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Response to Hypocrite central. Cursing people one minute, & praising God the next People don't seek divine guidance (Christian or otherwise) because they are flawless individuals with perfect lives. Many seek divine guidance precisely because of the fact that they ARE flawed and their lives are Chaotic. Some people struggle more than others. I have sat in 12 Step meetings and watched people relapse again and again. Nevertheless, they pick themselves back up and start over again. Eventually, they get it. I have a friend who is a Pastor's wife. It is a total miracle that I have have such a friendship but nevertheless.............. She posted this on her wall and it makes sense, although I am not quite this conservative - the goal is to be better than where I came from. If you're having sex before marriage, go to church anyway. If you are a drug addict trying to beat addiction, go to church anyway. If you were out drunk all night the night before, go to church anyway. If you aren't sure what gender you prefer, go to church anyway. If you can't quit that disgusting habit, go to church anyway. Church is a hospital for the broken, lost, empty, confused, desperate, and rejected. Every sinner has a future, and every Saint has a past. How do we break the chains of addiction and bondage? By prayer, prayer for you and prayer with you! There isn't a single person in the 4 walls of the church that doesn't have something they hate or regret about their past. We've all made mistakes, and will continue to, BUT His Grace is enough! There's things that I'd never want to admit out loud about myself, but God knows. And He loves me none the less. So whatever you've done, whatever you're doing, whatever you will do....go to church anyway, it might just change your life! Abracadabra  |
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This summer, I was working at the GOP Headquarters with the Pastor's Wife. I had to pick up some campaign signs and my outrageous neighbor came with me. He offered to help carry the signs into the headquarters. He immediately started his "Thug Talk" with the pastor's wife. This does not impress my circle of friends. He remarks that he plans to move back to Vegas taking "Star" with him and put her back on the pole. The fact that I was an exotic dancer is not information that I share with this group of friends. Fortunately, she's a good enough friend that she already knew. I apologized to her and told her that if I brought the outrageous neighbor to church that her husband might have to do an exorcist. Abracadabra
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None of us are perfect, if I was, I'd never have to drink coffee in the morning to wake up. 
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I believe I would like your pastor's wife, she sounds like a wise and loving woman. It's easier to walk in love towards nonbelievers because we can expect certain behavior and comments from some of them. What is hard to condone is those who profess to be followers of Christ and behave worse than nonbelievers. They give a bad name to Christians and just reinforce what many nonbelievers think about Christians. The book of James tells us that we should not praise God one time and curse others (who are also made in the image of God) the next. Sure, we all screw up, but to do it constantly and tell others that we can act that way because we are covered by the blood of Christ is not only hypocritical, it is trampling on the blood. We should show remorse and be trying to change from bad behavior. Be a prism, spreading God's light and love, not a mirror reflecting the world's hatred.
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THAT LOOKS LIKE VERY SOUND ADVICE TO ME EVEN THOUGH I AM NO GREAT BELIEVER.
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I believe I would like your pastor's wife, she sounds like a wise and loving woman. It's easier to walk in love towards nonbelievers because we can expect certain behavior and comments from some of them. What is hard to condone is those who profess to be followers of Christ and behave worse than nonbelievers. They give a bad name to Christians and just reinforce what many nonbelievers think about Christians. The book of James tells us that we should not praise God one time and curse others (who are also made in the image of God) the next. Sure, we all screw up, but to do it constantly and tell others that we can act that way because we are covered by the blood of Christ is not only hypocritical, it is trampling on the blood. We should show remorse and be trying to change from bad behavior. One of the most difficult lessons that I had to learn is don't respond, don't interact and don't engage especially when everything inside of me wants to do the opposite. Some people seem to enjoy the toxic exchange of insults - I don't understand it but Que Sera Sera. Maybe, they will get tired of drink poison but that is on them. Abracadabra
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Thank you for your wise words Pat........ I find that many Christians assume that those who reject their system of belief do so because we lack information......The truth is that most Atheists know the Bible better than most Christians.......That is because there are so many different denominations and each one has picked Bible passages to focus on and ignore the ones the don't like........Most of us became Atheists by reading the whole Bible...... We call it "Jesus Bombing".......The constant posting of vacuous memes and threatening people for having different beliefs than them is a manifestation of hatred.......It's blatantly obvious........They are using their God club as a fort, as if there is a war going on and they throw a bomb and then hide in their club-house and deny responsibility for their violence because they belong to the Jesus club...... That's how simplistic and completely lacking in any real Spiritual substance it is....It's like a Dystopian Sunday School Parody.........
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Thank you for your wise words Pat........ I find that many Christians assume that those who reject their system of belief do so because we lack information......The truth is that most Atheists know the Bible better than most Christians.......That is because there are so many different denominations and each one has picked Bible passages to focus on and ignore the ones the don't like........Most of us became Atheists by reading the whole Bible...... We call it "Jesus Bombing".......The constant posting of vacuous memes and threatening people for having different beliefs than them is a manifestation of hatred.......It's blatantly obvious........They are using their God club as a fort, as if there is a war going on and they throw a bomb and then hide in their club-house and deny responsibility for their violence because they belong to the Jesus club...... That's how simplistic and completely lacking in any real Spiritual substance it is....It's like a Dystopian Sunday School Parody......... I think people are a lot like apples, we have bruises and cuts, and sometimes areas of rot, but I believe God thinks we are redeemable and that's why he sent Jesus. It's up to each person what they chose to do with that teaching.... but there is no reason to act hateful to others, just because they chose to believe something else. I believe in God and that He is love, and we are called to love others. No exceptions, and we should act like it. Be a prism, spreading God's light and love, not a mirror reflecting the world's hatred.
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Thank you for your wise words Pat........ I find that many Christians assume that those who reject their system of belief do so because we lack information......The truth is that most Atheists know the Bible better than most Christians.......That is because there are so many different denominations and each one has picked Bible passages to focus on and ignore the ones the don't like........Most of us became Atheists by reading the whole Bible...... We call it "Jesus Bombing".......The constant posting of vacuous memes and threatening people for having different beliefs than them is a manifestation of hatred.......It's blatantly obvious........They are using their God club as a fort, as if there is a war going on and they throw a bomb and then hide in their club-house and deny responsibility for their violence because they belong to the Jesus club...... That's how simplistic and completely lacking in any real Spiritual substance it is....It's like a Dystopian Sunday School Parody......... This is why many of my ancestor fled Europe or the fact that my several times Quaker great grandparents got booted out of Salem, Massachusetts in the Colonial. They relocated to Virginia and founded their own Quaker community which is still thriving today. This is why Thomas Jefferson drafted the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom and later the 1st Amendment in the Bill of Rights. It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 Gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg Quote by Thomas Jefferson Abracadabra
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When I was in high School, my mother worked with a woman who was a recent immigrant from Turkey. They worked in the hospital that was close to our house and she would come to our house for a coffee after work. One day, she told me that she and her family had received a stereo system they had ordered by mail and they couldn't figure out how to set it up. She asked me to help them et it up. I did and I met the whole family. The father became my spiritual teacher for several years. He was a Christian Sufi-Master.....a contradiction in terms, because Sufism is a mystical Muslim practice. He had also been trained from childhood in the ancient disciplines of his ancestors who were a Nomadic tribe in the Caucus mountains.........I was very impressed and fascinated by his depth of knowledge and his ability to merge seemingly conflicting philosophies.......He asked me about my spiritual journey and listened to what I said....Later, he wrote several books, started a spiritual movement.....but at that time, he was just getting his balance back after landing in a very different world and helping his 4 teen-age children to settle...... After listening to my thoughts about God and religion, he gave me an assignment......to go to a different church every Sunday......and when I was done, he told me to do it again and gave me reading assignments on comparative religion and authors like Herman Hesse........I followed his guidance for 3 years.....He lived to be 103.....and died only a few year ago.....his wife is still alive....still living in the spiritual community they founded near Vancouver..............
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When I was in high School, my mother worked with a woman who was a recent immigrant from Turkey. They worked in the hospital that was close to our house and she would come to our house for a coffee after work. One day, she told me that she and her family had received a stereo system they had ordered by mail and they couldn't figure out how to set it up. She asked me to help them et it up. I did and I met the whole family. The father became my spiritual teacher for several years. He was a Christian Sufi-Master.....a contradiction in terms, because Sufism is a mystical Muslim practice. He had also been trained from childhood in the ancient disciplines of his ancestors who were a Nomadic tribe in the Caucus mountains.........I was very impressed and fascinated by his depth of knowledge and his ability to merge seemingly conflicting philosophies.......He asked me about my spiritual journey and listened to what I said....Later, he wrote several books, started a spiritual movement.....but at that time, he was just getting his balance back after landing in a very different world and helping his 4 teen-age children to settle...... After listening to my thoughts about God and religion, he gave me an assignment......to go to a different church every Sunday......and when I was done, he told me to do it again and gave me reading assignments on comparative religion and authors like Herman Hesse........I followed his guidance for 3 years.....He lived to be 103.....and died only a few year ago.....his wife is still alive....still living in the spiritual community they founded near Vancouver.............. Belonging to a faith based community works out better for me but I respect the right of others who make different choices. Years ago, I had to leave my marriage because of domestic abuse. If I had stayed in that marriage I would have been an emotion cripple along with my boys. We lived in a poor neighborhood. High crime, high drugs, ad infinitum. My saving grace was the local Avenue Church which I attended along with my boys. There were several single mothers with children who attended that church. Every mother in that church managed to climb out of the impoverished condition into a better place. I became a caseload worker and many of my former neighbors were on my caseload years later. Some were homeless, others lost their children to social services or they were in and out of jail themselves. I am definitely not an atheist but there is a whole lot of differences between me and the average fundamentalist Christian, but the similarities are the fact that we are not leading chaotic lifestyles. Abracadabra
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Your spiritual journey is quite interesting. Since the pandemic, our Quaker Meeting has been on Zoom so sometimes I find myself going to different churches in the community. I just need the human contact. I have learned to focus on the similarities versus the differences. Belonging to a faith based community works out better for me but I respect the right of others who make different choices. Years ago, I had to leave my marriage because of domestic abuse. If I had stayed in that marriage I would have been an emotion cripple along with my boys. We lived in a poor neighborhood. High crime, high drugs, ad infinitum. My saving grace was the local Avenue Church which I attended along with my boys. There were several single mothers with children who attended that church. Every mother in that church managed to climb out of the impoverished condition into a better place. I became a caseload worker and many of my former neighbors were on my caseload years later. Some were homeless, others lost their children to social services or they were in and out of jail themselves. I am definitely not an atheist but there is a whole lot of differences between me and the average fundamentalist Christian, but the similarities are the fact that we are not leading chaotic lifestyles.
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The Quakers and Sufis in Vancouver share a meeting house......Not at the same time....... Abracadabra
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