How confusing is it to be human (from my perspective)

[AustinS]

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Romans 7:24

Subject to death. That seems to linger in my head. As I identify as a Christian, I may very well be, the complete opposite. Here's why: I have given up on trying to do the "right" thing.
Lately, I've been reading a book about pride. Not just any book over pride, a CHRISTIAN one. This book is a good read, it honestly showed me what a crappy person I am. BUT, if it wasn't for that book I wouldn't have realized WHY I was miserable, and also WHY people don't want to talk to me.

Proud,smug,haughty. These are the things I am and will be. I got to be this way when I got saved by Jesus. Now I am not blaming Jesus for making me proud,smug,haughty, but, myself. See, peeps my issue here is that I got very caught up in being good here's why. "Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them." John 14:21. Sounds good right? Well the more I tried to "keep" them, the more I became disgusted at the "sinners" and "non believers". My very best friend is a atheist, and we had a couple of those 'oh crap not these subjects conversations'. It created so much friction between us. He couldn't speak about anything "immoral" without offending me. Now who wants to hangout with someone like that? So I became the very thing I hate. A hypocrite. "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." Romans 7:15.

I became angry with myself. I became tired of putting on the fake shell that I was so used too. I wasn't a even person anymore. All I tried to do was be perfect and please God but in the process becoming a judgemental monster. "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" Matthew 7:3. Blind is what I am and what I've become.

What I've changed and now done. I am now a frequent sinner as per textbook definition, and well I simply don't hold back my former self. The self that's always been in me but has been crushed by the weight of do right. Now here's my take: life isn't going to be about being perfect at all. In fact there's no point to it. No point into forcing myself to be something I am not. I simply going to live out my sinful life as it is.

Now on the flip, here's my new grand philosophy on the bible. I no longer see myself as the better one in God's eye rather that, I am the same as every other dirty human. So now with that in place, I am free to discuss everything and anything with my atheist friend. I remember why we became friends in the first place. lol. Not only so, I can find what I feel as a real meaning to live. To serve others. That's right. To simply help others for the sake of helping. Nothing more. What else can you do? What is the point of living then? “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34.

There it is to me in nutshell. I simply don't care if I swear or if I think of a woman lustfully. It's more important to me to be real about reality and serve others than anything else. What else matters? We all die anyways... and that's another topic. Im tired of writing this thing. Leave ur comments peeps. peace.

 

[GrowingSmaller]

Well, I have tried Christianity and some of the virtues are ok, and pro life and pro social. But I found some were not for me, and I changed faith to Islam. My main comment would be just because its your faith, and because its in a "holy book" doesnt logically imply its automatically true, proper, correct and right. For you as a "selfish" individual, or for the wider commiunity. It seems we have to be critical of our own concepts of virtue, of right and wrong etc. I have developed my personal concept of secular ethics (rational attraction to being). This has interwoven itself with my faith, and correlatively helped me understand my religion better. So, I recommend the same to you. Hang round here, and listen to what people have to say, and develop your reasoning and critical skills.

 

[grasping the after wind]

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Romans 7:24

Subject to death. That seems to linger in my head. As I identify as a Christian, I may very well be, the complete opposite. Here's why: I have given up on trying to do the "right" thing.
Lately, I've been reading a book about pride. Not just any book over pride, a CHRISTIAN one. This book is a good read, it honestly showed me what a crappy person I am. BUT, if it wasn't for that book I wouldn't have realized WHY I was miserable, and also WHY people don't want to talk to me.

Proud,smug,haughty. These are the things I am and will be. I got to be this way when I got saved by Jesus. Now I am not blaming Jesus for making me proud,smug,haughty, but, myself. See, peeps my issue here is that I got very caught up in being good here's why. "Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them." John 14:21. Sounds good right? Well the more I tried to "keep" them, the more I became disgusted at the "sinners" and "non believers". My very best friend is a atheist, and we had a couple of those 'oh crap not these subjects conversations'. It created so much friction between us. He couldn't speak about anything "immoral" without offending me. Now who wants to hangout with someone like that? So I became the very thing I hate. A hypocrite. "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." Romans 7:15.

I became angry with myself. I became tired of putting on the fake shell that I was so used too. I wasn't a even person anymore. All I tried to do was be perfect and please God but in the process becoming a judgemental monster. "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" Matthew 7:3. Blind is what I am and what I've become.

What I've changed and now done. I am now a frequent sinner as per textbook definition, and well I simply don't hold back my former self. The self that's always been in me but has been crushed by the weight of do right. Now here's my take: life isn't going to be about being perfect at all. In fact there's no point to it. No point into forcing myself to be something I am not. I simply going to live out my sinful life as it is.

Now on the flip, here's my new grand philosophy on the bible. I no longer see myself as the better one in God's eye rather that, I am the same as every other dirty human. So now with that in place, I am free to discuss everything and anything with my atheist friend. I remember why we became friends in the first place. lol. Not only so, I can find what I feel as a real meaning to live. To serve others. That's right. To simply help others for the sake of helping. Nothing more. What else can you do? What is the point of living then? “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34.

There it is to me in nutshell. I simply don't care if I swear or if I think of a woman lustfully. It's more important to me to be real about reality and serve others than anything else. What else matters? We all die anyways... and that's another topic. Im tired of writing this thing. Leave ur comments peeps. peace.

Problem arises when thinking lustfully of a woman keeps you from seeing her as a human that deserves to be loved. Still being a hypocrite then aren't you. don't worry. we all are hypocrites no matter what religious or non religious philosophy one espouses. You seem to be somewhat on the right track but I would caution you to not think you have arrived at your destination yet. This Christianity thing involves a life long learning experience. You have learned that pride sucks and makes you a really insufferable person. Hopefully you have come to the realization that you can't get God to like you better than he already does by sucking up to him. He is kind of smart and can see through that kind of garbage and nothing you do will get him to love you more than he does or less than he does. He's going to love you whether you like it or not or whether you are an insufferable self righteous hypocrite or a wanton unrepentent sinner. Being "good" did not work for you the way you thought it would so don't be surprised if "loving your neighbor" doesn't get you what you want either.
As an aside, I am curious as to why so many people seem to be so attached to swearing. By swearing I am assuming you mean saying words that are not considered socially proper rather than taking an oath.
Sorry to be stripping you of one of the sins you want to engage in but it isn't the swearing that is sinful but the pride you take in the reaction you get from it. I know you thought you were leaving all that pride stuff behind but sinners can be as proud and arrogant as the self righteous. They just take pride in different things is all. IMO the humble are not those that are lacking pride and arrogance . The humble are the ones that realize they are arrogant and proud without a good reason for being so.

 

[Dialogist]

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Romans 7:24

Subject to death. That seems to linger in my head. As I identify as a Christian, I may very well be, the complete opposite. Here's why: I have given up on trying to do the "right" thing.
Lately, I've been reading a book about pride. Not just any book over pride, a CHRISTIAN one. This book is a good read, it honestly showed me what a crappy person I am. BUT, if it wasn't for that book I wouldn't have realized WHY I was miserable, and also WHY people don't want to talk to me.

Proud,smug,haughty. These are the things I am and will be. I got to be this way when I got saved by Jesus. Now I am not blaming Jesus for making me proud,smug,haughty, but, myself. See, peeps my issue here is that I got very caught up in being good here's why. "Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them." John 14:21. Sounds good right? Well the more I tried to "keep" them, the more I became disgusted at the "sinners" and "non believers". My very best friend is a atheist, and we had a couple of those 'oh crap not these subjects conversations'. It created so much friction between us. He couldn't speak about anything "immoral" without offending me. Now who wants to hangout with someone like that? So I became the very thing I hate. A hypocrite. "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." Romans 7:15.

I became angry with myself. I became tired of putting on the fake shell that I was so used too. I wasn't a even person anymore. All I tried to do was be perfect and please God but in the process becoming a judgemental monster. "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" Matthew 7:3. Blind is what I am and what I've become.

What I've changed and now done. I am now a frequent sinner as per textbook definition, and well I simply don't hold back my former self. The self that's always been in me but has been crushed by the weight of do right. Now here's my take: life isn't going to be about being perfect at all. In fact there's no point to it. No point into forcing myself to be something I am not. I simply going to live out my sinful life as it is.

Now on the flip, here's my new grand philosophy on the bible. I no longer see myself as the better one in God's eye rather that, I am the same as every other dirty human. So now with that in place, I am free to discuss everything and anything with my atheist friend. I remember why we became friends in the first place. lol. Not only so, I can find what I feel as a real meaning to live. To serve others. That's right. To simply help others for the sake of helping. Nothing more. What else can you do? What is the point of living then? “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34.

There it is to me in nutshell. I simply don't care if I swear or if I think of a woman lustfully. It's more important to me to be real about reality and serve others than anything else. What else matters? We all die anyways... and that's another topic. Im tired of writing this thing. Leave ur comments peeps. peace.

Thank you for sharing this.

It says that you are non-denominational, so I don't know what particular Christian beliefs you might have held/currently hold. But I will share my thoughts on all this from an Orthodox Christian perspective.

In the Gospel according to Matthew, the very first thing that Jesus said when He began His ministry was not, "Believe in Me and you will be saved!", but rather Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! (v.17).

Many Christians, I think, understand this verse to mean something like "Be sorry for your sins and turn to God, or you will be going to hell." But this is not at all, I think, what this verse tells us.

The word "Repent" in Greek is metanoia, which has at its root the Greek word nous, which is that faculty in man through which one perceives the inner essences of things. Some translate metanoia as a change of mind, but nous does not mean "mind" - there is a different word for that, dianoia (also with nous at its root). It is the nous and not the dianoia which allows us to see God, provided we are pure of heart (Matthew 5:8).

Thus, repentance is not a simple change of mind, wherein we make a rational decision to turn to God (although that is part of it). It is, in effect, a complete transformation of our being, starting at our spiritual heart (nous). It is not a one time event that is required before making some sort of affirmation of faith so that we may be "saved", but is rather an on-going process that should consume the rest of our life.

The reason that the Lord gives for us to repent is that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. In the Gospel according to Luke we read:

And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for behold, the kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:20-21).​

The Corinthians, I think, struggled with many of the things you write of. Corinth, during the time of the Apostles, was a sort of Las Vegas of its day. It had the reputation for being a very libertine place. Paul writes to the congregation there, for example:

It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you (1 Corinthians 5:1-2).
​

But there was, I think, more than righteous indignation in this. There was a very practical reason why Paul admonished the Corinthians and it involved more than being sent to hell. For we read his follow-on letter to them:

For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people (2 Corinthians 6:16).​

I think there is a mistaken impression among many Christians that once we accept Christ, that we are somehow purified for life and should not be subject to the kinds of things you refer to. In fact, Scripture directly contradicts this. Be sober, writes Peter, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he might devour (1 Peter 5:8).

There was in the original King James Version one particular passage (the book that it was in is excluded from most modern editions) that I personally find very helpful:

My son, if thou come to serve the Lord, prepare thy soul for temptation.
Set thy heart aright, and constantly endure, and make not haste in time of trouble.
Cleave unto him, and depart not away, that thou mayest be increased at thy last end.
Whatsoever is brought upon thee take cheerfully, and be patient when thou art changed to a low estate.
For gold is tried in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of adversity.
Believe in him, and he will help thee; order thy way aright, and trust in him (Sirach 2:1-6)
​

Forgive me if none of this is very helpful, but it is what occurs to me at the moment.

 

[KWCrazy]

Christian means "of Christ." This means we've given our lives to Him.
We strive to be like Him as we can, knowing that it's a daily struggle and that we will fail every time. It's not that our actions are always pure, but the desire in our hearts to act in a way that pleases the Lord is our conviction. Yes, we are sinful creatures, but there is no satisfaction in sin for a Christian; only guilt.

When we were born again we were given a great gift; the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit indwells with us and is our connection to the Father. When we sin He convicts our hearts and we feel guilty, so we pray to the Lord for forgiveness and the slate is wiped clean. Still, we are transient beings in a temporary body that has a limited amount of time allotted to it. One day we will come to be with the Lord. The treasures we lay up in Heaven by the way we live our lives here will determine our status for all eternity. So maybe you fail today or tomorrow, but do not delight in your sin and wallow in your guilt. You will never be happy because you will always know that your life is not pleasing to the Father. It's not enough to make it to Heaven. We should strive to be exalted in heaven. We do this by giving each day to the Lord and struggling each day to be a better person than we were the day before. It isn't easy.

When we learn a truth we don't have the luxury of ignoring it. Discovering that God is real and accepting the sacrifice of His Son brings with it a wonderful retirement plan but in the mean time you will be as a sheep in the midst of wolves. If you become like the pack how is God to recognize you as any different? Better to lead the pack to the truth.

It's sad that many reject the Lord and become atheists. It's sad that many reject the sacrifice of Christ and fall into the false doctrine of Islam. It's sad that many pretend they can find peace while living in discord with the will of God. Your Father who loves you wants your life to be one of peace and happiness. Such peace comes only from the Lord.

 

[SkyWriting]

What I've changed and now done. I am now a frequent sinner as per textbook definition, and well I simply don't hold back my former self.

That is a series of events I can relate to. You change your life out of appreciation for what God has done.
You also meet people where they are and love them fully without judgment, because God did that for you too.