Christians puzzle me. Not the ones I know & not the ones I fellowship with, but the great mass. What puzzles me is how they think what they think.I am being terribly enlightening, aren't I? The issue that has me puzzled is astrology. Hear me out, here. Now if I have understood my bible correctly astrology falls into the divination basket & is one of those things God refers to as an abomination. I take it that it does not make Him happy & as an obedient daughter I should avoid dabbling in such things however curious I may be. After all, those who built the tower of Babel paid a rather heavy price for their dabbling. So why do so many Christians feel that reading their star signs is a harmless diversion, or a fun thing?
I have been watching with growing dismay a thread on a Christian forum where Christian after Christian has gone to a site linked by a self confessed Pagan to read their sun sign & post about it. I read the introductory thread & escaped but this thread is now pages long. Do people seriously think that God's grace removes culpability? Do people seriosly think the law is no longer applicable? (I believe Jesus said he came to fulfil the law, not abolish it) Is is just poor teaching or has liberalism gone so deep into the Christian psyche that we can no longer discern the truth? Thread after thread on Christian matters dies after a response or two. Those on more worldly matters of little weight or consequence go on & on, .... & on.
Christians puzzle me. Even allowing for differences in temperment & where we each are individually on our journey there is suppossed to be something distinctive about us. We are not meant to be as the world is & frankly this is not about short hair verses long hair, pants or skirts, covering or not covering, because the outer things are just that, outer things. They may or may not be indicative of the heart's condition but in the name of love we are being encouraged to tolerate the intolerable. We know the difference between correction in love & acceptance when it comes to our children. Where is our discernment when it comes to other adults? It is not love to allow others to continue in error.
Having said that, no, I have not said anything on the forum. It would start a war & everyone is quite capable of doing that without any help from me, & I would be accused of being loveless. I do not see the point when I know anything I say will fall on deaf ears but it worries me, how we, as Christians, more & more are enjoying having our ears tickled rather than engaging the Word as soldiers engage in battle. As someone once said It's not what I don't understand in the bible that bothers me...
And the food for thought comes from Ghandi:
"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
Now there is a thought that should give us a sharp reality check.
7 comments:
Just wanted you to know I was here! Now I just trying to figure out on which forum this happened.
Love,
Linda
that quote by ghandi is one that stabs me in my very heart whenever i think of it... did you know that at one point he was very interested in learning more about Christianity and even went to visit a church. or rather he tried to visit a church- he wasn't allowed in, and the ushers told him that he should go to his own peoples' place of worship. i have often wondered what would have happened had he been allowed in, perhaps he would have converted. what would have been the impact on india should that have happened? what impact would it have had on the world?? to think, all because of a couple of ushers' bigotry the course of a country and maybe the world could have been changed forever. God help me to never make a similar mistake!
ganeida, girl... i love ya:)
That's so sad. 1, because they go and gladly participate in such things, and 2, because they would not tolerate any kind of correction.
How we have lost the vision of the early church! We are taught to stand out from the world, but to be proved above reproach upon investigation. Nowadays people want to appear the same, and then be proved "different" upon investigation.
I believe you're showing wisdom in refraining from commenting or rebuking. I immediately think of "casting your pearls before swine". As in everything there is a season. A season to speak up and season to remain quiet. I know as Christians we are to be salt and light but I also think we need to listen to the Holy Spirit's guidance. Sometimes the timing isn't right and if we charge in we could do more harm than good to the cause of Christ. We should pray that God would give us opportunites to be salt and light as HE sees fit.
I agree 100& with your convictions against astrology. Another popular form of divination that I have been seein on the rise are TV shows like "Crossing Over" with Jonathon Edwards. Supposedly in an audience he sees or feels the spirits of loved ones nearby. He'll throw out a phrase or say something and some poor troubled person in the audience who is seeking some type of closure in the death of a loved one will stand up. At first I was curious because he made it all very interesting. Quickly the Holy Spirit checked me and I knew that it was wrong. I may have to post sometime what the HS showed me. It was pretty enlightening. Here's a great quote from the Bible,
"When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?" Isaiah 8:19
Interesting, Ladies, that you have all picked up on something different but at least I feel sane again.
hmmm. I never really thought about it much - about the whole astrology thing being "divination" and "an abomination" ....I mean, prolly because I see most of it as fake LOL....those "daily horoscopes" that are in the newspapers, the stuff they say could be applied to ANYONE, know what I mean? Like "you'll discover something interesting about yourself" or "you may have a disagreement with someone" or such -- so vague and easily 'interpreted' by anybody, know what I mean?
Now on the other hand, Blair and I are both "Pisces" and the personality stuff about that 'sign' really does seem to *fit* us both...compared to the other ones, I mean.. No matter how I 'interpret', I could never fit the profile of a Leo, for instance.
So...the 'daily forecast' that the papers have seems silly and applicable to anyone, but the personality things seem weirdly fitting...which then leads me to think maybe there *is* something to it all, and that maybe it *is* some 'real' form of 'divination' or such...and therefore, prolly not a very good thing...but I'm still pretty new at all this and sorting stuff out - I wasn't raised as a Christian and I guess that puts me in the category of "baby Christian" or something (seen that term used before for someone relatively new) and I'm still learning... all the time. :-)
K, enough with the book here in your comment box LOL....
Interesting post though, you've given me some stuff to think about.
>^..^<
moly, a book is fine from you any time, anywhere & while I was raised in a semi Christian household I wasn't taught about this stuff either & used to merrily dabble in all sorts of things till I happened upon the O.T verses that brought me up short. lol. It's not that even Christians engage in this stuff; I do understand there are lots of *baby Christians* about ~ it's the ones that call themselves mature Christians doing this stuff that bothers me. There is rather a big difference.
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