Confusion is the enemies tactic to keep us down and make us think that we need scholars and religious leaders to interpret our bible for us. Nothing can take the place of you reading your bible for yourself and digesting God's word into your daily life. Jesus said I have food you don't know about and that food is available to us all in the word of God. Remember they are watching you.
Who are they you might ask? Well, they are people who want to have what you have, believe what you believe and they are watching you, to see if you are for real. Love is the binding reality of the professing Christian for if you do all types of good deeds and are philanthropic at heart and people say all types of nice things about you. Remember if it is done without love you may as well not have done it at all.
Don't sweat the little stuff you've heard that before but when the little stuff is an everyday bombardment of your faith and belief system by others trying to catch you being wrong so they can judge you for the "Bad Christian" you truly are.
Well it approaches lunacy and it is something we need to internalize and deal with because it is real and uncalled for verbal aggression toward your belief system. You see when your belief system is attacked it makes you want to fight. And you also will remember exactly what was said and will react sometimes undesirably giving your attackers ammo for their judgment guns.
So with that said; do you know what you believe and why you believe it?
Lets start with your testimony knowing why you believe what you believe is important. It makes the interaction personal on your part as in I believe in Jesus because; then tell your story/testimony to your listeners. My suggestion would be to write it out completely and know it inside out. Practice they say makes perfect if you are not sure how to do it then ask here or send me an email and I'll walk you through the process.
Understanding is the catalyst that makes all the difference when sharing your faith with others. Understanding includes knowing the history of Christianity and the biblical precepts that show God in relation to us. Early Christian believers were persecuted by the Jewish leaders of the time whom refused to accept Jesus as the Messiah. And the Roman empire that was the law of the land at the time. John the Baptist prepared the way and testified to the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; Who said
- I am the Way
- The Truth
- And the Life
- Marriage - The commercialization of marriage goes against the biblical version of marriage. Most people entering into marriage today must conform to the worldly version which is perpetuated in some Christian denominational church. The purchase of rings and all the other trappings are considered to be a showing of your love the greater the expense the greater your love... What a load of crap
- Church - You need to be a member of a church... No you do not need to be a member of any Christian denomination to be a believer of Jesus Christ
- Denominational Divergence - There are currently 30,000 plus Christian denominations competing for the souls of men and they are almost all off-shoots of the Roman Catholic system of belief that practice some form of idolatry or paganism within their traditions... Free your mind the rest will follow
- Debt - Is a form of slavery that is conforming to the world that is why I am sure the early Christians of the Acts 2: 42-47 church consolidated their resources to be free of debt and slavery to this world... Spread the word
- Tithing - Again look at the Acts 2: 42-47 church and use that template for a christian community that would relieve the financial burdens of believers and allow them to occupy their minds with God instead of financial burdens... tithing is not giving to a church but those in need of financial relief, if your socioeconomic position allows you to partner up with someone that struggles monthly please do it out of love and consider it your tithe
The Lord bless and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
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All posts by M.A.C. © Bruce W. Moar
2 comments:
Wow! That was a very blunt post but a good one too.
Marriage: Right on the money. Rings are symbols of being married. They are voluntary only. Having them or not having them is up to the couple involved. I like having them personally as an outward symbol of my internal commitment.
Church and Denominations: While not being a "card carrying" member of any denomination is a command of God..it -is- a good idea to have a community of believers with which to meet, praise and worship with on a regular basis. It's possible to be a lone-ranger Christian, it's just not advisable. As far as a denomination goes...in my opinion none of them have everything "right" this side of Heaven. I don't condemn the Catholic faith as much as it appears you do because it's a commonly held misconception that they practice idolatry. As a former "fundamentalist-charismatic" I believed they were as well but decided to learn "from the horses mouth" as it were what they believed and why. Might I suggest a book to read by Scott Haun called "Rome, Sweet Home"? He thought as you seem to and was a charismatic fundamentalist that ended up becoming Catholic after some long hard intense research and prayer. I too, became Catholic for the same reason as he writes in his book. I didn't know of that book until quite a while after my decision so it never influenced it.
As far as Paganism: if you have a Christmas tree, or a holy wreath etc in your home at Christmas...that is from paganism. If you color and hide eggs at Easter, put them and treats in a basket...that is Paganism. Do you light candles on birthday cakes? That's Paganism. There are tons of things Christians do that -also- have meaning or initial roots in long ago Paganism. I personally don't feel that -all- these practices retain these meanings to Christians in these modern days. I rather think that God sees the intent of the heart. I acquaint it to the verse in the Bible where God talks about how if a man believes that eating meat sacrificed to idols is wrong and does it anyway...he is in sin. BUT..if a man doesn't think it's wrong and God hasn't said that doing such is wrong and the man eats the meat...he isn't in sin. Why? Because it was the intent of the heart...the deliberating choosing to do something which you honestly thought was wrong.
Debt: Yeah, it totally is a form of slavery. Unfortunately, most of us have to buy a car or a home with a down payment and then have the debt of payments etc. Then there are student loans to help get through the outrageously expensive higher education system today. So, some debt is pretty much unavoidable but it's the frivolous debt that gets a person in trouble. Credit cards used to buy things a person doesn't really need but just wants because it's bigger, better, shiner.
Tithing: Again, right on the money. If a person chooses to tithe to their church that's great...but they can also put that tithe to other areas as well such as favorite charities etc. Also, the tithe amount is mandatory. It's the extra that is truly charitable. Just like the bill for a dinner out is mandatory but the tip to the server is "charity". I also don't think that it counts as charity if it's just used as a right off on your taxes. If you're going to give..then give freely and not to get something in return. Just my personal thought on that.
Sorry for the long-winded reply, LOL. Your post was chalk full of reply material! :)
Hi Rachel,
Within condemnation is judgment and it is not my place to judge or condemn any people. On the contrary I am only given historical facts about our Church problems and why they exist.
In a nutshell Christianity went from a persecuted to persecuting religion and not much has changed in the history of the church.
We as people are born to imitate that what we see this is how a child learns language and other skills. The Christian being thinks with a regenerated mind and is open to the change that is taken place inside them. Behold all things have become new.
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