Paranoid Christianity

[Helen]

some are also hopelessly adrift at "faith and works" too i guess
and works and the law
and the law and faith

.....SOME!!!????

 

[amadeus]

fwiw i tried, see "Flintopia" on FB if you like; but turns out you could not buy any "land" anyway, that is virtually impossible, reserved for Congressmen and Judges and the like. "Real estate" is all we can get.

everything we are taught is a lie, see. every single thing.
contains enough truth to sell, but that's it

i guess that sounds conspiratorial, or paranoid, but it is just the simple facts. i could finish this page and fill the next with the yack we are assured is truth that is complete falsehood.
think you must have a license to operate a vehicle?
must have license plates?
think you can buy land?
think the Federal Reserve is either one?
think dollars are money?
think food is available at a store?
think doctors provide "health care?"
on and on, why just depress ppl i guess

I wish I could simply say you were delusional AND seriously mean it when I said it. LOL! I guess you know where I am with that.

 

[amadeus]

ha, "alone," that guy is going to get more grief per square foot than anyone in the world lol. At least we did. i would go and give everything you own away first, houses included, and start your journey from there. And don't kid yourself that you are a rich man, if you can read this.

Oh, but I am rich, but not in the way that most people count riches.

I know what you are saying. According to men's ways we have nothing because it's not ours anyway. What I am saying that really, in spite of what the banks may say, or the courts, or the statutes, or the precedents, etc., I still say that the ultimate owner is God. Ah, but then we see where Jesus told Peter to get money out of a fish and give it nonetheless on behalf of the two of them. In spite of how things are, we may at times need to do similar things... but let us walk slowly in that direction or as the Lord directs us.

But you would have to do this while you are still young enough, i s'pose; i would not even counsel someone over 50 doing this after growing up in the world. Very hard at 20 even. But this path is how one is led into making tents, which Paul almost surely...picked up along the way, let's say. While he was on the run, with a price on his head iow

Absolutely! I am physically unable to do many of the things that would be required, and some of them would have been difficult for me at the age of 20.

 

[amadeus]

ha, a Christian who is not zealous for their rights, who can find one?

Almost even naming a zealot in that sense a Christian seems a contradiction, but we have seen the all kinds of "Christians" or so called Christians, have we not? How many of them are really striving to become as Jesus is/was? Hmm?

 

[amadeus]

just as a diabetic cannot practically fast, an "American" has practically lost the ability to do what Christ commanded now, i guess

Well, God knows our limitations better than we do. The hard question for anyone who claims to be a follower of Christ, is would he [I do not exclude myself] be willing to lay down his life if there were no doubt that physical death was the only way to stay on the Lord's side? There apparently really was a period in the early days of Christianity when many became martyrs for their faith, but is it not just as certain that many renounced their faith to save their physical lives? People then were as people are today.

 

[amadeus]

why rely on an intermediary at all? that is not in Scripture anywhere, and the vv that suggest that are misinterpreted imo.
We are a kingdom of Priests after all, right. All hidden right there in plain sight, just like the trackback button in a quote banner! :)
why the whole banner is not a button is just bad software engineering tho lol

In the beginning of their walk people often do need help especially if they have been badly misled. Consider Ephesians chapter 4 verses 4:11-16. Who are the apostle, prophets, teachers, pastors and evangelists... or where are they? Many are named pastors, but few really strive to work in the role of a shepherd when you consider what the job of a shepherd of woolies really is.

All of them, however, may be found in people of faith that God uses to help others. You or I may be uses in such a role, but one important verse often left alone there is this one:

"Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:" Eph 4:13

When does a person attain to such unity, knowledge "unto a perfect man..."? I suggest that perfection is not what many want to say that it is... at least not in the eyes of God. Many "pastors" figure on having a lifetime job rather than in bringing anyone to such a place of perfection. That does seem to miss the mark...at least as I see it.

 

[amadeus]

that was the message i got after being rather proud of a ten day fast, ya. Led me to the cave.
"Cave" is a great Scripture study too, as it turns out :)

as far as any credit goes, though, i would not be expecting any future credit for fasting, that is not the point imo

Because I suggested it might be easier for doesn't mean that God would give you whatever He saw fit. Fasting is a few and far between event for most Christians. When I was much younger I did it only occasionally as a Protestant. My health now makes it easy to skip the fast.

For Catholics, when I was one, skipping meat on Friday was called fasting. It was fasting, but it was not especially hard on me or on anyone I knew. Protestants from my experience, with some few exceptions, seldom do even as much as that.

Probably if I ever become a widower [unlikely as I am 7 years the senior] I will be able to fast more easily as I would not eat as regularly as I do if it were not for my wife who won't let me skip any meal she prepares and she prepares meals daily.

 

[Triumph1300]

There apparently really was a period in the early days of Christianity when many became martyrs for their faith

The exact thing is still happening today.

 

[amadeus]

i was disapproving of someone misusing world for earth the other day, and realized that that likely means "approved by men," as weird as that might seem at first. But i'm more confident of that now tbh. May not be strictly true tho, i still get revelations pretty much daily from Scripture or a study, so i dunno. i have gotten delusions that way too, back when i was a meth head lol.

I am not saying not to study. On the contrary I study and believe in it. My point is that if we believe by studying the Bible enough we will get smarter in the Word of God, we will be sadly mistaken. I did it so I do speak from experience.

As we are studying scripture or simply reading it if we are also staying closely in tune to God He can and often does give us new revelation, which may or may not relate directly to something we were specifically seeking. That happens because we have the Holy Ghost working with us, for us, in us in some measure. If our study time weighs too heavily over our one on one time with God, we are more likely to be found in some delusions and less likely to get the "right" revelations at the right time [if ever].

When I do my daily morning reading, I always stop regularly to talk to God or to listen to God so that it is not just me trying to pull the truth out of the scriptures. Because of the way I did my studying for many years, I lost something which I will probably never regain. Perhaps it is for the best, but only God can answer that question precisely.

i even went "i am saved forever, ergo i cannot sin, ergo i do not need to ever confess" for a while

i just recently read that one of Saul's (pre-Paul's iow) chief disagreements with Zeno (Stoicism) was that Saul believed that no esoteric knowledge was necessary at all to seek and follow God (this was BC), whereas Zeno believed in secret knowledge that was hard or even impossible for many to obtain

I met one man who was completely illiterate in the only language he spoke, Spanish, yet he had a better testimony of God and His Son than many Christians I have known who read their Bibles regularly. How does a person get to know God today without reading a Bible. We can learn much from people such as @mjrhealth and @pia if we are paying attention. The Bible is a great tool and filled with a lot of wisdom, but it only comes to Life as the Word of God within a person by the Holy Ghost... if it ever does.

 

[amadeus]

The exact thing is still happening today.

Absolutely, but for the most part they are not in the United States and probably most people in this country who call themselves Christians could never become martyrs because they really do not love God enough... That is only an unsupported opinion based on what I see around me.

Do I? That is, do I love God more than all of these other things and people? Well I haven't been put to such a real test yet, but I would hope I could do whatever God required when He required it of me.

 

[Triumph1300]

How does a person get to know God today without reading a Bible.

God is a just God.
He can reveal Himself anyway He wants.

 

[amadeus]

God is a just God.
He can reveal Himself anyway He wants.

Amen!

 

[mjrhealth]

God is a just God.
He can reveal Himself anyway He wants.

Double Amen

 

[aspen]

The pastor at the church I attend retired yesterday after serving tthe church for 40 years. He said, ‘I was paid for being good for 40 years, now I have to be good for nothing’. I laughed.

 

[Triumph1300]

lol

 

[bbyrd009]

I wish I could simply say you were delusional AND seriously mean it when I said it. LOL! I guess you know where I am with that.

no idea, tbh; bam pick one and attack it, let's see!

shine a light on one of those puppies, go 'head
fwiw i left out the more unbelievable ones, that are also true

U.S. Supreme Court Says No License Necessary To Drive Automobile On Public Roads

ps don't try this at home ok, until you understand the language, the diff between "driving" and "travelling" etc.
Cops don't pull ppl over and ask them "where are you driving to today" for no reason

 

[bbyrd009]

Who are the apostle, prophets, teachers, pastors and evangelists... or where are they?

in the laity, these are just descriptions of priests imo, and we are all priests

 

[amadeus]

no idea, tbh; bam pick one and attack it, let's see!

shine a light on one of those puppies, go 'head
fwiw i left out the more unbelievable ones, that are also true

No attack coming from me because I don't believe you are deluded. Lots of people are and I guess they like their delusions as they make no serious attacks to get something better. From the unbelievers, I guess we might expect it, but from the church goers it does make a person wonder a bit who they believe Jesus really is and why he was sent to us by God. We hear a lot of the reason right here on this forum... be they right or be they wrong...

U.S. Supreme Court Says No License Necessary To Drive Automobile On Public Roads

ps don't try this at home ok, until you understand the language, the diff between "driving" and "travelling" etc.
Cops don't pull ppl over and ask them "where are you driving to today" for no reason

And so on it goes... It is where we live even if we are somewhat removed.

Jesus spoke of being "IN" but not being "OF", yet He himself was no longer "IN" before He went to be crucified:

"And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are." John 17:11

"They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." John 17:16

Perhaps again these little prepositions tell us a story.

 

[amadeus]

in the laity, these are just descriptions of priests imo, and we are all priests

Yes, there are some who would latch onto such a label to make themselves something special in the eyes of people. God undoubtedly gave some particular gifts as found in the descriptions of those five, but that does not make them above others without them in God's eyes. It just gives them a burden that those without them do not have:

"But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more." Luke 12:48

 

[pia]

but it only comes to Life as the Word of God within a person by the Holy Ghost... if it ever does.

Very well put ! I am as amazed at how far you have been able to come with The Lord and a Bible ( as far as truth goes ), as I was amazed at the Truth itself ( Himself ) and how He is able to meet us, where ever that may be, IF we are willing and show us truth as we are willing to hear........You are, what I refer to as, a believing believer lol, if that makes any sense to you ? Many claim to believe, but mostly what they display, is merely mental assent ...what you display is actual 'knowing' of something, huge difference.....It's a joy to read your posts....:)