Paranoid Christianity

[bbyrd009]

Lol. Well, first you need to answer my questions in my last post before I can really spend a lot of time on anything.

i'm way behind i guess lol, but if i skipped any so far lemme know. or if the answer was useless to you, lemme know that too i guess, i can try again

 

[bbyrd009]

But what in the world does your last statement have to do with what we were talking about?

hmm. i guess that seems apropos of nothing, sorry; i mean it to be more of like the banner over our discussion, generally speaking. Or a statement/Q that reveals my intent, something like that.

 

[aspen]

I can understand where they come from, those with a works requirement of the gospel.

The scriptures place value on works, so they take it from there. There is also the simple truth that God hates evil, so he wouldn't want those who practice it around him.

How I reconsile this is God doesn't necessarily see us how we are now, but with eternal qualities inherited from Jesus Christ. So it is no longer the question of are you rightious now, but will you endure to the end?

Parent/child relationship

 

[bbyrd009]

and like Paul said in 1 Cor. 15:19, if we only have hope in Christ in this life, we are of all people most to be pitied.

i invite you to imagine the reaction at describing your current life to those who were ear-witnesses to that utterance, and to speculate as to how long they would have let you even live after doing so

They're not mutually exclusive.

i suggest that for most believers, they are, however

We can experience His glory now, but still have the Blessed Hope of His glorious appearing later.

pls note how this "glorious appearing, tomorrow" might violate several Scriptures, we do not yet know what we will be, no one knows where they go when they die, etc

takes me a couple minutes to build a post btw, i usually edit multiple replies to a post into one post as i go, fwiw

But I don't understand what that has to do with whether or not Jesus' death and resurrection brought forth change or not.

sorry, imo that is bc there was change, and there was no change, depending on the perspective

 

[bbyrd009]

People might learn to understand your perspective more if you could stick with the discussion and clearly answer specific questions without evading them by going on wild, philosophical tangents.

HA! ya, sorry about that, but we currently are laboring under false premises imo, as long as you believe that Scripture was written from a logical pov, or that God wants Nehushtan worshippers, or...a few other basic principles. If "i can't wait to die and go to heaven" sounds legit to you. Etc

fwiw the simpler your Q, the simpler my reply Q is likely to be. i hope.
but if you could pick a reply of mine that seemed the most inappropriate to the Q, what might it be?
an explanation there might serve to kind of explain my dilemma here

 

[bbyrd009]

Just answer me this one thing, do you believe Jesus came in the flesh and literally died on the cross?

Edit: I see you ninja'd me. what do you mean "yes but"?

yes, but this has produced ppl who worship Jesus/Nehushtan, rather than follow Christ

and don't get me wrong, worshipping Jesus is ok for a start, i did it for most of my life, prolly still doing it for the most part, dunno

 

[bbyrd009]

Well, this is probably not what bbryd is on about in this thread, but: The problem starts where one confuses allegiance to Christ with allegiance to right or left politics.

that was the original intent, yes, any chance you are looking for work as an interpreter lol

 

[forrestcupp]

i have faith in God and his Son Christ, and i no longer believe that beliefs are good for much other than keeping ppl from perceiving better truth when it presents itself. As evidence i might say that regardless of our beliefs on the matter, Christ's crucifixion comes down to us as a story, that we cannot possibly factually verify, right? There was no first-century town of Nazareth, etc etc.

So you pretty much don't take anything in the Bible literally then. I think there will be a lot that you and I disagree about, and since you can't take the Bible literally, there is really no platform to stand on in any discussion.

 

[aspen]

I have no idea where you're coming from. Do you believe that Jesus literally died on the cross, or not? If you do believe that, why in the world would He do it if it wasn't really needed? If you don't believe He literally died on the cross, then I really have no way to converse with you because we're worlds apart.

1. Jesus literally died on the Cross.
2. Jesus reconciled our relationship with God. He did the heavy lifting for us - like a brokenhearted lover, He made the first move to repair the relationship and consequently, felt all the cold abandonment and vulnerability we would have felt if we were able to drop our ego/Oldman/clothing in the Garden and make the first move.

 

[bbyrd009]

People might learn to understand your perspective more if you could stick with the discussion and clearly answer specific questions without evading them by going on wild, philosophical tangents.

but if you could pick a reply of mine that seemed the most inappropriate to the Q, what might it be?
an explanation there might serve to kind of explain my dilemma here

short answer,
a direct response would be less comprehensible, not more

 

[bbyrd009]

So you pretty much don't take anything in the Bible literally then. I think there will be a lot that you and I disagree about, and since you can't take the Bible literally, there is really no platform to stand on in any discussion.

yes, if you believe the Bible was written from a literal (logical) pov, i would have to agree.
understand that as a Westerner, our thought processes are vastly different from those who have been raised to reason dialectically, as the Jewish writers were Logical and Dialectical Reasoning in Scripture
and an explanation of the Hegelian (satan's) Dialectic is included in there

and you might ask yourself why you have never heard of Nehushtan, never heard a sermon on it, right,
but you got one on "predestination" like week one, right?

another valuable exercise, possibly, is to try and name a single Absolute Truth from the Bible, that you assure me is to be read literally. if you can, you would be the first imo.

i got a bunch of others, none of which you will be very comfy contemplating most likely, may as well list them, the Bible is not holy, the Law is holy (blew my mind), the Bible is not Word, churches are under a government wing, i could show you the contract, hell is not in the Bible anywhere, confessing your sins to God isn't in There anywhere...try and poke some holes in those, if you like
i could fill this page with religious beliefs that cannot be Supported

 

[bbyrd009]

1. Jesus literally died on the Cross.
2. Jesus reconciled our relationship with God. He did the heavy lifting for us - like a brokenhearted lover, He made the first move to repair the relationship and consequently, felt all the cold abandonment and vulnerability we would have felt if we were able to drop our ego/Oldman/clothing in the Garden and make the first move.

nice!

 

[lforrest]

yes, if you believe the Bible was written from a literal (logical) pov, i would have to agree.
understand that as a Westerner, our thought processes are vastly different from those who have been raised to reason dialectically, as the Jewish writers were Logical and Dialectical Reasoning in Scripture
and an explanation of the Hegelian (satan's) Dialectic is included in there

and you might ask yourself why you have never heard of Nehushtan, never heard a sermon on it, right,
but you got one on "predestination" like week one, right? peace to you

Predestination, as in God knows us before we knew him.

Your gunna tire out that Nehushtan horse if you keep riding it all over the place.

 

[aspen]

Nehustan? I can’t handle it.......maybe I need to find one of those Appalachian snake churches....

 

[bbyrd009]

Predestination, as in God knows us before we knew him.

a valid enough perspective, certainly; if only that was the intent of the sermon, huh? i suggest that the point is to ID "us" and "them," and invite the unwary to commend themselves to each other

Your gunna tire out that Nehushtan horse if you keep riding it all over the place.

when pastor #1 preaches Sermon #1 on the matter, i'll gladly move on!
as it is, good luck finding an Ordained One who could even define Nehushtan, huh?

 

[bbyrd009]

Nehustan? I can’t handle it.......maybe I need to find one of those Appalachian snake churches....

lol


Nehushtan is going to be a harder lesson for a Catholic i guess, my apologies there

 

[aspen]

I think you are on to something bbyrd......
I agree with you that we are allowed to see personal sin in our neighbor in order to confront our own.....perhaps it is the same sort of deal with predestination?

I tend to think we are all predestined, however. We were created to love perfectly and God will not leave any of His sheep behind. If Hell is open for people, we will have to fight our way in.

 

[aspen]

lol


Nehushtan is going to be a harder lesson for a Catholic i guess, my apologies there

Well, we like to work....

 

[aspen]

Back to the OP......or more like it, the title of the thread

Paranoid Christianity is superstitious Christianity. Not knowing the future is the bane of our existence and we will go to any length to nail down what we cannot possibly know. Divination of the scriptures, praying to whoever we feel is going to push our agenda, legalizing our relationship with God - as if we could sue Him for breach of contract from our place in Hell.

Jesus preached faith for a good reason....it is the antithesis of superstitious and short circuits paranoia. Without all that clutter we can relax our guard......be vulnerable.....receive and give love.

 

[bbyrd009]

Back to the OP......or more like it, the title of the thread

Paranoid Christianity is superstitious Christianity. No knowing the future is the bane of our existence and we will go to any length to nail down what we cannot possibly know. Divination of the scriptures, praying to whoever we feel is going to push our agenda, legalizing our relationship with God - as if we could sue Him for breach of contract from our place in Hell.

Jesus preached faith for a good reason....it is the antithesis of superstitious and short circuits paranoia. Without all that clutter we can relax our guard......be vulnerable.....receive and give love.

word