#FAITH

[leonardomanaloto]

Hallelujah I love jesus✝️

Phillipians 4:6

[meowmeowstick]

John…

[servantofthefates]

Forget the gods. Forget the Universe.

When you’re trying to manifest something, the only one you need to convince is you.

That is the difference between prayer and manifestation. 

When praying, you need to convince your higher power that you deserve your wish. When manifesting, you need to convince yourself that you deserve your wish.

How can you achieve this state of conviction? 

Easy.

Just imagine yourself living the dream. The dream car, the dream home, the dream career — whatever it is you’re manifesting.

If… while imagining it… you feel sure that it will happen… you’re already there. It’s already yours in the future. But if, while imagining it, you feel that maybe you’re asking for too much... or that it can happen for others but not for you because of your background... or that it's all just a beautiful fantasy because it's not possible in real life… keep working on it until you shed those uncertainties. Otherwise you'll never have it.

Sure, having faith in the gods or in the Universe or in something bigger than yourself helps.

But the real fight is you vs. you. If you can win against your doubts, you can have anything you want.

[panoii166]

I need more artists to redraw this PLEASE

(stupid doodle I did on FD)

[kiralamouse]

Oh! Oh! I know the "dome of waters" bit for a round earth!

At least, I know what Ken Ham's explanation was in the 1990s. He said that Earth used to have a vapor canopy a la Venus, and that the extra air pressure (and oxygen?) prior to the Flood collapsing it helped contribute to the extreme antediluvian lifespans mentioned in Genesis.

I (bb tween in evangelical summer camp) bought into that, and a lot of Ken Ham's stuff that was better explained than what I learned in my middle school science class. My faith in Ken Ham cracked when my very patient biology teacher in high school explained that he, a Sunday-school teaching Christian, didn't see that as reasonable. My faith in Ken Ham switched to pure rage when I learned in astronomy that Venus's vapor canopy is (was? I don't keep up with developments like I'd like to) considered to be a major part of the runaway greenhouse effect that makes Venus's climate literally hellish. I hate deception with the fury of a Venusian sulfur storm. I hate deception that calls truth a lie even more.

And I rather hate the prosaic, literal-minded view that thinks "mythology" is the opposite of "truth" rather than the poetic expression of truth. Because it leaves you even more prone to accept a false mythology of the cosmos than if you recognize the poetic abstractions.

When I was getting my associates degree I took a Mythology class that I loved. But one of the girls in class was absolutely off the rails conservative Christian which made things… interesting.

The professor started off the class by being like, “Mythology is stories associated with religion.”

This girl. Haaaated that. She was like, “No, Christianity is true. It’s not mythology.” Mythology was delivered in the same tone as someone trying to spit excrement from their mouth.

The professor raised her eyebrows and said laconically, “Yes, most people believe their religion is the real one, that’s part of it, and the stories surrounding religion are referred to as mythology.”

The girl stewed in a hateful sullen rage. I truly don’t understand why she didn’t drop the class but perhaps it was court mandated education. We all expected her to drop the class but she dug in like a tick and derailed discussions as often as she could.

On a different occasion the professor was drawing a comparison between social constructs like gender. The girl raised her hand. The class hushed to hear her announce, “It’s just a fact that women like domestic work and even though men are awful and stinky we just have to love them anyway. It’s biology, we’re just hardwired like that.”

I was sitting next to my friend a baby gay Jewish girl and our eyes met in mutual hilarity while the professor tried to pretend she hadn’t just been stricken with a stress induced migraine while she steered the class away from that landmine.

The next sticking point was a week later when the professor informed us that many mythologies have overlapping events like floods but these didn’t necessarily happen in such literal terms. It was a metaphorical way to process and understand the world.

This girls hand shot up. I watched the professor exercise extreme self control to keep her expression bland before calling on her.

“The world did flood. And Noah saved all the animals. Before the flood all the water was in a dome outside the earth and then the dome broke and the world flooded. All of it.”

The whole class stared at her as if struggling to comprehend the overlap of her acceptance that the world was round while also firmly believing that there had previously been a barrier that held up all of the earths water before god smashed it in a fit of pique.

She raged under the attention, glaring balefully at our astonished faces.

The professor stared at her blankly, unable to form words to such a bizarre belief. I wanted to ask clarifying questions- what they’d drunk before the dome broke, if there were rivers or lakes prior, or did the dome allow some rain in somehow, but then I really looked at her.

She had the eyes of a feral, cornered animal who regarded any deviation in worldview from her own to be a physical assault on her person. Like the professor, I said nothing, and after a wretchedly long pause class moved on.

[downfalldestiny]

"Faith is not about seeing the path; it's about trusting that every step taken with sincerity leads to something greater ❄️ !".

[heavenpureheart]

[jeppiner]

Funny how much my life resembles that black scribble up there sometimes....

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you - 1 Peter 5:7

[the-light-of-truth-world]

[godgivesthegrowth]

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.💗❤️‍🔥🕊

~James 4:7 🌿

[andallshallbewell]

[atomiccollectionanchorme]

Stargate Universe - Season 1 Episode 13 "Faith"

Stargate Universe "Faith"

[a-path-by-the-moon]

[reformedfaith]

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

John 3:36

[malbecmusings]

Afternoon. I'm glad you decided to reply. This is not a competition for the last word. Surely we can agree who will have the last word. It won't be either of us, but we can still have a lively conversation in the meantime, surely. Effective evangelism requires engagement; no one is brought to Christ from drive by evangelism where 'repent for the end is near' pamphlets are tossed out of the car window as we speed out of the parking lot.

1 Peter 3:15 says "but in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." Forgive me allowing my humanity to cause me to miss the mark a bit on that last one.

It's not surprising you found my earlier reply to be a bit pointed. I should apologize. The hubris required to believe any man's least offensive sin is somehow less condemnable, deo absente, than my worst sin, or frankly the sum of all the sins I've ever committed was/is an astounding position.

For that same man, born of this earth, broken, sinful, destined for hell without divine intervention, to then be so bold as to assume to tell me the posture of my own heart is also astounding, and decidedly not Christlike.

I know some of your story as I've followed you for a while. Truly, I'm grateful you had that awakening in 2009 which helped turn your eyes and heart toward Christ. Today, however, I see a man who has cloaked himself in the garments of the Pharisees whose view of the law is, if I'm generous, rooted in a desire for holiness and obedience, but who has made the grave mistake of elevating the letter of the law above its spirit.

Let's take a walk, shall we? The Sermon on the Mount. Can you imagine hearing that in person? I've heard some amazing men of God speak but that? Wow. Anyway, back to the sermon "For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven". (Matthew 5:20)

Well, there's a problem, don't you think? There was none more righteous, more obsessed with the letter of the law, who believed strict adherence to said law would unlock heaven's gates.

Paul reminds us: "For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20).

So what of the law? "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them" (Matthew 5:17).

And then 30 odd years years later Paul again warns: You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love (Galatians 5:4–6).

Finally, Jesus drives the point home: "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 7:12).

Hmmm.

The problem as I see it, and as Jesus pointed out repeatedly, is adherence to the letter of the law reduces righteousness to checklist morality. Do not kill. Do not covet. Do not lie. Do not steal. Do not be adulterous. Do not be sexually immoral.

But what the Pharisees, and I would argue you, miss is that strict adherence to the law cannot save us. Remember, you cannot be more perfect than the pharisees. They obeyed the law but missed its heart.

Why? Because murder, coveting, anger, theft, cheating, sexual immorality are all sins of the heart that do not vanish because we avoid outwardly sinful actions.

It is not what we do that condemns us. No sir, it's what lies in our hearts. You believe that my loving this man means I'm in willful disobedience of the letter of the law.

Maybe. I can't say that's true. I'd be happy to talk about that sometime. But I would argue that any relationship producing the fruits of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control - fulfills the spirit of God's law.

The law, in its perfect design, serves as a mirror revealing our sinfulness, but it was never meant to be the means by which we attain righteousness—it points us to our need for Christ.

We know this. Scripture overwhelmingly affirms that the posture of the heart matters most. "Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10).

A hateful heart will never enter heaven - if if the hands it governs never commit a single hateful act. But I believe two hearts united in Christ, bearing good fruit will.

We know from scripture that our salvation is not based on perfect understanding or flawless action, but on the perfect work of Christ. With this in mind, we rest in the assurance that "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). This is the grace we stand in—freedom from condemnation, not because of our perfection, but because of Christ’s perfection. As believers, our salvation is secure.

May we rest in that truth. I pray we all continue to seek his guidance and trust that his grace is sufficient, even in our weakness and misunderstanding.

What does god say about lgbt stuff? Is it really a sin?

It really is.

Any sexual expression other than between a man and his wife is sinful. Adultery, heterosexual and homosexual sex outside of marriage, use of pornography, pedophilia, and every other aberrant sexual practice is an abuse of the body's capacity for sex and a desecration of God's image (which all humans bear).

I wrote a post all about this years ago, check it out. Be blessed!