• Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.

  • CF has always been a site that welcomes people from different backgrounds and beliefs to participate in discussion and even debate. That is the nature of its ministry. In view of recent events emotions are running very high. We need to remind people of some basic principles in debating on this site. We need to be civil when we express differences in opinion. No personal attacks. Avoid you, your statements. Don't characterize an entire political party with comparisons to Fascism or Communism or other extreme movements that committed atrocities. CF is not the place for broad brush or blanket statements about groups and political parties. Put the broad brushes and blankets away when you come to CF, better yet, put them in the incinerator. Debate had no place for them. We need to remember that people that commit acts of violence represent themselves or a small extreme faction.
Status
Not open for further replies.

spiritwinds

Senior Member
Apr 25, 2007
582
88
✟23,694.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Private
I wish everyone a blessed weekend. Rest, relax, and enjoy the company of family or friends. But most importantly, spend time alone with our Great Father; commune and find soltitude with him. He will give you peace in your heart and in your soul. There is no other way to find peace expect to walk with the Prince of Peace.

Spirit Wind



 
Upvote 0

kanga22

Senior Member
Jul 19, 2004
616
55
Michigan
✟23,522.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Private
Politics
US-Libertarian


I agree. Recently I lost a friend of 25 years because of misunderstood email. I would add to your advice that any conversation, outside of short and sweet factual exchanges, should NOT be emailed either.
 
Upvote 0

kanga22

Senior Member
Jul 19, 2004
616
55
Michigan
✟23,522.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Private
Politics
US-Libertarian

WOW. Thank you for sharing this. It is fantastic to be reminded of how high we should place our standard.
 
Reactions: spiritwinds
Upvote 0

spiritwinds

Senior Member
Apr 25, 2007
582
88
✟23,694.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Private



Good morning everyone. I pray that you have a blessed day in the Lord. Remember to be thankful for the many blessings that our Great Father has given you. Be thankful for all things in your life. Give to those in need, be humble, compassionate, and patient. Cherish each moment with your loved ones and your friends.

 
Upvote 0
H

HeReignsInMe

Guest
Wow how true that is thank you spiritwinds for the enlightenment......this is such a great story, thanks for sharing such wise words.

Be blessed,

Melissa
 
Upvote 0
H

HeReignsInMe

Guest
Thank you and the same to you sister.

G-d bless you and yours and all who read this.

His peace,

Melissa
 
Reactions: spiritwinds
Upvote 0

spiritwinds

Senior Member
Apr 25, 2007
582
88
✟23,694.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Private
Only around 2% of American Indians today are Christians, even though there has been over 500 years of attempted christianizing of the indigenous peoples. Although I am not full-blood, I have encountered great hostility and criticism from other white Christians because I have embraced my Cherokee and Choctaw heritage. I have been told numerous times that I cannot be Indian and Christian at the same time. I must be one or the other. I have been told that to embrace my heritage is to betray my faith. I do not embrace the spirituality of my Ancestors, although I believe it has been greatly misunderstood by many who are not of Indian descent. Due to the pressure I felt, more than one time I have denied my Indian blood, and at other times I have walked away from my faith in defiance. Finding peace and unity between my white man and red man heritages and my Christian faith has been a great struggle for me.

There is great resentment that has taken root in many American Indians against Christianity because of what was done to our Ancestors in the name of God, and I have known of some who have left the Christian Church because they, too, have encountered great hostility and criticism from white Christians, who tell them that they must worship our Great Father as the white Christians worship him. Now I see this as a tremendous problem for the Christian Church, but I do not see many from either side who have the desire to help resolve this problem. Forgiveness, healing, and peace need to the take place of hate, racism, and resentment. I would like to open a dialogue in the hopes that we can learn from one another, and be encouraged to reach out to the indigenous peoples for Christ.

Nea (nigh-yah)
Spirit Wind
 
Reactions: Criada
Upvote 0

4Everloved

Legend
Apr 18, 2007
21,912
1,701
Tennessee, USA
✟51,621.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
Politics
US-Republican
I am glad you have brought this forward, spiritwinds. This issue needs to be discussed, prayed over, and acted upon in Jesus name.

And yes you can be an Indian and a Christian. Whoever tells you you can't is wrong.

The Jews in the early days did the same thing to the Gentiles. Jesus came to save the lost. He does not care what color we are, or who our ancestors were. He put color in us to make us all different so we would be like a rainbow.

But we are all one in Christ Jesus.
 
Upvote 0

spiritwinds

Senior Member
Apr 25, 2007
582
88
✟23,694.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Private



In 1854, the United States Government offered to buy two million acres of Indian land in the Northwest. Below is a translation of Chief Sealth's (Seattle) reply to resident Franklin Pierce in December of that year. It has been described as the most beautiful and prophetic statement on the environment ever made.

"The Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. The Great Chief also sends us words of friendship and good will. This is kind of him, since we know he has little need of our friendship in return. But we will consider your offer.

How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them?

Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing, and every humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. The sap which courses through the trees carries the memories of the red man. So, when the Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land, he asks much of us...

This we know: All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life; He is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. But we will consider your offer to go to the reservation you have for my people. We live apart, and in peace.

One thing we know, which the white man may one day discover -- our God is the same God. You may think now that you own Him as you wish to own our land: but you cannot.

He is the God of man; and his compassion is equal for the red man and the white. His earth is precious to Him and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its Creator. The whites too shall pass; perhaps sooner than all other tribes. Continue to contaminate your bed, and you will one night suffocate in your own waste.

But in your perishing you will shine brightly, fired by the strength of the God who brought you to this land and for some special purpose gave you dominion over this land and over the red man. That destiny is a mystery to us, for we do not understand when the buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses are tamed, and the veiw of ripe hills blotted by talking wires. Where is the thicket? Where is the eagle? Gone. And what is it to say goodbye to the swift pony and the hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival. So we will consider your offer to buy the land.

If we agree, it will be to secure the reservation you have promised. There, perhaps, we may live out our brief days as we wish. When the last red man has vanished from the earth, and his memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, these shores and forests will still hold the spirits of my people. For they love this earth as a newborne loves its mother's heartbeat. So, if we sell our land, love it as we've loved it. Care for it as we've cared for it. Hold in your mind the memory of the land as it is when you take it. And preserve it for your children, and love it... as God loves us all. One thing we know. Our God is the same God. This earth is precious to Him. Even the white man cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We shall see..."

 
Upvote 0
Status
Not open for further replies.