Still reading Romans. Chapter 7 is very interesting. You don't sin until there is a law that says something is sin, and you don't necessarily want what the sin is until it is declared sin. If you tell me eating spinach and strawberry salad is bad for me, then I will want to have it all of the time. As it is, it is not sinful and so I desire it in small amounts. That is the way of sin. But not having a law doesn't make something ok either. If it is no longer illegal to kill someone, we still know by our emotions that it is wrong to kill. How many "laws" have we tried to change in our society, so that something that was illegal will now be ok. It used to be illegal to live with someone before marriage, but now it is accepted as the right thing to do, the obvious way to make sure a relationship is worth having. Yet, people aren't staying together as long as they did when there was the law. Children are scarred by ruined relationships of parents. Sexually transmitted diseases are rampant. Even without the law, we know it is wrong. The reading I was discussing with friends last night was about losing your own desires and taking on a relationship with God. This is so very un-American, that it can hardly be stated. The Prayer of Jabez says that you can pray for whatever earthly riches you want and God will provide. That is very American; people will listen to that. But most scripture tells us not to store up riches on earth, but in Heaven. Perhaps that is why hearing scripture at our church is not necessarily working. But I would rather have assurance of life after death than death after life.