The Jesus Army and me

hi beauty, i do have something, from time to time it crosses my mind.
i wonder how Christianity is actually doing in the UK. not catholicism now. i ask because respectfully, (not sure you will agree) the perception
i get here in the US is that, most of the folks are begining to follow atheism more and more. do you think this is the case? or is this just more
"welcome to the machine"? so to speak.

I thought my questions were real .... But I guess these are better.

a tip to you who are having trouble getting a respons from the lady.
it is kind of rude to just blurt out a question, at someone w/out first being cordial.so at least say hi or something first. worked for me.good thing i'm not in charge of manners and decorum huh?



[edit on 1-9-2009 by randyvs]

Originally posted by Epsillion70
reply to post by Beauty_HairyBeast

 

Thank you for your sincere candidness

Just a background on myself; I lived with a Christian Community called the Jesus Christians when I was in my late Teens and early Twenties. The Community I live with believed in living like Jesus did and so we would sell all our possessions and live communally and would go out 2 by 2 and preach the teachings of Jesus Just like in the Gospels.
After 5 years I got disillusioned with the power struggles, politics and blatant nepotism and so

I left with my Wife and Daughter. And now after 17years I have come to the realizations of the understandings the Kingdom of Heaven is within us in the spirituality of thinking from the Holy Spirit

You are very welcome!

The Jesus army are very similar to what you describe. They have many houses in the UK where members live together and share all moneys no matter what a individual earns and it is all about equality and sharing but then religion and god comes into it, this is where I struggle and feel like perhaps you do...disillusioned and left with more questions than answers

Thanks

Originally posted by randyvs


hi beauty, i do have something, from time to time it crosses my mind.
i wonder how Christianity is actually doing in the UK. not catholicism now. i ask because respectfully, (not sure you will agree) the perception
i get here in the US is that, most of the folks are begining to follow atheism. please, what say you ?

For me personally at the minute I follow no religion so I guess you could say Im an atheist, im always searching for something, just not sure what yet! The JA do amazing work with the homeless and folks who are "needy" or searching for something in thier lives and I cant fault them for that!

You raise some very good points!

But as I said, I lived with them and this has not made me become a christian or even believe in god.

People are turning away from religion because there is simply to many too choose from ( this is where the bells ring for me! ) and to be honest I had no personal experience with god while I lived there

[edit on 1-9-2009 by Beauty_HairyBeast]

[edit on 1-9-2009 by Beauty_HairyBeast]

[edit on 1-9-2009 by Beauty_HairyBeast]

Apologies, Im so tired Im getting muddled up with my replies, will be back later when Ive had some sleep

[edit on 1-9-2009 by Beauty_HairyBeast]

[edit on 1-9-2009 by Beauty_HairyBeast]

reply to post by Beauty_HairyBeast
thank you for a promt response. my family claimed protestant.
but were never really church going. never really grew up w/ anything
pushed on me. i could probly have gione any direction i wanted, as long as i wasn't joining some "kool aid cult", or running around w/ someone who looked like manson.
long as i didn't completely embarass the whole family. reasonable enough. so at a fairly young age, decided atheism made absolutly the least
sense for me ,from mine anyways. long story short i ended up at the cross. void of all organisation.just straight up can't get around it. i believe
the guy went toi the cross. believing in his mission. that, if you think real hard about it,no one in the history of man,has done anythiong like that.
this is all my reasoning though.that's all.i enjoyed this thread alot
snf for you my lady. talk to you again sometime.

Hi Yipsilon--

If you think that R. Yehoshua bar Yosef the Galilean Nazir was a pacifist without a military contingent think on these things:

l. He armed his disciples with SWORDS and he himself was arrested and executed for ARMED SEDITION against Rome (Luke chapter 22:42-52) during the Insurection against the Maiestas of the 'divine' Roman Emperor Tiberius in 36CE, the 100th anniversary of the INVASION of the Roman general Pompey in 63BC (who annexed Judaea), being as it were a 'Daviddic Pretender' who shouted things like 'The Times of The Gentiles are fulfilled, repent and believe the good news of the KINGDOM' etc., i.e. with a time-table for 'overthrowing the gentiles' in mind...

2. His little TEMPLE TANTRUM where he made whips and cords and started a fire in the court of the Goyim in the outer Herodian 2nd Temple means he started a 'riot' (during the autumn Feast of Sukkhot/Tabernacles apparently, after having had palm branches strewn at his feet as the Son of David) -- see the Gospel of Peter which states emphatically 'we the disciples of Iesous were in hiding for we were accused of SETTING FIRE TO THE TEMPLE...'

3. The riding into town on the White She-Ass of Solomon in reference to Zechariah 9:9 (Rejoice O Jerusalem, your KING cometh unto thee, humbly riding upon the foal of an ass...he shall sever the sword from Ephraim, and shall DICTATE TERMS OF PEACE TO THE GENTILES...')

4. The Aramaic phraseology underlying the grammatically impossible / and often awkward Greek words placed into his mouth in the 4 canonical ('Nicene Approved') 'New Testament' Gospels, show a man who was in NO WAY PEACEFUL, but enticed the crowds to sedition ('he who WOULD strike you with the back of the hand on the RIGHT CHEEK, turn to him the other' i.e. be defiant, remember who you are, the Elect of the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel, if the filfthy rotten gentile dog Roman Kittm are going to strike you, make sure they strike you with the FRONT of their hand, i.e. not like a slave who is slapped with the back on the hand in a swipe, etc.)

5. The REASON for his ROMAN CRUCIFIXION was ONLY for 'armed sedition against Rome' (technically, BREACH OF LEX-MAIESTATIS, the so-called No King but Caesar Law) shows a man who was not just a harmless little Rebbe telling harmless little stories, but a Daviddic Pretender who was going to take back the holy land from the Gentiles who were occupying their 'promised land' (see Gen 15: 'the times of the Amorites shall be fulfilled in the 4th generation when ye shall inherit the Land' [ of Israel]).

6. Some of the Nasty comments placed into his mouth in the 'canonical 4' gospels about Herod Antipas being an usurper ('every Vine that my Father shall not have planted himself in the ground shall be uprooted and THROWN INTO THE FIRE...' - is a swipe at the Hashmonean Levitical dynasty currently playing cards with the Romans---also cf: 'Herod (meaning, Orders from Rome, where Herod spent most of his time apparently) tells you to cease and desist...and he said to them, tell that Cowering Jackal that the Son of Man performs cures and exorcises devils today, and tomorrow and the third day after, until he is ingathered !'

Putting all of this together, and looking at the tone of the Aramaic underlay to the gospel material shows that the Greek Gospels DELIBERATELY TONED DOWN the military-warlike rhetoric of this galilean (all of whom had a reputation for armed seditiona against Rome in years past e.g. 4 BCE and in 10CE etc. with Judah the Galilean etal.) and this TONING DOWN of the WAR RHETORIC of the earliest Christianities in Palestine were a DIRECT RESULT of the Greek Gospels being written and circulated to a Roman Empire audience following the crushing defeat of the Jews in their War against Rome (AD 66-72) which began in the 70th year of the Death of Herod 'the great' when Rome took over Direct Rule of Jerusalem (BC 4), at a time when Warrior Messiahs were out of fashion...

Originally posted by randyvs
reply to post by Beauty_HairyBeast

 

thank you for a promt response. my family claimed protestant.
but were never really church going. never really grew up w/ anything
pushed on me. i could probly have gione any direction i wanted, as long as i wasn't joining some "kool aid cult", or running around w/ someone who looked like manson.
long as i didn't completely embarass the whole family. reasonable enough. so at a fairly young age, decided atheism made absolutly the least
sense for me ,from mine anyways. long story short i ended up at the cross. void of all organisation.just straight up can't get around it. i believe
the guy went toi the cross. believing in his mission. that, if you think real hard about it,no one in the history of man,has done anythiong like that.
this is all my reasoning though.that's all.i enjoyed this thread alot
snf for you my lady. talk to you again sometime.

Thankyou for sharing that,

I was around 5 years old when my mum decided to pack up her life as a single parent with 2 girls and move into a Jesus army house, so I didnt really have any choice which at the time was very hard to deal with.

Even at such a young age I felt like everthing that was normal in my life had been taken away from me for example the Jesus army dont have televisions in thier houses and I had to wear long skirts, silly things really but this resulted in me being bullied in school because I looked different.

So its very different to be given the choice, my mother was an adult who made that choice but for me and my sister it was hard luck.

I would love to write a book about my childhood, maybe I will one day...

So you're an ex-Jesus Army follower?

I think they're one of the more well known UK religious groups, seem quite pro-active in their presence at some things, they're on most of the festival circuit aren't they?

I know they do a lot of charity work and stuff like that, what are the J/A feelings on recruiting those in need?

Originally posted by jokei
So you're an ex-Jesus Army follower?

I think they're one of the more well known UK religious groups, seem quite pro-active in their presence at some things, they're on most of the festival circuit aren't they?

I know they do a lot of charity work and stuff like that, what are the J/A feelings on recruiting those in need?

I never really felt like I was a member when I lived there but I still keep in touch with a few of them. Like I said it was my mother who made the choice to follow that lifestyle.

Yes they attend festivals,

The last question is something you would have to ask them but they seem happy to recruit most whether in need or not.

reply to post by Beauty_HairyBeast


Hey Beauty
I must say yeah I was disillusioned at first and for a long time. But because I still was trying to understand everything I had been through and why I had joined the Jesus Christians. I still believed in a creator God but not one of
an Ideological religion per say. I have now come to the understanding today as I was saying in my previous post. It is not about seeking or trying to find Truth. It just happens inside you. You look at things from a perspective of spirit.
You dont follow dogmas or lists of rules and agendas. It just comes from within.
As I found myself it is always about being willing from a spiritual understanding.
As one can only BE happy and BE at peace. You cant actually do these things and still feel fulfilled in life.
In essence its changing the way you think from anthropocentrism to that of
Spiritualism

[edit on 2-9-2009 by Epsillion70]

Originally posted by Epsillion70
reply to post by Beauty_HairyBeast

 

Hey Beauty
I must say yeah I was disillusioned at first and for a long time. But because I still was trying to understand everything I had been through and why I had joined the Jesus Christians. I still believed in a creator God but not one of
an Ideological religion per say. I have now come to the understanding today as I was saying in my previous post. It is not about seeking or trying to find Truth. It just happens inside you. You look at things from a perspective of spirit.
You dont follow dogmas or lists of rules and agendas. It just comes from within.
As I found myself it is always about being willing from a spiritual understanding.
As one can only BE happy and BE at peace. You cant actually do these things and still feel fulfilled in life.
In essence its changing the way you think from anthropocentrism to that of
Spiritualism

[edit on 2-9-2009 by Epsillion70]

Hi,

I do believe that true happiness, peace does come from within and not from a religion or god. I can see why some people take comfort in religion but for me its an empty comfort.

I guess Im going through some kind of healing process and need to get things into perspective and straight in my head. There is a lot more to my story with the JA and maybe Im not really ready to share the whole thing as it is a very personal issue

I like the idea of spirituality, in a non religious way of course and Im sure I will find my "thing" one day.
Im happy with my life now but when your childhood is not what's considered "normal" sometimes its hard to deal with and get over.

[edit on 2-9-2009 by Beauty_HairyBeast]

[edit on 2-9-2009 by Beauty_HairyBeast]

reply to post by Beauty_HairyBeast


Indeed Beauty and like some of us here and/or most of us maybe.
We all have our moment in time and space when we have that, "Ah HA" feeling.
But yeah when you are ready that is cool. There is not pressure to say anything you dont feel to yeah.
Hey thanks once again for sharing with us here. As I myself have got comfort in what you have said and know that we are not alone here and that some of us had similar experiences so as to gather friendships from. ; )

Originally posted by Epsillion70
reply to post by Beauty_HairyBeast

 

Indeed Beauty and like some of us here and/or most of us maybe.
We all have our moment in time and space when we have that, "Ah HA" feeling.
But yeah when you are ready that is cool. There is not pressure to say anything you dont feel to yeah.
Hey thanks once again for sharing with us here. As I myself have got comfort in what you have said and know that we are not alone here and that some of us had similar experiences so as to gather friendships from. ; )

Yes I take some comfort knowing that also and thankyou also for sharing

:-)