Do you understand what's at stake?

I do not debate people. I teach them. There's a difference.

Best regards, Rick C. Hodgin

(snip)

I started reading the New Testament a few years ago. Technically I'm still halfway through it.

I do love Christian rock music, however. It's sincere:

(snip)

That's why I'm an atheist. Because believing in God implies believing in the evil spirits.

Gene

The reason there's so much evil, greed, fighting, hate, lust, etc., in the world is because of sin, and the natural man's inability to discern things of the spirit. Without that discernment, without the "eyes to see spiritual things," man is left knowing only what he can know by his natural senses.

The truth is the evil spirits play off of those senses, exuding thoughts, feelings, emotions, into the flesh, tempting men and women in various ways to do harmful things to themselves and people.

For the born again Christian, when these attacks come, they still affect our flesh, but we are able to identify the attacks and then pray and cast the evil spirits away. Because of this, born again Christians will not be influenced to do the same things non-born again people will do, though that temptation is always there.

It requires discipline, focus, a conscious effort to overcome. But, it is possible, and it does require all of the Ephesians 6:10+ armor of God.

------ For anyone curious about the Bible, I would advise starting with the Gospel of John, and then going to the book of James. The Gospel of John was made into a full-length movie in the early 2000s, and can be viewed here (a little under 3 hours):

You can see who Jesus is, the concern in His heart, the desire to teach in His ways, and the reality of what He did by coming here, going to the cross, and dying in our place. It is, simply, the most remarkable thing imaginable. All other offerings of love of one to another pale by comparison, and the best we can hope to do as followers of His is to give back the fruits of that which He first gave us, which is what I'm trying my best to do with the skills and talents I possess in the various areas of interest in my life.

I fail a lot. :-) But, I press on undaunted, and increasingly resolved to do better.

Best regards, Rick C. Hodgin

(skip)

Rick, there's also a scientific way to view (and address) that problem. Have you read Kelly McGonigal's "The Willpower Instinct"?

"Some neuroscientists go so far as to say that we have one brain but two minds?or even, two people living inside our mind. There?s the version of us that acts on impulse and seeks immediate gratification, and the version of us that controls our impulses and delays gratification to protect our long-term goals. They?re both us, but we switch back and forth between these two selves. Sometimes we identify with the person who wants to lose weight, and sometimes we identify with the person who just wants the cookie. This is what defines a willpower challenge: Part of you wants one thing, and another part of you wants something else. Or your present self wants one thing, but your future self would be better off if you did something else. When these two selves disagree, one version of us has to override the other. The part of you that wants to give in isn?t bad?it simply has a different point of view about what matters most."

Gene

The natural man can only understanding things in natural forms. They call it "two minds," but in reality there is the one man, and the sin nature, through which the evil spirits can influence the person to be tempted into sin.

Jesus saves people who seek the truth. If a person doesn't even know what that truth will hold, where it will take them, and yet they are intent on knowing it, God knows this as He sees straight through all the outward facade, and into the heart, and He then begins to arrange things in a person's life so they will be led here in the natural world to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ (of recognizing sin, of recognizing our own personal sin, of our need for repentance, and our inner drive and desire to ask forgiveness, to which Jesus forgives us, and then gives us the born again nature in that selfsame hour).

Jesus is everything we need. He created the universe, and everything that exists (including us) was created by Him. He is well aware of our problem, and for all those who seek the truth, He is there, ready, willing, and able to save.

The natural man will never understand spiritual things. But the one seeking the truth is supernaturally augmented by God so that that man or woman can know the truth, even though the flesh by itself cannot know it.

God is active in our lives. He leads us and guides us. It's as the wind blows. We don't know where it comes from, or where it's going, but we are able to hear the sound, and see the effects. So it is also for everyone born of the spirit, or in pursuit of truth before the day they are born again.

God sees outside of time, and knows our beginning, and our ending. He is always there for those who will be saved.

Best regards, Rick C. Hodgin

Thinking about it logically, you're just the kind of religious nutter who will tie innocent people to stakes and burn them in public.

Don't bother replying -- plonk-a-doodle-you.

--

Tim Wescott 
Wescott Design Services 
http://www.wescottdesign.com

There's also a difference between 'preach' and 'teach', perhaps you should try to better understand that difference. You earlier said that you don't preach. But by the Merriam-Webster simple definitions of the words 'preach ' (1) and 'teach' (2), your writings here fall under the label of 'preach' much more than 'teach'.

While many people here I suspect are open to those who 'teach', they are al so much against those who 'preach'. If you do indeed 'teach', then you sho uld be able to identify at least one person who has learned at least one le sson in this forum from what you've written in this thread. If you do iden tify such a lesson, then maybe you should curtail your future writings to f ocus on the little bit of writing that would result in the actual teaching and learning of a lesson and stop the long-winded sermons and preaching tha t do not contribute to any teaching.

I won't be engaging any further. If I have enlightened you on how to under stand the difference between 'preach' and 'teach', then I've succeeded in d elivering my message. If I haven't, then I won't go on since I can't force one to learn.

There are thousands of other newsgroups out there that you can find out the re as well. No need to focus your attention on this group (or others that I read), spread it around to other groups...please

Kevin

(1)

Preach: : to make a speech about religion in a church or other public place : to deliver a sermon : to write or speak about (something) in an approving way : to say that (something) is good or necessary : to write or speak in an annoying way about the right way to behave

(2)

Teach: : to cause or help (someone) to learn about a subject by giving lessons : to give lessons about (a particular subject) to a person or group : to cause or help (a person or animal) to learn how to do something by giv ing lessons, showing how it is done, etc.

The subject I'm teaching about is the Bible, Jesus Christ, and salvation. It will come across as preachy to many people, but it is teaching in all ways because there is an active enemy of this world who teaches falsely about Jesus Christ, and even entices men to do sinful things under the name and banner of being a servant of Jesus Christ.

That enemy is the enemy. Jesus is the cure. And those who will seek the truth will know the difference.

----- The message of the cross is not for everybody. It is only for those people who will be saved. If you can hear His voice, His call in your heart, listen to Him. He is calling out to you to save your eternal soul.

Best regards, Rick C. Hodgin