Spirit listener

This is what it meant for "sin to crouch at Cain's door" with a "desire to master him," with him able to "master it": Cain didn't have to kill his brother, no matter how strong the murderous desire to do so. He didn't sin because of a sinful nature. According to the word of God, this is how sin happens: "When tempted, no one should say 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.  Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death." James 1:13-15 NIV Here it is again:  Evil desire leads to sin, and sin leads to death. But even here, there's something else to consider from the scriptures: "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind.  And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what yo...

"Sin is crouching at your door.  It desires to master you, but you must master it."  ~God to Cain, before Cain murders Abel Last time, I talked about the lie I learned in church:  that we were "born sinners."  The idea is that Adam and Eve sinned, their nature became "sinful," and they passed their sinful nature to their children, which includes us.  If this is true, then if anybody had a sinful nature, Cain did!  He was born after Adam and Eve sinned, and he committed the very first murder in human history.  Did he murder his righteous brother Abel because he had a "sinful nature?" Look again at what God said: "Sin is crouching at your door.  It desires to master you, but you must master it."  Let's break it down: 1. "Sin" crouched at Cain's door.  What does this mean?  The picture is of an animal crouching waiting to pounce.  "Cain's door" symbolizes his heart, or will; it symbolizes an oppor...

"Sin is crouching at your door.  It desires to master you, but you must master it."  ~God to Cain, before Cain murders Abel I learned a lie in church:  that we were born with a "sinful nature," meaning we can't help but sin.  I heard things like "nobody teaches you to sin," which meant that we were "born sinners."  I learned that we have a sinful mind, emotions, and will from the womb, and that's it's only a "work of God in our hearts" that can save us.  And even then, we'll still sin.  Even when God "takes away our sinful nature" and gives us a "new nature," we'll still sin.  I heard that "Christians aren't sinless, they sin less."  All of this is a lie.  This is the truth. We are born in a state of separation from God.  And left to ourselves we will destroy ourselves.  But we're not "born sinners."  We can't be.  Sin is a deliberate act of disobedience aga...

"We may not be aware of it, but the way behave is perceived by others then imitated....We provide signals to others of what is normative, what is desirable...social learning can be an incredible opportunity, a tool for positively affecting the people around you by simply modeling the desired behavior."  ~Tali Sharot "Imitate me as I imitate Christ." ~The Apostle Paul Whatever you regularly do shows who you really are.  And who you really are makes a single powerful impression.  You impact others the most when you are most powerfully genuinely you.   This can be good or bad. Think about how you've already experienced the good and bad of this. I'll share how I've experienced it, and maybe it will trigger your experiences. When I was in school, I noticed that a fellow student named Michael wrote extremely organized reports.  As a result, I imitated how he did his reports from that time on.  That's an example of a powerfully good...