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Okay, so you go to church on Sunday, you worship and wave your hands around as you sing along to the songs. You have a smiley mask on your face as you greet people in the auditorium. You listen to the message which tickles your ears. As soon as you walk outside of the service, you are the total opposite of who you are in the church services. Guess what, it's all for nothing.
Okay, you go a step further. You go to multiple services in the week. Perhaps 2, maybe 3. You are sure of your salvation and you keep records of your do's and don'ts. You check them off. You say the right words. Then you come across someone who is struggling financially. You automatically judge and accuse him. (You probably worship a vending machine God) You go on your way. You read your Bible and come across a verse. (That is if you don't cherry pick and you actually read the Bible like you'd read any other book) This verse depicts God talking about how some of the people did not feed him when he was starving, or clothe him when he was naked. He then clarified that how they treated the starving, naked, imprisoned, etc. was how they treated God. Sounds like your facade is all for nothing.
How many of us are like that? We get smug and we descend into this arrogant mindset, even though our salvation was not earned. Unfortunately, a lot of us grossly misrepresent God. (At our best, we still misrepresent God). What God really wants for us is to treat each other like family. That is the defining characteristic of a Christian, that we love each other.
Sadly, we are caught up in the "oohs" and "aahs." We obsess over miracles and prophesies. There is nothing wrong with talking about these, but if our whole point of becoming a follower of Christ is to experience miracles and prophecy fulfillment, then it's all for nothing. A lot of times we go to Christ in a similar way we go to the movies (those who go to movies anyway). Some of us watch a movie just to look at a spectacle of CGI and visual effects. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that. Likewise, we just want Christ to give us a spectacle. Unfortunately, when we have that mindset, we miss the point of following Christ.
Real power is in how we treat each other. If we can love and appreciate God and love and appreciate each other, then we are getting somewhere.
Dear JJenkins602, our motivating force for our good acts should be out of love and not threat.
You brought up the point of feeding or not feeding, clothing or not clothing, visiting in jail or not visiting in jail, giving a cup of water or not giving a cup of water to ***Christ's brethren.*** as found in Matthew 25:31-46. Jesus is talking about what those nations did as to how they treated His brethren during their great tribulation. How they treated His brethren is how they treated Christ. It is not about every poor, hungry, unclothed person in the world.
And yet, by your oft-spoken or posted words, so many of you Christians overtly and openly hate us atheists, calling us "The Spawn of The Devil", or "Of Satan" or "false prophets" and so on. Especially those of us dedicated to producing the truth via simple logical scientific analysis, which has dispensed so very effectively with so much of those tiresome ancient old mythologies. And false Gods.
You seem only to "Love" your own dedicated cohort.
Sounds a bit spiritually hypocritical, wouldn't you say?
I personally don't approve of how you Atheists are treated. If we are supposed to "win" you, we are not going to do it by attacking you.
I will be honest with you. I can see how there'd be atheists. The Bible just does not make sense to people on the outside looking in. It doesn't even make sense to a lot of people on the inside. But us believers still believe for our own reasons. (No one is going to believe the exact same things.
We are called to Love our enemies. So I agree, there are "believers" that are not walking in love.
Well Mr TJenkins602, I have read your words and in between the lines too, and get your drift.
And in some ways, in some circles it could possibly be true. That's a problem because you have lifted a mirror on my life and I am now faced with the question: "What's the reality of my Christian walk?" And I think that's an important issue. Well, for me any rate.
Am I playing around with nicey-nicey scriptures that suit me; am I playing around in life in areas I shouldn't be; and am I doing what Jesus taught? So I think it is worth holding up that mirror and having a good look at where my walk with Jesus is going.
Therefore my starting point is: 1 Corinthians 10 v12: "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." which is a real killer!
And on a more positive note Isaiah 41 v10: "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." This is for when I fall... but hopefully not.
That's all I'm going to say for the moment. I'll get back to you on the rest but thanks. Need to ponder a bit.
To tell the truth, I'm not really that great with words. Paul says it much better than I could ever say it. "If I can do *blank* and have no love, then I am nothing.
The problem with me is that I could get the wrong point across. I end up saying " I didn't mean that. So many times, LOL!
No problem. Let's start again... what were you trying to put across? What is the problem you are trying to tackle? The mirror is fine with me, it is an important issue.
Okay, so you go to church on Sunday, you worship and wave your hands around as you sing along to the songs. You have a smiley mask on your face as you greet people in the auditorium. You listen to the message which tickles your ears. As soon as you walk outside of the service, you are the total opposite of who you are in the church services. Guess what, it's all for nothing.
Okay, you go a step further. You go to multiple services in the week. Perhaps 2, maybe 3. You are sure of your salvation and you keep records of your do's and don'ts. You check them off. You say the right words. Then you come across someone who is struggling financially. You automatically judge and accuse him. (You probably worship a vending machine God) You go on your way. You read your Bible and come across a verse. (That is if you don't cherry pick and you actually read the Bible like you'd read any other book) This verse depicts God talking about how some of the people did not feed him when he was starving, or clothe him when he was naked. He then clarified that how they treated the starving, naked, imprisoned, etc. was how they treated God. Sounds like your facade is all for nothing.
How many of us are like that? We get smug and we descend into this arrogant mindset, even though our salvation was not earned. Unfortunately, a lot of us grossly misrepresent God. (At our best, we still misrepresent God). What God really wants for us is to treat each other like family. That is the defining characteristic of a Christian, that we love each other.
Sadly, we are caught up in the "oohs" and "aahs." We obsess over miracles and prophesies. There is nothing wrong with talking about these, but if our whole point of becoming a follower of Christ is to experience miracles and prophecy fulfillment, then it's all for nothing. A lot of times we go to Christ in a similar way we go to the movies (those who go to movies anyway). Some of us watch a movie just to look at a spectacle of CGI and visual effects. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that. Likewise, we just want Christ to give us a spectacle. Unfortunately, when we have that mindset, we miss the point of following Christ.
Real power is in how we treat each other. If we can love and appreciate God and love and appreciate each other, then we are getting somewhere
You made some excellent points. Thanks for sharing. God bless.
And yet, by your oft-spoken or posted words, so many of you Christians overtly and openly hate us atheists, calling us "The Spawn of The Devil", or "Of Satan" or "false prophets" and so on. Especially those of us dedicated to producing the truth via simple logical scientific analysis, which has dispensed so very effectively with so much of those tiresome ancient old mythologies. And false Gods.
You seem only to "Love" your own dedicated cohort.
Sounds a bit spiritually hypocritical, wouldn't you say?
Yep yep yep. I know a lying cheating scoundrel. He once saw a woman in distress did he stop to help??? Nope. He prayed for her he said. Ugh. And he has said I will burn in hell since I don't go to church. Yep for real. I help the homeless and I made sure last week a very disoriented old lady was safely in the hands of the police before I left her. Yep I'm horrid. Some ( not all ) of these "Christians" are so hypocritical. But they aren't going to change
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Hmmm. What's that smell?
