Spiritual is not Material

[Johan2222]

Early ventures into the spiritual... *At fifteen I was bent upon learning. At thirty I stood firm. At forty I was free from doubt. At fifty I knew the dictates of heaven. At sixty my ear was obedient for the reception of truth. At seventy could follow what my heart desired without transgressing that which was right. *What the superior man seeks, is in himself; what the ordinary man seeks, is in others. *If the will be set on virtue, there will be no practice of wickedness. *The superior man learns in order to attain to the utmost of his principles. *The superior man in everything puts forth his utmost endeavors. *What the superior man requires is that in what he says there may be nothing inaccurate. *The superior man in all things considers righteousness essential. *The superior man is anxious lest he should not get the truth; he is not anxious lest poverty come upon him. *Good and evil do not wrongly befall men but Heaven sends down misery or happiness according to their conduct. *The superior man wishes to be slow in his words and earnest in his conduct. *The faults of a superior man are like the sun and the moon he has his faults and all men see them. He changes again and all men look up to him. *The superior man is satisfied and composed; the ordinary full of distress. *The superior man is distressed by his lack of ability; he is not distressed by men not knowing him. *That wherein the superior man cannot be equaled is simply this, his work which other men cannot see. *The superior man has neither anxiety nor fear. *They who know virtue are few. - Confucius

How gracefully Confucius was able to let us know about the details of his exaltation.

Amazing also that you are able to testify of your own purity, saying you;

“could follow what my heart desired without transgressing that which was right.”

Unfortunately I cannot lie, I am far from being a superior man. In fact, if truth be told, I am only too aware of the fact that I am a worthless lazy covetous selfish wretched man and I know when they lower me into the grave I shall be far less evil than I am today.

What is however the most encouraging thing of all to me is that when I am raised from the ground I shall be like the son of God.

1 John 3:2 KJV
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

Luke 18:10-14 NKJV
"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. [11] The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men-extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. [12] I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.' [13] And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!' [14] I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Sounds like Confucius was even more righteous than the Pharisee.

 

[Aaron112]

Many Christian denominations believe that humans are born with a sinful nature, a condition known as original sin.

see above (previous post) and below , what God Believes. (His Own Word)

14 For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean

 

[Aaron112]

We are born with a sin nature.

AMPC
For the unbelieving husband is set apart (separated, withdrawn from heathen contamination, and affiliated with the Christian people) by union with his consecrated (set-apart) wife, and the unbelieving wife is set apart and separated through union with her consecrated husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean (unblessed heathen, outside the Christian covenant)

EASY
God accepts a husband who does not believe in Christ because of his Christian wife. And God accepts a wife who does not believe in Christ because of her Christian husband. If that was not true, the children would not belong to God.

 

[rockytopva]

When a wise scholar hears the spiritual, he practices it diligently. When a mediocre scholar hears the spiritual, he wavers between belief and unbelief. When a worthless scholar hears the spiritual, he laughs at loud at it. But if it such a one didn't laugh, the spiritual would not be spiritual. The way to greater light leads through darkness. The even path seems rugged. All life embodies darkness and embraces light, through their union achieving harmony. - Lao-Tzu

 

[Aaron112]

Most people live in darkness, yes. This is truth.
Few people embrace light. Even Jesus' own people opposed Him.
Today most people on earth still oppose (hate) the light, because their deeds are evil.

 

[Johan2222]

(staff edited)

On your way to work when you stopped to fill up your car, how many other peoples cars did you fill up?

How many hours early did you get to work and how many hours did you work before you clocked in?

After you clocked out how long did you continue working for free?

How many hitchhikers did you pick up on the way home?

How long did it take you to walk around your neighbourhood and pick up trash?

Oh no, I am so terribly sorry, I have made a huge mistake, please accept my profuse apologies.

I forgot, you don’t have a car or central heating or a stove or electricity or any appliances that cause any global warming because you live in poverty under a palm tree so that you can try and save the world.

Thank you so much for being one of the only righteous holy people around, we all worship you and we so desperately wish we could be like you.

Sorry that we are unworthy and that we use cars and electricity and running water and although we know this all causes global warming and suffering for our fellow man we are kind of selfish really and we don’t really think too much about the pain it causes others.

I mean, when we see peoples houses being washed down the river and their kids drowned in floods and burning to death in fires and all their possessions being taken away we kind of feel sorry for them, but not enough to do anything about it that is going to make any appreciable difference.

We know that we have contributed to it but to be honest, we don’t really care enough to give up our cars or give up our stoves or give up our air-conditioning or our central heating or our kettles or our tv’s or our hair dryers or our cell phones or our microwaves and saunas and swimming pools and holidays abroad and our precious electricity.

We know that the Earth is being ravaged to feed our consumerism and I read recently that the average human brain now actually contains one plastic spoons worth of micro plastic but to be honest, I still use plastic stuff because it is so much cheaper and convenient than other alternatives and to be honest I’m more focused on my own convenience than thinking about how much plastic people have to eat or how much plastic fish have to eat or birds or anything else living on the planet.

Sorry, I really do wish that I could be better, but I just am so focused on my own convenience that I don’t really think of those kind of consequences.

In fact, to be kind of honest, I am so deluded that I have kind of persuaded myself that none of the consequences of my consumerism are really my fault and I like to think that I cannot really do anything about them anyway, because like a lot of people I am pretty good at persuading myself that I am a decent guy. Sorry.

I am just being honest, please don’t hate me for it.

I know that a lot of us are too focused on ourselves so sorry for being selfish but thank you so much for being one of the righteous holy ones who always does the right thing all the time no matter what.

Oh, that I had the faith and righteousness to live under a palm tree in poverty like you.

Sorry that so many of us are so sick and twisted but no matter how much I think about it I never seem to be able to raise my game.

Please tell me which palm tree you are living under and I will try and visit you and bring you some food and clothing.

I promise not to bring any rayon or nylon or polyester clothing because I know you only use natural fibres. I also won’t bring any food that contains preservatives or has been canned or packaged or picked by illegal aliens or sprayed with pesticides or transported using anything but an ox cart or a donkey cart.

I will try to think of other considerations that you would want to be applied to account for your great righteousness, but I probably won’t get everything right. Sorry.

Thank you so much for your great charity and self sacrifice and righteousness and may God bless you abundantly for your holy life.

 

[AV1611VET]

(staff edited)

Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

Romans 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

 

[AV1611VET]

AMPC
For the unbelieving husband is set apart (separated, withdrawn from heathen contamination, and affiliated with the Christian people) by union with his consecrated (set-apart) wife, and the unbelieving wife is set apart and separated through union with her consecrated husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean (unblessed heathen, outside the Christian covenant)

Then why did Saul of Tarsus, who had a godly mother and grandmother, have to get saved?

 

[Aaron112]

Then why did Saul of Tarsus, who had a godly mother and grandmother, have to get saved?

What did you read otherwise ?

 

[AV1611VET]

What did you read otherwise ?

"Otherwise your children would be unclean (unblessed heathen, outside the Christian covenant)."

 

[Aaron112]

"Otherwise your children would be unclean (unblessed heathen, outside the Christian covenant)."

True. No contradiction in Scripture.

 

[Aaron112]

We are born with a sin nature.

 

[rockytopva]

Behold! We are mass in the plasmas hands!

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

2 Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.

3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.

4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.

11 Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.

12 And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart. - Jeremiah 18

It takes an effort and a cooperation on our part to make progress along the way. If the Calvinist are correct there will never be a cooperation on both parties too see such a change occur.

 

[AV1611VET]

(staff edited)

There are four exceptions in the Bible, where God himself did the writing.

 

[AV1611VET]

(staff edited)

With four exceptions:

1. the Ten Commandments twice
2. the writing on the wall (MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARISN)
3. Jesus writing on the ground

(staff edited)

I'm also interested in what God wrote through His secretaries.

 

[rockytopva]

(staff edit)

Note then from hence, That when you read that unclean beasts and unclean birds, may be in the ark of Noah: That unclean men, and unclean women, may be in the church of God: "One of you is a devil," was an admonition to all the rest: Let this also of the beasts unclean be an admonition to you. - Genesis - John Bunyan

 

[linux.poet]

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