Is it possible to...

[Guest shiloh357]

1 minute ago, Willie T said:

They certainly are.  Every thread where I have disagreed with anything, I have been locked out of. 

Because you violate the terms of service and people report you for being rude and insulting.    It's not your ideas, but the manner in which you express them.   You get too emotional and angry in your posts and that is what gets you locked out.

[Willie T]

1 minute ago, shiloh357 said:

Because you violate the terms of service and people report you for being rude and insulting.    It's not your ideas, but the manner in which you express them.   You get too emotional and angry in your posts and that is what gets you locked out.

Yet, the same thing done to me is accepted.  And there really is nothing wrong with what any of us have said.  Hurt feelings at being told we really aren't right in running others down is hardly something to go running to a crying booth about.  (Was that insulting?  No, it wasn't.... only if you choose to be insulted by just about anything you don't accept.)

[GandalfTheWise]

6 hours ago, Melinda12 said:

Eventually turn your back on the secular world and retire to the equivalent of a convent?

Could a person eventually sell up and go live in seclusion. Cut all ties with this ungodly wicked world and retire to live in almost silence with other true believers of Christ. It would be like heaven! 

Is there a path or process for an ordinary person to do this? Or is it only for catholics who are highly qualified and become nuns?

I can see in my old age in 20 years wanting to do this. Are there retreats or safe ways to spend your last years living only for Christ and leaving this mad world to it's own devices.

 I've at times pondered this and thought that forming a Christian community would be nice.  I've heard other people talk about such things as well.  The idea being not a monastic retreat but rather a vibrant multi-generational community that lives life with a Christian outlook.  

I've not done much research on this topic though.  A few starting points might be the Moravians, the Separatists (Puritans), Mennonites and Amish, Amana colonies, Jesus People USA, and I'm sure that there are some other historical groups where Christians fled political situations  and persecution and formed communities in the places they fled to.  This could also give some historical perspectives on the resulting fruit that occurred decades and centuries later as well as getting a sense of what worked and what did not.

In one sense, this is the type of thing that the earliest Christians did in Jerusalem.   Now, I'm not holding that out as a definitive model that we are all to do, but rather that there are times God will lead some of His people into such arrangements.

  I then look at some threads on this site and then wonder if lack of sanctification and doctrinal disagreements might prove in some ways more frustrating than dealing with non-Christians.   To be serious, I see many Christians making the mistake of seeking the perfect church (or small group or ministry or whatever situation) where they can thrive spiritually.   In practice, this usually amounts to finding other Christians that have the same doctrinal beliefs, worship practices, and behavioral practices so there will be fewer things to argue about and be disturbed by.  As a spiritual matter, it is usually an arrogant pride that says that they are the small remnant that is really serving God and that all other Christians and "Christians" and non-Christians should be like them, and to the extent that they are not, they are not good Christians assuming that they are Christians at all.  I do not mean to say it is wrong to find like-minded believers we are comfortable around but rather when we start to see ourselves and like-minded people as the standard by which all other Christians are to be judged by.

Having observed Christians for a number of decades now, I've come to the conclusion that thriving spiritually comes predominantly from our abiding in Christ in our hearts and not what groups we align ourselves with.   At this point in my life, I'd rather hang around with people whose lives, personality, and spirituality are characterized by the Gal 5:22-23 fruit and who completely disagree with me on many things than to be surrounded by people who are "correct" on doctrinal, worship, and behavioral opinions.   I've found that hanging around with peaceable, gentle, mature believers who disagree with me is the best way for me to grow and learn and be encouraged. 

As a piece of advice on what might be a deeper issue, consider what is causing your dissatisfaction.  Is it the world around you?  Is it not having a small group of Christians to connect with? Is God taking you through some transitions?   Sometimes when we start to feel a longing for something different, it is God's Spirit preparing us for the newest adventure in life He has for us.  

[Willie T]

3 minutes ago, GandalfTheWise said:

 I've at times pondered this and thought that forming a Christian community would be nice.  I've heard other people talk about such things as well.  The idea being not a monastic retreat but rather a vibrant multi-generational community that lives life with a Christian outlook.  

I've not done much research on this topic though.  A few starting points might be the Moravians, the Separatists (Puritans), Mennonites and Amish, Amana colonies, Jesus People USA, and I'm sure that there are some other historical groups where Christians fled political situations  and persecution and formed communities in the places they fled to.  This could also give some historical perspectives on the resulting fruit that occurred decades and centuries later as well as getting a sense of what worked and what did not.

In one sense, this is the type of thing that the earliest Christians did in Jerusalem.   Now, I'm not holding that out as a definitive model that we are all to do, but rather that there are times God will lead some of His people into such arrangements.

  I then look at some threads on this site and then wonder if lack of sanctification and doctrinal disagreements might prove in some ways more frustrating than dealing with non-Christians.   To be serious, I see many Christians making the mistake of seeking the perfect church (or small group or ministry or whatever situation) where they can thrive spiritually.   In practice, this usually amounts to finding other Christians that have the same doctrinal beliefs, worship practices, and behavioral practices so there will be fewer things to argue about and be disturbed by.  As a spiritual matter, it is usually an arrogant pride that says that they are the small remnant that is really serving God and that all other Christians and "Christians" and non-Christians should be like them, and to the extent that they are not, they are not good Christians assuming that they are Christians at all.  I do not mean to say it is wrong to find like-minded believers we are comfortable around but rather when we start to see ourselves and like-minded people as the standard by which all other Christians are to be judged by.

Having observed Christians for a number of decades now, I've come to the conclusion that thriving spiritually comes predominantly from our abiding in Christ in our hearts and not what groups we align ourselves with.   At this point in my life, I'd rather hang around with people whose lives, personality, and spirituality are characterized by the Gal 5:22-23 fruit and who completely disagree with me on many things than to be surrounded by people who are "correct" on doctrinal, worship, and behavioral opinions.   I've found that hanging around with peaceable, gentle, mature believers who disagree with me is the best way for me to grow and learn and be encouraged. 

As a piece of advice on what might be a deeper issue, consider what is causing your dissatisfaction.  Is it the world around you?  Is it not having a small group of Christians to connect with? Is God taking you through some transitions?   Sometimes when we start to feel a longing for something different, it is God's Spirit preparing us for the newest adventure in life He has for us.  

You, Sir, are one of the wisest posters I have met on any forum.  No matter the forum, you, for years, have spoken many wise words.

[Still Alive]

7 hours ago, Melinda12 said:

Eventually turn your back on the secular world and retire to the equivalent of a convent?

Could a person eventually sell up and go live in seclusion. Cut all ties with this ungodly wicked world and retire to live in almost silence with other true believers of Christ. It would be like heaven! 

Is there a path or process for an ordinary person to do this? Or is it only for catholics who are highly qualified and become nuns?

I can see in my old age in 20 years wanting to do this. Are there retreats or safe ways to spend your last years living only for Christ and leaving this mad world to it's own devices.

Read Acts to get your instruction on this.

My wife and I bought 32 acres of woods and fields with a home. We moved there (rural, southcentral Kentucky) from Seattle, seven years ago. It is utterly secluded and I call it "the garden of Eden but with more chiggers". It's our heaven on earth. We find every single year our "worldly desires" are reduced, almost without effort. It's kinda weird, really. But we are most definitely plugged into what is going on in the world and, most importantly, in our local community.

The only two things that matter to a Christian are our relationship with our creator and, a subset of that, our relationship with our fellow man. Everything else is a tool to enhance or damage one or both of those things. You can do that from an apartment in the Bronx or a mansion on a private island in the pacific.

[Guest shiloh357]

13 minutes ago, Willie T said:

Yet, the same thing done to me is accepted.  And there really is nothing wrong with what any of us have said.  Hurt feelings at being told we really aren't right in running others down is hardly something to go running to a crying booth about.  (Was that insulting?  No, it wasn't.... only if you choose to be insulted by just about anything you don't accept.)

You'll just have to talk to a mod about it.  It's between you and them.

 

[Willie T]

25 minutes ago, Yowm said:

Judging. tsk tsk. lol

I love the last line of your "Signature."  I wish more people would read it.

[appy]

We can't live on earth without coming into contact with those that are worldly. But we certainly can avoid thinking and behaving as the world does. Our presence is seasoning so to speak, to make the world a more tolerable place. And because of our presence and testimony the world might come to know and believe that God sent his son into the world, to save it and to understand the God loves the world as he loves his son.

 

[Omegaman 3.0]

6 hours ago, Willie T said:

They certainly are.  Every thread where I have disagreed with anything, I have been locked out of.  And when I write George to ask what I have done that warrants silencing me, he refuses to tell me.  Although he did answer by posting a string of question marks...?????????

Perhaps, and probably, it was not George who locked you out, and so he does not know TO tell you. Most likely, if you read the terms of service which you agreed to when you joined, you will find the answer in there. Even in this thread here, it is designate for participation of those who agree with the Worthy Statement of Faith. Not every place on the forum is for everyone to express whatever they want, however they please.

[Omegaman 3.0]

7 hours ago, Willie T said:

In effect, this is what this forum tries to be.  A place where only certain ideas can be expressed.

No, not at all, lots of ideas can and are expressed here, people have even expressed they views and beleivers in occult practices, various religious cults, Atheism, etc. It is quite inclusive. However, as  Christian ministry, it should be obvious, that we would not allow the promotion of these ideas, or of anti-biblical notions.

Additionally, this is not at all attempting to be a Christian hideaway, a way to isolate ourselves in a Christian safe, exclusive environment. This is not intended to be the only contact that people have with others, but to suppliment the relationships, that functioning members of society, have with others in "real world".