AnOrangeCat

I have to disagree strongly with the article. God and His gifts aren't limited in the slightest by our technology or how far apart a given set of believers are.

I look at it this way. As long as we live our earthly lives there will be some part of us that doubts, however large or small it may be. We can act as God would have us to act or we can act according to our doubts. Abraham believed God could raise Isaac from the dead, then performed an act (or in other words a work) by following God's instructions and preparing to sacrifice his son. We're accustomed to thinking of works as big things, and they certainly can be, but it's really just putting our faith into action. Just sacrificing some of our time each day to talk to someone we can't perceive with our physical senses is backing our faith up with action.

For me it would be Willie George. The Gospel Bill show he ran, along with the example my grandparents were setting, was my introduction to Christianity. It really stuck with me. One of my youth pastors was also really solid and influential on me.

Aside from the spiritual elements that have been mentioned here there's some level of putting yourself out there that you need to do. Proverbs 18:24 tells us that "A man who has friends must himself be friendly." So it's essential to be in a place where you're in contact with other people and demonstrate that you're a friendly person. I'm super introverted and have gone through periods of no human contact for weeks at a time, and while I don't especially crave the company of others there are times when I could have used a support network. It's well worth seeking deliverance from our natures if they hinder us from making friends.

Struggling with sin is something we do every day. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose. Psalm 37:24 puts it nicely: "though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds Him with His hand." I'd also consider Philippians 1:6: "being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." We're all works in progress. We're all bound to mess up. We struggle with sin because sin is part of our natures and will continue to be throughout our earthly lives. So no one should beat themselves up if they make a mistake. Just move on and try to do better next time.

First off I'm sorry to hear about the situation. I've been through the experience of a relative with mental health issues, a grandmother in my case. It's not an easy path at all and I felt like I was a parent in ways. IMO matters such as these are very, very much in God's hands. You pray and you do what you can and get a good local support network if at all possible. If you find yourself needing a break, take it. Otherwise there's a lot of potential for this sort of thing to sour a relationship. My take is that the final outcome in situations like this isn't about we do, but about what God chooses to do. There's no amount of reasoning or any other human effort that will break through unless it's part of God's plan.

First off it's great that you have the courage to go out there in person and do that. Good work! I'd keep one of the core thoughts of Ecclesiastes in mind: There's a season for things. The Corona panic is a temporary thing that will surely pass in God's time. In the meantime there are other things you can do. Online efforts certainly have their place. So does spending time with other believers, in person or online, to build them and yourself up in God. Another option is to act in a way that demonstrates the love of God. Options might be limited but it could be something as simple as leaving some groceries on a needy person's doorstep. Pray about it and see where God leads you.

I personally feel like the only real lines that need to be drawn are to keep it in line with Biblical ideas of good conduct and to not advocate anything illegal. There's certainly a lot going on in our government that needs exposure.

It's quite possible for God to tell us things in dreams, but it's also important for us not to get caught up in it. Often they're just dreams. Focus on living your life the way God wants you to and then the things He has planned for you will come on His timing.

This is a good thing to be mindful of. I do a chunk of my food shopping online as well. Even if you can't get things delivered fresh in your area you can still get a variety of things to help get by.

You both brought up two of my favorite verses. To add another that goes in a similar vein, Romans 12:2: "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will." The verses you both brought up both tell us how we renew our minds.

Every child is different. We have some solid but also very general advice about raising children in the Bible. Outside of that you really have to pray and feel your way through it. Speaking from my own perspective, I'm the oldest of six children. I grew up with a very Christian upbringing. My faith has been part of my life since I was very young and I'm grateful for that, both to my grandparents and to God. My sisters got some of the same exposure. Not to the same level since they stayed with our parents more than our grandparents. The amount varied according to which sister it was, but suffice it to say they all got a lot of "freedom". All of them got involved with drugs. All of them have a history of getting involved with bad men. Most are single mothers. One of them would also be a single mother but lost her children because of her addictions. If I had to go through it all again with the element of choosing my upbringing I'd happily stick with the more restrictive one I got. Anyway so far as I can tell the Christian elements they were exposed to stuck to varying degrees. Even in the present day some of them still talk about faith and find comfort in it. So these things we're exposed to in childhood do stick to whatever degree, even if we stray from them for a while.

This is the same definition I grew up learning as well. One of my pastors used the same wording.

II Timothy 2:22 also has something to say on it: "Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." I'd also consider Galations 6:7-8. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." Biblically speaking we're often called on to guard our thoughts, to think on good and pure things (Philippians 4:8), and to renew our minds (Romans 12:2). DDisconnect posted a really relevant verse. If a person is getting as close to the line as they can and hoping they won't cross it you can be sure they're thinking of crossing it. Even if the line isn't crossed going to the point of temptation invites the imagining to continue even after you go your separate ways of the the day. Put simply I feel that repeatedly, willingly, and knowingly trying to see how far you can go in any behavior that can lead to sin is sowing to the flesh. God knows our hearts. When asking these sorts of questions we need to examine ourselves. Do we ask so we know what's displeasing to God or are we looking for some sort of technicality to see how much we could get away with? If it's the latter our hearts are in the wrong place.

Hello! Typically when evangelizing and debating about other religions there's some level of attempting to build common ground instead of jumping straight to "You're following a false religion that's taking you to Hell.". These days it's standard practice to just speak of our beliefs and move on to the next person or group. There's no force involved. One could make the case that simply speaking of one's beliefs and moving on DOES respect the religion and rights of others. The other person is free to agree or disagree. But also, consider this. One of the key teachings of Buddhism is right speech, which I understand to be a combination of being truthful and being gentle with our words. In Christianity we have commandments which fill a similar role: "Thou shalt not bear false witness" (Don't tell lies) and "Love your neighbor (meaning other people) as you love yourself". Combine this with the Christian teachings that Jesus is the only way to salvation and that we have only one life to choose Heaven or Hell. If we as Christians try to deny or change those elements of our faith to suit others then we would be in violation of both our commandment to be truthful and our commandment to love others. It would be disrespectful to both Jesus, the central figure of our religion, and to the person we're speaking to. The love and compassion we ought to feel for others means we need to at least try to gently correct others who are on ANY self destructive path. In ideal circumstances the need to be truthful is combined with wisdom that enables us to know the right time and the right approach to use when we need to present elements of our faith that could ruffle feathers. Humans aren't perfect, though, so we don't always hit the mark. Hope this helps!

There's another element to it in addition to redemption, IMO. Jesus living as a human means He faced temptations, hardships, and suffering. That gives us a common point. He knows what we're going through. No one can rightly say He doesn't know what it's like to be a human and have problems.

My take on it is that not seeing a clear "smoking gun" sort of evidence is very much intentional. God is interested in our faith and in having a personal relationship with us. If He left things that absolutely 100% proved the Bible beyond a shadow of a doubt there would no longer be any need for faith. When we trust God He proves himself trustworthy, as it is with any other personal relationship. A few more things regarding evidence. I think that with the western world having a strong tradition of Christianity we're very very much inclined to think of Jesus as a major historical figure. The thing is to the ancient Romans who were alive at the time of His earthly ministry He wasn't particularly special. He was a religious teacher for a subjugated people and was only in action for around three years. He didn't lead any wars or rebellions. He did nothing that was particularly for or against Rome and Pilate (There wasn't much evidence for the existence of Pilate outside of the Bible until the 1960s, IIRC) wasn't particularly keen on crucifying Him, only doing so under pressure. Christianity itself was regarded as a minor offshoot of Jewish beliefs for a good long while. In light of that I feel like it should be expected that external mentions, meaning sources outside the Bible, are going to be scant until the time it became more well known. Another thing to keep in mind is that we're often finding new things with regards to science and archaeology. I often point out that Joseph Lister was outright mocked by many of his scientific peers, and in the big picture of humanity he hasn't been dead all that long.

I attribute it to special interests in the media (spiritual wickedness in high places) and the spiritual void the world is in. Christianity has been ridiculed and mocked by the world but the spiritual craving is still there, so they turn to things like what you've mentioned.

I see Worthy as a sort of housegroup as well. I tend to favor such groups. I think over time we've become too accustomed to the idea of churches as buildings where we assemble rather than seeing churches as a gathering of believers who assemble to worship God, reach out to the lost, and support each other. Standard churches certainly can and often do fit the definition and fill the role but personally I favor smaller gatherings. As for how important it is, I'd say it's important to assemble with other believers regularly. It's your call whether that's attending church services, house groups, or whatever other form it might take. If anyone feels their spiritual needs consistently aren't being met in a particular gathering place then by all means supplement it or seek out another way of getting it.

It's certainly possible IMO. Love doesn't mean giving in at every turn or being a doormat. Sometimes showing genuine concern and doing what's in someone's best interests calls for discretion. Galatians 6:1 tells is to gently correct someone caught in sin, but to be careful lest we ourselves are tempted. Jesus speaks on dealing with offenses from others in Matthew 18:15-17 and lays down a protocol. I'd also note that Jesus instructed His disciples to be as wise as serpents but as gentle as doves, and that was very much in the context of facing persecutions and troubles when going out to do God's work in the world. I feel like it's applicable to our own walks with God and interactions with others even though we don't often face potentially fatal persecution here in the western world.

Just tossing my two cents in here. From a scriptural perspective we don't have any clear instances of DID and DID-like conditions except for one, which you feel isn't applicable to you so I'll take your word for it there. So moving on... 1) To the best of my knowledge I don't see anything in the Bible to support the notion of one person having multiple human souls. There's a lot that isn't explicitly called out by name or even implied in the Bible that still exists, but this is something where it's potentially dangerous to assume the existence of spiritual conditions the Bible is silent on. 2) One thing that's abundantly clear is that we all have our own temptations, physical and mental weaknesses, and so on to struggle against. Often these struggles will continue throughout our entire lives and we'll have a lot of failures before it's all done with. DID, while rare, ultimately falls under the same category. 3) While this might be a potentially unwelcome opinion and could be seen as harsh (it's not intended to be), I feel that I would be amiss in not bringing it up. Jesus stated something very plainly: No one can serve two masters. I fully believe that God cuts us a lot of slack based on our conditions and that we're not saved by our own works, but at the same time actions are a demonstration of our love and priorities. The Bible repeatedly speaks of resisting and putting away sin, sometimes using some very strong metaphors like speaking of crucifying the flesh (Galatians 5:24) and what Jesus said if our eye causes us to sin (again, metaphor!). Like I said before we're bound to fail a lot, but it's still good to show we care and want to do the right thing. The opening post you made mentioned some issues and severe negative experience with religion. I do feel like you should try to resolve that in whatever way you feel led to do and give yourself ample time to do it.

First off it's good of you to want to try to help out your parents. Definitely pray about it, but beyond that... 1) Set some boundaries. You want to help them, and that's good, but it sounds like your dad goes through periods where he won't work until there's serious financial pressure to work and they both end up suffering because of that. Make sure nothing reaches the level where you might end up resenting either of your parents. 2) I feel like being in close proximity to them will help make sure the support you give is used wisely. Being in the same area means you might also be able to help them look into social services that could help and take the burden off of you. 3) Cost of living is also something you might want to factor in. If there's a significant difference that's also worth considering. 4) As a fellow Texan I also prefer Texas. Just saying. 5) Would you leaving behind any friends in your present area? If you don't have any social attachments there and you could get better pay in Texas I'd say it looks like a good option, but again, remember to pray.

I'm of two minds about this sort of thing. I feel like a lot of believers are frustrated with their local churches, often for good reason. It seems like churches in the sense of institutions might be drifting further away from the Church, meaning the body of Christ. At the same time we don't and can't know the hearts of all these countless people who make up the Christian churches of the world like God does. Their struggles and the callings God has put on their heart and how they're dealing with those things is often unknown to us unless we know these people well. The things God has asked of them may well differ from what we perceive to be the big problems of the world. God also knows what all these churches and the people within them will eventually become. We don't. Churches like the one you've described might become great someday despite their present flaws. They might be leading people to salvation and genuine repentance even in the present, despite those flaws. Because of that I'm hesitant to speak too negatively of any particular gathering of believers unless there's clear wrongdoing or doctrinal error. So by all means find another church if you need to. Any gathering of believers coming together to glorify God and spiritually support each other can be a church. I've looked to online gatherings to find my church and feel like it's working out. But I do think that if you see some clear errors you should approach the people involved privately and try to gently correct them with scripture, if you haven't already. If they receive the message, great! If not, it should be that much easier to move on.

I was, but probably not as spiritually mature as I should have been. The situations and emotional states she was often in really triggered my sympathy and protective urges. At the time I felt like I was called to help her. Maybe I was but in retrospect I could have shared the message with her without dating her and getting as emotionally involved as I did.

Just one, from my idiot rebellious teenager phase.