You definitely have to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.I think I'm gonna stay right outa there. There was something spiritually deadening and grace robbing about the place. The experience reminded me of when the Holy Spirit wouldn't let the Apostles preach to word in the region of Asia, as mentioned in Acts. Something was telling me that the mission I was on was not blessed.
Go to all the threads you no longer wish to respond to and hit "unwatch" at the top of the page, and respond to posts in a friendlier setting. It is important to note, there will always be someone wrong on the internet, if you need to overcome the covetous desire to prove people wrong, confess the sin and pray for help. Once you feel "released" (if this is the case) then use the unwatch button and post in other places.How can I be delivered from the insidious trap of... ... ... General Theology?!!! Please help!
Go to all the threads you no longer wish to respond to and hit "unwatch" at the top of the page, and respond to posts in a friendlier setting. It is important to note, there will always be someone wrong on the internet, if you need to overcome the covetous desire to prove people wrong, confess the sin and pray for help. Once you feel "released" (if this is the case) then use the unwatch button and post in other places.
That's what helps me anyway.
This is what is the hardest thing to endure. I feel like I had become afflicted with "Therapist burnout" after just a little while.It can be difficult, and terribly grieving, to see how misguided some people have been.
This is what is the hardest thing to endure. I feel like I had become afflicted with "Therapist burnout" after just a little while.
I know. It's hard for me to listen to what they say, because of how aware I have become of the mechanisms which have been at work inside of them, which have brought them to where they are, some of whom seem to have crossed the threshold of no return. I can become both frustrated and deeply saddened. But I agree that some may be saved, and so there is still potential value in our posts. I don't think that we can do that without doing things to take care of ourselves: certain things that help to "take care of the caregiver", as they say. Thus, I come back here to vent in hopes of getting emotional support.I know what you mean.
And they are usually oblivious. For many of them, it's just about arguing, as if being strident makes their points true. Of course - they believe they ARE true.
Honestly ... it's better (IMO) to share the truth, truly cultivate care and love for people, but watch for those whom God has brought to a point of readiness. I think I see more and more that it is God's doing, not ours. I think we can make nothing happen. Just care for folks, pray for them, and offer truth to whoever is ready to receive it.
I know. It's hard for me to listen to what they say, because of how aware I have become of the mechanisms which have been at work inside of them, which have brought them to where they are, some of whom seem to have crossed the threshold of no return. I can become both frustrated and deeply saddened. But I agree that some may be saved, and so there is still potential value in our posts. I don't think that we can do that without doing things to take care of ourselves: certain things that help to "take care of the caregiver", as they say. Thus, I come back here to vent in hopes of getting emotional support.
Thanks to all of you who understand.
That's cool.We may have different approaches and different sensitivities (or not) ... but yes, I can understand from my own pov exactly what you are saying.
Maybe you're right, maybe it's because I can see from their point of view (often, since I've probably been there) but I can also see what's against them, and .... ah, the whole mess of it. I get spiritually a little tired just thinking about it.
We must absolutely take care of ourselves. I can tell there is a line there (and I've crossed it a few times) ... when I get out there I am without the grace of God and trying to do it on my own - which in my case both tempts pride and then invites despair since I probably fall flat.
Sometimes I wish I could live part-time or at least often visit a monastery. There is something in that kind of focus that would help. But I'm just here in my regular life. So I need to remember to try to recharge myself as well.
I try not to think any are so wrapped up in how they think that they are beyond escaping it. Or if I think they might be, I try to be blind to that. It grieves too much. My husband likes to quote some popular (probably evangelical) pastor who apparently remarked something about throwing a stone into a pack of dogs, and the one that yelps is the one you hit. I'm not sure if the original intent was this, but what I DO sometimes see is a very great flurry of arguments against when they are at the threshold of opening the door to truth. So while I'm not inclined to argue, just give info, I try to remember that one just might be on the verge of allowing himself to really investigate what Christianity always believed.
I guess I try to think positively after all.