Is it important to share what you have done in life?

mlepfitjw

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James 5:16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

When it comes to explaining the wonderous works God does in your life ?

Does fear of judgment of others in what they will look at you as because you are freely expressing the wrong things you have done to others? Even abuse of yourself? Even hatred for God?

My brother believes that self-perseveration is better than to be open about yourself because what you do in your own life is no one is business.

But if we found the light do we hid it under the bed?

Do we put it on a lampstand and let it shine for others to be able to see the change that has been done by the transformative power of Christ Jesus, and God?

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus says: "Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed, and not to be placed on a lampstand? For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible; nothing is secret except to come to light. "
 

Dave L

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James 5:16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

When it comes to explaining the wonderous works God does in your life ?

Does fear of judgment of others in what they will look at you as because you are freely expressing the wrong things you have done to others? Even abuse of yourself? Even hatred for God?

My brother believes that self-perseveration is better than to be open about yourself because what you do in your own life is no one is business.

But if we found the light do we hid it under the bed?

Do we put it on a lampstand and let it shine for others to be able to see the change that has been done by the transformative power of Christ Jesus, and God?

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus says: "Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed, and not to be placed on a lampstand? For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible; nothing is secret except to come to light. "
In my case, it's important to share what Christ has done, and is doing in my life. My life has a history of miraculous providence I still marvel over it when I look back. Maybe a testimony thread?
 
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Pavel Mosko

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My brother believes that self-perseveration is better than to be open about yourself because what you do in your own life is no one is business.

I actually think of this sort of thing a lot but much much more in terms of The parable of the talents, as well as spiritual gifts and such. And that is really because in a lot of ways I've been unsuccessful at my earlier career pursuits in areas like psychology and counseling etc. But I've had interests in ministry and have done some low key church planting etc. stuff that helped people but didn't really turn out as far as actually establishing a church etc. But I've been looking to do some kind of nontraditional ministry, like over the internet, or my best friend who is a bishop in a small church group will probably put the bite on me to join him again and I will probably take the offer just to have something concrete to do.


As for your brother, I see your point, but there is potential valid reasons for what he is doing. We should not deny Christ etc. but even Christ advised his followers to "be wise as serpents and peaceful as doves", to not "Cast their pearls before swine" etc. I think your general approach is good and that sort of is the way I go myself. I have seen however some Christians actually do more damage to Christianity by being so overt, than good. (I have an example posted below)
 
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Pavel Mosko

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I often have had to work what could be called "survival jobs" to make ends meet. Jobs like being a security guard, ones that don't have a future, and don't pay decent wages to support a family etc. But sometimes they did. I did over night security at the semiconductor company AMD in 2006-2012. For a long time, that was a pretty good job as far as low end jobs go. The wages were a few bucks above average, but the big thing they did for you was let you join their first rate health insurance plan that was Kaiser permanent. Anyway that could be a little more demanding than some jobs of that profession were, their was much more certification on being tested on things that the company wanted you trained on etc. And some of the jobs could be very busy like the roving patrol driver that checked all the company campus buildings and parking lots. But some assignments were extremely easy, even enjoyable like being stationed at lobby entrance where your supervisor didn't care if you were on the internet when things were really slow, which was most of the shift!


Anyway, in my experience there was this coworker Tina that worked the job. She was probably the most overt Christians I have met, but not too unusual because she was some kind of Pentecostal and I have seen other people similar like preachers who have no problem asking strangers "if they are saved?" sharing their testimony etc. The only problem with Tina though, was that she was most of the time a horrible worker. To start with she was falling asleep on shift quiet often, and not just doing that but being in a deep sleep etc. Where you had to wake her up shouting "TINA! TINA" When she would wake up startled And you would joke with her, "Did you have a nice nap?" She would lie, "Owe I wasn't asleep I was just resting my eyes!" But she didn't realize I walked in on her for sometimes more than a minute, and had been trying to wake her up for seconds, by calling her name at normal speaking voice, tapping her shoulder etc.


Anyway I eventually learned the problem of this person, she was extremely dedicated to her church. And went weekdays to work in the child care area there. I actually think that was her calling because she did seem to love kids, and like nursing duties (she was very good when it came to our first aid training). But she only gave herself about 4 to 5 hours of sleep max a day with her church volunteer work and her job, and that is just not enough. Especially because sleeplessness makes you lethargic, and she had lots of other problems that affected her job. Like being morbidly obese, and she could be slow to pick up on some things as far as training for new post assignments. She eventually was put on probation that lasted a long time, because she was African American and trying to claim her problems were because of racial prejudice which was nonsense because we not only had a number of black guards, but some of them actually came for Africa and had English as a second language, and managed to get promoted into management!


Anyway, this person generally turned off my unchurched coworkers. People who were raised Christian but not really practicing e.g. believing in God but you can tell they forgot most of what they learned as a kid, as well as others that were more agnostic. In general she seemed selfish. e.g. - She complained a lot when it came to her turn to get the tough assignments. If you ran the control room as the Dispatch you really had to actively manage her (lest she fall asleep on the job), but she could also chew you out for sticking your nose in her business etc.

Anyway there is a saying that less is more, and Tina kind of shows that. Take Care.
 
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mlepfitjw

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I actually think of this sort of thing a lot but much much more in terms of The parable of the talents, as well as spiritual gifts and such. And that is really because in a lot of ways I've been unsuccessful at my earlier career pursuits in areas like psychology and counseling etc. But I've had interests in ministry and have done some low key church planting etc. stuff that helped people but didn't really turn out as far as actually establishing a church etc. But I've been looking to do some kind of nontraditional ministry, like over the internet, or my best friend who is a bishop in a small church group will probably put the bite on me to join him again and I will probably take the offer just to have something concrete to do.


As for your brother, I see your point, but there is potential valid reasons for what he is doing. We should not deny Christ etc. but even Christ advised his followers to "be wise as serpents and peaceful as doves", to not "Cast their pearls before swine" etc. I think your general approach is good and that sort of is the way I go myself. I have seen however some Christians actually do damage to Christianity by being so overt etc. (I have an example posted below)

Troubles in your careers, what do you do now? Seems like you have had some decent jobs for the most part even if they did not pay very well, Pavel. It is cool you have an interest in ministry, as of lately for me in my own life, just enjoy sharing scriptures with others like you mentioned in your story below there were people who grew up Christians and kind of forgot what they were taught. Sharing them by reading and explaining them, in minute long videos with scriptures tacked with-in the video so people can pause and read them, it is out of love for God to be able to help people in their daily lives if they are not going and reading the word of God in the first place.

Maybe you miss the point that is trying to be made. If someone doesn't know you how will they ever really know you if they do not know what you have been through in the past? Remember one story you shared with me about guy who was proud and believed in the prosperity gospel, and you had to 'put him in his place' as you both were in a heated debate.

I often have had to work what could be called "survival jobs" to make ends meet. Jobs like being a security guard, ones that don't have a future, and don't pay decent wages to support a family etc. But sometimes they did. I did over night security at the semiconductor company AMD in 2006-2012. For a long time, that was a pretty good job as far as low end jobs go. The wages were a few bucks above average, but the big thing they did for you was let you join their first rate health insurance plan that was Kaiser permanent. Anyway that could be a little more demanding than some jobs of that profession were, their was much more certification on being tested on things that the company wanted you trained on etc. And some of the jobs could be very busy like the roving patrol driver that checked all the company campus buildings and parking lots. But some assignments were extremely easy, even enjoyable like being stationed at lobby entrance where your supervisor didn't care if you were on the internet when things were really slow, which was most of the shift!


Anyway, in my experience there was this coworker Tina that worked the job. She was probably the most overt Christians I have met, but not too unusual because she was some kind of Pentecostal and I have seen other people similar like preachers who have no problem asking strangers "if they are saved?" sharing their testimony etc. The only problem with Tina though, was that she was most of the time a horrible worker. To start with she was falling asleep on shift quiet often, and not just doing that but being in a deep sleep etc. Where you had to wake her up shouting "TINA! TINA" When she would wake up startled And you would joke with her, "Did you have a nice nap?" She would lie, "Owe I wasn't asleep I was just resting my eyes!" But she didn't realize I walked in on her for sometimes more than a minute, and had been trying to wake her up for seconds, by calling her name at normal speaking voice, tapping her shoulder etc.


Anyway I eventually learned the problem of this person, she was extremely dedicated to her church. And went weekdays to work in the child care area there. I actually think that was her calling because she did seem to love kids, and like nursing duties (she was very good when it came to our first aid training). But she only gave herself about 4 to 5 hours of sleep max a day with her church volunteer work and her job, and that is just not enough. Especially because sleeplessness makes you lethargic, and she had lots of other problems that affected her job. Like being morbidly obese, and she could be slow to pick up on some things as far as training for new post assignments. She eventually was put on probation that lasted a long time, because she was African American and trying to claim her problems were because of racial prejudice which was nonsense because we not only had a number of black guards, but some of them actually came for Africa and had English as a second language, and managed to get promoted into management!


Anyway, this person generally turned off my unchurched coworkers. People who were raised Christian but not really practicing e.g. believing in God but you can tell they forgot most of what they learned as a kid, as well as others that were more agnostic. In general she seemed selfish. e.g. - She complained a lot when it came to her turn to get the tough assignments. If you ran the control room as the Dispatch you really had to actively manage her (lest she fall asleep on the job), but she could also chew you out for sticking your nose in her business etc.

Anyway there is a saying that less is more, and Tina kind of shows that. Take Care.

Talking about Tina makes me desire to have gotten to know her a bit better regardless of what she had been doing. It would have been nice to know her story a bit better. My point is sharing your experiences in your life that have put you in a dark place, or in a fox hole in a sense that God lead you out of and away from. Now serving a church is not for me, at least not right now in my own life though that is what this lady seemed she had done.

In the above comment you mentioned that being overly overt does damage to Christianity, what does that really mean in the context from all you share with me exactly?

If a person desires to be open, about the Lord Jesus Christ and share what God has done with them in their lives that has caused them to be able to be love as described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 what is the problem with that exactly other than people may not like you for the honesty of who you are in Christ Jesus and you will suffer with Christ.

That is also part of the Christian lifestyle it seems to me to have suffering in it, even though we can find joy which is inexpressiable as well as have peace even through trails and tribulations as we gain endurance in our walk with the Lord Jesus Christ who lives with in us, as well as the holy spirit.

Do you have any thoughts on any of this as well?
 
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Pavel Mosko

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In the above comment you mentioned that being overly overt does damage to Christianity, what does that really mean in the context from all you share with me exactly?

Her witness seemed negative. I can only compare it to conditioning in psychology. You got the classical conditioning where animals are trained unconsciously for responses like salivation, fear responses etc. And then you got the regular kind of conditioning that most people think of, like mice being trained to run mazes, dogs being trained to shake your hand etc. Basically behavior that develops from being positively reinforced with rewards, or negatively reinforced with unpleasant things. But her being so Christian, but problematic in other ways in how she acted made some people think that if you are really spiritual their is something wrong with you!

I can only compare it to a few things in life. In my early life as a Lutheran I knew a few Pentecostals growing up because we rented space at the Church of God in order to try to start a local Wisconsin synod church in my area. And sometimes our two churches shared space simultaneously at certain times. During evening times, I had Confirmation class in the back area where they had the kitchen and the social hall, when their pastor and worship team would come in at the front sanctuary area to begin prepping and getting ready for their service. We overheard a lot of stuff as far as the praying in tongues etc. The people we met were genuinely nice, but seemed also weird and crazy too.


And then there was my last Dungeons and Dragons group. Growing up I played role playing games, and even did so a bit in college and grad school but much less than my younger years. When I was in my early 30s I landed a good job in Silicon Valley, in a company that was developing the first generation of TV DVR recorders. It was the main competition to TIVO that ended up winning the DVR battle. Anyway when that job ended, I made sure to keep in touch with my main boss, who was a great guy. Unofficially I think he was an atheist, but he ran his own game group. And I made a point to when leaving the company, get his contact information and his group; because, job networking was always a problem for me. Not to mention the need to keep your references warm etc. And he probably was the most friendly and benevolent boss I had except for my best friend (who was the guy who made sure I was hired on). And the fact, we shared the same hobby was a match made in heaven. (I always envied people who play golf, and can use it for more than just recreation, because I'm bad at golf).


Anyway that group was different than the others. Besides being populated by middle age persons, they were definitely more liberal than even some college kids I gamed with in the past. Like pot smoking, and obvious liberal political bias, which included stereotypical attitudes of Christians. They tended to see most Christians like wanting to be like Jerry Falwell of the Moral Majority. I got a long decently with them, and every once in a while they would quiz me on why Christians want to do this and that etc. I eventually had to quit the group because it conflicted too much with my duties trying to get the mission church going etc. But it seemed like in the two years I knew them that they were sad to see me go, and they made comments like I was the first decent Christian they knew etc.


On one hand, I found that hard to believe; since, Christians are everywhere in the US, but I kind of understand it. As I talked about before their is an unofficial Christian Ghetto. Like lots of Christians would hate that I play "Sword and Sorcery" genre games like "Lord of the Rings" etc. and see that as innately bad, but never really have the chance to get to know these people, since after work they ran in different circles, had different interests etc.
 
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mlepfitjw

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Her witness seemed negative. I can only compare it to conditioning in psychology. You got the classical conditioning where animals are trained unconsciously for responses like salivation, fear responses etc. And then you got the regular kind of conditioning that most people think of, like mice being trained to run mazes, dogs being trained to shake your hand etc. Basically behavior that develops from being positively reinforced with rewards, or negatively reinforced with unpleasant things. But her being so Christian, but problematic in other ways in how she acted made some people think that if you are really spiritual their is something wrong with you!

I can only compare it to a few things in life. In my early life as a Lutheran I knew a few Pentecostals growing up because we rented space at the Church of God in order to try to start a local Wisconsin synod church in my area. And sometimes our two churches shared space simultaneously at certain times. During evening times, I had Confirmation class in the back area where they had the kitchen and the social hall, when their pastor and worship team would come in at the front sanctuary area to begin prepping and getting ready for their service. We overheard a lot of stuff as far as the praying in tongues etc. The people we met were genuinely nice, but seemed also weird and crazy too.


And then there was my last Dungeons and Dragons group. Growing up I played role playing games, and even did so a bit in college and grad school but much less than my younger years. When I was in my early 30s I landed a good job in Silicon Valley, in a company that was developing the first generation of TV DVR recorders. It was the main competition to TIVO that ended up winning the DVR battle. Anyway when that job ended, I made sure to keep in touch with my main boss, who was a great guy. Unofficially I think he was an atheist, but he ran his own game group. And I made a point to when leaving the company, get his contact information and his group; because, job networking was always a problem for me. Not to mention the need to keep your references warm etc. And he probably was the most friendly and benevolent boss I had except for my best friend (who was the guy who made sure I was hired on). And the fact, we shared the same hobby was a match made in heaven. (I always envied people who play golf, and can use it for more than just recreation, because I'm bad at golf).


Anyway that group was different than the others. Besides being populated by middle age persons, they were definitely more liberal than even some college kids I gamed with in the past. Like pot smoking, and obvious liberal political bias, which included stereotypical attitudes of Christians. They tended to see most Christians like wanting to be like Jerry Falwell of the Moral Majority. I got a long decently with them, and every once in a while they would quiz me on why Christians want to do this and that etc. I eventually had to quit the group because it conflicted too much with my duties trying to get the mission church going etc. But it seemed like in the two years I knew them that they were sad to see me go, and they made comments like I was the first decent Christian they knew etc.


On one hand, I found that hard to believe; since, Christians are everywhere in the US, but I kind of understand it. As I talked about before their is an unofficial Christian Ghetto. Like lots of Christians would hate that I play "Sword and Sorcery" genre games like "Lord of the Rings" etc. and see that as innately bad, but never really have the chance to get to know these people, since after work they ran in different circles, had different interests etc.

Very interesting you seem like a pretty genuine person over all. Do you still struggle with being envious of others, or jealous anymore since all of these past experiences you had with all of these experiences with different people? What would you say that your faith has grown more over time?

No I don't think so. I think we all have skeletons in our closet that only god knows(maybe I'm just speaking for myself ) and we wouldn't tell another soul on earth .
Long as we confess our sins to God and repent it's good .

Hey Lg2000, thank you for your comment, maybe so. You are right about that because some people who find out what someone had done could lead a person to end up being so mad and angry they would probably murder over it, rather than to have forgiveness, mercy, and love as Jesus Christ has shown to us all.

Thinking of this reminds me of people who might be sex offenders, people who had abortions, or.. whatever else you can think of the aspect of the darkest realm of the human psyche.

Gossip goes through the great vine of life the next thing you know someone is so upset off they end up murdering. Even after the person who did the wrong might have changed and started looking towards God.
 
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Pavel Mosko

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Very interesting you seem like a pretty genuine person over all. Do you still struggle with being envious of others, or jealous anymore since all of these past experiences you had with all of these experiences with different people?

Well I sometimes have problems that comes from friends and family. My best friend for instance would give me problems working security, like it is beneath me or something. Like at the AMD job which was decent job. And I get similar things from mom and family, because I have had trouble using my college and schooling in the private sector etc. Most of the time, I wouldn't say I have envy but from time to time I'm made to feel inferior etc. like being an under achiever. Sometimes I do have envy, but it's not so much about wanting what someone else has had, but sometimes thinking that some events are unfair as far as God is concerned. Especially when it comes to issue like people talking figuratively, about "paying your dues" and so forth.


What would you say that your faith has grown more over time?

Yes on the long term, but it's been a struggle. A lot of it has come with things like dabbling with ministry etc. And some of that is reminiscent of the short time working in Silicon Valley tech sector.


When I worked at the DVR job I had a chance to study organizational efficiency. At that time I was working as a Beta Coordinator for a Beta program that was in the Software Engineering department. FYI - Most Beta programs in software, and hardware is about doing some last minute changes to a product before it hits market, (but the product itself is normally pretty polished) and it gives people some ideas in problems and concerns consumers might have when it comes to customer support, sales etc. Anyway our one was much different, in that the Beta program was used for software testing for a product that was substantially rougher, really it would be be a few more steps from release and not really consider Beta at all.


Anyway it was obvious to me looking at the bug feedback from our users that the biggest factor to our efficiency was information bottle necks of various kinds. Like the sooner we got fresh bug feedback to software engineers the sooner they could fix the problem in the new software release. And their were other issues as well, but more concerning about how the hardware behaved etc. and other issues when people were hired onto the project, but these sort of things often weren't documented normally people had to learn the hard way. But managing the hands on operation, I took notice of those things and tried to brief people of them because it saved everyone a lot of time and grief etc.


Anyway I kind of am doing the same sort of thing now, only with Spiritual issues rather than consumer electronics. And I think that is a large part of why God lets some people go through various hard times, part of it is to learn to help others that are going through similar kinds of issues. And I have also seen that I think some areas, certain topics are really under utilized. That is especially true when it comes to some areas. Their are certain topics that are talked about more in secular areas, like self help sections of the books store, than what Christians typically do. Even though certain themes like the idea that life is a journey, especially a journey of Faith etc., is of the most prevalent themes of the Bible.
 
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