AnOrangeCat

This is an interesting thought, and a line of thinking that I generally subscribe to. We can only speculate, but those who accept the mark in Revelation seem curiously blind to the prospect of divine judgment falling on them. While I don't believe God is at all limited by our tech I've often entertained the idea that transhumanism might eventually bring people to the point where they're not really in God's image anymore.

I'm similarly fond of solitude and can quite easily spend weeks or even months without human contact. I try not to slip into that, though. I feel a similar relationship with what some would call depression. But it's often been a source for compassion and insight, and much like Paul's thorn I think it's served a purpose. I wouldn't change it.

This is an interesting take. I've admittedly always struggled with this one because of the element of dishonesty and the fact that it gets commended. I do get the idea that the point is to use what we have responsibly and to keep our eyes on God rather than the money. Matthew 25 has a parable that expresses the same idea, that one who's been faithful with a little will be faithful with much. The way you framed is one of the more sensible interpretations I've heard. Another one of the better ones is that it's not so much the dishonesty that's being praised so much as the shrewdness and the ability to plan for the future. "For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light" would be the key verse in support of that, and I can see a case for it. In the end this is one of those things to eventually ask Jesus for clarity about in person. Also interesting. Both have an element of giving an undue priority to money. I also note that there's a brief speaking on adultery in between. At first glance it seems a little random and out of place, but the relationship between God and Israel and then later the believers in general has often been compared to marriage. Maybe it's not so random after all.

I appreciate the type of content in your post a lot. Politically speaking I tend to be centrist so much as I get involved in politics, which is to say not much beyond complaining every now and then. I try to look at individual candidates more than the parties, which both have some deep cracks in them IMO. With that in mind I find it incredibly vexing when people attempt to marry Christianity with political parties and agendas or assume God favors one socioeconomic system over another. This is something that I've come to find very interesting in recent times. The one group of people Jesus seemed to have little patience for were the ones who were using religion for their personal benefit. We see a similar sentiment elsewhere in the NT. In Galatians 5:12 Paul goes so far as to state he wishes the people who were misleading the Galatians would castrate themselves. In III John we see a condemnation against Diotrephes, who also seemed to be more interested in his own status than in the truth. I sometimes wonder if maybe the church has erred on the side of "judge not" when there's some protocol laid out for judging those within the church put forth by both Jesus and Paul. Obviously discernment is required, and there's no place for ego in the process, but when necessary we should be able to speak out boldly against those who would abuse the body of Christ for their own gain. This is more of a historical note in support of your point rather than a refutation, but as peaceful as people might think Buddhists are there's a whole sordid history of them politicizing and going militant in Japan. It's sometimes thought that militant Buddhists were part of the reason why Catholic missionaries were allowed in Japan in the first place. The Buddhists had grown so troublesome that the warlords in power welcomed a new religion to undermine the militant Buddhists. Of course the Catholic church's activities were pretty political as well, which might partially explain why Christianity didn't really take root in Japan. Agreed. From looking at the collective body of scripture I get a sense of God having a lot of sympathy for the poor and destitute. It shows in things like the Old Testament practice of gleaning and Jesus telling the rich young man who wanted to follow Him to sell all that he had and give it to the poor. Meanwhile, looking at history, using certain demographics as scapegoats has traditionally been the tool of oppressive governments. I've found that within the church when Christians, or people professing Christianity, follow that trend it creates an Us vs Them mentality that does more harm than good. We're all sinners. Even as believers we still slip up more often than we'd like. Those of us who are saved are ambassadors for Christ to those who aren't. It's worth keeping that in mind. I find this interesting, because not only did God allow Israel to have a king despite warning them against it, but he also made a conditional promise to bless them and their line if they were faithful to Him. No doubt God saw how it would end up, so the various kings of Israel very much do seem a warning. After David more often than not they were bad apples, and even those who weren't generally didn't seem to fully commit to God, with the possible exception of Asa. Anyway I enjoyed your post. It was well written, and the overall message resonated with me.

Makes me think of the rich young ruler that wanted to follow Jesus but wasn't keen on giving what he had away. James similarly speaks of the temporary nature of wealth. As another point of blessing Jesus concluded a parable with the thought that to whom much is given much would be required. Wealth certainly isn't the only thing God might bless us with, but it's certainly one that fits heavily into the amount and types of hardships we experience.

I overheard a conversation once that touched on this. What it boiled down to was that Jesus seemed to simplify things, based on things like the two great commandments, the policy of showing mercy to obtain mercy, and emphasis on our hearts being in the right place. Then when you look at Paul he delved into some more complicated concepts and some standards of behavior. I personally don't see an incompatibility. They each had their own points of emphasis. The different perspectives and approaches are going to appeal and make more sense to different people. I've gotten a lot out of his writings as well. Romans 14, the body of Christ, a few parts of Philippians, and not causing others to stumble are the ones that I find myself referencing the most when I speak to others using Paul's writings.

My opinion is that it's a multifaceted thing. As Hinds Feet pointed out the Pharisees were complaining about unwashed hands, which is where Jesus quoting Isaiah comes in. The last part of the quote mentions people are worshiping God in vain and that their rules are manmade. Throughout Jewish history there's been a gradually accumulated body of text held alongside the OT, consisting of the comments of various rabbis throughout history and their interpretations of scripture. So I believe that in part Jesus was referencing that and taking issue with these manmade interpretations and expoundings being placed on a level that was at or near the same level as the Bible as it existed at the time. Looking at the matter of clean and unclean in food we see God communicating to Peter in a dream that He could make the unclean clean and that He was extending His grace to the Gentiles, which must have seemed strange and revolutionary at the time. So I think we get an illustration of salvation in examining it as well.

I don't see it so much as "This guy was going to Hell so he's getting his rewards on earth" so much as an example of an idea expressed by Jesus: to whom much is given much is required. In the story it's pointed out that the man had been exposed to the Law, he just failed spectacularly at even trying to pay attention to it as evidenced by the condition and treatment of Lazarus. God certainly knew the rich man would end up like this, so why let him have good things at all? Even sinners get used by God. Beyond that it's difficult to say. We don't really get much context. But it does seem a reminder of both God's compassion toward the destitute and for the rich to remember the poor and that their wealth is a blessing from God.

My advice is to read at your own pace. Memorization will come naturally over repeated readings. The second part of my advice is to not compare yourself to others. Some people's brains just retain information at a much faster or slower rate than others. Comparisons to the rate at which others work tend to be an exercise in ego or frustration, and at the end of the day you're reading and memorizing for your own benefit. So do it at a manageable rate. Test your comfort zone every now and then but overall once you find your personal rate you can start planning your efforts around that.

Paul called us the body of Christ starting in I Corinthians 12:12. The whole passage is worth a read. As for how it applies to your rejection, I'd look at it this way. A thumb is right where it needs to be to be of optimal use. If it's on an elbow or a shoulder or anywhere else it's going to lose a lot of its purpose and utility. With that in mind not all believers are going to fit in with any given group of believers, as nice as that would be. Anything ranging from sin to doctrinal differences to personality conflicts to different callings could factor in. As timf said there's reason to self examine, which can be a difficult thing to do when our feelings are involved. Depending on the circumstances you might want to extend the olive branch even if you don't feel like you're in the wrong, and if rejected again just move on. Or alternately just move on.

This is very true. I've been following the development of AI and fooling around with it for a few years now, and the improvements really have been drastic. Something that I'll note is that if you ask a different AI you may well get a different answer. Ask the same AI the same question and you still might get a different answer. Someone getting a weird result isn't necessarily indicative of what it will churn out the majority of the time.

I don't use a cell phone, but my lifestyle is very far removed from most people's. I go for months at a time without using the phone at all, am largely housebound, and enjoy not having to leave the house more than a few times a month. That said there are still instances where the lack of one hurts. Text messages tend to be used for verification for certain things like online accounts, for example. Personally I don't think God is trying to send any particular message about them. Your experiences with them seem to fall under the umbrella of theft and human error. There are cases you can buy that can protect them from things that would otherwise result in mild to moderate damage.

I find this relatable. On a surface level I've always been pretty good at integrating. But on a deeper level there's not so much. What I'd share with you is the following. 1: Jesus told us if we love Him we'll keep His commandments (John 14:15). Similarly he cited the two great commandments (love God with all we've got and love our neighbors as ourselves). That's the very basic stuff, and I find that it meshes well with the famous statement in the book of James that "faith without works is dead". What that means is your actions should back up your faith. 2: Regarding sin and struggle God knows we're not perfect. We're works in progress that will eventually be completed (Philippians 1:6). Keep striving toward that. If you fail at times keep at it. The struggle against sin is important. It shows you're fighting it rather than simply wallowing and accepting it. 3: On not fitting in, it can help to identify why you don't fit in, and from there, what you can do about it. It's often going to stem from a variety of factors, some of which you can do something about and others maybe not so much. 4: As kwikphilly pointed out be wary of your feelings. They can lead you astray. The good news is when you act and live as God would have you act despite your feelings that's a way of showing faith. Feelings and circumstances might tell you something contrary to the Bible. When you do what the Bible instructs instead you're affirming your beliefs through your actions. For a long portion of my life I struggled with some very ugly intrusive thoughts that were very hateful and honestly blasphemous toward God. There was no basis for them, they'd just pop up out of nowhere and persist. Weirdly there was no basis for them. I didn't feel any anger toward God or attribute my problems to Him. Anyway it eventually prompted me to do more for Him. Since that time it's barely there anymore, and a lot of my other insecurities about my standing with God have melted away a long with it. My feeling there is that God let me suffer from that as a stimulus to bring me closer to Him, and now that the problem is gone it's largely removed. What I learned from it is that a lot of our insecurities are emotionally based, so trying to counter them with facts doesn't do the job so much. Stepping up in my Christian walk has certainly made me feel better about my standing with God, and because of that it counteracts the emotions that fueled my own uncertainties about whether or not I even qualified as a Christian.

I haven't watched it, but this is basically the story of every adaption of anything from the Bible. People within the Christian community typically end up being the harshest critics whether it's for good or for ill. For me Philippians 4:8 springs to mind: "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." When I look at the things we're instructed to think on it ultimately comes to stuff that draws my thoughts to God. Enjoying a sunset or the light shining on dew in the grass might not be explicitly Christian per se, but through enjoyment of those things I can admire God's artistry and thank Him for being present to witness it. If a film or TV series has the same effect on people I'm not going to judge. In Philippians 1:15-18 Paul noted a situation where people with foul motives were preaching Christ. He rejoiced about it regardless simply because people were sharing the message of Christ. It's an interesting statement, and one worth chewing on.

This sort of thing has come up in conversations I've had about the accuracy of the Bible. I've told people that whatever translation issues and missing or debated cultural contexts are in play that there's a clear core narrative in the Bible where God created humanity, humanity messed it up, and God wanted reconciliation strongly enough to send Jesus to die in our place. Regardless of any issues in translation that message is very much intact.