Originally posted by @fmfTo be clear - fallen mankind since Adam's disobedience have become in total followers of Satan.
So, despite the fact that I don't believe in the particular god figure or the "Satan" chatacter you talk about , you are 100% certain I am following "Satan"? Just to be clear. Is that what you mean?
You are not some privileged character. It includes you too.
I was even more a follower of Satan.
i am in the process of learning to WALK in Christ Whom I have received as Lord and Savior.
So the exhortation to those who have been saved into Jesus Christ from following Satan- LEARN now to walk and live another way - the right way - the most properly human way.
"As therefore you have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in Him." (Col. 2:6)
At one time I would be ready to fight if someone called me a follower of Satan.
The day came when it was a relief to hear the truth I was ready then to know.
THAT explains a lot of the tragedies and problems in my life. Why I've been following the wrong guy!
I want now to walk in Christ.
Originally posted by @sonshipI don’t feel "insulted" in the slightest, sonship. I didn't feel "insulted" when Dasa called me a cockroach, either. I found his rather demented condemnatory vehemence - replete with his beloved mythology - amusing and sometimes a bit creepy, just like I do yours.
A person may feel insulted upon hearing that he follows Satan.
So, in your superstitions mental landscape, is there anything "worse" you could call me than a "follower of Satan" or is that as vitriolic as it gets.
Originally posted by @fmfI don’t feel "insulted" in the slightest, sonship.
I don’t feel "insulted" in the slightest, sonship. I didn't feel "insulted" when Dasa called me a cockroach, either. I found his rather demented condemnatory vehemence - replete with his beloved mythology - amusing and sometimes a bit creepy, just like I do yours.
So, in your superstitions mental landscape, is there anything "worse" you could call me than a "follower of Satan" or is that as vitriolic as it gets.
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Good!
I'm glad.
I didn't feel "insulted" when Dasa called me a cockroach, either. I found his rather demented condemnatory vehemence - replete with his beloved mythology - amusing and sometimes a bit creepy, just like I do yours.
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I don't mind that. Be amused, bemused, whatever.
You can hunt down Dasa and continue your exchanges with Dasa.
I've nothing to do with that.
So, in your superstitions mental landscape, is there anything "worse" you could call me than a "follower of Satan" or is that as vitriolic as it gets.
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You're nothing special in that regard, just a garden variety fallen man deceived by the one who has deceived the whole world.
My focus is on what Christ is.
My focus is not on what you are or how amused you are in disregard of Scripture.
I am not nearly as "vitriolic" as you'd like to imagine.
You can take it or leave it that the whole world has been deceived by the enemy of God.
Moving on to what the wonderful Savior Christ is now ...
So Christ is resurrected and in a form in which He is AVAILABLE to join Himself to our innermost spiritual being.
Paul aptly uses the expression of a plant being rooted in Christ.
This is helpful to see that the believer absorbs FROM Christ just as a plant's many tender root hairs absorb the nutrients in the soil by which the plant grows and thrives.
"As therefore you have received the Christ, Jesus the Lord, walk in Him,
Having been ROOTED and being built up in Him, and being established in the faith even as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving." (Col. 2:6,7)
Not a word here should be taken for granted.
" ... rooted and being built up ..." (Col. 2:7)
Again, the word rooted is significant to convey Christ's life being drawn up into our life.
To be rooted is a matter of living, of life. The roots of a rooted plant grow down into the soil.
Jesus Christ is in a form in which the tender parts of our personality can grow down deeper and deeper into this marvelous Person. Experiences, troubles, obstacles, even misfortunes drive down the Christian's "roots" deeper in dependence upon the Son of God.
Then we are increasing in being rooted and built up in this mysterious yet available Person, the Lord Jesus Christ.
As the rooted plant grows in the earth and even into the earth. so believers as living organisms sink into Christ to absorb Christ. This is a life long matter of growth.
As the roots of a plant spread into the soil, the riches of of that soil are absorbed into the plant. In the same way Christ is nourishment to the entire humanity. His "element" can be absorbed up into our personality as we are rooted in Him. And then as the plant cells multiply and build up the plant, so the absorbed Christ causes God to grow in His believers.
From one angle the New Testament speaks of the believers growing down roots into Christ as the soil. But from another point of view it speaks of the believers as the soil in which Christ is planted, watered, and growing in man.
Paul said that the normal church life was a farm with soil designed for the growing of Christ in people.
" I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth. ... For we are God's fellow workers, you are God's cultivated land [or farm], God's building. (1 Cor. 3:6,9)
Here the analogy is slightly different though.
Colossians talks about being rooted and growing in Christ as the soil.
First Corinthians speaks from a slightly different yet related angle.
Man is the soil and Christ is the growing organism being planted and watered in man.
Either way you can see it is a matter of life.
Originally posted by @sonshipYou dodged this question: in your superstitions mental landscape, is there anything "worse" you could call me (or anyone) than a "follower of Satan" or is that as vitriolic as it gets?
[b] I don’t feel "insulted" in the slightest, sonship.
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Good!
I'm glad.
I didn't feel "insulted" when Dasa called me a cockroach, either. I found his rather demented condemnatory vehemence - replete with his beloved mythology - amusing and sometimes a bit creepy, just li ...[text shortened]... s been deceived by the enemy of God.
Moving on to what the wonderful Savior Christ is now ...
Originally posted by @sonshipYou are dodging again. I am not asking about how "vitriolic" you are or talking to you about what I "imagine". I am asking you a question: is telling someone that they are a "follower of Satan" the most vitriolic thing you can say to them, or are there worse descriptions or accusations that you could say?
I am not nearly as "vitriolic" as you'd like to imagine.
Originally posted by @sonshipYou've been claiming that I feel "insulted" by your mentions of "Satan" for about ten years, and using it as 'evidence' that your far-fetched comments have some credibility with me, and I have been pointing out to you, also for about ten years, that I don't feel "insulted". So now that you have finally acknowledged that I find what you say about "Satan" to be a kind of intriguingly creepy, demented claptrap, and not "insulting" at all, are you going to drop it as one of your go-to lazy disingenuous rhetorical tricks?
[b]FMF: I don’t feel "insulted" in the slightest, sonship.
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Good!
I'm glad.[/b]
Originally posted by @dj2beckerWhats up matey? You a bit off today?
There are a lot of things that I think that I don't feel like sharing with everyone. Do you feel entitled to know everything that I think?
Ps. if you come on a public forum and post several, if not dozens of times a day , make enemies with personalities you dont agree with then come out with the above retort, do you think you could even spell a word like 'credibility' ?
edit: Yes, I'm reduced to stupid questions like this. The fact that you cant engage many posters here in a cordial and proper manner is so annoying. It seems nearly everyone else can do it.
Originally posted by @dj2beckerDo you think I am a follower of "Satan" or not? sonship does. Eladar does. KellyJay does. whodey does. josephw does. RJHinds does. RBHILL does. Do you?
Still waiting for your answer on whether you think FMF is a 'child of the devil'?
Originally posted by @fmfYou've been claiming that I feel "insulted" by your mentions of "Satan" for about ten years, and using it as 'evidence'
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No I have not been claiming that.
What I wrote was that "a person ... may feel insulted."
A person may feel insulted upon hearing that he follows Satan.
Sorry, No "Aha!!, Boy are you insulted FMF!"
You SAID that you were amused. The "a person ... " then, must not include you.
Originally posted by @sonshipLike I said, you've been claiming that I feel "insulted" by your mentions of "Satan" for about ten years. You've done it to others too. Countless times. It's like a little deceptive piece of straw-man-psychology you try to project on to people you are trying to peddle your superstitions to.
No I have not been claiming that.