Beware Christians with 'easy answers'

[Andy_S]

That is an easy answer and I am not sure why it needs to be asked

Someone wrote this in a closed message below. Hardly anything comes to me easily, and I question so many, many things. I greatly admire people who can find such easy answers to complex issues, whereas I have to constantly struggle to make sense of things, and try to iron out the paradoxes of this faith. Almost everyone I speak to has a different opinion, and it's hard to come to any sort of real certainty on so many issues.

Frustrating when someone finds it all so 'easy'!

 

[Judith]

One reason that many people have a difficult time finding answers is because they do not believe the ones already given in scripture.
Another is that they want answers to questions that are not for them to know and they hear all these people trying to answer them. Deut 29:29

 

[Andy_S]

The reason that many people have a difficult time finding answers is because they do not believe the ones already given in scripture

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Yes, but that's exactly what I mean! They can be read and interpreted in as many different ways as there are people. There's not just one, universal meaning. I wish I found things so simple!

 

[Judith]

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Yes, but that's exactly what I mean! They can be read and interpreted in as many different ways as there are people. There's not just one, universal meaning. I wish I found things so simple!

It is that simple if you believe what is written and keep it within the context in which it was given instead of trying to add your own interpretation or believing someon else's interpretation.

For instance take the creation account. The reason so many want a big bang or periods of time is because they refuse to believe what is written. The Gen account clearly gives a literal 6 day 24 hour account. 6 separate days of creation not one big bang and sort things out or watch them evolve.
Or eternal security. Jesus said that He would never leave us or forsake us. Yet someone says we can leave him. They do not believe His words.
The same with most of scripture. Just believe what is written and it will be simpler. By the way it will require you to abandon any false teachings you have acquired and that will be difficult. For the things not written, well, you will have to wait.

 

[Van]

Easy Answers:

1) It is a paradoxical mystery that only God and those enlightened by God can understand.

2) If you do not accept this, you are not saved.

3) Trust me, God told me this is the correct way to look at it.

4) Don't worry about those verses, God did not mean what He said.

5) Decide what you want to say and then find selected verses that seem to support that view.

6) If you disagree with a person's view, claim he is a heretic.

 

[HankD]

Easy Answers:

1) It is a paradoxical mystery that only God and those enlightened by God can understand.

2) If you do not accept this, you are not saved.

3) Trust me, God told me this is the correct way to look at it.

4) Don't worry about those verses, God did not mean what He said.

5) Decide what you want to say and then find selected verses that seem to support that view.

6) If you disagree with a person's view, claim he is a heretic.

Van - LOL, however - sad but true.

I suppose I have should be included in some of the numbers above on occassion.

HankD

 

[Alive in Christ]

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Yes, but that's exactly what I mean! They can be read and interpreted in as many different ways as there are people. There's not just one, universal meaning. I wish I found things so simple!

The scriptures advise us.....

In the abundance of counsilers thier is safety ( proverbs)

 

[quantumfaith]

Easy Answers:

1) It is a paradoxical mystery that only God and those enlightened by God can understand.

2) If you do not accept this, you are not saved.

3) Trust me, God told me this is the correct way to look at it.

4) Don't worry about those verses, God did not mean what He said.

5) Decide what you want to say and then find selected verses that seem to support that view.

6) If you disagree with a person's view, claim he is a heretic.

By the time you penned this, some of these had already been exhibited and or implied.

 

[Revmitchell]

Someone wrote this in a closed message below. Hardly anything comes to me easily, and I question so many, many things. I greatly admire people who can find such easy answers to complex issues, whereas I have to constantly struggle to make sense of things, and try to iron out the paradoxes of this faith. Almost everyone I speak to has a different opinion, and it's hard to come to any sort of real certainty on so many issues.

Frustrating when someone finds it all so 'easy'!

Your misrepresentation and mischaracterization of my post shows either a level of emotion that would best be gotten under control before you post or just an out and out dishonesty. I will leave it to you to figure out.

 

[Zaac]

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Yes, but that's exactly what I mean! They can be read and interpreted in as many different ways as there are people. There's not just one, universal meaning. I wish I found things so simple!

Actually there is Andy. And that's the meaning that comes from God. The application may be different. But the SAME GOD does not give a different interpretation of the SAME word to His people. That would author confusion which He does not do.

And don't feel "less spiritual" because the answers don't come easy. God grows each of us in different ways and the Holy Spirit gives discernment when we're ready for it.

The answers may come easier for some because they've been Christians for a while and God has had time to reveal more to them.

But it's better to have a little knowledge and in love, apply it than to have an encyclopedia of knowledge and no love and not apply it.

Perhaps God is moving at a certain pace with you because He wants you to experience Him and His love so that you may share that with others out of the overflow, instead of you becoming one of those folks on a message board with a lot of knowledge, a funky attitude and no love?

 

[Andy_S]

Your misrepresentation and mischaracterization of my post shows either a level of emotion that would best be gotten under control before you post or just an out and out dishonesty. I will leave it to you to figure out.

Actually, it's the first one. The Rev Mitchell's sweeping and toweringly self-righteous condemnation of homosexuality, written in the most offensive terms on another post. While I do not claim that homosexuality is right or scriptural, I must also say that it is VERY easy to make a sweeping judgement on an issue that does not affect you.

Perhaps my high level emotion is due to the fact that my cousin, who happened to be a gay man, could not cope with the pressure put on him from his church - it eventually led to his untimely death.

Simple, childish and grossly rude condemnations such as those made by Rev Mitchell are just fine when you have no emotional investment in an issue, or any direct experience of it. However, when someone I loved has died as an indirect result of constant insults and bullying from a corrupt church, then perhaps it is not surprising I cannot see clearly on this subject.

The Rev Mitchell obviously has very strong views, which he does not hesitate to speak. I have seen the damage caused by such words.

I no longer feel welcome on this board, and so will take my leave.

 

[quantumfaith]

Actually, it's the first one. The Rev Mitchell's sweeping and toweringly self-righteous condemnation of homosexuality, written in the most offensive terms on another post. While I do not claim that homosexuality is right or scriptural, I must also say that it is VERY easy to make a sweeping judgement on an issue that does not affect you.

Perhaps my high level emotion is due to the fact that my cousin, who happened to be a gay man, could not cope with the pressure put on him from his church - it eventually led to his untimely death.

Simple, childish and grossly rude condemnations such as those made by Rev Mitchell are just fine when you have no emotional investment in an issue, or any direct experience of it. However, when someone I loved has died as an indirect result of constant insults and bullying from a corrupt church, then perhaps it is not surprising I cannot see clearly on this subject.

The Rev Mitchell obviously has very strong views, which he does not hesitate to speak. I have seen the damage caused by such words.

I no longer feel welcome on this board, and so will take my leave.

Andy, I would ask you not to leave. I would hope you grow and develop the confidence to stand strong in your convictions, particularly of your love for all people. It is sometimes easy for many of us to judge others for their sin, forgetting that job is already filled by our maker.

 

[Gina B]

Then I shall release the hounds to hunt you down, Mr. Andy! Get your tail back here.

Some answers do seem easy sometimes, but then there's that pesky "human" wrench that gets thrown in and everything that goes with it.

I think people tend to forget the human factor when they slam down those "this is it" fists.

 

[salzer mtn]

It seems of late that there is a push by a few that the gay life style should be tolerated, and then next to be accepted, NO, NO, NEVER.

 

[Revmitchell]

Actually, it's the first one. The Rev Mitchell's sweeping and toweringly self-righteous condemnation of homosexuality, written in the most offensive terms on another post. While I do not claim that homosexuality is right or scriptural, I must also say that it is VERY easy to make a sweeping judgement on an issue that does not affect you.

Perhaps my high level emotion is due to the fact that my cousin, who happened to be a gay man, could not cope with the pressure put on him from his church - it eventually led to his untimely death.

Simple, childish and grossly rude condemnations such as those made by Rev Mitchell are just fine when you have no emotional investment in an issue, or any direct experience of it. However, when someone I loved has died as an indirect result of constant insults and bullying from a corrupt church, then perhaps it is not surprising I cannot see clearly on this subject.

The Rev Mitchell obviously has very strong views, which he does not hesitate to speak. I have seen the damage caused by such words.

I no longer feel welcome on this board, and so will take my leave.

For the record, since he has decided to leave, this post is nothing but a false accusation. The post in question was a response as to why the subject ever gets brought up among Christians on a board. I simply responded citing the homosexual political movement and its push into our schools and churches. I attacked no one, I know nothing about any of his relatives, I said nothing about him. My statement was made in a general manner about the homosexual movement as a whole. He failed to address anything I actually said.
If he wants to avoid any discussion about this subject then he needs to find a better way to do that than to take obscure posts which are not directed at him and use them in this manner.

 

[Gregory Perry Sr.]

Ditto that...

For the record, since he has decided to leave, this post is nothing but a false accusation. The post in question was a response as to why the subject ever gets brought up among Christians on a board. I simply responded citing the homosexual political movement and its push into our schools and churches. I attacked no one, I know nothing about any of his relatives, I said nothing about him. My statement was made in a general manner about the homosexual movement as a whole. He failed to address anything I actually said.
If he wants to avoid any discussion about this subject then he needs to find a better way to do that than to take obscure posts which are not directed at him and use them in this manner.

Bro.Mitchell...do us a favor and post a link to your previous post in the other thread. I will join you in taking the right stand on this issue. We are to seek to win these poor deluded souls but their sin IS an abomination in God's eyes and we are, as His children, supposed to share His opinion about such things. As for Andy, I hope he won't leave, but rather, will develop some strong Biblical convictions about the truth. I am, as far as I can determine at this time, the ONLY saved person in my immediate family and though I love them dearly, I have very little in common with them beyond the last name that we share. We must place more emphasis and importance on the true family we are now a part of since we have been saved in order that we be faithful to God and His Word. Thos e who are "without" will not understand that if they are even aware of the "disconnect" between us and them...but so it must be...sadly. As for the homosexual thing...I have some personal compassion for those who are caught up in that particular kind of darkness as this matter HAS touched my family and friends in the past. They knew at the time that I did love and care about them but I was clear with them about what the Bible said about their lifestyle and where I stood on the matter. We just had to agree to disagree and part company. I don't believe one can be a "practicing" homosexual (or for that matter an adulterous or fornicating heterosexual)...and continue unabated in that practice and be saved.... they MUST repent FIRST. If they were previously saved and somehow fall into that kind of sin they will either come to a place of true repentance and depart from that sinful life or it is quite possible that God may end their life here and take them "out".

Bro.Greg:saint:

 

[Yeshua1]

Someone wrote this in a closed message below. Hardly anything comes to me easily, and I question so many, many things. I greatly admire people who can find such easy answers to complex issues, whereas I have to constantly struggle to make sense of things, and try to iron out the paradoxes of this faith. Almost everyone I speak to has a different opinion, and it's hard to come to any sort of real certainty on so many issues.

Frustrating when someone finds it all so 'easy'!

there are indeed some answers that are 'easy to answer', such as is there any other way to heaven except thru Jesus? Did jesus die upon the Cross for sinners suchs you and I, will He be coming back again etc?

The hard answers come when we try to understand if his coming will be pre/post/A, or if His death died for just elect or for all etc!

 

[Gina B]

Okay, technically there ARE easy answers. Let's go with that.

Then the issue is definitely the heart, manner, and compassion we use to deal with the answer.

Face it. There are people who are now gone because they were so distraught over the issue. Part of that is how others reacted to them. Black and white "you are a bad person."

We've seen this, people wanting to jump on the "bad person" and "thump that Bible" bandwagon. Nope.

Because humans have to be dealt with as humans.

How DO you react when you come across a teenage boy who is attracted to boys and rejects the Bible, or accepts it but says he is loved by G-d? Thump your Bible and say he's going to hell? Are you right? Are you wrong?

What happens when you sit down and find out that he was molested over years? That they told him if he talked about it, G-d would punish him? That he lived with this for years?

Does that change your perspective on why he thinks like he does?

It should. You can't just blindly walk around screaming at people when you don't know the why. There is always something to factor into the equation that requires more thought than immediate judgment and putting someone on the outside as being the weirdest of the weird when it may very well just be a completely normal reaction to what really WAS weird behavior perpetrated on them.

Or maybe it wasn't.

You don't know. You really think that automatically shaming him is going to throw him into a great and loving relationship with his Creator? It might fake work for a short duration or make for a nice illusion for a long time, but that person is gonna be fake until those issues are dealt with.

That's just one example. There are so many variations, so many different people and different lives.

The one common theme is salvation. That we have. It deserves to be taught and told with compassion and love. Not shoved at people as a threat, as a "take this or else." That is NOT how it was given.

 

[Yeshua1]

Actually, it's the first one. The Rev Mitchell's sweeping and toweringly self-righteous condemnation of homosexuality, written in the most offensive terms on another post. While I do not claim that homosexuality is right or scriptural, I must also say that it is VERY easy to make a sweeping judgement on an issue that does not affect you.

Perhaps my high level emotion is due to the fact that my cousin, who happened to be a gay man, could not cope with the pressure put on him from his church - it eventually led to his untimely death.

Simple, childish and grossly rude condemnations such as those made by Rev Mitchell are just fine when you have no emotional investment in an issue, or any direct experience of it. However, when someone I loved has died as an indirect result of constant insults and bullying from a corrupt church, then perhaps it is not surprising I cannot see clearly on this subject.

The Rev Mitchell obviously has very strong views, which he does not hesitate to speak. I have seen the damage caused by such words.

I no longer feel welcome on this board, and so will take my leave.

Few points on the issue of Homosexuality...

Is that behaviour condemned as an Abomination before the lord? Yes
is gay Marriage something God will NEVER approve of? yes
can one have same sex desires/attraction and still be saved? yes, but they will , by the power of God, refuse to act upon them anymore
Does God love the Homosexual, and can and does save them, redeeming them from and out of that behaviour and lifestyle? Yes

Its NOT the unpardonable sin!

 

[Revmitchell]

Bro.Mitchell...do us a favor and post a link to your previous post in the other thread. I will join you in taking the right stand on this issue.

Bro.Greg:saint:

Originally Posted by Andy_S
I don't know why it is - but I can NEVER go to any Christian forum and read more than two or three posts before someone mentions homosexuality. Why is it singled out so much? So many Christians seem fixated with it.

Originally Posted by Revmitchell
That is an easy answer and I am not sure why it needs to be asked accept a lacks if knowledge on current events and politics. The homosexual community is now and has been for quite a few years been working to force the American public to accept their perverted behavior in all facets of American life. And the tool they are using to accomplish this goal is our legal system, our political system, and our educational system.

The damage that will be leveled on America at the end of this should they accomplish their goal will be devastating to our children, and our communities. The homosexual agenda has largely become a political movement that even wants to force churches to accept their chosen perversion.

The fact that this is being pushed in this way makes it something that is needful to address. It is unlike many other sins which are left to the individual to decide for themselves.

http://www.baptistboard.com/showpost.php?p=2023701&postcount=21