/christian/ - Christian Discussion and Fellowship

>>609541

I have to say, your posts are really helpful to us but you already know that anyways

To add to this, one of the primary ways we're instructed to serve God is to serve each other. Truly God could whisk us away to Heaven at any time, but while we're slogging through this world, we have to treat others with love and kindness, pulling as many souls out of the fire as we can.

Matthew 25:

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

James 1:

27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

>>609543

I didn't actually, but thank you for your kind words. I'm not a priest nor an expert on Scripture. I have no authority to tell you anything really, except give advice from one person to another

>>609547

Excellent passages, they're extremely relevant to this topic. thank you

>>609541

>Do not serve the Lord your God […] to be led out of darkness

isn't it the meaning of sanctity ? to want to escape darkness to go to Him ?

>If you have come to worship God, to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, only because it benefits you and aids you in your own personal life

doesn't sanctity make it ? Isn't it logical to want to see charity with fruits. For a tree without them is dead.

>then you do not yet understand the true purpose of Christ's coming to us

do you ? Do you have the gnose ? having having understood all the meaning of the mystery of the incarcarnation of the logos ? Don't throw in the trash others people simpler faith, life is journey.

Low effort faggot post not quoting anything (nor scripture, nor magisteriur nor saint or fathers of the church,…) but instead your own though, as if you were enough virtuous to be able to moralize us and judge faith of others without objective facts. You're not a saint (And if you had read them you would have used them) as in your pic, just a faggot that think he is interesting and inspirational shitting a text wall about "muh don't be selfish".

TL;DR : you're a "pure faith" LARPer

sorry for being hard but I'm tired of your kind

>>609541

I realized this at one point when I wondered if I might go to hell for not loving or being repentant enough.

I suddenly realized that, if that's where God wanted me to go, I would accept that. I do not believe it is, His grace and forgiveness is magnificent and gives me hope but I am so grateful for the experiences I've had in this life thus far and acknowledge the depths of my sin when I received it all for nothing.

Hell is what I deserve, and I could accept that having enjoyed what I have of life and still be grateful. How wonderful Christ's sacrifice that I can receive better than I deserve.

>>609643

>isn't it the meaning of sanctity ? to want to escape darkness to go to Him ?

Read OP's previous paragraph, he's talking about using God as an anti-depressant.

>doesn't sanctity make it ? Isn't it logical to want to see charity with fruits. For a tree without them is dead.

Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you. Charity manifests outwards so you can help others, and I'm tired of seeing Christians use God and prayer like a genie in a bottle, rubbing the lamp when they're in trouble and forgetting about Him otherwise.

>as if you were enough virtuous to be able to moralize us and judge faith of others without objective facts

Iron sharpens iron. If we're not willing to exhort each other, and to encourage each other to live unselfishly, we're the epitome of uncharitability.

>>609541

You've written another winner, Love Anon.

God bless you for this work!

>>609667

>Read OP's previous paragraph, he's talking about using God as an anti-depressant.

We can't find joy in prayer ? We can't pray for our-self with God ?

>I'm tired of seeing Christians use God and prayer like a genie in a bottle, rubbing the lamp when they're in trouble and forgetting about Him otherwise.

These are mostly non-praticing christians and heretics. Don't make an intention process for the rest.

>If we're not willing to exhort each other

It whould be a shame to forgot to post a low effort bullshitting inspirational text with quasi no quotes of saints (even if they made plenty of the most beautiful talks about God and virtues in our tradition and they knew better than OP what they were talking about). That's the problem of OP : no content, just wind, focusing on intention whitout basing this on the analysis of objective facts. "I don't feel like they feel the love they need to feel in order to be christian". It looks like some liberal christian trying to inspire their group whitout even talking about the doctrine, about God, just repeating his name in vain. Just some "Jeeesus is love".

>>609541

Which saint is that? I see it all the time when I go buy some shawarma at my local lebanese restaurant

>>609621

Thank you!

>>609684

Saint Charbel, Maronite saint of Lebanon!

>>609688

>All I meant was that if you only serve God because you see the Bible as a self-help book or God as a therapist, then that is selfish and wrong.

Yes that's my main point. One of the biggest problem is Christians doing like protestants, repeating the name "lord, lord", "Jaysuuus" but saying nothing, using God as an inspirational tool. Using cliché words and all with no content, no saint, no doctrine, making faith nothing more than an emotional feeling for the name God.

Of course God have to be in the center of a christian life (thanks Mr obvious), all serious Christians will agree with it, and by saying it you haven't said anything. You have only said, I can assume wrongly, nice thing that please you. That is entertainment for Christians. Lots of people tend to do this, the easy "inspirational" text, not edifying at all but emotionally emulating instead of the hard seeking of precise truth. With the amount of Christians that do this nowadays I started to really hate it.

>>609711

>making faith nothing more than an emotional feeling for the name God.

What is faith?

>You have only said, I can assume wrongly, nice thing that please you. That is entertainment for Christians.

Can you clarify this?

>the easy "inspirational" text, not edifying at all but emotionally emulating instead of the hard seeking of precise truth.

If you don't mind dirtying the board, could you provide an example of this for reference?

>>610117

>What is faith?

A super-natural gift of the Lord by his grace. It's superior to emotions, even if it can cause them (and even bodily feelings).

>Can you clarify this?

It's speech that only have the purpose to feel good disguised as teachings, and a moralizing one.

>If you don't mind dirtying the board, could you provide an example of this for reference?

all well known doctrinal overused phrase, often whitout understanding, always consensual message for people to activate their feels on it. Something I see the most is the "Jesus is love, he love us all, he as incarnated himself and died on a cross, nothing matter for him, don't judge", you can't disagree with it, but when you have catechism or something and you want to seek truth and then, the fucking teacher can only say this…. Resuming all his understanding of the Church on the mystery of the kerygma alone… That's really feminin, and American-protestant since it's an indirect result of the "faith alone" thing. I mean it's ok to repeat St John 1, but there should be something behind it, or else you only repeat it like an hape without even entering the mystery (emotion not being an understanding nor theological, nor mystical). I hate this christian entertainment, it destroy everything.

TL;DR : christians tend to see emotion as a knowledge.

>>610127

>Resuming all his understanding of the Church on the mystery of the kerygma alone

The "kerygma"? Explain.

>but there should be something behind it

Explain. How do you put something behind it? What thing needs to be put behind it?

>or else you only repeat it like an hape without even entering the mystery (emotion not being an understanding nor theological, nor mystical)

What's a hape? (Unless you meant ape in which case, sorry. I just don't want to risk misunderstanding you)

What's a mystery?

How is emotion not mystical? Surely, it's a direct response to your connection with God?

>I hate this christian entertainment, it destroy everything.

What Christian entertainment? What are you speaking of?

>christians tend to see emotion as knowledge

>>610127

>TL;DR : christians tend to see emotion as a knowledge.

Maybe not knowledge but surely, emotions serve as proof? Proof of the solidity of one's connection with God? A way of evaluating truth about one's relation with God?

>>610160

>The "kerygma"? Explain.

It's the essentials facts a christian believe, it comes from the first centuries and mean "high voice proclamation". It's : "Jesus is the messia, son of God; he has dead and have been brought back to life; he calls to conversion"

>Explain. How do you put something behind it? What thing needs to be put behind it?

Definitions : Jesus, God, son, conversion. Explain it all. Explore the practical, metaphysical implications for example to have a deeper understanding. You can't jump to the conclusion whitout explaining anything. You need to do the journey.

>What's a hape?

yes I meant ape sorry

>What's a mystery?

revealed doctrine inaccessible for the reason

>How is emotion not mystical?

It's a biological fact, and the grace of God, which make something mystical is supra-natural, they are non-created energies of God. There is an impassable difference between the two, one is God, the other is creation. Of course grace cause emotions, but they are subordinate and lots of time are more biological than caused by God's grace. You just need to discern and be aware not confuse it with God.

>What Christian entertainment? What are you speaking of?

The fact christians confuse emotion and grace.

>>610162

Not sure, if someone cry praying alone to God of course it can be a sign, a fruit of someone's connection with God. But since sanctity comes from a virtuous life virtues are good proof, the fact someone do "father's will is a sure proof, better than spectacular things.

>>610211

>but they are subordinate and lots of time are more biological than caused by God's grace.

So there's a lot of times when people feel the feeling felt when they've received grace from God and it's just a biological reaction? A reaction to what, for example?

>You just need to discern and be aware not confuse it with God.

How does one feel God's presence then?

>The fact christians confuse emotion and grace.

How do you know that you're in grace if you can't rely on emotion?

I thought developing your relationship with God was partly "feely", as all real relationships are.

>But since sanctity comes from a virtuous life virtues are good proof, the fact someone do "father's will is a sure proof, better than spectacular things.

This makes sense.

>>610500

>So there's a lot of times when people feel the feeling felt when they've received grace from God and it's just a biological reaction? A reaction to what, for example?

No I think they feel normal emotions and think it's God's grace. I don't know, I'm not an expert of this feeling. It's really subjective and personal. The idea is you need to be careful about that. Like for example don't confuse passions and love, and look charismatic black pastor, they are throwing the "holy spirit" like it was a ball.

>How does one feel God's presence then?

I think through piety, a reverence to God's glorify (and thus prayer), and in the daily life through agape : free gift of yourself to God and others which brings joy.

>How do you know that you're in grace if you can't rely on emotion?

Don't rely on emotion to know it, base your judgment on sure/objective things : your acts. You know if you made a deadly sin that you are not and then, you can't know for sure if you had perfect contrition, so if you are in state of grace. Because a sinner can be perfectly happy about it. May our heart not be of stone so we know if we offended Him.

>I thought developing your relationship with God was partly "feely", as all real relationships are.

Sure He act on every aspect of a person I suppose, but your mind shouldn't judge only with subjective emotions, that are not safe from mistakes.

You have all your life to learn to know God, it make sense it's not that easy to grasp. Someone needs to purify himself to even approach the mountain of God, purify himself through virtues, so christian life. I don't think you find God by seeking feelings, instead you only find feelings from the earth. Because the creation can't get back to the creator by her own forces. So I think the most you can do is to be sure to obey him and seek virtues that are facts the human rational mind can grasp, and thus follow, and the grace of God will come but it can't be understood.

>>610509

Thank you for your feedback.

>>610528

That's nothing. But don't take my words as teachings.