Hi Max,
Personally, I believe a true story and not a legend, as you have proposed, better illustrates Positive Christian morality and the Christian life. This is a story I have often used to illustrate the mature Christian believer and his effect upon our world:
A GENUINE CHRISTIAN
John Ruskin (1819-1900), was an artist, scientist, poet, environmentalist, philosopher, and the pre-eminent art critic of his time. Ruskin taught Pre-Raphaelite style drawing at the Working Men's College in London for some years. He left London and became Slade Professor of Art at Oxford (where there is an art college named after him) and then moved to the Lake District where he helped to start the Environmental Movement.
One evening during the latter part of his life in the late 1800s, John Ruskin, artist, scientist, poet, and philosopher --- sat at a window in his home watching a lamplighter, with torch in hand, ignite the street lamps on a distant hill. Since it was dark the lamplighter himself could not be seen, but his progress up the hill could be observed as successive lamps were lighted.
After a few minutes Ruskin turned to a friend and said, "That illustrates what I mean by a genuine Christian. You may not know him or ever see him, but his way has been marked by the lights he leaves burning."
Written by Ralph L. Woods in The Guideposts Treasury of Faith.
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
I am curious, Bill about something.
Do you even read my posts before you begin your mental work on concocting an answer? My post here was not intended to illustrate 'Positive Christian morality and the Christian life'.
It is a short essay on the mechanisms that any given society uses to determine its own mores and values. I guess your Ruskin example is a part of the fabric of Judeo-Christian social value, but it does little to address the larger scope of what I wrote. Society neither needs, nor demands that Christianity impact its own truths.
Ruskin was a notable figure in Western History, to be sure. However, he is today most remembered for his quotation on the entrances to Baskin-Robbins ice cream stores.
Max
Do you even read my posts before you begin your mental work on concocting an answer? My post here was not intended to illustrate 'Positive Christian morality and the Christian life'.
It is a short essay on the mechanisms that any given society uses to determine its own mores and values. I guess your Ruskin example is a part of the fabric of Judeo-Christian social value, but it does little to address the larger scope of what I wrote. Society neither needs, nor demands that Christianity impact its own truths.
Ruskin was a notable figure in Western History, to be sure. However, he is today most remembered for his quotation on the entrances to Baskin-Robbins ice cream stores.
Max
Forum readers,
Bill is so predictable!
Watch for this as you read these discussion threads. When Gray is boxed in, he gives a non-responsive silly post. It is his way of diversion, which is a common trait of manipulative personalities.
Max
Max
Bill is so predictable!
Watch for this as you read these discussion threads. When Gray is boxed in, he gives a non-responsive silly post. It is his way of diversion, which is a common trait of manipulative personalities.
Max
Max
quote:Originally posted by Max Kuster:
Forum readers,
Bill is so predictable!
Watch for this as you read these discussion threads. When Gray is boxed in, he gives a non-responsive silly post. It is his way of diversion, which is a common trait of manipulative personalities.
Max
Max
Hi Max,
Sorry I caused you to stutter, Max, Max -- but, possibly you are right. Maybe my three years of butting heads with atheists, agnostics, New Agers, and a few Liberals has caused me to start posting silly responses like them.
I must be careful in the future. I would not want to become guilty of following the Cutesy Atheist Manual in my responses.
Max, Max, thank you for the warning.
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
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The irony of Bill's cut-and-paste answer is choice.
Bill, I find additional irony in that the most Christian thing you have posted this year was written by someone else, and it is completely contrary to your actions.
Bill, I find additional irony in that the most Christian thing you have posted this year was written by someone else, and it is completely contrary to your actions.
nash , for what it's worth , i appreciate your approach.quote:Originally posted by NashBama:quote:Originally posted by yvan:
Hello, everyone,
I’m a newbie here and I am searching for truth. I consider myself a Christian because I believe in Jesus Christ even if I don’t belong to any Christian church at this time. I was born and raised inside a Christian sect with its leader consider himself a messenger of God. He supports his claim with verses from the Bible.
As I grew up, I began to question this claim and went on to read the Bible myself. By the way, this sect does not encourage members to read the Bible by themselves because supposedly, only its ministers are given the ability by the Holy Spirit to interpret the Bible. Anyone can not just read the Bible himself because he might be led to interpret it the wrong way.
This sect also claims to be the re-established Church of Christ in these “last days”. It teaches that the Church established by Christ in the first century was apostatized after all the apostles died and the “ravenous wolves in sheep’s clothing” crept into the church and introduce false and demonic teachings. The Church allegedly continued but the teachings were changed and have become the Holy Roman Catholic Apostolic Church.
This church teaches that it is the “only true church” and the members are the only people on this planet that Jesus will save come “judgment day”.
Nice story and a lot of people believed it. Members are now in the millions. I used to believe it and was a very active member. I don’t believe it anymore. So, I got out from that church and I began my search for the truth.
I investigated many different Christian chruches and most of them are saying the same thing- that their church is the only true church. So nowadays with literally hundreds of different Christian churches or sects not to mention the other religions outside of Christianity claiming the same thing, it is very hard to find the truth. Is it possible that they are all right? Or can they all wrong? What do you people here think? I’m still searching.
yvan
We have similar backgrounds. I grew up CoC which led me to believe there was no God. Through my own research and experiences, I changed my mind. Even then, it was hard to learn about Christianity because so many churches get in the way.
The best thing you can do at this point is don't try to force yourself into a church. Stay away from them. Learn more on your own, read everything you can and consider everything objectively. If any church claims to be the one true church, run as fast as you can. Pray for direction and for God to place you where He wants you, you'll find somewhere in time. For now, just keep learning, reading, and thinking for yourself.
The church my wife and I found doesn't preach that "true church" junk. It's about learning to live a better life according to Christ's instructions. It looks at the Bible from an academic perspective, dissecting entire books instead of bouncing around all the time. The focus is on worship through learning and community, which is what church should be about.
Just keep your mind open and keep thinking.