Christianity Oasis Forum

[saint701]

Hello Christianity Oasis, All...


Blessings!

Chris Stedman of the St. Louis Post Dispatch recounted the story of a Christian 7th Day Adventist pastor, Ryan Bell, turned Atheist. To me Rev. Bell represents a significant Christian population group that has been in existence for 1700 years. Such includes all Christians ranging from most revered Theologians to the common rational man who seeks to know God via one’s intellect and/or with or without emotion. That route, Bell points out according to Stedman, tends to convince one that journey is a waste of time.
Of that conclusion where all above are concerned I have to laugh, as such a journey in search of God is indeed a dead end road. I say I have to laugh because 1700 years of pursuing a fruitless activity is the definition of insanity. Notwithstanding, of the population group above many simply changed their emphasis in their quest to know God to a quest to make as much money as possible. That, of course, is rational. In that context one does not declare him or herself an Atheist. One prefers to keep his or her Christian persona as such is more profitable. By becoming an Atheist Bell now makes less money…
In the Christian world of the power mad sit-in-the-chief seats greedy and covetous wolves, saying what people want to hear (about how to increase your cash using words from the Bible) and washing the brains of the religious minions are the most important things. Many times you cannot distinguish one off the mark teaching from another. Keeping church goers blind as bats and in pursuit of the most money possible…is very profitable for all denominations, non-denominations and even more so for the wolves that covet the sheep’s money. Unfortunately, the path to righteousness, eternal life, and glory are not emphasized as such would lead sheep into the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and His leading and teaching. After all, with the Baptism of the Holy Spirit comes the Spirit of Truth, and the truth of God is devastating to the lies inherent in the reading of many books containing philosophical mumbo jumbo full of false teachings.
My point is this. When Christ said that the way to heaven was straight and narrow and that few would find it, He was expounding a profound truth most have ignored down through the ages. Alongside that truth of God came the teaching there would be those ever learning and “never” coming to the knowledge of the truth. The population group we have been writing about must believe that truth is referring to some other people.
The way to heaven cannot be found by the intellectual pursuit of God as a way of knowing him, but such has been the norm for the past 1700 years. The straight and narrow path has… and I suppose will continue to be ignored because the intellectual cannot surrender his or her will to the will of God in order to get on the straight and narrow way into the life everlasting. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life…Some people are just too intelligent to account the New Testament worthy of their scrutiny in a positive sense. They read the New Testament books with a negative view looking to find fault with it in every sense. Their continued ignorance of the way of life has and will always be their just reward.
According to Bell’s account of his religious journey from Christian to Atheist by RNS, (Religious News Service as noted by Stedman), Bell decided to cease his Christian pastoral work and live as an Atheist for a year. Within that time period Bell discovered it was much easier for him to cease using up his energy trying to find out how God fits into everything. In that respect he mentioned that he had read all of the arguments concerning the ifs, ands, and buts intellectuals have postulated over the centuries regarding the existence of God. In short, after years in pursuit of the nothingness of it all it came to him to wonder what it would be like to be an Atheist. He discovered that being an Atheist set him free from the burden of reading many books in order to find God.
Soooooooo…….I say to all of you in pursuit of the divine through your intellectual buffoonery… “Take a year off from your intellectual pursuit of God through the writings of man and become an Atheist for a year. There really isn’t any difference anyway. Neither of you believe that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life…you are both in unbelief, and that leaves you both walking down the broad way and I do bet you know where that that path ends…you just do not believe it. Why? Because you have read all of those arguments as well and have come to the conclusion that place doesn’t exist…whatever you do, absolutely do not believe the Bible, become converted, healed, baptized in the Holy Spirit and enlightened by the truth. That is just plain dumb to you isn’t it?


Blessings!
Love, In Christ Jesus, saint.