Christians, i have questions for you!

I started my own church. After working for some rather religious people that I found out were actually robbing me. Maybe not robbing me, but shorting me on monies due.

I call it the Church of the Living Earth. What that means is, the earth is my church so we are always in church and should act accordingly.

Its based on what I think Jesus would have wanted and has only 3 rules'

dont lie
dont litter
and dont cheat on your gf/wife...

it works for me.

onequestion


So here is what i am to find out. Lets look at the philosophy of changing yourself to change your world and compare them to ideas of faith and allowing god to work in your life.

At what point does you changing your environment become a step away from allowing god to work in your life?

Its an interesting question that is based on a non Christian concept
Social Christianity is not part of the faith.
Jesus said He came to bring a sword, a sword of division between His followers and the world.

"You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to ... You will be hated by all men for my name's sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved. .... "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first."

So as I see it your statement is right assuming you see the importance of becoming a whole person in Jesus and wrong for assuming that it is a Christians responsibility to change the world.
Changing the world is impossible.

All that said Christians should be active in social issues to change the world, the problem arises in finding the balance of helping and hurting others. To often the message isnt given with love, acceptance and compassion.
Christians are flawed humans who accept their failures and so accept the need for salvation.

So here is what i am to find out. Lets look at the philosophy of changing yourself to change your world and compare them to ideas of faith and allowing god to work in your life. At what point does you changing your environment become a step away from allowing god to work in your life?

Where does it say in the Bible or in Christian teaching that one should change their environment by changing themselves? just tying to find out what specifically you're debating about is all.

reply to post by onequestion


If you study what you preach you will have your answer......

Leonardo Davinci


Study him and learn and you will have your answer.

onequestion
So a good friend of mine is a christian. Now let me clarify before i ask questions here that i have nothing against your religion or philosophy, in fact i agree with a lot of it. I do disagree with the medium but lets not make that what this thread is about.

So here is what i am to find out. Lets look at the philosophy of changing yourself to change your world and compare them to ideas of faith and allowing god to work in your life.

At what point does you changing your environment become a step away from allowing god to work in your life?

Do you get what im asking or do we need further clarification?

True Christianity is about initiating a personal relationship with God through faith in Christ Jesus' payment for our sins.

The process starts with faith in Christ resulting in rebirth of the dead human spirit. The process continues by walking in the footsteps of Christ by abiding in the Holy Spirit and avoiding sin.

If the body of christians that collectively makes up the Church follows this path of Spiritual maturity, then the believer progressively reflects the virtues of Christ. By doing so, these maturing Christians bring blessings upon themselves and their surrounding social group(s).

So, a large population of MATURE Christians brings freedom, prosperity, a sense of personal responsibility, and justice to their nation. By this process, environment can be improved...by cleaning the cup from the inside first, then the outside. This is what Jesus meant when He called His believers the "salt of the earth".

Basically, improving environment does not bring stability to man. On the other hand, spiritual maturity brings stability to immediate environment.

If, however, the pivot of maturing believers shrinks, and the Church begins to lose its "salinity", then the nation suffers (socially and environmentally), and eventually judgment will remove the useless salt and replace it with new salt.

America is about to have its salt violently removed and discarded on account of its Childish Christians.

reply to post by onequestion


As a Christian, and I can only speak for myself, I am not really the one who changed my life... Jesus Christ did (and still does). When one repents from their unbelief, and believes on Jesus Christ they are redeemed/saved/justified... and the Holy Spirit comes into that person's life and "quickens" their spirit, meaning that once a person has been saved by Christ, their spirit is alive. We see this in John 6:63

"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."

A non-believer is spiritually dead, and it is because of this that the Word of God seems like foolishness to a non-believer. Once you are saved and the Holy Spirit has quickened your spirit, your life will change progressively over time... leaving behind your old ways, or the ways of the world, and instead doing good works for God. For the record, those good works have no saving properties, only faith can save through God's undeserved grace. Christianity is not a religion, because religion was created by man. Christianity is defined by someone who has recognized the Gospel of Jesus Christ as truth and believes on Christ to save them from eternal condemnation. Christianity is a real, personal, and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, aside from man made religion and tradition.

I could give an answer but my answer would be essentially the same as a few others already before me. So I am curious why are you asking about the nature of Christianity, when all you have to do is read the Bible to know? The Bible says what it means. Liars twist scripture in an attempt to manipulate it's meaning, but the Bible is straight forward. It is frightening how many people are unable to comprehend the Bible nowadays. I would also like to add that there is no distinction between the God of the OT and the God of the NT, they are one and the same. "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

onequestion

So here is what i am to find out. Lets look at the philosophy of changing yourself to change your world and compare them to ideas of faith and allowing god to work in your life.

I don't think there is a difference between the two philosophies you are comparing.
The christian philosophy is to change yourself to change your world.

At what point does you changing your environment become a step away from allowing god to work in your life?

There is no point where 'you changing your environment becomes a step away from allowing god to work in your life.'
because allowing god to work in your life is what changes you to become more like Jesus, so you are able to effect a positive change in the world.

You also asked:

So as a christian you rely on the spirit rather then initiate your own change?

I think reliance on the spirit is a step in initiating your own change.

Did this make any sense?

I am a catholic, and I totally agree with "help yourself and god will help you." If god works it looks like a coincidence, like the discovery of penicillin, but he is no separated entity. God is the world and every living being on it. So you could really melt down the ten commandments into Wheatons law: Don't be a dick. Ah, what a paradise that would be....

naw, Christ hung out with the dregs.

like me.

i was a dreg of society.

any of you, too good to hang with the dregs?

anyone live that life? i have.

dumb question from the op.

arpgme
reply to post by onequestion

 

Jesus taught something called "The Narrow Path" and he said it was to "Do to others as you would want them to do to you for this is The Law and The Prophets" and unfortunately many people will not choose "this" path but the "wide" path that leads to destruction.

So that line is crossed when you lack compassion for others and hurt others.

That is how you know when God is using The Holy Spirit through you, when you act through Compassion to help others (treating them as you'd like for others to treat you)

Besides that, you will have what so ever you ask for and believe:

And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

Personally, I don't like to focus on what I 'want' too much because then I begin to feel the lack. So I just understand that life is Change and that whatever I need will come and whatever I don't truly need will go.

There is a time for everything (Ecclesiastes 3), a time to laugh and a time to cry, a time to plant seeds and a time to harvest their fruits.

To me the prayer -> receive is more layered. I do agree that a what you think you will receive there is a higher probability to receive. But need is even higher on the so call manifestation scale than belief. From my point of view god has created a synchronicity law in reality just like the law of gravity and follow that law. And intention is apart of the law.

God intervention is from my point of view creation of need that can be filled with ki/light energy creating a higher vibration in matter and a synchronicity field surrounding the ki/light flow. Similar to the behavior current creating a electromagnetic field.

People can use this in Reiki for instance to push ki into other beings and calm and increase probability for self healing in that body (advanced form of Placebo effect). En-light-ment is from my point of view the state where the ki flow in the body become strong enough for the conscious mind to notice the flow (overwhelmed might be more appropriate).

There is a reason En-light-ened are sometimes described as lucky ones.

OptimusSubprime
reply to post by onequestion

 

As a Christian, and I can only speak for myself, I am not really the one who changed my life... Jesus Christ did (and still does). When one repents from their unbelief, and believes on Jesus Christ they are redeemed/saved/justified... and the Holy Spirit comes into that person's life and "quickens" their spirit, meaning that once a person has been saved by Christ, their spirit is alive. We see this in John 6:63

"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."

. Like reading my thoughts in written from.