10 items to consider Pt. 3

Part 3:

Apply Spiritual Filters - We should apply two filters when we consider church or family activities:
(1) Does the activity draw us closer to Christ?
(2) Does the activity bless and strengthen families.

Well, first off, number 1 relates back to item number 1 of the letter. This "Christ-like" behavior is, by societal stands, despicable at best. Let's look at some examples of some of the things Christ said or approved of:

Families will be torn apart because of Jesus (this is one of the few "prophecies" in the Bible that has actually come true). "Brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death." Matthew 10:21

In the parable of the unforgiving servant, the king threatens to enslave a man and his entire family to pay for a debt. This practice, which was common at the time, seems not to have bothered Jesus very much. Matthew 18:25

Jesus will reward men who abandon their wives and families. Mark 10:29-30

Jesus says that everyone in heaven is single. Does that mean that married people can't go there, that they must get a divorce once they arrive, or what? Luke 20:35

If you want to be a disciple of Jesus, you must abandon everything, including your family. Luke 14:33

That's just 4 of a MULTITUDE of examples I can get. So it's obvious that in order to be closer to Christ, I should abandon my family, tear them apart (I'm sure me being an atheist alone will do that), and be perfectly cool with slavery O_o *thinks* Yeah...I'd rather be closer to my computer...at least if I tear it apart I can rebuild it as often as I want.

Now, number 2 of these activities. How in the hell is being closer to Christ supposed to bless and strengthen families when we saw just above in Matthew 10:21 that families will be torn apart. So obviously we're not strengthening the family...as far as blessing it...the ONLY way I can this being a blessing is if it's an abusive family (rape, beatings, etc.).

This, again, shows that the person who wrote this letter knows absolutely nothing about the bible, let alone Christ. The sad part is, I'm sure if I showed them these rather contradictory Christ-like attributes, they would probably either dismiss it as a lie (even though it's in the bible) or even say something along the lines that it's being taken out of context. I don't know how "For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law." can be taken out of context as that's pretty cut and dry.


Tomorrow, part 4 - Share the Gospel.