[Stuart and George, I appreciated what you both added to this to clarify my remarks. Thanks!]
Lucy,
Obviously you’ve seen people deeply hurt by the religious sytems of our day. As have most of us who hang out here. I am so sorry for that, and sorry someone wasn’t around to provide the help her or she might have needed. And I agree that is an important part of what God asks us to do.
But I can’t help but thinking you misunderstood what I wrote.
No one said to leave anyone in bondage.
No one said not to help.
No one said to stay sileint.
My goodness, how can you read this blog and think I’d ever encourage people to be silent? The point of the story was to help people learn to live free, not try to push them into it by our own strength. You cannot force someone into freedom, but you can stand alongside them, hold their hand and cheer them on in the struggle. I have also seen people badgered into leaving the religious system and ended up on the outside hurt and bitter. They never seemed able to soar in the life of Jesus, because no one ever let them learn how to trust God for themselves.
That is the part we cannot do for others. We can talk to them about it, help them see the choices clearly and encourage them however we can, but we cannot trust for them. That’s what they will have to find in Jesus if they want to know the joy of his life.
And he has that for everyone!
So true Wayne
It’s not WHAT we say and do, but HOW we say and do it. Our methods are much more important than our message, as this is ultimately what people respond to.
At least that is what I got from it.
😉
So true Wayne
It’s not WHAT we say and do, but HOW we say and do it. Our methods are much more important than our message, as this is ultimately what people respond to.
At least that is what I got from it.
😉
Wayne,
Man you are sure a gift too me!
Thanks Bro!
Peace
Wayne,
Man you are sure a gift too me!
Thanks Bro!
Peace
It’s difficult to tell people that they need to be free of bondage when they don’t see it that way. They think that going to church is necessary for them to be free. I think that only coming to Christ makes us free. Everything else is baggage. It’s amazing how finding these brothers who agree with me has helped me to find the courage to say so. I guess it depends on what you define as freedom. That butterfly probably feels very safe in that cacoon at first.
My hope is that the lure of total freedom to be what God designed us to be will casue our brothers and sisters to struggle free. I’ll bet that Joshua and Caleb would have wanted their brothers to see the promise the way that they did. Illusions and false perceptions are difficult to overcome.
As Wayne says, when we are disillusioned it only shows that we have an illusion that needs dissed. I’m sure personally very happy for brothers who are speaking their hearts but I can’t make others still in the IC see it and neither can anyone else. If we try to force them, we probably risk alienating them form us even more. I think that might be the issue here.
It’s difficult to tell people that they need to be free of bondage when they don’t see it that way. They think that going to church is necessary for them to be free. I think that only coming to Christ makes us free. Everything else is baggage. It’s amazing how finding these brothers who agree with me has helped me to find the courage to say so. I guess it depends on what you define as freedom. That butterfly probably feels very safe in that cacoon at first.
My hope is that the lure of total freedom to be what God designed us to be will casue our brothers and sisters to struggle free. I’ll bet that Joshua and Caleb would have wanted their brothers to see the promise the way that they did. Illusions and false perceptions are difficult to overcome.
As Wayne says, when we are disillusioned it only shows that we have an illusion that needs dissed. I’m sure personally very happy for brothers who are speaking their hearts but I can’t make others still in the IC see it and neither can anyone else. If we try to force them, we probably risk alienating them form us even more. I think that might be the issue here.
As my friend once told me about a butterfly in relation to our life in Christ Jesus, When that caterpillar becomes a butterfly, it cannot go back to being a catterpillar again, it is a butterfly and once you become a child of God, you are His and nothing can take you out of His hand except if you leave Him on your own choice. This truth set me free! I had always had a fear I was going to loose my salvation up untill at the lowest time in my life she told me this truth that set me free!
I pray it will set someone else free to.
As my friend once told me about a butterfly in relation to our life in Christ Jesus, When that caterpillar becomes a butterfly, it cannot go back to being a catterpillar again, it is a butterfly and once you become a child of God, you are His and nothing can take you out of His hand except if you leave Him on your own choice. This truth set me free! I had always had a fear I was going to loose my salvation up untill at the lowest time in my life she told me this truth that set me free!
I pray it will set someone else free to.