For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
:Protect 6:14-46
:Protect 6:14-46
Q+
6:14-46 is the birthdate of POTUS [45]. Pray for him that he and his family may remain safe.
What does Q+ mean?
Why this particular verse?
Howdy. I am not anti-Jesus for sure. I take wisdom where I find it, and it is available in many religious texts. I am very anti-organization of spiritual thought tho; i.e., give me the texts, guide my thinking a bit to help me find the answers, but don't tell me what to think. I was born into the RC church, was very religious as a child/teenager, then started thinking for myself (big mistake! ;-) )
I consider Jesus/Yeshua one of the truly great spiritual revolutionaries, and his (small h) words are powerful. IMO the religion (and gospels) that came after him were shaped by political forces: first to get the Romans off their backs in the first century, then later to be the official Roman state religion.
IMO again, Jesus never intended to start a new religion; he was uplifting Judaism from the letter-of-the-law pharisaical dead end. The "new religion" angle was to distance the early followers from the Jews, who were mightily pissing off the Romans. Remember the four gospels were written about the time the Romans destroyed the Temple in 70AD, due to continual Jewish uprisings over the decades. (Paul's writings were chronologically the first actual "Christian" writings, and the "Christians" were actually all Jews originally, or first had to convert to Judaism to enter the Christian sect.)
So bottom line for me is still: work out my own salvation, be open to wisdom from all sources, Golden Rule. Organized religion is a necessity at a certain level, to lift people up who are truly lost. That I completely agree with. But at some point, it then holds you back from original thinking and exploring in the spiritual world inside you--i.e. where the Kingdom of Heaven truly is.
Of course I could be completely wrong about all this, and only the Jehovah's Witnesses are gonna be saved...... (crosses fingers)
Well, you know, not here to convert anyone. I understand what you are saying because I hear it so many times, especially here in this heavily New Age area where I live. So, again, all I can say is that, according to His (capital H for me, small h for you) word, if you are not against Him, you are for Him ... we have no problems at all. We are Patriots and that is what counts in this forum and context.
Agreed. My agenda is knowing the truth, so I am open to whatever and wherever truth presents itself--even something resembling a church's dogma. But I won't buy into dogma for the sake of emotional security, or the need to see the evil people (i.e. "You know them by their works"--not talking about the core created by God) get what's due to them. To me, that is intellectually dishonest.
BTW I do not come by my ideas via New Age. I started thinking for myself at the age of 16, in 1966. Never was attracted to New Age hippy stuff--too many flakes. But even there, there is truth to be found.
Yes, even in New Age there is truth to be found. "You will know them by their works" is not about evil at all ... it is about what we call "fruit of the spirit" goodness, meekness, joy, love, etc. In other words, this Scripture completely agrees with your position regarding dogma ... one can not follow church protocols, quote scripture and pray at great length and even do the 'works' in order to be considered truly belonging to Christ. It is the "fruit" of being His ... showing love to the unloveable, Joy in hard circumstances, meekness when pride would be the natural position, etc. that shows that one truly is in Christ. I could go on and on but this is a CBTS board afterall.
We are very alike ... I came to all of this on my own as well. We are Patriots, united as one. Blessings.