#obedient faith

[graceandpeacejoanne]

Isaiah 50: The Obedient Servant

The third Servant Song describes Messiah as one who trusts and relies completely on God, and knows with conviction that He will be vindicated. That is every Christian's calling and grace. #Isaiah50 #ObedientFaith #ServantSong

In the third Servant Song, Isaiah prophesied about the Messiah as both a scholar and as a willing sufferer in complete submission to the Father’s will, as the pioneer and perfecter of faith. Perfect Faith The Lord God helps me;    therefore I have not been disgraced;therefore I have set my face like flint,    and I know that I shall not be put to shame;    he who vindicates me is near.Who will…

[charles-lowmack]

[alwaysrememberjesus]

Live By Obedience, Not Emotion

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

"God gave birds wings, but he didn't forbid them from flying. He blessed cheetahs with speed, but he never forbad them from outrunning their prey. He did, however, give humans a brain and insisted that they not use it."

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

2 Corinthians 10:5

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ

[tajcox]

[daiourage]

Ritual.

[ae-cha08]

[roguetelepaths]

As a person who writes a lot of fic about Vorta who are working and living within the Dominion, I've decided to apply a Vorta Bechdel Test to my future writing. A scene passes the Vorta Bechdel Test if it contains two Vorta who have a conversation about something other than the Founders.

[lizasweetling]

first off, thank you Boris for asking what I wanted to know. It would have bothered me.

Second: Intriguing Start

but this oddly convenient and thinly detailed <small>(What was he shouting?)</small> coincidence has me wondering if this is a Bill and Ted kind of time travel shenanigan <small>(convenient tool retrieval before you need it technically set up after you use it)</small> If that's the case, kind of expecting this story to end with the Sergeant giving stern instructions and then vanishing either ostentatiously through a portal of sorts or else subtly when no one's looking.

which would be one of the more intrusive timetravel uses we've seen and probably the first one where a character probably on Agatha's side crosses time

[diabolicflame93]

Set Up for Failure / Authoritarian Parenting

Lately I’ve been mulling over the thought or concept of how fundie families set their children up for failure. I can’t speak to a wider or societal understanding of the concept, but I can speak to my own experiences. Much of my criticism comes from how children in fundamentalism are instructed to deal with authority figures. More specifically, how children are taught blind obedience to authority…

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

1 My friends, how I wish with all my heart that my own people might be saved! How I pray to God for them! 2 I can assure you that they are deeply devoted to God; but their devotion is not based on true knowledge. 3 They have not known the way in which God puts people right with himself, and instead, they have tried to set up their own way; and so they did not submit themselves to God's way of putting people right. 4 For Christ has brought the Law to an end, so that everyone who believes is put right with God.

Salvation Is for All

5 Moses wrote this about being put right with God by obeying the Law: “Whoever obeys the commands of the Law will live.” 6 But what the scripture says about being put right with God through faith is this: “You are not to ask yourself, Who will go up into heaven?” (that is, to bring Christ down). 7 “Nor are you to ask, Who will go down into the world below?” (that is, to bring Christ up from death). 8 What it says is this: “God's message is near you, on your lips and in your heart”—that is, the message of faith that we preach. 9 If you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from death, you will be saved. 10 For it is by our faith that we are put right with God; it is by our confession that we are saved. 11 The scripture says, “Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.” 12 This includes everyone, because there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles; God is the same Lord of all and richly blesses all who call to him. 13 As the scripture says, “Everyone who calls out to the Lord for help will be saved.”

14 But how can they call to him for help if they have not believed? And how can they believe if they have not heard the message? And how can they hear if the message is not proclaimed? 15 And how can the message be proclaimed if the messengers are not sent out? As the scripture says, “How wonderful is the coming of messengers who bring good news!” 16 But not all have accepted the Good News. Isaiah himself said, “Lord, who believed our message?” 17 So then, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through preaching Christ.

18 But I ask: Is it true that they did not hear the message? Of course they did—for as the scripture says:

“The sound of their voice went out to all the world; their words reached the ends of the earth.” 19 Again I ask: Did the people of Israel not understand? Moses himself is the first one to answer: “I will use a so-called nation to make my people jealous; and by means of a nation of fools I will make my people angry.” 20 And Isaiah is even bolder when he says, “I was found by those who were not looking for me; I appeared to those who were not asking for me.”

21 But concerning Israel he says, “All day long I held out my hands to welcome a disobedient and rebellious people.” — Romans 10 | Good News Translation (GNT) Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. Cross References: Leviticus 18:5; Deuteronomy 6:25; Deuteronomy 30:12; Deuteronomy 30:14; Deuteronomy 32:21; Job 42:5; Psalm 19:4; Proverbs 1:24; Isaiah 28:16; Isaiah 53:1; Joel 2:32; Matthew 10:32; Mark 9:32; Luke 8:31; Acts 7:59; Acts 13:39; Acts 21:20; Romans 1:15; Romans 9:30-31; Romans 9:33; Titus 1:3

Notes: In Romans Chapter 10, Paul talks about the importance of confessing Jesus as Lord and Savior, and how that confession is necessary for salvation.

Key Passages in Romans 10

[theinwardlight]

Walk on the streets and chat with your friends. But every moment behind the scenes be in prayer, offering yourselves in continuous obedience. I find this internal continuous prayer life absolutely essential. It can be carried on day and night, in the thick of business, in home and school. Such prayer of submission can be so simple [...] If you slip and stumble and forget God for an hour, and assert your old proud self, and rely upon your own clever wisdom, don't spend too much time in anguished regrets and self-accusations but begin again, just where you are [...] Don't grit your teeth and clench your fists and say, "I will! I will!" Relax. Take hands off. Submit yourself to God. Learn to live in the passive voice – a hard saying for Americans – and let life be willed through you. For "I will" spells not obedience.

Thomas Kelly, "Holy Obedience"

[4him-iwrite]

"We're not called to live by human reason. All that matters is obedience to God's Word and His leading in our lives. If God says go, we’ll go. If He says stay, we’ll stay. When we are in His will, we are in the safest place in the world." -Brother Yun

[godslove]

[nottskyler]

The Church has an obsession with obedience, specifically obedience to the prophet. I think this comes from a misunderstanding of both the first law being obedience and the purpose of having a prophet.

The first law being obedience does not mean giving up your agency to only do what someone else tells you to do, but it does mean following rules that are important until you understand why they exist. Like a child learning to stop and look both ways before crossing a street or to not hit their sibling or to eat fruits and vegetables so they aren’t constipated. Those rules should be followed because they are important to living a good life and getting along in society, and as a child you don’t yet understand why. You have to obey until you are old enough to understand and then adapt them to their life (like looking as you approach the street instead of stopping or knowing to not cross if you can’t see around a blind corner) but a parent should never force a child to eat legumes if their child breaks out in hives every time they eat them.

Obedience is an act of faith. If there were no commandments, there would be no way to have faith. It’s the act of saying hey I want to trust you, what do I need to do to see if what you say is trustworthy. It’s the first law because without it you can’t experience the transformative power of faith and repentance (the act of becoming a better person). It’s virtue lies solely in developing faith.

This is why “blind obedience” is bad. Blind obedience is giving up your agency to allow someone else to dictate what is right instead of figuring it out for yourself. You are allowed to experiment upon “divine” counsel from prophets and determine that it is not right based on the fruits you experience. And guess what, some people will be allergic to vegetables while other people feel so much better after starting to eat vegetables. And that’s the point. We are supposed to learn for ourselves what is good and evil. If there was only one right answer, humanity would’ve figured it out by now and we wouldn’t have the opportunity to learn for ourselves.

Which brings us to prophets. So many people what to surrender their agency and just blindly follow prophets (I used to be one of them). Sure, if you deign to simply be a sheep following the prophet, yeah you will likely be in the clear as the prophet will be accountable for your actions, but you will be unfit for exaltation. Heavenly Father isn’t running this world based on something someone else is telling Him to do.

So what is the purpose of the prophet? To be a warning on the watchtower. The prophet warns us of dangers ahead and tells us to repent and be prepared. The only time prophets get specific laws for everyone is when they are also leading people in a secular manner (Moses).

Let’s take the example of the family being under attack. And you betcha it is. Families are being broken up by poverty, meaning the state treats being unable to take care of your children due to lack of money the same as physically abusing them. Florida is threatening to break up families if any family member is trans. Anti-abortion laws are encouraging people to be sterilized rather than risk an unwanted pregnancy, meaning families that might’ve been formed won’t be. Long work hours and low pay are reducing the size of families and putting undo stress on families. Expensive healthcare also reduces the amount of kids people have and quality of life and time spent with families, including feeling like it is better to die painfully than riddle your family with medical debt.

The warning that families were under attack was correct. The idea that it was LGBT people trying to live authentically and form families of their own was not correct. It is the rejection of a queer child that breaks up a family, mixed orientation marriages, disagreements on the right way to help a trans child, the fascist response to queer happiness and families, and the general lack of pay increase and exploitation of good people who want to have families but can’t because a billionaire wants a higher score than last year.

Just like I won’t receive revelation for the Church and it’s administration, the prophet is not to make up commandments when Gd has simply given a warning, to create so many rules and policies that it prevents people from experiencing the love of Christ, or to put himself as a Gd on earth without need for repentance, especially for speaking good ideas that aren’t actually meant for everyone.

Sharing my testimony about how Christ has healed me and promising the same to others in my situation is not “receiving revelation for the Church”. It’s finding a legume alternative to fiber and sharing with those who also share that allergy. It’s saying Gd does not want people to suffer an allergic reaction and possibly die. It’s shining my light so others can come to Christ and reduce the suffering in the world.

[tajcox]

“And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate. And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me; then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins. And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant: and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied. And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me; then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours. And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths. As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.”

‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭26‬:‭21‬-‭35‬ ‭KJV‬‬