What's on your mind?

[DragonFox91]

I’vv been really upset the past week or so. It’s early, but I’m doing well today. Praise God!

He is there when you're upset btw.

 

[DragonFox91]

In the other thread we briefly talked about people debate when the wheat & tares get separated. Everyone agrees God eventually completely clears it up. Where the debate happens is how mixed the wheat & tares s/ now, especially in churches. Things like seeker-sensitive vs catering to the faithful.

 

[GodDoesListen55]

I cannot wait to go to sleep!

 

[DragonFox91]

God is good ALL the time......even when it doesn't seem he is.

 

[DragonFox91]

Our pastor briefly mentioned ‘cursed’ isn’t what most of human beings think it means.
Most human beings think it means something is very corrupt, that the fullness of God’s love has left it & it’s only dark & evil
What it actually means is God saying something is not good (not righteous) in its current state, or fullness
He didn’t go into more detail, I wish he would’ve. It’s something I hadn’t really heard before, but it makes so much sense w/ his consistency of character.

 

[DragonFox91]

Hymns are so good!

 

[DragonFox91]

Yesterday I was listening to a video teaching which of the famous churches teach the Prosperity Gospel. It was very interesting.

But I think something that gets ignored that I see more frequently is the Social Justice Gospel. The Social Justice Gospel is popular in cities & more frequently suburbs. It teaches Jesus’s messages were to show that wealth needs to be redistributed to the poor & that the rich are all greedy & look for ways to oppress the poor. It can tie any verse to this, & the ones it can’t, it tosses out & doesn’t believe. It reduces Jesus to just a good moral teacher & his sacrifice is just a sacrifice to show what people should do for the materially poor. We make the new earth b/c someday the greedy will come to their sense. They are big believers in convincing you to give everything to the poor tho live luxuriously themselves. They teach the only real sin is greed

I see genuine Christians criticize the Prosperity Gospel regularly & it’s definitely a false Gospel, but I see little talk about the Social Justice Gospel. It's very bad

 

[SarahsKnight]

It teaches Jesus’s messages were to show that wealth needs to be redistributed to the poor & that the rich are all greedy & look for ways to oppress the poor. It can tie any verse to this, & the ones it can’t, it tosses out & doesn’t believe. It reduces Jesus to just a good moral teacher & his sacrifice is just a sacrifice to show what people should do for the materially poor. We make the new earth b/c someday the greedy will come to their sense. They are big believers in convincing you to give everything to the poor tho live luxuriously themselves. They teach the only real sin is greed

Okay, I've never heard anyone who puts any emphasis on social justice as a Christian who should be following Jesus' teachings from the gospels claim any of these things, that all rich folk are evil oppressors, hint that you must give all or even most of your money to the poor in order to be a "true Christian (tm*)", or that any form of sin or wickedness is ultimately okay as long as it isn't greed. Whoever's been saying this or teaching it to you sounds a lot like they just want to demonize social justice so that they can have an excuse as a Christian not to bother with carrying out any of the pretty plain commands from the New Testament to care for the poor and give justice to widows and the oppressed.

(And to be sure it is not misunderstood, if I speak of social justice as a good thing that had a pretty strong basis in Jesus' teachings, I do not mean that social justice which involves shouting down with a megaphone anyone who walks by just for being a straight white man with a bit of money in his wallet. Not everything has to be an extreme.)

 

[DragonFox91]

Okay, I've never heard anyone who puts any emphasis on social justice as a Christian who should be following Jesus' teachings from the gospels claim any of these things, that all rich folk are evil oppressors, hint that you must give all or even most of your money to the poor in order to be a "true Christian (tm*)", or that any form of sin or wickedness is ultimately okay as long as it isn't greed. Whoever's been saying this or teaching it to you sounds a lot like they just want to demonize social justice so that they can have an excuse as a Christian not to bother with carrying out any of the pretty plain commands from the New Testament to care for the poor and give justice to widows and the oppressed.

(And to be sure it is not misunderstood, if I speak of social justice as a good thing that had a pretty strong basis in Jesus' teachings, I do not mean that social justice which involves shouting down with a megaphone anyone who walks by just for being a straight white man with a bit of money in his wallet. Not everything has to be an extreme.)

Couldn't be further from the truth.

Social Gospel - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

What is the social gospel? | GotQuestions.org

What is the social gospel? How is the idea of a social gospel related to the concept of social justice?

www.gotquestions.org

Christian socialism - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

It's clear based on your post the dangers of the Social Justice Gospel & its prevalence aren't spoken out enough.

It's hard finding links that explain it b/c it's something Google supports. It is very real tho, I've attended churches that preach it. & no, it's not people trying to demonize social justice. It is shouting w/ a megaphone at any straight white man w/ money in his wallet that they need to give it all the poor

You're right: they don't teach all rich folks are evil oppressors: they teach rich folks who agree w/ them are saved from being an oppressor.

The only sin isn't greed, it's all sins are because the rich are greedy & oppressing poor people.

It's a BIG problem.

Jesus says to care for the poor out of genuine love. Not as payback against the rich. Also In his time people thought only the rich were saved b/c they falsely believed it was a sign of God's favor. Jesus is teaching no, the Father loves the poor too, & the rich have their own share of problems that make it difficult for them to enter the Kingdom. Paul says nothing nothing is able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.....& that includes riches.

I understand the confusion tho, I wouldn't have known what it was if I hadn't been tied to a church that taught it.

 

[SarahsKnight]

You're right: they don't teach all rich folks are evil oppressors: they teach rich folks who agree w/ them are saved from being an oppressor.

The only sin isn't greed, it's all sins are because the rich are greedy & oppressing poor people.

It's a BIG problem.

Jesus says to care for the poor out of genuine love. Not as payback against the rich.

Again, haven't heard anyone teaching this as part of the Gospel. Or that is THE Gospel.

 

[Saucy]

Hello friends! I hope you all have a blessed Sunday!

 

[Saucy]

One of the biggest sins of Israel is that they oppressed the poor. One of the worst things that have come out of our current tribalistic politics is it has pushed the church away from caring for those in need because that's seen as a very liberal thing to do. While I don't agree with most of their politics, the one thing I do think they have right is we do need to care for those who are less fortunate, and not doing so was one of the bigger downfalls of Israel, not just idol worship.

People think Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of homosexuality, but Ezekial points out a different picture: "Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, plenty of food, and carefree ease, but she did not help the poor and needy." (Ezekiel 16:49)

 

[SarahsKnight]

People think Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of homosexuality, but Ezekial points out a different picture: "Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, plenty of food, and carefree ease, but she did not help the poor and needy." (Ezekiel 16:49)

Well, that, and the whole wanting to gang-rape angels thing.

 

[peaceful-forest]

God was fed up with their sins.

 

[GodDoesListen55]

My body is falling apart on me, lol; I need to make a change.

 

[.Mikha'el.]

My body is falling apart on me, lol; I need to make a change.

I really worry about you sometimes.

 

[DragonFox91]

I am so excited for God! Praise God!!! To God be the glory!!!

God was fed up with their sins.

It was probably a bunch of things. Evil begets evil. So Saucy isn't wrong, but to ignore the rampant sexual sinning of the cities is wrong too.

Also Jude confirms it was a lot of sexual sins. (most likely homo & hetero both)

 

[DragonFox91]

There’s a lot of churches that are being led as sheep for the slaughter. Seeds that started growing good but are being choked by thorns. Houses built on sinking sand. It grieves me. I’m trying to think it’s nothing new, Israel was constantly turning the temples to false gods. & it's not a surprise to God & he in fact foreknew it & already has it conquered.

There's a lot of false churches out there, ladies & gentlemen. I'm very grateful CF, despite our differences (some more important than others), generally seem to be unified

 

[DragonFox91]

A church I went to from when I was very young thru deep into college was bad. They didn’t believe in teaching kids. I didn’t hear John 3:16 till a high school friend assumed I knew it because everyone who goes to church knows it. I always had faith, & knew God created the world, people live in rebellion, & Jesus offers eternal life & goodness, but specific verses or anything, I didn’t know, was never taught. Bible was never taught. Just social hour. “Teachers” didn’t know, didn’t care, had no faith themselves, thought you can’t make people believe, everything. The closest thing we got was learning some of the Parables when we were still very young.

 

[DragonFox91]

TRUTH: A Gospel where God is only love is no Gospel at all. If you are preaching God is only love & 'feel good' messages, you are denying why it's such good news & it's therefore not good news. It's also just something you can find from any motivational speaker or anyone off the street