Why don't Christians follow Jesus's example
AdsenseStrategies wrote....
Naturally, my title is designed to raise hackles (and interest... ). Aren't most Topic thread titles on this site!
What I mean is this: Jesus, as depicted in the Gospels, spent most of his time:
a) denouncing people (Pharisees, etc) who got wrapped in this or that doctrine, and religious debate, while ignoring the spirit of the message...
b) ministering to the worst off: the poor, the lame, the sick, the blind, the outcast.
In a world where there four billion people struggling to get by on less than the equivalent of ten dollars a day, is it not an enormous waste of time to focus on these miniscule doctrinal details? Is that what Jesus did?
Is that what Jesus would do? Or would he be in Latin America, or India, or Africa, tending to the poor?
Must say that even though your intent is to cause dissension, I agree with you, and besides, Jesus Himself came here to cause dissension and He still does.
Let's go point by point:
a) denouncing people (Pharisees, etc) who got wrapped in this or that doctrine, and religious debate, while ignoring the spirit of the message...
I'd disagree that Christ spent MOST of His time doing this, he just knew that where he saw Satan's hand at work in peoples lives, he needed to take the authority back from Satan and demonstrate Gods authority and power.
Neither Christ nor modern Christians need to actually 'do' anything to be attacked by the Pharisees or anyone else who see them for the threat they are, to the worlds self willed attempts to run their lives, either in or outside any religious system.
Some folk get enticed to run their lives without God, others get enticed to run their lives with the god of their creation.
Christ chose to let God run His life according to Gods will.
People who decide that Christ is the answer, rather than a problem to be dealt with, do the same.
Detractors will always need to be dealt with, and one of their prime ploys is to mither "Is that very Christian" or "Jesus would be proud of you" and Christ had the same problem with Pharisees attempting to trick him into saying something they could use against him.
Jesus of course was perfect, whereas we believers are still human and therefore flawed.
b) ministering to the worst off: the poor, the lame, the sick, the blind, the outcast.
Again, agreed most of the instances recorded about his ministry do show Christ healing the sick, freeing those trapped in sin and generally taking care of other people, and again most believers will also be doing that in their daily lives.
But when you live in a location where the poor, lame and sick are all taken care of by the state.....it's easy to shrug the obligation off
In any case the definition of poor is vastly erroneous to the actual reality of poor, you quote living on $10 per day, I know pastors in Africa who feed families of 12 (including the children they 'adopt' when the parents die from AIDS) on $50 per month!
It's easy to see how armchair Christians can say that their tithe and taxes cover their obligation, and their free will offerings to charity is more than sufficient, or that the local poor are all they need to deal with.
And they are correct in part.
Our body support DIRECTLY indigenous African pastors, childrens orphanages, street kids in Haiti, two missionary's working in New York with the 20,000 children of the dysfunctional Brooklyn children's families and local need cases, the local homeless (we feed 35-50 each week) and anybody who turns up at our door needing... and yes Matthew 25 is the 'rema' verse for our body, indeed it was started for that exact purpose.
We are a 'core' body of about 50 and when we meet we see about another 100 souls join us, and believe me we are not rich and some of us would love to know we could guarantee $10 per day to live on!.
But BEFORE Jesus dealt with peoples WORLD conditions, He first dealt with their SPIRITUAL problems.
Take a look, in most records of His ministry, Christ STARTS by casting out the demons, loosing the bound and taking the ground and authority back from where the afflicted have lost it.
Christianity is about taking back the ground that Satan has stolen from people.
If we feed the homeless, they still need feeding next week, when we set them free (and where they want ot be set free) they can get off the streets and into a life again, but the KEY is in dealing with the SPIRITUAL problem before you can start dealing with the PHYSICAL manifestation of that problem.
Our enemy, all of the worlds, is Satan who seeks to destroy and cares not whether it's by making someone destitute and hopeless or rich and powerful without God.
His 'mantra' is; any way works as long as it keeps us away from Christ, and for as long as he can keep us doing it 'our way' he's winning against humanity, and the world gets to be worse each day.
So the answer is clear and simple.
Stop doing your will and start doing God will, and God's will when last recorded was to obey Christ.
If we do that, then slowly but surely Satan will lose his grip on humanity and we could win them back soul by soul, street by street, town by town and finally country by country.
But most reading this will make no change in their lives, unless it's a button on the remote control, so the world will continue to decline and when we get to a certain point, Christ will come back to deal with the problem.
Until then, do as you will seems to be the way, rather than do as He wills.
Our choice, choose wisely.
Will you be able to watch this?
If you have the patience to listen to what this man tells us, you will be blessed, even if you feel bad for most of the video, actually especially if you feel bad!
If you click off before the first 20 minutes, your decision has already been made for you.
