Living Faith

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Episkopos

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We live in perilous times. The bible has never had more readers....yet with the explosion of bible sales...there has not been a corresponding explosion of faith in God. In fact, the trend is quite the other way. With more bibles has come less faith. What has taken root and increased instead is a religious belief system that contains the biblical narrative and keeps it within reach of the unspiritual (carnal) man. In short faith has degenerated into a human belief about God.

Jesus said...o you of little faith! That means that faith can be little or great or somewhere in between. But if Jesus said that even a tiny amount of faith can move a mountain....that shows that the effect on a living faith in the world is miraculous.

How is Christianity different from other religions? Other religions keep you in the realm of the flesh...to do things in the power of the flesh. The limit is the flesh. But Christianity is based on faith in an all-powerful God....a living God. So then there is NO LIMIT to the one who has faith.

Paul said "I can do ALL things through Christ" who becomes our strength. With Christ ALL things are possible. So then there is no limit in the Christian faith.

However, today, Christianity has been reduced to a religion like any other...with all the carnal limitations...so much so that any reference to living faith being limitless and miraculous draws the ire of the religiously indoctrinated ones...
 

Episkopos

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Why has Christianity been so degenerated and subverted in our time?

Progress.

Humans have this need to progress, be successful, improve efficiency....in short men seek more and more. Men seek power.

There is nothing more successful than a popular myth...a myth that makes no demands on people...but rather promises free things. Something for nothing. And what could be more attractive than the promise of eternal life for a set of beliefs?

But how to convey such a message. A successful message in order to appear successful needs many followers. So then mass marketing is required. What must be avoided is discerning what the people are doing with the message...no rigorous training or discipling is needed or even desirable. No, the proof of success is numbers. If more people are getting with the program then the program is successful...at least from a human POV.

But of course this goes exactly contrary to the ways of God. The followers of Jesus will always be a small obscure flock. Not so the human version.
 
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Episkopos

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God's ways are NOT our ways. We can agree with that statement and still miss the truth of it. We have actually fully ignored God's warnings and instructions to build the church the way we see fit. Our standards of success are NOT God's. What we esteem as good, God sees as abomination. Our ways are basically opposite to each other in practice. God is after something we have not really taken seriously. But in our headlong zeal to become great we have left Gd behind...or else asked Him to come in later and bless our efforts.

Religion brings people together. Indoctrination is a useful tool to get more adherents quickly. So is propaganda. Faith on the other hand separates us from others. It makes us unique...different.But God can speak to each of us where we are...and teach us in a unique way.

God is holy. The first step towards God is that God makes us different from every other person in the world. By faith we become entirely unique.

A man made system cannot abide this. It must make everyone the same. It must make a belief that everyone can recite...

Belief systems
are easily reproducible...just do this and that and presto. People love formulas and solutions. But faith looks only to God. He is the one who acts and takes the initiative....not man.

But once faith has been reduced to religious beliefs and revelation reduced to religion...it cannot go back. It is forever degraded and cannot become divine again. Just as salt that loses it's saltiness cannot be re-salted...but must be thrown away in order to receive a new batch.
 
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Helen

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Good posts... Amen .
 

Nancy

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God's ways are NOT our ways. We can agree with that statement and still miss the truth of it. We have actually fully ignored God's warnings and instructions to build the church the way we see fit. Our standards of success are NOT God's. What we esteem as good, God sees as abomination. Our ways are basically opposite to each other in practice. God is after something we have not really taken seriously. But in our headlong zeal to become great we have left Gd behind...or else asked Him to come in later and bless our efforts.

Religion brings people together. Indoctrination is a useful tool to get more adherents quickly. So is propaganda. Faith on the other hand separates us from others. It makes us unique...different.But God can speak to each of us where we are...and teach us in a unique way.

God is holy. The first step towards God is that God makes us different from every other person in the world. By faith we become entirely unique.

A man made system cannot abide this. It must make everyone the same. It must make a belief that everyone can recite...

Belief systems
are easily reproducible...just do this and that and presto. People love formulas and solutions. But faith looks only to God. He is the one who acts and takes the initiative....not man.

But once faith has been reduced to religious beliefs and revelation reduced to religion...it cannot go back. It is forever degraded and cannot become divine again. Just as salt that loses it's saltiness cannot be re-salted...but must be thrown away in order to receive a new batch.

Well, I hope you made a sermon from all that! I enjoyed reading that, ty.
 
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Episkopos

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Living faith is made possible by grace. Grace comes by faith (little f) and Faith (big F which is the faith OF Jesus Christ) comes by grace.

The purpose of grace is relationship with God (Not religion-ship)



But grace doesn't replace the law of God. It fulfills it.

I find that people go to extremes and miss the balance that is in the truth.

So some will abandon all law...because of "grace".... only to become lawless. Others will become legalistic and ignore grace thinking that the law must be observed by human effort.They think that only their failure at keeping the law in their own strength is covered by grace.

Unfortunately, when a person gets it into their minds to go to either of these extremes...it's VERY hard for them to break free from bondage to these. What makes "sense" to us is usually more bondage. Hey....we come from bondage. Bondage makes sense. Freedom...not so much. So often we will avoid freedom and living faith because they don't "feel" right to us. We are not used to what is right in God's eyes. We are too used to doing what's right in our own eyes. This is the essence of the struggle between faith and human beliefs.
 

Episkopos

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Belief never questions itself. Beliefs come in a package...if one point fails it all fails. So then belief cannot repent. There is nothing to repent to.

But faith is living and moves. Faith questions all things and holds fast that which is life-giving. Faith isn't worried about getting things wrong at times. Faith seeks the better way. So then faith can repent.

Beliefs are not teachable but static and stubborn.

Faith is teachable..and alive seeking ways to touch the Lord's heart.

A living faith is required to please a living God.
 
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CoreIssue

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Living faith is made possible by grace. Grace comes by faith (little f) and Faith (big F which is the faith OF Jesus Christ) comes by grace.

The purpose of grace is relationship with God (Not religion-ship)



But grace doesn't replace the law of God. It fulfills it.

I find that people go to extremes and miss the balance that is in the truth.

So some will abandon all law...because of "grace".... only to become lawless. Others will become legalistic and ignore grace thinking that the law must be observed by human effort.They think that only their failure at keeping the law in their own strength is covered by grace.

Unfortunately, when a person gets it into their minds to go to either of these extremes...it's VERY hard for them to break free from bondage to these. What makes "sense" to us is usually more bondage. Hey....we come from bondage. Bondage makes sense. Freedom...not so much. So often we will avoid freedom and living faith because they don't "feel" right to us. We are not used to what is right in God's eyes. We are too used to doing what's right in our own eyes. This is the essence of the struggle between faith and human beliefs.

Gnostic legalism.
 

Episkopos

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Gnostic legalism.


The truth that you can't bear. The sound doctrine that you cannot endure.

You show where you are on the spiritual spectrum by your vantage point...which is out of the way.

Such things as the truth appear as foolishness to the carnally minded. Anything spiritual or deeper seems fantastical. But the foolishness of God is greater than the "wisdom" of men.
 
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Episkopos

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How is the signal strength for your Internet connection on that mountaintop?


You believe in physical things...just not spiritual things. But the visible things that you walk by sight to believe in are temporal. The invisible things that require faith and that are eternal...you mock as if they were make-believe.

So then why profess to be a Christian if you are completely cut off from the living God in your temporal situation?

THAT is Gnosticism....believing your belief saves you.
 
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CoreIssue

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You believe in physical things...just not spiritual things. But the visible things that you walk by sight to believe in are temporal. The invisible things that require faith and that are eternal...you mock as if they were make-believe.

So then why profess to be a Christian if you are completely cut off from the living God in your temporal situation?

THAT is Gnosticism....believing your belief saves you.

Jesus Christ is physical my feel very close to him.

Most assuredly by faith I see him even though he is in heaven.

The Bible is most assuredly physical and I believe it.

The Bible talks about things seen and unseen. I accept them all and probably have seen some things you have not.

My belief and faith and repentance Christ save me.

Now go back in your Gnostic cave and think about things.
 

marks

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Belief never questions itself. Beliefs come in a package...if one point fails it all fails. So then belief cannot repent. There is nothing to repent to.

What does this even mean?

I believe in God. Would you have me repent from that?

?
 

Episkopos

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What does this even mean?

I believe in God. Would you have me repent from that?

?

Not the act of believing but a belief system. Having a set of dogmas or doctrines that one believes gives them advantage.
 

marks

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Not the act of believing but a belief system. Having a set of dogmas or doctrines that one believes gives them advantage.

I believe in God. You can call it a "belief system" to set up a straw man so you can discredit the straw man, and pretend you are discrediting me.

I believe in God. What again is your problem with that??

Much love!
Mark
 

Helen

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So some will abandon all law...because of "grace".... only to become lawless. Others will become legalistic and ignore grace thinking that the law must be observed by human effort.They think that only their failure at keeping the law in their own strength is covered by grace.

I like to say..."Grace is not really Grace ..without accountability."

Grace with no accountability is what 'they' call greasy grace...
Yet not the Grace God give.. the root being..
< Gods ability in you, to do what you can't do >

.
 
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amadeus

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That is the absurd state.

Everyone has a set of beliefs, including you.
Not everyone has a set that any man could name one by one and enumerate, but very probably most do. But... do we want be with those gathered and/or traveling or standing still as "most" or as the "many"...which go that way?

"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Matt 7:13-14