SermonIndex Audio Sermons
SermonIndex - Promoting Revival to this Generation
Give To SermonIndex
Discussion Forum : Scriptures and Doctrine : Help ?

Print Thread (PDF)

Goto page ( 1 | 2 Next Page )
PosterThread
joeSOC
Member



Joined: 2006/9/5
Posts: 94
Melbourne Australia

 Help ?

Hi guys,

I have just realized I appreciate the "finer things of life" and apparently i am sophisticated. What do i do? I sense this can be a problem. Or can it?

Thanks guys,
Joe

 2008/2/24 8:05Profile









 Re: Help ?

I don't see a problem. I would hope that I'm sophisticated and not a heathen barbarian. I like the finer things in life to. I mean whats wrong with that. As long as you can be content with or without them.

 2008/2/24 10:26









 Re: Help ?


Hi Joe,

I once heard a preacher allude to his 'Jaeger jacket', while glancing along the front row of a conference congregation. The look of bewilderment on one man's face caused him to pause to ask if he had ever owned one also.... No? He didn't know what a Jaeger jacket was?

His reply 'Brother, you've never [i][b]lived![/i][/b]', seemed amusing, but he meant... that these are things we can joyfully [i]give up[/i], that we may serve our Lord Jesus Christ.

The same preacher also had a word for the elders present: 'Don't indulge yourselves!.... Not for half an hour ............. a year!'

You asked

Quote:
I have just realized I appreciate the "finer things of life" and apparently i am sophisticated.

Do you know the origin of the word 'sophisticated' and what its root really means?

Quote:
What do i do? I sense this can be a problem. Or can it?

Well, I found that Young's Literal Translation uses the word 'disown' a few times where it doesn't appear in the KJV at all. You might find that an interesting study, to determine whether it will be a problem or not.

:-D


Edit: Hi chief... what do you think?


 2008/2/24 12:29









 Re:

Quote:
Edit: Hi chief... what do you think?

Hi dorcas,

If I had to chose between a cadillac or a pinto, I would chose the cadillac. Some may prefer the pinto, but I would prefer the cadillac. Depending on the budget that I have I would chose the one that I could afford, but again, I prefer the pinto. Now If I can't be content with the pinto, if that were best for my budget, but instead coveted the cadillac, then you probably got a proble. Just prefering something over something else, because of the craftesmanship, the reliability of it, or maybe just the beuty, there nothing wrong with that. I would rather have a Rembrant painting hanging in my living room over a Peccaso, only because I think Rembrant was a much better artist, his craftsmanship was better so I like it better. Whats wrong with that?

Now if I've got to have the Rembrant in order to be satisfied, I've probably got a problem.

Paul says in Phil 4:1 For I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therwith to be content.

 2008/2/24 15:05
ccchhhrrriiisss
Member



Joined: 2003/11/23
Posts: 4779


 Re: Help ?

Hi Brother Joe...

I'm not sure what you mean by the "finer things in life." I suppose that this is a relative term. To a poor person, an old computer is one of the "finer things in life." To another, a new computer is a "finer thing." Still to others, a new Macintosh computer would be one of those "finer things." The same argument over the definition of "finer things" could be used in description of automobiles, food, restaurants, etc... To some of us, a value meal at McDonalds is disgusting. To some of the poor brethren in the third world, it may seem like the food of the rich. Do you see how this term could convey a different definition depending upon who reads it?

I think that the important thing is to be content with what God has given us. When I go running, I prefer to wear New Balance running shoes. Why? I think that they are far more comfortable on my feet (and preventive of injury) than something that I might purchase at Payless Shoe Source. Even though someone else could potentially view these shoes as a "finer thing in life," it serves a valuable purpose -- the preservation of my feet during exercise. However, I would still be content with whatever things that I had.

There is a great message found here at SermonIndex about the truth concerning "necessities versus luxuries" in regard to materialism. In his message [url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=336&commentView=itemComments]Holy Ground[/url], David Wilkerson argues that many individuals in this world might view a telephone, in-house bathrooms and hot and cold running water as a luxury (while Western believers might see it as a necessity). Regardless of our condition, God wants us to be thankful and content with whatever God gives us.

:-)


_________________
Christopher

 2008/2/24 16:55Profile
joeSOC
Member



Joined: 2006/9/5
Posts: 94
Melbourne Australia

 Re:

So what does sophistication mean ? Help me out here

 2008/2/27 19:09Profile
joeSOC
Member



Joined: 2006/9/5
Posts: 94
Melbourne Australia

 Re:

Look guys I do not have a car, I rent an apartment with a roomate, and I want to be a disciple of Jesus. I sensed a lot of condemnation when a dear brother in the Lord said my cufflinks were sophisticated ( and I was sophisticated). Now I did not buy them, they were a gift to me, when i started my career in sales. This is why I wanted to know. Thanks for your help you guys are like Gold !

 2008/2/27 19:16Profile









 Re: Help?


From dictionary.com

[b]sophistication[/b]

c.1400, "use or employment of sophistry," from M.L. sophisticationem (nom. sophisticatio), from sophisticare "adulterate, cheat quibble," from L. sophisticus "of sophists," from Gk. sophistikos "of or pertaining to a sophist," from sophistes "a wise man, master, teacher" (see sophist). Meaning "wordly wisdom, refinement, discrimination" is attested from 1850; sophisticated (of persons) "worldly wise, discriminating, refined" is attested from 1895.

[url=http://dictionary.reference.com/help/etymon.html]Online Etymology Dictionary[/url]


2. a deliberately invalid argument displaying ingenuity in reasoning in the hope of deceiving someone [syn: sophism]

3. being expert or having knowledge of some technical subject; "understanding affine transformations requires considerable mathematical sophistication"

4. the quality or character of being intellectually sophisticated and worldly through cultivation or experience or disillusionment [ant: naiveness]

5. falsification by the use of sophistry; misleading by means of specious fallacies; "he practiced the art of sophistication upon reason"

[url=http://dictionary.reference.com/help/wn.html]WordNet[/url]


soph·ist n.

One skilled in elaborate and devious argumentation.

A scholar or thinker.

Sophist Any of a group of professional fifth-century B.C. Greek philosophers and teachers who speculated on theology, metaphysics, and the sciences, and who were later characterized by Plato as superficial manipulators of rhetoric and dialectic.

[url=http://dictionary.reference.com/help/ahd4.html]American Heritage Dictionary[/url]


I know these are mean definitions, but they are why some Christians steer completely clear of 'sophisticated'; the commonest synonym would be [i]corrupt[/i].


Does this help you connect answers to your original questions?

 2008/2/27 19:33









 Re: Help?


Hi Joe,

As long as you don't care about your cufflinks being sacrificed for God, it's not an issue for your personally.

But, there comes a time when you have to consider how far to go in presenting yourself as someone with more than or better than, someone else.

I'm not suggesting the brother was jealous, but, if he was, could you give him your cufflinks (for instance) and really want him to enjoy them instead of you? (I'm trying to think of a parallel in my own life...) That's just a thought to consider, as a kind of test of where your heart-values lie.

If God wants you to have a car, you'll know. You don't need a good job to have one either. You just need God to need you to have one. He has ways...

 2008/2/27 19:39
Compton
Member



Joined: 2005/2/24
Posts: 2732


 Re:

Brother,

If you are in sales for a living, better keep your cufflinks and maybe get some nice clothes too. Whether you are in healthcare, financial services, retail, or commercial sectors, your clothing will be as important to your success as a tractor is to a farmer.

Your well-meaning brother was certainly sincere, but perhaps he just doesn't understand how to do your job. (Edit: Apparently whoever gifted you the cufflinks felt you could use them.) To some people maybe cufflinks are superflous, but for you, depending on your line of business, cufflinks could be basic equipment. Sales is about presentation, and that begins with how you present yourself. Dressing well, or at least appropriately, is a way you convey your credibility, not to mention your respect, to the people you are serving.

Blessings,

MC


_________________
Mike Compton

 2008/2/27 20:07Profile





©2002-2024 SermonIndex.net
Promoting Revival to this Generation.
Privacy Policy