Posted on 11/29/2008 5:47:30 AM PST by IbJensen
Amen.
Bump!
Now for the pessimist .02.
One religion exhorts its followers to love the enemy and turn the other cheek. Another religion exhorts its followers to fight, enslave and slaughter the other wherever he be found.
You don’t need much game theory for the outcome.
The difference is that the “Commander-in-Chief” is coming to personally take care of business. One group has an earthly perspective and thus fights with the weapons of the world, the other has an eternal perspective and thus waits on the King of Kings to vanquish the foe by the breath of His mouth.
As He powerfully spoke in the beginning, He shall again.
But when a Christian sees a great wrong, if we follow the actions of Jesus, we can act with aggression. The story of the money changers in the temple show this.
Right on!
Amen!
I don't need a cheerleader or a dead weight who gets credit for doing nothing by just standing around involved in every aspect of my life.
Since I am an individual and act like one, that tends to annoy the powers that be.
It is funny when the all of the blind in a group have to make a decision to do anything when under the least pressure. They can't and go into meltdown.
I am not sure what you mean by this. If you have ever experienced a Christian missionary community you will see great sacrifice for the common good or higher cause. Often missionaries, especially in hospitals, work across faith lines responding simply to the need of the suffering.
Christianity has a long history of creating factions that favor collectivist social change; “Liberation Theology” is only one the latest. Christians (occasionally including influential American Christians) have been involved in union movements, movements calling for various kinds of government programs intended to improve the welfare or prospects of various portions of the population, and many similar efforts.
And it doesn’t help to claim that these people are not “True Christians” - they define themselves as such, and God has not seen fit to provide an unambiguous method of separating the “true” from the “untrue”, instead leaving the task to fallible humans. For example within my lifetime Christian supporters of civil rights for black Americans were frequently referred to by other Christian Americans as “communists” bent on subverting “the American way of life” because they opposed government mandated racial segregation.
What the author is saying, I believe, is that if one 'believes' he should be sacrificing himself for such socialist claptrap as the 'common good' or 'higher cause' he has turned his back on God.
A Christian community, such as a mission or a monastery is different because these entities are wholly serving God. Through community they assist one another, but indeed the concentration is God and works pleasing to Him.
Why are Judeo/Christian based societies the most advanced and just on earth?
The one true God is neither an arbitrary slave master nor a feckless savage.
He did not give Man free-will so that selfish mortal tyrants may suppress or obtuse secular intellectuals corrupt it. "What works," is the supreme principle of both Judaism and Christianity--oh and conservatism as well--go figure. If any wish to brand me a bigot,let them check the historical record. Sure,many evils have been done by many faiths in the so-called name of various dieties. But which ones have done the most good? It is too easy to rest my case.
American Center for Law and Justice & European Center has been in court on a ‘Defamation of Religions’ case with the UN. ACLJ says they are having some trouble with the UN.
http://www.aclj.org/TrialNotebook/Read.aspx?id=697
The real Jesus Christ and the milquetoast substitute that has been promulgated by generations of emasculated religious hierarchies are indeed worlds apart. As a child, I was presented with a Jesus seen only through the lens of a simpering, cowardly piety; thankfully, the Spirit eventually led me to the Word in full.
Mr. niteowl77
Well, you can also bolster your argument by pointing out which ones have done the most harm. Those are invariably socialist/collectivist. Marxism is by far the most harmful, followed by Nazism. Run-of-the-mill authoritarians and dictators aren't even in the same class as those.
I have noticed that many Christian ministers have turned into motivational speakers.
I am not sure that Jesus would be very comfortable with this narrow definition. Did Jesus not call us out in very specific terms to reach out to others. Indeed in the parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus clearly establishes that good works are not limited to people of faith. It seems to me that we do God's work anytime we respond to anyone that reaches out for help. Do you not think the whole tone of this thread is a little unChristian?
That’s why we have the old Testement/Eye for an Eye/Jewish buffer. It this case, I can swing both ways.
I do. There is no doubt that religion influences one's politics, and that politics influences one's religion.
Most here, however, would deny that second part. :)
Work on caring more about other people then you do about yourself, without guilt. That's where the answer lies.......
Learn that living off "victim currency" is fraud, and that by understanding the true meaning of sacrifice you may find it has nothing to do with being a martyr.
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