MA, I don't think you came off that way at all. I to have become a very spiritual person and more so in the past year but for me it is completely different from my faith. Just a feeling that is hard to explain but it is a great one. Do what it is that makes you feel good.
"Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes."
Well, yes she did...maybe not intentional but yeah, Nikki was letting her know during a phone call how involved I have become with our church, reading the bible daily, bible study, youth group leader, and just working on my spiritual maturity, and she made the comment "these born again Christians", and she has been the one to be going to church all these years, always reminding me to be forgiving, loving, and that God loves unconditionally (when it comes to my oldest daughter situation over the years) but then tells my wife she does not believe in heaven...interesting. I love her, but has not sat right with me. Anyway, not judging, was just taken back a bit.Originally Posted by xdude
Just checking Baby, again new to it and yes don't want to be or sound preachy, just trying to explain where I am at. I am reading a really good book right now called "Embraced By The Light" by Betty J. Eadie, a book of her near death experience, really good and worth reading. There was a part in it that hit home with me hard...
"I saw the evil in surrendering to one of Satan's greatest tools...my personal cycles of guilt and fear. I understood I had to let go of the past. If I had broken laws or sinned, I needed to change my heart, forgive myself, and then move onward. If I had hurt someone, I needed to start loving them honestly and seek their forgiveness. If I had damaged my own spirit, I needed to approach God and feel his love again, his healing love."
That is where I am at in my life, I have love of my wife, daughter, friends, and family...but still missing something...that is where I am at with my relationship with God.
Christians have been persecuted, hated, ridiculed, mocked, scoffed, etc., etc. for centuries by our own friends, family, peers, government, and the list goes on. It's how you handle the situation is what separates us from the world. We are instructed to pray for those who hurt us and to pray for our enemies. It is very hard to do at times; believe me, it has happened to me throughout my 35+ years of being a Christian, and it deeply hurts, so you are not alone. Your natural instinct is to "get back" at the ones who hurt us, but to practice self-control and ask God for strength and Godly wisdom is half the battle in itself. If we pray for those people, God will take care of the rest, it just takes patience on our part.
“Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens the countenance of his brother.” (Proverbs 27:17) ...and borrowed from A L
That's a two way straight. Christians persecute and some are the most judgmental people I've ever met 😃
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This is what I had stated earlier. I have come across some "Christians" that if you were not a part of their church than you were looked down on. Some have even extended their help to "Church family" before blood relatives because they were not part of the church.
"Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes."
Ahh......I'm a new found christian, and I'm struggling with this one. I think I'm a man and I'm going to sin. One thing I've learned from bible study is that a sin is a sin. So I don't see what I do as any worse than cussing, or talking about someone else.
Recently found this website... samsonwear.com. The guy has a great personal testimony.
“Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens the countenance of his brother.” (Proverbs 27:17) ...and borrowed from A L
Wow, this is really a great heartfelt and honest post, and you express yourself very well. I'm really glad I came across it.
Plus I understand your uncertainty about this issue, since I've dealt with the similar issues for decades as a Christian. But it's not been about gear (which I've only used a few times) but about pretty much EVERYTHING. And I realize that that's just part of following Christ –not having the perfect answer for "is this right or is this wrong" for ALL the things that one encounters in life. But believing in Christ means having him as "Lord", which means that he has the final say, and that's between him and me personally. He's the one I want to listen to as to if something is good or bad, right or wrong, go this way or that way, and everyone else can take a flying leap. Not that I don't appreciate advice at times, but what is "sin" or not is decided by him, not someone else.
Here's what helps me with an issue like gear, where Jesus spells it out, it seems to me, very clearly: Jesus' own words from Mark ch7...
"Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.”
He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them.
For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.
All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
And "defile" means "to separate from God by making a person 'unclean'".
So think about it: Jesus, it seems to me, is making it very clear that gear or whatever going into a person cannot possibly cut that person off from God. It's what's in one's heart, not whatever chemicals may or may not be in one's body, that threaten one's standing with God.
The only "threat" I see from the whole bodybuilding "lifestyle" is it can mean obsessing too much about externals while ignoring the envy, hate, greed, arrogance (to name a few from Christ's list) in one's own heart.
But it's hardly bodybuilders alone who do that.
Good point
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