Tidbits

 I would like to post some tidbit thoughts that I posted elsewhere, but may not have impressed the readers. But looking at the post I can say that I am pleased with the thought. So here they are, with a few details.

"Not my will, but yours be done"

I look around at the world, the price I may have to pay to stand on the word of God. This verse reminds me to live by principles and to live virtuously.

All of my heroes both fictional and real have this quality about them. I am forever on team Luke and forever against team Vader. I am forever on team 13 Colonies and forever against team Britain. I am forever on team MLK and forever against team BLM. I am forever on team Captain America and forever against Thanos.

Not trying to make it political, just wanted some real life examples to illustrate the point. If it's to be, "NOT MY WILL" then what serves the self is only training me to be weak. If it is to be "God's will be done" then living virtuously serves in preparing my mind and heart to refuse to act out of fear.

Vader, Britain, BLM, and Thanos served themselves. Their reward was what they could reach with their hands, Luke, USA, MLK, Avengers, all sought a reward beyond themselves. #goodguyswin

This was in response to a bible study on Matthew 26. And although I currently don't think I am a Not-my-will person yet, that is the goal.

I feel worthless too sometimes. My friends don't reach out. At work I seem to be patronized instead of respected. I'm poor, I'm getting fat and going bald. There are lots of ways that I feel worthless.

But you know who else gets patronized at work? About 90% of us. You know who else gets fat and bald, about 90% of humanity...well not the bald part. You know who else has friends that let them down, 100% of us.

But our feeling of worthlessness is only a feeling. So you live your life in a way that brings light into it.

Read here:

' “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. ' https://my.bible.com/bible/59/MAT.5.13-16

Have all the lights gone out in your city? I think not. And like a city on a hill invites a weary traveler, you don't know those who are destined to cross paths with you, who will need you, who will need your light. You are child of God. And that is worth something, even when you don't feel it.

Let your heart be at peace.

A reddit user was feeling very depressed, and I think I used the verse quoted in a unique way. My hope is that it did 2 things. 1, convinced the sad person that it's not over. and 2, I hope they start finding purpose in being a city on a hill. But...but...but what if that person ends up being a city on hill for the wrong things? Lies only last a season. They dry up quicker than the desert I live in.

Here is a post on reddit I responded to:

The other plan is about why God doesn’t like evil spirits. There was a mention of 1st Corinthians 10, I never understood this chapter and it still didn’t make any sense.

“Everything is permissible,” but not everything is helpful. “Everything is permissible,” but not everything builds up. Eat everything that is sold in the meat market, asking no questions for conscience’ sake, for the earth is the Lord’s, and all that is in it. If one of the unbelievers invites you over and you want to go, eat everything that is set before you, without raising questions of conscience. But if someone says to you, “This is food offered to an idol,” do not eat it, out of consideration for the one who told you, and for conscience’ sake. I do not mean your own conscience, but the other person’s. For why is my freedom judged by another person’s conscience? If I partake with thanks, why am I slandered because of something I give thanks for?” ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭10‬:‭23‬, ‭25‬-‭30‬ ‭HCSB‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/72/1co.10.23-30.HCSB

I understand the part of not asking about whether the food was offered to idols. But if he went to someone’s house and they told him that the food was sacrificed to idols, and he decided not to eat it, it would still be considered rude to the person who took the time to cook all of the food. I don’t understand how it would be “for the other persons conscience” if he feels uncomfortable to partake.

In most cultures it is rude if you don’t eat the meal they offer you. It’s a custom and a show of care for a culture to prepare meals for strangers. So I don’t understand that scripture at all but if someone has deeper insight about it, I would like to hear your perspective. 

And this how I responded:

Let’s say you are doing a job for a friend, you use his tools, his supplies, his resources, but you have the expertise.

Now let’s suppose it’s an automotive job.

Now let’s suppose he tells you, “that’s a good wrench, i stole from work” being braggadocios. At first yer like okay, well if the wrench works.

Then he hands you the radiator assembly and as you install it he says, “ you’ll never believe how hard that was to get. I waited outside the same auto part store every Tuesday during their delivery time. They unload the whole truck but it’s just one guy. So i waited till the guy took in the first load and after 3 weeks finally dropped off the radiator i needed.”

Okay, we’ll that’s pretty dishonest, you make a mental note that this is the last time you’re hanging out with this dude.

You get finished he turns the car over. It sounds good, no rattle, no built squealing, he offers to take for ride to make sure the car is running okay. As a mechanic this is standard operating procedure. So you oblige. As you drive around the block he tells you about the old man he stole this car from.

You didn’t steal the car, you didn’t steal the part, you didn’t steal the tools…but yet if you had know that the car was stolen you wouldn’t have helped him.

And the same thing is happening here with the food. Rudeness isn’t a sin. Telling the car thief to piss off if you know the car is stolen isn’t a sin.

Are there nice ways to tell someone no, yes. If you fail at saying no nicely, did you sin? No.

Because now if this car thief knows your a Christian, just like the idol worshiper, now they have a story about the Christian who doesn’t care if you steal cars or doesn’t care if you sacrifice to idols.

And that would be a bigger regret than being a jerk.

There will always be a consequence to our actions. Christian or otherwise. But sometimes you endure being the jerk for the better result. Does this mean you can just yell your way through every sinners stuff? No. But that is also why I broke it down in 3 steps. The tool thief, the part thief, and the car thief. Each one has a level of appropriate response. I cannot decide for you or this person I was responding to what that is for a given scenario, but at some point the answer has to be no. When and how you deliver that no will be just as much a witness as your being a swell person. 

The next question was asked like this:

What is the Christian explanation for non human caused evil in the world ?

This was the response

terminal lives.

We are not meant to live here forever. As such we can die, young, middle-aged, old...doesn't matter, we are not meant to live here for ever. We could say that God could make it so that no one ever died young, but that would only ensure a complete apathy of conscience while young cause you're gonna die much later.

So lets call it a randomizer, where 90% of the population will live till their children can bear children, (by the generation, not that everyone MUST have children) The other 10% are not going to make it to see their children have children.

We cannot use old-age to bring their life to finality, so we introduce natural evil. Floods, earth quakes, disease, harsh weather...

Now those people who pass "early" were also never meant to live here for forever, but their loss is a reminder to the rest that tomorrow might be your day.

If that is embraced, then we have a better shot of taking serious the time we have and employ ourselves towards meaningfulness.

Then what we see from that is that it isn't the length of a person's life that is actually what our gripe against natural evil gravitates towards, but the meaningfulness of each and every life.

Where the christian...we actually, most religions, so where the theist should see their religion's efforts focused isn't so much the extension of life but rather the quality of that life. And once again, we see that most religions do endorse a "higher purpose"

i.e. Christ teaches that we will have anxiety, but that we shouldn't dwell in that because look at the flowers of the field or the beast of the air.

I think the reason why non-theist look at length of life is because we are all afraid that the lights will go out in our head and the us we know will cease to be...and that the knowing we have ceased will also cease. I think this is because even in their application of higher-purposed-living, benevolence, altruism, charity, and compassion, it cannot erase the doom lingering in the future. So it becomes fruitless.

In christianity tho, our higher-purposed-living is...should be focused on bringing people to the saving knowledge of Christ. Which becomes a sort of rescue mission in which we get to witness God change the heart of person, and if we lived with that higher-purpose, we can recognize when someone is on that track...and that reminds us to look forward to the future where God will gather us to himself.

tldr; impermanence leads to quality of life, quality of life leads to the expectant after life, the expectant afterlife isn't contingent on the length of a person's days.

Another post was about Hell and whether or not humans can sin to the degree that hell punishes.

how does anyone not? we all run around pounding our chests about how good we are. We rape, we murder, we abuse children, we lie, we cheat, we justify our wrong doings in the most hypocritical ways and we seek our own comfort over what is right in almost every situation.

We tell ourselves lies and rub rocks on heads, burn weeds in our homes, and ingest every poison we can to make us feel how we did yesterday. We bargain with the needy for pennies, we are hindered by our elderly and plagued by our youths.

We prize entertainment over improvement, we prize convenience over quality, and we value beauty over wisdom.

However we are redeemable. We can stop and smell the roses. We can listen to people's hearts, and we can heal our sick. We can lift up the truth, we can empower the captives to think freely. We can raise fearlessly loving people. We can give benevolently our time, money, and resources.

But the one thing we can do that we refuse which seals our fate is to admit in our hearts, WE NEED HELP. No matter how good we try to be, we are all of us the old man screaming get off the lawn of our lives. And whats worse, we're not even sorry about it.

And obviously, the kind of help we need for the problems listed is the kind only found in Jesus.

Law vs Grace vs Works...

So it is my understanding that the work of law is a good, but it cannot save you. So if you don't follow the edict, "honor your father and mother" what you are guilty of is not doing a good.

Example, I think it would be a good to recycle. However, recycle 100% of everything ever produced and the earth still fills with garbage.

Logically speaking, IF the recycle analog I just offered is to cross-influence our understanding, the analog of not doing a good is not a "sin" just like not using any item on earth that can be recycled.

What is a sin tho is to actually go past not honoring your father and mother and dishonoring them...analogously, it would be akin to using recyclable items and purposely not recycling them.

So we have 3 categories: Following, Benign, Sin.

What paul detailed in Romans like 4-9 was teaching that we fall off the road when we sin, but we also fall off the road when we follow for the purpose of achieving righteousness.

So the goal here is either to be benign on the law, don't break it, but also don't follow it to the point of pride.

Now where I think we get away from the Jewish law is it would be common sense that the first-church christians would be in the temple on saturday, and then would retain their geographical positions and fellowship more exclusively with believers the following day.

And that became an area of teaching, where Paul said, "let that man keep it holy" if he wants to celebrate one day above another.

I think this is paul advocating for a benign position. Another verse that backs that up is "Do not forsake the gathering of yourselves together."

Where I think we ought still follow the law, is where the benign position isn't possible...or is the actual following of the law.

Thou shall not murder...both the benign position and the following position for all intents an purposes are the same. So we are following that law. And where we break that law is in the act of murder.

I suppose another case for when we should follow the law is when the benign position is the same as breaking the law. Now I cannot think of an old testament law that qualifies, so I offer the edict to be salt and light, " In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

The benign position would be the same as sinning against this edict. So we should follow it. 

Anyway, just wanted to post these in a place where I can refer to them again.