John Stevens: Just read a post where this guy tells people to get there a$$ back to church. (Thats ass with dollar signs folks). Seriously, is this sanctified swearing, or is he subtlety betraying what we all know... that many preachers want bums in pews because it means bucks in the bank??? Lord have mercy!
about an hour ago ·
Chris Welch Capitalism thrives on businesses functioning in an incorporated fashion and also being in the stock market. It isn't always the best thing for the business.
Church is structured also subtly around what is the best for the system. Christianity is actually structured around a living Christ who wants to reproduce Himself in you as quick as you can stand it. Church is not always compatible with this aim since it wants lots of people to pay the pastors and buildings.
51 minutes ago ·
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Stephanie Macentire“I might resume the habit of going to church if the preacher would be honest enough to stand up some morning and say, "Perhaps next Sunday, but not today," and then sit down” Heywood C. Broun...............................
(later entry)OMG..what if ...all the gifts of the Spirit are part of the indwelling of God..and..what if they could be used at any given moment ..of any given day...by anyone and I mean all of them..from the bum on the street to the White House..what if we really knew that WE ARE the LIVING STONES...sigh...The descriptions by Paul are meager..and lacking...... compared to the power of a Spirit meshed with Gods..to become the love ..he has for us. If you don't know about that..you can call yourself anything..and it doesn't matter at all..and even that can happen to anyone of us...on any given day...Where does it say..be super spiritual..all the damn time..and what the hell does that look like in the first place. Good lord..we have lost our common sense...thanks for letting me rant.
about an hour ago
Chris Welch
Steph...we went down this road in the UK.Instead of being superspiritual everyone went absolutely normal for years and you know what "superspiritual" and "normal" turned out to be ?two sides of the same coin......not knowing who we are on our insides...Christ In our form. Once that is settled on the inside, for the first time on our surface level we are normal...the way we were always intended to be...without the compensatory playacting...without the attempts at loving..at being spiritual.
Funny. Last night we were actually looking up the origin of capitalism, being that it's deeply woven in the fabric of North America (from it's very conception), which is what we were researching in the first place. Then throw the 'industrial revolution' in the mix, which seems so convenient, but with so many negative side-effects (slums, pollution, factory work etc).
ReplyDeleteThere is something to be said for living simply. No machine to keep functioning out of greed for more more more. The more is simply found in Christ in you, the hope of glory. All the trappings in churchianity become just that, trappings. . . And we find that our identity is emeshed in Jesus. So simple, no longer striving to live Christ like, for we now know it is Christ in us. No longer striving after stuff, after false glory, after good works. No need. We have all things!
OK...got some really sad news for you. We're too late. It's all been done. The Moravians. The Amish. The Quakers.
ReplyDeleteAll been living in community from an alternative perspective of God being the King.
The real challenge is this.
Like those predecessors we lived together in Emsworth for 10 years .The meetings were stunning. Most times the Presence of the Lord was really strong because we had learned how to enter the House of the Lord with genuine praise leading to worship and seeking His Presence....
But we didn't know what to do outside of meetings.
And I think this is also the problem with all our forebears. If people don't know this "organic" Life within them by changing their believing on the insides....when we're out of meetings we'll resort to many puritanical behaviours and rigidities.
Because I've experienced such breakthroughs personally, I'm up for being that stupid as to believe that God can form this 3D communities again...but this time on better foundations.
What do you guys reckon??
Thanks for breaking the comments silence. I knew there was someone out there somewhere.
Do you reckon you are Swift Current or Traverse City?
I reckon God very well can form such a community. He seems to be sparing us from going that direction prematurely. . . Which, when I reflect on how I thought only years ago, I can see why it hasn't happened quite yet. There would have been too much temptation to put dear friends under law in various ways then.
ReplyDeleteI am in neither cities, though I am in the same province as Swift Current! I haven't been reading and writing much on blogs lately since I started working part time at a nursing home. But I always check facebook and saw your note blog linked there. . .