Sincere question: An Atheist's recent visit to the Bible Belt (Jehovah's Witnesses, scriptures)
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Self determination in the Church of Christ is tolerated before Lord Jesus and he will even lead his people in various way and not step of their toes in the process, even though Heaven determination is preferred over self determination........
Instead of religious debate, which destroys faith and results in an independent spirit, we are to become dependent totally upon the Lord as a yielded vessel washed in the truth of His Word. - Paul Keith Davis
Dearest June (EO), it's not just a north or south thing, it's even in the west...... it's the human heart (pride) which manifests the problem. And it is prejudice where ever it lives.... North, south, east, and west, little town, big town !!!
i dunno something about that; it just doesn't seem like much fun.
Ah, but it is....
When you become a child of the King, you become royalty, not with earthly crowns, but heavenly !! You don't stop living, you begin to really live !!!
Good question, I've been asking myself the same question for some time now when I read post in this CHRISTIANITY forum..... funny thing though the one's whom shout the loudest about such love, God's love are the very one's who seem to lack it the most toward other's and yet justify their very own actions and words..... go figure !!
I don't believe for one minute universalists are saying they are more loving than the ET brethren,they are saying God is far more loving than what they believe he is.
I also do not believe just because you strongly disagree with someone, you are being unloving. It's also a common occurance on this forum to be accused by others of being unloving, when you disagree with someone mildly or strongly.
Look at some of the goings back and forth between Jesus and the religious establishment, it wasn't pretty, and Jesus did certainly not hold back on telling it, what it really was.
Thank you my friend, this hits the target dead center. And the rest of the chapter sums it all up.
Your welcome !! I know that a lot of men have a difficult time in expressing love into words and it comes out completely misunderstood.... now, for women, that is another story..... it is the way God created us.
I don't believe for one minute universalists are saying they are more loving than the ET brethren,they are saying God is far more loving than what they believe he is.
I also do not believe just because you strongly disagree with someone, you are being unloving. It's also a common occurance on this forum to be accused by others of being unloving, when you disagree with someone mildly or strongly.
Look at some of the goings back and forth between Jesus and the religious establishment, it wasn't pretty, and Jesus did certainly not hold back on telling it, what it really was.
Yes it does, but the accusation that those who are not loving is generally aimed at universalists on this CHRISTIANITY forum(as you put it). To be quite frank, i could count on one hand those who shout aloud about love on this forum who are not universalists, it's generally most of us are dirty rotten eternal torment bound sinners, or you are an heretic, decieved and of the devil.
Let June start off by saying that she in no possible way means any disrespect to anyone's denominational beliefs or mindset. Likewise, let it be said that June tends to regard herself as a fairly open minded person who tends to strive quite hard to understand and accept where others are coming from; be it culturally (religiously denominational) or otherwise.
June just spent a week in the Bible Belt. As the people she was spending her visit with are Christians, June naturally went to church with them come Sunday morning. (June had only attended a very few church services up north, at home, prior to this, in being friends with two ministers...)
June's question is this: How does one account for the vast divide that would clearly seem to exist across demographics? Why such a difference in mindset in the bible belt as opposed to here, up north? June actually spent a good amount of time talking with the pastor who ran the service; June is someone who wishes to understand other's beliefs and how they apply to real life. --And yet, June is confused as regards what the northern ministers would have to say versus what she experienced in the south. (And NO disrespect is meant or intended here to anyone who resides in the south. Truly!)
Perhaps what June is really asking is this: If you all really have ONE God, then what accounts for such vast variations in terms of your understanding of him, and how do you all reconcile that? June has clearly been on this forum long enough to know that such divides exist, but she is curious as to what other's responses would be...Perhaps as being a "northern intellectual atheist" she was completely unprepared for what she experienced, overall, but still has come away wondering: How do YOU all reconcile the differences that exist, and how do they matter and translate into one's real life as a Christian?
Thanks to all (in advance) who respond here.
Take gentle helpful care.
June, i would have to say it is because many people desire things to be a certain way and they will search the scriptures in order to find what they want to accept...And a lot of it comes from misunderstanding what they read...they will take a few passages that gell and create a doctrine out of it and since it makes them feel good they believe it must be true and God is speaking to them...I've seen many people that ran to be preachers on only a small study of the New Testament and proclaimed themselves to be preachers of the Word of God...When it says in the Bible that you should not run to be a preacher, but rather sit under a learned one and study...Which goes along with another passage that states 'do not suffer a young one to teach'...young in the Faith, not young physically...For a strong mental preparation is needed to preach the Word of God for one is responsible if one were to lead astray the flock that one is attending...A preacher is not above his flock, but his flock is above him...in other words, he is a servant to his flock and is accountable to God for his errors in servantship...this is why i have not followed my desire yet to preach and it has been over 20 years that i have studied...I've looked into other religions, their origins and tenets, i've researched sciences and how they reconcile with God...I've studied cultures that have particular beliefs...I have a great desire to know THE TRUTH and not someones opinion...I believe that it is a very worthy task to learn of Judaism for this is the Christian's heritage and without it Christianity becomes just another religion...Christianity is based on Judaism for the first Christians were Jews and did not give up their beliefs save one, they believed the long awaited Messiah was Jeshua...However they still practised as they were taught in the Jewish Faith...Gentiles have an arrogant attitude of believing that they are it...When in fact, God did not forsake His people, the Jews are still God's chosen people and gentiles are simply grafted in to the tree which is thoroughly Jewish...In other words, gentiles have become Jews by adoption...There are too many people that know the New Testament and not enough of the Old Testament...But think about it, the Apostles referenced the Old Testament and their references has become the New Testament...In their letters to the churches they would refer to the Old Testament...and in additon some of them referred to books such as the book of Enoch and such which the church later on decided to throw out of the cannonization...a lot of Christians have a tendency to disbelieve something that is not part of the corpus that they have been taught, not realizing that it may have been omitted for nefarious reasons...later, the church believed that deeper knowledge was only for the upper clergy and not to be disseminated to the layman...and people were encouraged to put total trust in the upper clergy...The laymen believed that it was the responibility of the upper clergy to get them to heaven and thay put all their faith in them...this is the problem with many christian churches today, there are way to many preachers that have a silver tongue and not enough knowledge in the Word and the laymen put total faith in them because they give them that warm fuzzy...they tell them what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear...to add more regarding the Jews...these people study the Torah using a plan that allows them to restart the reading every seven years for their entire life and by following this they are conditioning themselves in accordance with God...In order to understand why the Northern Christians are different from the southern Christians you will need to study thier individual heritages...I have found that most of the south is lent towards Pentacostalism while the north is more lent towards Puritanism...While the Pentacostals are more prone to feelings and excitment the Puritans are more sober in the Faith they do not look at Christ as their best friend but rather their Lord and leader the Pentacostals are way to familiar with Christ like they are on an par with Him...The Puritans on the other hand see Christ as their superior not their equal...The Pentacostals are too layed back in their approach to God while the Puritans take things very serious...I can gives this belief to you because i have been on both sides of the fence and immersed in both ideologies...and because of the differences been led to research their individual histories thaking me back to the start and back to first century ideologies and even further...There are many that will disagree with my findings but that is just youthfulness in knowledge speaking...I hope this helps in your understanding and may it lead you to Faith...one more thing that came to mind that i observe...People have a tendency to make God in their own image instead of letting themselves be made in God's image...
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North, south, east, and west, little town, big town !!! 
And the rest of the chapter sums it all up.
