Christianity v. MAGA Christianity

@Arkturos said
Maybe easier for some than others.

Considering the persistence in a certain kind of behavior, maybe it could be that Suzi really is doing the best that she can according to her own lights (despite outward appearances), and there might be some aspects of her behavior that she cannot help.

Maybe she has always been more of an outsider than you or I, or maybe she has ea ...[text shortened]... ipolar disorder (with a splash of alcohol) -- who knows? I might be on that path myself, eventually.

Do you really think I don’t realize you’re just trying to get me to say something to get banned although ok for others?

@mike69 said
No

If by "No" you mean that she is still full of pride and judgment in a detrimental way -- well, yeah, maybe, but let's see how things go.

Let's give it a few days. Sometimes it takes people a while to digest new information or feedback.

Softly, softly, kindly, kindly.

As for the bit at the end, I'm already glitching now and then. Apologies all around in advance!

Maybe she calls me a hypocrite because sometimes perhaps she thinks I come off as more of a Christian than her. 😉

@Arkturos said
If by "No" you mean that she is still full of pride and judgment in a detrimental way -- well, yeah, maybe, but let's see how things go.

Let's give it a few days. Sometimes it takes people a while to digest new information or feedback.

Softly, softly, kindly, kindly.

As for the bit at the end, I'm already glitching now and then. Apologies all around in advance!

...[text shortened]... s me a hypocrite because sometimes perhaps she thinks I come off as more of a Christian than her. 😉

Maybe, you never know.

@mike69 said
Maybe, you never know.

Life is full of mysteries and misinterpretations, isn't it? 😉

@Arkturos said
Life is full of mysteries and misinterpretations, isn't it? 😉

At times, others not so much.

@mike69 said
Do you really think I don’t realize you’re just trying to get me to say something to get banned although ok for others?

I had no idea.

And I'll send you a PM on a tangent.

[Edit: No I won't -- I forgot what I had in mind. Sorry about that!]

@mike69 said
Until there is no talk to walk to, is it better to let someone spew lies or confront and teach even if not the person spewing but someone listening in a difficult time or ready to accept salvation? The word isn’t a candy store to pick and choose what you like.

Speaking of which, I wish Christianity had also carried over the Jewish practice of turning over this and that phrase in the Scriptures to examine the various aspects of this or that ethical quandary. And sure, some Christians say that Scripture interprets itself, but I don't think they go as far as the Jews have done and still do.

Sorry -- I might have drifted. In Christianity I don't think there's the concept of giving someone we dislike more rope etc. -- in fact I seem to remember that Christians should (in a friendly way, not a controlling one) sometimes point out to one another some of their missteps. Pretty sure that's in the NT and in the canonical four Gospels.

Something I dislike about Christianity as practiced by some sects in the USA is the confusion/conflation of the Word of God (meaning the grand Behold! of the Cosmos through the only slightly less abstract and undefinable Christ/Logos) and the presumably channeled or inspired words of God as written by a bunch of Jewish Earth guys way back when. Very shifty at times is that confusion/conflation, and to hell with the connivers! 😉

I dare anyone to wake up a slumbering Martian in the Tharsis Ridge catacombs and ask them if they speak Aramaic.

@mike69 said
Be carful she will have you banned!

That's fine. I would accept it.

Also, perhaps one possible unbearable regret I might have to endure is that I might have -- with approximately the best of intentions -- guided her toward a perhaps insufferably saintly and transcendent transformation -- for which I will not get even so much as a sou.

@Philokalia said
Well, as an Orthodox Christian, I fully recognize that it is a life inside of the woman from the moment of conception.

Have you yourself ever carried a baby to term?

@Philokalia said
If she does go to such an extreme stance as to be affirming of homosexual practice, then... I think we are no longer talking about Christianity, frankly. I am not saying that Christians need to be out there actively condemning homosxuals and trying to insert themselves in their business, and that Christians cannot support political movements that are libertarian or liberal ...[text shortened]... yes, indeed, it is not doctrinally feasible to affirm homosexuality from a Christian perspective...

Right, because Christianity is all about propagation, organically and conceptually.

@Philokalia said
But having said that, we are all sinners who require the grace of God.

A pleasant and well-mannered psycho is still a psycho.

@Arkturos said
Have you ever considered taking a week-long forum fast to review and contemplate The Beatitudes?

Seriously, I hope you don't get tongue cancer from the way you talk to other people.

Hypocrite!

The post that was quoted here has been removed

Oh, I actually know none of these things about her, oddly enough. I must've missed that.

@Arkturos said
Thank you, and I hope you understand that some lingering, hot bitterness about a certain matter is not directed at you personally.

That matter being that since my teenage years I have been attracted to and have appreciated the beauty of guys more than gals [not all of you! don't panic!], and I have lived under some rather oppressive and inhibiting cultural shadows since t ...[text shortened]... te it very much if Christians would keep their creepy noses of prurient imagination out of my pants.

Well, yes, it is your business, of course... But if we are to be discussing matters of sexuality, you can understand how people's personal lifestyles could become relevant, right.

@Arkturos said
If only the clergy would stop frisking the altar boys [which is probably less of a problem among the Orthodox, who (I gather) are allowed to marry].

Yes... they are allowed to marry, and I believe it is the case that most monastics that go on to serve in regular parish communities put in time at monasteries until some of that fire has died out inside of them. At least, that is my impression.