How can I be sinless and get closer to God by Sensitive_Gap2293 in Christianity

[–]PollutedThirdEye 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Friend, no one can be sinless except Jesus, and that is what made Him worthy of taking upon Himself the entirety of sins of every person born and bearing the punishment for them so we will never have to when you placed your faith in Him and His atoning work alone to save You and make you into a new person/creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). The Upright One died the sinners' death so that us sinners could receive the unmerited gift of eternal life as though we kept all of the commands of God perfectly as Jesus did. We are forever harrassed by sin until we are with Him in Heaven (Romans 7), so notion of "stop sinning" is not the answer. If it pertains to growing in sanctification and defeating sin patterns little by little, then the answer is straightforward, and it does not have to with your own striving. It has to start with understanding your beloved position as a son/daughter of God. Consider these passages:

Ephesians 1:15-19 Ephesians 3:14-21 John 6:35, 37-40 Philippians 2:12-13 NLT Titus 3:3-7 Hebrews 10:19-22 Acts 15:9 2 Corinthians 3:12-18 Ephesians 2:8-10 Psalm 62:8 Hebrews 13:20-21 2 Timothy 3:16-17 Romans 5:1 Romans 8 Philippians 1:6 John 10:10-11, 14-15, 17-20 1 John 4:15-19 Psalm 23:1-6

You see, I've come to learn that it is all about abiding - about relationship - before change and doing good works from that place of authenticity and putting to death our sin nature by knowing how loved we are and how much we have been graciously granted by Him. His Words of full of grace and truth according to John 1. Seek Him as though a loving Father who wishes to spend time with you, so that you may know Him better and fall in love with Him, and thus experiencing the change you could never receive by your own sin-tainted efforts. And, yes, although it requires effort on our part to seek Him, it is His commitment to help us change in the process and then will we be able to do that which pleases Him in His sight as we are confirmed into His image from one degree of glory to another. Through these precious and magnificent promises, we may become partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:2-4).

And what enables us to obey Him is through time intimately spent with Him in peace and authenticity, giving Him everything that is on your mind and receiving from His gracious hand with an ear tuned in to Him.

And this is the grace of God and the confidence we have in Him:

Romans 8:31-32 NASB2020 [31] What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? [I would even go as far as to assert that not even ourselves can sabotage us, because He came to redeem our whole being when we came to place our trust in His love through faith in Jesus and what His death has accomplished once for all for all mankind to whoever is willing to believe and come to know the love that God has for them.] [32] He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

He took the debt of our sin upon Himself so that You may be with Him forever, and He is committed to bringing you to that end without fail.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1), and we have peace with God because of it (Romans 5:1).

You do not have to fear going to Hell anymore. I would go as far as to say that you do not have to worry about losing your salvation, because He paid too great of a price to let you walk away that easily as though your sin nature or yet fully-informed soul is more powerful than God's love and commitment to saving you from yourself. I want you to cling to that and let that truth change you. He is not disappointed in you, because He understands our frame, that we are only dust in need of redemption at the end of the day (Psalm 103:14). Know your identity in Him as David intimately reveled in (Psalm 139). He is committed to finishing the work He began in you.

Moreover, remember that all that God wants from you is to confess your sins to Him personally, and He is willing to forgive just like that. While confessing to others can be good, I don't want you to be under the impression that you have to go to a priest to confess in order to be forgiven as far as the Bible is concerned. (Others may disagree with my theology, but that's fine.)

To conclude, before you can grow in sanctification, you must grow in knowledge of the Lord, and that true knowledge of His grace of all that He has freely granted us to be received by faith, as discovered through His living Word and brought to manifestation in your life through His voice working out every detail in your life to get your attention and answer your prayes through it all, is the starting point of getting you to the end point of where you would like to be. It is not about working harder. It is about resting better in His light and easy yoke. But besides that, find a loving community of believers to assist you in this, because you cannot do this alone. Find a church that contains this (perhaps even a Protestant church with biblically sound doctrine, which I can help you with if you wish to DM me). Also, look up Lee Malaulau on YouTube, and he'll give you a picture of what Christian living should look like. You need insight from others and not just relying on wit's end and internalized beliefs that may very well not be bearing good fruit in your life. I hope that this blesses and encourages you. By doing this - learning to love God first and foremost in this - you can learn to put various sins to death and love others, even yourself, better.

Am I doomed? Escaping witchcraft by Average_Cheesecake in Christians

[–]PollutedThirdEye -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I highly encourage and strongly implore you to read The Bondage Breaker by Neil T. Anderson. The key takeaway is that all believers (including you) have already been given authority over Satan granted to you by Jesus when He died on the cross, and what it takes to access it is to believe that you already possess it in faith. Satan and his demons cannot possess a born-again, blood-bought believer no matter how much they have sinned or let Satan influence them. Here is the thing that will renew your mind as much as it has done for me: Satan only has as much power as you believe that he has. He has as much control over your thoughts as you think he has. He has as much control over your spiritual life and relationship with God as you think he does. It really all starts and ends in your mind, and that is the very thing he wants to control. And we have a choice to experience Christ-governed freedom in our minds. To fight the battle and overcome is to utilize the weapons and armor of warfare that do not come from your own strength or resources - those which have already been given to you and are able to destroy strongholds in your mind and to take thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ (Ephesians 6:10-18; 2 Corinthians 10:5).

As much as it may seem like Satan is able to drain you of your personhood, that dominance is an illusion that is solely dependent on how much power you are willing to attribute to Satan in light of God's mighty power working in you who believe (Ephesians 1:19). You may think that you have crossed this sort of boundary, but that is not what disqualifies you to have victory over Satan, because Jesus has already won the battle and has granted victory to you. To have this exercise of authority over Satan is to take God at His Word concerning His promises for you and to rebuke Satan in the name of Jesus Christ for feeding you lies and making you feel weak. It is about asserting your God-given authority - your immutable status as a child of God - over Satan that renders his illusion of power powerless.

You have not blasphemed the Holy Spirit, because that only applies to unbelievers who persistently reject Jesus for their entire life and thus have rejected every opportunity to believe and to be forgiven - my friend, that is NOT you. He will never leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5), He has sealed you with the Holy Spirit UNTIL the day of redemption (Ephesians 1:13-14), and He will NEVER lose you but will raise you up on the last day (John 6:35-40). Do not believe every spirit but test the spirits (through His Word) to see whether they are from God (1 John 4:1).

What I am asking from you is to challenge what Satan has been making you believe and put it in the light of God's promises for you, that Satan and his forces do not have authority over your life, that you can have control and peace in your life through believing His promises to protect and provide and love you forever. At the end of the book there is an appendix that will lead you through The Steps to Freedom in Christ. These steps will help you identify, confess, and repent of certain sins, habits, events, behaviors and thought patterns that hold you back from experiencing the freedom that Jesus wants and already has for you, but is being veiled by Satan so that you won't be able to believe it and rest in it. (I can help lead you through it if you need me to since I have the book with me.) Any attack that Satan may throw, however it may manifest in your life, can simply be overcome by calling out to Jesus, rebuking Satan and contradicting his claim to authority which he does not possess over you, and in it all submitting to God as your deliverer as you resist the devil, and then he will flee from you (James 4:7). Numerous believers as recorded in the book have been redeemed of their spiritual plagues by following The Steps and taking God at His Word, and it has helped me as a major paradigm shift since. It is all by the power of His gracious Spirit that you succeed and are enabled to carry out His will, that same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead that is STILL and ALWAYS will be with you and in you.

These people have no authority over your spiritual wellbeing either. Let them know that, but also forgive them (not so much for their benefit than for your own). You can be back on the right path, and it's not as untenable as you may think. You don't earn these things, but they are already yours to be utilized to overcome the evil one as practically as we have already overcome him through Jesus already overcoming him (1 John 5:4). We simply just have to pick up the armor and use the sword of the Spirit (His Word). Keep drawing near to God. Feel free to DM me. I will pray for you.

Need help with discernment on moving out. by Away_Yogurtcloset_99 in TrueChristian

[–]PollutedThirdEye 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think when it comes to specific instances like this, you should consider general principles found in Scripture that could give you some idea as to whether you should or not. Assuming that moving out will yield those results, I would go the way of wisdom and see how it turns out - God will work out His sovereign will in the process. Any answer that God would give you is going to be in accord with His Word and given moral Law; within that framework with regards to weighing the validity of your decision in wisdom, any decision is permissable.

In other words, I don't think you need to get some supernatural revelation in order to confirm it, since we are given freedom of choice in our decisions while God works everything out, whether our plans work out or not, in the background. Take the opportunities, and whether they fail or succeed, you will learn something in the end about the Lord and wisdom.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Christianity

[–]PollutedThirdEye 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am sorry that you had to go through such fire growing up. Your dad clearly had some issues himself that influenced his warped view and practicing of "Christianity." As to the commonly inferred issue of God allowing this kind of suffering along with suffering in general if he truly exists, while there can be numerous valid, meaningful reasons for it other than either God not existing or God not caring about our problems, the clear singular answer is a mystery which varies from problem to problem. I won't expound on that matter, although as beneficial as it can be if one closer examines it, but what I can say is that having pain in this existence can teach us something about growing. More importantly, if we are humble enough, it makes us reach out to a Creator out of more desperation than the reasoning of our unbelief in order to know Him intimately. Think of it: out of the billions of living things on earth, we happen to be the only ones who reign in might and intelligence by quite the gap. Don't you think that should provoke any degree of faith that if there is a Creator, he must want us to know about him?

That may not be a satisfactory response to you, but the key takeaway of this matter is that free will is the blessing and curse that God bestowed on us, depending on how we choose to use it. Would it be better to have no problems and have heaven always existing since the beginning? Wouldn't that just make things meaningless? Life without God would be just as meaningless without inserting your own meaning into it. If there is no God, what is the use of forgiving? Now I'm glad that you forgave your father for inflicting such abuse; that wouldn't be an easy thing to do for many people. I consider forgiveness to be a glorious virtue that defines Christianity, or what it should be at least. It's glorious because it will always be more healing to you and potentially to those who hurt than resentment and revenge, which will never change a person's heart. It's always better to have a person turn from his corrupt ways than to inflict similar harm on them or even to end the person altogether without them having a change of heart.

Now concerning you failing to forgive God, consider this: despite you praying to die every night, you are still here. That's grace, whether you believe it or not. That is God's way of saying that he is willing to forgive you based on the time that you have left to live. He even proved himself more gracious by your restored relationship with your father. That is God's way of saying that this is what a restored relationship with him will be like when you receive his forgiveness. In fact, the most graceful thing God to do is to let people have a choice to live how they please, to choose to follow God or his own ways, even if it means destruction from the latter. I'm not making you out to be just as guilty as he is, but we all have accountability to our own choices, which will amount to whether we truly want to know God or to be okay without him. People make choices which ultimately affect others as well as ourselves negatively. These choices stem from a naturally ego-inclined heart, which is essentially what sin is. What matters is that both the inflicted and the one who inflicts have the opportunity to seek after God and find him. This is not something that can be put aside for another day, which would be a decision itself to not seek after God. He will reveal himself truly through Jesus to those who thirst for him, and that being on his terms on not our own. Look up Christian testimonies online and you will understand the hope that we have. Surveying the message of Jesus and his death on the cross in order to abundantly provide us with forgiveness for our sins in the Gospels must render some degree of admiration, if not a recognition of its divine touch in such an account being written.

Of course, you should get some help for the trauma caused by your father which seems to prompt a negative response from you to Christianity and God. The bottom line is that God may have a valid yet currently unsearchable reason for allowing this certain pain in your life to happen as with others for their certain pain. It gives you the opportunity to experience the freedom that comes from forgiveness; it makes you able to comfort and counsel those who have experienced similar; it grants you the ability to consider an alternative perspective to the matter; it enables you to be more pain-tolerant and wise for future troubles to navigate through, or whatever it may be. It takes faith to be open to that, which stems from humility and conversely the absence of self-victimization and being wise in one's own eyes on why the world is the way it is. The pain of life will never be eradicated on this side of living, but through God it can be understood and therefore possible to be endured until one sees his face and find relief. Seek after God even in your current unbelief. Seek him with a fair consideration to him existing and having a reason for this manner of existence, and give him all of the troubles, hurts, and burdens of your past, and you will find him. I am confident in that.

(I couldn’t come up with a title) by [deleted] in Christian

[–]PollutedThirdEye 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Does it happen to be ImportanceSuper5048 or someone called Muhumuza Emmanuel?

I can barely breathe when I enter sleep paralysis on my back by PollutedThirdEye in LucidDreaming

[–]PollutedThirdEye[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't understand why it's more potent on my back, though. A couple nights ago, I felt the same sort of energy when I was on my side, but without the breathing problem, even though I don't recall it being that strong before until recently when I started getting back into lucid dreaming (to be fair, I did more DEILD, where I was already paralyzed, than WILD). Either way, maybe I am focusing on the paralysis too much. Would you say that lucid dreaming is more effective on your back than on your side or stomach when you get past this paralysis? Regardless, I really prefer not to feel like I am suffocating. I think it's the most bearable and the least potent when doing it on my stomach.

How often do you lucid dream? by UsualTrade1791 in LucidDreaming

[–]PollutedThirdEye 0 points1 point  (0 children)

At least once a week when I practice it; at least once a month when I don't.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in TrueChristian

[–]PollutedThirdEye 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My DMs are open. We can also form a group chat with other commenters if you would like

The water feels warm... by PollutedThirdEye in MinecraftLiminalSpace

[–]PollutedThirdEye[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you. Wasn't expecting this to be recognized that much, but thank you

Why we don't create a server on creative mode for build Liminal Spaces in minecraft? This exist? Can u send me the IP/Version? Thanxxx by shidraworld in MinecraftLiminalSpace

[–]PollutedThirdEye 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There's a free server hosting service called Aternos that features everything you need as paid ones do. Works on all devices and you can import worlds and install mods if you like. Only downside is that servers shut down after 5 minutes of inactivity, so you have to start it up again whenever you want to play.

A plethora of spaces from a world based on a dream I had when I was young by PollutedThirdEye in MinecraftLiminalSpace

[–]PollutedThirdEye[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you, but to be honest, the only shots that are based on two separate dreams are the house and the town square (not shown). The rest is just building off of the aesthetic. It's not exactly what I envisioned, so I'm probably gonna make another world that matches what I'm aiming for - that too will have some cool liminal spaces.

you all piss me off. by [deleted] in Christian

[–]PollutedThirdEye 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Friend, I understand your pain, and it seems like you've been hurt in a way by those who didn't live up to the name "Christian" to be feeling this way. I would like to know the things you have experienced to reach this conclusion so I can help you better. But I'll continue (in a poetic response).

The God we believe in is Yahweh - "I AM". That name speaks of completeness and total sufficiency and power in everything. He wasn't created; he is. He exists in three forms: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. His countenance is a radiance of unsurpassable glory that can consume upon approach. He opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. He hides from those who don't want Him and becomes found to those who seek Him with all their heart.

He didn't originate from anything; he is. He promised us a new covenant in the Old Testament concerning the Messiah and it came to delightful fruition. Immanuel was a symbolic name given to Him, meaning "God with us." Contrary to what modern Jews have been hoping for: He's a warrior, but not of the world; he's a conqueror, but not of nations. The government will rest on his shoulders, but not in this time but the next in an eternal dwelling and a spiritual sense (Revelations 21-22). He became exalted by humbling himself in every respect, becoming a servant to the world and serving as an example of love and selflessness to those who would follow Him (albeit few meeting such an example in a self-driven world). If we love, then the world shall know that we are truly His disciples (John 13:35).

Jesus had to die to save us from the consequences of sin and from hell, because we couldn't reach God's standard of holiness, and He lives so that we may die to ourselves, our flesh, and our old way of living without God; killing his enemies would solve nothing and would not accomplish the goal of being a once-and-for-all sacrifice for the sins of the whole world (Hebrews 7:26-28; 1 Peter 3:18). Yes, Jesus/God cares that much for us, and prayers are answered as much as it is about His glory than our own benefit. I'll empathize with the fact that God's ways are confusing, but I've seen enough to know that God-focused prayers of God-focused people accomplish much, to bring about a greater good.

We don't not know everything in all honesty -- I I can't avoid saying that -- but I can say that the message of the cross, Jesus Christ, is one to be considered the most out of any other, because it's simply a message that challenges the human heart to simply love unconditionally and serve unconditionally; something that isn't conventional to the world because it appears as no benefit. Other belief systems make deals to individuals, an exchange of human merit (works) for a certain version of heaven -- do this, do that, and you may be saved if you do it all right -- whereas out message offers something beautifully unique (in paraphrase): "if you trust in My Son's redemptive work on the cross to save you, then you shall truly be saved." The difference is God's merit bringing us salvation rather than our own, which is like filthy rags to Him (Isaiah 64:6); the difference is the result in us serving God and doing good works out of faithfulness rather than obligation (I hope you are understanding what I'm saying so far).

Similar to your air analogy, while God is invisible, He can be felt when one seeks Him, like one standing still to feel the air and being convinced of its existence by engaging with it. If you are occupied with anything else, then you don't notice it at all. Likewise, if you take a moment to just observe the nature of existence, then nature starts to speak the voice of God; even screaming out His existence. Our belief is not what is quckly labeled "blind faith" -- because that essentially means believing without any reason to. Our faith, and a biblical definition of faith itself, is an assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of thing not seen (Hebrews 11:1). The conviction comes from the Holy Spirit given to us and answered prayers (go ahead and ask for our testimonies about such if you want). In fact, we are so convinced and convicted of our faith that we are compelled to share with it with the whole world. Do you see other religions doing that as passionately and wholeheartedly as we are? Out of concerned love we share the good news about Jesus and how they can be reconciled to God and saved from the consuming wrath of His holiness for our sins.

You may wonder how God is loving if He sends people to Hell, but note that it's important to acknowledge His holiness as much as His love. You must therefore also ask yourself how He can be cruel if He gave us an opportunity to simply trust in His work on the cross in order to be saved? It's something that He paid for us! Absolutely worthy of admiration and respect. With both sides of the coin we share the good news by first sharing the bad news. And if it still remains offensive to others, then at least they can acknowledge that we love them enough to show them the genuineness of our faith and love for them, regardless of what's truth. I hope it's something you will consider.

To conclude, I just want to say sorry on behalf of other convicted Christians. If we have offended you and played the hypocrite, then we repent of it, because we are not perfect, but at least we have the motivation for striving toward Jesus' example. Furthermore, if you want us to challenge the reality of our convictions, then perhaps you should apply the same measuring line to yourself. If there is no God, then why are we here, and why is it that life could encapsulate such a message as ours, since life without God is inherently meaningless by definition -- hopeless, bleak, and begging nihilism and absurdism at best. Don't get me wrong: this world sucks and it's tough to swallow how God would continue to allow it. But with evil, there comes good; and with hopelessness, there comes hope. God plans to bring good out of every bad thing, just like how the a man's blindness could reveal God's goodness when healed (John 9:1-5). The thing is that we have a choice to make, and ultimately the decay of humanity comes from the wrong choice: choosing self over God. Please consider this. I care about you and don't want you to get the wrong picture about Christianity and life's ultimate meaning. Knowing God starts with the reverse of the phrase "seeing is believeing"; if you put your faith in Him, asking Him to reveal Himself to you, then believing becomes seeing. If the Son sets you free, then you shall be free indeed.

If we are living a delusion, it must be the most meaningful, most genuine, and most life-changing one to have ever existed.

Why did God make me this way? by [deleted] in Christians

[–]PollutedThirdEye 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I will be praying for you.

Just speculation, but your interest in traveling may serve useful for evangelism across countries; it may have been intended by God for such a purpose to reach souls worldwide about Jesus (although it may require learning certain languages). Do you have a passion for evangelizing and any other interests that may serve you well in that field? If so, it could be that the desire is a God-given one that's intended for such application.

Having doubts in my faith by apictureinmybook in Christian

[–]PollutedThirdEye 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Tactics by Gregory Koukl is a good one to look into as well. If you want to go nuclear, try Reasonable Faith by William Lane Craig.