From what I understand, there has been quite a controversy as to my belief system because of some of the statements I've made, being construed as "mean" or "not nice" by the opposition on my blog. So I thought I should give an accounting to the readers of this blog as to why I come across as "mean" toward those who oppose me on my blog since non-Christians, especially the movie and media industry, think Christians will not behave in this manner because they teach that to be a Christian or to be saved means to be "good," or in other words "nice." But they are in severe biblical error because they are mistaken as to what exactly constitutes one being a "Christian."
One such example of this erroneous opposition has to do with when I wrote in a previous post to a critic of my blog, called "To Springtime," that she misunderstood what a Christian was since she was under the impression that a Christian is supposed to be "good/nice" and do "good/nice things" and look "good/nice." But Jesus told us that NO ONE is good; only God is good (Luke 18:19). He being God means that He is the Only One who is good (John 10:11). To back this point even more, the word "God" directly translated into our language is "good." Jesus even testified that He said He was God's Son, equating Himself with God thus was Good, not merely a prophet or a teacher--contrary to what the extremist islamist, hinduist, and buddhist left wing media would have us believe. He said,
"'I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?'
'We are not
stoning you for any of these,' replied the Jews, 'but for blasphemy, because you, a mere
man, claim to
God.'
'Why do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, "I Am God's Son?" Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.' Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp." (John 10:32-39, NIV) [Bold and underline mine]
In fact, it was for this very reason--that He equated Himself to God and referred to Himself as God or Good--that the rulers of Jesus' time had Him crucified, because they deemed His claim as blasphemous. Had He not made this claim in a public court setting, He never would have been crucified. For He was too popular; the people would have had none of it, otherwise (John 6:15). Through this passage, we can see just how solid it was that He claimed to be God:
"Again the high priest asked him, 'Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?'
'I Am,' said Jesus. 'And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.'
The high priest tore his clothes. 'Why do we need any more witnesses?' he asked. 'You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?'
They all condemned him as worthy of death...." (Mark 14:61-65, NIV) [Bold and underline mine]
The dictionary definition of "blasphemy" is "the act of claiming the attributes of deity." "Attribute" means "an inherent characteristic." So when someone says, he or she is "good/nice" or another is "good/nice," in all actuality--according to what Jesus said--that person is blaspheming. Only Jesus is the One who holds this attribute of "goodness" or "niceness" since He is God, as even testified to by the Heavenly Father:
"As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.'" (Matthew 3:16-17, NIV)
After explaining what and who Christ Jesus is, it is important for me to say He/God/Good is nothing like me because He is inherently good, and I am not. He is wonderful, kind, long-suffering, giving, merciful, compassionate, gracious, approachable, patient, courageous, sweet, nice, supportive, encouraging, knowledgeable, wise, intelligent, strong, sinless, guileless, honest, truthful, friendly, good-humored, funny, charming, majestic, loving, holy, righteous, pure, all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect, etc. No one else is any of these qualities to the extent that He is. To say that one is "good" or should be "good" or "nice" or "not mean," then, is a lie to the nth degree, "Christian" or not. Therefore to say that I must be "good/nice" in order to be a "Christian" is actually inflicting blasphemy on me. I have never claimed to be good/nice nor have I ever claimed that this quality is what can save me from eternal separation from God.
Furthermore, what saves me from this separation is not what I do, in the way of earning my salvation by how I act like as in being "nice" or "not mean," but by what Jesus said, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent" (John 6:29, NIV). Also,
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, [regardless of how people point their fingers at this person in accusation that he/she is not living the life] but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son [only belief in Jesus' ability to save being the key]." (John 3:16-18, NIV)
On top of this, Paul the Apostle says in Ephesians 2:8-9, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast" (NIV). What this statement means is that, when we realize our lack of "faith"--that Jesus is the Son of God and our only means for forgiveness of sins since He took the punishment we deserved for them--we then ask God for the ability to believe in Jesus as our Sacrificial Passover Lamb (John 1:29). God, being merciful (since He is good/nice) when we cry out to Him in humility because of our lack in this area of ability, provides us with it. Therefore, it is not something we can conjure up on our own, as many deceivers would mislead us. Instead, to do so on our own would be viewed as witchcraft by God--to obtain supernatural power apart from God, which is considered rebellion against Him.
Jesus even went to the extent of denouncing works/being good/being nice as a means to salvation for mere man through this passage in Matthew 19:16-26:
"Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, 'Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?'
'Why do you ask me about what is good?' Jesus replied. 'There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.'
'Which ones?' the man inquired.
Jesus replied, 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother, love your neighbor as yourself.'
'All these I have kept,' the young man said. 'What do I still lack?'
Jesus answered, 'If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.'
When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.'
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, 'Who then can be saved?'
Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'" (NIV)
To repeat, Jesus made it very clear that this man was an idol worshiper of money, i.e. greed, and that was why the man was not saved. He was not "good enough" or "nice enough" by himself alone. Any breaking of even the least bit of the Law of Moses was punishable by spiritual death if not also by physical death; and one could not enter the spiritual realm with Jesus, the Kingdom of God, apart from being perfect in all of it. Jesus' disciples were astonished at the impossibly high set of demands to be met that Jesus stated for a person to be saved since being "nice" wasn't enough. But Jesus was clear that God had provided a way for people to be saved apart from their own works/goodness/niceness. He even went further and expounded (before this incident with the young man in Matthew 5, 6, and 7) on these high demands of the Law placed on people if they wanted to be saved by being nice/good/doing works apart from Him through explaining what the Law meant by certain requirements, like murder and adultery and unforgiveness and taking the Lord's Name in vain, etc. He explained it all this way because He was trying to get across that these requirements could NEVER be met by mere man but only through God-Man. He also was telling us how He, in essence, even went beyond the demands of the Law of Moses in goodness and niceness.
Some have mistaken His speech in The Beatitudes as though it were something that was meant to replace the Law of Moses, abolishing it and setting an even more stringent moral standard to be met as if somehow God's Law wasn't already perfect. But Jesus clearly states, in Matthew 5:17-20, that He did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfill them for us. Fully understanding and implementing the stringent standard was for Him to meet, not us. It was meant to show the extent to which He so loved us dearly that He had to work so hard for us, like Jacob did for Rachael in Genesis. For us, the Law and Jesus' standards were meant to convince us of our own sinfulness. That God sees us all as completely sinful is noted in Psalm 53:1-3
"The
fool says in his heart,
'There is no God.'
They are corrupt, and their ways are vile;
there is no one who does good.
God
looks down from heaven
on the sons of men
to see if there are any who understand,
any who seek God.
Everyone has turned away,
they have together become corrupt;
there is no one who does good,
not even one." (NIV)
This is also said in another way in Romans 3:9-24:
"What
shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have
already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under
sin. As it is written:
'There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.'
'Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.'
'The poison of vipers is on their lips.'
'Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.'
'Their feet are swift to shed blood;
ruin and misery mark their ways,
and the way of peace they do not know.'
'There is no fear of God before their eyes.'
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." (NIV) [bold mine]
Again Jesus gave a demonstration of who is forgiven and admissible to God since He convinced us through the rich young man incident that all men are seen by God as completely sinful no matter how "good" we think we are in the eyes of others:
"To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 'Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: "God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get."
But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner."
'I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.'" (Luke 18:9-14, NIV)
Notice here that the man didn't claim he wouldn't sin again. Instead he identified himself as a sinner, and his request could be seen as a possible future warning to God of what he would be. He knew that God knew if he were to say he'd never sin again that he'd be a liar. Rather than make empty promises to The One and Only All-Knowing Good God, thus acknowledging Him as such in his obvious humility and remorse for his sin, his hope was in ONLY God's ability to be compassionate and merciful to him even in his utter sinfulness. This parable tells us clearly that the only way to be forgiven is through humility, basically, admitting we are the refuse of the world.
Now by believing that only God could forgive him, he was then making a statement of faith that God had made a way out for him, had in essence absorbed the punishment for his sins. Jesus demonstrated how God was able to forgive/absorb his sins by Himself, as the Sacrificial Passover Lamb, being punished--being beaten and tormented and crucified and shedding blood and dying--in our place for our sins because there can be no remission of sins without the shedding of blood (John 1:29, Romans 5:8-10, and Hebrews 9:22).
Moreover, we are shown in the Gospels what people were led to do when they desired to get to this point of repentance, actually to feel sorry for their sins, a change of mind and heart toward what God says is sin, not that this change of heart and mind would make them “good†or make them do "good." It simply changed them so that they no longer "wanted" or "desired" to do evil, again, not they wouldn't ever do it again. To obtain this transformation, they went to John the Baptist who physically baptized them with water.
Some people think this is the end-all be-all of salvation once one is baptized with physical water. They are severely and disturbingly WRONG! Anyone can get in a shower or a bath and cleanse him/herself of this world's dirt. But only God can cleanse us from our absolute spiritual filth that He truly sees and is ever present before Him when we shamefully approach Him in prayer apart from His forgiveness. In reference to this false teaching, Jesus even told the teachers of the Law to clean the inside of the cup not just the outside (Matthew 23:25-26). Jesus further addressed this heresy that a person baptized with physical water was saved, essentially "killing two birds with one stone," one among many times when he was in a heated exchange with the Pharisees and Sadducees. The argument was about whether or not Jesus had Heavenly authority to clear, by even means of what some would call violence and "not-niceness," the Temple from the thieves who were wrecking people's faith--teaching through their actions that forgiveness was something to be earned rather than something mercifully given by God's Goodness:
"They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. 'By what authority are you doing these things?' they asked. 'And who gave you authority to do this?'
Jesus replied, 'I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John's baptism--was it from heaven, or from men? Tell me!'
They discussed it among themselves and said, 'If we say, "From heaven," he will ask, "Then why didn't you believe him?" But if we say, "From men"....' (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.)
So they answered Jesus, 'We don't know.'
Jesus said, 'Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.'" (Mark 11:27-33, NIV)
So Jesus anticipating their arguments seemed to have jumped ahead of them in thought by two or three steps. But He didn't. He was instead trying to show them on another plane of understanding that only through the Spiritual Baptism of His Water could people be brought to a point of true repentance like the man in the above parable I mentioned, not by earning it. Forgiveness was not obtained by paying for an animal, earning a sacrifice, who would endure the punishment of suffering and death for that person's sin. It was merely a foreshadowing of what Jesus would go through for us in order for our sins to truly be paid for by Him (Colossians 2:17 and Hebrews 10:1). But His covering over our sins with His blood would not come until after we had repented of them. And that repentance could only come after the Baptism of Heavenly Water, which would lead us to a repentant mindset. Jesus was saying He had authority to stop their ridiculousness in the temple because He was there with the truth about it all, exposing them and revealing that they were "putting the cart before the horse," to shine light on the true Heavenly Water Baptism. This Heavenly Water was that which really comes from the water He shed out of His pierced side after He was crucified. Remember, we are dealing with eternity here in the spiritual realm not the linear time frame of the physical world.
If physical water baptism was necessary instead of Heavenly Water Baptism for salvation (works/goodness vs. God's intervention, grace) then why was it that the man who was being crucified next to Jesus who turned to Him in repentance was told by Jesus that he would be with Him in Paradise that day?
"One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: 'Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!'
But the other criminal rebuked him. 'Don't you fear God,' he said, 'since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.'
Then he said, 'Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.'
Jesus answered him, 'I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.'" (Luke 23:39-43, NIV)
Yet the criminal, that Jesus gave this promise to of salvation, was never physically water baptized. How then could he have been cleansed of his sins and saved? It's because the water baptism necessary for salvation is of a heavenly nature not a physical nature. He was given the spiritual Water Baptism. The physical baptism is merely only symbolic of what has really taken place in the spiritual.
Jesus not only touched on this subject of Heavenly Water Baptism twice here with the religious rulers of his day but also at another point with Nicodemus. If one reads John 3:2, it would be found that this Pharisee came to him in the cover of night, which baffles me that some people revere Nicodemus as some kind wonderful spiritual leader to follow. The cover of darkness kept Nicodemus from being seen by the other priests who thought Jesus was not God but a troublemaker. That way Nicodemus wouldn't be cast out of the fellowship of the synagogue he attended and taught in and/or the Jewish Ruling Council he belonged to but could still have contact with Jesus, the true holder of knowledge and power. It was necessary for me to point out this harsh reality about him because Jesus' verbal exchange may seem "not-nice" if one doesn't understand that Jesus was dealing with this man's cowardliness. And sometimes loving someone means seemingly being verbally rough or "not nice" with him/her in order to bring about understanding to get past pride and/or conceit and/or arrogance and etc. Jesus said this:
"'I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.'
'How can a man be born when he is old?' Nicodemus asked. 'Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!'
Jesus answered,'I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying,"You must be born again." The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.'
'How can this be?' Nicodemus asked.
'You are Israel's teacher,' said Jesus, 'and do you not understand these things? I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven--the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.'" (John 3:3-15, NIV) [underline and bold mine]
Some mistakenly think that the water mentioned here has to be a reference to physical birth through amniotic fluid first and then spiritual birth. But I submit that Jesus was saying just what He was saying: If a person is not spiritually baptized with water, he/she is not saved. And He was not referencing merely John the Baptist's physical water baptism. I believe He was referencing what He saw and knew to be true because this water comes directly from His pierced side and is spiritual, i.e. the reason He brought up, then, the Spirit after that. It is a spiritual experience to be felt in the spiritual realm and can be explained only in spiritual terms. It's important to note here that the author of the Gospel of John thought the water and blood flowing from Jesus' side so important after His death that He made a special point to highlight it in his text, chapter 19 verses 34-37, and so did the author of 1 John, in chapter 5 verse 6-9. Just like in physical birth that we are born with a gush of water, so it is with spiritual birth.
I would know because I have felt it. It feels much like a waterfall, surging over one's head with such impact and power that it could be likened to bricks of water coursing over a person. Even the writer of Psalm 42:7 testified to this experience with the Lord in what seems to be spiritual terms:
"Deep
calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me." (NIV)
Sometimes it happens more than once over a person, not meaning that this person can "fall out of salvation." It can just be likened to when a baby is being born: sometimes, all of the water doesn't come out right away but in bursts at different intervals throughout the birthing process, sometimes over the course of several hours and in the midst of bursts or gushes of blood and even after the baby has taken its first few breaths, which relate to other baptisms. And since this water baptism is with respect to the spiritual realm regarding time, linear time doesn't even begin to apply here but eternity does.
Some might say that this was an emotional experience, which is subjective. I disagree. As a person who has underwent this Heavenly Water Baptism, I can testify as an educated person that it is not an emotional experience at all. It oddly feels very physical yet is not seen therefore is spiritual. Emotion feels like emotion, not ever bringing about the outward sensation of touch. No educated person would ever mix up the two. Also, it was not anything anyone explained to me would happen. In other words, I had no idea what was going to happen. I was not particularly feeling emotional at the time. It simply happened during prayer. As a result, I testify to it and its power. In fact, this water baptism was so important that it was even mentioned in Acts 19:1-6 as one of the baptisms someone will "experience" as he/she goes on in his/her spiritual walk with Jesus regardless of what some man-made doctrine says about it.
Adversely, some people may say that they have repented yet have never "felt" this baptism. From the way I see it, one of many things may be going on here: This person may have felt it but wrote it off as one of many spiritual experiences with the Lord (as one of my aunts had but then recalled it after further explanation was given) or may have interpreted it as healing power or was too young to remember it happening or has never really repented or is yet waiting for it to happen, acknowledging that there is a problem.
Typically, this Spiritual Water Baptism makes many people feel uncomfortable because it leaves the deciding of who is going to be saved ultimately up to the Lord. That is precisely the point. The Lord chooses us; we don't choose Him (John 15:16). In this ultra self-worshiping society, it is beyond the comprehension of someone to leave any of our well-being up to anyone else. But that is what makes Him ultimately God, not us. All that we have to do is recognize our lack and submit our findings or lack of them to Him though we should realize even then He's the One who moves us to do so.
Again the point of being baptized in this way is to emphasize our need for God's intervention to save us, in essence absorbing our sin when we trust Him to. This baptism, then, just changes our mind and heart about wanting/desiring to sin. God absorbs our sin through what Jesus did for us by living a completely good/sinless life so that He could be a spotless sacrifice on the altar of God. We are told in Isaiah that this spiritual water cleansing us is seen by God as clothing, garments of salvation (Isaiah 61:10). We just need to believe in Jesus as our savior from our sinful repercussions, our sacrifice, in order for the next baptism to take place of His blood on us, which then Isaiah refers to this baptism as arraying us in a robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10). He, the Sacrificial Passover Lamb, was put to death in our place on the Cross for what we have done that was not "good," once for all, because His blood lives forever on the eternal altar in Heaven (Hebrews 9:11-15). By clothing us with His water and arraying us with His blood, we are free from the accusation of our sins by His great mercy and grace, which gives us freedom in Him to preach and teach about Him without hindrance from the condemnation that unbelievers and haters of God/Good heap on us (Romans 8:1-2). This way, no one would miss out on having a personal relationship with Him if one so desires.
Some may retaliate and say that I am using grace as a license to "sin" since I said that being a Christian is not something obtained through works in that, if the Holy Spirit lives through me, then I should produce fruit as such, though I was clear in stating that our actions might not always follow our miraculously changed convictions.
However, the Bible states in Genesis that, through the example of Cain and Able, though Cain produced fruit/works and submitted it as an offering to God, it was rejected. Only the sacrifice of blood by Able was acceptable before God. As a result, the one offering the fruit/works became angry that it wasn't seen as "good enough" and lashed out at his righteous brother in jealousy as a kind of retaliation against God, steeping Cain in sin even more than before the offering of fruit/works. One cannot obtain salvation/God's favor by "doing good" or "being nice." And the fruits of the Holy Spirit are just that: They are His fruits not ours. Should we be so blessed to have Him move through us and produce fruit, it should be recognized as what He leaves behind, not us. To say we do and can conjure these fruits up at a whim, as stated before, is blasphemy since we are NOT GOOD and thus can produce nothing good on our own. But since God has changed our minds about evil through His Water Baptism, admitting we are the refuse of the world and receiving Jesus as our only out for the just punishment of our wrong-doing, we love anything that reflects Him because we have resultantly fallen in love with Him for all He has gone through for us to be with Him where He is. And we even now merely aspire to be like Him in character just as we do a person we have married. That we fall short of this ideal, from time to time, is inevitable because we are human and is precisely the reason Jesus had to come for us. His sacrifice was "once for all" our sins, not merely our past sins. Therefore it is entirely possible to be a Christian and still seem verbally "mean" or "not nice" toward someone.
As an example, Paul the apostle was very angry at the high priest of Israel, at one point, and called him a whitewashed wall though Paul repented of that, ONLY because the man was the leader of his people, but would not have had he just been an ordinary man (Acts 23:2-5). He even so much as told those spreading false doctrine encouraging works in order to obtain salvation that he'd hope they'd be themselves emasculated, gonads cut off, or rather their effectiveness to be cut off (Galatians 5:12). And he even cursed Elymas Bar-Jesus to be blind for awhile for trying to keep the truth from being heard and deceiving the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, from bleieving (Acts 13:6-12). I don't know about anyone else, but these words and even actions don't seem very "nice," according to some of the standards plank-eyed commenters have been making on the media, Internet, this blog, and others. But the purpose of his outbursts was for the ideals of truth and so inevitably had the theme of love behind them for the ones listening who were being deceived. And though I am no Apostle Paul, it is still the same Holy Spirit that we both take part in and operate through (1 Corinthians 12:13). Thus, not much will be different between us, except personality and temperament and the situations we face.
Likewise, examples of even Jesus (who is perfect and good since He is God) of having tough love are these: He virtually called a woman a dog, who very respectfully had come to him for the deliverance of her daughter from demon possession (Matthew 15:22-28). Jesus called Peter, whom some would have said was His best friend, satan (Mark 8:33). Jesus called Judas, a devil (John 6:70). Jesus cursed a tree for not producing fruit when it wasn't even in season to produce fruit just like all of the other trees (Mark 11:12-14, 20-25). He went after those in the Temple who were selling animals and making a profit from their deception by, what even some wicked people in the media and Internet today would call "violence" since He used an actual WHIP to get the thieves and animals out of the Temple along with overturning their personal money tables (John 2:12-17). Jesus cursed the Law-givers who were putting a heavy burden of works on people to earn their salvation without showing them the way to be free from it in Him and instead rejected Him altogether so that they could continue to make their money off the hoards of unlearned people who were trying to earn God's favor on their finances and lives (Matthew 23:13-29). And He cursed entire towns because of their disbelief, though not because He felt they were prejudice against the color of his skin or didn't give Him enough money or respect as many, who will remain unnamed, do today (Matthew 11:21). He frequently called people names like hypocrite, robber, thief, murderer, viper, vicious snake, fox (in a derogatory sense), greedy, dull (stupid, really, by our current-day definition), adulterous, unbelieving, doubting, blind, deaf, etc. (Look these words up in any NIV concordance to find these passages.) And He even said people were in danger of going to heck if they persisted in their unbelief for their sins (Matthew 10:28 and 18:8-9). The audacity (mock shock)!
The difference from the worldly in doing these things is that He always spoke the truth either figuratively or literally without any form of deceit. So He was never in danger of breaking the Law in so doing because He was always perfect in what He said and did (2 Corinthians 5:21 and Hebrews 4:15 and 7:28). To add, especially in the case of His implication that the above said woman was a dog, His name-calling was meant to incite one to greater faith. In like manner, His digs were to rebuke publicly so that people wouldn't follow the example of unbelief, sin, or false teaching--in order to bring people to a higher understanding instead of looking at the surface of things--and/or to keep people from danger, etc. His motives were always good in all cases, being based on tough love and protection for those being deceived. And from this example this generation of real Christians could learn much and even imitate at the risk of appearing "mean" or "not nice," though we may fail sometimes in motive and thus execution. For it is as James said: "We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check" (3:2, NIV). And 1 John 1:8-9 tells us that, "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. [But] if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (NIV).
Again it is clear that it is not sin to stand up to unbelievers and believers alike who attack us unjustly and/or are spreading lies since God/Jesus would never hold us to a higher standard than He set for Himself, according to the above examples and more.
How is it, then, that I can seemingly come across as "mean" or "not nice" to people and still be Christian? I am subject to being imperfect since I am also a human being, not God, and have never claimed to be and have actually admitted to just the opposite--that I am sinful in and of myself, which is why Christ Jesus came for me and others like me. But I am a Christian and know it to be true because of the Spiritual Water Baptism I experienced, which changed my mind about sin and Jesus though I sometimes end up doing what I don't want to do (Romans 7:15-16). Or it might be that I, like the Lord, will not let someone get away Scott-free with an untruth if it means people will be deceived, loving the ideals of truth since they reflect Jesus. Or it might be that I, like how the Apostle Paul responded in harsh words to the high priest for having him slapped, do not appreciate being treated like a doormat for people to wipe their boots on me. Respect is earned not given. Since, the Lord lives in me, I refuse to be treated as such without warrant if I can help it. Or it may be that I'm being falsely accused like Jesus was for things that He did or didn't do or say when, actually, the harsh reality of truth is sometimes necessary when dealing with the proud; arrogant; cowardly; timid; and/or conceited in order to bring about right behavior. It is a form of tough-love though this very self-righteous "me generation" audience is far from seeing it as such.
My conclusion of why a person/s would falsely accuse me or others of not being "Christian," since I am or we are "not nice" on the comment sections of our blogs, is possibly because of several reasons: The person doing the accusing is not a Christian and, therefore, doesn't understand Christianity at all since it is by grace not works/niceness/goodness that we are saved. Or the person doing the accusing is really just a persecutor of the faith, hates God and is trying to get as many people as he/she can to go along with him/her in this rebellion. Or he/she is demanding respect where none is warranted and really deserves the opposite, in other words attacking me first and expecting me not to retaliate against the plank in the attacker's eye. Or the person doing the accusing is devoid of any decent logical arguments and is grasping at straws and merely hitting below the belt in order to supposedly "win" the war of words, basically cheating. Or the person does not appreciate discipline because he/she has never been consistently and/or properly disciplined during his/her lifetime with a right motive behind it. There is an old saying that goes something like this: If you don't discipline your children properly when they are at home, the world will do it for you when they leave home. And I am not one who will hesitate in doing so when I am being unfairly attacked; I hope others like me will follow suit.
Please remember this warning before posting on my site and saying that I or others like me are not "Christian" just because we appear "mean" or "not nice" by this corrupt self-righteous world's standards. We will no longer take your persecutory false accusations. We will fight back with words just as Jesus and Paul did and, perhaps on a bad day, beyond that.
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I would just like to apologize right now for not being able to indent the large quotations. Any kind of code I have used so far doesn't seem to work for me. If anyone has any advice as to how to do this here at this particular site, I welcome the advice. I did, however, finagle the large quotes by treating them as though they were small quotes so as not to give the reader the impression that I said these things but that they were actually written in the Bible.
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Before commenting on this post, any and all who have been told to leave my site because of harassment will be treated as trespassers and ignored or mysteriously deleted from my blog. If someone has come to belittle me or dog me or anyone else commenting on my site, he/she will be told to leave and/or shown how it feels to be attacked on a personal level since this person seems not to be able to understand this concept in any other way. That includes anyone who leaves a statement which has nothing to do with the subject/s listed above and/or puts me down in some way, be it intellectually or mentally or emotionally, etc. This also includes anyone who tries to grandstand or put up stump speeches on my site. This is my PERSONAL BLOG as though it were my own personal home. Treat it as such. I do not appreciate mean people, especially when they try to turn it around on me and make it seem as though I am the mean person. This is called mental abuse. Should one place a valid but completely respectful argument up on one of my posts in the comments section, I pray I am a big enough person to welcome the comment and the commenter if that person has not previously abused me before placing it on this site. I really enjoy intelligent conversation without any egos getting in the way. But once one steps out of line, the above applies.
