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Post by Parker on Dec 27, 2022 8:41:54 GMT -8
[Jesus said]
Do not judge and criticize and condemn others, so that you may not be judged and criticized and condemned yourselves. For just as you judge and criticize and condemn others, you will be judged and criticized and condemned, and in accordance with the measure you [use to] deal out to others, it will be dealt out again to you. Matthew 7:1–2
I have found much torment comes to people’s lives because of judgmental attitudes, criticism, and suspicion. Multitudes of relationships are destroyed by these enemies. Once again, the mind is the battlefield.
Sometimes we are more concerned about telling people what we think than we are about listening, learning, and building good relationships. Being judgmental, opinionated, and critical are three sure ways to see relationships dissolve. And it's very easy for any of us to fall into having a judgmental spirit.
I believe that pointing a finger at someone in judgment is often the way some people cover up their own weaknesses. Their theory seems to be, “Judge others before they have a chance to judge you.”
When we choose to be judgmental, we will find that there is no end to it, it goes on and on.
Notice I used the words “choose to be judgmental,” because that’s exactly what I did. If anyone had called me a judgmental or critical person, I would have denied it, because I wasn’t aware of my negative attitude. I thought I was just giving my innocent opinion. At that time, I wasn’t aware that I had a choice about my thoughts.
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9
Another thing I didn’t think about then was the uselessness of my opinions. I didn’t help anyone by pointing out what I perceived as shortcomings. I now know that we can choose the thoughts we want to focus on. We can’t always choose the thoughts that come to our minds, but we can decide to let them stay and fester or we can push them aside.
It took me a while, but I eventually learned that when the devil brings those harsh, unkind, judgmental thoughts to us, we can use God’s Word to chase them away. There may be no better verse to repeat than Philippians 4:8 to get our thoughts properly centered: “. . . whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].”
I Have learned now that I brought myself a lot of misery because of judging others. I wanted to be able to say that what others did, or how they looked, was none of my business. It took me a long time to replace those negative thoughts with all the good things I had to think about.
During the process, God began to hold me accountable for my critical spirit, pointing me to the words of Paul: “Why do you criticize and pass judgment on your brother? . . . why do you look down upon or despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God . . . And so each of us shall give an account of himself [give an answer in reference to judgment] to God. Then let us no more criticize and blame and pass judgment on one another, but rather decide and endeavor never to put a stumbling block or an obstacle or a hindrance in the way of a brother” (Romans 14:10, 12-13).
Who are we? We’re God’s people. As Christians, we’re part of one family—God’s family. And He wants us to love and protect our family members, instead of judging them.
“United we stand, united we never shall fall”.
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Post by Obadiah on Dec 28, 2022 5:03:16 GMT -8
This fits right in with your topic. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. Make level paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Hebrews 12:12-15
A New Kind of Living |
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Post by makesends on Dec 28, 2022 5:39:50 GMT -8
[Jesus said] Do not judge and criticize and condemn others, so that you may not be judged and criticized and condemned yourselves. For just as you judge and criticize and condemn others, you will be judged and criticized and condemned, and in accordance with the measure you [use to] deal out to others, it will be dealt out again to you. Matthew 7:1–2I have found much torment comes to people’s lives because of judgmental attitudes, criticism, and suspicion. Multitudes of relationships are destroyed by these enemies. Once again, the mind is the battlefield. Sometimes we are more concerned about telling people what we think than we are about listening, learning, and building good relationships. Being judgmental, opinionated, and critical are three sure ways to see relationships dissolve. And it's very easy for any of us to fall into having a judgmental spirit. I believe that pointing a finger at someone in judgment is often the way some people cover up their own weaknesses. Their theory seems to be, “Judge others before they have a chance to judge you.” When we choose to be judgmental, we will find that there is no end to it, it goes on and on. Notice I used the words “choose to be judgmental,” because that’s exactly what I did. If anyone had called me a judgmental or critical person, I would have denied it, because I wasn’t aware of my negative attitude. I thought I was just giving my innocent opinion. At that time, I wasn’t aware that I had a choice about my thoughts. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9Another thing I didn’t think about then was the uselessness of my opinions. I didn’t help anyone by pointing out what I perceived as shortcomings. I now know that we can choose the thoughts we want to focus on. We can’t always choose the thoughts that come to our minds, but we can decide to let them stay and fester or we can push them aside. It took me a while, but I eventually learned that when the devil brings those harsh, unkind, judgmental thoughts to us, we can use God’s Word to chase them away. There may be no better verse to repeat than Philippians 4:8 to get our thoughts properly centered: “. . . whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].” I Have learned now that I brought myself a lot of misery because of judging others. I wanted to be able to say that what others did, or how they looked, was none of my business. It took me a long time to replace those negative thoughts with all the good things I had to think about. During the process, God began to hold me accountable for my critical spirit, pointing me to the words of Paul: “Why do you criticize and pass judgment on your brother? . . . why do you look down upon or despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God . . . And so each of us shall give an account of himself [give an answer in reference to judgment] to God. Then let us no more criticize and blame and pass judgment on one another, but rather decide and endeavor never to put a stumbling block or an obstacle or a hindrance in the way of a brother” (Romans 14:10, 12-13).
Who are we? We’re God’s people. As Christians, we’re part of one family—God’s family. And He wants us to love and protect our family members, instead of judging them. “United we stand, united we never shall fall”. This same principle applies to several other things, where we assume we know the truth, "and the other guy is wrong!" It may well be that the other guy is wrong, but that same standard by which we measured him will be used to measure us. For example, we of the Reformed persuasion may have the Gospel right, but.... none of us quite understand the words we use to convey the truth. None of us understand the depth and horror of sin, nor the magnitude of God's mercy and love. I'm not saying this against anyone in particular, but I keep hearing on these forums, and various sites, statements such as, "Unlike you, I believe God", and so on. The attitude is rarely more visible than when someone begins shooting arrows of disdain and arrogance at those he takes to be teaching the devil's doctrines. Ha! But then I too will have to stand before the Lord and answer for what I have posted here. It is ironic that people believe themselves to own the moral high ground by virtue of the purity or accuracy of their doctrine, rather than by the consistency of their obedience. (Yes, I'm talking to myself!) Ironically, too, we are called to proclaim and defend the truth, but the humility of knowing that we don't have anything quite right should at least give us pause about getting too loud. |
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Post by civic on Dec 28, 2022 5:54:20 GMT -8
[Jesus said] Do not judge and criticize and condemn others, so that you may not be judged and criticized and condemned yourselves. For just as you judge and criticize and condemn others, you will be judged and criticized and condemned, and in accordance with the measure you [use to] deal out to others, it will be dealt out again to you. Matthew 7:1–2I have found much torment comes to people’s lives because of judgmental attitudes, criticism, and suspicion. Multitudes of relationships are destroyed by these enemies. Once again, the mind is the battlefield. Sometimes we are more concerned about telling people what we think than we are about listening, learning, and building good relationships. Being judgmental, opinionated, and critical are three sure ways to see relationships dissolve. And it's very easy for any of us to fall into having a judgmental spirit. I believe that pointing a finger at someone in judgment is often the way some people cover up their own weaknesses. Their theory seems to be, “Judge others before they have a chance to judge you.” When we choose to be judgmental, we will find that there is no end to it, it goes on and on. Notice I used the words “choose to be judgmental,” because that’s exactly what I did. If anyone had called me a judgmental or critical person, I would have denied it, because I wasn’t aware of my negative attitude. I thought I was just giving my innocent opinion. At that time, I wasn’t aware that I had a choice about my thoughts. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9Another thing I didn’t think about then was the uselessness of my opinions. I didn’t help anyone by pointing out what I perceived as shortcomings. I now know that we can choose the thoughts we want to focus on. We can’t always choose the thoughts that come to our minds, but we can decide to let them stay and fester or we can push them aside. It took me a while, but I eventually learned that when the devil brings those harsh, unkind, judgmental thoughts to us, we can use God’s Word to chase them away. There may be no better verse to repeat than Philippians 4:8 to get our thoughts properly centered: “. . . whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].” I Have learned now that I brought myself a lot of misery because of judging others. I wanted to be able to say that what others did, or how they looked, was none of my business. It took me a long time to replace those negative thoughts with all the good things I had to think about. During the process, God began to hold me accountable for my critical spirit, pointing me to the words of Paul: “Why do you criticize and pass judgment on your brother? . . . why do you look down upon or despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God . . . And so each of us shall give an account of himself [give an answer in reference to judgment] to God. Then let us no more criticize and blame and pass judgment on one another, but rather decide and endeavor never to put a stumbling block or an obstacle or a hindrance in the way of a brother” (Romans 14:10, 12-13).
Who are we? We’re God’s people. As Christians, we’re part of one family—God’s family. And He wants us to love and protect our family members, instead of judging them. “United we stand, united we never shall fall”. This same principle applies to several other things, where we assume we know the truth, "and the other guy is wrong!" It may well be that the other guy is wrong, but that same standard by which we measured him will be used to measure us. For example, we of the Reformed persuasion may have the Gospel right, but.... none of us quite understand the words we use to convey the truth. None of us understand the depth and horror of sin, nor the magnitude of God's mercy and love. I'm not saying this against anyone in particular, but I keep hearing on these forums, and various sites, statements such as, "Unlike you, I believe God", and so on. The attitude is rarely more visible than when someone begins shooting arrows of disdain and arrogance at those he takes to be teaching the devil's doctrines. Ha! But then I too will have to stand before the Lord and answer for what I have posted here. It is ironic that people believe themselves to own the moral high ground by virtue of the purity or accuracy of their doctrine, rather than by the consistency of their obedience. (Yes, I'm talking to myself!) Ironically, too, we are called to proclaim and defend the truth, but the humility of knowing that we don't have anything quite right should at least give us pause about getting too loud. I must say having you here is a breath of fresh air brother. Most calvinists do not interact like you and are very condescending as a whole and lack humility online. You are the exception to the rule and I enjoy reading your posts and your thoughts on any given topic. I was a very active calvinist member on carm for 20 years. Now that I'm no longer a calvinist I was attacked personally on a daily basis and I did not use ad hominems but addressed the argument the poster. All of this happened over the past 2 years and now they have permanently banned me from their forum. That is one of the reasons this forum came about so we could discuss our differences in a respectful manner without all the usual animosity that occurs online. And those who cannot find it within themselves to be respectful of others are no longer posting here. That is their choice but going in they new what the expectations were here and that our desire is to sharpen one another. I may no longer agree with John MacArthur on tulip but he has so many other things he teaches that I have learned from and still reference him for example on lordship and the gospel according to Jesus. I may not agree with you on tulip anymore but there are many other things you believe that I can affirm, learn, grow and be sharpened by brother. My motto is always to try and be : In the Essential unity In the non Essentials liberty In all things charity. |
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Post by Obadiah on Dec 28, 2022 6:41:18 GMT -8
I Wholeheartedly agree with all the above.
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Post by rockson on Feb 28, 2023 7:19:54 GMT -8
I'm not saying this against anyone in particular, but I keep hearing on these forums, and various sites, statements such as, "Unlike you, I believe God", and so on. The attitude is rarely more visible than when someone begins shooting arrows of disdain and arrogance at those he takes to be teaching the devil's doctrines. And the God they say they believe in might be saying, "You know not what spirit you're of to be talking to people like that" |
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Post by civic on Feb 28, 2023 8:02:50 GMT -8
I'm not saying this against anyone in particular, but I keep hearing on these forums, and various sites, statements such as, "Unlike you, I believe God", and so on. The attitude is rarely more visible than when someone begins shooting arrows of disdain and arrogance at those he takes to be teaching the devil's doctrines. And the God they say they believe in might be saying, "You know not what spirit you're of to be talking to people like that" Agreed ! |
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Post by makesends on Feb 28, 2023 20:25:12 GMT -8
This same principle applies to several other things, where we assume we know the truth, "and the other guy is wrong!" It may well be that the other guy is wrong, but that same standard by which we measured him will be used to measure us. For example, we of the Reformed persuasion may have the Gospel right, but.... none of us quite understand the words we use to convey the truth. None of us understand the depth and horror of sin, nor the magnitude of God's mercy and love. I'm not saying this against anyone in particular, but I keep hearing on these forums, and various sites, statements such as, "Unlike you, I believe God", and so on. The attitude is rarely more visible than when someone begins shooting arrows of disdain and arrogance at those he takes to be teaching the devil's doctrines. Ha! But then I too will have to stand before the Lord and answer for what I have posted here. It is ironic that people believe themselves to own the moral high ground by virtue of the purity or accuracy of their doctrine, rather than by the consistency of their obedience. (Yes, I'm talking to myself!) Ironically, too, we are called to proclaim and defend the truth, but the humility of knowing that we don't have anything quite right should at least give us pause about getting too loud. I must say having you here is a breath of fresh air brother. Most calvinists do not interact like you and are very condescending as a whole and lack humility online. You are the exception to the rule and I enjoy reading your posts and your thoughts on any given topic. I was a very active calvinist member on carm for 20 years. Now that I'm no longer a calvinist I was attacked personally on a daily basis and I did not use ad hominems but addressed the argument the poster. All of this happened over the past 2 years and now they have permanently banned me from their forum. That is one of the reasons this forum came about so we could discuss our differences in a respectful manner without all the usual animosity that occurs online. And those who cannot find it within themselves to be respectful of others are no longer posting here. That is their choice but going in they new what the expectations were here and that our desire is to sharpen one another. I may no longer agree with John MacArthur on tulip but he has so many other things he teaches that I have learned from and still reference him for example on lordship and the gospel according to Jesus. I may not agree with you on tulip anymore but there are many other things you believe that I can affirm, learn, grow and be sharpened by brother. My motto is always to try and be : In the Essential unity In the non Essentials liberty In all things charity. Don't know why I didn't see this before. But, thank you, brother. Part of why I believe what I do (which turns out to resemble very closely, Reformed theology) came as a result of being of an opposing camp, where the teaching of what comprises a cult, seemed to be given from a position of "having the doctrine right". At one point, I wanted to write a book, "What makes us believe WE are not a cult?" It is great, and even necessary, to confront false teaching, particularly concerning the Gospel and the Doctrine of God. But I keep seeing the fighting to be about the conclusions one group thinks the other group's statements inevitably lead to. There are, no doubt, even severe differences between the actual beliefs, but those aren't often what I'm really seeing argued. Consider the following Calvinistic/Reformed tenets: —God is omnipotent, absolutely sovereign. Arminianism: Agreed —God is transcendent, but immanent. Arminianism: Agreed —Jesus Christ died for sinners; All have sinned. Arminianism: Agreed —Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten SON of God. Arminianism: Agreed —Salvation is by grace through faith, and not of works. Arminianism: Agreed —There is no other Salvation but Jesus Christ. Arminianism: Agreed —Those who believe in Christ have eternal life, but those who do not believe are condemned already. Arminianism: Agreed —You must be born again, to see the Kingdom of God. Arminianism: Agreed —Repentance, submission, obedience are necessary to the believer. Arminianism: Agreed —God has a plan, and it will be accomplished. Arminianism: Agreed —Scripture is God's word. Arminianism: Agreed —God is love. Arminianism: Agreed —And...it goes on and on. Anyhow, thanks again, and God bless you, brother. |
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