I can live with persecution and hate, even when someone suggests I am a devil worshipper, a weed, or that I violate God's Law as stated in the Bible.
I didn't say that you were. I just pointed out that I see a very strong resemblance in the creed I saw among the devil worshippers I worked with a decade ago and in your own words. I do not think you are one, but I do think you are sorely mistaken on many issues. And sometimes the best way to get someone to reflect on their own position is to tell them a littlebit about it from a new angle.
Persecution and hate are spiritual in nature. It is when the physical results of planes being used to kill, beheadings, adultery, and homosexual activity occur that there is a need for a physical response.
Persecution and hate should be rebuked, but there needs to be a physical response when a physical act of evil occurs.
And why? The bible prescribes the death penalty for more things than those you know.
God is in Heaven and Christians are on the Earth.
A lot of people think God is just going to reach down and fix everything if they and other Christians would live a perfect/sin free life. But then they do not live sin free lives so they do not blame God when God does not fix things.
That's not what I did though. I merely stated that there are certain rules He has set down. Rules I do not believe you really want to follow. Well, who does? But it's what we are called to do. Hard though it may be.
You know, God's wrath will pour down on whom He sees fit on judgement day. I do not want to add to that suffering. I would love for them to escape it. And killing them will not help anyone closer to the love of God. It'll seal their fate, that's all.
I believe the way God intends to "repay" is by providing the Bible to Christians on Earth so that Christians know good and evil. I believe God expects Christians on Earth to take actions on earth to rebuke or eliminate evil in a manner consistent with the Bible.
Which is to repay hatred with love. If someone hits you, do not hit back. If someone steals from you, give more than he asks for. If someone wants you dead, pray for him and do good onto him.
Christians will never be perfect so I totally expect Christians will make mistakes such as people being wrongly executed, civilians killed, needy neglected, etc., but we are seeing the disastrous effects of Christians on earth doing nothing and expecting God to do everything.
Yes, I agree. T your words, but probably not what you mean by them. I want to abide by laws. I want to see people saved. I want to see poverty eradicated.
A lot of Christians take great pride in their charity work. Why not let God take care of that also?
We were not put here to fight and spread violence and hatred. We were put here to spread peace and love.
I believe God is both Love and Righteousness and I believe God intends Christians to also be both Love and Righteousness.
I agree. But I don't think what you advocate is righteousness. You can check the statistics yourself, the US, where your way is the closest to being met, is infested with crime and problems we do not have. When you kill someone for murder in the US, we are more prone to looking into how it happened, why it happened and how we can keep other people from getting in the same position. It turns out our modern lifestyle has a negative influence on our psyche and can in some cases help cause violent behavior. Want to increase peace? Have people eat healthier diets. That's one real and fact-based way to combat crime. In the US your consumption and capitalistic focus has increased the consumption of fast food which has a documented effect on the human psyche, at times causing violent behavior.
So why do I mention this? Simpl. Killing someone for killing someone else may be a gross injustice. Because the murderer may have been sick at the time of the killing. And - through study of murderers - sick and sane - we may determine what causes murders and kill no tthe murderers but the cause of the murders in the first place. One such root to attack is the current approach to nutrition. Another (I believe) is the lack of physical exercise.
You say there is a new covenant, but isn't the new covenant the same as the Ten Commandments but written on the heart of man instead of stone tablets.
Yes, the law is still valid. But the punishment is not. Sin is still sin, but Jesus took the punishment on Himself. And Jesus told us to love every other human being as He loved us. That means that we should be ready to die for the most decrepit and sinful human being on the face of the earth. A pedophile murderer/rapist who has also committed genocide is still someone we should be ready to die for. If we take Jesus' words directly.
I commend you for your love and good works to the needy, but I believe there needs to be good works against evil. I know it is scary to possible make a mistake, but that should make Christians appreciate God and pray for wisdom even more.
I agree that good work against evil needs to be done, and I commend you for your will and desire to combat evil That is sorely(!!!) needed these days. Alas I believe your approach is very wrong. Killing the fathers of unborn children for fornication will not solve the problem of who will raise the child. It will not help the child seek God when he/she is born. It will not do any good. It is better - if harder - to enforce strong and good morals through example and good works rather than through whips and electric chairs.
This gets back to the question of "will good overcome evil?" My answer is "Evil will flourish when good men do nothing". There is great evil in the world because good men are doing nothing to rebuke or eradicate evil. The judicial system of America is even legalizing evil because good men refuse to elect Christians to government positions. The death penalty is being eliminated and any nation that tries to eliminate evil by war is considered to be worse than the original evil that started the war.
Your nation started the war in both Afghanistan and Iraq. And yes, I would go to war and fight if against an aggressor. Once Iraq was invaded I contemplated joining the army there to do my bit. Even though I opposed the war. Why? They need someone - as many as possible - to uphold the law and keep structure there now that you blew it away.
But I will not be the aggressor.
Coexistence of Love and Righteousness
It may not be possible for Love and Righteousness to coexist except as God. God made both man and female. I believe women are more representative of Love and men are more representative of Righteousness. I believe Liberal Christians favor Love and Conservative Christians favor Righteousness.
I hope you are right. My impression of the group Americans call conservatives is that they are more prone to advocate vengeance, exclusion and greed than righteousness though. Sorry, but it's the conservatives who wanted an illegal war against an enemy of terrorism. That's not righteousness. Thankfully though, conservatives can be a lot of different things. Just as liberals can be. Maybe you are right.
Both Liberal Christians and Conservative Christians need to be more tolerant of each other.
I can definitely agree to that point.
Liberal Christians need to realize that a lot of international organizations like the UN, international red cross, amnesty international, etc., take a very pious position, but they can all be summed up in one word, "Observers". The Geneva Convention is an international document of pious positions that do more harm than good
Why do you think so? Do you want landmines in the US where your kids would be kille for decades after the end of a war? Would you want your people tortured by your enemy, and the torture OKed by the international community?
You may need to read up on what the UN has accomplished. Yes, it may seem weak and fragile. But it needs to be an objective third party with the trust from all sides in a conflict in order to work properly. If it becomes partial prematurely, irrepearable harm is done.
The UN and other international organizations are observers. They watch a rape, but never get their hands dirty by doing anything to stop the rape. They keep statistics on rape and pass pious legislation that rape is horrible and should be outlawed, but then they watch the rapes occur.
The UN is always there to offer food, water and assistance to both the raper and the rape victim. This only creates a situation where another rape is inevitable.
A truth with modification. And I can see why it would anger someone. But if the UN is to intervene without any delay in situations such as this their mandate must be expanded, and that might do more harm than good. Albeit, I fully agree that if the UN could be a police force capable of stopping any such rape, kidnapping or torture, ready and able to go into any capital and arrest any leader with his or her entourage provided they had broken international law then that would be a good thing. Provided they would not be in a position which could then be abused by powerful and corrupt individuals. Which of course could happen. Besides, G.W. Bush and his croneys would have been arrested long ago if such a force existed. And the result may have been fighting on the streets in Washington, and loads of internal strife in the US. As I am no doubt sure you'd agree, arresting Bush might cause quite a ruckus in the US had it happened when he declared war on Iraq. But a capable and powerful police force would have done so anyway. Right?
Many charity organization save people from famine, but then only assure the next famine will involve more people. Too much communal charity is worthless because the heart of the person receiving the charity is not changed. It may be that a family has to starve to death because they refuse to make the statement, "as for my house, we will follow the Lord"
What about microloans? What about missions agencies work to start businesses, remove malaria, ensure an education and such. That's a form of charity too.
I believe Conservative Christians are aware of the potential mistakes of righteousness but are unfairly criticized for their good works to bring a permanent resolution to problems instead of a temporary resolution.
Can you give any examples please?
In the three levels of action with an issue, the Liberal Christian would favor the tolerance of evil, and the Conservative Christian would favor the rebuking and destruction of evil.
That may be an accurate assessment.
I believe Conservative Christians and Liberal Christians need to work together for God's glory.
Amen. We are all one big family. Disagreements and all.
BUT - it must be
crystal clear that love is not a liberal or a conservative thing. God did not call some of us to love our neighbors and some of us to punish them. He called us
ALL to love our neighbors. His call does not exclude anyone.