We are ALL products of wrong programming!

[memoriesbymichelle]

We have been led to believe that if we are good enough, we will make it to heaven.
Or make it in the world
Or whatever.

The truth is we cannot be good enough and we ALL need a Savior, who is Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

It is a hard thing to de-program yourself. Even when you have the best intentions it creeps right back in and you start thinking OK I will do this better or be more (insert whatever here) and it is not true.

I think sometimes people are afraid to die because they are afraid they haven't been "good" enough to get to heaven and that is not how we get the ticket. Jesus did not ask the thief on the cross to give him the pros and cons of letting him into heaven. The requirement is to believe.

Of course after we believe we should "want" to be good and please our Father, but we all sin and fall short of the glory of God.

I am SO thankful that God chose me when I could not choose myself, and that He created me to be His and not for evil.

 

[dayhiker]

Amen preach it sista!

 

[bluedart]

I agree with you memoriesbymichelle. We are socialized or conditioned by our society, peers, media, family, etc. in various ways that go counter to what God would want us to believe. Years of programming is hard to deal with.

Six thousand years ago people were afraid of the Gods and they were constantly trying to be right with them. They would give of their crops, animals, etc. If their crops were destroyed they believed they were being punished. There was a belief that the Gods were angry with us. Some peoples even sacrificed people as an offering to the Gods. We even see in the Old Testament that the Jews sacrifice animals to try to make atonement for their sins. At least here there was a belief that in this symbolic ritual that there was peace made with God. As we Christians know, Jesus, made the atonement for mankind so that we no longer had to go on trying to do something to make the Gods happy. It is not about what we do but about believing in the grace that God has given us through His Son.

Mankind got the construct all wrong and Jesus gives us a different one that leads to peace and everlasting life.

We, Christians, are up against a lot of tension when we try to live for Christ. The world is conspiring against us to keep the status quo. For those still plugged into the lie we pose a threat to what is their normal. They experience this threat as a death of all they know. And that is what is necessary for a person to be born again. To die to the old and begin a new journey.

It is essential for us to stick together and be united as the church. Only then will we, with the power of Christ, be able to change the dominant story of our day. With numbers and by living love we can begin to show the world another way.

 

[blackribbon]

I think that way too many of us as Christians get all our spiritual teachings from second hand sources...like our preachers, Christian books, Christian movies, and other media...but we forget to read the primary source ourselves. I am constantly amazed that the incredible things that people believe the Bible says or doesn't say...all I can assume is that someone once told them that it said it and they never bothered to check it out themselves.

 

[memoriesbymichelle]

I think that way too many of us as Christians get all our spiritual teachings from second hand sources...like our preachers, Christian books, Christian movies, and other media...but we forget to read the primary source ourselves. I am constantly amazed that the incredible things that people believe the Bible says or doesn't say...all I can assume is that someone once told them that it said it and they never bothered to check it out themselves.

exactly! If someone I know has a political opinion and mine is different, they question where I get my information from, funny isn't it? But if anyone says "it says blah blah blah in the Bible, rarely do you hear anyone say, "where is that in the bible? I'd like to read the context". And it's especially bad if it is a preacher, because people just assume he knows and is telling the truth, but we know that is not always the case.