bibleberean said:
We simply preach the gospel.
That is what
you think. I, for one, do
not.
For me ... the manner in which you manifest in this forum does a number of things:
- 1. It gives one the impression that you believe that others have no conscience and that you should be that conscience. I don't care whether or not you do this because something has you believing that you and your conscience are better than others and the conscience of others, but I believe that it would be better for your psyche and this community if you could get a grip on that attitude.
2. It gives one the impression that you have decided that spirituality is the enemy of Christianity rather than the reverse.
3. Since you do these things in your capacity as moderator and since all of it ... if I base myself on a number of "private" conversations with other members ... embraces within one cicumference all the prerequisites for the creation of a "we versus them" experience for a number of members here, rather than the sort of "we" experience a community such as this one should provide, I believe that you have not understood what a community is all about. A community, my friend, is a diversity. And the way to create any kind of unity in a diversity is not by "policing" it as you do or as the inquisition once did, but by creating a nurturing environment where every individual ... you included ... can grow both spiritually and as a Christian.
For me God and His Truth can be found in many places. In fact, for me He and His Truth are everywhere. Since you, however, appear to believe that only the NT contains truth, let me add some words from that NT:
Romans 8:9
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
In other words: you can quote scripture until the cows come home, but if your attitude does not clearly demonstrate that you live in the Spirit of God or ... demonstrates that you do
not live in that Spirit because your interpretation of things is more important to you than living a life in that Spirit and dedicated to that Spirit ... you might as well not say anything.
Romans 8:14
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Here again ... important as the contents of the NT may be, those contents only have relevance when they are used by a man who ... rather than by his ego and the thought system that ego has created ... is led by the Spirit of God.
1 Corinthians 2:14
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
I thought that this might make interesting reading for those who, like you, have made spirituality into the enemy of Christianity.
Perhaps you may feel that my words are harsh. Perhaps they are. Hitherto, however, you don't appear to have listened too well to less harsh ways in which I have tried to convey the very same thoughts to you.
I wish you a great 2006.
LG
