Thank you so much! I’m in love with this site already. I’ve been looking for a place like this for a very long time. I am happy to be here.
Just to prepare you, my words may sound hard however, I have nothing against you. It is the ideas that you carry that remind me so much of what I’ve heard from all around and I’ve never had this pleasure of addressing it as I will on here.
Some of what I have said might come off as me ranting...haha! Just know that I have nothing against you.
I call it brainwash as from young age DATA is put in the mind of gullable children; this can be positive and negative. Positive if "Jesus is our example how we choose to live; love our neighbor, hurt never, help ever...". Negative if "You go to hell, unless you accept Jesus". This I call also Emotional blackmail.
If that’s the case then everything in the world, rather man-made things, brainwash all of us. From what I’m understanding from your statement, positive is associated with reward while negative is associated with punishment, correct? If that is the case then we shouldn’t tell our kids, “if you steal you’ll go to jail.” Or “If you murder then you will go to jail.” In that case, we should not create boundaries by which our children can abide by to help one another and themselves. In essence, we should leave our children to do what they feel is “right” even if it means hurting someone else to fulfill their desires, correct?
From what I’m understanding, you seem to want to regulate the speech of others because you believe it is brainwashing (or at least the ones you deem brainwashing).
You say you don’t judge people however, you’ve judged Christians/“Christian” parents who tell the truth of Christianity. You know that reminds me of a verse most widely quoted in the Bible,
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 KJV
I want to highlight the words, “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish”. Here clearly stands as a witness to everyone, if you don’t believe you perish if you believe you obtain everlasting life. It gives a hard truth that for some reason people overlook.
And what about verse 18?
“He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:18 KJV
These two verses establish a singular point, that there is only one way to God and any other way leads to destruction and condemnation, but believing in Jesus Christ leads to life eternal and justification. So anyone who recites this verse to anyone has already, in your terms, brainwashed them. The difference is the wording. If I were to say, “if you don’t repent you will go to hell,” people would be upset but if I were to quote John 3:16 people would be happy. Regardless of how I’ve said it, I’ve stated a truth that can not be diminished no matter how hard people try. Why? Because it’s stated throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelations.
Shouldn’t people hear the whole story before making a decision?
[You said something I found so intriguing. You said, “Jesus is our example of how we choose to live…never hurt”. I found this interesting because it reminded me of a conversation I had with one of my sisters. She shared with me about the persecution she faced from her mother.
When she gave her life to Jesus Christ and changed her behavior, speech, and appearance; her mother was hurt. My sister gave up/threw away jewelry and pants (Due 22:5) which angered her mother so much. She told me how her mom would beat her because she wore a long skirt instead of the short one her mother wanted her to wear. My sister told me how she woke up to pray around 1 am and her mother saw her and started beating her for praying so early. My sister told me that while her mother beat her, she continued to pray. She told me about a time her mother scratched her and wouldn’t allow her to go to church. She told me when she saw blood from the wound she was happy because she was able to go through persecution for Jesus. She told me how she and her twin would have a church service in their room, reading their Bibles and praising Jesus Christ because they weren’t allowed to go to church.
In the end, she told me that many people know that persecution is evidence that you are a Christian, that your life is changed. She said that all she did was make a decision to serve God and to give up a life of sin and that’s what it took for her mother to start abusing her because of her faith. She quoted a verse that I felt was very important, “For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law” (Matthew 10:35). This verse keeps Christianity balanced. As Christians we will hurt people, we hurt them when we refuse to live in sin when we change to be like Jesus when we speak up against sin.
Can you imagine that these my sister got to a point where she had to sneak out her own home to come to church? Her mother was sleeping and she called for a ride to come to Bible study just to hear the word of God. Before God, this is acceptable because we are commanded to love God first and foremost. If our love doesn’t cost us anything, doesn’t hurt other people then it isn’t true love.]
I fully agree with you "the sad thing is that people are forced into Christianity". That's why the above point with "emotional blackmail when using Hell as a threat" then you are emotionally forced.
What I believe brainwashing to be is telling your child that just by believing they are saved, irrespective of the fact that believing in Jesus Christ requires a change of life (behavior, speech, appearance, interests, future pursuits, etc).
Brainwashing is when a person believes they are “saved” or “Christian” when they repeated a prayer, or because they go to church, or when they experienced something, or when they decide to change their life suddenly, or just growing up in a “Christian” household. That is true deception and it is plaguing the world as we speak. You should only make a decision once you’ve heard the whole story and if you are ready to abide by that belief.
I’ve met many people who profess salvation/Christian and yet they are the first ones to swear, to lie, to cheat, steal, gossip. Why do we have diplomas/certificates/IDs? To protect ourselves from deception, so people are who they say they are. I don’t understand why people today are more than happy to lock the doors of their homes, yet keep the doors to their hearts open for anyone to deceive them. That is why judgment/discernment is so crucial.
“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;”
John 8:31 KJV
Christianity is a continuous behavior, it doesn't profess once and never again. It requires you to advocate, advertise, and defend Jesus Christ anywhere you are.
[Please don’t think I dislike you, please.]
I always enjoy hearing a positive story how people decided to choose their religion.
I am not sure if this is a yes or no.
Why I used trauma? We all get influenced by the world around us. Mostly parents. Without trauma and normal healthy we use common sense and brain power to decide if what we see is good or not. When traumatised this ability is impaired.
Judgment is an umbrella term for a lot of things. We have discernment, condemnation, decide/decision, etc each of them requires a judgment of some sort.
As Jesus said,
“Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” John 7:24 KJV
Our judgments should not be based on appearance (skin/r hair color, female/r male, young/r old, handicapped/r able), it should be a judgment from a righteous person, from someone who does not do the same.
And we all know that God looks at the heart and judges by it, so his child/or anyone who professes to be his child and lives to his standard should judge the actions of a person because,
“For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:” Matthew 15:19 KJV
Our actions are thought up in our hearts and then carried out by our body. We should judge people’s actions. And this verse also establishes that people’s actions are a testament to the condition of the heart. If someone believes in something but is unable and unwilling to defend their beliefs then one can conclude that they don’t believe at all or is in doubt.
I believe our definition of evangelism is a bit different. Evangelism isn’t just the traditional way (approaching someone and preaching), it’s also through simple conversation. As you and I have done now, you have evangelized to me and I to you. We have shared our beliefs (even if it isn’t a lot) to one another. However, it depends on our decision to believe and follow the others. In me asking you to explain/clarify things, you’ve shared what you believe.
But the dictionary meaning, or at least the google one, is different from mine.
I was very smart as a kid
You are one of the fortune ones. Haha!!
That is a big challenge to not lie.
To not lie is very easy, not by any man’s power but by God’s. Because
“But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26 KJV
“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12).
Jesus Christ gives us the power to be like God, to be of God. God is not a lier, therefore, we are given the power to not lie. You can choose to lie, but the ability not to lie is there.
I have learned to be careful saying "it will never manifest"
It will never manifest because pretend is not the same as having faith. Pretend is making accommodations for something you do not believe/want to accept. Faith is believing in something despite knowing the reality of it. It’s believing that reality is subject to God. So we believe in God and God proves himself faithful by turning our belief into a reality.
This line of you feels bad. Telling me that I have poor understanding of God and blinded...... I only say "we believe different". I do not demean you nor your belief. And it is a belief for God's sake. Meaning per definition "not knowing for sure". It's okay that you believe "God judges". But don't impose that on me. I just believe "God does not judge".
I am sorry if you feel hurt by my words. One can only know God when they have met him. God has written out his desires for us and human beings try to interpret it in a way that makes them feel happy, feel accepted even if its a lie, rather than in a way that keeps them unbiased and aware of deception.
I am sorry if it appeared as though I was imposing my belief on you. In our first conversation, I never mentioned God being judgmental. I stated that “Love is judgmental.” To which you stated, “I just have another definition of "LOVE". I do believe God loves unconditional and is not judgmental.” Then I shared with you my take on God. If you are not in agreement with it then you aren’t. By no means was I trying to impose anything on you.
I prefer not to answer, because you were already demeaning before.
I understand. I am sorry that you feel that way.
