Posted on 07/09/2019 11:07:08 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck
As a lot of Freepers, and now even Jim Robinson, know: I've been putting a lot of references to Jesus Christ and His power and love and plans into threads that have to do with America and even recently, Canada.
As a result, I got accused more than once of thread hijacking, and then last night I got newbied for a while (my account marked as though I were a newbie and could not mail or do certain other things).
I'm hard up against the issue now of what do you DO when you really DO believe Jesus Christ is the answer to everything, with at least a smattering of the fervor that moved our Founding Fathers? I feel like I just beamed in from Mars, or maybe Venus.
Peppering discussions with painstaking explanations of the relevance of Jesus Christ (and so much can be said about Him -- the founding generation surely didn't proclaim "No King but Jesus" in vain, did it?) has resulted in my raising a lot of dust and discomfort.
Now the usual questions come up: what do we do with nonbelievers? Buddhists? Jews? Etc.? Aren't they part of America too and have a valid interest?
And that's true -- they do. But the reality is that they're riding on a Christian country, which in an old fashioned liberal way, has taken the attitude that it's better to know something about God (and even atheists have confessed something like that in weak moments) than to know nothing at all about God. It's not until the riders succeed in turning against this vehicle that we have serious problems here.
But I'd squarely address the Christians. If the vehicle is so weak that it can't even bear the pressure of those who sin "in ignorance and unbelief," then what good is it going to be against those who have one foot staunchly planted in hell?
I called "Religion" forum a kind of ghetto. But the fact that this is a separate forum, rather than a topic that can be attached at will to any thread, bespeaks the weakness of the modern embodiment of Christianity in the FR context.
Can we somehow see Jesus Christ broken out of the ghetto on FR, without killing FR? Here is where I would humbly turn this question over to a larger audience. I don't mind if Jim Rob sees this. I'm not trying to raise a rebellion against him; I'm trying to affirm and gain devotion and allegiance to the only true support he and America has at the end of the day, as even Donald Trump has recognized. To Donald Trump, an America with no Christianity is like a day without sunshine. Well yes; it would be night. America earned its rights to be exceptional by its spiritual roots.
I even wrote a song about what a revival would look like (Lets MAGA on Soundcloud, look it up if you wish), but I'm not here to promote MY song as much as to get people to hear the Holy Spirit sing what He always was singing, but so many ears were deaf to.
Maybe part of our philosophical problem here on FR is that we’ve managed to divorce our ideas of freedom from ideas of God.
God does come across as a party pooper when first encountered by those who were lax about Him. Oh, all those rules! Look at the Ten Commandments! Who could possibly follow through with that? (It was in the context of the Hebrew children in Israel and we can discuss some fiddly details such as what has happened to the Sabbath [it is universalized under Christ— see the book of Hebrews] but on the main, that is one very challenging set of rules! Don’t we lean every day on gossiping? Coveting? Thinking rageful thoughts about people that really annoy us? Etc.)
But then God reaches out to us PAST all those rules, with His beautiful, beautiful everlasting arms which once were attached to a cross. And He says “Come into the kingdom of heaven, receive My love and grace, and now you will see the world become unimportant and you will find that the way you walk will match up with My demands.”
Who who understands this can possibly say no, or deny that this is living Freedom? Unless they are bent on being permanently jealous for themselves against God.
I can be firm in the knowing that water is wet and
have no need to explain this to everyone I see.
Sometimes the wetness of water is not even relevant to the conversation.
“Yeah, I’ll have a double meat with cheese, no pickles.”
“Sir, did you know that water is wet?”
“Yeah, ok... so double meat with cheese and no pickles?”
Wow, HiTech!
It seems like you have had a major epiphany recently.
I see your point and agree that this nation is
founded on Judeo Christian values,
I have always believed that departing
from those values accounts for
all/most of the calamity that has befallen it.
We cannot personally change
all/any of what is wrong with it but
we CAN change ourselves and lead by example,
just as our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus has done.
I join you in prayer and wherever two or more are
gathered He also is there.
With God ALL things are possible.
May God watch over and protect us all.
7
Matt 10:16
16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”
Brevity is the soul of effective posting. :)
Well, if you tried to have that hamburger sans water, you’d soon discover how inedible it was. The meat, the cheese, even the bun need some water to be what they are.
Now imagine trying to keep these things up in a desert. Now we’d all be talking about water!
“We never miss the water until the well runs dry.”
Presumption is a dangerous sin.
No pickles?
See, yer just not doing it right.
You can’t have a good burger without pickles.
Having a burger without pickles makes water less wet.
You have ruined freerepublic.
I don’t want or expect a discussion of water when ordering my double meat at Whataburger.
Introducing unrelated pet topics into random conversations is a mark of lunacy or obsession.
Again?
Crap.
Even the relevance can get into so many words.
And actually that isn’t even the preferable answer. Humblegunner, for example, would like to have his double meat with cheese hamburger without having to worry about the water. That turns that simple hamburger into quite an exercise! “Here’s how you reconstitute the bun... the patties... the cheese....” Even the pickle for those who want a pickle.
And here I am really stretching, because water ultimately is a metaphor for God. We can’t literally thank the water for being water, as it’s an inanimate thing. But imagine for a moment that it wasn’t inanimate. Would we be thanking the water for being in and around us? I think we would, if it had a will and could respond to that.
Ah, some things deserve “obsession.” Have you ever noticed how so many companies have discovered “an obsession with quality”?
What you have written is true.
We have to be tactful.
Recognize the war, battle on, recognize that people can disappoint.
Go on, don’t lose your tools.
Jesus is the answer yes, but know also that all things are for His ends.
But you knew that.
I say this for all.
The more you belabor HG's metaphor about the hamburger, the more you make the case that injecting God into everything derails the conversation at hand. No food establishment, particularly a burger joint will waste the customer's time with the fact that water is needed for all living things. They won't worry about how food would not exist without water. It does exist, and the job at hand is to make the burger for the customer.
Whenever I see a FR poster post something like "we need to turn to God to save our country", when the thread is about fraud on election day, I usually just gloss over those responses. I think religious responses belong in the Religion forum or in religious threads or in poster's taglines.
My opinions are formed, for the most part, by my Christian faith. The day that I can’t give glory to, or beseech the LORD about any topic on FR, is the day I no longer participate in FR. That only non-religious comments should be allowed on regular threads, is a violation of free speech, AND the terms of FR. I realize that athiests are irritated by most things Christian, and would really rather they never have to be exposed to them, but this isn’t China or Iran...yet, so I will continue, until it is no longer allowed.
Well said.
No one said they weren't allowed. I just think that's where they belong. But you knew that.
Jews and Christians in America go by the same name: American.
Well sure, the same could be said of anyone who is an American, but...
Joe (as in Joe American, any Jew or Gentile) and Jew really are the same when you flip those names back to Hebrew:
Joe: ג'ו
Jew: ג'ו
"You won't find them easy to follow. They're using some kind of code..."
Big Joe, Little Joe...
I'm a big fan of discovering the unknown.
"Go!", same letters:
גו
"Go!" Two letters that really encapsulate the Spirit of Discovery.. Revelation.. Revolution..
It's the Spirit of America, because
The Messiah is the ultimate "Can-Do" Renaissance ("rebirth", born again) man who knows and does so much. A veritable man of learning, i.e. letters.
People should emulate (follow) the actual Jesus of the Bible. He connects heaven to earth *because* he's a down-to-earth man, totally real. Knows all the guy stuff; it's right there in the NT. The kind of fellow who cuts his own Christmas tree.
I don't know what all the trouble should be on FR in talking about him on any of the forums. Like he wouldn't be like so many around here, hitting Cabela's for the summer sales? Riding a John Deere mower? Fishing, boating, gardening, hunting, camping, going on hiking trips?
I mean come on, if President Trump is good enough for Jesus he's good enough for me.
I can't wait for everyone to chill.
What you have written is true.
We have to be tactful.
Recognize the war, battle on, recognize that people can disappoint.
Go on, don’t lose your tools.
Jesus is the answer yes, but know also that all things are for His ends.
But you knew that.
I say this for all.
Jesus should be an every day, every moment part of our lives.
When you bring Jesus into a conversation, I believe it is a natural thing for a Christian to do and a natural thing for other Christians to hear.
What I’m trying to say is that, Jesus is not “religion” He is a Living part of us and can not be divorced from the every day.
So what I write below is not an attack on you...please understand that.
***********************************
I think we need to keep the long-term goal in mind and that is Heaven.
Paul notes our citizenship (for believers in Christ and only Christ) is in Heaven (Philippians 3:20).
He encourages us to set our minds on things above...not on earthly things (Colossians 3:2).
Now don't get me wrong. I'm thankful to be an American. But in the grand scheme of things that means absolutely nothing.
God is not going to ask if we're Americans or Canadians or any other earthly nation. He's going to want to know the answer to the most important question ever asked of man.
13Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” 15He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Matthew 16:13-16 NASB
He has tasked us with the following:
16But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. 17When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. 18And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20 NASB
Our task is to bring as many people to Christ as possible.
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