Unclear or contradictory messages. Doubt and confusion. Christians who are unable to express why they believe, or even what they believe. Mass media in all it's forms working to make Christians look foolish and to make Christianity seem archaic. All these things have created a picture in the minds of Americans, Christians and non-Christians alike, that there's no reason to be a Christian, and that in fact it could be a dangerous and hateful, closed-minded bunch of fundamentalist radicals. We're fed a steady diet of all these doctrines of demons, and I've noticed how it's changing the regular, everyday, mainstream Christian's perception of God and religion. It shouldn't. If Christians would make it their business to know what they profess to believe, it wouldn't. It's terrible, embarassing, and totally preventable. Modern Christians, as an overall group, are ignorant.
It appears that a typical, modern day, middle of the road Christian believes that Christianity is a confusing web of beliefs and ideas. It's not black and white, it is too mysterious to fathom it's depths, and you can not understand God. Then there is the common notion that God is a celestial Santa Claus who is there to give us our hearts desire, who simply winks at our little "mistakes" and "shortcomings". Or how about the long standing idea that He is relatively detatched from us as individuals until we mess up, and then He's waiting with a club to smite us, and mete out His unknowable justice. All this can be a real stumbling block for people, and no wonder why, but stop right here and re-think something. Look at it from a different perspective. It's not a Christian web at all. Christianity is as simple as a little child's understanding. It's the enemy's work to weave such a web of misinformation, and to try to confuse the minds of the children of God. He walks about like a lion seeking whom he may devour. Don't let it be you.
It's simple. It's black and white. You do or you don't believe. If you're having deep seated questions of that sort, then evidently you really don't.
If
you want to believe, there's one source for your information. The
Bible. Read
it, decide, and then make your decision stick. There will be
innumerable things present themselves to you that will tempt you to be
more "objective", or "open minded" but they will only serve to make you
stumble and doubt. Undoubtably you will read things you don't understand, and maybe they even seem at first to contradict themselves, but if you will be patient, and only believe, you will see the truth. Just make your decision, and stick to it. Believe. Trust. That is faith. He's God or He's
not. He is what He says He is, or He's not. His Word is true, or It's not. Decide. You... decide.
It's a faith issue. NO ONE can prove God to you. The Bible doesn't
tell anyone to go prove Him to anyone. It says to go ye and preach the
Gospel, not to go ye and prove God is real. Proof is the end of faith. If
you can prove something you don't need faith for it, and it is impossible
to please God without faith. He gave us each "the" measure of faith.
It is enough to make the decision to believe or not to. We have to
choose not to believe just as we have to choose to believe. Both are choices. You will
make one.
If God wanted to
prove Himself He could do so in an instant and the whole world would
know, but He created us to decide for ourselves to serve Him or not
to. Free moral agency. We are not robots with no ability to deny.
What is love if not freely given from our own heart? How would you
feel if someone loved you because they had no choice in the matter? Faith is not
religion. Faith is trust. It is that simple. It's a
quality decision to trust. Believing God is a decision we
make by faith. The problem is that so many
people make decisions based on personal revelation they received when
they had their "born again" experience, but that's about all they got.
They don't really know what God said in His word, who He is, His
personality or His nature, why they believe, what He expects, or their
role or
responsibility. They just hear things from other Christian, assimilate
things that have been picked up over the course of a lifetime from
questionable sources, both Christian and non-Christian, and just let all of that
go unchallenged and unsupported. They just have too
little real understanding to be truly convinced about anything, let
alone have an intelligent discussion
about any of it. All they can do is add to the confusion. And
usually, by
way of running their mouths despite their ignorance, that's exactly
what they
do.
This
is a huge problem. It is is a real big issue for me. Christians should
know what they believe and why. If you don't, start learning now. Now
is the best time to start. Crack open that Bible and read. Until you
have something to say that can be substantiated with scripture, please
have the sense to keep your mouth shut. You are a bad witness to a
lost and dieing world, a stumbling block for other Christians who
are seeking to know the truth, and an embarassment to everyone else. Stop with all of your opinions! It
doesn't matter what you think, or how you feel. It doesn't factor in,
not one little bit. Speak the truth of God or keep your tongue behind
your teeth.
Part of the problem is that they feel like they have to prove something to everyone. Yet they are silently hoping someone will give them the proof they crave to be comfortable in their mediocrity.
People with
these "prove it" attitudes do not
believe, not really. When the sower sewed the word into them, it fell
upon stony ground, and as soon as the sun came up it withered away.
They wait for experiences of God to alleviate
doubts and completely convince them. It never will. Faith is
not based on experiences. Your doubts can never be overcome by mere
experiences. If you really are wanting to be convinced that
Christianity is
true, then you had better stop trying so hard to convince yourself
intellectually why it is not.
If people
would spend as much time
studying what God said as they do analyzing it, or doubting it, they'd
know more about
what they believe and why they believe it, and the decision would be
clearer. If you
continue to feed your
doubt, eventually it will grow stronger than any faith you may have,
and sooner or later you will
make a conscious decision to walk away from God and an eternal Godly
salvation, based on something that you knit together
in your own flawed, human
intellect. A "web" craftily woven in the mundane business of day to
day life, by the enemy of God and man. A web that will destroy you.
Don't seek opinions that don't matter. No one's opinion matters.
Right or wrong. Your, mine or anyones. Don't bother seeking proof,
either. No amount of proof will ever satisfy you. Read the Bible, the unchanging Word of a loving and Almighty Creator. The Gospel can
hold it's own. It will do it's own work if you allow it
to.
God is not trying to hide, or make it difficult to understand. He reveals Himself plainly in His Word. If He were trying to hide
He would have to destroy creation. If He did nothing at all, the rocks would cry out. Nature testifies of Him. But He's not hiding. He wants us to know Him. He gave us a book full of information on who He is, and what He wants. It's also an "owner's manual" for His creation; us. It's a "rule book", if
you will. Just because we don't read it or we don't comprehend it right away, so
we decide to disregard it's validity, that doesn't mean it isn't still the absolute Word and Will of God for us.
James warns us not to be "tossed to and fro, and become unstable in all your ways." He said, "... let not that man think he will receive anything from the Lord." Make up your mind. You can not decided not to decide,
and then wait for other outside sources to prove something to you. No one can prove it.
What's more, if you get wrong information and decide wrongly based on that information, You
won't be able to pass the blame off when the time comes,
because it's ultimately your decision to make. MAKE A GOOD ONE!
wow intresting post any way i hope you have a very wonderful day love you lots love to all shelly
Wow, sister. Woke up a bit angry Sunday morning, did you?
I agree with the spirit of the whole post (but not the title). We must study to show ourselves approved, to be able to explain the hope that is within us, as Paul says.
However, I must disagree with a few points you made.
First of all, Romans 1 says there is enough proof. That is why a man who says there is no God is a fool. He is denying the proof of creation.
Yes, the point is faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please Him (Heb 11). But faith isn't necessarily blind. And that is why Christians are often made out to be fools (aside from the fact that many of us act as fools).
But Paul tells us that even the faith is not our own, lest any man should boast. We usually attribute that to grace, but if you read the text, it's pointing to faith.
There is nothing wrong with debating. We need to know that we of ourselves cannot convince anyone, but it doesn't mean we can't engage. We, though, as witnesses and ministers, must engage with the Holy Spirit before we engage with the skeptic. It is the Holy Spirit who will persuade the unbeliever to believe, but still God chooses to pour out his Spirit from us, jars of clay.
Also, scripture is empty to an unbeliever. Without the Holy Spirit, the Bible is simply a history and poetry book, beautiful as literature but empty of power. The unbeliever is only exposed to the Holy Spirit through his conscience (if he still listens to it) and through believers (in conversation, in our prayers for them).
When Jesus asked the disciples, who do you say that I am, Peter answered, You are the Messiah, the son of God. The astonishing thing is that Jesus made a point to tell the disciples that this revelation was not an epiphany worked out by Peter's mind. It was a word of knowledge from God.
There is nothing wrong with analyzing. It all must be done in the light of scripture, but there is nothing wrong with the intellectual study of God. C.S. Lewis the perfect example. He was a man of faith and a man of letters, a man who understood where the intellectual skeptic is coming from. And Lewis address the intellectual's questions of God.
We are to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, bodies. Faith does not mean we shut off our brains and become robots. That is why He gave Adam free will, so that Adam would want to worship God. Love without desire is not love at all. Yes, free will opens the door for choosing wrong, for making mistakes. But God had already sorted that out. He had slain the Lamb of God from the foundation of the Earth!
@roamingchile@xanga - Actually, I was a bit grouchy. Sorry. It was kind of sort of in response to a blog I read, but it's a bit of a pet peeve with me anyway.
I know God can be proven in creation. I mentioned that when I said He'd have to destroy creation in order to hide. What I was getting at, maybe not very well, is that you can not use human intelligence, or reason, or logic, or experiences, or any of the natural senses, or most secular sources, to prove God. Debate is great. Good, well read, "prayed up" believers can and should engage one another. And of course not all sources are bad. I love Lewis, too. I read after a lot of men and women of God. It's their basic foundations that are the issues.
As for the Bible being for believers and not for unbelievers... that was really what I got so aggravated at. It is Christians that I hear so much of this kind of stuff from. So many do not read their Bibles. Faith is not blind, but go to credible sources (starting with the Word of God... HELLO!?) to get you foundation if you are professing that you are, or want to be, a Christian. Peter's revelation from God came because first and foremost he sought to know God, and he trusted His word. I would trust Peter and I'd love to engage him in a good, deep conversation! I read his book! LOL! He is credible.
I watch Christian people questioning basic, fundamental things and getting their input from outside sources, while minimizing or even disregarding the Bible that they claim to base their beliefs on. If they even know what they believe, they have no idea why they believe what they say they believe. Then they want to argue with everyone. Usually from their personal experiences. NEVER change your theology to accommodate your experiences. A pastor and a minister, I see this kind of a thing every day. All the time. They are sport for the media, and they look like fools (make us all look like fools) because they act like fools. Perhaps they are fools.
I'm not saying all Christians, either. Paul was made a fool of, but I don't mean that sort of a fool. I should be so foolish! New Christians can easily be caught and cornered, but it's not because they are fools, and who can condemn someone who just hasn't had time to learn? I don't mean any of them. The ones I'm referring to are just willfully ignorant, basically lazy Christians. They don't read or study on their own. Or they will study things that are detrimental to their Biblical faith, maybe get their input from Oprah, or the Dali Lama, or some guru of the modern world, and then want to debate based on that info. I wont do that. Then they don't accept that any of the responsibility for the outcome is their own, and they expect us to "prove" something to them all the time. "No sign will be given."
They want you, me and everyone to pray for them. I don't mean it's bad to have people pray for you obviously, but what I meant was that they want you to pray for them, as in instead of them. They don't want to do the work. They want us to be Christian for them. Yet they want to walk around with their mouths flapping, as though they know something. In my opinion, I think, well, I feel...
But then, when you give them a,b, and c to do as Godly counsel and instructions from scripture, they wont do it, then they come back and tell why the Word of God doesn't work. It's maddening! They come whining about their lack of victory, and they blame things on God. They want to skip on ahead to d,e, and f, then they get angry if you insist on going back to the scriptural answers because they have a special case, or extenuating circumstances, or whatever. Anything except doing the works of faith. That's why they call it work, folks. James says that people like that are unstable in all their ways, and tells them not to expect anything from God. Yet somehow, they do expect things from God, and blame Him if they don't get it. Study to show yourself approved probably falls in around here someplace.
Some of them want to argue endlessly. Some are addicted to counseling. Some just like the sound of their own voices. That's the truth. The problem with that is that they get front page and all the world thinks that's what Christians are like. They also strive and debate amongst themselves, and that is one of the worst things we can do as witnesses to the rest of the world. They will know us by our love, but they will ridicule us by this kind of thing. Rightly so, I might add. If I saw that kind of hypocrisy in anyone else I'd cease any dealings with them, too.
Honestly, I'm not as harsh as this makes me sound. It's just a touch point for me because I deal with it so often. They just need revelation, and to learn a little discipline and diligence. That's what I try to teach them. It is just very upsetting to see Christians behaving this way in an wide open online "Christian community" as a witness for all to see.
Still love me?
@steadfastmom - Of course I still love you. :D I could tell it was a sore spot for you.
You said: "The ones I'm referring to are just willfully ignorant, basically lazy Christians."
The question arises, are they true believers at all? My dear roommate and big sister in Christ brings this up all the time, and I get perturbed that she believes many will miss out, will hear from Jesus, "I knew you not." But, in this day age, when 57 percent of evangelical church-goers say that Jesus is not the only way to God, then one has to wonder.
I gotta side up with your room mate on that one for the most part. I wouldn't go so far as to say they are not saved, but on the other hand, you can't call them true believers, either, because when pressed, they cave in. They really don't believe what they say they believe. There would be some evidence of it somewhere. Instead there's doubt, or they blame God, or they make excuses as to why God didn't "perform". You know what I'm saying. But that's a whole 'nuther topic!
Even if they are saved, how long can you straddle the fence, flirt with the world, assimilate worldly, devilish wisdom into your spirit, and still be able to cling by your fingernails to salvation. It's harsh, but He gave each of us the same opportunity, and He's not grading on the curve. Just because 57%, or even 99% of the people are numbed up and dumbed down, His standard remains the same. It isn't "situational" or P/C or any of that.
These lazy, ignorant ones are not just a nuisance, and they aren't just hurting themselves. They are hurting and hindering others and making the rest of the world see Christians in a wrong, bad way. That's why I feel such an urgency in my spirit. It's my motivation. The hope I stand on in all this, is that they really have heard the real Word of God someplace in their lives, and that they really will turn their lives over to the Lord.
I just wish they would shut up in the mean time. LOL! Fat chance.
Let's change the subject. This one's bummin' me out!
Comments (5)
wow intresting post any way i hope you have a very wonderful day love you lots love to all shelly
Wow, sister. Woke up a bit angry Sunday morning, did you?
I agree with the spirit of the whole post (but not the title). We must study to show ourselves approved, to be able to explain the hope that is within us, as Paul says.
However, I must disagree with a few points you made.
First of all, Romans 1 says there is enough proof. That is why a man who says there is no God is a fool. He is denying the proof of creation.
Yes, the point is faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please Him (Heb 11). But faith isn't necessarily blind. And that is why Christians are often made out to be fools (aside from the fact that many of us act as fools).
But Paul tells us that even the faith is not our own, lest any man should boast. We usually attribute that to grace, but if you read the text, it's pointing to faith.
There is nothing wrong with debating. We need to know that we of ourselves
cannot convince anyone, but it doesn't mean we can't engage. We, though, as witnesses and ministers, must engage with the Holy Spirit before we engage with the skeptic. It is the Holy Spirit who will persuade the unbeliever to believe, but still God chooses to pour out his Spirit from us, jars of clay.
Also, scripture is empty to an unbeliever. Without the Holy Spirit, the Bible is simply a history and poetry book, beautiful as literature but empty of power. The unbeliever is only exposed to the Holy Spirit through his conscience (if he still
listens to it) and through believers (in conversation, in our prayers for them).
When Jesus asked the disciples, who do you say that I am, Peter answered, You are the Messiah, the son of God. The astonishing thing is that Jesus made a point to tell the disciples that this revelation was not an epiphany worked out by Peter's mind. It was a word of knowledge from God.
There is nothing wrong with analyzing. It all must be done in the light of scripture, but there is nothing wrong with the intellectual study of God. C.S. Lewis the perfect example. He was a man of faith and a man of letters, a man who understood where the intellectual skeptic is coming from. And Lewis address the intellectual's questions of God.
We are to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, bodies. Faith does not mean we shut off our brains and become robots. That is why He gave Adam free will, so that Adam would want to worship God. Love without desire is not love at all. Yes, free will opens the door for choosing wrong, for making mistakes. But God had already sorted that out. He had slain the Lamb of God from the foundation of the Earth!
@roamingchile@xanga - Actually, I was a bit grouchy. Sorry. It was kind of sort of in response to a blog I read, but it's a bit of a pet peeve with me anyway.
I know God can be proven in creation. I mentioned that when I said He'd have to destroy creation in order to hide. What I was getting at, maybe not very well, is that you can not use human intelligence, or reason, or logic, or experiences, or any of the natural senses, or most secular sources, to prove God. Debate is great. Good, well read, "prayed up" believers can and should engage one another. And of course not all sources are bad. I love Lewis, too. I read after a lot of men and women of God. It's their basic foundations that are the issues.
As for the Bible being for believers and not for unbelievers... that was really what I got so aggravated at. It is
Christians that I hear so much of this kind of stuff from. So many do not read their Bibles. Faith is
not blind, but go to credible sources (starting with the Word of God...
HELLO!?) to get you foundation if you are professing that you are, or
want to be, a Christian. Peter's revelation from God came because first and foremost he
sought to know God, and he trusted His word. I would trust Peter and I'd love to engage him in a good, deep conversation! I read his book! LOL!
He is credible.
I watch Christian people questioning basic, fundamental things and
getting their input from outside sources, while minimizing or even disregarding the Bible
that they claim to base their beliefs on. If they even know what they
believe, they have no idea why they believe what they say they believe. Then they want to argue with everyone. Usually from their personal experiences. NEVER change your theology to accommodate your experiences. A
pastor and a minister, I see this kind of a thing every day. All the
time. They are sport for the media, and they look like fools (make us all look like fools) because they act like fools. Perhaps they are fools.
I'm not saying all Christians, either. Paul was made a fool of, but I don't mean that sort of a fool. I should be so foolish! New Christians can easily be caught and cornered, but it's not because they are fools, and who can condemn someone who just hasn't had time to learn? I don't mean any of them. The ones I'm referring to are just willfully ignorant, basically lazy Christians. They don't read or study on their own. Or they will study things that are detrimental to their Biblical faith, maybe get their input from Oprah, or the Dali Lama, or some guru of the modern world, and then want to debate based on that info. I wont do that. Then they don't accept that any of the responsibility for the outcome is their own, and they expect us to "prove" something to them all the time. "No sign will be given."
They want you, me and everyone to pray for them. I don't mean it's bad to have people pray for you obviously, but what I meant was that they want you to pray for them, as in instead of them. They don't want to do the work. They want us to be Christian for them. Yet they want to walk around with their mouths flapping, as though they know something. In my opinion, I think, well, I feel...
But then, when you give them a,b, and c to do as Godly counsel and instructions from scripture, they wont do it, then they come back and tell why the Word of God doesn't work. It's maddening! They come whining about their lack of victory, and they blame things on God. They want to skip on ahead to d,e, and f, then they get angry if you insist on going back to the scriptural answers because they have a special case, or extenuating circumstances, or whatever. Anything except doing the works of faith. That's why they call it work, folks. James says that people like that are unstable in all their ways, and tells them not to expect anything from God. Yet somehow, they do expect things from God, and blame Him if they don't get it. Study to show yourself approved probably falls in around here someplace.
Some of them want to argue endlessly. Some are addicted to counseling. Some just like the sound of their own voices. That's the truth. The problem with that is that they get front page and all the world thinks that's what Christians are like. They also strive and debate amongst themselves, and that is one of the worst things we can do as witnesses to the rest of the world. They will know us by our love, but they will ridicule us by this kind of thing. Rightly so, I might add. If I saw that kind of hypocrisy in anyone else I'd cease any dealings with them, too.
Honestly, I'm not as harsh as this makes me sound. It's just a touch point for me because I deal with it so often. They just need revelation, and to learn a little discipline and diligence. That's what I try to teach them. It is just very upsetting to see Christians behaving this way in an wide open online "Christian community" as a witness for all to see.
Still love me?
@steadfastmom - Of course I still love you. :D I could tell it was a sore spot for you.
You said: "The ones I'm referring to are just willfully ignorant, basically lazy Christians."
The question arises, are they true believers at all? My dear roommate and big sister in Christ brings this up all the time, and I get perturbed that she believes many will miss out, will hear from Jesus, "I knew you not." But, in this day age, when 57 percent of evangelical church-goers say that Jesus is not the only way to God, then one has to wonder.
I gotta side up with your room mate on that one for the most part. I wouldn't go so far as to say they are not saved, but on the other hand, you can't call them true believers, either, because when pressed, they cave in. They really don't believe what they say they believe. There would be some evidence of it somewhere. Instead there's doubt, or they blame God, or they make excuses as to why God didn't "perform". You know what I'm saying. But that's a whole 'nuther topic!
Even if they are saved, how long can you straddle the fence, flirt with the world, assimilate worldly, devilish wisdom into your spirit, and still be able to cling by your fingernails to salvation. It's harsh, but He gave each of us the same opportunity, and He's not grading on the curve. Just because 57%, or even 99% of the people are numbed up and dumbed down, His standard remains the same. It isn't "situational" or P/C or any of that.
These lazy, ignorant ones are not just a nuisance, and they aren't just hurting themselves. They are hurting and hindering others and making the rest of the world see Christians in a wrong, bad way. That's why I feel such an urgency in my spirit. It's my motivation. The hope I stand on in all this, is that they really have heard the real Word of God someplace in their lives, and that they really will turn their lives over to the Lord.
I just wish they would shut up in the mean time. LOL! Fat chance.
Let's change the subject. This one's bummin' me out!