Who am I?

[fivesense]

Greetings to all!

When I was in Human Resources a few days back, I noticed a placard that was on the wall. It said, "Lord, help me to be the person my dog thinks I am". How true. As I reflect on myself over the years in my walk in Christ, I am amazed by His continual transforming power over my soul, and His willingness to change my heart, even when it is not something I desire. To experience the miracle of being conformed to the image of Christ is all that truly satisfies any longer. This world has become tarnished to me. I anxiously await His coming in clouds.

Religion has always been a keen interest of mine, and for 30 years I struggled to find fulfillment in going through the motions, without surrendering to the Truth. "Playing Church", somewhat out of ignorance, and somewhat out of laziness, was abruptly halted 10 years ago, when He took me to task for being lukewarm and indifferent. Since then, I have been working to become intimately acquainted with the original Writings in the Greek, through the use of several versions of the Bible and a Strong's Concordance, and have taken the place where I no longer look at life as being all about me.

Self-preservation, pride, lust, and the whole gamut of sin that is common to mankind, seems to be the perpetual battle, yet I am convinced that He will complete a good work in me before He returns, and I am hoping that the members of this site are able to assist me in moving further along that path. It is the same thing that I desire for all the saints in Christ, and that will be what directs me while I am here.

Blessings to all.

 

[kmoney]

:wave2: Welcome to TOL.

You labeled yourself as Christian(other). What makes you 'other'?

 

[jamie]

Hello, I'm glad you're here.

 

[xAvarice]

Mark Dreher?

 

[Totton Linnet]

Warm welcomes

 

[fivesense]

Hi kmoney,

Having done a study on the origins of the word "Christian" in the Scriptures, I found that it doesn't really apply to those in the body of Christ. Paul never referred to us with the title, and where is used in the New Testament, it came about as a term of derision, like "little Christs". Sort of like mocking. (Ac 11:26, Ac 26:28, 1Pt 4:16).

So, with the record of it being a negative appellation, I am hesitant to use it for myself, other than in a loose sense. I identify myself as a believer, a saint, a son, and a brother in the Lord, but prefer not to use Christian.

Often unbelievers have a solid perception of what "christian" means to them, and it usually is negative, making any conversation prejudiced and suspect to them, kind of like when being approached by a Jehovah's Witness. Refraining from applying the term to myself sometimes leaves the door open to talking on a more equal footing.

I found Paul's counsel to be good in this matter:

1C 9:20-21 And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;
To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.

 

[kmoney]

:think: OK. I thought it was because you were a heretic of some sort.

What you say here kinda reminds me of something I heard about one of the members in the band Mumford and Sons. He doesn't call himself a Christian because of all the baggage that often comes along with it.

 

[Bright Raven]

Welcome to TOL.

 

[Dena]

hi.

 

[steko]

Howdy and welcome!

 

[Angel4Truth]

 

[alwight]

Hi fivesense,
A "warm" welcome from me too.:devil:

 

[rainee]

Hi Fivesense
Just to start you off right:
I fear you probably are a heretic of some sort - and I am not one of the judgmental mean ones here... But I can be wrong (though I don't think so)

I am troubled that what was good enough for non Jewish believers in Antioch to be called (or perhaps it was a mixed bunch of believers there) is not good to you...And Peter does not say anything negative about it does he?
You also quote Paul - on one hand we are to emulate him but on another he is an Apostle, the life he lived we couldn't completely replicate - and it did make people want to kill him... Just saying. Also technically - Paul NEVER lied - he could be all those different things because they were different sides of himself.
He was what? Multifaceted? Complicated? Something like that...

Oh, and welcome!

Hi kmoney,

Having done a study on the origins of the word "Christian" in the Scriptures, I found that it doesn't really apply to those in the body of Christ. Paul never referred to us with the title, and where is used in the New Testament, it came about as a term of derision, like "little Christs". Sort of like mocking. (Acts 11:26, Acts 26:28, 1Peter 4:16).

So, with the record of it being a negative appellation, I am hesitant to use it for myself, other than in a loose sense. I identify myself as a believer, a saint, a son, and a brother in the Lord, but prefer not to use Christian.

Often unbelievers have a solid perception of what "christian" means to them, and it usually is negative, making any conversation prejudiced and suspect to them, kind of like when being approached by a Jehovah's Witness. Refraining from applying the term to myself sometimes leaves the door open to talking on a more equal footing.

I found Paul's counsel to be good in this matter:

1C 9:20-21 And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;
To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.

 

[PureX]

To experience the miracle of being conformed to the image of Christ is all that truly satisfies any longer. This world has become tarnished to me. I anxiously await His coming in clouds.

Do you think that despising the world makes you more Christlike???

... yet I am convinced that He will complete a good work in me before He returns, ...

Perhaps that good work he hopes to complete in you is to teach you to love and forgive the world in spite of all the flaws (you see in it), instead of despising it.

... and I am hoping that the members of this site are able to assist me in moving further along that path.

You're welcome!

 

[fivesense]

Rainee, I appreciate your watchfulness over the body of Christ. I sense you take this responsibility seriously enough to alert me that I am suspect of being a heretic.

Martin Luther was considered such a one amongst his peers. He insisted that, what the Scriptures declared were above what men had to say. I agree with him. Opinions do not subvert the Word of God, they should submit to it.

The disciples were first called "Christians" at Antioch (Acts 11:26). Agrippa, too, calls them that (Acts 26:28). Peter, writing to the sojourners of the dispersion (1 Peter 1:1) connects it with suffering and reproach (1 Peter 4:16).

The Syrian Antioch in the above passage was established by the Lord's disciples after the persecution that came about at the stoning of Stephen, and they did not reach out to the Gentiles with the Gospel. It is unlikely that there were any gentiles in that Jewish ecclesia. I offer this next passage as proof of my contention, since opinions matter little in the investigation of truth:

Ac 11:19 . Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only.

The Scriptures record two Antiochs. Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:1) is where Paul began preaching justification through faith apart from the law, and the nations were reached with the gospel of grace. This is not the Antioch of 11:26.

Peter does, indeed, use the term in a negative light. Christianos is a Latinized word, it is a byword not used by God to refer to His people. It is a pejorative that came about to describe the Lord's disciples as seen by outsiders. Nevertheless, the term has been adopted by all followers of Christ at this point, and even those who do not follow Him (Christian Scientists, etc.).

By avoiding applying it to myself, I am attempting to observe Paul's counsel:

2Ti 1:13 The pattern hold thou of sound words, which from me thou didst hear, in faith and love that is in Christ Jesus (YLT)

Thank you for taking time to welcome me and share.

 

[fivesense]

PureX, thank you for the attention and welcome. It is significant.

I do not despise the world. It was created by God to fulfill His purposes. Still, the onslaught of the evil that men do, the general apostasy of the masses, and the experience of being subjected to vanity have worn away my exuberance for living. It is the thought of bringing joy to the Lord that fulfills me lastingly.

Whenever I am engaged in the system, kosmos or world, if you will, I am in danger of losing my peace, losing my property, and perhaps losing my mind, if I allow it. Being one with Him causes great delight in my soul, and the things that jeopardize that connection typically originate in my environment. So, it is not a matter of me despising the world, as you suggest, it is weariness and mistrust.

Loving the world does not fit well with God's plan for His saints.

1Jn 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things [that are] in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

2Ti 2:4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of [this] life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

1C 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

It is apparent that we have been separated and sanctified by God. That which causes me to draw back into what I have been redeemed out of needs to be scrutinized, and that requires diligence and effort. It is an unceasing work.

God has a goal. He will become All in all (1C 15:28). I align myself as much as possible with His goal for us, and that means discriminating between what is of God and what isn't.

Mt 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

 

[False Prophet]

Welcome!

 

[PureX]

I do not despise the world. It was created by God to fulfill His purposes. Still, the onslaught of the evil that men do, the general apostasy of the masses, and the experience of being subjected to vanity have worn away my exuberance for living. It is the thought of bringing joy to the Lord that fulfills me lastingly.

To use religion to condemn your fellow man is a grave error.

"Sin" is a sickness of the soul. People become poisoned by the sins of others, and then become sin-sick, themselves. They then become willful sinners, and infect others in turn. It can become an 'epidemic'. We are living in a time of moral plague. But that's all the more reason the world and it's people need our love, and our forgiveness, and our kindness - to show them how to counteract the poison of sin. How to fight the epidemic.

Whenever I am engaged in the system, kosmos or world, if you will, I am in danger of losing my peace, losing my property, and perhaps losing my mind, if I allow it. Being one with Him causes great delight in my soul, and the things that jeopardize that connection typically originate in my environment. So, it is not a matter of me despising the world, as you suggest, it is weariness and mistrust.

Amen, brother! I understand the fatigue of which you speak. But the peace and joy of God is not just found in solitude, it can be found in the hearts of others, too. But we have to learn to look for it, there. And the more practiced we become at looking for God in our fellow humans, the better we will become at seeing God in them.

The key is to practice at it. To have faith that it is there when you can't immediately see it. And when you do see it, to praise it, to lift it up, to be grateful for that person's being. Soon you will begin to feel better about the world. There is still far more good than evil, after all.

Loving the world does not fit well with God's plan for His saints.

I disagree. God so loved the world that he sent His only son, who then in turn forgave us for EVERYTHING, even as we crucified him.

It is apparent that we have been separated and sanctified by God. That which causes me to draw back into what I have been redeemed out of needs to be scrutinized, and that requires diligence and effort. It is an unceasing work.

So you figure that you are better than everyone else, now? More righteous, perhaps? More loved by God because you believe you are forgiven? If all this were so, wouldn't it then become your job to do the same for others? To raise them up? To "sanctify" them? To forgive them as you have been forgiven?

Instead, you appear to be using your religion and the Bible to condemn others. To set yourself apart from them, and above them. And this would be a grave error, in my opinion.

God has a goal. He will become All in all. I align myself as much as possible with His goal for us, and that means discriminating between what is of God and what isn't.

His goal for us is that we love one another, and forgive one another, as He has loved and forgiven us. I don't believe our 'discrimination' is relevant to, or supportive of that goal. That's just my understanding of things, though.

 

[fivesense]

To use religion to condemn your fellow man is a grave error.

"Sin" is a sickness of the soul. People become poisoned by the sins of others, and then become sin-sick, themselves. They then become willful sinners, and infect others in turn. It can become an 'epidemic'. We are living in a time of moral plague. But that's all the more reason the world and it's people need our love, and our forgiveness, and our kindness - to show them how to counteract the poison of sin. How to fight the epidemic.
Amen, brother! I understand the fatigue of which you speak. But the peace and joy of God is not just found in solitude, it can be found in the hearts of others, too. But we have to learn to look for it, there. And the more practiced we become at looking for God in our fellow humans, the better we will become at seeing God in them.

The key is to practice at it. To have faith that it is there when you can't immediately see it. And when you do see it, to praise it, to lift it up, to be grateful for that person's being. Soon you will begin to feel better about the world. There is still far more good than evil, after all.
I disagree. God so loved the world that he sent His only son, who then in turn forgave us for EVERYTHING, even as we crucified him.
So you figure that you are better than everyone else, now? More righteous, perhaps? More loved by God because you believe you are forgiven? If all this were so, wouldn't it then become your job to do the same for others? To raise them up? To "sanctify" them? To forgive them as you have been forgiven?

Instead, you appear to be using your religion and the Bible to condemn others. To set yourself apart from them, and above them. And this would be a grave error, in my opinion.
His goal for us is that we love one another, and forgive one another, as He has loved and forgiven us. I don't believe our 'discrimination' is relevant to, or supportive of that goal. That's just my understanding of things, though.

I appreciate your candidness. You are correct to point out I need to be loving and forgiving of others. I fail to do that frequently, I know.
I allow myself too much room to be focused on my own things, and not the things of others. I overlook the needs people have because of this.

God has a goal, as I have said before, and that is to become All in all. A persons value in this life is dependent upon their service to God, and it is how He is using us is what determines our worth. These are spiritual matters that play out in a physical world. God is Spirit, and His intention is to have sons and daughters that are like Him.

Sin is missing the mark. It is inseparable from death, and we all die, missing the mark. Our dying is not the "target", which is to become deathless like our Father.

We are warring against principalities and powers in the celestial realm. Truth is the weapon that God has formed to aid us to cooperate with Him in reaching His goal of becoming All in all. `

A clanging cymbal I do not want to be, and thank you for bringing it to my attention.

 

[rainee]

Hi Fivesense
Sorry I took so long to get back to you, please forgive.
Regarding Martin Luther you are right but I guess there were times he should have listened to someone else? I dunno.

Very interesting what you say about the The Syrian Antioch! Nicely done, thank you.
Hope to look into it sometime later...

By avoiding applying it to myself, I am attempting to observe Paul's counsel:

2Ti 1:13 The pattern hold thou of sound words, which from me thou didst hear, in faith and love that is in Christ Jesus (YLT)

Thank you for taking time to welcome me and share.

Hmmm still struggling with this
Not on my computer now so this is not quite posting adequately for me...though you will probably not notice a difference,sad to say,lol.