Eebs, I thought it was BEAT-atudes...to he'p yuh keep duh beat, baby! That was cool. I never heard of Be... attitude. cuteness.

> I like the name "Beattitudes"
> because they are the way we should BE and
> the ATTITUDES we should have.

> Mt 5:3 ¶ Blessed are the poor in spirit: for
> theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
> 4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they
> shall be comforted.
> 5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall
> inherit the earth.
> 6 Blessed are they which do hunger and
> thirst after righteousness: for they shall
> be filled.
> 7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall
> obtain mercy.
> 8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they
> shall see God.
> 9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they
> shall be called the children of God.
> 10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for
> righteousness' sake: for theirs is the
> kingdom of heaven.
> 11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile
> you, and persecute you, and shall say all
> manner of evil against you falsely, for my
> sake.

> I don't much know what to say in the way of
> discussion. It would be hard for anyone to
> misinterpret the meaning unless they were
> trying to do so. And if they want to
> misunderstand I think we should let em do
> it.

> There are some expressions that are a little
> vague. For example what does it mean to be
> "poor in spirit", and how is this
> a virtue.

> I think it means to be humble. Not proud.
> Not poor economically necessarily, but
> having the humility that would normally go
> with poverty.

> Why is it blessed to mourn?
> I guess it means because there are things
> that we should mourn about. Later in the
> chapter it says that we should rejoice and
> be glad about persecution, so the mourning
> doesn't preclude joy.

> But there is a false doctrine (as in the
> family) that we should rejoice about
> everything. That we should always have the
> "victory" no matter what happens.

> But I know that Jesus wept, especially over
> the hard hearts and unbelief of his
> countrymen.

> So while we can and should rejoice about
> persecution and other blessings, a part of
> us should mourn the things that aren't
> right.

> We get a blessing for being persecuted for
> righteousness' sake. Since the persecution
> comes from others, there should be no
> blessing for it unless it means that if we
> are righteous in the way Jesus wants us to
> be, we will automatically be persecuted.
> Paul did say that "all who will live
> Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
> persecution."

> So, to sum up, we should be meek, humble,
> happy & sad, hungry & thirsty for
> righteousness, merciful, pure in our hearts,
> pacifist (in the sense of trying to make
> peace) and righteous to the point of getting
> persecution for it. And we need to be
> persecuted for Christ's name's sake too so I
> guess we better keep giving Him the glory
> for any good we do so that our persecutors
> know that it's Jesus' name they are
> persecuting.