Thursday, September 7, 2017

Bad Stewards

During my formative years, I was taught in a very conservative Southern Baptist community that Christ Jesus entrusted His church to conduct His affairs in this world until His glorified return, and that its members were to give/tithe at least 10% of their resources (mainly in the form of money they had been led to believe they had earned) to fund this work. The doctrine is called Stewardship, and I now know that it is incorrect in a number of ways. I will be focusing upon only a couple of them in this piece, though.

First of all, Christ Jesus is not absent from this world. Yes, there will come a day when He will visibly return in all of His most awesome glory to openly rule over this entire world, but in the meantime, He is just as much everywhere, all of the time, in Spiritual form as He ever has been. Secondly, Christ Jesus has always known everything that there will ever be to know about everyone since long before He created this world. Subsequently, there is no entrusting anyone with anything. That is, at least not in the way we naturally think. Yes, He wants His chosen servants to help the lost and confused to get to really know Him by being shining reflections of His goodness and mercy against the darkness of Spiritual ignorance, but that is a far cry from calling Christians to truly seek and to save the lost, which is what far too many have been lad to believe.

Alas, even if it was true that believers are called to be Christ Jesus' hands and feet in His absence, why are so many conservative Protestants screaming the loudest about removing the illegal aliens from America and closing the borders to all but a very select few new immigrants? How can they seriously tell anyone about the love of Christ Jesus after leading the charge against some of the most helpless people in this world?

No, they are not thinking about that. They are just thinking about not sharing the bounty they sincerely believe they have worked hard for with mostly Catholic immigrants, who have illegally entered this country—regardless of their reason being absolute desperation.

Hey, these hard-core conservatives are the kind of people I grew up with, and I am not chunkin' rocks at just Southern Baptists, neither. For there are plenty of Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Pentecostals and even some Catholics involved.

In all fairness, we most definitely need much better border security measures to guard against terrorism, drug trafficking and plain, old-fashioned smuggling, but who I am talking about here are desperate people just wanting to escape abject poverty and no hope of it ever getting any better in their places of birth. No, I do not want people coming in who do not really want to become Americans, but even the vast majority of those pose no threat to our American way of life.

I do not mind some accommodations being made for those not growing up speaking English. For I am all too painfully aware of just how difficult the language can be to master—especially American English, with dozens of words meaning basically the same thing and/or something completely different, depending upon the context and/or correct spelling. For example: John loved going fishing in his Ranger bass boat when he was not out on tour, playing bass with his rock band.

On the other hand, I do not think it is at all unreasonable for those wanting to actually live here to have to have at least a rudimentary grasp of the language to get along well. After all, I cannot imagine moving to France and fully enjoy living there without knowing more than a few words of French.

All of the screaming about illegal aliens taking jobs away from good, tax-paying American citizens is pure nonsense. Do you want a seasonal job harvesting fruit and vegetables? How about working on the line in a chicken plant? Beef or pork processing, then? Oh, I forgot about lawn care and housecleaning. Now, those are jobs that many red-blooded Americans dream about having.

Besides, how can anyone truly in their right-mind refuse to share what they can with the less fortunate? For they know full well that everything they have has been a gift from our Heavenly Father. Even the desire to work hard is a gift from Him.

So, just how many self-proclaimed good Christians truly are in their right-mind? I know now that I was not until our Heavenly Father changed me, which did not happen until 29 years after I went forward to publicly accept salvation and be baptized.

Even if you do not want to believe any of that, did you have a choice of where and when you were physically born into this world? Can you really afford to place all of your bets upon your ability to be successful at this supposed game of life, governed by the law of the jungle?

What comes next? What if it is indeed true that many of those on top in this world will be on the bottom in the next? How can a few, very short years in this world compare with the whole of eternity?

Of course, I could be woefully deceived. What say you?

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12 comments:

  1. Well said that man!
    Trump, and his followers, will however be gunning for you!
    Reality brings enemies.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Adullamite!!! President Trump appears to be shifting with the political winds on the subject, but it would be in his best business interest to keep our immigration policy messed up so that he can get his resorts built and staffed for far less than it would cost if fair wages had to be paid.

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  2. ...I always thought you live by the rules of the land you are in, isn't that why you came in the first place, because the country is the way it is?

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Shadow!!! The vast majority of the illegals do live by the laws of the land after they have sneak it. The could not come in otherwise, and desperate people do desperate things. Our current immigration policy should be changed. Be assured that many, many more could be easily accommodated if our hearts were in the right place, and wasteful spending upon useless government programs was eliminated.

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  3. You know what I have come to the conclusion of - Life is hard - you have to pray - really examine your heart - and do what you think the Lord wants and needs of you.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Sandie!!! You are right. Life in this world is hard, and it is by design. Most have been deceived to think that this world was meant to be a paradise, but how can that be true if our Heavenly Father truly is all He claims to be? For nothing can happen unless He allows it to, and He promises that the suffering of this world is as nothing in comparison to the glorious joy of spending all of eternity in His Kingdom of Heaven after our time as a part of this prison of a world comes to an end. However, life in this world does not have to be as hard as it is in far too many cases to accomplish our Heavenly Father's purposes.

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  4. Hi Jerry,
    I think the big problem is denominational 'Christianity', as of being taught by man's doctrine instead of God's Word. It is written that the traditions of man (the Pharisees at that time) were making void the word of God, and the same is happening now with so called 'church leaders'. They are being taught by men at 'bible colleges' instead of being taught by the Holy Spirit.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Brenda!!! Very well said! When it is finally realized that the the true Word of God is actually the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and our Heavenly Father's Holy Scriptures were given to serve as written confirmation of what He Himself wants to personally teach us, much of what was taught by mere men on their own authority is clearly recognized as being false. Be assured that there is nothing wrong with a formal Christian education as long as it is correct, but even the doctrines of demons are nothing for our Heavenly Father's Holy Spirit to overcome. Nonetheless, it is such a shame when far too many desperately cling to their false beliefs out of loyalty to tradition, but it may not be until just before they take their last breath in this world before some are allowed and enabled to truly understand and accept what our Heavenly Father actually says is absolutely true. Patience is required to deal with them in the meantime, and this is something I far too often miserably fail at. Sigh.

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  5. Good points in this post! I also find it to be very hypocritical for those who claim to be Christians to support anything that would make life more difficult for the less fortunate Americans, like taking away their healthcare or doing away with programs that help poor people survive.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Silver Fox!!! I have been given more to publish on our healthcare and welfare system. Be assured that my wife and I have been given lots of very painful first-hand experience with just how flawed and wasteful they have become, and much of the blame can be placed at the feet of the religious right for working so hard to guard against anyone getting anything for free. On the other hand, a corrupt liberal agenda is best served by enslaving as many as possible to policy.

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  6. Helping the less fortunate is all well and good but those seeking help should not bite the hand that feeds them

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Ann!!! Yes, it is just as awful for the unfortunate to feel entitled for help as it is for the fortunate to fight against helping.

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