IWalkAlone
Well-Known Member
I fear but then I think what am I fearing? A better life in heaven? FoolishUntil you find Christ.
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I fear but then I think what am I fearing? A better life in heaven? FoolishUntil you find Christ.
Until you find Christ.
Good objection, and very true.
Well, you have to take fear and love in greater context.
Fear of God, fear of wasting your time, of being ineffective, not doing the right thing. wtc
I think gotquestions does well on explaining fear of God:
What does it mean to have the fear of God? | GotQuestions.org
The other 'fears' you listed would be valid concerns, causes to take action for change if and when those actually happen.
If they are not happening, it's only worry in that case, and Christ taught us in the sermon on the mount and in Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 11:28-30 - New International Version the cures for worries generally.
My statements weren’t worded well and were incomplete. Corrected in the OP. Thank you
Hi @James Lai,
Still don't see the contradiction. I can see where someone might look at those two statements and say, "What's the use?" But they are not contradictory.
God bless,
Ted
Hi @James Lai,
Still don't see the contradiction. I can see where someone might look at those two statements and say, "What's the use?" But they are not contradictory.
God bless,
Ted
Sure, any false teaching or wrong emphasis is potentially harmful. It is the reason why Christians need to check everything out for themselves. If we are not sure about a teaching, we should take no action on it until we are sure. We need to check out the whole counsel of God on an issue. The reason why prosperity teaching was so popular is that the teaching was unbalanced.
This passage was overlooked.... I wonder why....
1 Timothy 1:6
…8But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. 9Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.…
If having contradicting ideas is a concern, I suggest studying the 6 elementary teachings of the doctrine of Christ as listed in Hebrews 6:1-3.
These are referred to as the foundations, the milk, the first principles of the oracles of God, and the word of righteousness. (See Heb 5:12- 6:3)
- Repentance from dead works.
- Faith toward God.
- Teachings about baptisms.
- Laying on of hands.
- Resurrection of the dead.
- Eternal Justice.
Down through the years I have found that almost all of those who promote themselves as doctrinal experts and heretic hunters are woefully ignorant of these basic teachings. How can one judge the doctrine and teachings of others when they are barely aware of the basic principles and priorities of the Word?
God never gave us standards and requirements which were optional, but if we look around we can easily find churches and preachers who preach a different gospel, other than the one originally taught and it not difficult to find watered down bibles to suit our watered down teachings.
Much of the word of God is unacceptable to the many in these days, which we now live. The word of God is now regarded by some as hate speech and politically unacceptable. How many of todays people can even name the ten commandments. Perhaps not very many!
Keep it simple.Thank you. It’s a very, very difficult subject in my view…
What’s the true gospel?
What’s the real Bible?
How do we interpret and apply the Bible?
No wander there’s so many denominations in existence….
Well, if someone tells me to do something because the end is near, I don't think he or she will tell me that what I do will be for nothing . . . if the person just told me to do something.
Plus, God's word says our labor in Jesus is not in vain > 1 Corinthians 15:58.
So, if you use things God's word says, this can help to understand things correctly.
I think of this > as a Christian I need to do what God guides me to do. So, whether the end is near or not, I am always doing well by doing what God has me do. And He will bring His good with what He guides me to do, no matter how soon Jesus is coming, or how later.
Keep it simple.
Some people fear nothingness which doesn't make much sense because if there is nothing, then you wouldn't know.
Could contradicting teachings cancel each other out in minds of believers and cause lack of passion or idleness? Or worse, cause destructive, counter-productive actions?
For example, I was thinking about
- “love your neighbour and preach the good news to all corners of the world”
- “this world is ending, perhaps any day now. there will be very few saved, the gate is narrow”
For example, would you write to all churches in the world the following? “Stop teaching the end of the world Right Now! Start teaching possibly a 100,000 year future ahead of us! Every human being eventually hearing the true gospel by our hard work! The Christians one day comprising the 100% of the world’s population!”
Not “it’s all going to burn” and “no matter what you do, a narrow gate is all we’ll have”… Such ideas are like killing the drive.
It’s like hiring an employee and telling them, “You’ll earn $100k a year but the tax man is arresting our accounts next Friday”… Would you be all hyped up about the $100k income labouring like a bee or rather sit on your hands pretending to be working till your next and only weekly paycheck?
So if we say in math terms.
Given:
Idea 1 = I1
Idea 2 = I2
I1 and I2 are natural numbers
Human Action = A
A = I1 + I2
Positive idea: + Ix > 0
Negative idea - Ix < 0
Neutral idea Ix = 0
where x ∈ {1,2}
Possible outcomes for A:
1) I1 and I2 both positive
A = + I1 + I2 > 0
Positive human action, its value is greater than each individual idea
2) I1 and I2 both negative
A = - I1 - I2 < 0
Negative human action, its value is lesser than each individual idea
3) I1 is positive and I2 is negative
there are two possible sub-outcomes:
a) If I1 > I2, then
A = + I1 - I2 > 0
Positive human action, its value is lesser than the positive idea I1
b) If I1 < I2
A = + I1 - I2 < 0
Negative human action, its value is greater than the negative idea I2