God is the ultimate celebration and not the ultimate tragedy

[jennifer_bloom]

I included this delightful image of a lamp to reflect what Jesus said about not letting the light in you be darkness

Let me give two hypothetical stories here

Claire is a Christian. She expresses her faith by giving people rides home in the winter time, helping with stage design at church so the Christian children can enjoy a performance, baking cookies and chicken wings for holiday parties, kissing the pastors hand every week as a token of respect, making hospital visits to sick church members and sewing clothes for her aging grandparents at the seniors home every week. Even though she’s not gay herself, she goes out of her way to show homosexuals that God loves them because she is worried they will have low self esteem.

Rick is a Christian. He refuses to watch tv cause he thinks it’s full of disgusting people. He posts everyday about how stupid people are for not respecting police and he trash talks people who cheat on their homework assignments. He warns half of his friends about dating bad woman and he tells disabled people they are lazy for choosing welfare checks over manual labour. He also brags about how he is so much better than the guys who don’t read the bible and he spends 2 hours a day trying to humiliate people for their sins. He is depressed and miserable every day because he thinks everybody he talks to will go to hell after they die.

Are Claire and Rick both serving God the same way?

Claire serves God out of love

Rick serves God out of fear

So God wants us to celebrate him by donating to fund raisers and supporting wild life and hungry people And volunteering to do gardening work at the old folks home

He doesn’t want us to be miserable because He is real and ready to punish when we die.

This is what I mean when the light that is in you is darkness. God is supposed to bring freedom through love and hope and joy.

Not oppression through anger and bitterness and hate.

[kemo56]

Of course it's not up to us to judge others so deciding who's serving God the way they should and shouldn't isn't really my job but at the same time I recognize behaviors that doesn't seem like the man is very happy if he's always complaining about other things I mean I understand some of the things he's complaining about but it doesn't do any good to just complain and drive it in the ground there's something that you can do and you should do something about it if there's nothing that you can do then I guess you still work on your relationships and stuff because that's really what's about like a communication otherwise we could have fixed this a long time ago

But just because someone on the outside appears to be living the perfect life doesn't mean they are because one none of us are perfect we all have our crosses to bear and our weaknesses and and they're all different and of course we tend to see our weaknesses sort of as acceptable I guess I could say but other people's weaknesses we see them as a big problem because we don't agree with their weaknesses and I could give you an example someone that watches p*** but yet thinks homosexuals are going to hel because he feels the Bible says that it's a sin (I believe it's a sin, only my opinion)... One sends just as bad as another Paul said paraphrasing not to pay attention to us back in someone else's eye when you got a plank in yours... If we see ourselves is perfect then we need to reevaluate because we're not and just because you realize your weaknesses don't mean you can change them another paraphrase from Paul is basically says why do I do the things that I don't want to do and why don't I do the things that I know I should do Paul struggled with that and he wrote a big chunk of the New testament so miss it any less to expect that we have things we struggle with

[Jjpayne]

I could not agree more! Well said!

[Jjpayne]

Thank you :)

[AshViper]

Let me give you a perspective as someone whose family has been in the Church for more than eight generations. Whose ancestors were part of those that commissioned two cathedrals in the UK. By that, I mean priests, bishops, etc. and not mere pew fillers. Cause you are so warped about religion it'd seem you've never read the Bible.

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Claire doesn't serve God out of love. She serves the Church. She does things, she grovels & begs, in pursuit of a "ticket" into God's favor. Nothing more, nothing less. She is the most fearful of the lot. God would not care if Claire prayed to him in the middle of a field in filthy rags as long as she believed in him. It is the Church not God that saves give me your gold & your silver & your house. It is the Church that says one must donate, it is the Church that says do "good deeds" to buy your ticket. God wants you to do good deeds because you want to - not think about the little ticks of good favor to your name - not because you are expected.

Claire is likely one of those "religious" churchgoers that pick & choose what to listen or follow from the Bible solely on its convenience to her and once the sermon is over is desperate to escape her servitude. Claire is likely one of the "religious" who gloats about all her glory and diminishes everyone else behind closed doors. Claire has likely never read the Bible from cover to cover in her life. Claire may have never read an entire section.
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Rick is not serving God out of fear. Rick is far more authentic than Claire the faker can ever hope to be. It may sound weird but Rick is right. TV is full of disgusting people. It promotes greed, it promotes sloth, etc., etc., all of which per the Bible are nothing worth bothering with. Rick is also partially within his rights to speak poorly of those who cheat, who associate with poorly / loose women, and yes even talking poorly of those on welfare for there are many people who scam the welfare system that do not and never deserved access to it.

Rick is also right about how he is more than those who have never read the Bible. Those who spout about religion & what not but who have never read the Bible are the Claires of the world. They keep reading pieces & they keep screwing themselves over or sinning because they don't understand the Bible in its entirety.

The only thing Rick is truly wrong about is judging others. Beyond that, as said, he is more authentic than Claire the fake.

[iambae]

One major problem is that believers as well as non believers ignore Hell or pretend it doesn't exist which is very dangerous, considering there are Christians, pastors, and children in hell.

I think you can have the love and fruit of the spirit but you are doing people a disservice not warning them as Jesus did about hell.

Life nor YAH is just about the warm and fizzies.

Show people love, tenderness, and compassion but the gospel is much more than just being "nice".

[Nephilim000]

I try not to worry about how others serve. Ultimately I think God can use pretty much use just about anything. But in choosing to serve why not do it out of love. You will be happier. Also that is the example our lord set for us and that we should try to emulate. Remember weak people put others down and the strong lift them up. I believe that by acting in love we conform our selves better to the will of God and are more effectively able to serve

[Massageman]

Well, I'm not going to kiss the pastor's hand- COVID or not- but I do work the weekly Food Pantry, make Bagel Rescue run twice a week, and do some of the Date Entry for the church library now that it is back open a bit.
A couple friends of ours plus my wife and I help keep a watch over three households that are having various problems. A large family may need extra food, for example, and we try take help as much as we can, but keeping a boundary and trying not to just enable them.

[Ineedmoneynow]

I have walked into the valley of the shadows of death I can easily be a lost soul but in hooking up with medusa/elvira/& hu knows what witch I assure mi self & the soul companion that sex drugs alcohol & what ever lerks in the night that these things are for good people when expressed morally correct in the day 🤔 so good luck.

[LEADFOOTboi]

yus, no insluting people, love is the way to do things successfully

[Anonymous]

"God" is whatever your make him/her/it to be in your mind, because that is the only place him/her/it exists.

[MrHopper]

I read this