4 edits
Originally posted by Rajk999You know its the most interesting phenomena and I think I understand the reason why.
Applying its principles in their life?
Are you referring to the Satanic principles of 'works' and 'living as Christ did'?
Are you crazy?
Christians are saved eternally.
All that is now required is for them to call Jesus name over and over for about 3 minutes
Claim to love God for another 5 minutes
Read the Bible for another 30
Call Jesus name for another 3 minutes
Repeat every 3 to 4 hours.
The idea that matter is 'evil' and that the only reality is the spiritual realm I think can be traced back to Plato. I remember reading of his 'chariot of the soul' when I was a teenager, a white horse would pull it upwards towards heavenly and virtuous things, a dark horse would pull it downwards towards earthly things and damnation and thus you have the polarisation of matter verse spirituality with the former being deemed evil and the latter being deemed virtuous.
As Christianity absorbed Hellenistic philosophical ideas after the 4th century these ideas eventually manifested themselves and have come to rest in the religious ideas of 'Born again', Christians and others who put great emphasis on 'the spirit', to the detriment of all else. What this has produced in my opinion is an airy fairy kind of religion where the practitioners are so busy being 'filled with the spirit', that they are literally of no earthly benefit. The opposite of this has also occurred in that many Christian organisations now focus solely on humanitarian aims that their practitioners know next to nothing about the word of God which forms the very basis of their faith.
There is also another curious phenomena whereby Christians to avoid having to engage in humanitarian works themselves donate to charities in a kind of conscience appeasing exercise. I am not saying that donating to charities is wrong but its no substitute for a faith that is alive and well and which manifests itself in doing good towards others.
1 edit
Originally posted by robbie carrobieFor me personally I see religions being of two types, those which promote SELF, and those which promote SELFLESSNESS. The second type is what Jesus and the Apostles preached about, and it is the way to eternal life as Christ went to great pains and great lengths to explain. As a result I would personally gravitate to the humanitarian type of church.
You know its the most interesting phenomena and I think I understand the reason why.
The idea that matter is 'evil' and that the only reality is the spiritual realm I think can be traced back to Plato. I remember reading of his 'chariot of the soul' when I was a teenager, a white horse would pull it upwards towards heavenly and virtuous things, ...[text shortened]... tute for a faith that is alive and well and which manifests itself in doing good towards others.
The first type which promotes SELF, is often characterized by:
- claims of being saved eternally
- the ridiculing of those who follow Jesus example and who attempt to be like him
- claims of HS gifts most of which are a sham
- the focus on mouth worship - calling Gods name in vain, loud and repetitive prayers etc
- almost never admonishing members to avoid sin or to do good works as the Apostles preached
SELF is the way of the flesh, is contrary to Christ and leads to eternal death.
SELFLESSNESS is Christlike, it is the way of the Spirit and leads to eternal life.
The SELF group constantly speak of the Holy Spirit claiming to have the Spirit of God etc, but this is a shallow claim and is not matched by their actions.
The SELFLESS group never speaks of the Holy Spirit, neither do they need to. Their lives and actions are living demonstration of God/Christ living in them.
Christ will judge who is who at the appropriate time.
2 edits
-Removed-(Acts 5:42) And every day in the temple and..... from house to house..... they continued without letup teaching and declaring the good news about the Christ, Jesus.
(Acts 20:20) while I did not hold back from telling you any of the things that were profitable nor from teaching you publicly and from..... house to house.
They did not have the internet in the 1st century so they told the good news about the Christ from door to door. We simply follow that pattern set by Jesus himself.
(Matthew 10:5-7) These 12 Jesus sent out, giving them these instructions: “Do not go off into the road of the nations, and do not enter any Sa·marʹi·tan city; 6 but instead, go continually to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 As you go, preach, saying: ‘The Kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.’
(Luke 10:1) After these things the Lord designated 70 others and sent them out by twos ahead of him into every city and place where he himself was to go.
That was just the start.
Of course today we have the internet too. See JW.org
Originally posted by robbie carrobieIt would be interesting to hear whether you think your activities on this forum are you 'getting out there' and 'teaching the word of God', whether they demonstrate you 'applying its principles in your life', and whether your words and behaviour in discussions here form part of what you see as your "public ministry".
The way to make progress as a Christian is to dispense with this airy fairy pie in the sky religion and to get out there and teach the word of God to people who will benefit from applying its principles in their life. There is NO substitute for a public ministry!
3 edits
Originally posted by FMFInteresting to someone that has no interest in Christianity, who spent allegedly twenty years as a Christian and knows practically next to nothing about the Bible, an apostate who abandoned the teachings of the Christ for something approaching me-ism, who cannot tell us a single thing about the deity he allegedly believes in??? now why would that be interesting to you? I would think it more pertinent for you to find out about your own deity, to focus on your own spirituality rather than interest yourself with other people. Sorry but I've seen your interrogation trolling routine a thousand times, nothing you have ever said is remotely beneficial from a spiritual perspective. Your approach is to my mind, empty, hollow and devoid of anything approaching substance primarily because your entire approach is to humiliate and find fault with imperfect people. Sorry if you find that offensive please don't take it personally. Christians are also counselled to have nothing to do with apostates of which you are undoubtedly one. Sorry again if that offends you but you are what you are.
It would be interesting to hear whether you think your activities on this forum are you 'getting out there' and 'teaching the word of God', whether they demonstrate you 'applying its principles in your life', and whether your words and behaviour in discussions here form part of what you see as your "public ministry".
Originally posted by robbie carrobieInteresting to someone that has no interest in Christianity, who spent allegedly twenty years as a Christian and knows practically next to nothing about the Bible, an apostate who abandoned the teachings of the Christ for something approaching me-ism, who cannot tell us a single thing about the deity he allegedly believes in??? now why would that be interesting to you? I would think it more pertinent for you to find out about your own deity, to focus on your own spirituality rather than interest yourself with other people. Sorry but I've seen your interrogation trolling routine a thousand times, nothing you have ever said is remotely beneficial from a spiritual perspective. Your approach is to my mind, empty, hollow and devoid of anything approaching substance primarily because your entire approach is to humiliate and find fault with imperfect people. Sorry if you find that offensive please don't take it personally. Christians are also counselled to have nothing to do with apostates of which you are undoubtedly one. Sorry again if that offends you but you are what you are.
It was a straight forward question. You mentioned your supposed "public ministry" yet again. And you have acted hyper-sensitively to any discussion of yet again. It's interesting to note how tangential and personalized your evasion is.
Originally posted by FMFseen it.
[b]Interesting to someone that has no interest in Christianity, who spent allegedly twenty years as a Christian and knows practically next to nothing about the Bible, an apostate who abandoned the teachings of the Christ for something approaching me-ism, who cannot tell us a single thing about the deity he allegedly believes in??? now why would that be interest ...[text shortened]... n of [b]yet again. It's interesting to note how tangential and personalized your evasion is.[/b]
Originally posted by robbie carrobieFor a Christian who has spent ten years here - at least in so far as I have witnessed it - trying to give the impression that you are more involved 'in doing God's work' in your everyday life than the other Christians here, aside perhaps from galveston75 and roigam, you seem awfully insecure about it when asked.
seen it.
Do your antics here on this Spirituality Forum form part of your "public ministry" and do they form part of your application of the principles of 'the word of God' to the way you live your life, or are you simply taking a break from doing all that when you are here?