The Truth (As I see it)

About the time gross acted crazy and everyone supported him.

 

To be exiled is to be separated from your birthplace as a punishment. To be Xyle (i.e. to be myself) is to be separated for [a positive benefit] [see Note 2 below]. A change in spelling to indicate a change of meaning. I sought a nom de plume and found a craft name (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/craft_name) though I did not learn about the concept of craft names until a decade or so later.

I grew up in a United Pentecostal Church from ages 9 to 16 (though, technically it wasn't a UPC church the last two years). And it was during this time that I "crafted" for myself the name Xyle [4]. After my parents left the church where I was water baptized, we attended various churches, predominantly non-denominational Baptist-type churches. But as an independent (from my parents) adult, I don't attend church regularly, though I find myself in the Scriptures often enough.

I suppose I am waiting for the darkness in my soul to be cast out by the Light of Truth (God) before I find myself a church so I don't corrupt the beliefs of those new in Christ, owing to the diversity of understandings from various belief systems, not all of them Christian, that I have acquired over the years. Example: Buddha taught that one should see with one's own eyes in order to remove one's doubts. Jesus taught "...blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." (John 20:29b) Buddha's wisdom is valid in certain situations, but to new converts trying to form their own belief systems, it can lead them astray from the teachings of Jesus. (Or maybe I am just waiting for better clarity about the various shades of grey and color within me.)

And yet, so many Christians reject any idea associated with any religion (and in some cases, any denomination) not their own even when the Scriptures express the same idea with different words. I believe that failing to understand the beliefs of others results in being closed to them by virtue of those outside the church feeling condemned by the very people who wish to free them from condemnation (i.e. by those in the church). Therefore, I consider myself a non-denominational Christian, and my sole "religious" belief is that the Bible is the Written Truth [1]. This means that my belief in the Bible is taken as an axiom or a postulate: it is an issue of Faith, not Reason.

My experiences with things spiritual predate my going to church and are therefore not a product of my religion.
When I was six, just before my seventh birthday date, my maternal grandmother took me to the store supposedly in order to pick out a Christmas gift for the school's gift exchange. But when she told me that I didn't hear that. I heard "for your birthday" instead, but the words I heard didn't seem right. So I asked her to repeat herself. She repeated her lie that it was for another. So when I was in the toy aisle, I was faced with a choice. The toy I wanted and the toy I would give to another. I picked the toy I would give to another, and that is the toy I got for my birthday. It was a He-man with those caps that normally go in cap guns. A noisy, popular action figure that required asking for replacement caps. As a quiet child accustomed to being poor, I wasn't the type of child that would ask for more caps. I can't even remember the toy that I wanted.
That summer, though in my memories it feels as if there should be more time between the events... In the summer of my seventh year (eighth, if you reckon the way of ancient Hebrews by including the time in the womb), we went to live with my paternal grandmother for the summer while my "widowed" mother (for indeed, my father was dead) sought a job and place to rent. Upon entering into the house of my grandmother and into her living room, I heard my mother and grandmother arguing in the kitchen and was able to discern the Spirit of Truth that accompanied my grandmother (May her soul rest in peace). Perceiving that the punishments from Truth were more bearable than from Lies (see previous paragraph), I put the Spirit of Truth into my heart. Thus was the beginning of my spiritual journey. (And my first encounter with an unclean spirit occurred within a year later.)

My acceptance of seemingly opposing positions, such as my acceptance of Jesus as my Lord and Savior combined with acceptance of ideas from outside Christianity or my acceptance of scientific reason & mysticism, makes labels meaningless. My religion is Christianity; my philosophies are many (IDIC).

. . .

All these words to cover that I have no idea what people mean when they say "charismatic."

Charismatic, I may be; but you will have to tell me based on my words because I do not know. [3]

Note [1] The Bible is called "the Word of God" by Christians (which is confusing to non-Christians because the Bible is not solely a collection of God quotes) because the "Word of God" means "Truth". ("God is not a man, that he should lie;..." Number 23:19a)

Note [2] I would say for "the glory of God", but like "Word of God" [1], it wouldn't mean what non-Christians might take it to mean. (Any suggestions?)

Note [3] If you stopped at UPC, then you missed the point of everything that came after.

Note [4] Not that the crafting of the name had anything to do with the church, as I said I was seeking a non de plume (a pen name).

 

Charismatic Movement

I pegged you as a charismatic based on the scripture references that you carry in your hip pocket.

Doctrinally, I mostly fall in line with the SBC. However, I disagree with many of the practices of most evangelical churches because they fail to follow the model of discipleship laid down by Jesus.

 

TLDR

 

"And the meeker forms of insanity shall inherit the forum."

 

We should just give everyone on the forum a knife and throw them in a big pit. Those in the alliance left alive could rule the forum and post whatever insanity they wish!

 

Too Long; Didn't Read? That's okay. I was just practicing writing my autobiography. The type that everyone buys but never reads. [jk]

SBC = Southern Baptist Convention? I have learned too many points of view (I know too much). ... Yes, I can accept the label charismatic from a Baptist's point of view. But there are points of view that I won't accept such a label. Views that fail to understand the difference between worshipping God in the spirit (John 4:23-24) and barking like a dog or other noise making. Or views that fail to understand between the charismatic movement and a religion of charlatans. ... I am weary of knowing all of the deceptions that plague the church.

Model of discipleship? I have two views on that. I wish & Jesus provides. I wish I had one to train me in the spiritual things, a mentor to guide me in my education of such things, one to whom I could turn and share the burdens of my perplexity of how people could be so Without Truth and Understanding. But this is my flesh speaking for, in truth, Jesus the Author and Finisher of My Faith (Hebrews 12:2), the Mediator of my covenant with God (Hebrews 12:24; Hebrews 8:6), My Lord (1 Corinthians 12:3), is my mentor, my shepherd (Psalms 23:1) and the one gives me knowledge and/or wisdom (1 Corinthians 12:8 ). For the Holy Spirit is Jesus in our hearts as a Husband is in the heart of his wife (Ephesians 5:31-32) which is why I am in the heart of my soulmate for the Holy Spirit guided my understanding and my prayers to make it so.

 

I'm not really sure what you're getting at there, apparently clear-cut speech is not your spiritual gift. [jk]

 

Pride is also a sin.

 

The new testament is all about sin. Sin this, sin that, sinelly sin-sin. I like the god of the old testament more. That guy at least showed up to tell people they were doing things wrong. Admitedly, the methods used in that persuit might sometimes have been a little extreme, but whattheheck...

 

A friend of mine hypothesises that God 'mellowed out' after he had a kid, and that accounts for our lack of divine floods and wrestling matches with God that we hear of in the Old Testament.

 

Jew.

 

What it really boils down to is that ancient humans lived in a magical time when dreams came true and God spoke to them to make sure they were behaving. I'm fairly certain my delusions are no different from an ancient man having spoken to some deific force. Get enough people behind him and you have a religious movement.

 

Something like that. Religion is what happens when humans run into something they don't understand without the tools or the will to research it.

 

Calling myself a drunkard and yourself insane doesn't "lower us beneath perfection". Self is perfection; to understand who you are and what you are capable of in all of your flaws, faults and limitations and virtues is to be perfect. The fact that you cannot even see that you are crazy defines insanity in itself, a lack of understanding of core self and a spiritual break of mindblowing proportions. I would attribute that to the mindless brainwashing that comes from putting too much trust in gospel - the idea that you must always strive to be something more than what you simply are in order to appease some otherworldly being; who's presence is so omnipotent that he has an equal interest in everyone to the point where none of us is significant; is naive in the extreme. The sooner you stop concerning yourself with what you should be or the opinions of a rather clandestine society, the easier life is going to get and the less time you have to spend thinking of rebuttals and defenses for when someone dares to call you crazy and defy your morality.

At the end of the day though, you can believe whatever you damn well please. My opinion certainly shouldn't matter. Just don't always expect a warm welcome, particularly in places like this "outside of your circle", where ego and pride (and the other 8 sins or whatever its upto now) reign supreme.

 

This one's pretty interesting, I now think I am the antichrist. In my dreams, I can do anything, and then in the future I enact those events. I suppose when I'm not disracted in a future dream, I can ascend to a super-heroic state, and solve all of the world's problems, until I am struck down by Jesus. I don't want to go to hell. Do you think he'd spare me?

 

Last night I had a dream where my cock was a tri-masted Spanish galleon.