I have a lot of private conversations
Because the Mathew 18:15 thing makes a good deal of sense to me. Problem is, when I have those conversations with people who are truly destroying their lives and the lives of those around them, it has no effect.
You can take most of that bullshit and poke enormous holes in it, and once having done this, the adherents will run away rather than make any effort to accept that they could be in error. And it finally dawned on me why.
They think they’re smarter than G-d. They think they know better, so they can make plans based on the certain knowledge that their plans are in perfect tune with the Creator- no matter how ludicrous they are. And when someone points that out, it really upsets them, and they run away.
You can’t use logic to argue someone out of a position they didn’t use logic to arrive at. Oh, sure, they think they used logic, but their reasoning is based on the shibboleths of their tribe- like “Voting is immoral” well, of course it’s nothing of the sort and it is ludicrously easy to prove that it is nothing of the sort.
Unless you’re smarter than G-d, of course.
Pray, folks. Keep your powder dry, but pray. I estimate maybe 50-80,000 actual Christians left on earth- Abraham tried to find ten righteous men in Sodom and Gomorrah, and in the end, Lot and his family had to bugger off. I don’t know what the population of those cities was, but 50-80,000 Christians is a pretty small percentage.
19 comments Og | Uncategorized
How’s that old saying go? God made man in His image, and man has been trying to return the favor ever since.
Yeah tell me. Sheesh. Discovering I’m a worthless pos was the most critical event in my life.
Why is it that the smartest people have trouble with faith?
They believe in gravity, DNA and a social contract, but they have trouble with faith.
You find God when you return to deal with such stuff.
I’m babbling and I can’t type good enough to explain this one.
Really? So few? I think that there are at least that man Christians in the Mormon cult. (5 million members)
“Why is it that the smartest people have trouble with faith? ”
Historically, this is not the case. Today, the smartest people I have known are people of faith. Mostly, it is the people who think that they are smart who reject faith.
There is a graph I saw on this it demonstrates the percentage of faithful as a percentile of the mental distribution. The averages for both groups are the same (faithful and faithless), but the distribution of the faithless is more clustered near the mean. So, more geniuses are faithful, but so are more morons. Opposite sides of the spectrum. And the low end of “average” is dominated by loud-mouthed militant atheists.
” I think that there are at least that man Christians in the Mormon cult. ”
They apparently don’t recite NP’s shibboleths….
I think my number is generous. Of course I define Christian differently.
Of course I define Christian differently.
Og, though I am very interested in your definition of Christian, unless your definition means a follower of the teachings of Jesus Christ, it has no substance.
Personally, my definition of “Christian” is “One who has undergone the Sacrament of Baptism”. Just like my definition of “husband” or “wife” is one who has undergone the Sacrament of Marriage.
You can be a good Christian, or a bad Christian, but you’re still a Christian.
Now if you want to discuss how many good Christians there are out there, well Og may be generous. These are people who end up with Saint-with-a-capital-S in front of their names after they die.
Mother Teresa was a good example of Christ. Course it she would have been better had someone from the orphanage gone on to cure cancer.
There is a lot of truth in what Jesus said is that the poor will always be around, he was for a fleeting instant.
A whole lot of people claim to follow Christ, but few actually do, and the few that I know that seem to do so may only be doing so when being watched, only the Creator can make that call, I cannot. What I do see is a powerful lot of people acting in a decidedly Un Christian manner. No question I am myself grossly thus.
As for “Followers of the teachings of Jesus”, well, I’d guess barely one person in a million even understands what that means. To the rest it’s just another shibboleth.
Shibboleth sounds like a Jewish thing. Old testament word?
Yes, indeed. Nice catch
There’s only been one person who truly followed the teachings of Christ. He wound up nailed to a cross about 20 centuries ago, but it didn’t take.
The rest of us are poor miserable sinners to one extent or another, in desperate need of Salvation. Some of us know it, some don’t.
I’m reminded of the story of a young priest who went to visit an old woman during her last days. She expresses concern about the life she’d lived, and he assured her that God would be just. She replied that she didn’t WANT Him to be just, she needed Him to be merciful.
Re making God in our image; Matthew Kelly recounts his earliest attempts at prayer as “Listen up God, your servant is speaking…” How true that is for me.
Re justice, mercy and grace: I heard once that Justice is getting what we deserve, mercy is NOT getting what we deserve, grace is receiving what we DON’T deserve. I pray to be spared God’s justice and to be granted his mercy and grace. But I’m OK if he feels the need to be just with the rest of you sinners… :)
The Jewish distinction was explained to me long ago between justice and charity. They are the same word. Tsedek is the way it would appear with English pronunciation. A saint is a tsadik. A fine line that hardly anyone can achieve.
Is it just for Him to create such a concept just so we can declare “What’s the use? I can never be perfect.”
See that word there? “Never.” That’s aiming for perfection of a reverse order. Good luck achieving mercy then.
Tying this back to Og’s example: Don’t vote because it never works.
A relevant word God uses is “remnant”.
And a relevant quote is: “I have 7000 who have not bowed their knee to Baal.”
It gives me hope that there are more than I figure on.
But the notion that there aren’t.
Interesting, some of the definitions of Christian here.
Matthew Kelly. Dynamic speaker. I’ve listened to his recordings on Relevant Radio. Sad that now I can finally say I know someone else besides me who knows of him. Yup, remnant is a good word for what’ll be in the near future.
I take heart from Luke 18:9-14. No guesses for whom I try to emulate when praying – and mean it . . .