I can't wrap my head around this

timewerx said:

A Christian friend tells you they won't take the Covid Vaccine out of worry it may have the Mark of the Beast.

But they require you to be vaccinated first before you even get the chance to see them in person.

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Following that to its logical conclusion, your friend wants you to have the wrath of God poured out on you.

timewerx said:

A Christian friend tells you they won't take the Covid Vaccine out of worry it may have the Mark of the Beast.

But they require you to be vaccinated first before you even get the chance to see them in person.

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Point out the hypocrisy is being afraid of getting ' the mark of the beast!' while being happy to let you get it.

Tell him he should imitate Christ and be wiling to sacrifice himself for others and get vaccinated.

timewerx said:

A Christian friend tells you they won't take the Covid Vaccine out of worry it may have the Mark of the Beast.

But they require you to be vaccinated first before you even get the chance to see them in person.

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Then he/she is not your friend.

timewerx said:

He always prayed for my blessings and health over the phone though.

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lol. That's easy. I love to say I love people too. It's a little harder to put it into practice past word or thought though if most of my thoughts are actually about Me at the end of the day. Welcome to the Human Condition that Christ was trying REALLY REALLY HARD to point out and rescue us from lol.

"Well, I would get vaccinated before coming to visit you, but then I'd lose my soul to the Mark of the Beast and have to chop your head off when I did. See you Sunday!"

timewerx said:

Are you saying that prayers are worthless - if the person making those prayers have no intention of going beyond that prayers for the sake of convenience?

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God may hear or not hear them. I'm not saying that they are worthless.
What I'm saying is that they are "easy", and the heart behind them may be fickle (all human hearts are). Most hearts feel good about praying anyway. It's a good action to pray for someone, and it's also (usually) good for the praying person as well. But conspiracy theories are all about Fear. And Fear is about self-centeredness really and not God-centeredness

And 1 John said this:

16 ...God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

James said much the same

James 3

9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness.

James 2

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.

19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

I really have no idea about your friend. I'm not going to question his personal faith, but I have no patience for Christians lacking the wisdom and judgment to not get sucked into conspiracy theories like this and then to act like insanely stupid sock puppets. So I pretty much question the effect his faith is having on him. It appears to be either 0 or moving in the wrong direction - it doesn't look like he's being perfected in Love, it looks like he's being perfected in Fear. You don't get conspiracy theories listening to Christ - I think he's tuned into the wrong radio station.

ROTFL.

Please let him know I'm praying for him.

Petros2015 said:

God may hear or not hear them. I'm not saying that they are worthless.
What I'm saying is that they are "easy", and the heart behind them may be fickle (all human hearts are). Most hearts feel good about praying anyway. It's a good action to pray for someone, and it's also (usually) good for the praying person as well. But conspiracy theories are all about Fear. And Fear is about self-centeredness really

And 1 John said this:

16 ...God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

James said much the same

James 3

9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness.

James 2

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.

19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

I really have no idea about your friend. I'm not going to question his personal faith, but I have no patience for Christians lacking the wisdom and judgment to not get sucked into conspiracy theories like this and then to act like insanely stupid sock puppets. So I pretty much question the effect his faith is having on him. It appears to be either 0 or moving in the wrong direction - it doesn't look like he's being perfected in Love, it looks like he's being perfected in Fear. You don't get conspiracy theories listening the Christ - I think he's tuned into the wrong radio station.

ROTFL.

Please let him know I'm praying for him.

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I harbor less grace for such people. I firmly believe they are under the influence of a lying spirit, a great spiritual delusion. Thumping a bible and intoning the name of Jesus does not scare away evil spirits or protect one from spiritual delusion.

RDKirk said:

I harbor less grace for such people.

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Yes, I was being as generous as I could possibly be knowing "with the judgement I use I shall be judged" one day. He may be a favorite of God's for all I know and just really, really need the prayers I followed with emojii's. I often think of the Delusion spoken of in 2nd Thessalonians and have for a while now. It's the only way I can make sense of our times.

timewerx said:

But I also think if you have the "Lord's Mark" it cannot be taken away. If that makes sense or is Biblically correct (otherwise, let me know if that statement is wrong).

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I think you are speaking of the concept of Election or Predestination found very strongly (let's say most strongly) in the book of Romans and elsewhere as well I believe. It's definitely supported by many gospel verses, particularly John's gospel springs to mind. It's a complicated topic and drove me away from the faith in college (well, to be fair, liquor and sex did that, they just borrowed the complicatedness to do it and yelled "see God's not Fair!" while they did it).

I'll put it to you this way. If He wants you - He'll have you. And if He has you at the end, He wanted you all along and once you got to know Him, you agreed. Paul knows that better than anyone, Christ appeared directly to him and flipped him 180 from enemy zealot to super-servant. Doesn't really happen unless Christ directly intervenes, reveals Himself and does that. I HATED the concept of Predestination - it was only later in life I realized it would be my only hope because I could not rescue myself from myself and I knew that what I had become did not belong to Heaven. You hate it on one side of the door and you love it on the other. Christianity is in essence, a rescue operation. (at least it was for me). And ideally, the rescue operation produces not only rescued people but also other rescuers.

As for the reference to the Lord's Mark or Seal, I think this is in different scripture. In Catholic branches you may find something similar to this upon formally joining the Church

Chrismation - OrthodoxWiki

The Christian is anointed with this oil in the sign of the Cross on his forehead, eyes, nostrils, mouth, ears, chest, hands and feet. Each time, the priest administering the sacrament says, "The Seal and Gift of the Holy Spirit."

Ephesians 1:13–14

13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

And this site has other scriptural context where Seals are referenced

What is the seal of God? | GotQuestions.org

timewerx said:

But I also think if you have the "Lord's Mark" it cannot be taken away.

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This idea that somehow the Mark of the Beast can be slipped to you surreptitiously like a Mickey in a drink is what the paranoia conspiracists play on. If it's something I see in my lifetime, I expect it will be pretty obvious. And if you have the Seal of God, it's not something you would trade it in for. And if you don't have the Seal of God... well, if you think about it... nothing really changed now, did it? A door Christ sacrificed Himself to open for you 2,000 years ago, one that He was standing on the threshold of, just closed and locked... but... you hadn't gone through it anyway...

Kinda like showing up at one girl's house after she expressed a serious and genuine interest in you, but when you finally do, it's with another girl's lipstick freshly tattooed to your cheek. Had something like that happen in college.

SLAM!