Neil's popporri of thoughts

[Neil D]

The older I get, the more I am coming to realize that this world just isn't my home...

...and I miss home.....

Where is home? Well, in my mind, it's a place where people can talk and explore subjects with safety. A place where one can talk about what's going on inside of him, and not be in conflict with other's thoughts/goals/paths. That doens't mean that there are not opposing ideas, but that we are exploring ways to achieve that one goal- how to love and express it in the best way possible.

As I look out at the political [both church and world] scene, I see gays who just want to live and find a sense of self. Sure, I find their sexual behavior revolting to me, but I don't find myself seeking to block thier way of life. It seems to me that, God will, come to them and wrestle with them in His own time. You might also come to that conclusion too, but only if you know that God is active in this world.

I see an awful lot of political controversial subjects fighting for supremacy of the {enter the inhabitants of country of choice]'s mind .... It seems to me that if I compare the opposing ideals I see one ideal that is not for the best of all, but rather supports current tradition or favors a select few, whose supporters depend upon jobs or favors....That seems wrong to me. The individual needs to support the collective whole...and the collective whole needs to support the individual. If one ideal is over emphasised than the other, all will be lost....

Concider all that polution out in the gulf-Just where does all that black smoke from the burning oil go to? Into the atomsphere, right? And what does it do then? Disapates into the vast sphere of air...And what happens to it after that? How can you be sure that it rains out? Water and oil do not mix...right? ......And we haven't addressed the oil pollution in the ocean....which will attack the marshes the help clean our water, improve the wildlife, make our fishing industrys survive....

I make distinctions between Christians, christians, and non-christians...The non-christians can be broken down into further groups but they are not the one's I want to talk about...It's the Christians and christians that I want to discuss...There are real Christians in this world....although, IMHO, they are very few and very far between those who think that they are Christian....There are those who think that they are Christians but are really christians....These people are christians in name only...that is, they may have some values that are Christ centered, but they also have values that support exclusiveness, hatred and sometimes, they actually create harm. They cause the name of Christ to fall into disrepute.....Like voting for racial profiling in Arizona....Or insisting that God hates fags or...you get the idea...In the SDA culture, there are christians here who think that are doing God some a service,convincing other's of their errors... but ...they...hurt...others....terribly.....with the goal of "you need to come to MY ideal"....Interestingly, I haven't seen to many liberals hurt others near as much as those conservatives....<sigh>.... No one is interested in helping people in The Way, as they are in helping others come to "MY way"....I suppose it's because they don't know The Way...and only think that "Their way" is the better way....

Oh well, there will be a lot of finger pointing after this post is posted...I am sure that there will be some who think that I need to look at my words...Well, when the finger pointing occurs, it will demonstrate the christians from the Christians...

I once held this board to be a wealth of ideas, with a few strange ideas floating around...Of course, it wasn't on everyone radar as a place for "Christians to gather"...

I just know that there is too much darkness in this BBS that once held a lot of light here...Too many opinions that are pushed for Christian values but are of little value in this world, and the next...

Oh well....thanks for letting me vent....and reminisce of better days gone by...

[Liz]

Funny you should talk about this; especially the Christian vs. christian thing. We are reading Messiah one chapter a week on Sabbath afternoons. Anyways, yesterday's reading brought out that the same demon that possessed a man also controlled the religious leaders. That the man kept wanting to have fun and entertainment and that was how the demon was able to possess his mind, and by the time he realized what was happening it was too late. However, the demon gave the religious leaders a sense of godliness. And they thought they were doing right.

This really made me pause, I never thought that a demon would or even could give a person a sense of godliness. Makes one think about Christian vs. christian; and makes one really think about motives, does one really want to help people get to know Jesus, or does one really just want to prove that they are "right"?

I guess just more food for thought, and adding on to your potpourri of thoughts.

[abelisle]

Neil,

Thank you for your insightful and introspective ideas. It made me think.

I wonder if we should call ourselves "Christ-like People" instead of "Christians"?

When in doubt, I simply have to think (honestly) would Jesus have done what I did or say what I just said?

When I read comments where the sarcasm borders on hatred, bigotry, prejudice or it's outright mean and nasty or innocently ignorant, I pause, reflect, and put it in God's hands. He surely can deal with it better than I can.

Alex (Fiat lux - let there be light!)