Spiritual Dilemmas
Spiritual Dilemmas and the road to recovery and Truth
The result of Spiritual Confusion - (among some) - when exposed to Truth.
The topic is not so obvious. We are referring here both to Pastors and to others who read an accurate Bible for themselves. It is possible these days to read Bible translations which are NOT faithful to the Greek New Testament and the result is that the person who reads these is confused about the meaning of the Biblical passage they are reading.
Confusion as a result of false Bible translations
Why should this surprise anyone ? If someone was translating a Bible and they
were engaged in this for the sake of their own advancement, such as earning a
PhD, or gaining "tenure" at a university, the primary objective of
their translation was not the "accurate communication of truth", but
rather their own personal social advancement within academia.
What this means is that it is important to know the reasons WHY new versions and new translations appear and are published. Just because a new Bible version is published does NOT mean that it is more accurate than the translations which are presently available.
Many of the translators decided to undertake the translation 1) because they were financially compensated or 2) because working on a "Bible" translation is the equivalent of the Holy Grail in University circles. Please do not make the mistake of believing that because you may have read or purchased a new translation, that this means it is accurate.
Why would Satan who wants to lead people astray, simply leave Bible translations to those persons who are truly righteous and Holy ? If Satan is attempting to corrupt the world and any system which is beneficial to mankind, why would he leave the Bible unaffected ? Men CAN be deceived, and this applies to Bible translators also.
The realization of this truth is what should lead us to find the strength to find out just who are the translators who have translated the Bible that we use, and to find out a) what they believed b) how they translated and c) WHY they translated.
The fact is that the Bible - each and every week for the past 300 years - has been at the Top of the New York Times Bestseller list of Books. This is true, every day, and every week of every year. The reason that the New York Times does not include the Bible at the top of the list of bestselling books is 1) the NYT does not really like to be reminded that the Bible is the continued bestseller (since the NYT is anti-religion almost all the time) and 2) the NYT times would have to list the Bible each week, as being THE Bestseller.
The point of sharing this information is that it is often the financial incentive of the publishers that causes them to finance their own new translation, so that they can financially profit. That happens often in almost every other area of life. Why would Bible versions be exempt from this ?
[By the way, we are referring here to large mainstream publishers, who have the distribution networks also established. We are NOT referring to the very small startup companies, that are designed to publish the books about true Christianity that large publishers have ignored]
The standard for Deciding what is the right Bible
Our own standard is simply to look at the Bible translations that resulted in great personal spiritual strength, great encouragement in the Lord, spiritual encouragement in the face of hardship and difficulty.
IF the Bible that you are using previously provided great spiritual encouragement and strength to Other Christians who came before you, and you can prove and demonstrate this, and you know that the specific version you have accomplished this, and ALSO led the readers into greater spiritual accuracy, and a greater and Stronger personal connection to God, - then Stick with the Bible version you have.
IF However - you are using a Bible version which is new and untested or which has been contested by other Christians, then this should raise some questions in your mind about WHY other Christians would find it in their interests to warn you about particular Bible versions. Since they have nothing to gain themselves from doing this, the chances are pretty strong that the reason WHY they share their concerns about particular versions (or particular translators) is because they genuinely care about you and your spiritual life and well being, because God has given them this capacity to care about others (which is what all Christians who are connected to the Lord end up having. It is a side-effect of their fellowship and communion with God).
The result of Spiritual Confusion when exposed to Truth.
We are trying to get to the topic of Spiritual Confusion when exposed to Truth. Truth - at least the Truth of God - is not static. It is not something that Fails to change people when they come into contact with it. (we are referring to the truth of the Bible). When someone comes in contact with the words of Jesus Christ about being love, and the strength that He can give each of us to be and become loving, something happens to the person who hears those words:
They either accept them,
or they reject them,
or they want to know more.
Very very few people walk away either unmoved or unaffected, and that is because there is something that connects those words of Jesus to the spirituality that is within each of us, that obligates a response on our part, either voluntary or involuntary. If you are not familiar with the Bible, simply try the test: Go to the words of the New Testament (the second half of the Bible): find the Book of John, and read the words of Jesus in Red, and see if anything happens.
In anycase, we are discussing (on this page) the results of Spiritual Confusion when exposed to Truth.
When a Pastor reads the words of the Bible, he knows what his obligation is: his obligation is to convey to his audience (those in the church) the content of those words in the Bible, the application of those words, the Truth of those words, and the Experiential reality of those words.
Here they are again:
the content of those words in the Bible,
the application of those words,
the Truth of those words, and
the Experiential reality of those words.
The problem is that first of all many pastors can no longer do this, since they do not study their Bibles long enough to do this. And second, they teach, but they cannot personally testify to the truth of the words in the Bible or the Experiential Reality of the Bible Passages.
The reason is that those words - for those pastors - are only applicable on a moral basis. But they have no personal experience with God. They have no moments of reality, when God truly and really was their LAST hope, and they trusted God and God came through for them.
When Pastors find themselves teaching on this basis over the long-term, it becomes increasingly difficult to teach from a Book that claims to be 1) the Truth and 2) the Personal means of Genuine and Authentic Connection to God,
for a Pastor or Christian Spiritual Leader...who is not personally and authentically connected to God.
For the Pastors and other Christian Spiritual Leaders in this situation, it produces a great spiritual dilemma:
THEY are the ones who are supposed to be able to speak about the authenticity of God, yet for them, their own reality would only be able to testify to the LACK of authenticity, about their connection to God.
The Congregation and its response to spiritual emptiness
Congregations - for better or worse - are NOT stupid. They can tell whether someone's claim to a connection with God is real or is not real (or at least they can very often).
And this realization (whether conscious or not) causes them to have their own levels of moral dilema:
Should they confront the Pastor ?
Should they let the Pastor know that they are praying for him ?
Should they conclude something about the Bible ?
or Should they (the congregation member) conclude something about Christianity itself ?
For many in congregations today, these are not Small questions. In fact, they are the core questions that they ask themselves over and over, almost every Sunday (and many times during the week).
They want to be loyal to their friends and the church, but they have an increasingly hard time being loyal, when the price of that loyalty and church attendance ends up being a constant re-affirmation about the In-authenticity of the spiritual life of the Pastor and leaders at that particular church.
The Good news is that the situation is solvable. The bad news is that the situation may not be solved, with that particular Pastor. In order to be solved, a situation must first be confronted. Very few people today find the courage to confront their pastors, and fewer pastors find the courage either to respond in a Biblical way or to actively work to change their own disposition by addressing their own issues.
We are considering these questions from the point of view of the congregation. They are the ones who wrestle with the questions of how to apply the truth that they are supposed to be receiving in their lives and daily choices.
The difficulty is how the congregation reacts, individually, when they perceive the LACK of authenticity in the spiritual life of the Leader. Ideally, they could help the pastor solves this by talking with the Pastor, and Ideally the pastor would be honest and genuine and self-disclosing, and the result would be a prayer meeting both for the Pastor and the Congregation and BOTH would be better-off for doing this.
But that is not what happens - much of the time. Keep in mind that many people do not have a lot of experiences with what a Church Pastor SHOULD be, they only have experience with what Many Pastors ARE like.
Many evangelicals do not know their own rich heritage. They do not know about the spiritual strength that they can genuinely have for themselves. And they are not used to measuring it on a quiet and internal basis. In fact, many of them have almost given up on the reality of an internal experience with God.
That is not because they are doing something explicitly or willfully wrong. It is simply that most evangelicals do not know how to grow spiritually nor how to study the Bible for themselves. And without knowing this, it is very hard to have a strong relationship or vibrant spiritual connection to the Lord.
Sadly, many of those evangelicals have mistakenly concluded that a spiritual relationship with the Lord is possible for SOME, but Not for them.
That is NOT what the Bible teaches, but many of them are stuck, not knowing HOW to understand the Bible differently.
Among this group, there are those who will draw another conclusion. It is the conclusion that says:
If my pastor cannot connect to God experientially, and if I cannot connect to God experientially in evangelical circles, it MUST be that Evangelical teachings are wrong.
This is sad because it is the demonstration of a logical FALLACY (fault) producing faulty reasoning which yields a faulty result.
The accurate conclusion(s) would have been that:
a) the Pastor that they were sitting under could not connect to God
b) this demonstrated the personal problems of the Pastor, not the problems with evangelical theology.
c) a genuine personal relationship with God, which is AUTHENTIC and EXPERIENTIAL does NOT depend on
the spiritual walk of others,
d) each of us has and can develop his own authentic walk with the Lord, regardless of what others know or do not know.
e) what each of us needs to do, is to stop and take an inventory and make an assessment about what it will take for us to have a genuine and authentic spiritual walk with God. Until we can learn and know what is required for an authentic spiritual walk, and how to establish this kind of spiritual walk with God, we will have trouble with our spiritual walk and feeling connected with God.
f) this is a problem that can usually be solved within a few short weeks. While a spiritual walk can take a lifetime to achieve because of where God takes us (and this journey is intended to last a lifetime), the basics of what it means to actively and EXPERIENTIALLY connect to the living God can be established in less than a month.
Some people will read this and will have been searching for so long, that first of all they cannot possibly believe that this is true, and second even if it were, it cannot be true that it is possible in so short a time. But our own experience testifies that this is the case, and we receive routine testimonies which confirm that this is the case.
God WANT to reach out to you. He is not ignoring you. How do you think that you found this page ?
God uses all tools of life and the things around us...to remind us that HE has NOT forgotten us. He is there and He is not silent. He wants each and every person to find Him, and the truth that He exists, and the truth that He is there to help us and to offer us his Love and fellowship with Him.
This is true not only in the afterlife or in Heaven, but it is true here on Earth as well. Many people are afraid to find this out. They are really afraid of trying one more time and being disapointed. Some people do not know that most Christians - at one time or another have felt this way. We must not allow ourselves to be discouraged to the point of giving up Hope.
God is not in the business of lying to us. He is not trying to gain pleasure by making us suffer. He is a just and loving God. He cares about each of us. it is hard to realize and believe this in this day and age of confusion. But God responds to those who seek Him with all of their heart and who genuinely pray to Him letting Him know that they are seeking Him.
Part II - the road to recovery
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THERE IS NOT ONE CHRISTIAN NATION ON EARTH WHERE MUSLIMS ARE PERSECUTED.
Yet in most nations where the majority of the population are Muslims, there is systematic government persecution of Christians.
NO HAY UNA NACIÓN CRISTIANA EN LA TIERRA EN DONDE PERSIGUEN A LOS MUSULMANES.
Con todo en la mayoría de las naciones donde está musulmanes la mayoría de la población, hay persecución sistemática del gobierno de cristianos.
CI NON È UNA NAZIONE CRISTIANA SU TERRA DOVE I MUSULMANI PERSECUTED. Tuttavia nella maggior parte delle nazioni dove la maggior parte della popolazione è musulmani, ci è persecution sistematico di governo dei cristiani
ER IS NIET ÉÉN CHRISTELIJKE NATIE TER WERELD WAAR MOSLIMS WORDEN VERVOLGD. Maar toch in de meeste naties waar de meerderheid van de bevolking Moslims is, is er systematische overheidsvervolging van Christenen
NÃO HÁ UMA NAÇÃO CHRISTIAN NA TERRA ONDE OS MUÇULMANOS PERSECUTED. Contudo em a maioria de nações onde a maioria da população é muçulmanos, há um persecution sistemático do governo dos cristãos.
ES GIBT NICHT EINE CHRISTLICHE NATION AUF MASSE, IN DER MOSLEMS VERFOLGT WERDEN. Dennoch in den meisten Nationen, in denen die Majorität der Bevölkerung Moslems sind, gibt es systematische Regierung Verfolgung der Christen.
"Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance."
--Article 18 of the Universal
Declaration of
Human
Rights--
Christian Conversions - According to the Bible - Can NEVER be forced.
Any Conversion to Christianity which would be "Forced" would NOT be recognized by God. It is in
His True and KIND nature, that those who come to Him and choose to believe in Him, must come to Him OF
THEIR OWN FREE WILL.
Don't Let anyone tell you that Christians support Forced Conversions.
That is False. True Christianity is NEVER forced.
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Le conversioni cristiane - secondo la bibbia - possono MAI essere forzate. Nessuno che fossero un cristiano allineare forzerebbero o compell chiunque da diventare un cristiano contro il loro propri. Il motivo per questo è quello che agisce contro la volontà o contro l'intenzione di qualcuno sia un'azione di disrespect al dio. Alcuna conversione a christianity che sarebbe "forzato" non sarebbe riconosciuta da God. È nel suo allineare e la natura GENTILE, quella coloro che viene a lui e sceglie credere in lui, deve venire a lui della LORO PROPRIA VOLONTÀ LIBERA. Il dio cristiano è abbastanza grande capire come rispondere a coloro che decide che non desiderano conoscerle o capire. Il lavoro dei cristiani deve continuare a comunicare l'amore del dio a tutto che sia disposto a sentire parlare di esso. Molti popolano persino oggi, non desiderano sentire parlare del dio cristiano. Più specificamente, che cosa quella gente non desidera è affinchè senta parlare della bontà del dio cristiano. Quella gente è impaurita che se scoprite circa la bontà e la qualità e l'amore del dio cristiano, quello che potete desiderare per scoprirgli più circa. E quella gente è impaurita che il dio che servono sarebbe opposto a vostro scoprire la verità circa il dio di christianity che offre per sempre la vita Eterna a coloro che chiede esso e decide credere in lui e scoprire più dal libro denominato "il nuovo Testamento". Quello è il timore reale di coloro che oppone il dio cristiano. Non lasci chiunque dirvi che il supporto dei cristiani abbia forzato le conversioni. Quello è falso. Il christianity allineare non è MAI forzato
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Core Universal Rights
The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one's belief or religion
The right to join together and express one's belief
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Las Derechas Del Universal De la Base
La derecha de creer, de adorar, de explicar y de atestiguar la derecha de cambiar su creencia o religión la derecha de ensamblar junto con otras y de expresar su creencia
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Diritti Dell'Universale
Di Nucleo La destra credere, adorare, spiegare e testimoniare la destra cambiare la sua credenza o religione la destra unirsi insieme ad altre ed esprimere la sua credenza
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De Universele Rechten van de kern
Het recht om en het recht te getuigen zijn geloof of godsdienst te veranderen het recht te geloven, te aanbidden, te verklaren samen met anderen toe te treden en zijn geloof uit te drukken
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중핵 보편적인 권리
자기의 신념 또는 종교를 변화하는 권리를 믿, 숭배하, 설명하, 목격하는 권리 다른 사람와 함께 결합하, 자기의 신념을 내색하는 권리
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Καθολικά δικαιώματα πυρήνων
Το δικαίωμα να θεωρηθεί, να λατρευτεί, να εξηγηθεί και να βεβαιωθεί το δικαίωμα να αλλαχτεί η πεποίθηση ή η θρησκεία κάποιου το δικαίωμα να ενώσει μαζί με άλλους και να εκφραστεί η πεποίθησή κάποιου
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