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babylon bashing
9440geoff:
Hi Lauriellen,
I think Alex absolutely nailed it. It is heartbreaking to be in the company of people whom one loves, whether they be family or friends, and yet hate the doctrines they believe.
Geoff
Ninny:
As most of you know I am a former Seventh Day Adventist..I have friends who still bash that church every chance they get..listen if it wasn't for what I learned there and everywhere else I've been I probably wouldn't be here right now..so even though I have no desire to return I will not be and I hope I have never cast any stones behind me..neither have I burned any bridges..I still have many dear friends in the church none of whom would I ever want to hurt or belittle. So if I have ever appeared to do that (and I'm not saying I'm innocent of it) ..or if I have done it please, please forgive me from the bottom of my heart..I would never want to offend anyone or cause anyone to stumble..
Kathy :(
gmik:
Of course Laurie is correct...we are to LOVE at all costs and never boast or think uppity of ourselves.
Sometimes we have to vent somewhere and some choose the forum. We are human w/ frailties, faults and sin. One of the sins is judging others and looking down cuz they don't believe like we do.
But I try to not sin in ACTING badly toward others- I may rant to you guys, but to them I just try to accept- most of the time I don't even challenge their blaspheming.
We have been blessed BIG TIME, to have been dragged to BT. We should stay humble about that. It wasn't anything we did or didn't do....so we need to remember that for others.
Alex is right too, love the sinner, hate the sin.......but what does that look like in real life???
deftarchangel:
Hi lauriellen,
I appreciate the sentiments of your post. Like Ninny, I too was a member of the SDA’s for about five years (it was the first church I ever attended on my own), and so I understand that elitist attitude that you speak of all too well. I don’t know if my experience was the same as Ninny’s, but for my duration with the SDA’s, I developed the attitude of looking down on “Sunday worshippers” in Christendom as morons who didn’t get it or who couldn’t read the Bible correctly. It felt great to make jokes about how silly and foolish the rest of Christendom was for not understanding that the Sabbath day was indeed still in effect, and all the other stuff that they teach. Boy, was I humbled when all that attitude was thrown back in my face and I was shown how wrong I was when I started reading the Bible on my own after I left them! Unfortunately, that elitist attitude is not exclusive to the world of Christendom. I think it’s just human nature.
I think everyone likes to feel like they belong to somewhere or something exclusive and special, and part of the deal in a lot of cases is to look down upon those who aren’t a part of your special club. And obviously something is only exclusive and special when there are a limited number of people involved in it. I relate it to like being in high school. Everyone had to belong to some group or fall under some category (at least that was the case when I went to school). Whether you were a jock, a nerd, one of the “cool” people, or a part of the “in” crowd, a loner or just an outsider, or whatever, you had to belong somewhere. And it was real easy (and routine) to make fun of those people who weren’t a part of your group. I think that mentality continues on well into adulthood. And it especially exists in Christendom, what with it’s many denominations.
Like you, I am not a fan of the “us vs. them” mentality when it comes to fellow followers of Christ who may yet continue to go to church (especially after my experience with the SDA’s), because it brings up that problem that Paul described in 1 Cor. 1:12-13. It’s so dangerous to fall into that trap of saying “well, I follow this person’s/group’s/website’s teachings and beliefs,” and then start criticizing the other groups because they are not a part of the same group or they seek truth somewhere else. It’s easy to commit the same folly that people in Christendom do by sticking to one denomination or one set of teachings, and looking down on others who don’t follow suit. I agree with Alex in that you can dislike and argue against a particular doctrine or teaching and not hold malice or disdain for the person who believes it. But then again, when emotions get involved, it’s sometimes hard to maintain that position. For example, I can disagree and have disdain for the beliefs that white supremacists have, and claim that those feelings don’t extend to the white supremacists themselves. But if some Nazi skinhead comes up to me, starts doing the Hitler salute, and starts spewing his/her racist beliefs, that’s when the rubber meets the road, and we see if I can still maintain that loving attitude (I probably couldn’t, to be honest!). So it is very easy to cross that boundary, and no doubt all of us have been guilty of crossing that boundary at one time or another.
If I can add to what lauriellen is trying to get across, we’re all searching for the truth, just like some people in churches are doing, just like some people in different religions are doing. I don’t believe any one person on the earth presently has been blessed with the complete grasp of all of God’s truth. While some may have been blessed with fragments of truth, blessed with the eyes to see and the ears to hear, as gmik pointed out, those that have certainly didn’t deserve it, and should act accordingly (and some indeed do). As it says in Eph. 2:1-5:
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”
Anyways, that’s my two cents worth. Thanks for the reminder lauriellen.
:)
tamaralv:
John 8:7Let he who is without sin cast the first stone at her.
I know that's what we are instructed to do, but boy is it hard, especially when that's the attitude most of us had while still in Babylon. I was in the habit of watching an early morning ministry program and would pick out all the contradictory things the preacher would say. What I found was that the more I found wrong with what he was teaching, the more distain I felt for him. I do not agree with what the man was saying, but I really had to reexamine my motives for watching and what I found was that I was beginning to enjoy finding fault with that man. I don't believe Jesus had that kind of heart and I don't want it either. I can still be discerning of the message, but I remind myself that I once was where that man is and since I don't know what God is doing with him in his life, I don't have the right to judge him or anyone else. I pray daily for the ability not to judge.
Hope this helps,
Tammy
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