That cult is failing too. (Marxism/Socialism)

If only Churches started more programs. We could call them; “Iron sharpens Iron”or some catchy Biblical phrase. Then we could demean, disparage, and discourage the few men who are even left in the church.

There's some really retarded stuff in the Bible.

Romans 13

1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.

2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.

Like it or not, the rubes decide elections. The majority of Humanity runs on emotion as an operating system, reason and logic be damned.

Well, I suppose if the world-view of the democrats more closely matches yours and you believe the things they are doing are the correct path forward, you should vote the way you think.  I suspect you know better and don't really need the permission or appreciation of the gun forum God-Squad to inform your votes.  

All that said this is one non-believer that is coming to a new belief that non-believers are definitely not making the world a better place with their new religion.

Death hasn’t stopped Him before

There are only 3 chords in the hymn;  “I Surrender All”.

What is your point?

Don’t like it? Learn to play an instrument-wait for God’s calling on your life-then lead a worship group and do it “right”.

I think I am starting to agree

I'm an apostate from the Religion of Capitalism.  It's a trash religion.

Perhaps we have outgrown the concept of "belief" Knowledge is much more useful.

Yeah no shit. Look at our country. God is dead for many.

I still cling to my religion and guns, and will continue to do so until I die.

It seems the idea keeps getting reincarnated as some new Holy Terror...

The world must be going swimmingly as far as your concerned.

Boom.

Humanity always reverts to barter and trade when empires crumble, THAT we can be thankful for.

There is nothing wrong or as you say, retarded, about the Bible. If you understand the meaning you wouldn't say it is bad/retarded as God allows this authority for His reasoning/will. There are many instances in the Bible where people did not do as the government/power wanted. Examples would be Elijah and the kings Ahab, Azahiah,etc., Queen Jezebel being killed, In Exodus we read about how women went against the king's order to kill male babies/boys-"Moses", Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego with King Nebuchadnezzar and that's just the Old Testament. Many times Jesus went against the leaders. We are to follow God's commands and not man's. The authorities and principalities are given by God and if they go against Him, they are to be under subjection to Him. If they fail, they will regret it,either in this life or the next. You should read the Bible and see for yourself. I say these things not in anger but to have you understand why it is, the way it is.

He said that while one would like to say that God will punish those who do such things and that people often speak in just this way it was his experience that God could not be spoken for and that men with wicked histories often enjoyed lives of comfort and that they died in peace and were buried with honor. He said is was a mistake to expect too much of justice in this world. He said that the notion that evil is seldom rewarded was greatly overspoken for if there were no advantage to it then men would shun it and how could virtue then be attached to its repudiation?

Less people reading fairy tales now days?

God allows certain things to happen and certain governments to exist and do certain things for reasons that may not be obvious in the moment to us.


8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts

I don't think you have to be a Born Again Christian or die hard bible reader to be a decent person or have good moral character. Many people in my life get up everyday, go to work, support their family, help others, donate time and money to charity, seem to know the difference between right and wrong. And they don't ever mention anything about God or church.

Another side of my family are Baptists, they go to church every Sunday, and they have to let everybody know. They tell everybody and invite everybody to bible study. Always pushing the bible and quoting scripture from bible.  And a handful of them have some of the most crooked moral compasses. They are the most  selfish, self centered, hypocritical, poorest character people, but they can quote the bible. And they are the ones telling me I need more God and Jesus in my life.

I think religion is a private personal choose and matter that does not need to be pushed on to people. Whether you are Christian, Muslim Or Jewish or anything else.

Followers of Jesus genuinely in Christ aren’t  going anywhere and they have survived worse than this for 2 millennia.  Church history is full of waves of persecution and false teaching trying to extinguish it.  Those things will never triumph.  His kingdom ebbs and flows in a regions history but never totally gone.  Why?  Because the gospel itself is the very power of God to make a sinner as righteous as Christ.  That message is so powerful and deeply meaningful and relevant to every person that those who hear it and believe it are changed forever.  Also we have His very Word that constantly reforms the professing church through history when it strays.  

Jesus will continue to build His church and the gates of Hades will not ever prevail against it. That is His promise in His words.  

That being said there are possessors and there are professors.  Always has been and will be until He returns.  My own church I love and am a part of has both.  It has always been this way.  Those who are genuinely in Christ and those who are deceived and think they are something they are not.  His Kingdom has tares among the wheat.  He was full disclosure about this.  The American church so called has them also.  

Most terrifying words of scripture I know below.  

Matthew 7:13-20

13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy[a] that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

A Tree and Its Fruit

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Why does the world, religious world, and governments hate Him and those who are His?

John 7:6-8
6 Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.

That is some of the dumbest most idiotic nonsense I've ever read.

I guess your engagement can be Das Kapital.  

I hope every one of you find the one true God.

No religion, only faith.

That's the biggest crap pile I have read today and I have been thru Instagram last 20 minutes!

To declare that society dictates words, what's good and bad is to then hold that Truth is not Absolute but subjective which I can then state you're are horribly in error and you must agree with me that you are wrong. Society does not dictate that murder is wrong. No where in the world is murder seen as "good". If we flew into space, the farthest reaches of space, murder is still wrong.

You then being a empiricist, which of your senses told you what "decent" is? Did you feel it, smell it, see it, hear it or taste it? You never gain knowledge of anything by just experience or observation with first having knowledge. The first subhuman to drag his ass from that primordial soup would he look at the sunrise and say to himself "Wow what a beautiful sunrise!"? No because without having knowledge prior to observation that subhuman would have no sense of being. No clue what they see nor any clue they are even alive.

So no one wants to be stolen from, which makes stealing wrong. No one wants to be lied to, which makes lying wrong. No one wants to be murdered which makes murder wrong.

I've never been called, never felt the power that so many say exists when you believe.  I've gone to multiple Christian sects and their churches.  
I appreciate the power of a group of people who BELIEVE, that's for sure.  I don't necessarily think that's always a good thing.

I stopped professing to be a Christian about 5 years ago, it was time to stop lying to myself and others.

Now:  I know a lot of folks here think I'm a glowie, or a commie, or whatever bullshit they want to heap on me for not nodding along to the nonsense that gets spouted here, but I'm a person that does good when I can and enjoys hearing about others who succeed.
I am still spiritual, but I don't read the Bible.

I suppose I'm going to hell, whatever that is.  I hope you all can understand that you DON'T have to be a Xtian (intentional) to be a Good Person.

I know you won't.

I'm sure someone will report me for "DERAILING THE CONVERSATION" again, but so be it.

When the church became a den of charlatans and homosexuals. The faithful would of course be driven off.

Literally modern day pharisees.

Amen

Christians that believe the Bible know they aren’t “good”. We are made clean by His blood, not our abilities or efforts. Can non Christians live lives most would consider good, absolutely. Will they still be covered in sin and judged for it, absolutely. It’s not about how good we are, it’s about how good He is.

All evidence to the contrary.  

What 'knowledge" do you think drives the bulk of American urban culture?  What sets the constraints and boundaries of that behavior?  If only they had more science books they would be better?

Just look up Prosperity Theology.

It's the grifters convincing grandma that donating her social security check will give her a better chance into heaven.

Not shocking that Trump hitches his wagon to that horse.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology

What's that story of the eye of the needle again?

Fewer people.  Not less.  Fewer.

If you're trying to broadcast your intellectual superiority, write a coherent sentence.

That's a trash religion, too.

Attached File

Oh, the irony...

The humorous thing is that ''man made global warming/climate change/green energy'' is a false belief in ''science'' and is based far more in ''religion'' then actual or absolute facts.

Go to an orthodox or catholic church.

Though i guess the pope said blessing same sex couples is ok, that's not something I have witnessed and would be surprised if there were any same sex couples at our church.

Ep. 96  How did a self-described conservative evangelical like Mike Johnson wind up supporting the anti-Christian policies of the Biden administration? He’s not the only one, as Megan Basham explains. pic.twitter.com/w0XJqzV06V

Tucker Carlson  (@TuckerCarlson) April 18, 2024

That's the thing.

If we won't listen to God's word revealed to us, nothing else will convince us, even if someone we knew well returned from the dead and told us it was true.

We're incredibly good at only believing what we want to.



Those who seek signs and wonders ...



This is referring to the exodus generation, who God - in actual reality in time and in space - split the red sea, and gave them the pillar of fire and the cloud, and miraculous food, and kept their clothes from falling apart for 40 years, and gave them water in the desert ... they still refused to beleive God.



He is not being clear here. He is elsewhere. But this refers to the earlier "believe I am Christ."  What his name means is savior - the one who stands in the gap for all who will hear and believe.

God gives us his very words. It can't get clearer or surer than that.

Also, consider this: when you go to prove something (say, "is this an inch and 5 16ths") what do you do? You go to the more sure standard to prove it. So you have to be able to find something more sure.

*That's not possible with ultimate authorities.*

You wouldn't be believing it because you think its Gods word, you'd be believing whatever it was that you thought proved it.



For the reasons that you and I can safely hide from this under "prove it" ... it's also wrong to ask for a lesser authority to prove it.

But if it is God's voice, ... *points up at picture.*

All I can do is point you to the source where God speaks. I can't give you belief, and you shouldn't ask for anyone to give it to you, because no mere human can.

Yea Sundays are for NFL and little league now

The standards you have to use to judge the bible a fairy tale will leave you a skeptic unable to believe anything and unable to live life.

Unless you are comfortable being a raging hypocrite.

As far as fairy tales go, the Bible misses the mark pretty hard. You have an awful lot of pages of darkness and pretty much no fairies. A lot of the pages read pretty similarly to this
"The False Prophets[b]
9 Concerning the prophets:
My heart is broken within me,
   all my bones tremble;
I am like a drunk,
   like one overcome by wine,
Because of the Lord,
   because of his holy words.
10 The land is filled with adulterers;
   because of the curse the land mourns,
   the pastures of the wilderness are withered.
Theirs is an evil course,
   theirs is unjust power.
11 Both prophet and priest are godless!
   In my very house I find their wickedness—
   oracle of the Lord.
12 Hence their way shall become for them
   slippery ground.
Into the darkness they shall be driven,
   and fall headlong;
For I will bring disaster upon them,
   the year of their punishment—oracle of the Lord.
13 Among Samaria’s prophets
   I saw something unseemly:
They prophesied by Baal
   and led my people Israel astray.
14 But among Jerusalem’s prophets
   I saw something more shocking:
Adultery, walking in deception,[c]
   strengthening the power of the wicked,
   so that no one turns from evil;
To me they are all like Sodom,
   its inhabitants like Gomorrah."

I can think (I have tried) of no better way to control billions of people than to use religion.  Color me skeptical.  Sorry Bible thumpers...

"The only need for the triumph of evil is for pregnant men to do nothing."

Billions of people are fuckin retarded and could at least use some guidance.