Wade wrote:Probably the hardest part of becoming a Christian for me was the accusations, lies, threats, pecking order and etc. from other Christians. But our Lord was treated worse and killed by the very people that should have accepted Him.
Try leaving a conservative group... you'll find out in a hurry who your real friends are. Dirty, dirty, dirty tactics to make sure you keep your mouth shut! But we didn't and we won't!
Probably not a helpful attitude, Steve.
Helpful attitude or not, I try to follow the following verses from Ephesians 5:
8 ¶ For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:
9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth
10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.
11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
13 But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
Isn’t a sign of an abuser or one who bullies, how quick they are to say, “Now you don’t have to go airing our ‘dirty laundry;’ nobody else needs to know!”? And how does that change unless they fear being exposed? It might be too late to undo its effects on me and in my life, but maybe they’ll think twice before repeating it on the next naive soul they catch in their snare.
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"Too often believers have trivialized goodness by concentrating on their various denominational brands of legalism, becoming a 'peculiar people' set at odd angles to the world rather than being an attractive light illuminating it." -Unknown
Hats Off wrote:Probably not a helpful attitude, Steve.
And suffering in silence is?
Not necessarily - I just appreciate seeing gentle. I do the same thing sometimes when I am upset with something - I will speak out more to a close friend or someone I trust. Then depending who I speak with I will be so careful that I could be called two faced. When speaking for public consumption, I try to be gentle or politically correct while still trying to say what I mean.
Hats Off wrote:Probably not a helpful attitude, Steve.
And suffering in silence is?
Not necessarily - I just appreciate seeing gentle. I do the same thing sometimes when I am upset with something - I will speak out more to a close friend or someone I trust. Then depending who I speak with I will be so careful that I could be called two faced. When speaking for public consumption, I try to be gentle or politically correct while still trying to say what I mean.
I try to be more like Jesus. You might want to check out how ‘politically correct’ His speech was in Matthew 23:13-29.
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"Too often believers have trivialized goodness by concentrating on their various denominational brands of legalism, becoming a 'peculiar people' set at odd angles to the world rather than being an attractive light illuminating it." -Unknown
steve-in-kville wrote:
And suffering in silence is?
Not necessarily - I just appreciate seeing gentle. I do the same thing sometimes when I am upset with something - I will speak out more to a close friend or someone I trust. Then depending who I speak with I will be so careful that I could be called two faced. When speaking for public consumption, I try to be gentle or politically correct while still trying to say what I mean.
I try to be more like Jesus. You might want to check out how ‘politically correct’ His speech was in Matthew 23:13-29.
I am not Jesus - I can't speak with the Authority He had. I am more apt to be heard when I speak respectfully. He had no need to.
Hats Off wrote:
Not necessarily - I just appreciate seeing gentle.
I'm not saying that I plan to scream things from the mountain tops. I refuse to stoop to their level and slander their name like they did to my family. God will deal with that in His own time. In fact we are seeing God working in our lives at this very moment!
What I am saying is, keeping things a secret didn't help me heal. It festered. Once I started to open up I was able to begin the healing process. I opened up not to tell "my side" of the story, but to help others in similar situations to rise above and beyond and heal. To learn to forgive, to let bitterness take its course.
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I self-identify as a conspiracy theorist. My pronouns are told/you/so.
Matthew 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven
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Max (Plain Catholic)
Mt 24:35 Proverbs 18:2 A fool does not delight in understanding but only in revealing his own mind.
1 Corinthians 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God
Hats Off wrote:I am not Jesus - I can't speak with the Authority He had. I am more apt to be heard when I speak respectfully. He had no need to.
This is the conclusion I have come to as well. Jesus had no character deficiencies that diminished his message whenever he attempted to speak. Men and women with fewer character deficiencies are able to speak with greater authority.
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The old woodcutter spoke again. “It is impossible to talk with you. You always draw conclusions. Life is so vast, yet you judge all of life with one page or one word. You see only a fragment. Unless you know the whole story, how can you judge?"
