Can Your Marriage Survive...Facebook?

VII Thou shalt not commit adultery
Christians basically only have one top ten list, the top ten commandments. The famous Jewish comedian Moses made the top ten part of his act at a show on Mount Sinai. For years pretty much the only people who knew about the top ten commandments were Jews. Christians hardly paid any attention to them. Finally, once there were people called Christians, they embraced the top ten and made them part of their decor, adorning their houses, churches, and public buildings just to make people mad.

You would think that as many places the top ten commandments can be found that Christians would know all of them by heart and never be guilty of breaking any of them, but sadly, that does not seem to be the case. Take for example, the seventh commandment: Thou shalt not commit adultery.

In case you cannot read ancient Hebrew, I will translate the text. It reads in English: Don't wink, wink, nudge, nudge, with any one's husband or wife besides your own. That should be clear enough. That's as literal a translation as I can do.

The numbers are all over the place. I'm not going to bother providing statistics. What's clear is there are a certain number of people who claim to be Christians who move the mattress with spouses that aren't their own.

Is that the key? "Claim" to be Christians. One could argue, and he often does, that if you commit adultery, then you aren't a Christian.

What's a Christian to do? After all, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Joseph had a chance to commit adultery with Potipher's wife, but he ran away. I guess that's the only advice I have-flee from temptation. Note: when you commit adultery, you're most likely breaking two commandments, the seventh and the tenth, which says, "Thou shalt not covet." You're most likely also breaking your marriage vows, which constitutes lying, and that is frowned upon if not openly banned by the Bible. Thou shalt not bear false witness comes to mind.

Doth Facebook maketh thou sin? Get thee behind me, Facebook! That's what one pastor is declaring. He's even encouraging his parishioners to delete their Facebook accounts. Read here. If Facebook causeth thou to sin, cut it off! I suppose that's good advice if you just can't resist talking naughty with that Friend who isn't your spouse.

If you get caught committing adultery, please tell everyone you are definitely not a Christian. It'll be better for the rest of us and will make our faith seem more legitimate.

They say if you want to garner more comments on your blog you should end with a question. Here is mine: Have you ever committed adultery?

Gettin' Jiggy With It, At Church

Every once in a while I hear a lesson, sermon, or exhortation about how I should loosen up during worship. Evidently I don't lift up my hands or move around while singing because I'm either too focused on myself or I'm disinterested in praise.  I believe that it would be very difficult for someone to gage correctly my level of worship based on my outward appearance.

Let's start where we all agree. The Father is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. That's what our Lord told the lady at the well. Later, St. John recorded it for our own benefit. I think without detailing extensively all the reasons we believe it, it is sufficient to say that we who attempt to worship God must do so in a way that is not dependent on our surroundings. For instance, we are not required to travel to Jerusalem to get our praise on.

Let's also dispense with the overly technical and detailed definition of "worship". We know what we're talking about, just as the lady at the well knew what the Lord was talking about when He said "worship". I'll also use "praise" interchangeably just for variety.

So the question is, can I worship the Lord standing perfectly still?

Why not?

Sure, David danced. By all indications he cut loose, like Kevin Bacon. He also did it in his underwear. So if I'm going to dance like David danced, then I'm taking it down to my Fruit of the Looms.

Though David danced, there's no indication that Jesus ever did. In fact, David seems to be the exception. Who else does the Bible say danced? If you look it up you'll find various other groups of people danced, like when Miriam lead the women in singing and dancing, or when the "good" prodigal son came home he heard singing and dancing. But I don't remember Moses, Elijah, Abraham, or any of the disciples dancing.

There is another rather famous dancer in the Bible, however. This person comes to us via the New Testament, and her name is said to be Salome. She danced for Herod. Herod was so impressed that he told her to request whatever she wanted from him. The girl's mother told her to ask for the head of John the Baptist. Lovely story.

Do a little more searching and, yes, you'll find that we're told to praise the Lord with dancing in the Psalms. OK, fine, but the Psalmist didn't say which dance to do. Is it the Running Man, the Macarena? Should we break dance, or perform a ballet? I'm going to keep it simple. How about a little toe tap? That counts, doesn't it?

Please know, when the music is kicking and everyone is gettin' their groove on, if I'm standing still it's not because I don't like it or don't want to praise the Lord, it's just because I don't dance except in the privacy of my own home, wearing only undies, just like King David.