{"id":1347,"date":"2012-10-21T09:00:50","date_gmt":"2012-10-21T14:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=1347"},"modified":"2012-10-14T18:53:18","modified_gmt":"2012-10-14T23:53:18","slug":"it-is-not-good-for-man-to-be-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=1347","title":{"rendered":"It Is Not Good for Man to Be Alone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/No-Man-Is-an-Island.1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-1354\" title=\"No Man Is an Island.1\" src=\"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/No-Man-Is-an-Island.1-300x203.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"248\" height=\"155\" \/><\/a>Elizabethan poet, minister, and scholar John Donne was the first to use the phrase \u201cno man is an island\u201d in his Devotions &#8211; Meditation XVII written in 1624. Humans like to think they don\u2019t need others, but they do. They need other people and they need God.<\/p>\n<p>In the beginning God said let us make man in our image. (Genesis 1:26) After man was made he went on to make him a companion because he said, \u201cIt is not good for man to be alone.\u201d (Genesis 2:18)<\/p>\n<p>God did not create us to be alone. The Bible is full of relational concepts. Every time the Bible says do this or that to one another, it\u2019s talking about building relationships. We are told to\u2026<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>be at peace with one another (Mark 9:50)<\/li>\n<li>honor one another (Romans 12:10)<\/li>\n<li>be kind to one another (Ephesians 4:32)\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>forgive one another (Ephesians 4:32)<\/li>\n<li>love one another (John 13:34, 35)<\/li>\n<li>don\u2019t judge one another (Romans 14:13)<\/li>\n<li>accept one another (Romans 15:7)<\/li>\n<li>serve one another (Galatians 5:13)<\/li>\n<li>encourage one another (Ephesians 4:18)<\/li>\n<li>pray for one another (James 5:17)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The list goes on and on. These scriptures would be hard to fulfill in total isolation. You see, true Christianity is about our relationship with God and our relationship with \u201cone another.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>God is all about connectedness. We are connected with others and we are connected with God. And through that connectedness we are expected to interact and build relationships.<\/p>\n<p>God models this for us through the Trinitarian relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is further exemplified in the grace filled gesture of making salvation available for all mankind so we, too, can enter into that relationship. That\u2019s good news for us!<\/p>\n<p>No man is an island because God made us that way. It is not good for man to be alone \u2013 more convenient maybe, less messy maybe, not as stressful maybe \u2013 but definitely not good.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elizabethan poet, minister, and scholar John Donne was the first to use the phrase \u201cno man is an island\u201d in his Devotions &#8211; Meditation XVII written in 1624. Humans like to think they don\u2019t need others, but they do. They &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=1347\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1347"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1347\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}