LifeHiscost Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Sure... your call... good bye.. let us know if things change. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me."Revelation 3:20 NASB God cares! Jesus saves! Quote Lift Jesus up!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rudywoofs (Pam) Posted January 28, 2014 Members Share Posted January 28, 2014 **off topic** throwing random Bible verses with no context at someone isn't necessarily a good idea..it can turn scriptures from being a blessing to being boorish and obnoxious.. (sorry, but that's how it comes across) **back to topic** Quote Pam Meddle Not In the Affairs of Dragons; for You Are Crunchy and Taste Good with Ketchup. If we all sang the same note in the choir, there'd never be any harmony. Funny, isn't it, how we accept Grace for ourselves and demand justice for others? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoAspen Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 ...but on point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LifeHiscost Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Happens to all individuals who find no need for the saving grace found in the Word. Sorry about that. "So(they)stayed on there for a long time, speaking freely and fearlessly and boldly in the Lord, Who continued to bear testimony to the Word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be performed by their hands." Acts 14:3 AMP parenthesis mine LHC God cares! Jesus saves! Quote Lift Jesus up!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Tom Wetmore Posted January 28, 2014 Author Administrators Share Posted January 28, 2014 Moderator Note: Wrong on so many levels, LHC. Being on topic is just simple common courtesy and offering out of context quotes, no matter how profound and seriously spiritual, is unhelpful, even rude, and in fact completely defeats your supposed goal of spreading the good news. I suspect that many simply skip your posts as predictably irrelevant to what is being discussed. When you do have something relevant to the topic to say, it most likely gets overlooked. Perhaps in your mind these things somehow relate to the topic. But I would assume that after being told repeatedly by others that they are not relevant, that you might actually get the point that they are not to anyone but you. I have asked you this before - Do you carry on personal face to face conversations in this way? Responding with a string of random quotes from Scripture in response to everything said by those you are with? A bit like having an on air hockey commentator during the game only giving updates and commentary about the latest news from around the world. I am a news junky, but not when I watch a game. If you do not have a relevant observation to contribute to the topic of the conversation it is better to be quiet and just listen. Quote "Absurdity reigns and confusion makes it look good." "Sinless perfection is such a shallow goal." "I love God only as much as the person I love the least." *Forgiveness is always good news. And that is the gospel truth. (And finally, the ideas expressed above are solely my person views and not that of any organization with which I am associated.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Gregory Matthews Posted January 28, 2014 Moderators Share Posted January 28, 2014 LHC: As to me, much of the time, I do not see any relation to the subject under discusison and your quotes. Quote Gregory Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fccool Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 My church experiences vary, and pastors are hardly to blame IMO. There are multiple ways of viewing the "church" as an organization, or as a group of people. Unfortunately, organization may have different goals than members and that's where much of the dissonance takes place. I have to admit that my "church experience" outside of the SDA denomination was much better, mainly due to the functions that one can be actively involved in, and the resources available for these functions. It's very unfortunate, that the current organizational structure tends to drain much-needed funds from the modest-member churches and they end up in a cycle of "barely making it" in terns of their function and resources. I completely understand the concept of "global church", but you are only as strong as your weakest link... and unfortunately a lot of the local congregations are crippled by this set up to the point of dying off. That's really been my experience in SDA church. I've joined in at the peak of economic performance, when plentiful resources were channeled locally beyond the tithes that went to the conference, and we've had a pastor who actually emphasized "in-reach" and "in-growth", and the church really grew, with plentiful functions that benefited the community and the members involved. The, the conference decided to name the "year of evangelism", and the priorities shifted to ... "evangelism" , which meant piping resources to "conference evangelism fund" which had a quota, and getting us a new pastor that largely occupied himself with guilting members to join evangelism team that went door-to-door dropping of leaflets, which was a form of preparing for the culmination - Prophecy seminar, to which maybe 20 people would come, with majority being members. So, with all of that time invested in these activities... we ended up with people who felt uncared for, or left out, since the priority didn't seem to shift to people who were currently attending. The membership dropped quite a bit, because people were getting sick and tired of the idea that the only purpose of the church was to warn and convert others. Once people dropped, attendance dropped, resources dropped, activities dropped... and all we are now left with is a half pastor who has to pick up the pieces of this recklessness, having to manage 2 churches of largely older people who stick with the idea of "church duty", but do very little other than show up for a couple hours on Saturday morning. I have to say that both I and my wife are in jealous fit when we pass by the local Sunday church that's actually does something that shows care for people and meeting their emotional, social, and spiritual needs. Every time we pass by the non-denominational church, and they have flocks of people involved in building local schools, running charity functions, throwing high-end concerts for entire town, having church outings for younger people... on some level we with we would be a part of that church, or that our church would be more like that. We have three SDA churches in town, and all of them seem to struggling retaining members (not even talking about getting news ones) for the same exact reason - they have very little to offer beyond a "warning" and a list of standards that end up sucking up the local resources instead of actually building local communities. Once again, it has little to do with pastors, but with disconnect between "needs as seen by corporate organization hierarchy", and the actual reality that people have to live with every day - being spiritually unfulfilled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LifeHiscost Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 Thanks for your very thoughtful input, Tom. While I don't agree with every point you made, overnight I was impressed that since there seems to be among the most "vocal" an aversion to my application re: whatever the general topic might be, with one last application in the general tenure of my normal and hopefully, an indication of thumbs up or thumbs down as to the efficacy that could be expressed by any others who want to give voice. Quote: it is better to be quite and just listen. And I'm supposing you meant "quiet" where underlined. "Many plans are in a man’s heart, But the counsel of the Lord will stand."Proverbs 19:21 NASB "So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase, but I must decrease."John 3:29-30 NASB Hopefully the subsequent reason for my decrease won't require the same reasoning, since I do see some reason for usefulness where I am. God bless! Jesus saves! Quote Lift Jesus up!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fccool Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 I'm just curious as to how you find those verses? What tools do you use to search the relevant text, and how do you determine it relevance in context of the topics discussed? I'm not really opposed to the quotes, but as stated above, as long as these make sense in context of what's said. I'll give you an extreme example of what it look like to an outsider at times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fccool Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 My neighbor was claiming to be a god the other day, and I think he's on to something... "I said, 'You are "gods"; you are all sons of the Most High.' - Psalm 82:6 But then I thought a bit harder, and figured that he couldn't be God, because God has feathers: “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.” - Psalm 91:4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LifeHiscost Posted January 28, 2014 Share Posted January 28, 2014 My neighbor was claiming to be a god the other day, and I think he's on to something... "I said, 'You are "gods"; you are all sons of the Most High.' - Psalm 82:6 But then I thought a bit harder, and figured that he couldn't be God, because God has feathers: “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.” - Psalm 91:4 The key is to seek the One Who gives the keys to the understanding. "Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." John 14:5 NKJV "And I tell you, you are Peter [Greek, Petros—a large piece of rock], and on this rock [Greek, petra—a huge rock like Gibraltar] I will build My church, and the gates of Hades (the powers of the infernal region) shall not overpower it [or be strong to its detriment or hold out against it]. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful) on earth must be what is already bound in heaven; and whatever you loose (declare lawful) on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven."Matthew 16:18-20 AMP brackets parenthesis theirs' LHC God cares! Jesus saves! Quote Lift Jesus up!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoAspen Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 A failure to comprehend the question asked, but a reply is given out of context and pertaining t the subject. An example of Tom, GM and others are saying. Tis hard to take serious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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