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Christian Existentialism


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#61 aldo

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Posted 20 February 2014 - 10:24 AM

 

I have been reading in this forum for some months now. I don’t usually post unless I feel I have something positive to contribute and/or it threatens to burst out of me if I don’t let it go. I’m not anti-social, just reticent because I usually see things from a perspective that is not common. Forever odd man out. In the past, in other forums, I have found my words to cause the sound of silence more often than not and so rather than be a conversation stopper, I refrain. If I cannot make my POV understood then what is the point of saying it?

 

But I am posting in this topic because I think it is important enough to risk being misunderstood. This is going to be lengthy and I apologize at the outset.

 

First let me explain that I am a self-imposed Christian outcast which means I have rejected churchianity, religiousity and most, if not all, of the doctrine that requires loyalty to a rule-of-law as determined and set forth by a group that has taken upon itself the responsibility to define and redefine Christianity–yet again. For the last two millennia there have been many multiples of Christian sects rise up to this onerous task and usually with one earnest and dedicated individual as the originator and guiding force. Sects come and then they go only to morph into new interpretations and incarnations. Sometimes they are so well disguised beneath layers of righteous sounding dogma they are almost even better than Christ Himself so that even the Elect could be fooled by the dazzle, and, indeed, often they are. 

 

From a mature spiritual stand point, one doesn't have to make a huge leap to see Satan's hand and motive in devising a new, better, improved, more sincere, more holy, more devout, more inspiring, more physically/spiritually and mentally healthy, thus even-better-at-getting-salvation, creed in order to first attract and then detract the masses. While the masses generally are more drawn to the dynamic improved doctrine that blurs the lines between human accountability and forgiveness, there are just as many seekers who are willing to embrace the more rigid, striving for perfection, self-denial based gospel. But do these not all fall under the guise of "another gospel" we are warned to be wary of in 2 Corinthians 11:4? - For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. 

 

Never be dissuaded that Christians are constrained from using discernment about who is worshipping what. The first most often used smack down that derails us is the “judge not” rule. 

 

Tozer said it like this:

 

Love is of God, little children, so love everybody and all will be well. Thus speaks the devil, using Holy Scripture falsely for his evil purpose; and it is nothing short of tragic how many of God’s people are taken in by his sweet talk. The shepherd becomes afraid to use his club and the wolf gets the sheep. The watchman is charmed into believing that there is no danger, and the city falls to the enemy without a shot. So Satan

destroys us by appealing to our virtues.

 

The point is that people are inclined to flock to whatever feels right and comforts self. While some are predisposed to sidestep the concept of sin and guilt, others desire to believe they can overcome sin and guilt by adhering to clearly delineated guidelines that promise to result in personal perfect goodness. While one offers unfettered freedom from guilt, the other devises yet new ways to feel guilty. Even at opposite poles from each other, both types of religiosity call to individual basic internal needs that have nothing to do with desire to follow Christ. 

 

The Devil is always in the details of self-interest. Self is always more interested in how it feels, how it fits in, how it is well established. How intellectually evolved it is. Perfectly perfected.

 

Neither of these extremes or the many compromises in between work for me, nor feeds or matures me in the spirit, or draws me closer to Christ, thus I choose to be an outcast rather than travel far and wide searching for THE RIGHT church/doctrine/concept. In order to make my way back to the peace that passes all understanding, I had to first admit that I had been working so hard at shaping myself into a true Christian I had forgotten that becoming and being a Christian is not about me at all. 

 

Not about me. And not about my having a healthy physical life and/or psyche either.

 

Mulling on this, I had an epiphany one day, while in my car, listening to a CD called The Love of God by Kenny Rogers. It is a wonderful combination of old gospel songs updated with a couple of new ones. I'm driving and listening and suddenly I am pierced to my core with a profound ache for the way things used to be; the old faith, the faith that was simple, uncomplicated, just dear hearts believing in God's promise to abide with us even when we struggle and hurt and can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. Faith like the old folks who gathered on Sunday mornings and sang What a Friend We Have in Jesus and Leaning on the Everlasting Arm. These were the precious lovers of God who lived their simple faith without a script or formula, the kind that didn't need fleshly strivings to perfection mind/body/soul, thus they were not in constant internal conflict over what to do, what not to do. Their moral compass was scripture based but they weren't perfect, just dear hearts who trusted like children that God guides us perfectly when we are willing to move over and give Him the wheel. 

 

And when that generation passed did they not go straight to Jesus, even without the slightest concern that they had not attained the higher intellectual understanding of God? 

 

Which begs the question: Do we need all this other stuff? Really?

 

I just want to be a Dearheart Christian. I want a simple, uncomplicated, no-strings-attached, unwavering faith. I don't need a new religion, established to satisfy a modern view, or a new interpretation founded on reinvention of old law in order to have a relationship with Christ. I don’t need psychoanalytical guidelines to a self-centered understanding of God. 

 

Neither simple nor complex, I just need an honest heart for Christ and total belief that He is willing and waiting to step in when I am ready to abandon making my relationship with Him more about me than Him. I realize this decision to disconnect is a singular personal choice and not for everyone but then that is the real point. True Christianity resides within a heart that hears HIs voice and does, doesn't, goes or stays on His command alone according to His will. I don’t even have to begin to understand it. When we are truly tuned-in we discover each of us has a dedicated frequency.

 

1 Corinthians 3:11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.

 

[cue crickets]

 

Meema

 

Seems you have struggled and have found your way... it remains only to daily harvest the fruits of a Christ-like life...

 

Not all have had tghe same success.. especailly those people who never knew the gentle  'dear hearts' of yestreday.

 

The world is in need of examples... they are fewer and farther between these days. This is sad thing... As I age, I worry for the young and the loss of the 'dear hearts' in our midst...



#62 Meema

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Posted 20 February 2014 - 01:37 PM

Kenny,

Based on your other posts, I’d say we likely have many similar mindsets. 

 

Candice,

Sometimes we just have to bloom where we are planted, and pray that if we are in fallow ground He will transplant us. We really have to let Him lead.

 

I once read a sermon by David Wilkerson about his early years in New York, where he knew he had been sent. He spoke of starting a youth center for delinquent boys that he was so sure had been God’s will. Within a couple of years they ran out of money and had to close. He began to question if he had really heard God about the whole thing. It seemed to be a complete failure. Then years later he received a letter from one of the kids who had grown up, given his life to Christ and had a congregation of his own. Wilkerson just smiled. One kid. The whole thing for one kid. But that kid touched many more. We never know where our seeds take root. 

 

Aldo,

I understand. It is not for nothing that I find my strongest edification, outside of the Bible,  from the written legacy of the anointed men of the early 20th century. Modernity calls for high speed, complex, visual/auditory stimulation because simple doesn’t appeal to the younger generation.Thus we have rock n roll concerts and emotion mining instead of solemn assembly. I’m just not sure that tapping into our passion spots is the same thing as the Apostle says, "And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind...". So, we compromise in the war for the hearts and minds and souls of our youth but, in the end, what have we wrought?


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