aspen said:
More contradiction......
More collisions of sacred cows
Hating rebellion, yet fearing unity
Mmmmm, an interesting response aspen. The rebellion you speak of...against whom? And by whom? Not all rebellion is a bad thing. Yet rebellion against God and His laws must always be viewed with abhorrence, yet unity based upon anything other than truth must be avoided. To compromise truth in favor of those things upon which various factions agree regardless of whether they be truth or not maybe unity, but hardly a unity that ought to be embraced by the truth loving Christian. It is this type of unity, ecumenism, that ought to be opposed and exposed for the farce that it is.
aspen said:
Exulting eternal life, yet longing for the death of the planet and the end of mortal existence
Re 11:18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
2Pe 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
In the verse from Rev. God's wrath is promised to those who hate this planet and contribute to its demise. Pollution,sin, corruption, violence in all its varied forms will be judged. This planet and the life of all things upon it must be protected and cherished and loved...they belong to God. But this doesn't contradict our hope fpr a future of a new heavens and a new earth where all those corruptions mentioned above are no more.
aspen said:
Hating big government, yet longing for justice from big government as long as it is punishing evil doers
Now there is something I can agree on. As far as I am concerned, government is in place to accomplish only one thing. To protect the rights of the individual, so long as those rights do not impinge on the rights of other individuals. Maintaining law and order is in full accord with this. To lobby government however to convince the powers that be to implement legislation in favour of a majority where the minority suffer, is an abomination and against all human freedom which is God's gift to mankind.
aspen said:
Jesus did not look to the government for justice. He did not fear unity - instead, He encouraged it - loving God and neighbor was His primary message. Love in the face of tyranny - all other responses are rooted in vanity. Jesus did not exult eternal life over mortal life, either - if He did, He would not have cared about loving people on Earth through service. Meeting people's physical needs was valued by Him
Jesus encouraged unity yes...but not a unity with the tyranny that prevailed at that time. Do you think Jesus would have favored unity with the tyrannical RCC of the dark ages? Or do you think He favored departure from it Do you think He favors unity with Rome today? Or do you think He favors remaining part from it? On what basis is any unity with Rome a favorable proposal?
As to Jesus exultation of this life....Jesus exalted
all of life...He is the Giver of life....promising a more abundant life for those who believed and kept His commandments. No argument re service and love. In fact, it is only as we serve and love even our enemies that we find the true purpose for life...not just here and now but also later in glory.
James Forthwright said:
A very poignant question, Brakelight! It is rather curious that it's always
"the other guys doctrine" that is errant. The Christians that disagree with us are spreading
'doctrines of demons' but our own personal interpretations and doctrinal stance are unequivocally synonymous with all that is true, righteous and spirit-filled.
Could it be we all have a tendency to be too quick to condemn and could mutually benefit from some careful personal introspection on many of our per-conceived doctrinal opinions?
What continues to baffle me is how so many Christians in this generation have so whole-heartedly embraced the modern state of Israel (and practically all things Jewish) even though many of their policies are ill-guided (to put it mildly) and they as a spiritually rebellious people/nation continue to reject Jesus Christ as the only one true Messiah?
It appears that the "Reformation" that is most needed at this time is a reformation of Protestantism itself!
Hi James. I have no problem with any who sincerely and forthrightly teach what they believe to be true. I have a very great problem with those who while teaching their perspective, suggest, claim outright, or even infer that any who do not or cannot agree with them are therefore morally, intellectually, Biblically or psychologically challenged.
Nor do I have a problem with those who teach with great passion and fervor, but again I have a great problem with those who realize that their efforts are going unrewarded thus they then elicit the assistance of government in legislatively imposing their particular religious views upon the rest of us, compelling others to obey by force or threat of punishment for the rebellious.
Religious freedom or liberty of conscience is fast taking upon the appearance of the classic automobile. Something only brought out for show, while in their daily business Government drive rough-shod over the populace using bull-dozers tanks, or drones.