The cycle of abuse

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amadeus

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Trace their origins in the early 1900s and the seedy characters who developed their beliefs. And then ask, if this is from God, why wouldn't the Church be doing all of this?
Herein is the problem of many Dave. They, and you I guess, believe they know who and what THE Church is. Like someone has said of Joyce Myer there are percentages of truth in her [90% versus 10%] as there are percentages in each of us who really has a measure of truth. Who but Jesus has it all? Don't say none, for what about someone who has overcome completely as did Jesus? Are there none of those? Are they not now 100% with God?
 

amadeus

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Have you ever noticed each denomination revolves around the errors that divide them from the rest of the body of Christ?
This would speak of all denominations and sects calling themselves Christian, would it not? But within each of these are there not likely to be some who really are moving closer to God? Remember the difference between King Saul and King David? Don't answer that, but rather simply think about it...
 
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Dave L

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Herein is the problem of many Dave. They, and you I guess, believe they know who and what THE Church is. Like someone has said of Joyce Myer there are percentages of truth in her [90% versus 10%] as there are percentages in each of us who really has a measure of truth. Who but Jesus has it all? Don't say none, for what about someone who has overcome completely as did Jesus? Are there none of those? Are they not now 100% with God?
I agree with you but many things people believe today have no scriptural basis. They use plenty of scripture but it is always suspended above a denominational framework that floats above scripture. Without any direct link. I believe this is especially true with Dispensationalism and Pentecostalism.
 
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Dave L

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This would speak of all denominations and sects calling themselves Christian, would it not? But within each of these are there not likely to be some who really are moving closer to God? Remember the difference between King Saul and King David? Don't answer that, but rather simply think about it...
I've learned much from many, but never accepted all they teach.
 
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amadeus

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Most Christians that I've met pretty much treat me like dirt. Actually I know only one who didn't, maybe two.

Basically the reason I have ended up where I am now, was because I walked into a bible shop in 1995.

Met a man there who invited me into his home, and then the slow process of indoctrination began. Basically I had all my individuality striped from my soul, just so he'd have another believer he could claim for his own.
In 1976 I met man who one was like those "one who didn't, maybe two". Remember how Ghandi felt about Christians as opposed to how he felt about Christ. The latter he liked... Shall we toss Christ because of the errors and poor ways of "Christians"?
 
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bbyrd009

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You have moved closer in your words to what I believe perfection really is to God. Men get it wrong because they strive to approach what they [men] have defined perfection to be. Remember who our Director should be:

"O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." Jerem 10:23

"O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!" Psalm 119:5
The concept of "journey" from one (place) to another is a recurring theme in Scripture. The Seventy are plainly told to go to another town, flat broke and no spares, stay in one house, and eat what they are fed.

Where are the literalists for these vv?
 
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Lady Crosstalk

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If you all took the 10% you hold for your God, and you put it into scientific research rather than your churches.

We'd all be cured by now.


Excuse me for butting in to what appears to be a private conversation between you and "stunnedbygrace" but I couldn't let this pass without comment. Between the government and private foundations, there is an enormous amount of money going toward medical research, but it appears that we have been pushing against a boundary for some time. Cancer is the most prominent example of a lack of progress. In 1971, President Nixon announced a "War on Cancer" the aim of which was to eradicate cancer as a major cause of death. More than four decades have passed, and, despite significant progress in fighting some forms of cancer (such as childhood leukemia), cancer in general, stubbornly remains as the second most common cause of death after cardio-vascular disease. Some scientists have suggested that cancer, in all its forms, is now the number one cause of early death (with "early death" being defined as death before the age of 70). In general, the younger and healthier you are when cancer strikes, the more likely you are to survive. But, the cancer mortality rate has only dropped by five percent since 1950. And certain types of cancer, such as pancreatic and ovarian cancer, are largely incurable and often quickly lethal, because they are typically not diagnosed til well advanced. Almost all of the progress against cancer has been due to prevention, from smoking cessation programs as well as colorectal, prostate and breast cancer screenings.

Since, it is now thought, by a number of scientists, that cancer is largely a result of genetic mutation (the human genome has been collecting mutations for thousands of years now), a new hope is that of "gene therapy" and "gene editing." (It is thought that cancer results inevitably when there are matching faulty genes from both the father and the mother.) But genetic researchers understand that, because of the complexity of the human genome, a cure is a long way off, if possible at all. So far, the results of "gene editing" for specific diseases have been quite disappointing even in treating a disease that results from one single faulty gene. When scientists attempt to "fix" one faulty gene, it ends up disturbing the function of many other genes. And that doesn't even begin to impact the large number of genes that are thought to effect the development of cancer.

And then, there is the problem of extinction because of the build up of genetic mutation in the genomes of species. More than half of all the plants which have ever lived are now extinct and the animal kingdom is not far behind. Geneticist, John C. Sanford, Ph.D. believes it may be impossible to make enough progress to stave off the inevitable extinction path that a species enters when the accumulated mutation rate reaches 3%. He explains why in his book, Genetic Entropy and the Mystery of the Genome. Sanford says that all world-class population geneticists are aware of the possibility of a looming extinction "problem" but prefer not to talk about it. Some scientists feel that the declining fertility rate (especially among men) is indicative that something is beginning to be very wrong with our species. And it isn't just because couples are putting off child-bearing for the sake of the wife's career. I know at least a dozen young couples who have asked their churches to pray for them that they might be able to conceive a child.

The ancient prophets understood the connection between death and sin. Hosea 4 gives a remarkable picture of what many believe to be the last days of this world.--->"There is no faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of God in your land. You make vows and break them; you kill and steal and commit adultery. There is violence everywhere—one murder after another. That is why your land is in mourning, and everyone is wasting away. Even the wild animals, the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea are disappearing." The mysterious mass die-offs that we see on every continent in the last decade is likely a warning knell. Mass Animal Deaths 2019 - Updated List of Worldwide Die Offs

This world has been dying since the Fall of mankind into sin. The Hebrew of the Genesis curse, after the Fall, actually reads, "Dying, you will die..." indicating that death and disease (which is a small part of death and leads to death) would be entering the human condition because of mankind's sin. God's justice demands death but His mercy permits modern medicine, without which, there would be a great deal more human suffering. But, an end is in sight. God apparently never meant for mortal man to live in a sin-infested world forever. He even told mankind, in the Hebrew names of the ten patriarchs of Genesis 5, that He would eventually alleviate mankind's suffering. "Man is appointed a mortal existence (or habitation). The blessed God--He shall come down, teaching His death shall bring the captives comfort." And that is exactly what happened with the advent of Jesus the Messiah.
 
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Lady Crosstalk

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So...you lamented not truly getting to know people so I let you know a little about myself, even what I like to do when I'm feeling low, which is actually a very private thing, and I let you see that I like creative humor and lighthearted jesting. The result was that you logged off. That went well...

"You can lead a horse to water..."

I know a lot of people who like to watch cute animal videos on Youtube to get a lift. Others find their "happy place" when watching cooking shows. Still others like to step back into a more peaceful time watching historical re-enactment videos. One that I recommend to everyone is "The Townsends," hosted by Jonathan Townsend (the son of the founder of the company). Townsends sells authentic reproductions of all kinds of late 18th and early 19th-century costumes, outdoor tools and cooking implements to historical re-enactment sites. They then go there and film the "re-enactors" in their roles. Fascinating and soothing. God is in control.
 

Lady Crosstalk

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And I was being lighthearted about the coffee, but I meant it. They don't know what coffee's supposed to taste like. How do I take my coffee? Seriously. Very seriously.


Have you a French press coffee maker? It is, in my opinion (and that of a number of people) that it yields the very best coffee.
 

Lady Crosstalk

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But let's all just take a moment and tell one thing we're thankful for. I'll start.

I'm thankful that spiders don't fly.

If you can think of something you wish for, add that too.

I wish liars pants really DID catch fire. That'd be nice.

Also tell one thing you find very disconcerting.

Sometimes I open my mouth and my mother comes out...

LOL--how fun! I am thankful that trees give shade from the summer sun, that, in spite of man's sin, it is still a beautiful world and that love (from He who is love) makes this world of sin and death bearable. I wish liars also had to contend with growing noses. I find it disconcerting that even young people claiming to be Christian are so casual about sexual sin.
 

amadeus

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You know what I think about people like Joyce Meyer, and all Christian's.

If you all took the 10% you hold for your God, and you put it into scientific research rather than your churches.

We'd all be cured by now.
You don't really believe that my friend. Man's worst difficulty has always been himself. In spite of technological advances and medical knowledge man is still the same beast(s) he has always been. The only Way to kill that beast(s) is the Way you won' t admit because of the failures you have experienced and seen in others. Perhaps most supposed Christians have come up short, but that shortfall is also in themselves. They like the natural children of Israel so long ago still want a king like the heathens or gentiles all around them. Do you want that king as well?

Read about King Saul [from I Sam 8 until his death in I Sam 31] and his initial great hope and his subsequent great failure. He could have walked a road like David walked but he could not let go of the ways of men and would not stop seeking the glories of men... In the beginning Saul had the same anointing of God that David had. What did each do with it?


Consider what Jesus said about what a person's use of what he has been given:

"But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more." Luke 12:48
 
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amadeus

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The concept of "journey" from one (place) to another is a recurring theme in Scripture. The Seventy are plainly told to go to another town, flat broke and no spares, stay in one house, and eat what they are fed.

Where are the literalists for these vv?

"Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:" Rom 9:6

Could we not easily replace the words, "Israel" and "Israel" with the words, "Christian" and "Christ"?
 

amadeus

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I've decided to leave this forum, I can't take all this abuse.
If only all of our abuses could be eliminated as easily as that! We should consider the situation of even the very best of Jews who happened to live in Germany when Adolph Hitler came to power in the early 1930's. Was it easy to give it all up and start over in any place that would allow them to move? Even the United States was guilty of NOT receiving them. So now do we make up for that by receiving the persecuted Muslims? Hmmm?

But perhaps you are neither Jew nor Muslim?

"Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. Haggai 1:5-7
 
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amadeus

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I agree with you but many things people believe today have no scriptural basis.
I certainly agree with this... but don't take too far as how much of and how well do we understand the scriptures?

They use plenty of scripture but it is always suspended above a denominational framework that floats above scripture. Without any direct link.
Yes, for some perhaps good or not so good reasons, someone, early on in each denomination or Christian group, homed in on certain "pet" doctrines and now years later none or few within them will venture to question these to things commonly now treated as absolutes...

I believe this is especially true with Dispensationalism and Pentecostalism.
So this is your "sugar stick". Mine is in the other direction I would guess because of my own conviction or bias in favor of Pentecostals... Where would God have us to go?
 
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stunnedbygrace

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I'm breaking in to ask one of the only 2 men in here I would even think of asking such a serious question. And yes, I have to interrupt everyone to do so. But I'm positive you can do a better job than me at explaining this.

Amadeus, did God create evil just as He created everything else?
 

stunnedbygrace

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Why are you speaking like that?

I am speaking like that because a man quoting a bible verse is NOT the definition of abuse. And especially not on a Christian website, you numbskull! :p

You act as though a man talking about God or citing a verse is pounding nails into your feet and hands or something!

Such drama!
 
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Dave L

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I certainly agree with this... but don't take too far as how much of and how well do we understand the scriptures?


Yes, for some perhaps good or not so good reasons, someone, early on in each denomination or Christian group, homed in on certain "pet" doctrines and now years later none or few within them will venture to question these to things commonly now treated as absolutes...


So this is your "sugar stick". Mine is in the other direction I would guess because of my own conviction or bias in favor of Pentecostals... Where would God have us to go?
Faith comes from hearing the word. And if we learn to recognize faith, it goes a long way in confirming our beliefs. The big problem is in telling the difference between intellectual ascent and Holy Spirit faith. We need to really focus on this since so much depends on it.
 

Pearl

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I am speaking like that because a man quoting a bible verse is NOT the definition of abuse. And especially not on a Christian website, you numbskull! :p

You act as though a man talking about God or citing a verse is pounding nails into your feet and hands or something!

Such drama!
Should a Christian really be calling another Christian a numbskull or other derogatory names?