Godsmercyinus

Does God actually condone slavery as opposed to condemning it for the inhumane act it really is?

An Atheist hotline video had a guy struggling to find the right stance when faced with that question. 

"One side wants the other dead".

But God, to the exent of his absolute will, will not allow Israel to be destroyed. The Arabs can try all they like, but in the end, they, and their Anti-Christ, are going to come down with a case of Epic Fail.

Things look grim. I lie a lot.

I'm looking for a job, to help my folks out with food, expenses, whatever. But I still come up short.

And I still haven't animated anything, even though I want to be a cartoonist and animator! 

And I have problems with Patience and Self-control. My main problems, because waiting for God to bring something into my life feels to me like it hasn't done any good.

I can continue to say "Bless you" or "Have blessed day" to a random stranger, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm stuck, and I continue to do the same sins over and over. I've given into Habitual sin to the point where I can't seem to acknowledge the influence or existence of Satan being the source of all sin. 

I'm stuck in the same place. Unchanging Static. 

There is something I'd like to say about about the fiction where there are "Superheroes" and they suddenly become Christian. It's also the kind of setting where there would be Supervillains, right? One day I had this random thought come from out of nowhere, and, acting on it, I typed up a little rant about what I want to do with a setting like that. I'm a budding Cartoonist (Who has yet to bud.). 

Here goes: 

Okay, so I spent a lot of time thinking about this, and it occured to me that Superheroes in modern media today, movies, comics, online comics, and video games do a lot of angsting.  Or they're portrayed to act as "Regular" People today do, acting vulgar and behaving badly. That's what people eat up as entertainment. The violence and the sex and the angsting.

Yeah, I just opened up a very idiotic point. Superheroes angst. It's a classic narrative device that allows the reader or viewer to relate to the character; in trials, in fundamental flaws, in basic mistakes, in approach to social norms and romantic interests, in some things as simple as Eating or seeking "Normal" help from non-superpowered people.

The Bible says "Live a life that is pleasing to God". That makes PERFECT sense. God called us to live a life that doesn't abide by the pattern of this world. (Phillipians) 

The bible says "In this world you will have trouble." (Matthew) "But take heart because I've overcome it." Jesus said this to his disciples, when telling them in tandem how he was going to die for the sins of the entire world, and how his disciples wouldn't have it any easier in the aftermath spreading his warning of repenting for your sins and accepting him. This is also true. 

What I'm trying to say is, we're flawed. We're sinful, rebellious and hopelessly stupid. Lost. That's the state of things. And it's only going to get worse. Plenty of Anti-christs in the world already, spiritual advocates of the Devil, who rebels against the Father of all Creation. So yeah, that. (And if you think about it, they will constantly proclaim to have powers themselves from God, to put themselves on elevation with God's status. While also denying God. Yikes.) 

So now that I've got that out of the way, let's skip to the end. In any good story, game, or book, or comic, the main character, the "Superhero" or the regular hero, is or has to be flawed. Their flaws make them down to Earth and relatable. And it doesnt matter what kind of backstory, but they have to Angst a lot because it creates depth, and it presents the struggle. It's obvious in Superhero settings that the main character's main Conflict is the struggle between alternate lifestyles - The Regular loser nobody likes, and the masked debonaire selfless crime-fighting vigilante. 

My idea of a Superhero in a Christian setting is the guy who follows Christ's example. They don't buy what the world is selling, they use their brains to solve problems, and knows that they're not perfect. The Superhero is just another sinner. The Superhero is the guy who harkens to the word of God, and is absolutely dependant, body, mind, and soul, on the complete salvation that can be found only in Jesus Christ. 

The universe in this current form has been on a downhill slide into the "Perishing" stage. Jesus said he'd come back, make everything wholesome for a 1000 years, then take us to be with him in the New Heaven/Earth while the old universe ceases to exist. It's because Christ sacrificed himself that we even have the chance to repent and start a relationship with him based on prayer, faith, and meditation, to live that kind of life. Not what we want, but what he desires for us. What's best for us.

Where does that leave the Superman in today's age? That person knows they can fight crime and stick up for the little guy. But the entire universe is already dead because of sin. And they are also the product of a sinful generation. There's no saving it. In a spiritual battle between those finding God's grace, and those embracing the deception Satan offers, the world isn't what needs to be saved. It's the souls. That's what's on the line here. We never think about it, but God weeps every time a soul that doesn't choose him falls into Hell. Jesus saved this world and its' souls through his death, now, it's our obligation and our righteousness to accept that. 

"Lord, lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons and all that jazz?"

".... I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness!" 

It's devastating to hear those words. If you don't know Christ in his fullness, you're already damned, the result Satan wants. Superheroes in this kind of setting are no different. Christ, the guy with the name above all names who's above all things, will dismiss such a person who denied him, the guy who pretends they knew him when they didn't. 

The fight against crime, sometimes with policemen too, shouldn't be all Punches and kicks against the bad guys. It should also be the Fight to defend the Bible, face persecution, mockery, suffering, shame, even loss. It's begging God through prayer to endow you with the endurance to face that relentless path of persecution, because, you're weak. You know it. Superheroes too. That'd be interesting. A Christian gets the powers and such, but they aren't really any different from before. They are going to be tempted, and their faith will be tested. 

Knowing Christ's surpassing love, and the glory of the crown awaiting you at the end of your path, is an indescribable wonder that surpasses the anything in this age. Including the characters' "Superpowers", whether they are Flight, or Super Laser Eyes, or Super Strength, or Super Whatever. Knowing Christ and being like him in his suffering is what makes you stronger when you know you aren't. A superhero character will angst, but they will move forward, because their dependance on Christ, and constant prayer, will pull them through any trial. Weakness and humility is expected in a character like that, to allow Christ's utter dominance in their lives, to provide the example to the bystander. 

Superheroes and regular joes are just sinners. Big ones. Just as well are the scientists in fiction who attempt to make superpowers.

We're fragile. We act independent. We're bitter. We're stupid. We cry. We're driven by selfishness. We're subject to temptation. We panic, we're self-absorbed, we're vain. We rage for no reason. We're masochistic. Paranoid, and cruel. We make mistakes and we let them eat us from the inside, another of Satan's many traps to pull us away from God. We wouldn't make the best kind of superhero. It's bad if you have a bunch of people trying to create power for themselves. But if that's the case and a "Superman" is created as a result, than that Superman has come into "Great Power" due to God's will, not man's. And of course, it comes with "Great Responsibility". 

And in a setting where you've got your Batmen and Spidermen working alongside the firemen and the policemen, the "Superhero" is just another soul that is horribly lost without Jesus in their life. 

Without Jesus, we are our own worst villains.

But God's love, shown in unsurpassed glory through Christ, is laid down for the superheroes and normals just the same.

...... 

Hey guys. 

I wanted to ask if you knew of any Christian Superheroes in fiction, apart from Bibleman.

Any like that? I'm just curious is all.

I'm sorry about a post I made earlier a day ago.

I feel blessed knowing that even in defeat, God's grace and unfailing promise is made perfect in our weakness.

I have never truly been repentant.

I just discovered this today. I haven't felt any kind of tears down my eyes, or, thinking, "God's watching me", or "I feel sick to my stomach" that kind of thing. I can't even feel scared anymore, and it doesn't cross my mind that the Devil is using this, along with many things in my life, to deceive me.

I guess this is because I keep going back to the same sin over and over, the sin of sexual immorality. And it largely involves naked old men, white and usually European. Pictures of them, videos of naturism, or even nudism, videos of creepy old men stripping down to their nethers, doing things that are largely indulgent.

Just because you could lead a life where you never actually have sex, doesn't mean that you can't find ways to satisfy that sin in you using the Internet as a medium. I don't know if whether or not all the garbage I've been letting into my head, is making me Gay, but it probably is.

I'm so tired of it all. I can't even be repentant and trust Christ.

Largely because I don't have a true grasp on what it means to trust him with all your heart, to humble yourself in his presence, and surrendering yourself to him. I can't do it. Because I can't even recognize sin and sexual immorality for what it is that I've seen. I cna't figure out that sin is sin. And truly, it's because I love to sin. Or I'm just indifferent to the act of it.

- Christopher

I'm still single, so I'd like to enjoy being single for a good lengthy time until God calls me to do his will, or calls me home.

Marriage isn't just something you do for your happiness. You're entering into a commitment with your wife, and entering one with God.

But nobody seems to care, because they abandoned God and his truth, and replaced him with a false idol. A lie.

Countries where they don't know God yet or his love through Christ Jesus, and this thing happens frequently, are just as terrible. We should pray for them.

"Universal Moral Law".

It's really simple-sounding, but I've realized something:

If you try to look at things and important issues from God's perspective, you already know what is right and wrong. But it's so hard and hardly anyone tries, because they don't want to confront the pressure that comes from knowing it.

In human terms, "Right" and "Wrong"? Interchangeable. Varied. Old-fashioned way of thinking. Differently defined for a couple of years, then the bar gets lowered. And then you are either left with some kind of extremist "Left-Wing" society. The kind that doesn't care if it's wrong, or if it's right for them but wrong for others. It just feels "Right".

Head knowledge will not change you nor save you. It is the personal relationship one has with Jesus that saves. You have to believe and accept Him as your Lord and Savior. No church can save, no bible study can save, no amount of knowledge can save. Only a personal relationship with Him as your Lord and Savior saves.

I want a personal relationship with Christ.

Have you accepted Him as your Savior?

To be honest, no, I haven't. I really haven't, and I'm ashamed.

I've let so many awful feelings and ideas cloud my thoughts, and I feel like I've become numb to the idea of letting him in.

No matter how much I read the Bible, it all boils down to me retreating into myself when I can't handle things like my family, the pressure of finding a job or, someone who'd actually respond to me.

Head knowledge will not change you nor save you. It is the personal relationship one has with Jesus that saves. You have to believe and accept Him as your Lord and Savior. No church can save, no bible study can save, no amount of knowledge can save. Only a personal relationship with Him as your Lord and Savior saves.

I want a personal relationship with Christ.

I understand this from just reading from the forums.

Nudity is something that is okay when it comes to viewing it purely for the art.

Our bodies were gifts by God to be used by God to glorify him and praise him for what he did, and not for the glorification of ourselves.

Nudity wasn't an issue for Adam and Eve when both were created. Adam was made to give name to the creatures God put on the Earth he created. Eve was there, created from one of Adam's ribs, to give him company. They could talk freely with God, speak to him, trust him, believe in him.

They were tempted, and they took of the fruit from the tree God forbid them from eating, because they willingly chose to not trust God and instead consider what the Snake told them. The snake caused them to doubt what God gave them and go behind his back.

Because of this they felt shame, exposure, and loss of trust. And this meant, when God finally confronted them, that they had wanted to hide their self-awareness of this exposure, both in physical nudity, and in mental shame. Clothes became necessary. God provided them with clothes to protect them.

The body is a gift from God. But it's also something that we, humans, have and can easily cause to be depraved, corrupted, and polluted with all kinds of immorality, abuse, violence, and wrongful attractions. That's why I do love nudity in art, be male or female, but I don't have much love for things like FKK, or nudism, or naturism, or public displays of nudity between mass numbers of people.

Because with the temptations associated with it, it simply distances us from God and his promise. So please consider who is in your heart today. God, or your sinful desires? The purpose of Art, or simply sexual immorality?

The Bible technically doesn't condemn nudity, as I've read.

You get naked to clean yourself.

If you're a newywed couple, getting naked is a component of the precursor steps towards sexual intercourse.

And the Body is, "A Temple of the Holy Spirit, which you have received from God."

And the countless examples of nudity, public or otherwise in the Bible, and God's reaction towards it.

Point being, don't you respect the body you're given? And glorify God with it?

Being naked in the same room with several other people and their "parts" exposed for others to see still translates as not respect of the body God gave you, more like, dishonor and deceit.

Adam and Eve were without shame and naked. In Eden. But then the snake comes along and tempts Eve with the Fruit. She just chooses to eat the fruit anyway, and her eyes are opened, and she immediately becomes "Self-aware of her nudity". The same thing befalls Adam. And, because they decided to not trust God and ate from the Fruit, of course, they will feel shame for things they try to Hide from him that they don't want to be exposed.

So they get clothed, for their own protection, and get expelled from Eden. That's the point of wearing clothes.

But these Cultures which multiplied as of late? Their Modus Operandi is "We can totally get back to God by being naked and exposed to one another! We have no shame!" I know that's a huge lie. They think that, but there are also many Free-body movements that don't really care about using Nudity to respect and "become closer to God". These movements are dedicated to perversion, self-indulgence and sexual fervour. In two words, "Sexual Immorality".

I'm telling you, it just opens the gate to more obscene ideas that eventually become further warped to benefit the lusts and abominable desires of our hearts.

Jesus died for the people lost to this sin, and we need to recognize that. Recognize through God's viewpoint how wrong these movements are.

Jesus help us.

Interesting thoughts. For the most part I agree. Care to expand on “Culture of Death”?

....

I don't remember it too well, but this was something my Pastor talked about a Sunday not too recently. "Culture of Death"? Exactly what it says on the Tin.

A Society that simply embraces lies and false idols and self-indulgent ideas suited only for their own selfish ends, and trying to live without God. Without Christ. Shoot, if I had to quote the Bible on this, then the closest comparison would be:

2 Tim: 3:1-7

"But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastfu, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God--having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth."

And just for emphasis:

Phillipians 3:18-19

"For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things."

And:

Romans: 6:21

"What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!"

A Culture of Death, he said, that was how he referred to it. It's bad enough that people are swept into it easily and without fail, succumbing to temptation until it's as normal as practicing daily Hygiene, but it's worse because it causes Christians lost in the thick of it become immune to it. Spiritual Numbness, or just being apathetic to a world at large that has people dying in their sins, dying as they kill one another, or turn against their family and loved ones, or corrupt one another with sexual immorality. And road widens towards Hell.

I am scared. I'm scared of becoming Spiritually numb, and how it could push Christ out of my sight without me even realizing it.

People say crazy things like, "Homosexuality is perfectly fine" or, "Nudism is free-body movement that brings you closer to God".

It's amazing how people willingly fall into this veil of deceit.

They also claim that "Nudism is pretty much non-sexual state of mind".

But that can't be true.

Because if that was the case, I wouldn't have horrible lustful urges that drive me to seek out pictures of nudism for sexual gratification. And I wouldn't feel shame in front of God for it, and I wouldn't feel like I'm driving myself away from God's embrace, dying.

This Culture of Death makes me think about that.

I'm new to this.

Though that can be reasoned that it's mostly because I stink in the department of trusting God completely, and that shouldn't be.

Hebrews summed it up best, didn't it?

"Faith is being certain of what you hope for, sure of what you do not see."

I want to regain my Faith in Christ, and follow his example. I've more trouble dealing with the temptations of sin in my life, and holding onto faith isn't easy when the Devil repeatedly knocks me down.