Christianity Archives - Page 22 of 38

Radical Liberalism

Liberalism taken to an extreme becomes pure emotionalism.

“In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”
Matthew 15:9

“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
John 4:24

“And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”
Exodus 32:4-6

Liberalism pushes for progression in worship. They want more welcoming Churches and more “enjoyable” worship services. They tend to place the focus of worship on emotion, how they personally feel or the spiritual high they get while “worshiping”. This becomes a problem because it makes the individual the primary object of the worship service instead of God.

You are no longer worshiping God, but are merely using the worship as a tool to feel good about yourself.

Liberals enjoy anything that promotes emotion and that rejects negativity or feeling bad. They use negative emotion only as a tool to promote guilt. Because guilt is obviously a highlight of a good Christian.

Liberals love to feel guilty and “broken” and in need of a savior. The problem arises when liberals begin to wallow in their brokenness yet do nothing to fix the problem. God demands improvement and progression of faith. This,“I’m so bad, I need Jesus so much. I need grace so much” mentality is emotionalistic nonsense. It promotes no growth, and it generates nothing positive.

Liberalism is fundamentally effeminate.

Liberalism is feminized religion.

Weak, emotional men tend to gravitate towards this because it makes them think all their emotions are okay and should even be applauded.

It is okay for these men to cry and break down because they have bought into the feminist lie that a “vulnerable man is an attractive man”. (A Strong, masculine man is an attractive man).

It is okay for them to express emotion like a child. They think it is okay for them to get all emotional and touchy-feely about worship. They think it is fine to have no mastery over emotion and to just let it all out when anyone so much as mentions the name of Jesus. This is all nonsense.

This is not spirituality, it is emotionalism masquerading as spirituality.

Forms of liberalism are also beneficial. Without some element or progressiveness, nothing would ever change. Radical conservatives would have been unwilling to adapt to the modern times of technology and the Church would be stuck in the bronze age. Progressiveness is the reason we can accept PowerPoint and microphones in worship. The push for new things can bring about many benefits. But we should never try to make progress purely for the sake of making progress, which is the mission of the progressive. Progress should be made when newness is truly needed.

Radical liberalism has just as many problems and pitfalls as radical conservatism. Both should be avoided at all costs. We are called to be Christians, and such we should be. Reject these labels of extreme Christian genres.

Mantra

To embrace a label is to kiss death.

Application

Again, all labels must be rejected. After this, emotions must be controlled at all cost. Emotion may be fun and enjoyable, but it is neither productive nor rational, and is the birthplace of all kinds of problems.

You have heard about crimes of passion: emotion pushes individuals to kill.

Emotion pushes Kids to have sex before they are married because they think they are “in love”.

Extreme, unbridled emotion is a root of all kinds of evil and there is no need to bring it in the worship assembly.

To reject emotionalistic worship is to reject selfishness, because one who focuses on emotion in worship cannot also be focused on God. Emotions are not to be applauded, they are to be warned against.

Be willing to recognize overly emotional traits within yourself and start working to reject them. If you are an “emotional man” acknowledge that this is a weakness. Other men will exploit this trait if they ever discover you have it. And when it comes to something as apparent as emotions, they will certainly discover it.

You have to ask yourself difficult questions:

Am I concerned with worshipping God or merely with feeling good?

Do I make decisions based on logic and the Bible or based on emotions?

Do I tend to try extra hard to justify ideas or actions that I cannot support with reason or Scripture?

Be a man. Control your emotions. Be Serious with your faith.

Conduct Yourselves Like Men.

Radical Conservatism

Conservatism is valuable until it radicalizes. At that point it becomes tradition focused.

“So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.”
2 Thessalonians 2:15

“See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.”
Colossians 2:8

The problem with any ‘genre’ of Christians, (liberal, conservative, Anti or what have you) is the fact that at some point the label will supersede God. Meaning: Conservatives will put defining conservative characteristics above God in importance. Liberals do the same. And this is what we mean by becoming radical.

A Radical individual places what he believes above God in importance.

Conservatives will place tradition and liturgy above God, forgetting that God is the very Being we are worshiping, not tradition. Liberals will place emotions above God, using worship service as a chance to get a “spiritual high” from a theatrical performance based “service”. Obviously God should be placed above everything: tradition, emotion, liturgy, performance and especially SELF.

The subsequent problem with all genres of Christians is the fact that they are viewing their ideas as the most important items, rather than God. Preserving and protecting the labels becomes the goal for these individuals. People strive to preserve their conservatism and neglect truth as a result. .

The defining traits of a radical conservative are highly apparent and include the following:

Resistant to progression or change of any kind.
Resistant to positive or happy emotions, choosing rather to focus on negative emotions such as death and the thought of eternal destruction.
Blatant Self-Righteousness.

Conservatives believe that positive emotions will cloud the judgement of man and cause him to make poor decisions. Emotions will lead us to think that the status quo is just fine, when God clearly commands us to improve over time (Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:22-24).

Conservatives tend to acquire an inflated sense of self-worth and as a result become self-righteous unless they are extremely careful in guarding themselves against it. They tend to minimize topics such as grace, because the liberals twisted the grace of God to the point where they no longer think they need to take action. Conservatives want to avoid that at all costs, knowing that a faith without works is dead (James 2:20).

Conservatives tend to focus on doom and destruction.

The inevitable death and punishment of man approaches and is constantly on their minds. Continual focus on negativity is unwise and breaks down the mind. It is unwise to constantly have negative thoughts festering in your mind without a productive use for them.

One problem that results from a conservative’s hyper-focus on works and a minimization of grace is the false idea that they have somehow “made themselves right with God”. There is absolutely something to be said for man’s role in his own salvation (Phil 2:12), but we also cannot minimize the importance of grace and the fact that we are lost without it.

This was not an exhaustive list of the conservative traits, but it gives the most common traits that you will see. Looking above at these traits from a detached, objective perspective, you can see that they can become problematic if left unchecked. Each of these characteristics can grow out of control. These ideas also become problems when they depart from the actual Word of God. Minimization of grace is a departure from scripture. Fixation on death and destruction is a poor evangelism technique.

Do not Place anything above God. You are a Christian before you are a conservative. Force your ego into submission. Be a Man.

Mantra

To be labeled is to allow the mind to die.

Application

First, be sure to understand that we are avoiding RADICAL conservatism, not conservatism itself. Remember from earlier that an individual is radical if he puts his personal beliefs above God in importance. So in this section, we are avoiding the tendency to put the traditions of man above God in importance.

Again, the foundation for defeating radical conservatism is awareness. Whether you are liberal or conservative, you MUST be aware of the downfalls of your “genre” of Christianity. Do not place the characteristics of your personal religious leaning anywhere above God in importance. Avoid attempts to preserve tradition at the expense of God. Do not focus on hell at the expense of the souls of others.

If you ever place anything above God in importance, you have just radicalized.

Your masculinity is diminished by radicalization, so this must be avoided at all cost. A radical man refuses to think for himself and blindly holds onto his current beliefs. You need to develop the mental wherewithal and humility and recognize your personal biases and then manage them properly.

Reject radical conservatism immediately, it is a problem. It promotes isolation and mechanical, superficial worship and interactions. It can cause individuals to develop cult-like behavior. The Church already has the reputation for being cult-like, make sure you are not contributing to that unsavory public image.

Conduct Yourselves Like Men.

Truth

“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:32

“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”
John 17:17

No one likes the truth. The people who claim to enjoy truth usually have not had that much of it spoken to them.

What they mean is that they love when other people get smashed in the face by truth so they can mock them while standing along the safety of the sidelines.

Truth is generally something you do not want to hear. There is the truth of the gospel, the good news, the happy idea of the life of Christ. Then there is the truth of what Christ expects from you, and that is much less fun to hear. You do not want to hear that. The commands of Christ are heavy and difficult, few can bear them, and few enjoy hearing them.

You don’t want to hear that you need to be sober minded right as you are about to kick back a cold beer. You don’t want to hear the command to be sexually chaste right as you are about to undress your girlfriend. These are truths, though. They are painful truths and give us a fixed course of action. They are painful because we want to do the wrong things.

On another hand, no one likes or wants to hear the truth from his brother. We ask “How are you today?” but we do not really want to know. If someone responds with anything beyond a simple “good” we feel inconvenienced. We do not want to hear how they are doing even though we specifically asked.

No one wants to hear a truthful opinion from his brother.

Men don’t want to be told by a brother that their lifestyle is evil and wicked. No one wants to be told that they are not doing what is right, even though it is a fact. These are difficult things to tell a brother, but necessary things nonetheless.

Weak men in the Church dance around truth, never fully immersing into the topic. Popular megachurch or liberal preachers will stay away from truth, it opposes the emotionalism that pays their mortgage. Truth shuts down emotionalism because it demands facts and logic instead of mere feelings.

Strong Men in the Church embrace all forms of truthfulness and possess the skill to use it strategically. It is not enough to embrace truth, but men must use their minds

Mantra

There is no other option but truth.

Application

The truth is that you are living life as an insufficient man.

You are stuck in your ways.

You lie and cheat.

And you steal. Even if in infinitesimally small ways.

Stop doing that.

The truth is that you are sitting in a pew every Sunday, putting nothing into the service and are not progressing. You sit in the warmth and comfort of a persecution free area and as a result, you stagnate.

Starting now, you tell the truth in everything. Every single lie will be accounted for. You have a responsibility to be a man and tell the truth at all times. Weak men beat around the bush. Strong men shoot straight and shoot strategically.

“A Marine never lies, cheats or compromises”. “Be completely honest in everything that you do” – Excerpt from the Standard Marine Boot Camp Intro Speech Given by the Senior Drill Instructor.

Conduct Yourselves Like Men.

Hatred of Sin

In order to beat evil, many times you need to channel the power of the hatred of evil.

“O you who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked”
Psalm 97:10

“Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.”
Romans 12:9

“Save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.”
Jude 1:23

It is sometimes necessary to conjure extreme emotions in order to take action. People do this all the time. They watch motivational videos online to motivate themselves to train, study, work or to do just about anything. Motivation is what people look for constantly. Motivation is a motive to action. It is never wrong to have motives that press you towards an action, it only matters what that action is. Right and wrong are based on action, not motive. Motive is sometimes an emotion and sometimes it is logic.

In order to defeat some sins, or to have the motivation to beat some sins, you have to conjure an extremely powerful emotion(s) to fight it.

Men have done this from the dawn of time. Some men use anger to overpower their fear so that they can charge into battle and kill the enemy. They don’t conjure up some weak emotion like “love”. Everyone knows that “love” in the emotional state is a weak pile of garbage. It accomplishes nothing and provides no lasting motivation. It’s popularized by liberals who wallow in their imperfection and think it is fashionable to do so. You need the power of hatred. Specifically, the hatred of evil.

In order to beat your lust, you need to hate the pornography you are looking at every day. You must hate the social media outlets where you consume it. Yes, Instagram is just a porn source.

In order to stop drinking alcohol once and for all, you must hate that disgusting compound you put into your body. It both looks and smells like urine.

Now I know when it comes to extreme addictions like these, it will require more than just your hatred of the sin, but do not forget to include hatred of sin in the recipe for change.

Hate the Sin.

Be a Man.

Mantra

Hate the Sin, Destroy the Sin

Application

Man is angry by his nature. This is a result of testosterone. To deny this fact is to deny reality. Man cannot help his inclination to anger, but he can stop himself from expressing his anger in a less than ideal manner. So instead of lashing out with the hatred welling in your soul, learn to convert that hatred into a productive energy source.

Direct the hate towards your own imperfection. The challenge is to hate the sinful part of yourself without hating yourself as an individual. You must only hate the characteristics that are making you a weak man. Turn that energy of hate into the change of character that you need. Hate is a useful emotion, just direct it at your imperfections instead of at other people.

Conduct Yourselves Like Men.

Guilt

Before Reading this article about guilt, it may be helpful to read this article about using your emotions. We are not trying to divorce emotions such as guilt, but learn how to use them properly.

“And he touched my mouth and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.’”
Isaiah 6:7

Guilt is grossly overused in Christian culture. Not the good type of guilt that causes men to change, but the purely emotionalistic guilt that boys love to wallow in. It it weaponized by demagogues, People complain of “feeling guilty”. Simple pew warmers believe that guilt itself is necessary for change or repentance but this is not totally accurate.

Guilt may help catalyze repentance at times, but it is not absolutely necessary.

Liberals overuse guilt, as they do any emotion. They think that emotional “feelings” are necessary for growth and change, though very few liberals ever grow spiritually. They certainly grow more emotional over time. Emotional growth is not what we are pursuing as men.

Conservatives overuse guilt, stating that it is the foundation of change. My first question is: “What would a conservative know about change?” The label they wear describes how they feel about change – they avoid change by conserving old traditions. Besides, guilt is not in the “steps of salvation”, that highly promoted conservative arguing piece, so it can’t possibly have any relevance for them (slight exaggeration).

While guilt may be helpful for moving men to change, it is not necessary.

The only thing that matters is our actions.

Guilt is irrelevant if we do not change ourselves and our actions. We can have all the emotional, guilty feelings in the world, but without change, that guilt did not matter one bit, nor did it do anything for our faith. You can have all the emotions in the world, but without action, you have nothing.

This faith is based on action, not on how you feel. You have a responsibility to be a man, one of the foundational principles of which is to control your emotions rather than having them control you. You must be firm and principled in character and efficient in action. Only in this way can you avoid the trappings of emotionalism.

Again, this section is not to say that guilt is 100% useless. Guilt does have some use, but not if that guilt is not accompanied with the action of repentance. Men can learn how to repent without emotion and how to repent with the help of the emotion of guilt. Never rely on emotion, but use it if you can.

Mantra

Guilt is unnecessary.

Application

Forget about feeling guilty. If you can change yourself without feeling guilty, then do it. Now there is something to be said about godly sorrow. But again, godly sorrow without the action of repentance is worthless.

Reject every doctrine that paints guilt as a necessary feeling. That is all guilt is, a feeling. Feelings get you nowhere. Actions are the only things that change where you are in life. Want to move forward and progress? Stop feeling, start acting.

However, one acceptable form of guilt is anger. If guilt is going to be an emotional feeling, then the best emotion would be anger. This is because anger is useful for destroying old behaviors. It is a hot emotion that should be channeled towards our own weakness and insufficiency and be used to eradicate it from the face of the earth.

Conduct Yourselves Like Men.

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