Why do people let religion get inbetween themselves and those they should love?
Such as in those parents who kick their kids onto the streets if they turn out gay or don't conform to whatever their religion requires.
THE BATTLE AXE: On Marketing Church, and Speaking by Occasion (09/26/2013)—The ministry of Jesus Christ that must appear through the life and substance of each Christian believer often is described as heavy with conflict and self-contradiction. After all, the believer is to condemn sin, yet love and be reconciled to the sinner. The believer must exist using carnal, material, and social devices, yet be totally in service as a spiritual being and an instrument of divinity. The believer must go out to the world, yet remain sanctified, set apart and unspotted. Rightly understood, the church is a new creation, and its process of truth is intrapersonal, not interpersonal. All necessary balance, flexibility, fullness and stability, are achieved through operations of the Spirit from GOD. Through the Spirit of Truth (also called the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Prophecy) the believer is a spokesperson for GOD having authority to comfort, edify, and exhort—not to accuse, condemn, label others, make merchandise of the gifts from GOD, or slander. As those accountable and charged with duties of leadership, bishops, elders and others may use admonition, sharpness and warning within their congregations, and for the benefit to their faith community. However, these may not rely upon competitiveness, peer pressure, and the products of emotional, mental and psychological states. Spirit content from Christ replaces so-called critical thinking, logic, and reason. Inseparable aspects of divine person are in effect such as faith, holiness, joy, longsuffering, love, righteousness, truth, wisdom, and wrath against sin. Believers are to be alert and vigilant exercising restraint upon self-will, and discerning the difference between divine doctrine and personal opinion the same way they are to thoughtfully recognize the intent and motives from public statements about and against the church, and Jesus Christ as its head. (See Galatians 5: 14-16 and 2nd Timothy 2: 14-16, Colossians 2: 1-9, KJV.)
THE GOLDEN ARROW: This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. (Ephesians 4: 17-32, KJV)
THE DOUBLE DAGGER: Desire for Love? (07/05/2013); Feeling Loved By GOD? (06/16/2013); To Find a True Christian? (06/17/2013); A Family Affair? (04/01/2013); Emotional Appeal? (04/02/2013); The Love of GOD (03/03/2013); The Faith of Ones Parents? (11/18/2012); Reading Only The Red Part (11/19/2012); Love in Christ (10/23/2012); Escape from Racism? (10/24/2012); Family and Romance (10/13/2012); Why Courage? (10/14/2012)
Here are a few points Christian believers a challenged to consider and keep in mind:
(1.) Intimate relationships and the expression of love require special levels of balance, discipline, order, restraint, stability, and structure. Created beings and living creatures may be driven by appetite (e.g., hunger, thirst, sexual cravings), sensation (e.g., hearing, seeing, tasting, touching) and mind (e.g., fantasy, imagination, instinct, memory), we say, Flesh. We also may be driven by spirit beings that oppose GOD (we say, the Devil), just as we may be under the influence of GOD. Without being grounded and rooted, we self-destruct. The aspects that are carnal, material, psychological, and social describe what may be called an animal nature for mankind. To correctly experience the divine aspects of who we are, humans may not center their experience in a “rush”, “running on adrenalin,” or emotional and psychological extremes.
(2.) Accountability, duty, and the pressures from specific goals necessarily generate barriers, limits, obstacles and silence among and within family relationships. Often, these features seem to work like land mines, hidden and invisible weapons that distort and twist everything out of proportion. The unspoken agreements that must be in place for any family to exist includes continually showing acceptance, acknowledgment, respect and trust. Only by acts of kindness, dialog, giving, talking things out, and unselfishness that brings the hidden elements into clear view do the many different personalities of a family become an unbreakable unit. Unfortunately, the hidden features also include dirt, filth and grime, the elements that otherwise appear through attacks, conflict and confrontation.
There is far more to be said, correctly applied, and spiritually understood. For example, (3.) Among Christians, some family members assume that others in the home and those of the extended family are under obligation to accept verbal abuse, denials of legitimate authority, disgrace, dishonor, insults, interference, opposition, and shame because all believers want to display “unconditional love.” Those in error presume they know, take it for granted that they themselves have correctly answered, and repeatedly jump to conclusions about the feelings, needs and understandings of others. Correction through Jesus Christ has shown us that the intent of divine acceptance and forgiveness through the family are the encouragement and support of sacrificial change (for the sake of others) that comes by growth, new learning, and where necessary “new birth”, the establishment of a new and godly spirit. Even so, I trust this fragment will be useful. Be it unto you according to your faith.
THE BLACK PHOENIX
Washington, DC
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