Focus

I lack prompts. My friend has jury duty and hath not bequeath prompteth unto me. There fore I'm going to look at some pamphlets he wrote on and make comments about his thoughts.

The first on is called ""Nothing But the Blood"...

In this post he was discussing the role of blood in Christianity. As noted in the Gospel of John, Jesus said that we must, "Eat of His flesh and drink of His blood" -on other words take the body of Christ into ourselves. Now in the pamphlet my friend focuses on the Passover of the Jews in Egypt -how they had to place the blood of a sacrificed lamb on the borders of their doors to avoid the plague that killed all first borns. He says regardless of whatever sin they had -past, present, and future- the only thing that saved them was the blood of the lamb. In this same sense, we are all saved by the sarifice Jesus made.

My friend notes, "I like to think it is my righteousness, working with God's power that saves me. I want to think that I have something important to do with my own fate. Yet I must humbly admit that the only thing bringing me to heaven is the blood of Jesus." -AT

He also quotes Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast".

This was interesting for me to read because i remember from John that people kept coming up to Jesus asking Him, "So what do we do to go to heaven and receive the Spirit?" And all He would tell them was to Believe in Him and do not sin. That's it. And I was confused because it seems like we have to do more, but it's an even playing field.

 It makes sense though when you take the quote from Ephesians into consideration. If some people put more works and effort into their faith then they might say they are more worthy of salvation than others. This would  then raise their Egos and lower the confidence and faith of others. Instead God doesn't pick and choose; He is on no one's side -He is the side. He's just waiting for people to join Him. He loves unconditionally and embraces everyone wherever they may be in their live as long as they revere Him as the One.

The Second pamphlet is titled, "Hard Work + Waiting =Absolute Success"

He basically states that you need to work hard, but also be patient. We as humans want instant gratification and we have to humble ourselves by realizing it is God who decides when we are ready to receive our rewards in life. For example, if a rich man wins the lottery but hasn't worked to appreciate his wealth and doesn't know how to spend it right because he is not fulfilled as a person, he will waste it on unworthy things. But if someone works hard and genuinely deserves his reward, God will give it to him and that person will multiply it and use it for the highest purpose possible to glorify God, not himself.

My friend says, it is not wrong o have fame or riches -but as people who are in humble service to our Lord we should put our worldly interests in a more divine frame of mind and use them for higher virtues. "As Christians, our idea of success in life should be anything having to do with bringing people closer to the Lord." -AT
And anything we do to try and speed up the process to bring about the reward quicker, will not end well because it will be without the guidance of God -Master of Time.

I have to say, my friend writes very well and makes good points. However, his writing seems clogged with words that don't bring their message to life. I would edit out some things and add some more feeling to it. It seems like great information, but too much information and no emotional connection make the paragraphs harder to recall because they don't have as strong of an impact.

Also, being an aries, he speaks mostly of duty - It is our duty as Christians to... Maybe it's just my Pisces nature, but it's too rigid for me to adhere to.  understand and respect duty, but Compassion and feelig will always compell me further than some telling me to do something. I am led by empathy, and do not have  duty to things I should do, but do them because it hurts my nature to go against what is right. It's like leading  horse by a rope that could just as easily follow without being told to. I don't need the rope. I don't need duty. I am bound by my Compassion to do what is right.

Also I don't like the phrase "We as Christians". This is why, even if I get baptised -which I intend to- and declare Jesus my savior -which I intend to -I will still Not call myself a Christian. I've seen to many works of God that lie outside of any one religion to define myself by just one. Buddhism has validity to it. I fear closing myself off by labeling myself in a category when God Himself transcends religion. He is always and will always Be. Regardless of what religion or religions I follow -I follow Him first. I have more duty as a Soul than I do as a Jew or a Christian or a Buddhist. My duty is to Truth and God and Compassion.

So my advice to my friend may seem partial, but i would recommend leaving the "We as Christians must..." out of it. Say "We as followers of God", then it's a lot more inclusive to people who maybe aren't Christian but end up reading his pamphlets anyway. They won't feel as closed off from the message and think it was only intended for a specific group of people he or she is not a part of.