Here are still more responses to a plea for help.  See the original message in the right hand column.

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."  John 13:35 

What I would like to comment on is the disciple who asked that she or he turns to sin because she/he does not want to repent and has more or less lost hope in God. Following from what the ICOC has gone through in the past year, I guess a lot of people got disillusioned in God and man. A lot came out and a lot what was said. But what I can use to encourage my friend here, is that for one it is not easy being a disciple in such a perverse world.  You have got to ask yourself: why am I a disciple? Is it because I trust and believe in God or is because I am riding on someone else's conviction? Until you can be truthful to yourself on this very basic questions, I feel all other avenues may not yeild any fruit. Just be truthful to yourself. No-one is holding a gun or stick to your head. Why do you do what you do? Is it to please man or God? If you answer this simple, but most important question it is a step to get an answer to your many questions. ...

*4:1-7 - God orders the israelites to place 12 huge stones in the middle of their campsite, so that they will always be reminded of the miracles performed the day they crossed the Jordan. There are things in our lives that are permanent that always remind us of the glory of God. What are they for you? Is it a family of all disciples? Is it the pain you bear from past sin -- yours or someone else's? Is it a scar from an accident you shouldn't have survived? Or even a friend that was once an enemy? There ARE things that God allows to happen so that we will always remember His miracles, whether those "things" are good or bad. ...