[Pastor Ralph]

Q3. (Judges 8:24-27) Why is spiritual unfaithfulness looked at as prostitution or adultery? What is the concept of God's relationship to his people which underlies this analogy? What kinds of temptations to spiritual adultery do you face today? (This is not a place to dump on denominations or sects, but to examine your own personal temptations to spiritual adultery.)

[Darleen Nelson]

Spiritual unfaithfulness is turning love to another source just as prostitution and adultery do. Love is drawn from God to a substitute and attention is focusedin places other than God. Spiritual adultrery may be turning our attention to worldly pleasures or pursuits, toward personal relationships or toward any other interests over God. Anything that takes our time, money or loyalty away from God is a form of adultery. Many people even worship beautiful church buildings instead of the God they represent.

[Omie]

Quote

"Gideon made the gold into an ephod, ...  All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family." (8:27)

+ To be unfaithful in an intimate love relationship is adultry. Israel shifted its' faithfulness from God to a 43 pound idol made of gold.

+ My struggle is with how I use my time, I too often don't give enough of it to Him. I plow right into something with out taking time to pray and wait for Him to provide help.

[Wendy Reid]

Q5. Why is spiritual unfaithfulness looked at as prostitution or adultery? (8:24-27) What is the concept of God's relationship to his people which underlies this analogy? What kinds of temptations to spiritual adultery do you face today. (This is not a place to dump on denominations or sects, but to examine your own personal temptations to spiritual adultery.)

We are referref to as "the Bride of Christ". If we are unfaithul to Him it is the same as a wife / husband being unfaithful to their spouse.

We are Christ's bride. We are in covenant with Him.

Time and spending time with my family, I do not spend enough time in prayer and worship of the Lord God. A little bitterness with people that always put me down, instead of seeing what God sees in me, if I spend more time worshipping Him.

[Fina]

Spiritual unfaithfulness looked at as prostitution or adultery because this divert our attention to idols and not to our Creator. This also an act of disobedience to God.

There are lots of temptations to spiritual adultery which I am facing today like my job and man-made traditions that I used to follow. In the OT, it is idolatry that God hated most because he is the only true God [Isaiah 44-] which we could not compare to anyone [Isaiah 46:5]. Truly, God is a jealous God and he tolerate no rivals [Exodus 20:40]. He wants us to put our trust in him alone and not on his creation in any other form. With the help of God, I know that I can overcome this temptations because I did not resist when he open my eyes and ears to his message.

Quote

"No matter how much you listen, you will not understand.  No matter how much you look, you will not know what is happening."  Then he said to me, "Make the minds of these people dull, their ears deaf, and their eyes blind, so that they canno t see or hear or understand.  If they did, they might turn to me and be healed."  [Isaiah 6:9-10]

[nelda huffman]

Spiritual Unfaithfulness is called prostuting themselfs because the Israelites were directing their Love and prayers to the ephod (an Idol) away from
from God.

Everyone faces a lot of temptations everyday, such as putting food before God, Going to work and acting like you are one of them if they are not Christians. As Christians we should be putting God first in all we do and we should be a testimony to God. We all have families I am sure that aren't Christians and we don't have to act like them. We just have to pray and ask our heavenly father for strength to make it threw amd for the help to guide us threw work and family and friends.

God can see us threw anything and everything.

[Julie]

The Church is pictured as the bride of Christ, we are God's people we are the bride of Christ, for Gods' people to worship another god or idols amounts to spiritual adultery, charms (something to protect you) goes in this category, also so do the worship of the Lord by images. I have pictues of Christ in my home, I also have a statue of Mary holding Jesus that my mother gave me, I feel it would be wrong to trash it, if I would worship these things I would be commiting adultery, but they are hanging on the wall or sitting on a shelf is just to have these things adultery?

[Donald Henhawke]

Darleen Nelson expressed it beautifully and i cannot add to it that would clarify it any further.


My own spirtual adultries would include relying to much on my own understanding.Intolerance for others and their belief systems. Theres a song from the seventies that goes "Looking for love in all the wrong places" now i know it had a different meaning from the writer/artist, but sometimes i tend to look for the love of God in all the wrong places such as, authors,theologians,and others with varying views. I often forget his Love is indwelling with the Holy Spirit in our hearts and not always in our heads.

[Helen Spaulding]

The people who have followed Christ (the church) is often spoken of in the
Bible as the "Bride" of Christ. If we are not faithful to Him, we are the same
as an unfaithful wife--committing adultery! Anything that takes precedence
over Him and His commands to us is putting the world before Him! And that
is committing spiritual adultery.

[David Maher]

Why is spiritual unfaithfulness looked at as prostitution or adultery?

Prostitutes draw their victims attention and then seduce them. Idolatry is very similar, the ephod was very ornamental and drew a lot of attention. People began to worship it which drew them away from God. Adultry is similar to prostitution in the way it happens, but more subtle, and relates to people who are married. These are very similar to what happens in the case of sprirtual unfaithfulness. Something attracts our attention and focus away from the Lord and seduces us to remain in the sin.

What is the concept of God's relationship to his people which underlies this analogy?

The Lord refers to His people as His bride, both in the old testament and the new. In the old testament, Israel was his bride, the church is his bride in the new testament.

Isa 54:5
5 For your Maker is your husband--
the LORD Almighty is his name--
the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
he is called the God of all the earth.
(from New International Version)

What kinds of temptations to spiritual adultery do you face today?

The temptations I fight most with today are my job, school, family, pride, approval from others, church, being busy all the time. All these temptations can take my focus off the Lord. My job, school, family activities, and other projects that keep me very busy make it difficult to be quiet and spend time with the Lord. These are not necessarily bad, just too much of any of them that they keep me from putting the Lord first which is a problem. Pride or selfishness is another area that I have to fight a lot. I have attended churches in the past that I believe were so focused on its congregation or church building that they totally were neglecting what God has called us to do.

[Helen Williams]

Spiritual unfaithfulness is looked at as prostitution or adultery because it is the breaking of a vow or covenant. It is showing love or favor to something other than God. We have allowed it to be first in our lives. We should love God with our WHOLE soul, mind and body. Let us stay true to God, He is our first love.

We are called the BRIDE of CHRIST and if we are unfaithful we are committing spiritual adultery.

In daily living we are faced with so many temptations to spiritual adultery. There is materialism, sex, money, self gratification and anything that takes our focus away from God.
Whatever our temptations are there is a way out; TRY JESUS

[Vickie]

"Spiritual unfaithfulness is turning love to another source just as prostitution and adultery do. Love is drawn from God to a substitute and attention is focused in places other than God."

That was perfect, Darlene! I have nothing to add to that, except that Jesus called His church His bride!

As for my adultery, I get too wrapped up in our businesses and the family, etc., to focus my attention on God. I oftentimes fall asleep exhausted at night without even so much as a "good night" to Him! Our pastor discussed last night how God wants us to rest so that we may reflect on our day and on Him...that hit home! When I'm too tired, hungry, etc., I get angry and cannot turn my attention on Him!

[photobug]

We are the bride of christ and if we are unfaithfull to him it the sams as adultry. Isreal shifted to faithfulness from god to a piece of cloth with gold on it. My big proble is time i can find time for every thing else it seems. So i have to realy watch it.

[DebChats]

It is looked upon as prostitution or adultery because our relationship with God is like a marriage. God only is to be worshipped, spiritually. To worship another or another thing is like "having an affair" behind God's back.


God has a covenant (or contract) with his people, much like marriage vows.


I face temptations such as food (especially sugar), TV, family to mention a few. I keep most of these at bay (or in their proper perspective) bye fasting and prayer. I even have to fast from the internet and TBN, occasionally.

[Marvin Phelps]

God’s first commandment is: “You shall have no other gods beside Me. You shall not carve and worship idols”. Spiritual unfaithfulness is considered to be prostitution or adultery by God when His people abandon Him to love and worship creation (for example, the ephod) instead of the Creator.

The underlying principle for this analogy is a depiction of a woman’s (Israel’s) infidelity and betrayal to her mate (or in this case to God himself). Just as we, the Church, are the bride of Christ, the Israelites were considered to be the “wife” of Jehovah. And, as Jesus taught, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. Likewise, the Israelites could not worship both an idol such as the ephod and God.

Sometimes I’ve neglected to do everything possible to nourish and protect my faith. For example, I don’t spend enough time meditating on His Word each day. And, I have failed to take ample time each day to pray, because it seems more important to spend my time on other activities.

The television: I occasionally watch some of those brain-dead TV shows that are contrary to God’s kingdom. If Jesus walked through my door, I wouldn’t feel comfortable inviting Him to sit with me while watching some of those programs.

I know that it’s impossible to convert from every sinful tendency all at once, no matter how much I desire it. God, please transform me into your likeness more each day. Teach me to be patient with myself as I go thru what is a continuing daily process. Philippians 2:12 tells me to “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Jesus, I know that you love me and seek only that which is best for the good of those who love You.

[Andrew]

When the partnership of God with us is in danger of deteriorating God can only use terms that we can understand to help us to understand. Nothing should come between our partnership with God but today the constant bombarding of advertising and questionable values errodes my ability to keep God foremost. I understand commercial venders know what sells their product but wouldn't it be nice if it just didn't work anymore? My prayer is that all people of God keep watch because satan is among us and doing better than he should.

[Mario Angel]

Q5. Why is spiritual unfaithfulness looked at as prostitution or adultery? (8:24-27) What is the concept of God's relationship to his people which underlies this analogy? What kinds of temptations to spiritual adultery do you face today.

For God's people to worship another god amounts to spiritual adultery -- a concept found throughout the Old and New Testaments. Spiritual unfaithfulness is to betray the truly God by going after false gods as money, material things (car, house, clothes, jewelery). The entrapments today many not be literal idol worship. The New Testament identifies greed with idolatry (Colossians 3:5). Mammon or Money with a capital "M" can function in the same way to lure people away from pure devotion to God. I believe that the concept of God's relationship to us is that "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money" (Matthew 6:24). Today we face a lot of temptations as TV, radio, music, media in general, movies, including their messages about riches, ***********, sex, alcohol, drugs, violence, we must confront all these temptations by studying God's word, praying and standing firm in our beliefs.

[Linda Stanley]

Spiritual unfaithfulness,as in the Bible Israel is spoken of as "Yahweh"betrothed wife,in the same way as the church is pictured as the bride of Christ,so it is looked as prostitution or adultery,for Gods people to worship another god,this amounts to spiritual adultery.I am sure many of us face spiritual adultery in many diffrent ways,such as loving the things of the worlds seductive attractions.They are only cheap substitutes of what God has to offer.There is nothing wrong with wanting a pleasurable life.God gives us good gifts that He wants us to enjoy,but when you want more or put your pleasures before God,you are in danger of commiting spiritual adultery.You need not get greedy.Money can be an idol.I mention money because money can make people do strange things.Before I retired two years ago I had a regular pay check.Now my husband and I live off of our retirement.We are not rich but we are not poor.A gift from God I would say."BUT"! I liked having that money in my hands every pay day.I even worked a lot of over time to even make "MORE" MONEY"!.The more I made, the more I wanted.Dont get me wrong,I did pay my tithes and offerings.I know God gave me my job.God was good to me,but it is what I do with what God has given me,and does not become seductive to me.That I have to be careful and not commit spiritual adultery.
<PRAYER.Heavenly Father,I thank you for everything in my life you have given me.I pray I use my monies wisely and share with others that may be in need.I thank you for all the gifts you have given me and intrusted in my care.I pray dear God I will never put anything above you or worship anything you have given me,putting it before you.If there are any idols in my life help me to recognize them, that I will tear them down.In Jesus Holy Name Amen.

[Peter Huang]

Spiritual unfaithfulness is looked on as prostitution or adultery because both in the OT and NT God's people are regarded as his bethrothed and as such any form of unfaithfulness is seen as prostitution or adultery The temptation I face is that because of the economic downturn I have become anxious about money and that isbad as it can lead me away from God. We cannot serve both God and Mammon.

[Marjorie Knight]

Spiritual unfaithfullness is looked upon as adultery because we are taking our focus or first love from God
and substituting our evil desires and wishes instead of
doinf the perfect will of God.