It's another beautiful weekend here in the Northwestern burgerstate I call my home, anonfriends. The sky is grey, the rain is cold, the all-white community is friendly, the forests are rich, and the Lord's Day is tomorrow.
I just transferred to a new town, and I haven't actually been here on a Sunday yet. I'm looking for a solid traditional baptist church, and I'm hoping the Lord will guide me towards one that follows His light. How are all you doing in your spiritual journeys? Finding Christ has helped me understand our human condition, a reason to fight and a reason to better myself instead of falling back into alcoholism, depression, and degeneracy. The Lord has made me a better person, and carried me through life from a point where I thought I'd never feel joy again to a state where I love every day and cherish this life.
What are your experiences on church community, philosophy, and general related topics?
I really want to go to a baptist church tomorrow, but i am so fucking alpha im afraid i will be feared by most who are there. I also fear that i will be placed in a young adults class with all males rather than a mix of the sexes, my only goal of going would be to find a vagina to procreate with as im sure i know scripture better than whoever the pastor may be.
I regret to hear those views, my friend. Many alphas actually attend church, the stereotypical beta fedora generally stays home in favor of consuming degenerate media for temporary shallow pleasures. However, there's a mix of everyone at a faithful church service. The wonderful thing about a faithful gathering is that there is very little of the worldly social cliques that are so common in the secular world - in the adult groups, at least, there is still something of a stereotypical "social scene" in any fair-sized youth group. Coming together under our faith and studying the words and the history of the Lord helps us see that everything that modern media teaches us about individual value that many of us subconsciously believe - physical appearance, social/verbal abilities, popularity and wealth - are shallow and of little value. We find our true selves and our greatest value through our faith in the Lord and understanding of a healthy and faithful lifestyle.
Forgiveness of sins and justification are good news because they remove obstacles to the only lasting, all-satisfying source of joy: Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is not merely the means of our rescue from damnation; he is the goal of our salvation. If he is not satisfying to be with, there is no salvation. He is not merely the rope that pulls us from the threatening waves; he is the solid beach under our feet, and the air in our lungs, and the beat of our heart, and the warm sun on our skin, and the song in our ears, and the arms of our beloved.
This is why the New Testament often defines the gospel as, simply, Christ. The gospel is the "gospel of Christ" (Romans 15:19; 1 Corinthians 9:12; 2 Corinthians 2:12; 9:13; 10:14; Galatians 1:7; Philippians 1:27; etc.). Or, more specifically, the gospel is "the gospel of the glory of Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:4). And even more wonderfully, perhaps, Paul says that the preaching of the gospel is the preaching of "the unsearchable riches of Christ" (Ephesians 3:8).
Caleb Jackson
1) God is holy, 2) we are hopeless sinners, 3) Christ died and rose again for sinners, and 4) this great salvation is enjoyed by faith in Christ-but believing the gospel is also to treasure Jesus Christ as your unsearchable riches. What makes the gospel Gospel is that it brings a person into the everlasting and ever-increasing joy of Jesus Christ.
The words Jesus will speak when we come to heaven are: "Enter into the joy of your Master" (Matthew 25:21). The prayer he prayed for us ended on this note: "Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory" (John 17:24). The glory he wants us to see is the "unsearchable riches of Christ." It is "the immeasurable riches of [God's] grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:7).
Nathan Morgan
God will bring you — body and soul — through life and death to full and everlasting pleasure, if he is your safest refuge, and your supreme treasure, and your sovereign Lord, and your trusted counselor.
Evan Peterson
Take this nonsense to
Lincoln Barnes
Your mom belongs in
Brody Ramirez
I have surpassed your thoughts on my assesment long before your reply
Jace Lewis
Thanks, anonfriend. Those words have been uplifting to me today. I'm always anxious about finding a new church, but I'm trying to trust that the Lord will help my heart decide as He has in past communities I've lived in. The importance of a faithful church community in my life, as opposed to a secular community of coworkers, old school friends, etc. is an incredible rock for me.
Dominic Kelly
I wish we agreed on our religious doctrine, but I'm curious as to how you surpassed, and once held apparently, my own thoughts. While one could make the case that a church community is not necessary in one's life, I believe the words of Christ describe it as highly important. Although He has sent the Holy Spirit to free us from the requirements of a priest class, one of the most glaring heresies practiced by the C*tholics, He also makes many direct references to his Church and its community.
Mason Gomez
Hebrews 10:25 English Standard Version (ESV)
25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Brayden Barnes
saiah 58:13-14 New American Standard Bible (NASB) Keeping the Sabbath 13 “If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot From doing your own pleasure on My holy day, And call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, And honor it, desisting from your own ways, From seeking your own pleasure And speaking your own word, 14 Then you will take delight in the Lord, And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Logan Cook
Thanks for the verse. Do you prefer the ESV to the KJV, or was that just the first link you found? I'm asking only out of curiosity; my past Baptist churches (I move for work a lot) use KJV, although my parents' nondenominational church uses NIV. I'm sure there are differences but I'm not learned enough to understand the full differences or their implications.
Ryder Sanders
>What are your experiences on church community, philosophy, and general related topics? Don't know how things work in your wacky Protestant churches, but for Catholics I'd say a general rule of thumb is: gaudier the priest, worse the congregation. Always strive to find more humble priests, preferably of rural, wealthy background.
Nathan Hall
Good to use several translations:
Bible Hub
Verse (Click for Chapter) New International Version In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
New Living Translation In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.
English Standard Version In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Berean Study Bible In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Berean Literal Bible In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
New American Standard Bible In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
King James Bible In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Blake Gomez
Fuck you Christians. Your guns and religion are going away!
Jeremiah Wilson
"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good." -Psalm 14:1 KJV
When we’ve been there ten thousand years, Bright shining as the sun, We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise Than when we first begun.
Ayden Kelly
godbless well Christchans
Samuel Russell
>Catholic priests >humble Don't you hold as holy and divine, a gaudy man who lives in a Roman palace and preaches far-left anti-Christian messages glorifying heathen religions? How do you reconcile your church's priest class and practices of confession to another human with Jesus' explicit statements of the Holy Spirit removing the need for a priest class and giving Man a direct link to the Lord with no need for priestly intervention?
Also, I agree that humble priests and churches are superior; just like large governments, large churches often fall to politics and worldly material pursuits.
Aiden Mitchell
AMEN!
Jace Ortiz
Pope Francis isn't a gaudy priest, and he doesn't live in a palace iirc. I don't want to argue about the supposed *far-left anti-Christian messages* because I don't think anything he said conflicts with the core tenets of Christian faith.
People who would turn their back on non-Christians would turn their back on Christians as well. Back when my grandpa was a young man, there was an earthquake that leveled an area with lots of Catholic Christians. Many of those people came to our town and many of the high-and-mighty, browbeating Catholics, including clergy, turned their backs on these people. Scarcely a good Samaritan anywhere and I imagine a terrible sin. Pope Francis is doing his best to prevent all of us from making a similar mistake.
>the need for a priest class and giving Man a direct link to the Lord with no need for priestly intervention? that's a relic of the past. I consider myself a believer and I have not once entered the confession booth. I go to church for the sense of community and to keep the tradition alive, not to complete some prayer to-do checklist
Angel Young
Do you believe the Pope is divinely inspired, and infallible when speaking with Papal authority? If not, doesn't that make you a heathen by Catholic doctrine?
Tell me more, I thought to be a Catholic you had to be practically in lockstep with Rome. Recent pro-rapefugee statements seem to be pretty anti-Christian, at times even glorifying the false prophet Muhammad. Unlike various independent churches, like my own Baptist faith, wherein each Baptist church may or may not be a part of a larger congregation of Baptist churches but there is no central authority and each church is fully independent.
