Jesus, found in JOHN 8:1-11.
The most well-known phrase in this story is when Jesus says, " If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." A group of Jewish religious leaders had caught a woman in the act of adultery and brought her to Jesus and insisted that He pronounce a sentence (of death) on her.
Jesus had a better way. He said, "let the one who is without sin throw the first stone."
This story is pivotal to my local church right now. There are members of my church who, along with me, believe that God still has standards which He wants us to live our lives by; and the standards are similar to those in the Bible. Others in my local church believe that homosexual marriage is now acceptable to God. (I think that is what those folks believe.)
So , what has been perhaps inhibiting me from engaging in discussion with those who embrace "homosexual is OK" is the truth that my own life is also sinful; and therefore I don't have the right to say that this other is any more sinful than my own brand of sin.
The above referenced story is probably the one we Christians think of as teaching against picking out one person or type of sin or people group to tag as being wrong or sinful or evil and ignoring other sins.
Now I come to the "ahah! moment":
In that story, there was a life in the balance. Jesus was NOT saying "he who is without sin can speak against this sin". We have been acting like that IS what Jesus said.
I'm going to have to think and pray to God about what this all means. You can too.
