Replies

And, apparently, we have very different estimations of the credibility of people who claim to be carrying out the will of God.
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The issue isn’t the credibility of people who claim to be carrying out the will of God. It is your decisions, and mine, that I am talking about. With God = Good. Without God = Good, bad and ugly depending on the moment, and never truly good since the 1st and greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart.
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You may earnestly believe that a “test of the spirits” is the only way to determine whether the 9/11 bombers were murderers. But, not only do I have no way of verifying that your “spirit test” is any more valid than their “spirit test,” I also have no way of knowing whether your next “spirit test” won’t tell you to kill me.
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“Testing the spirits” in that verse to me means think about it, compare it to the Bible, talk to fellow Christians about it, test it before you give it your faith.
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Hence, my preference for dastardly “man-made laws” and rather more predictable “secular morality.” Combined, they have teeth, and for the most part tend to keep the “spirit testers” in check.
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I’ve made no argument against secular law.

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Witness your average communist who has deduced that policy X will help us all.
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I don’t think God sets U.S. economic policy, and there’s no shortage of Christian communists.

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I agree that there has been no shortage of Christian communists . . . with the caveat that I can argue that they are wrong with “Thou shalt not steal” alone . . . and understanding that Christians were among the main opponents of Soviet marxism. Christian communism in Acts was an act of choice; disciples willingly donated their goods to live in community and were not forced at all to do so. Bad example I suppose, but the point stands that we all make mistakes relying on our own reason without God. Big ones and I’m not talking about political policy, but the basic threads of our lives; hurting spouses, children, neighbors, ourselves, addiction, and the like that would be avoided by following God’s word. I used communism as an example because I figured two FReepers could agree that it was a mistake and many communists reasoned their way to the policy. Reason is not a sure guide to life. God is.