Not By Works

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
55,885
26,046
113
Another non-answer. You are wrong and refuse to acknowledge it, instead saying I am wrong. I'll bet you think you have a non-provocative method of addressing people. It is always someone else doing things the wrong way, right?
In fact, this reminds me of so many other people's attitudes here, people who have been extremely rude to me, falsely accusing me of all manner of things, and then they turn around and say they will continue to talk to me if I am polite to them! As if all their lies and false accusations and misrepresentations is THEM being polite to me! It is so pathetic, and highlights their blindness so completely, it is almost comical.
 

star

Senior Member
Nov 8, 2017
1,582
2,046
113
North Carolina
In fact, this reminds me of so many other people's attitudes here, people who have been extremely rude to me, falsely accusing me of all manner of things, and then they turn around and say they will continue to talk to me if I am polite to them! As if all their lies and false accusations and misrepresentations is THEM being polite to me! It is so pathetic, and highlights their blindness so completely, it is almost comical.


Those kinds of people probably are not worth your time and effort. Yep, they be comical sometimes.
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
55,885
26,046
113
Those kinds of people probably are not worth your time and effort. Yep, they be comical sometimes.
They obviously have a problem with the truth. What they seem to be saying and doing is giving themselves carte blanche to behave any way they like, and say whatever they think regardless of whether or not it is true, but they will put you down when you point out what they are doing: the feigning of ignorance and playing the victim card. Some people seem to have it down to a science. Come to think of it, it is often the sinless perfectionists who do this, gladly telling us how righteous they are while they go around slandering others, and misrepresenting what is said on a regular basis.
 
Jan 25, 2018
673
10
0
I think I can see this...
I wake in the morning and mom has left her dirty icecream bowl laying on the counter, not even rinsed. And she has thrown her tissue towards the trashcan but it landed on the floor near it rather than in it. The dishes she said she would do are all there still in the sink, dirty.

The temptation comes to be angry with her. I give into this temptation and fume and resent her while I am cleaning everything up. Halfway through, I realize I am murdering her. I stop and ask God for help.

This goes on in the same manner for quite a few mornings until one morning, I see and feel the temptation to begin muttering and murdering WHEN it comes instead of after I've drowned in it already for 15 minutes. So I ask for help at that moment of temptation instead of AFTER I am already mired in murder. Instead of sinking into it, I immediately cry to God.

Temptation is not sin. It is only sin when we advert to it and sink down into it and become mired in it.
I hope you can forgive me.
Can you accept that loving your mom is knowing she will do something, but she
will fail to sort the icecream bowl and miss the waste bin, but that is who she is.
It is not something you can change, and it is like knowing ones own car that
steers slightly to the left. Now once you know what will happen, it is not hurt
or pain but what is. And when occasionally things are different, it is a blessing.

We cannot change what others do, but how we react to what happens. Our hurts
and pain, anger and frustration is often because our expectations do not match
what is happening. The closer we see reality and apply love to it, the more we
walk in the ways of Jesus.

I know this is not easy, it took me years to see how by changing how I come across
changes how others respond. We always connect our behavior with ourselves rather
than people see our behavior and then react, which means if we change the interactions
then people see us in a different light.
 
J

joefizz

Guest
They obviously have a problem with the truth. What they seem to be saying and doing is giving themselves carte blanche to behave any way they like, and say whatever they think regardless of whether or not it is true, but they will put you down when you point out what they are doing: the feigning of ignorance and playing the victim card. Some people seem to have it down to a science. Come to think of it, it is often the sinless perfectionists who do this, gladly telling us how righteous they are while they go around slandering others, and misrepresenting what is said on a regular basis.
Yep kind of like this...
and then this...
and then feigning innocence like this...
 

TruthTalk

Senior Member
Jul 17, 2017
2,904
2,262
113
I've seen way more wolves disguised as sheep and ministers of lies garbed as those of ministers of truth than I've seen any true Gospel preacher in your scenario. Jesus seems to have set this true precedent in Matthew 7 as a warning to the sheep.
Hi Preacher, my guess is you have seen people on this thread who are fooled by the sugar coated words of LightLoveHope who is in reality aka PeterJens. If you are on the right side of honesty, truth and the gospel, why on earth would you give a lier and banned poster one moment of your precious time. If you would ask the Holy Spirit for discernment He will shine a bright light on what is false. But some people would rather hear his sugar coated half truth rather than the whole truth from God's word.

All that glitters is not gold, beware of false prophets.

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." Matthew7:15
 
J

joefizz

Guest
Hi Preacher, my guess is you have seen people on this thread who are fooled by the sugar coated words of LightLoveHope who is in reality aka PeterJens. If you are on the right side of honesty, truth and the gospel, why on earth would you give a lier and banned poster one moment of your precious time. If you would ask the Holy Spirit for discernment He will shine a bright light on what is false. But some people would rather hear his sugar coated half truth rather than the whole truth from God's word.

All that glitters is not gold, beware of false prophets.

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." Matthew7:15
Well you never want to "rule out hope" that someone may change for the better,though it can be somewhat wasteful.
 
Nov 12, 2015
9,112
822
113
I hope you can forgive me.
Can you accept that loving your mom is knowing she will do something, but she
will fail to sort the icecream bowl and miss the waste bin, but that is who she is.
It is not something you can change, and it is like knowing ones own car that
steers slightly to the left. Now once you know what will happen, it is not hurt
or pain but what is. And when occasionally things are different, it is a blessing.

We cannot change what others do, but how we react to what happens. Our hurts
and pain, anger and frustration is often because our expectations do not match
what is happening. The closer we see reality and apply love to it, the more we
walk in the ways of Jesus.

I know this is not easy, it took me years to see how by changing how I come across
changes how others respond. We always connect our behavior with ourselves rather
than people see our behavior and then react, which means if we change the interactions
then people see us in a different light.
Forgive you for what? You have done nothing to me...
Yes, God hasn't changed her. He has changed me.
The first step was admitting I had a problem.
 
L

loverofjesus27

Guest
Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes! Cease to do evil, Learn to do right! Seek justice, relieve the oppresed and correct the oppresor. Defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason toghether, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson they shall be like wool. Isaiah 1:16-18

i don’t know i thought this might fit in there.
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
55,885
26,046
113
Jan 25, 2018
673
10
0
Forgive you for what? You have done nothing to me...
Yes, God hasn't changed her. He has changed me.
The first step was admitting I had a problem.
I ask for forgiveness because some get upset if one makes any suggestions about
parent child interactions.

And amen, the first step is always realizing we are sinners in need of Jesus's
help and healing. The next step is understanding when the Lord has brought
His victory into our lives to bless others, amen.
 

Endoscopy

Senior Member
Oct 13, 2017
4,028
400
83
it is fine for the fruits of our heart to be encouragement , as long as that is balanced with truth and honesty. emotions do not determine what is true. facts do. facts need to override emotions.
why make it difficult?

But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Matt 7:14

My quest in my life is not to define life or the Lord, but to learn life and know the Lord.
So the answers maybe simple or maybe complex before we start.

If you read the bible, begin to learn the layers, you will begin to see it is a mystery.
It is both light, and subtle, almost one thing but also another.

How can God judge a man for steadying the ark of the covenant, swallow into the
ground Korah, slaughter Jericho, yet pardon a thief on a cross for some revelation
they had over a few hours.

How can God the creator become a man, tell us He will do all we ask, but leave us
wondering why things do not work out simply? If God loves, why so much suffering,
why has technology changed so much, yet God could have brought this about.

Or creation in 6 days, yet it appears to take billions. Or the law is good, yet we seem
to fail so easily.

So it is difficult, no one is making it like this, it is what it is.
The instant security folk want cotton wool reality, and are not prepared to meet the
burning fire. We are so unbelievably blessed today, with so much knowledge yet how
many read scripture every day, or ponder on the deep things of God or relationships or
love. The impure heart will always destroy their owner and excuse anything to avoid
resolution.

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin
1 John 1:5-7

This forum is always just a taster of something more in Jesus. So walk on, follow
drink deeply, and let Gods word and Holy Spirit lead the way, Amen.
Keep something in mind when you claim creation took 6 days but appears to have taken billions of years.
There is the paradigm of "In the begining God created the heavens and the earth. "
There is the paradigm of big bang evolution.

People view what is seen and examined inside their paradigm ignoring evidence to the contrary. An example is the Grand Canyon and the little grand canyon created by Mt. St. Hellens blowing its top and making a dam across the river. When it started overflowing the dam water washed away earth and left the little grand canyon. In both canyons the lines of the layers show no sign of erosion. Therefore in both cases the layers were created by a large catestrophic event. The layers in the Grand Canyon are replicated over much of the USA. The catestrophic event was a flood. The Grand Canyon was created in a day or 2 after the water breached the dam holding the water back.

In the big bang paradigm they try to claim the layers were deposited over millions of years in spite of no erosion between the layers.
 
Jan 25, 2018
673
10
0
We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it;
when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world.
I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children.
1 Corinthians 4:12-14

If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
1 Peter 4:11
 
Nov 12, 2015
9,112
822
113
I ask for forgiveness because some get upset if one makes any suggestions about
parent child interactions.

And amen, the first step is always realizing we are sinners in need of Jesus's
help and healing. The next step is understanding when the Lord has brought
His victory into our lives to bless others, amen.
Ah, okay, I see. Yes, we can be a touchy bunch, cant we? It's that pride thing again.
Don't worry, you didn't offend me.
My mother is no different than anyone else. She is human and so I don't place my hope in her. She does everything as she was taught and raised to do. She knows no other way.

I don't put my hope in my brothers and sisters either, even though they DO know another way. I don't look for anything from them or expect some sort of perfection from them that even I am incapable of.
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
55,885
26,046
113
Another thing I have noticed is that people often cry about the lack of fellowship and/or goodwill among Christians, but then they slam fellowship and goodwill among Christians! ElAmor just did it recently, and I have seen this before.
 
Jan 25, 2018
673
10
0
Keep something in mind when you claim creation took 6 days but appears to have taken billions of years.
There is the paradigm of "In the begining God created the heavens and the earth. "
There is the paradigm of big bang evolution.

People view what is seen and examined inside their paradigm ignoring evidence to the contrary. An example is the Grand Canyon and the little grand canyon created by Mt. St. Hellens blowing its top and making a dam across the river. When it started overflowing the dam water washed away earth and left the little grand canyon. In both canyons the lines of the layers show no sign of erosion. Therefore in both cases the layers were created by a large catestrophic event. The layers in the Grand Canyon are replicated over much of the USA. The catestrophic event was a flood. The Grand Canyon was created in a day or 2 after the water breached the dam holding the water back.

In the big bang paradigm they try to claim the layers were deposited over millions of years in spite of no erosion between the layers.
I agree with you that one has to work through the issues.
My experience is how the issues need to be explained and honestly addressed.
And if there is not an answer today, just accepting what is.

A simple difference is the scale of 6,000 years when compared to billions is enormous.
Take neptunes time to go round the sun once 165 years.
So Neptune in 6,000 years has gone round the sun, 36 times.

So just in our solar system, the scale of what we see is far greater than 6,000 years.
How big is the milky way? 100,000 light years. So light will take 100,000 years to go
from one side of the galaxy to the other. So there is a great deal missing from our
descriptions. I do not have a definitive answer, just it is reasonable to wonder what
is happening.
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
55,885
26,046
113
I think I can see this...
I wake in the morning and mom has left her dirty icecream bowl laying on the counter, not even rinsed. And she has thrown her tissue towards the trashcan but it landed on the floor near it rather than in it. The dishes she said she would do are all there still in the sink, dirty.

The temptation comes to be angry with her. I give into this temptation and fume and resent her while I am cleaning everything up. Halfway through, I realize I am murdering her. I stop and ask God for help.

This goes on in the same manner for quite a few mornings until one morning, I see and feel the temptation to begin muttering and murdering WHEN it comes instead of after I've drowned in it already for 15 minutes. So I ask for help at that moment of temptation instead of AFTER I am already mired in murder. Instead of sinking into it, I immediately cry to God.

Temptation is not sin. It is only sin when we advert to it and sink down into it and become mired in it.
This kind of reminds me of a co-worker. She pushed and pushed to be allowed to come and work in the department I have been in since I started working at my place of employment thirty six years ago. Only problem is, she does not take direction, being extremely offended/miffed if someone points anything out to her that she is not doing properly. Another problem is that she is extremely touchy when it comes to her personal space, but she thinks nothing of invading the personal space of others, and has a fit if you try to set boundaries with her.

I realize mother/daughter dynamics are unique in themselves :)

I have a client, too, who pushed and pushed me to do her work in a certain way, a way that took me so far beyond what I saw as normal, that it started becoming a problem for me, and seeing the finished work was like YIKES wow I could hardly believe that is what she wanted, but she accepted it for quite a while... Some time after this, after her accepting the work the way she had pushed me to produce it for her, she came to me with a print that looked NORMAL and said, why can't my work look like this??? I was gob smacked LOL. And she denied that she had pushed me for some time in a direction I had not wanted to go. Plus, she has changed what she wants again since then! I showed my boss the samples I have of what she believes to be acceptable, too, so he knows it is not just me :) But truth be told, he trusts my judgment, and knows the person in question.

It is not so easy with my co-worker. He makes so many allowances for her, he was ready to fire my other co-worker when my two co-workers were clashing over some issue. This second co-worker is one of the most dependable, hard working people I have known in my time here (he is the only one at this point who has been here longer than I have), while my boss would fire him because he has a bit of a pet in the lazy co-worker.
 

Endoscopy

Senior Member
Oct 13, 2017
4,028
400
83
it is fine for the fruits of our heart to be encouragement , as long as that is balanced with truth and honesty. emotions do not determine what is true. facts do. facts need to override emotions.
I agree with you that one has to work through the issues.
My experience is how the issues need to be explained and honestly addressed.
And if there is not an answer today, just accepting what is.

A simple difference is the scale of 6,000 years when compared to billions is enormous.
Take neptunes time to go round the sun once 165 years.
So Neptune in 6,000 years has gone round the sun, 36 times.

So just in our solar system, the scale of what we see is far greater than 6,000 years.
How big is the milky way? 100,000 light years. So light will take 100,000 years to go
from one side of the galaxy to the other. So there is a great deal missing from our
descriptions. I do not have a definitive answer, just it is reasonable to wonder what
is happening.
The answer to the light year issue is all things are possible by God. He spoke and created the universe.