I Feel Like An Alien in this World

I don't know if I am just growing in my Christian walk, through the process of sanctification, but the hatred being tossed toward Christians, and Republicans (not that they are one and the same, but many people think so) just makes me sick to my stomach. There was a popular hashtag on Twitter talking about things we need to our lives, and the top-rated comments were republicans, trump, people who don't agree with climate change, people who are not for gay rights. This is outward hate and its non-stop. Even on NextDoor, people are talking about voting out all republicans and anyone who doesn't agree with the new world way of thinking.

I'm honestly afraid to respond, those people on NextDoor can easily find your house.

It just seems really bad right now. If I didn't have the hope of the gospel and my faith in Jesus Christ, I would honestly be fearful of my life. Not worried about ICE agents, but worried about the mob syndrome that is taking over the world.

Republicans are just as corrupt as Democrats, most of our government is corrupt, from local cities and counties, to state and federal levels.

I know the Bible says that we are as aliens in this world, as believers. I never really felt that way, until the last 5-10 years and this year seems to be the worst yet.

Heck, I'll probably get attacked here. You quote scripture in the Christianity subreddit on Reddit and you get down-voted. Seriously?

a reply to: ShortBus

participate in social media, you're gonna get hated on eventually...

Perhaps try to keep it to a minimum?

OR just out it all together... personally I have FB and ATS... that's as far as social media goes for me

never forget that opinions are like arseholes and everyone has one . your faith isnt harming anyone so its none of their business

a reply to: ShortBus

The world leans towards evil and ironically it is the good who prop it up. Evil, left to its own devises, would soon enough crash and burn and destroy itself. Therefore my recommendation to you is to not lend your ear, or your thoughts, to evil but instead focus on what you believe.

Yes. I took about 5 months off from reading news and social media stuff and it just seems that a world that cries out about not hating people, sure gives off more hate than I've ever felt. So, anyhow, yes... best I just tune it out.

I like weather stuff, so the Dorian got me tugged back into the realms of twitter and other places to see what the latest stuff happening was and it was just a melting pot of madness.

It is even worse than that. These same hateful people want to disarm you and take away your right to defend yourself from them.

I am not a Christian, but I do feel like you guys get it the worst. I don’t use social media so I don’t see the crap you see, but I can only imagine. The media is pushing people to violence.

a reply to: ShortBus

I keep abreast with what is happening in the world the bad and the good I just don't allow the bad to affect me and I certainly do not become involved with it. I control what comes into my hemisphere and what stays out, Its not that hard. Its what you chose to buy into.
When you make your own conditions you look upon the world from a position of strength. You don't have to impress anyone.

a reply to: ShortBus I know how you feel, but just look at the scriptures about the end times, it’s being fulfilled . And Jesus said when these things begin to happen lift up your head, redemption drawer he nigh.So keep your faith and try not to let the evil of these times get you down

a reply to: ShortBus
Technically, you are;
"They are not of the world, as I am not of the world... the world has hated them..." John ch17 from vv14-16

a reply to: ShortBus

Heck, I'll probably get attacked here. You quote scripture in the Christianity subreddit on Reddit and you get down-voted. Seriously?

I've come across a couple of "Christians" here on ATS that complain about the same thing. Some people just don't like what they don't understand and they don't want to take the time to study and learn it.

Hang in there. Keep the Holy Spirit and your Bible close. Ridgerunner is absolutely right about this one.

Star Wars Comes Out Soon... Episode Nine. The Rise Of Skywalker.
May The Force Be With You Until Then!

I feel like the world is made out card board on my good days, an other it feels like stone.

a reply to: Metallicus

yes! the Media is pushing people to violence but to here them it is Republicans, Christians and conservatives.

originally posted by: ShortBus
I don't know if I am just growing in my Christian walk, through the process of sanctification, but the hatred being tossed toward Christians, and Republicans (not that they are one and the same, but many people think so) just makes me sick to my stomach.

How do you feel about hatred expressed by self-professed Christians and self-professed Patriots in acts of violence towards those who teach what the Bible really teaches, in particular about God's Kingdom, Christendom or Babylon the Great and the idolatry* present in the ideologies resulting from nationalism and patriotism regarding the flag-salute and the pledge of allegiance for example?

OTHER ACTS OF MOB BRUTALITY

Many were the acts of mob violence having Jehovah’s witnesses as their targets. In December 1942 at Winnsboro, Texas, a number of Jehovah’s witnesses were accosted by a mob while doing magazine street work. Among the Witnesses was O. L. Pillars, servant to the brethren (circuit overseer). As the mobsters approached, the Witnesses concluded that street work could not be done under such circumstances. So they began walking toward their car. “In the middle of the main street, in his sound car, was the Baptist preacher, C. C. Phillips,” recalls Brother Pillars. “He had been preaching about Christ and his being crucified, but as soon as he saw us he changed his sermon. He started ranting and raving about how Jehovah’s witnesses would not salute the flag. He told how he would be happy to die for Old Glory and that anyone not saluting the flag should be run out of town. As we passed his truck, we looked ahead to see another mob coming toward us. Soon they closed in on us and held us until the city marshal appeared and arrested us.”

Later, the mob entered the office of the marshal, who made no attempt to protect the Witnesses. They were seized by the mobsters. In the street, Brother Pillars, for one, was being pummeled with fists. “At this time,” says Brother Pillars, “I experienced the most unusual help. I was taking a terrible beating. Blood was gushing from my nose, face and mouth, but I felt little or no pain. Even at that time I marveled at this fact and felt it to be a manifestation of angelic help. . . . To me it explained how our German brothers had faithfully endured the heat of Nazi persecution without wavering.”

Brother Pillars was repeatedly beaten into unconsciousness, then revived and beaten again. Finally, unable to bring him to, the mobsters soaked him with cold water and tried to make him salute a two- by four-inch flag, according to him, “the only flag these great ‘patriots’ could find.” As they held it up, they would also hold up his arm, but he let his hand droop down, showing he would not salute. Soon they had a rope around his neck, jerked him to the ground and dragged him to the jail. Dimly he heard them say: “Let’s go ahead and hang him. Then we’ll be rid of those Witnesses forever.” Not long thereafter, they tried just that. Brother Pillars writes: “They put the new one-half-inch hemp rope around my neck, tying the hangman’s noose behind the ear, and dragged me into the street. Next the rope was thrown over a pipe that extended from the building. Four or five mobsters began pulling on the rope. As I was lifted off the ground, the rope tightened and I lost consciousness.”

The next thing Brother Pillars knew, he was back in the unheated jail. A doctor examined him and said: “If you want this boy to live, you had better get him to the hospital, as he has lost a lot of blood and his eyes have dilated.” To this the marshal retorted: “He’s the most stubborn devil I have ever seen.” ...

Source: Part 3—United States of America

From where do you think this marshal got that idea?

First Amendment Champions

*: The historian Arnold J. Toynbee, on page sixty-nine of his book Christianity Among the Religions of the World, said: “The collective power of Athens was worshipped by the Athenians in the form of the goddess Athena. . . . In the renaissance of Hellenism in the modern Western World in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, this Greek idolatrous attitude towards one’s own country, one’s own fatherland, was imported from the Ancient Greek past back into our modern Western life. Only, unlike the Greeks, we have flinched from openly admitting that we are practicing this form of idolatry; and consequently we are even more at the mercy of this idolatrous type of Nationalism than the Greeks were at the mercy of their more frankly avowed idolatrous worship of their local states.”

Arnold J. Toynbee - Wikipedia

...British historian, philosopher of history, author of numerous books and research professor of international history at the London School of Economics and King's College in the University of London. Toynbee in the 1918–1950 period was a leading specialist on international affairs.
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Michael Lang says that for much of the twentieth century,

Toynbee was perhaps the world’s most read, translated, and discussed living scholar. ... the critical reaction to Toynbee constitutes a veritable intellectual history of the midcentury: ...

Flag Salute, Voting, and Civilian Service (“Keep Yourselves in God’s Love”)

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In our age, “nationalism’s chief symbol of faith and central object of worship is the flag,” wrote historian Carlton Hayes. “Men bare their heads when the flag passes by; and in praise of the flag poets write odes and children sing hymns.” Nationalism, he added, also has its “holy days,” such as the Fourth of July in the United States, as well as its “saints and heroes” and its “temples,” or shrines. In a public ceremony in Brazil, the minister general of the army acknowledged: “The flag is venerated and worshiped . . . just as the Fatherland is worshiped.” Yes, “the flag, like the cross, is sacred,” The Encyclopedia Americana once observed.

The aforementioned encyclopedia more recently noted that national anthems “are expressions of patriotic feeling and often include an invocation for divine guidance and protection of the people or their rulers.” Jehovah’s servants are not being unreasonable, therefore, when they view patriotic ceremonies involving the flag salute and national anthems as religious. In fact, when commenting on the refusal of children of Jehovah’s Witnesses to give homage to the flag or to swear the oath of allegiance in U.S. schools, the book The American Character stated: “That these daily rituals are religious has been at last affirmed by the Supreme Court in a series of cases.”

While not joining in ceremonies that they view as unscriptural, Jehovah’s people certainly respect the right of others to do so. They also respect national flags as emblems and recognize duly constituted governments as “superior authorities” serving as “God’s minister.” (Romans 13:1-4) Hence, Jehovah’s Witnesses heed the exhortation to pray “concerning kings and all those who are in high positions.” Our motive, though, is “so that we may go on leading a calm and quiet life with complete godly devotion and seriousness.”​—1 Timothy 2:2.
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