Bible Study You Cannot Find God in Yourself.

[Tenchi]

2 Corinthians 3:18
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the
glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same
image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

​

God cannot be found in any mirror. He cannot be found by prolonged and intense Self-inspection, by sincere, mystical navel-gazing, by thoroughly understanding one's "inner psychological landscape." No, all that one finds within is the "old man," the well-spring of all our sin, the person we must be apart from God, who is always pathologically selfish, always yearning for more, in fundamental character rebellious, shortsighted and grossly sensual. Do you doubt it? Do you think yourself noble, and virtuous and wise? God doesn't. Without Him, separate from His constant control and transforming power, our hearts are "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9), we seek to suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness (Romans 1:19-21), we are "foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another" (Titus 3:3), we are bound under the power of the world, the flesh and the devil (Ephesians 2:1-3). Truly, there is nothing within us, apart from God, worth looking at.

"Oh, but we are fearfully and wonderfully made!" you might reply, adding, "We are made in God's image!" Yes, true. But our value is derivative: it is borrowed from God. Our fearful and wonderful making is a testament to His power and creative excellence, not cause for pride in ourselves. Our image-bearing nature is also divinely-conferred, elevating us above the animals and making us morally-responsible for our thoughts, choices and actions. We can't, then, appeal to the force of instinct in justification of our sinful conduct; we willfully choose to do evil, knowing it is evil, and thus our image-bearing status serves to condemn us. The reflection of God we were meant to be and that would distinguish us positively from all other creatures, we inevitably foul with selfishness, with sin, making a dark contortion of what it is to be created in God's image. And so, though made in His image, we cannot find God in ourselves, only stained and twisted vestiges of Him.

This doesn't stop us, though, from looking inward and often being obsessed with what we find. Our fears, our neuroses, our sadness and despair, our weaknesses and perceived strengths, our desires, fascinations and needs occupy our thought-lives constantly. Does our self-preoccupation satisfy us, though? Does it lead to peace and rest? Does it produce deep fulfillment and unshakeable joy? Does it make us healthier and more inwardly stable? No, not really. In fact, not at all, in the long run. The more we focus on ourselves, the more the things we find within ourselves expand and dominate us. Very often, this leads to destructive addiction, not just to drugs, or alcohol, or porn, but to fear, unhappiness, neurotic suspicion, bitterness and compulsiveness. We can become bound under pride, anger, and insecurity, prisoners to ideologies, trends and pressures, too, blown about by the wind of every "cultural moment."

When human beings search within themselves for the means to overcome this distinct, persistent, downward spiral into self-destruction, they dredge up only illusion, delusion, psychological tricks and chemical anesthetics. Whether it's New Age gobbledy-gook, or the nonsensical mysticism of eastern religions, the craziness of neo-Marxist Critical Theory in all its many forms, the endless stream of new psychological theories and approaches, or another addition to one's daily, chemical cocktail of SSRIs and anti-depressants, the peace and rest of God, His holiness, power and love cannot be obtained. Only from God do these things come, never from any other source.

How long and far we must go down the dark, dissatisfying road of Self-pursuit, and how injured we often must become in the process, before we who are made in God's image seek His life and light! It's...shocking how much pain and destruction we will endure in pursuit of our own will and way before we can be persuaded that God really isn't within, that Ultimate Truth cannot be found in our hearts, that lasting happiness and true fulfillment are not located in sex, power and riches, or therapy and drugs. Many don't survive the dark path of Selfishness; they move into eternal darkness and destruction before they can look away from themselves to The Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6; John 1:1-4).

But if you would tear your gaze away from yourself and behold the glory of the Lord, you would be transformed into his image by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:29; Galatians 5:22-23), finding in such transformation all the awesome goodness, meaning and fulfillment that only God can provide. If you would keep your eyes upon your holy, glorious Creator, you would find yourself "walking on water" with him, filled and overflowing with His life and power, a conduit of the Almighty Maker and Sustainer of Everything! It's what we were all made to be, actually: Vessels in, and through, whom God communicates Himself. (John 15:4-5; Titus 3:5-7; 2 Timothy 2:21; 2 Corinthians 4:7-11; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

So, what will be your focus today? Yourself? Or God? Will you "look unto Jesus" and be conformed to his glorious image? Or will you continue to peer in the mirror, hoping to find God but only ever seeing yourself?

Hebrews 12:2-3
2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith,
who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the
shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners
against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
​

 

[Tenchi]

Bump.

 

[Christ_empowered]

Having survived the mental health industry by His grace, I find this a refreshing reminder to look to Jesus Christ.


At best therapy etc is the blind leading the blind. They’re most not believers most patients aren’t either. Funny thing? In some ways I dislike Christian counseling more than secular counseling. Both are filled with horror stories and frauds etc…

Christian psychology is extra misleading. Now I notice while driving around or looking at local church websites….

Lots of them have mental health people affiliated with the church ️. I think ? it’s needlessly dangerous at best …

I dunno ?‍ it’s rough because I hear voices sometimes etc and I’d like to think ? that these people with advanced degrees care and want to help but…


For various reasons I’m pretty sure they don’t truly help the industry isn’t even designed to help people anyway…

 

[Tenchi]

Having survived the mental health industry by His grace, I find this a refreshing reminder to look to Jesus Christ.


At best therapy etc is the blind leading the blind. They’re most not believers most patients aren’t either. Funny thing? In some ways I dislike Christian counseling more than secular counseling. Both are filled with horror stories and frauds etc…

One can't mix the Truth of God with the "truth" of secular psychology, derived from a godless worldview, and expect a good result. Drop a spoonful of cow dung into a jug of crystal-clear water and the dung isn't purified; no, the water is completely fouled.

Christian psychology is extra misleading. Now I notice while driving around or looking at local church websites….

Lots of them have mental health people affiliated with the church ️. I think ? it’s needlessly dangerous at best …

There are hard facts, empirically-observed and tested ones, about the human psyche, brain chemistry, developmental stages of the human brain, and so on, that can be useful in counseling a psychologically-troubled person, but more often than not, such people are troubled for spiritual reasons, at bottom, not purely psychological ones. When they are approached from a psychological angle by a Christian counselor/psychiatrist, it is often to the diminishment of the spiritual Truth that can set them free. Rather than the transforming, stabilizing, peace-giving power of the Holy Spirit, Christian counselors often urge psychological strategies and drugs upon troubled people. The former requires unpopular things: submission to God, repentance, confession of sin, humility, self-sacrifice. It is, then, set aside for the more passive, less demanding, self-centered I'm-a-victim approach of modern psychology.

I dunno ?‍ it’s rough because I hear voices sometimes etc and I’d like to think ? that these people with advanced degrees care and want to help but…

There may well be altruistic, charitable motives behind some Christian counselling, but God's truth cannot be mixed with godless theories and therapies to good spiritual effect.

Colossians 2:6-10
6 Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,
7 having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.
9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,
10 and in Him you have been made complete...

 

[electedbyHim]

2 Corinthians 3:18
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the
glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same
image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

​

God cannot be found in any mirror. He cannot be found by prolonged and intense Self-inspection, by sincere, mystical navel-gazing, by thoroughly understanding one's "inner psychological landscape." No, all that one finds within is the "old man," the well-spring of all our sin, the person we must be apart from God, who is always pathologically selfish, always yearning for more, in fundamental character rebellious, shortsighted and grossly sensual. Do you doubt it? Do you think yourself noble, and virtuous and wise? God doesn't. Without Him, separate from His constant control and transforming power, our hearts are "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9), we seek to suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness (Romans 1:19-21), we are "foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another" (Titus 3:3), we are bound under the power of the world, the flesh and the devil (Ephesians 2:1-3). Truly, there is nothing within us, apart from God, worth looking at.

"Oh, but we are fearfully and wonderfully made!" you might reply, adding, "We are made in God's image!" Yes, true. But our value is derivative: it is borrowed from God. Our fearful and wonderful making is a testament to His power and creative excellence, not cause for pride in ourselves. Our image-bearing nature is also divinely-conferred, elevating us above the animals and making us morally-responsible for our thoughts, choices and actions. We can't, then, appeal to the force of instinct in justification of our sinful conduct; we willfully choose to do evil, knowing it is evil, and thus our image-bearing status serves to condemn us. The reflection of God we were meant to be and that would distinguish us positively from all other creatures, we inevitably foul with selfishness, with sin, making a dark contortion of what it is to be created in God's image. And so, though made in His image, we cannot find God in ourselves, only stained and twisted vestiges of Him.

This doesn't stop us, though, from looking inward and often being obsessed with what we find. Our fears, our neuroses, our sadness and despair, our weaknesses and perceived strengths, our desires, fascinations and needs occupy our thought-lives constantly. Does our self-preoccupation satisfy us, though? Does it lead to peace and rest? Does it produce deep fulfillment and unshakeable joy? Does it make us healthier and more inwardly stable? No, not really. In fact, not at all, in the long run. The more we focus on ourselves, the more the things we find within ourselves expand and dominate us. Very often, this leads to destructive addiction, not just to drugs, or alcohol, or porn, but to fear, unhappiness, neurotic suspicion, bitterness and compulsiveness. We can become bound under pride, anger, and insecurity, prisoners to ideologies, trends and pressures, too, blown about by the wind of every "cultural moment."

When human beings search within themselves for the means to overcome this distinct, persistent, downward spiral into self-destruction, they dredge up only illusion, delusion, psychological tricks and chemical anesthetics. Whether it's New Age gobbledy-gook, or the nonsensical mysticism of eastern religions, the craziness of neo-Marxist Critical Theory in all its many forms, the endless stream of new psychological theories and approaches, or another addition to one's daily, chemical cocktail of SSRIs and anti-depressants, the peace and rest of God, His holiness, power and love cannot be obtained. Only from God do these things come, never from any other source.

How long and far we must go down the dark, dissatisfying road of Self-pursuit, and how injured we often must become in the process, before we who are made in God's image seek His life and light! It's...shocking how much pain and destruction we will endure in pursuit of our own will and way before we can be persuaded that God really isn't within, that Ultimate Truth cannot be found in our hearts, that lasting happiness and true fulfillment are not located in sex, power and riches, or therapy and drugs. Many don't survive the dark path of Selfishness; they move into eternal darkness and destruction before they can look away from themselves to The Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6; John 1:1-4).

But if you would tear your gaze away from yourself and behold the glory of the Lord, you would be transformed into his image by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:29; Galatians 5:22-23), finding in such transformation all the awesome goodness, meaning and fulfillment that only God can provide. If you would keep your eyes upon your holy, glorious Creator, you would find yourself "walking on water" with him, filled and overflowing with His life and power, a conduit of the Almighty Maker and Sustainer of Everything! It's what we were all made to be, actually: Vessels in, and through, whom God communicates Himself. (John 15:4-5; Titus 3:5-7; 2 Timothy 2:21; 2 Corinthians 4:7-11; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

So, what will be your focus today? Yourself? Or God? Will you "look unto Jesus" and be conformed to his glorious image? Or will you continue to peer in the mirror, hoping to find God but only ever seeing yourself?

Hebrews 12:2-3
2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith,
who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the
shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners
against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
​

I agree with this. If we focus on God and His glory and being obedient it produces such a peace and joy that nothing compares to it.

I have been told by my sister (claims to be a Christian), that I need counseling from other Christians for all the abuse and pain I took as a child, that all of that has affected my relationships and choices in life, and that I need to learn to be "normal".

I am not certain what normal means.

While I do agree that my childhood shaped how I do things and the decisions that I have made. I understand that the written word of God has healing power, I further believe if we act in obedience to the word that we can be set free from any harms done to us in the past. For myself, my relationship with the Lord is the number one priority in my life, my goal is to bring glory to the Lord in all I do. This in itself is a challenge.

To be concise, feeding on the word daily is a priority in my life. I want to be obedient to what the Lord wants from me. I find that pleasing God takes me away from all the cares of this world and any mental conflicts that may arise within. However, when those mental conflicts come, I understand how to handle them. Doing what is right in Gods eyes is very peaceful and joyous. I do not focus on self. I will say that the more that someone is in the word, the more they will see how they truly are within.

I have been told that I am too obsessive with Gods word and need to lighten up. At 56, I cannot get enough of His word. People cannot understand what He has delivered me from and how thankful I am.

As I have told my sister, I am not a victim of child abuse. I just do not have that mentality. This was what God allowed in my life, my days have been ordained and I take great comfort knowing this. I am in now way excusing abuse on a child or anyone else. It is how I see things and what the Lord has done for me. Those things that happened to me in all my years of living are all now working for my good.

To be concise, if we study Gods word and apply it in obedience, what else do we really need in life.

I have rambled on. Please forgive any grammar mistakes.

Grace and peace to you.

I am not discounting anyone with mental issues in any way. Please understand that.

 

[Christ_empowered]

Psychology and it’s talking off shoots such as counseling…and psychiatry…
Are described by Dr.Thomas Szasz as religions. Szasz was a psychiatrist so predictably most of his work focuses on psychiatry. And yet…


Psychiatry these days is all about drugs into people by whatever means necessary. Having said that drugs predate psychiatry and obviously ? psychiatry is not necessary for people to obtain and use drugs. I’ve noticed that family doctors ? kind of do drug treatment of problems in living without psychiatry per se. Instead of a diagnosis etc they’ll say take your Ativan when you’re freaking out for example. Moving on…

So psychology and its off shoots are religions. Szasz writes that they undermine established religions or what he appropriately calls real religions. Szasz was an atheist but in the myth of mental illness he writes about the rapid growth of psychiatry as the established church ️ abandoned what he terms the care of sick souls. And…


These days so called Christian psychology counseling even “Christian “ psychiatrists are a huge industry. I’d argue that this industry grows as it weakens faith at the individual and larger level too. Parasites…undermining the church as they prey upon the vulnerable sheep ?.

 

[Tulipbee]

2 Corinthians 3:18
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the
glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same
image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

​

God cannot be found in any mirror. He cannot be found by prolonged and intense Self-inspection, by sincere, mystical navel-gazing, by thoroughly understanding one's "inner psychological landscape." No, all that one finds within is the "old man," the well-spring of all our sin, the person we must be apart from God, who is always pathologically selfish, always yearning for more, in fundamental character rebellious, shortsighted and grossly sensual. Do you doubt it? Do you think yourself noble, and virtuous and wise? God doesn't. Without Him, separate from His constant control and transforming power, our hearts are "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9), we seek to suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness (Romans 1:19-21), we are "foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another" (Titus 3:3), we are bound under the power of the world, the flesh and the devil (Ephesians 2:1-3). Truly, there is nothing within us, apart from God, worth looking at.

"Oh, but we are fearfully and wonderfully made!" you might reply, adding, "We are made in God's image!" Yes, true. But our value is derivative: it is borrowed from God. Our fearful and wonderful making is a testament to His power and creative excellence, not cause for pride in ourselves. Our image-bearing nature is also divinely-conferred, elevating us above the animals and making us morally-responsible for our thoughts, choices and actions. We can't, then, appeal to the force of instinct in justification of our sinful conduct; we willfully choose to do evil, knowing it is evil, and thus our image-bearing status serves to condemn us. The reflection of God we were meant to be and that would distinguish us positively from all other creatures, we inevitably foul with selfishness, with sin, making a dark contortion of what it is to be created in God's image. And so, though made in His image, we cannot find God in ourselves, only stained and twisted vestiges of Him.

This doesn't stop us, though, from looking inward and often being obsessed with what we find. Our fears, our neuroses, our sadness and despair, our weaknesses and perceived strengths, our desires, fascinations and needs occupy our thought-lives constantly. Does our self-preoccupation satisfy us, though? Does it lead to peace and rest? Does it produce deep fulfillment and unshakeable joy? Does it make us healthier and more inwardly stable? No, not really. In fact, not at all, in the long run. The more we focus on ourselves, the more the things we find within ourselves expand and dominate us. Very often, this leads to destructive addiction, not just to drugs, or alcohol, or porn, but to fear, unhappiness, neurotic suspicion, bitterness and compulsiveness. We can become bound under pride, anger, and insecurity, prisoners to ideologies, trends and pressures, too, blown about by the wind of every "cultural moment."

When human beings search within themselves for the means to overcome this distinct, persistent, downward spiral into self-destruction, they dredge up only illusion, delusion, psychological tricks and chemical anesthetics. Whether it's New Age gobbledy-gook, or the nonsensical mysticism of eastern religions, the craziness of neo-Marxist Critical Theory in all its many forms, the endless stream of new psychological theories and approaches, or another addition to one's daily, chemical cocktail of SSRIs and anti-depressants, the peace and rest of God, His holiness, power and love cannot be obtained. Only from God do these things come, never from any other source.

How long and far we must go down the dark, dissatisfying road of Self-pursuit, and how injured we often must become in the process, before we who are made in God's image seek His life and light! It's...shocking how much pain and destruction we will endure in pursuit of our own will and way before we can be persuaded that God really isn't within, that Ultimate Truth cannot be found in our hearts, that lasting happiness and true fulfillment are not located in sex, power and riches, or therapy and drugs. Many don't survive the dark path of Selfishness; they move into eternal darkness and destruction before they can look away from themselves to The Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6; John 1:1-4).

But if you would tear your gaze away from yourself and behold the glory of the Lord, you would be transformed into his image by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:29; Galatians 5:22-23), finding in such transformation all the awesome goodness, meaning and fulfillment that only God can provide. If you would keep your eyes upon your holy, glorious Creator, you would find yourself "walking on water" with him, filled and overflowing with His life and power, a conduit of the Almighty Maker and Sustainer of Everything! It's what we were all made to be, actually: Vessels in, and through, whom God communicates Himself. (John 15:4-5; Titus 3:5-7; 2 Timothy 2:21; 2 Corinthians 4:7-11; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

So, what will be your focus today? Yourself? Or God? Will you "look unto Jesus" and be conformed to his glorious image? Or will you continue to peer in the mirror, hoping to find God but only ever seeing yourself?

Hebrews 12:2-3
2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith,
who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the
shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners
against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
​

Oh, Tenchi, you're taking us on a philosophical rollercoaster through the mirrors of self-reflection and the cosmic carnival of divine transformation! It's like a funhouse of theological mirrors where we're all trying to see God but end up bumping into our own reflections.

Now, Calvin, in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, would probably be nodding along, saying, "Yep, you can't find God in a selfie, folks!" It's like Calvin set up a theological selfie booth, and he's telling everyone, "The real transformation happens when you turn away from the mirror and fix your gaze on the divine lens."

And here we are, contemplating our 'fearfully and wonderfully made' selves, trying to find God amidst the chaos of our inner psychological landscapes. Calvin would likely join the conversation, saying, "It's not in the navel-gazing or self-obsession, my friends. You've got to look beyond your neuroses and dive into the divine depths."

Calvin, the ultimate cosmic optometrist, prescribing not glasses but a divine perspective shift. It's like he's saying, "Quit the crazy self-analysis and focus on the One who can really transform you – not just a temporary New Age fix, but an eternal divine makeover!"

So, Tenchi, in this cosmic comedy of mirrors and divine makeovers, let's keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the ultimate star of the celestial catwalk. Who needs a selfie when you can have a divine photoshoot with the Savior himself? ??

 

[electedbyHim]

Psychology and it’s talking off shoots such as counseling…and psychiatry…
Are described by Dr.Thomas Szasz as religions. Szasz was a psychiatrist so predictably most of his work focuses on psychiatry. And yet…


Psychiatry these days is all about drugs into people by whatever means necessary. Having said that drugs predate psychiatry and obviously ? psychiatry is not necessary for people to obtain and use drugs. I’ve noticed that family doctors ? kind of do drug treatment of problems in living without psychiatry per se. Instead of a diagnosis etc they’ll say take your Ativan when you’re freaking out for example. Moving on…

So psychology and its off shoots are religions. Szasz writes that they undermine established religions or what he appropriately calls real religions. Szasz was an atheist but in the myth of mental illness he writes about the rapid growth of psychiatry as the established church ️ abandoned what he terms the care of sick souls. And…


These days so called Christian psychology counseling even “Christian “ psychiatrists are a huge industry. I’d argue that this industry grows as it weakens faith at the individual and larger level too. Parasites…undermining the church as they prey upon the vulnerable sheep ?.

I will agree with you. Psychology is a religion, cult like if you will.

I have been in and out of the "psychiatric centers" back in the day. I remember the amounts of psychotropic medications they put me on. To be honest, I was a zombie on any of them. Psychology and especially meds are huge $$$.

Never once did I buy into the psycho babble they wanted me to. The more I immersed myself in the Word and applied it, the more the Lord revealed what was true and healing for me.

Again, I am not saying this does not work for people, so please do not think that. Some people really need medications.

Grace and peace to you.

 

[Christ_empowered]

I’m not big on medicating most people…it’s excessive all over the world…

But I do think that a relatively small percentage of people need psych drugs. It is what it is…

 

[Tenchi]

I am not certain what normal means.

Normal: What is generally the case. On earth, it's normal for a heavy object that is dropped to fall downward to the ground; it's normal for a fish to swim in water; it's normal for a bird to have feathers covering its body and to have a couple of wings; it is normal for a woman to have breasts, a vagina and a uterus; it's normal for a man not to have these things; it's normal for a lion to kill and eat other animals, and so on.

While I do agree that my childhood shaped how I do things and the decisions that I have made. I understand that the written word of God has healing power,

Well, the word of God has power because it is from God; He is the Source of the power that can be found in aligning oneself carefully with His word. You know, of course (I hope) that the Bible isn't like some tome of magic, containing power all its own. Some, though, take up this view of the Bible, which actually leads them away from God - the exact opposite of the fundamental purpose of God's word.

For myself, my relationship with the Lord is the number one priority in my life, my goal is to bring glory to the Lord in all I do. This in itself is a challenge.

In our own strength, the goal you mention is impossible. But: Philippians 4:13; Matthew 19:26.

However, when those mental conflicts come, I understand how to handle them. Doing what is right in Gods eyes is very peaceful and joyous. I do not focus on self. I will say that the more that someone is in the word, the more they will see how they truly are within.

God would have us look beyond His commands and see Him. Our obedience is not at all an end in itself but merely the means to the Great End which is fellowship with God (2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 John 1:3; Revelation 3:20). Holiness simply enables us to "see" God (Hebrews 12:14b) and thus to walk with Him well.

I have been told that I am too obsessive with Gods word and need to lighten up. At 56, I cannot get enough of His word. People cannot understand what He has delivered me from and how thankful I am.

To be concise, if we study Gods word and apply it in obedience, what else do we really need in life

Philippians 3:7-14. Knowing and enjoying Jesus Christ every day is the Chief End of Christian living. To halt at obedience is moralism which always leads eventually to hypocrisy. God calls us into fellowship with Himself, not merely into a life of obedience to His commands.

I have rambled on. Please forgive any grammar mistakes.

Grace and peace to you.

Thanks for your remarks!

Peace and grace to you, too!

 

[Tenchi]

These days so called Christian psychology counseling even “Christian “ psychiatrists are a huge industry. I’d argue that this industry grows as it weakens faith at the individual and larger level too. Parasites…undermining the church as they prey upon the vulnerable sheep ?.

In many cases, this is how things are. The Church has grown very compromised, weak and dark...

 

[Tenchi]

So, Tenchi, in this cosmic comedy of mirrors and divine makeovers, let's keep our eyes fixed on Jesus,

Thanks for your remarks.

I hope the above quotation includes turning one's eyes from Calvin, too.

 

[electedbyHim]

In many cases, this is how things are. The Church has grown very compromised, weak and dark...

Agreed.

 

[Delete_me]

"You will seek me and find me, if you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:13

God can be found in anyone and anything--if He so chooses to be found. And if your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19), then unmistakably God dwells in you. And if He IS there, is it not possible that He could be found there, if He so chooses to be?