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Seven Universal, Non-Optional Principles |
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| The Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP, formerly called the Institute in Basic Youth Conflicts) structures their Seminar around seven principles. | ||
| You must work on bringing your life into harmony with all of these principles. There is no specific order to them, but as you study them, God will speak to your conscience; be prepared to take immediate steps to follow God's will as it is revealed in Scripture. | ||
PRINCIPLE |
DEFINITION | PURPOSE | |
| DESIGN | Nothing happens by chance. God has a plan for every person, and every relationship. Our life is the gift of a loving God. Only as we appreciate God's purposes will we find our identity and fulfillment in life. | If we are angry at God for our life, and untrusting of His goodness, we become bitter and rebellious. We miss the plans God has for us. Our life is frustrating and purposeless. The real problem behind low "self-esteem" is our failure to esteem our wise and loving Creator. | |
| RESPONSIBILITY | We must take responsibility for our words, thoughts, actions, attitudes and motives. Whenever we hurt others by violating God's Law, there must be confession and proper restitution. | Sin weakens us. Knowing the judgment of God, we engage in masochistic self-atonement to purge our lives of unconfessed sin. We can't exercise dominion in the world because our conscience won't let us escape an unamended past. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. | |
| AUTHORITY | All men are not created equal. The child is not equal to the parent, the novice is not superior to the master. If we believe our immaturity is superior to the mature, we learn nothing from them. If we exercise authority in a heavy-handed way, we break the spirit of those under us. The Fifth Commandment commands that we honor not just our parents, but all these relationships of authority. | The commandment to "honor" is "the first commandment with promise: That it may go well with thee" (Ephesians 6:2-3). We benefit from the resources of those in a superior position. The harnessed horse accomplishes more than a wild stallion. "I am a man under authority," said the centurion. Jesus "marvelled . . . I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel" (Luke 7:6-9). | |
| SUFFERING | Although He experienced death by torture, Jesus forgave His enemies as they were executing Him. He knew His suffering was part of God's wise and loving plan for mankind. We must also learn to forgive. If not, "your Father in heaven will not forgive your trespasses (Matthew 6:14-15). | Often doctors can trace serious physical disorders to the time when bitterness began. Bitterness drains us emotionally and often leads to depression. We are more easily manipulated, even by the one who wronged us, causing us to hate him more. If we say we love God when we refuse to forgive, we are liars (1 John 4:20). | |
| OWNERSHIP | God owns everything. We don't have a "right" to anything. All that we have is a gift. Jesus had the full rights of Divinity, but gave them up to become a Servant of men. "Americanism" might be called the ideology of "rights." It has resulted in the slaughter of millions. | When we give all our expectations to God, and trust God to protect His property, we are freed to be servants, and released from anger. | |
| FREEDOM | Christian freedom is not the "right" to do what we want. It is the power to do what we ought. Millions are enslaved to sin, and their lives are crippled; they are powerless to serve others in vibrant love. | "The flesh lusts against the Spirit . . . so you cannot do the things that you want. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance:" (Galatians 5:17-23) | |
| SUCCESS | In our day athletes and moviestars are considered a success. In the Bible Abraham was considered a success because he was gracious to the poor and entire nations rose and fell because of his faithful obedience to God. We can conform to these seven principles only when we are wise, which comes from meditating on God's Word. | God promises success if we meditate on His Word. "The LORD has blessed my master greatly, and he has become great; and He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys. (Genesis 24:35) | |
Our recommendations:
Our plan is to provide links to most of these principles. |
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Vine & Fig Tree |
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