Wordly Wise Book 8 Lesson 6 Answer Key
Wordly Wise Book 8 Lesson 6 Answer Key >>> https://urlca.com/2t8gO7
Dear Enough Already,I am so sorry that Christians (all of whom you seem to lump together despite the many different viewpoints expressed) have let you down so dreadfully. There is definitely no simple definition of what it means to be a Christian, so our perspectives will definitely vary a bit. It's just not possible to easily explain such a vast concept. It's sort of like explaining a great, deep and meaningful relationship to someone else--words don't quite do it. It's something meant to be lived.However, Christianity is NEVER an excuse to act any way we fell like. No Christian in their right mind will ever make excuses for the likes of the damnable acts that you are listing. In fact, the reason we are even having this thread is because a Christian leader fully and unflinchingly took personal responsibility for his transgressions (the details of which are none of our business) and paid a pretty steep price for doing so. If it were OKAY (to quote you) to do these things, it would be business as usual and none of us would be any the wiser.Sorry if any of us gave you the impression that Satan has the power to control our minds. He does not! If this were a valid defense, then, once again, we would not be having this discussion thread. Christianity clearly asserts, and this pastor's example testifies, that we are responsible for our actions and that we will bear sometimes incredibly heavy consequences for them. Hence this pastor's taking full responsibility for his actions (maybe "cheating", maybe not--let's don't put words in the man's mouth now).I am duly impressed that you seem to be able to control your emotions and your own life. Either you are a much better person than anyone I've ever met, or perhaps you are living by a set of standards that are a bit more on the accommodating side. Alas, I fall short of the only standard that really matters. And I do need that pesky forgiveness that you mentioned. But if we gave the impression that it doesn't really matter what we do, then we definitely did you a grave disservice. If there were no responsibility for our actions, the concept of forgiveness itself would become instantly obsolete and nonsensical.If talking to our subconscious were the entire answer, the world would definitely be a better place. I agree with you that our subconscious, conscience or whatever we want to call that "little voice" can definitely be a veritable source of great insights and best of intentions. Unfortunately, once we know better, there's always cowardice, selfishness, indifference, bad predispositions, forgetfulness, etc, that will be at the ready to ruin the day--ours and that of others. Unfortunately, it appears that self cannot overcome self. Sometimes I just can't get over myself! It's at such times that it is mighty handy to be able to call on something greater than myself to come to my aid. I will agree, it is a bit of a mystery, but it works! I have seen the lives restored of people (myself included) who seemed to be beyond hope until they called on God for help. Those folks had a well-developed unconscious. They knew they were off track. But if that were all it took, we would all be nicer, happier and ten lb lighter.Anyway, few are the great communicators of deep spiritual truth (such as Paul S, the reason we are gathered here, before I completely forget). So I will be so bold as to apologize on behalf of all of us Christians who are not expressing ourselves too clearly. And if my attempts at explanation made it even worse, well, my bad I guess. Keep an open mind. Try not to lump us all together. Hopefully, someone else will come along and do a better job. Until then, Jesus loves you and we're trying--no joke!
2Th 2:9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 2Th 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 2Th 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. In context, God raises false prophets to show them, leaders and the flock for what they are. It's as simple as that. When you don't love the truth as it is in Christ, God Himself will give you over to a strong delusion. God raises delusions!! Don't be quick to overlook Mr Sheppard's sin b/c if you do that, then you'll open the door to all sorts of abominations to come and lead the flock.To use David and other OT failures to justify sin is mishandling the word of God. You fail to acknowledge the admonishments of 1 Timothy, Titus and 2 Peter 2 regarding how leaders should conduct themselves and specifically in the 2 Peter 2 account is an exposition on how false prophets act. If God opens your eyes you'll be able to draw parallels. The small book of Jude is a source of how false leaders are too. The prayer is that God will deal with Mr Sheppard's sin in the privacy of his dilemma. I'm referring to the sin of mishandling the truth to build his church moreso then the adultery. If God is dealing with him, there is hope. God, if He's willing, can fix the dishonesty of 'salvation by making a decision for Jesus' equating it to 'fire insurance'. How abominable!I'm appealing to those who truly have a reverance for God and the truth of the bible and pray that from this event, may God according to His pleasure and His will, bring many to the true light and ultimately give all Glory to Himself. This is something only God can do!!I'm speaking as someone who was deluded under this ministry until by the mercy and grace of God, He plucked me out of this mess. Unfortunately, I still have many friends and family under this ministry. I could only pray and hope.Please if you still are a ALCF attendee ask yourself every time you leave a sermon, 'Do I know Christ a little better? His offices? His work? What He really accomplished on Calvary? Has the preacher exposed Christ coming in the volume of the book from Genesis to Revelations?' - If the preacher is not answering these questions, cry out to God to have mercy and lead you to where you can get fed!If you 'see red' after reading my comments, I do not apologise. Check out if what I'm saying has any validity!May God have Mercy.PD.
To Peninsula Dweller: I did not say we are not to judge; but rather that our standard of judgement must be The Lord's and not that of our own making. Faraway made judgement calls based on assumptions rather than facts and ran away with it, in The Name of Jesus. I personally have a problem with that. When PP was called to become Sr. Pastor of ALCF, to the best of everyone's knowledge, he met all of the scriptural requirements for leadership and he lead the church well for a number of good & fruitful years. When he had a "moral failure" (whatever that is/was), he wasn't exposed, but rather removed himself from leadership on his own volition (unless you know otherwise & if so, please do tell), which would be what one would expect from one in Christian leadership, but in actuallity is not behavior that is prevalent in the Christian community. This is the information upon which I'm making judgements, rather than searching scriptures for ammuniton to get answers to questions that may or may not be my business to ask or have answered. Even if I have a "right" to ask what went wrong, who really has the information? Nobody but The Lord. Remember, this situation may have blindsided & shocked us, but it was no surprise to God. So, let's say you ask & get your questions answered, then what? If you're mature, you pray to the Lord for discernment. Since God knows what's up, even if you or I don't, can we not pray for discernment as effectively with little info as with much info? Discernment is a gift from God that I expect will play a large role in how ALCF moves forward. That discernment can and, I trust, will be given to everyone; both leadership & lay members, and will help us make sense out of this situation. The Lord is not the author of confusion & I can't think of anything more confusing & less helpful than each of us runnig about using our own personal yardsticks for judging PP and the situation at hand. Rather than looking back in judgement, I'm searching scripture on the circumstances & requirements under which "restoration" can be effected; a matter of which I admit to being woefully ignorant; except to know it doesn't happen overnight or even quickly. I don't even know if PP wants restoration, but if he does, I plan to have remedied my ignorance on this matter and in the meantime, in view of his past record of fruitful & blessed ministry, I wish him and his family nothing but Jesus; i.e, The Ultimate Best of The Very Best, and I leave judgement for PP's sin and it's consequences to the only true judge; God and God alone. I will continue to pray that said judgement & consequences be tempered with God's unfailing Grace & Mercy. That may not work for you, but I simply can't entertain doing anything else. If you have further advice, I'll listen, but it should be appropriate to the reality of the current situation. In other words, I don't need to be reminded of the Biblical requirements for church leaders. PP is no longer leading this local body, so that's not appropriate. What do you know about restoring fallen leaders?
Our community-and that means all of us-could get to work with intelligence, love and respect right now.The debate on who's redeemed vs who's smart and platitudes on forgiveness while ignoring real acts and consequences are a waste of all our time.Paul Sheppard was and is a charismatic man with great leadership power and many followers and fans. I support him in now teaching a true faith in Christ. Very Simple. Start with love. Real love. As far as i've seen in this forum, few of us have gotten past the very first lesson.I was once warmly invited to attend ALCF by a friend with whom I did extensive volunteer work at a local non profit. I responded with enthusiasm and then asked how the ALCF community respects and celebrates its gay families. After that question I was shunned. Not righteously thrown into the 'lake of fire' as several of these posters (joy?) would do; just no answer given...the welcome withdrawn. My coworker continued telling others to have a blessed day while creating a quiet hell for myself and several others.I don't know what was preached at ALCF because I never went. It is very frightening to live among people who so easily do harm with little understanding of their actions. It makes the world a living hell with harm wrought by many who strangely think they do God's will. One false friend is hard enough to recognize. To go where there might be many more can do irreparable harm especially to our children. I know because I was raised in a 'loving' church like that in Los Altos where priestly crimes were hidden, protected, and forgiven while children; both straight and gay, suffered serious harm. None of the actions of the preachers or their superiors or the women who covered for them truly showed the work of Christ. Many young prophets were left to forge lives on their own and to look for real truths outside of the corrupt religious forum.One ALCF member stated in this forum that their church avoided discussion about gay marriage because the 'topic' is too divisive. Christ as he/she lives today would not avoid this discussion but would teach love.If the pain and dismay expressed here is any measure, a more divisive event has occurred and should be faced with respect as an opportunity for us all to grow.If Paul Sheppard's true nature in God was to live as a gay man would you bless him and love him? Would your forgiveness extend to him now? Would you support him and his wife as they tried to navigate the treacherous waters of almost certain hatred from friends? Would you support him as he allowed his true soul to witness for his community? Would you support he lover who brought him mercy? Or would you shun him? Christ would show them love. And from what I've read in this forum, very few of us have gotten to the spiritual place where we can show love to all.God's truth is as diverse as the natural universe and never simple. We are fools to think we know it fully or that our fellow humans could transcribe, selectively edit, and translate it over 20 political centuries so we could persecute each other with it or come away with any message but love.Perhaps Paul Sheppard's new journey as a teacher and prophet is to learn to tackle the big issues; Truth is owed to the thousands of people who count on hearing his voice. Love extends to ALL; to shun or avoid confronting hatred for any reason is a moral failure. Living a lie because it is popular within one's religious community is a moral failure but may be a necessary survival mechanism. Coming from a place of humility, perhaps Paul can help all of us be become better people. If we learn to write and speak from a place of love and take responsibility for our own spiritual paths, perhaps we can help him to become more honest and to strengthen his practice. Do you love him enough to let him? 2b1af7f3a8