Christianity for Dummies

[eyesonly]

4 simple truths to a spiritual Christian as taught by Christ Jesus.

1) Love your Lord God with all your heart and soul
2) Love your neighbour
3) Judge no one
4) Understand that true forgiveness is never having to forgive, unless it is asked for.

Forgive the title of this thread please, it is meant with no disrespect to anyone, just took it from that book series.
Man has made Christianity so very complicated when really it is so simple it's hard to imagine for our minds of the flesh that it can be that simple.
When we read the new testament from front to back, and read everyday, with each reading our minds of the flesh slowly give way to the spirituality understanding of the word.

I know that number 4 will be the point of discussion and happy to do so.

 

[dcontroversal]

Be not removed from the simplicity that is found in Christ Jesus.......!

 

[ember]

4) Understand that true forgiveness is never having to forgive, unless it is asked for.

I know that number 4 will be the point of discussion and happy to do so.

ready when you are....

 

[passing_through]

Be not removed from the simplicity that is found in Christ Jesus.......!

You know your Bible.

 

[eyesonly]

If you forgive someone any time after their trespass against you, then you have gone through the range of emotions of the flesh to get to that point within yourself that you are ready to forgive them. However, the time between the trespass and the forgiveness is the devils playground. This is where he feeds off the emotions of the flesh, anger, resentment, jealousy and so on.

the way to starve the devil from any of these nourishments is to give the world a blanket forgiveness before any trespass ever crosses your path.
Christ teaches us to do this. If someone slaps you in the face, turn the other cheek so they can do the same. Combat evil with good. Do not reward evil with evil. If someone takes your shirt, make sure you give them your coat also. and so on.
These are of course in simple English, obv not verbatim from the word.
If you can understand this, and get your spirituality to this point, it is a beautiful place within yourself to experience.

and then by your actions, Christianity as taught by Christ will shine to those who are in need and ready for it.

 

[Miri]

Hope you don't mind, I would add the following and suggest it needs to be at the top of the list




John 3:16 AMP
[16] For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He even gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.

 

[Utah]

4) Understand that true forgiveness is never having to forgive, unless it is asked for.

Where do you draw this conclusion? Jesus didn't teach that we should wait to forgive someone until they ask. The one who forgives is more blessed than the one who is forgiven so why wait?

 

[valiant]

4) Understand that true forgiveness is never having to forgive, unless it is asked for.

Where do you draw this conclusion? Jesus didn't teach that we should wait to forgive someone until they ask. The one who forgives is more blessed than the one who is forgiven so why wait?

'Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and turns to you seven times, and says, 'I repent', you must forgive him. (Luke 17.3-4). Jesus knew that you can only fully forgive where there is repentance. Whilst you may show love towards him you cannot fully forgive someone who is still out to get you and your children. You have to protect them against him.

 

[eyesonly]

4) Understand that true forgiveness is never having to forgive, unless it is asked for.

Where do you draw this conclusion? Jesus didn't teach that we should wait to forgive someone until they ask. The one who forgives is more blessed than the one who is forgiven so why wait?

That is not what i meant. It was a two part statement, sorry for the confusion. The first part is for self, and the second part is if anyone asks for forgiveness from their trespass against you, that would be an absolute.

For those who accept Christ as their lord and saviour, god has given a blanket forgiveness through the grace bestowed to us by the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ. He has already forgotten our sin before we even ask for forgiveness. We ask for forgiveness for ourselves, for our own recognition of what we have done which allows us to learn and grow and try harder next time.
If we give blanket forgiveness for everyone and everything that will ever trespass against us, before something happens our reaction to that trespass will be pure and true Christ like. It will be of love and tolerance and understanding.
And in that reaction, the devil will be pushed away, for he is waiting to feed on your anger, and jealousy and so forth.
The devil is feeding off those who trespass against us, and if we react from the flesh, we only add to his buffet. When we immediately react from the spirit of Christ, not only will we deprive the devil from any further feeding, the person he is feeding off, may just see Christ in our actions and push the devil away himself.
The only way we can accomplish this is to rectify within ourselves and our spirit, a blanket forgiveness beforehand.

God bless

 

[Yet]

4 simple truths to a spiritual Christian as taught by Christ Jesus.

1) Love your Lord God with all your heart and soul
2) Love your neighbour
3) Judge no one
4) Understand that true forgiveness is never having to forgive, unless it is asked for.

Forgive the title of this thread please, it is meant with no disrespect to anyone, just took it from that book series.
Man has made Christianity so very complicated when really it is so simple it's hard to imagine for our minds of the flesh that it can be that simple.
When we read the new testament from front to back, and read everyday, with each reading our minds of the flesh slowly give way to the spirituality understanding of the word.

I know that number 4 will be the point of discussion and happy to do so.

number 3 I disagree. If you mean by judge as in condemn. I'm on. But we are to make righteous judgement. We are to know right from wrong, truth from error. So if I see a bro kicking an old lady, I'll tell him a thing or two, that he has strayed from rightness! Smile.

Number four falls to the floor. Unforgiveness is one of the biggest killers that can snare you. If someone asks me to forgive them, how precious. But I don't hold my breath waiting for that bro to grow a clue. I forgive him right off the bat lest it become a bitter thing to me. God set me free with this message way back when. Bitterness had taken root. When I forgave a laundry list of offenses, God set me free.

 

[crossnote]

4 simple truths to a spiritual Christian as taught by Christ Jesus.

1) Love your Lord God with all your heart and soul
2) Love your neighbour
3) Judge no one
4) Understand that true forgiveness is never having to forgive, unless it is asked for.

Forgive the title of this thread please, it is meant with no disrespect to anyone, just took it from that book series.
Man has made Christianity so very complicated when really it is so simple it's hard to imagine for our minds of the flesh that it can be that simple.
When we read the new testament from front to back, and read everyday, with each reading our minds of the flesh slowly give way to the spirituality understanding of the word.

I know that number 4 will be the point of discussion and happy to do so.

So simple that even the Jews, Buddhists and most religions would Amen...but not unique.

 

[PeterJens]

Failure is on your 3rd entry

Judge not.

We are commanded to confront people who have sinned as members of the body of christ and not repented.
We are given the example of Jesus who condemned the hypocracy of the Pharisees.

What we are commanded to do is to judge with the same measure we would judge ourselves.
You cannot live life without making judgements, what is risky and what is safe to do, how to look after you children, do you want to do this job or that job.

What we are commanded not to do in condemn our fellow believers or call them foolish, ie without any judgement.

 

[eyesonly]

Number four falls to the floor. Unforgiveness is one of the biggest killers that can snare you. If someone asks me to forgive them, how precious. But I don't hold my breath waiting for that bro to grow a clue. I forgive him right off the bat lest it become a bitter thing to me. God set me free with this message way back when. Bitterness had taken root. When I forgave a laundry list of offenses, God set me free.

Yet, my brother, number 4 is the complete opposite of unforgiveness. I want to put out there that there is a level of spiritual understanding where one doesn't have to go through the flesh levels of coming to terms with a trespass in order to forgive. If one is in a spiritual perpetual forgiveness state, the range of flesh emotions which the devil feeds off will not come into play.
This has to do with dealing with self, not the person who did the trespass.

God bless

 

[PeterJens]

Heresy. To be a christian is to only forgive those who ask for forgiveness.

"Forgive our sins, just as we forgive those who sin against us"

Forgiveness is at two levels, personal and governmental. You can forgive someone for personal loss, but the state can still prosecute and find them guilty of a crime irrespective of your attitude.

Jesus calls us to realise sin is caused by a slavery to a behaviour, which we cannot stop or effect in someone else. If a tree falls on your car and crushes it, do you blame the tree.

The basis of love is to love the sinner but hate the sin, to realise whatever people do to us, we can forgive them, because Jesus forgave us. On the day of judgement, they will face judgement for their deeds, but we show our love by not holding it against them today, as Jesus did when he first met us.

The problems with an unforgiving heart is it does not let go of the hurt, desires revenge, turns into bitterness and hatred that poisons the soul. So a sin done against you, becomes a sin that destroys you if you let its effects take hold.
Part of spiritual maturity is to realise love forgives and forgets, it is wise to avoid problems, but it accepts people with all their failings and works to meet their needs, and waits for the opportunity to actually save them. Without a forgiving heart this would actually be impossible.

 

[eyesonly]

Heresy. To be a christian is to only forgive those who ask for forgiveness.

"Forgive our sins, just as we forgive those who sin against us"

Forgiveness is at two levels, personal and governmental. You can forgive someone for personal loss, but the state can still prosecute and find them guilty of a crime irrespective of your attitude.

Jesus calls us to realise sin is caused by a slavery to a behaviour, which we cannot stop or effect in someone else. If a tree falls on your car and crushes it, do you blame the tree.

The basis of love is to love the sinner but hate the sin, to realise whatever people do to us, we can forgive them, because Jesus forgave us. On the day of judgement, they will face judgement for their deeds, but we show our love by not holding it against them today, as Jesus did when he first met us.

The problems with an unforgiving heart is it does not let go of the hurt, desires revenge, turns into bitterness and hatred that poisons the soul. So a sin done against you, becomes a sin that destroys you if you let its effects take hold.
Part of spiritual maturity is to realise love forgives and forgets, it is wise to avoid problems, but it accepts people with all their failings and works to meet their needs, and waits for the opportunity to actually save them. Without a forgiving heart this would actually be impossible.

I find it interesting how people read things certain ways. all of a sudden there is a discussion on unforgiving, and its heresy for a Christian to only forgive those who ask for forgiveness.

Not sure where this path started, but in no way did i state that one should only forgive those whose ask for forgiveness. this is where eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear come in. We can be so absorbed with our own belief system that we
actually misunderstand what we are reading.
this is happening with only one sentence on my number 4 on the list.
now we can see how this happens with the whole bible and how people see, read and hear it in their own way and not the way it was meant for.
the difference between understanding Christ from the flesh, and Christ from the spirit.

God bless

 

[didymos]

4 simple truths to a spiritual Christian as taught by Christ Jesus.

1) Love your Lord God with all your heart and soul
2) Love your neighbour
3) Judge no one
4) Understand that true forgiveness is never having to forgive, unless it is asked for...

1 and 2 suffice

 

[eyesonly]

1 and 2 suffice

AMEN AMEN AMEN

 

[eyesonly]

God set me free with this message way back when. Bitterness had taken root. When I forgave a laundry list of offenses, God set me free.

Amen, isn't it a beautiful thing how it sets you free. Forgiving all who have trespassed you is the purest form of healing for the self.
And if we can learn how to pre forgive before anything actually happens, we can always be free.

 

[Blain]

LOL I love the thread titleXD I was just telling my friend the other day how they have a book for dummies on almost every subject and said maybe they should make Christianity for dummies as well. ahhh that made my day ty eysonly

 

[Willie-T]

4 simple truths to a spiritual Christian as taught by Christ Jesus.

1) Love your Lord God with all your heart and soul
2) Love your neighbour
3) Judge no one
4) Understand that true forgiveness is never having to forgive, unless it is asked for.

Forgive the title of this thread please, it is meant with no disrespect to anyone, just took it from that book series.
Man has made Christianity so very complicated when really it is so simple it's hard to imagine for our minds of the flesh that it can be that simple.
When we read the new testament from front to back, and read everyday, with each reading our minds of the flesh slowly give way to the spirituality understanding of the word.

I know that number 4 will be the point of discussion and happy to do so.

I think I understand what you are trying to say with all of these... and I agree, as long as you see that these statements do not quite cover it all.

1). We really need to accept that Jesus changed this a little when He added to it, "with all your mind". I see this as meaning, in part, that we may not be loving God with our minds when we are using them to come up with thoughts that would subvert pure, simple love in our hearts when we type replies here.

2). "Love your neighbor" continued with "as yourself." And it was immediately followed with a question that demonstrated the asker was not heeding #1. The inquisitor seems to be hoping that Jesus' answer would exclude exactly who Jesus intended it to encompass and embrace.... people we don't want to love, the enemy "other." (Them, those people), when he tried to get a "qualifier" as to "just exactly 'who' is my neighbor now?" We are fine with this "loving" bit, just as long as the ones we are supposed to love are the ones we "choose" to hold worthy of our love.

3). This one works if you understand that the word "judge" means that we make no determinations about that person other than to choose to either listen to their advice, or not to. The deciding factor is to apply to OUR response to what they might be advocating... nothing more. No damning them. No bad mouthing them. No trying to influence other people about them... etc. God gave that job to the Holy Spirit, not us.

4). In this one, I feel you meant that if we are not so self-centered and inwardly-focused that we take offense at what someone else says, then our attitude is already one of there not being anything to forgive in the first place.... because we didn't allow ourselves to get offended.
Now, if someone feels they were wrong in what they might have said, I see you saying that we should be gracious, and tell that person that we hold no animosity. (We have no permission to NOT let them apologize if they feel they need to.)

My 2¢ worth, for whatever it might be worth.