One of the things the bible says is that we'll be known by our fruits. It seems to me there are certain personality traits we can expect to be common among Christians. Love, generosity, grace, selflessness and the like.
What seems to show up too often are traits that have to do with protecting what's "ours" (and which, if asked, most Christians would say was given to them by God in the first place), anger and indignation (mostly at those who see things in a different way from how we see them), and the like. If we can be kown by our fruits, who are we really?
Our behavior, in this case what we post, is always consistent with our beliefs. Fear is something that affects people deeply. Fear often results in anger. Fear, and misdirected anger, oppose our Christian beliefs and distort our focus toward loss of our "rights", loss of our possessions, loss of our freedom. These are all things that God gives us, but when fear takes over we feel threatened and often act in ways that show no faith in God's sovereignty and His power to oversee us and what He has given us.
Again and again in these forums I'll see a post and wonder: "if I had to guess between Jesus saying that and Satan saying it, who would I see as more likely being the author?" What I'm talking about here are mostly posts that attack and degrade another rather than making an attempt to understand and reconclie.
I believe fear and selfishness are common tactics used by our true enemy. When he succeeds, the love that comes from God apparently gets threatened as well and we respond with primitive anger as we try to protect what we never earned in the first place - those things that come from God and His grace.
What seems to show up too often are traits that have to do with protecting what's "ours" (and which, if asked, most Christians would say was given to them by God in the first place), anger and indignation (mostly at those who see things in a different way from how we see them), and the like. If we can be kown by our fruits, who are we really?
Our behavior, in this case what we post, is always consistent with our beliefs. Fear is something that affects people deeply. Fear often results in anger. Fear, and misdirected anger, oppose our Christian beliefs and distort our focus toward loss of our "rights", loss of our possessions, loss of our freedom. These are all things that God gives us, but when fear takes over we feel threatened and often act in ways that show no faith in God's sovereignty and His power to oversee us and what He has given us.
Again and again in these forums I'll see a post and wonder: "if I had to guess between Jesus saying that and Satan saying it, who would I see as more likely being the author?" What I'm talking about here are mostly posts that attack and degrade another rather than making an attempt to understand and reconclie.
I believe fear and selfishness are common tactics used by our true enemy. When he succeeds, the love that comes from God apparently gets threatened as well and we respond with primitive anger as we try to protect what we never earned in the first place - those things that come from God and His grace.
