Truths

[peaceful-forest]

They also think the world is still very largely Christian &, although certain few people may not be Christian, they think most people still follow God's truths

I have a different experience.

It seems like they believed that everyone was a Christian back then, even though there were signs, like false beliefs and false teaching. And they just think this godlessness started with Millennials even though it didn't. They don't seem to notice or say anything about Gen X being godless. And they don't seem to be aware of the bad stuff that their own generations did, or the previous generation.

 

[DragonFox91]

I was thinking ‘most people really weren’t Christians even tho they said they were.’ & that’s what a lot of people say. But I don’t know how true that is.

In the Old Testament, Israel went from godlessness to godliness & back from generation to generation. If a generation was godlessness, the next would be godliness. & vice versa. That’s all it takes. One generation. & I believe that. I see that. I see parents who don’t care for God but their children do, & I see parents who do care for God who’s children don’t.

I used to think it was silly how Israel would change just within 1 generation, but now it only makes perfect sense.

I think World War II changed everything. It was so bad people didn’t believe in pushing anything (AKA teaching) anymore & adopted a ‘live & let live’ attitude. I see this in churches frequently, where parents are afraid to teach children the Word b/c they don’t want to push their children away or get accused of pushing their beliefs & not letting their children be ‘open-minded.’ The problem was only increased w/ the Hippie movement, & the Hippies are largely controlling culture today. We've never recovered from World War II.


I guess forest is right tho: This is why churches began to frequently adopt false beliefs. All it takes is a little caving on issues & the church is completely heretical within a few years. I’ve seen this. & it's terrifying how easy it can happen: Defend truth!

(The church I grew up w/ caved on an issue. The people who knew better left. The church was overrun by false teachers within a year who taught more & more hersies. The good news is false teachers don't stand the test of time: The church eventually closed. But the new owners of the building teach God is a woman)

Again: defend truth!

 

[DragonFox91]

@peaceful-forest Going off Boomer’s desire for materialism: They also go all-in on Christmas giving. Like, out-of-control giving. They thinking heaping material gifts on someone should erase someone’s problems.

We need to return to the days where everyone got one gift from someone & they were happy w/ it.

 

[peaceful-forest]

@peaceful-forest Going off Boomer’s desire for materialism: They also go all-in on Christmas giving. Like, out-of-control giving. They thinking heaping material gifts on someone should erase someone’s problems.

We need to return to the days where everyone got one gift from someone & they were happy w/ it.

The materialism thing is out of hand. I've witnessed Gen Xers do it too.

I think we should come up with something completely different to celebrate Christ. Something that truly celebrates Him and isn't tainted with materialism and Santa Claus.

 

[DragonFox91]

The materialism thing is out of hand. I've witnessed Gen Xers do it too.

I think we should come up with something completely different to celebrate Christ. Something that truly celebrates Him and isn't tainted with materialism and Santa Claus.

Santa Claus is the worst. Older generations like the concept. I see younger generations want to move away from it, but the older generations push it on them to keep continuing it.

I like Christmas simple. I try to block most of it out.

I’ve long thought Christians should just let the pagans have December 25 & the Christians should pick a different day to celebrate Christ’s birth. Some people think the Christians took it from the pagans in the first place.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The other thing I was thinking Boomers taught me you need to wait to get married. That people should get married when they’re older. For the longest time I thought you’re not really supposed to get married until you’re in your 30s & most people don’t get married until they're in their 30s.

What do you know: they got married in their late teens! & most people continue to get married young! All happy & lasting marriages! & this wasn’t just Christians telling me this. It was all walks.

I was completely wrong in my understanding & completely misled!

Although we should really only be getting married when God says we should. But still, why did they say that when they didn't & most don't do it that way!

I see it all the time. Couples want to get married in their early 20s & the older generations tell them not to, even tho they got married in their teens!

They also seem to think dating & getting married is easy. “All you have to do is go to church”. “You’ll meet one at work.” “You’’ll meet one at school.” “You’ll meet one thru a friend.” “Do online dating.” It’s like I’ve been going to church consistently since I was 5! I went to school for 22 years. I’ve been working for 10 years! I’ve never met one thru a friend!

Church groups: the groups I’ve always been to have terrible guy:girl ratios. 10:2, it’s that bad. The group I’m in now is a little better……Also some church groups I've been in the people didn't really care about God. It was a Church Group In Name Only.
Work: I’ve only ever worked w/ all older people. Then COVID messed everything up & now everyone works from home. Just 4 other people come into the office consistently, & they just hide at their desks. All older.
School: Very bad. Most people don’t care about God. The ones who do are few & far between. I guess I never just met my match.
Friends: “Can’t you just meet someone at church/work/school?”
Online Dating: you’ll get 1 response out of 50, the responses are 1 word answers then they stop responding. It also feels forced to me.

 

[DragonFox91]

Truth: In church recently we learned you don't get everything you want when you want b/c God's not interested in spoiled brats: he's interested in character transformation & uses discipline (not as punishment, but for your betterment AKA good)

 

[LoveDivine]

The truth is that the world is an awful place to live in : it's a fallen world and there is no shortage of misery, cruelty, and "unfair" things we need to endure. Just look at the current horrors in the Middle East.

It's been the case for every generation that has ever existed. Sometimes the nature of the problems change (with each generation), but there are always difficulties to overcome. It's not a good idea to blame previous generations for their mistakes or bad ideologies. Our current generation is also rife with them. Our parents had their own struggles to overcome and may not have done a good job and passed down bad ideas to us. Neither is our current generation doing a good job of coping. Our children will continue the cycle and blame us for their dysfunction. It's a pointless cycle. Each person should take responsibility for their own life. The last bunch of posts here are bashing Boomers and it's not right.

A Christian should overcome and rise above their situation and struggles. It's actually very weak to blame others. We are in essence blaming other fallible humans for their shortcomings. Christ told us what to expect if we chose to follow him. A Christian is not supposed to blame others.

 

[DragonFox91]

Yeah, you’re right: everyone is guilty: Millennials are spoiled brats. Boomers thought the society they were building would be a utopia. Generations before that were into genocide (no sugar-coating it, many were, at least readily accepting of violence to the point of death largely just because they felt like it). It all goes back to Adam. I’ve thought how dysfunctional Adam’s family would’ve been after Cain killed Abel. & Cain's new family too now that I think of it.........
I do see materialism as a big problem. People say it’s a problem but continue feeding the problem. Those who have not in material are not exempt from feeding it.
I’ve thought long & hard sin gets passed on from parent to child in a vicious cycle, & how depressing it really is. This is why Jesus had to be born of a virgin btw, part of the cycle & yet separate from it. Sometimes the sins passed on the parent struggled w/, sometimes it’s brand new. Sometimes they know the child will struggle w/ it, sometimes they don’t. Most of the time, they don't care about the child, & sometimes when they do the child doesn't care they care. It’s all very sad. Nowadays, a lot of people think it's so depressing, the idea of having children makes them sick.
Romans 1 & 2 talks about this. If you’re ever confused what’s going on in the world, refer back to Romans 1 & 2. Be warned, it’s pretty depressing, but is accurate.
I also was thinking how petty my struggles seem to the War going on. But if you’re descended from Adam, you will have struggles, War or no War. You are not safe from them just b/c there’s no War. But lot of people think we need a War that’s not far off to remind us we need to rely on God again. My struggles may seem petty, maybe they’re preparing me for when things do get really bad, like War. In church we learned the vast majority of early Christians would’ve struggled w/ day to day life & not active persecution & martyrdom – when the New Testament is talking about struggles, it’s for the most part not talking about persecution & martyrdom. I had always thought it was, but it’s not. It's talking about finding joy in the Spirit in day-to-life life.

xxxxxx

Many Christians like the idea of all of humanity coming together on Christmas. It reminds me of the 'when do the wheat & tares get separated' debate that was more active a long time ago. Pagans are our brothers (cousins?) whether we like them or not & aren't much different from them.

 

[DragonFox91]

I saw this the other day;

Truth: The pessimist says the cup’s half empty, the optimist says the cup’s half full, the Christian says the cup overflows.

 

[mojoboy31]

Truth.

Every generation has hardships. Our generation happens to enjoy the most comfort, and luxury wealth, access to medical care, food, and all kinds of, excess of any generation in history. We're on our thousand and some dollar iPhones, video taping ourselves, holding a Starbucks, driving our fancy cars with heated seats, wearing designer sunglasses with our salon styled hair, and our designer breed dog in the backseat, while we complain about how Boomers ruined everything, and don't understand how hard it is that we can't afford to own a home, and inflation is unfathomable.

You know who warned us about things like inflation? You know who warned us about what a bad idea all our young, hip, and modern ideas were?

I think it's in Matthew, that tells us to pluck the log from our own eye before we turn to our brother and try to pick the splinter out of theirs. The first step toward wisdom is self-reflection, and self-awareness. We all must look inwards.

The people of yester-year would look at our struggles and laugh at us. We complain our retail jobs, they risked life and limb to build skyscrapers and work in mines with almost zero safety protocols like we're used to. They had World Wars like we have no concept to fathom, forced drafts, etc

And they were stoic. They understood life wasn't meant to be easy, and luxury wasn't a human right. They faced their hardships with stoic determination to overcome, to better their lives and their family's lives, and build a better future.

Especially to the men here, being that we're all single, weakness is unattractive. We wonder why we can't attract any "females"... Don't believe the media in their: "soy boy, hipster men are the best" lies. To use an antiquated phrase: be a man. To phrase it as the Bible does: gird up your loins and be a man!

Myself included, we need to face our hardships and overcome. We need to be stoic, and hardworking, and 'run the race', as it is says in Hebrews. We need trust in God to deliver us, and be faithful, and grateful.

 

[LoveDivine]

As in the days of Noah, the world is getting to the point again if not already there, that it cannot hold any more wickedness ! "Overflowing" over the rim with sin.

There has also definitely been a great falling away and apostasy. I think Christians need to be more sober and be praying and watching like Christ instructed us to do.

 

[mojoboy31]

"In Capitalists Arise!, Georgescu shows how these issues are impacting the American public. Nearly 60% of American households are technically insolvent and adding to their debt loads each year. In addition, income inequality in the U.S. is reaching new peaks: The top layer of earners now claim a larger portion of the nation’s income than ever before — more even than the peak in 1927, just two years before the onset of the Great Depression."

"Debt" is culture now. Phone plans, subscriptions out the wazoo, store cards, credit cards, payment plans, financing, leases, loans, etc, etc. Just pointing out debt is higher now doesn't mean much when you consider how much more prevalent financing options and things are-- and how much under educated we are now to not understand how they work until it's too late. They don't teach this stuff in school anymore. Math is racist, economics is political science and social equity more important. It's well known that the US is dropping further and further behind-- quickly being flushed down toilet-- in terms of education. But we keep doubling down on our current model and making education more and more radically progressive-- and less and less useful to prepare young generations to stand on their own. The biggest hurdle with income inequality is education. If we taught students how to be successful, like we used to, we'd be far better off.
Now we teach children to rely on government and to be whining narcissists, and point the finger at others for all your life's woes.

 

[LoveDivine]

"Debt" is culture now. Phone plans, subscriptions out the wazoo, store cards, credit cards, payment plans, financing, leases, loans, etc, etc. Just pointing out debt is higher now doesn't mean much when you consider how much more prevalent financing options and things are-- and how much under educated we are now to not understand how they work until it's too late. They don't teach this stuff in school anymore. Math is racist, economics is political science and social equity more important. It's well known that the US is dropping further and further behind-- quickly being flushed down toilet-- in terms of education. But we keep doubling down on our current model and making education more and more radically progressive-- and less and less useful to prepare young generations to stand on their own. The biggest hurdle with income inequality is education. If we taught students how to be successful, like we used to, we'd be far better off.
Now we teach children to rely on government and to be whining narcissists, and point the finger at others for all your life's woes.

It's true. The attitude towards debt is much more lax now than in previous eras. Travel and having experiences is almost viewed as an essential part of life. I know lots of students who travel with student loan money. They are essentially digging themselves into a huge hole before they even graduate. You really can't blame anyone else for financial inequality if you make choices like that. Same goes for designer clothes, manicures, expensive phones and electronics. You can't splurge on luxury items and go into debt to purchase them and then blame capitalism lol. There are issues with capitalism, but they are far fewer than in socialism.

 

[mojoboy31]

It's true. The attitude towards debt is much more lax now than in previous eras. Travel and having experiences is almost viewed as an essential part of life. I know lots of students who travel with student loan money. They are essentially digging themselves into a huge hole before they even graduate. You really can't blame anyone else for financial inequality if you make choices like that. Same goes for designer clothes, manicures, expensive phones and electronics. You can splurge on luxury items and go into debt to purchase them and then blame capitalism lol

Yes, lol!

 

[DragonFox91]

Where in my list of comments am I blaming prior generations for the income gap? If anything I think it could be a good thing b/c materialism doesn’t solve anything & a reset could be beneficial.

I'm largely criticizing prior generations for intellectual views they have like their views on Christmas & college degrees, or pointing out attitudes they have.

I could make a list for Millennials.
-Spoiled
- Most still live like kids that place large emphasis on 'toys' & entertainment
-Abandoned God.
-Blame prior generations
-Pretend they are the first ones to act like they've ever encountered the world's problems (or their invidiual problems) & if you were to just listen to them, the problems could be fixed.
-open-minded to the point anything goes
-Very defeatist.
-Look in short-term

 

[mojoboy31]

college degrees

That wasn't a "view" in their day. It was a fact. The world changed-- we changed it. Once upon a time, a college degree meant something, it wasn't too expensive, it was hard, but worth the effort. Degrees mean less now. As academia has suffered and continues to suffer, they mean less and less. It's becoming bad enough that the only reason employers want college degrees is to see if you can stick something out, follow rules, and show up for a period of time-- they care less and less about what you actually learn to do/ know.

 

[LoveDivine]

Maybe, maybe not. Have you lived in a country with /under/ socialism per se directly ? (not just visited or whatever)

Yeah. I live in Canada

 

[LoveDivine]

Okay good... Have you lived in the usa or some other non-socialist country ?

p.s. I never thought of that aspect of Canada - being socialist... on ebay I prefer items from Canada than from the usa the last few years.

Canada is technically a mix of socialism and capitalism. We aren't a true socialist country, but we are more socialist than the US is.

I'm an dual citizen. I was born in Canada, but I have family in the US and I have visited quite often. I've never lived in the US ( it has its big issues and some that Canada doesn't have), but the answer to issues is never more socialism. The good aspects of Canadian culture ( and there are many ) do not come from socialism. In socialism you are basically handing over your rights to a corrupt government that is at best inefficient and at worst tyrannical. I have seen that playing out here in my own country. It's very sobering.

I'm not against some "socialist programs." We have socialized healthcare here. I'm not against that in theory. It's terribly mismanaged though by the government and not as great as you might think.

 

[LoveDivine]

This is the case in the usa also, for decades now, and getting much worse - more gov control and less health overall, forced practically to pay for services not helpful and often not available , and so on.... I met people who went to Canada or even Mexico , though they had to pay cash, to get what they needed health-wise; they were stymied/ prevented in the usa.

The US and Canada both have huge issues. I'm not trying to say that there aren't issues with capitalism. There are. It's truly impossible for fallen humans to develop any fair economic system since corruption and greed are so prevalent. I've just noticed the dangerous mindset that many have of ceding their rights to a corrupt government in return for more programs, support, etc. They are in essence giving up control of their freedoms as well. That's certainly not the answer. Socialism has many pitfalls.

I also don't see it as the "Christian" model of government. Socialism actually fosters a lot of apathy, jealousy, and lack of initiative. Paul admonishes Christians to work in Thessalonians. If anyone doesn't work he shouldn't eat. So the most ideal form of an economy would be that everyone worked hard and took care of each other. That no individual is being lazy or taking advantage of others. Christians actually aren't obligated to support others who refuse to work. However we are obligated to love and support others who can't work or support themselves.
There's no economic system that can instill that kind of love and concern for each other. Capitalism and socialism both fail.

My initial reason for posting today was to remind everyone that we live in a fallen world and that hardships are inescapable. Every generation has to face hardships. We should focus on Christ and not blame others for our problems.

 

[LoveDivine]

Amen.


The 1st Assembly , in ACTS, was not an "economic system" of any government (except God's in Christ), and they did well - "not one of them (of thousands) had any need that was not met" .... a good example, a true example, for those few since then who have followed Jesus. No world government I know of, but the people of Jesus , yes!

Definitely. To add to what you said, our kingdom isn't this world. We are sojourners. We should try to live like Christ and take care of others as best as we can within these systems of government we live in. Someday we will be living under Christ's reign. That is a very joyful thought