Cursed

In the book of Deuteronomy God told the Israelis that if they did not obey his laws they would be cursed. He then listed all of the consequences that would accrue for disobedience as well as the blessings for obedience.. The rest of the story is that they did. The Old Testament is the story of their times of obedience and disobedience and the promised consequences. These have not been rescinded.

When we become Christians we promised to be obedient, but we live in a morally polluted environment that is infectious. The Bible says that bad company ruins good character. We do, therefore, set ourselves apart from the world, for it today is profoundly polluted. And we see signs of of its infectiousness all around us. Still we cannot avoid the infection. Pornography infects our sexual lives, abortion and abortifaicents infect our attitudes toward sex, drugs and alcohol gain control of our brains and lead us to disintegration of our lives in our families, in our work, and in all of our relationships. Greed leads to fraud, embezzling and thievery. Since the consequences of these sinful behaviors are painful and cause great suffering they provide us with opportunities to offer the suffering healing

 For two thousand years there has accumulated empirical evidence to support the correctness of God's laws. Their purpose is to protect us from ourselves, and not to punish us. he created us and being the omniscient God that he is we should respect his love for us. He does not want to see us suffer and as he did in Deuteronomy he told us to choose life and righteousness.

We, therefore, knowing that a righteous life is filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, humility and, self control should want our fellow man to escape the suffering that he is undergoing or will undergo. it is incumbent upon us to share the only surefire method of escape. In all of my travels I have learned that people who suffer want to share it with someone. All one has to do to get them to tell us about what is bothering them is to ask them to tell us about themselves, their work , or their family. If they have problems they will often unload on us. This will be especially true if  we let the love of God radiate from us. This is always manifested in the tone of voice and the compassion of God who uses our emotions to signal his love for them. If we believe that their problem is amenable to spiritual interventions you can use them. your choice will be determined by their degree of spiritual maturity or by the absence of  a relationship with the Lord. .