Of course that perfectly characterizes the most ardent YECists, and nothing like that could ever happen to me, he says with irony.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:4-7
Of course we have to do our part in guarding our hearts too, and there are verses about that.
(There are also verses about guarding one’s mouth, so if anyone wants to pray for me to that end, it couldn’t hurt.)
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Edited to add, above. (Men and women may be interested. ; - )
I think you expound on Beck’s statement, that once you grow beyond childhood acceptance to careful examination, you can not go back to the simple acceptance without a lot of denial. That is part of progressing from milk to meat. Or tofu, for you vegetarians. I remember some of my frustration and even a bit of anger when realizing that there was a world of thought outside of the narrow confines of my denomination, And still I have a bit of resentment about that, and how the denominational teaching was not trusting enough of members to present those alternative views.
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That is one reason I am so thankful (not consciously enough enough of the time!) that my parents put an underachieving kid into a little nondenominational Christian high school for just his senior year where he was exposed to a brilliant mentor and a thoroughly Christian worldview, and a thorough one.
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Although I get all the slander you have achieved to yourself here(and some of it is justifiable ) however I think too that too much doubt is harmful. Too much of anything is harmful.But instead of that I think the focus is to the church. Over the years you guys (Christians) have become culturally and faithfully weak. You have really taken the "only God can judge me’ thing to fornicate every second you get.
I’d prefer the boundaries and strong rules Islam and Judaism which are both abrahamic religions have rather than the “ohhh you sinned don’t worry tell God you are sorry and do it again because no one’s sinless” attitude.
So Dale I don’t think the problem is doubt and that Christians shouldn’t doubt much you see. Is that most of you guys are not doing even half of the stuff you SHOULD BE DOING.
Might have sounded like a fundamentalist(which I’m not) but don’t really care. Just sharing my opinion .
I would add that we are also not doing half the things we should. I think you have a valid criticism, and one that disturbs me a lot, as if you look at statistics, Christian evangelicals are indistinguishable from the general public on most things. Of course, there are individual exceptions. The recent sex scandals, as well as the not so recent ones show something is rotten. I just saw where Chris Rice has been named in one, and he was one of my favorite music artists in.past years. Perhaps it is human to err, but without accountability it seems inevitable. ‘
What then do we do as a Christian body? I think holding each other accountable in essential. We need to develop a spirit of humility, and we need to not just give lip service to acting in love to one another. Among other things.
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Christianity has become rotten and corrupt to the core as you said. But it’s not only the leaders .it’s the laymen. You have a wide range of people in the church that they don’t follow any rule God might have given. They are Christian according to them for some reason but God forbid they do any good or treat their fellow humans right .
But if you judge them by their character instead of recognizing their mistakes and holding accountability as you said they go into the defensive saying these like “Who are you? Only God can judge not man” or “don’t judge unless you want to be judged” and other out of context verses.
And it’s sad too. Church leaders don’t care of course. They won’t tell Larry for example that beating his wife while being drunk is wrong and that God it’s disgusted by it. Ohhh no. They won’t care. They want the money Larry donates every Sunday to the donation box. They won’t tell Claire that going to clubs getting drunk every night fornicating and doing questionable things is not a Christianlike behaviour. They don’t give a ■■■■.
Glad I’m out of this ■■■■ hole. And I’m glad God will burn it down too someday. The body of Christ has rotten sadly
What you do you did it to yourselves as Christians.
Have you ever visited Greece?
Answer me at what God forbidden place does a church stand next to a club? Answer me have you ever seen people who are considered “religious” have as a tradition to go the the club AFTER Easter Sunday service to “celebrate” the Ressurection?
I know it’s ■■■■■■■ stupid but every Greek here will confirm this.
Majority if not all (expect older ages) does that.
Not only they are indistinguishable they are one and the same.
So it’s not only Evangelicals. You are not alone🤣
People are people and the best and worse can be found in any subset no matter how you slice it. But we can be very disappointing. I have at times been disappointed in myself. It is good to remember those times so as not to be overly riled by the failures of everyone else. As someone wise once said people are funny.
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You would think a group of people that holds themselves morally “superior” or at least they believe in morals and generally believe they are chosen ,they would try to be as close as possible to imitate what Jesus taught them to and what they should to one another and generally to all of creation. But they don’t. Anyway as you said people are funny. You can find good and bad that’s true. The problem is when the majority are the bad ones. That’s where the problem is . And I think that for the Christian body. I will point out that I don’t think someone will change my view on that. Have seen a lot of disgusting behaviours there. But anyway. Just my two cents. Sharing my opinion nothing more.
I just wish Christians criticized each other on that basis more rather than defending these behaviours because they are “brothers in Christ”.
Not even angry anymore just disappointed at what Christianity has become. It’s a pitty.
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It is good at times to lament and grieve over our failings and losses, but ultimately we need to seek resolution and move forward in hope and renewal.
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Christians certainly are wrong if they do. We of all people should know that everyone is morally broken, and it is only God’s grace through Jesus that rescues us. We are given severe warnings in the NT and to test ourselves against the ‘laws of love.’ Jesus talked about the sheep and the goats mixed together and the weeds among the wheat, the wide gate and the narrow.
Good to see you, Nick,
Hm, I don’t think that the Christians I have met think of themselves as superior. Many of them kind of recognize that they are the ones that society looks down on–the folks struggling with drugs, poverty, and abuse. It’s those that don’t get relief from crowd condemnation that really realize that people don’t provide our affirmation–it’s God.
there are, of course, people that fit into the self righteous category. Sometimes those are the ones that are the most insecure. Jesus was hardest on those, wasn’t he? But it seems we all have a bit of the Pharisee and the abused, alike.
Hope you are keeping cool in your hot weather. We are running up to the 90s Fahrenheit soon–but mostly not bad in the woods.
Thanks
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Remindse me of the two wolves story. We both have two wolves inside of us. The one is peace,generosity,clarity etc etc. The other is jealousy,fornication,liying,etc etc. Which one wins? The one you feed more.
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That sounds a little familiar.
As I’m trying to frame our discussion, and rereading your comment that responded to what me and Dale see as a perspicuous doctrine in the NT about knowing God, I’m still not sure about where you would draw the proverbial line. Granted it’s a fuzzy line that as a trinitarian, I believe we can draw in various incongruous colors, which brings glory to our God. Personally I think that God is pleased there are Baptists and Presbyterians. Some disagreements will probably persist until he returns.
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Thanks. I am sorry… I am not sure we are talking about the same thing. I will think and email you in a PM tomorrow I think.
Sorry on the individuality question… I found your question and thread interesting, but did not make it beyond a brief overview, so I don’t understand the allusion. I will try to PM you. Thanks.
I married a Baptist and attend a Baptist (GARB) church. I am still learning about the differences. I was raised nondenominational in a majority Muslim country…you were either Christian or Muslim. We had many good Muslim friends and coworkers and neighbors, for sure. Thanks
What is the difference between doubt and skepticism.
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Which one do you think your brother’s and sisters feed more?
Which one do you think you feed more?
Which one society feeds more?
And lastly which one God uses the most?
I love it, too.
Think about what happens right after the father’s plea for help with his unbelief, too.
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