I’m praying for you Tony, and you too Faith.

I think i agree with that 🙂

Thx for reading and commenting
No doubt many churches have become consumerist, I agree. Nevertheless the Bible does presuppose that we will find a way to come together and belong together as folloers of Jesus. That usually menas a church where there are also people we .… dont like / dont get on with / dont agree with etc. I think that can make us work out our differences in a healthy manner that also shapes us as Jesus’ followers. However it could equally mean, say an online church.

Hmmm you feel Ed Shaw is riding 2 horses at once? I dont think he is. He is: “same sex attracted” — cant do anything about that; and celibate ie pursuing traditional Biblical teaching

Seems harsh Ian … are yoyu suggesting i will simply forget about, or worse ignore, hugely important and much loved people in my life?

MM, in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, it explains how God created the world and how He created humans. He gave us free choice, and He gave us the world. He set us in charge of it. Then He gave us a choice, He put a tree, The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He told us not to eat of the fruit of this tree or we would surely die. But Eve, the first woman went near it anyway, and there Satan, as a snake, tempted her to take it, but it was still ultimately her choice, she could’ve said no but she didn’t. She took the fruit, and then she offered some to Adam. Adam could’ve also refused but he didn’t either. Adam and Eve disobeyed God, choosing to trust themselves and do what they wanted over trusting God to know what was best for them and reveal His wisdom when it was time. By disobeying God, we humans brought evil into the world. We introduced, sickness, thorns, grief, sin, and death. It was our fault, we’re the ones to blame. It’s even worse though, God is holy, he is so holy and righteous and just and beautiful that He can’t even be near sin, and sin is so serious to Him that we’ve earned the death sentence. Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death…” We have to pay for our sins, just like in a trial for a man whose murdered people and the judge gives him the death sentence. But God did something amazing. He loved us SO much, even though we rejected Him, even though we ruined the world, even though we did horrible things to ourselves and each other, God loved us so much. The rest of that verse is this: Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God sent His son Jesus Christ to earth, to live a sinless life and then take the punishment we deserved. He died on the cross in the most horrid way possible, taking the punishment we all deserved so we didn’t have to. But the best part is that He rose again three days later, defeating death. And now all we have to do to have eternal life is to be born again, which means to believe in Jesus Christ, repent of our sins, and accept His gift of eternal life. There’s nothing we can do, eternal life isn’t something you earn it’s something you’re given, you just have to take it. And then because of that you should want to act better to be better, to stop living in your sins but to turn from them. I would also like to note that just because you’re a Christian doesn’t mean that now everything will be ok. Like you said evil is still abundant in this world, it has been since we introduced it. And it will be even harder for Christians, John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Jesus has a plan through all the heartache, the ultimate goal is to spread the gospel and bring as many people as we can back to God through the saving love of Jesus Christ. God loves everyone deeply. He knows everyone intimately, He wants us, He wants you, to love Him back, He wants to regain what we took from Him, ourselves. And we should want to spread that love to everyone. You said the world was full of evil and greed. We need to counter that with God’s love and compassion! Jesus loves you MM.

For example, Cancel Culture says that in the current philosophy, there is no forgiveness, no remorse, no redemption. The Christian response is that in Christ there is forgiveness and redemption and moving on from the past. We all make mistakes and the lesson is to learn from it and move forward. But the current zeitgeist is not to offer that.

To say that God has told me is speaking “ex-cathedra” and a very dangerous place as if you are saying that God has said, and he has not said, then you are breaking one of the 10 Commandments. You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain

There is a Commandment about this

I would rather, say, to an elder or Pastor, I feel or I believe what God may be saying … and then ask the church leaders to weigh that before the Lord and pray. Ask for confirmation. Putting out the fleece as it were

Speaking as the Sons of Issachar.

When I was at Bible College there was a young lady who was a wonderful Christian and she had epilepsy, (she has passed on now and is now in heaven ) She was taken in by a student who said to her that “God has said to me/told me that you are not to take your medication God is not pleased with you for taking your meds.”

When the Vice Principal heard about this he wanted to see the student expelled from the college for saying that Andn so she should have

That is dangerous