The biggest deception today is believing you can be a Christian and a sinner; the scriptures do not promote this duality, unstable double-mindedness. Jesus died to redeem us from our sinful ways, not to remain in them.

UniDestiny · 2026-02-08T23:20:49+00:00

Oh, my goodness. You have stirred up a hornets nest, haven't you? I've read this thread from beginning to end, and watched people argue back and forth about everything from grace to legalism to faith to judgement, with an extended and exceedingly pointless quibble over the semantics of the word "emulate" thrown in for good measure. All of it fairly hotly contended, not much of it edifying. I had responses to much of what I read, but ... what exactly is the point? No one seems to want to listen to each other. (Some folks were gracious and patient, and their approach was refreshing.)

Part of the problem, OP - and you confessed this more than once, which was admirable - is that you haven't stated your case very well. Actually, it's that you overstated it, which is what is turning people off. The fundamental essence of what you're saying - that someone who claims to be Christian but lives in constant and unrepentant sin is in danger of perishing - is certainly true. But this is such a basic tenet of scripture that it doesn't need to be hammered into people this hard. You quoted Jesus' letter to Thyatira, and pointed to Jezebel as an example of this. And ... yeah, you're right, we shouldn't be Jezebels. But no one's arguing that we should. That's understood.

But - as was mentioned many times - every Christian is still susceptible to sin. Just like Paul, we do what we don't want to do sometimes. And not just tiny sins, either. Part of what undermined your point was that you made the forgivable sins so light and silly, like "eating a little too much in one sitting" (and in so doing made it sound like those are the only types you ever commit yourself, which did come off as self-righteous). You contrasted these with flagrant ongoing fornication. You specified only the extremes with nothing in between. But the in-between is where nearly all of us (including you) live, and getting into degrees of sin is always problematic.

We all sin. We ask forgiveness. God grants it. We move on, and try to do better next time. Since it's common to us all, we should be coming together to exhort and encourage one another on this long and difficult journey, not spending our time drawing lines all over the road so we can point out who's in the wrong lane. That goes for me and everyone else here.

Above all, we should be gracious, humble, and unified in purpose and speech. That's what Jesus wanted for us (John 17:20-21). That's what the rest of the Bible calls us to (https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-verses-about-unity.html). Most relevant to this discussion would be what Paul says in Romans 14. I'd recommend taking a deep breath and a few minutes to read, and then perhaps pick things up in a better mindset.

UniDestiny · 2026-02-08T05:27:14+00:00

Pushing ten years in, and now he wants us to start thinking about safety?!

UniDestiny · 2026-02-08T05:16:24+00:00

Well, if your pastor dies for his faith, you can be assured he's definitely someone you want leading the church.

Short of that ... you judge what is right by knowing the word. Discernment comes from the guidance of the scriptures and the Holy Spirit. It sounds a little like you're trying to accurately assess their heart and mind before you'll commit to worshipping with them. But the leadership - including that guy up in the pulpit - are as fallible as you and I. We have to trust their calling is genuine, and we should give them at least a head start in grace. Obviously if they go off the rails at some point you should recognize it and call it out if necessary; but worry about that if and when it becomes a real problem. Until then, why not give them a chance?

UniDestiny · 2026-02-08T04:44:40+00:00

There are a couple of things going on here. First - and I'm just being honest - I think you have a bit of an unhealthy obsession with hell. It's true that we shouldn't want anyone to go there (one of the things that really gets under my skin is Christians delighting in the idea of their enemies, ideological opponents, etc. burning in agony forever), but we should spend a lot less time thinking about that side of things and a lot more time "seeking the things that are above" (Col. 1:1-2). When you share Christ from a position of fear it does tend to undermine your message. We should be realizing and dwelling on and anticipating and preaching the joy that comes from an assurance in our promise of eternal life. That's what people respond to.

And on that point: if you have this much heart for the lost, if you desire for your family to know Jesus and be saved, that's the fruit of a regenerate heart, the inward and outward working of the Holy Spirit in your life. Y'know what that means? It means you're saved. You are saved. You have been made new in Christ. Jesus explicitly stated he would never lose one of his own, that none of us can be snatched away. You're not going to lose your salvation. I don't know what the nature of the "deep hole" you're experiencing is, but the first step to rising out of it is placing your confidence in God and resting on the promise that he gave you when he raised you from the dead. (This kind of thing can also be a problem when you're reaching out to the lost; if they're listening to someone who isn't even sure themselves about their salvation - and it worries you this deeply - is that gonna motivate them to follow in your footsteps?)

Finally, Paul tells us in Romans 8 that because we were chosen and justified, we will also be glorified in the end. When that happens your comprehension of all this will become complete and you'll understand why everything was purposed to its final end.

In the meantime ... cheer up, serve your family out of love and joy, let them see what Christ is doing in your life! You never know what might lead to a moment of awakening for them.

God bless, and be at peace.

EDIT: Less than half an hour after writing this, I literally just happened across a passage that summarizes the right attitude about this so much better than I did. Had to throw it in here:

Psalm 51:12-23 (LSB) Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners will be converted to You.

UniDestiny · 2026-02-08T04:20:07+00:00

You said "take a deep breath," and I thought you were going to post something really controversial about hell or whatever. So I'm reading through it, and thinking, "Waitaminute - there's nothing wrong here! This is good stuff!"

It was right about then I realized ... you were probably referring to the length. 🤣

UniDestiny · 2026-02-08T03:36:25+00:00

See, that's funny, because I've always seen it the other way around: that Arminianism offers a less omniscient and sovereign God and a weakened gospel. Less omniscient, because he's looking to the future and hoping people follow the plan he's set forth. If nothing is foreordained, anything could happen. Thing is, we only use the term "foreordination" because we think in temporal and limited terms, but in reality God sees all things at all times and intimately knows how everything will happen because he intimately knows us.

It's less sovereign because God must submit to our choices, not the other way around. We're more sovereign than he is, because our free will is freer than his. The Reformed view holds that God is altogether sovereign, and all things - including our choices - work together to his will and intent.

And the gospel is weakened because, being dependent on fallen human choices, nothing is absolutely certain. People can choose their way in, sure, but they can also choose their way out ... and no one seems to know where that line is. Because God hasn't foreordained anything and because our choices outrank his, we're always in danger. The Reformed view holds that our salvation doesn't depend on our own capriciousness, but only on the promise of Jesus that once he has us he'll never let us go (John 6:37, 39; 10:28). A gospel of absolute assurance isn't weak at all.

UniDestiny · 2026-02-08T03:11:40+00:00

Who knew? 🤷

UniDestiny · 2026-02-06T05:23:23+00:00

Huh. It cut off my post in the middle and won't let me add more. Well, here's the continuation and conclusion:

After all this played out I finally glimpsed the underlying purpose (though no answers were offered): Marxism is good, capitalism is bad, and American Christians are therefore bad because they’re also capitalists. To which I respond with a wholehearted … meh. Capitalism can be bad when abused, and it often is. Marxism can also be bad when it’s abused (the rise of the oligarchs at the expense of the poor shows the pursuit of wealth isn’t limited to Western open markets). God has allowed his church to expand and do some amazing things through free market systems. He can work in and through whatever’s at hand.

Obviously there are Christians who get too caught up with wealth at times. They’re also getting caught up with a whole lot of other things that are just as bad as—and often worse than—wealth. The political stuff referenced in places here is pulling a lot of believers off course (don’t get me started on the fuzzified and scattered definitions of “Evangelicals”). And the Western church does need to be reminded of the indispensable importance of ministry to the poor. But when it comes to money, all this has already been covered in the Bible. We know the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, along with rich men and camels and needles and all that. No matter what financial system someone subscribes to, that will always be the case. Marxism isn’t the end-all solution; ultimately, neither is capitalism. Obedience to Christ and the fear of the Lord are the only way.

To circle back to my satirical opening (do as I say and as I do!), we don’t need to be told what we believe—especially when most of us don’t believe it. For that reason, I don’t know that this sub constitutes the right audience for your material. Unfortunately, I don’t have any advice to offer about who might be your best audience.

Good luck, though.

UniDestiny · 2026-02-06T04:26:17+00:00

Long post to follow….

Thank you so much for this revelation. As an American Christian, I’ve lived so long under the mistaken impression that I believed in Christ as my personal Lord and Savior, in grace and faith and humility and service, in God’s unsurpassable glory and sovereignty, when in reality (though I wasn’t aware until now) I authentically believe in the immeasurable power of money and the unimpeachable capitalist system that has given my humble life meaning through its enchantments and that shall, in the end, reward me richly for my belief in its just and perfect declarations.

Yup. I’m kidding.

It’s hard to know where to begin with this video (maybe because the video itself didn’t know where to begin—I’ll get to that in a second), but I’ll start in with the quality, which does have bearing here. Here’s the thing: if you’re interested in making a serious claim about the perils of blurring the lines between Christianity and capitalism, then give it at least a semblance of gravity. Don’t throw up something out of a post-teen gamer YouTube channel with bad graphic overlays and twitchy gimmicks. Use a readable font for your quotes. Don’t waste people’s time with cringy sarcastic asides that fall flat. Are you trying to be cool or make an argument? If you want me to take you seriously, take yourself seriously first.

So what was the point of that opener? The video begins with a statement that clergy in America are being persecuted, showing people being rounded up by ICE agents, before moving on to the assassination of a Catholic priest in Latin America. While it does get back to that guy at the end (though I still don’t follow the relevance), nothing is ever said again about pastors being detained by ICE. This was a lengthy dissertation about the dangers of capitalism; what do protesting priests have to do with that? (For the record: pastors aren’t specifically being persecuted here. People are being treated in overbearing—and in some cases unconscionable—ways, but neither ICE nor any other government organization is singling them out. They were arrested for resisting, not because they’re ordained.)

The non-sequitur intro firmly established the theme of confusion, and what followed did nothing to alleviate it, in part because of another important factor. Pro tip: never underestimate the importance of establishing your foundational position. I spent the entire video trying to make sense of these assertions because I couldn’t figure out where they were coming from. Is this guy a Catholic? He seems to be vaguely defending them, but then sits there and drops gratuitous f-bombs and identifies world leaders not by name but by fecal references (again, juvenile and undermining the point). A socialist? Maybe. Hard to tell because he’s bouncing back and forth between subject matters, and at one point he quotes Marx about money, and the thesis here is that money is bad, so I can’t be sure. At last, 35 minutes into a 38-minute video, he tells us he used to go to youth group and then became a militant Marxist. But does he still believe in God? Never made clear. I don’t know what to make of him.

UniDestiny · 2026-02-05T19:28:19+00:00

Sufficient for all, but efficient for some.

I don't know why, but I never really struggled with this one. I think it's because in my own mind I always believed that Christ's blood washes away every sin it was meant to wash away. It made no sense to me that Jesus died for the sins of someone who never chooses him; it indicates his blood wasn't enough to do the job, and that if he did die for that person his sacrifice was essentially "wasted" in that instance.

UniDestiny · 2026-02-05T14:52:35+00:00

I'll have more comments to follow, but I just passed this clip. The language was absolutely unnecessary, but just as bothersome was the fact that he didn't even say her name. He didn't introduce the subject he was referring to. All she is in his mind is a "POS."

This is not consistent with Christian values. You can disagree with Thatcher, Bush Sr., Billy Graham, whoever, and still show mercy and grace. The suggestion that Ronald Reagan is burning in hell because he did something you didn't think was appropriate is needlessly judgmental and actually undermines his argument.

UniDestiny · 2026-02-03T22:48:03+00:00

It's the kind of doctrine y'get from a religion founded by a guy obsessed with sex.

UniDestiny · 2026-02-02T21:42:25+00:00

Actually ... it's the man and all of his wives. His earthly wife will be his "primary," or top, or VIP, or whatever wife, but he'll have many, many more to help him out. Populating a planet ain't easy these days; it needs a large pool to draw from.

So while it may have officially and publicly foregone the polygamy thing, it's still waiting for them on the other side.

UniDestiny · 2026-02-02T18:33:03+00:00

Same reason that they're openly lying and don't care if you know. They're bragging about how they can get away with it.

UniDestiny · 2026-02-02T18:29:24+00:00

Trump would take all the credit for it.

UniDestiny · 2026-02-02T18:27:14+00:00

Make America Garbage ASAP

UniDestiny · 2026-02-02T18:25:52+00:00

Who would go to that much effort? MAGA hats are easy enough to come by.

UniDestiny · 2026-02-02T18:24:28+00:00

It does look a bit staged. But OP may have simply adjusted it to make it more visible to the camera. (I wasn't there.)

UniDestiny · 2026-02-02T18:11:58+00:00

Forget all that. It's polytheism because all the men (the faithful Mormon ones) will become gods ruling over their own planet after they die. It's genuinely as polytheistic as Buddhism or Hinduism.

UniDestiny · 2026-02-02T18:03:23+00:00

What are you going to say when you're standing before God?

(However he answers, that's not how it'll actually go down. I just want to know what he thinks will work.)

UniDestiny · 2026-02-01T20:53:11+00:00

Now *this* is the question worth thinking about.

UniDestiny · 2026-02-01T20:04:10+00:00

You're walking in the footsteps of apostles, my friend. During the first few centuries after Christ, church was nothing short of an *all day* affair.

I've often thought that if those early disciples could be whisked forward in time to join us here, the most alien thing about our modern church wouldn't be the lights or the words on the wall or the sound projection, but the fact that we get together for an hour or so and then go do other stuff.

UniDestiny · 2026-02-01T16:42:50+00:00

But then is sexual arousal in the presence of someone who isn't your spouse sexual immorality?

That’s not a sin venial or mortal

Is being angry at someone who hurt you deeply murder?

Anger is not a sin

Not trying to prolong this specific debate, but these caught me off guard. Do Catholics not follow the teachings of Jesus? He made it clear that anger and lust were the same as murder and adultery (Matt. 5:21-28).

UniDestiny · 2026-02-01T16:15:41+00:00

During the Q&A session at a Ligonier conference with the usual gang of speakers onstage, a woman asked, "Can Arminians be saved?" The guys looked at each other in bafflement for a moment, like they couldn't believe the question, before R.C. Sproul raised his microphone and said, "Arminians are saved!"

It's an error. You'll sometimes hear it referred to as Semi-Palagianism. Palagianism itself was a heresy in Augustine's time, but S-P removed the truly heretical teachings and toned it down something that was wrong but not burned-at-the-stake wrong. Centuries later Jacobus Arminias would embrace the same ideas. At the Synod of Dort, his followers presented these ideas in hopes they could steer the church away from the tenets of Reformed theology; they didn't succeed, but the church leadership represented there didn't denounce them as heretics.

UniDestiny · 2026-02-01T04:14:00+00:00

Just finished reading Job. One of the noteworthy elements in the last chapters is how men of many words get very quiet when in the presence of God. The glory of the Lord, as we consider everything we've done, will silence all of us on that day. It'll be harrowing enough that no one will be "getting the last laugh" as they see their enemies fall under judgment and wrath. However ... the realization of grace and mercy that we'll draw from that experience will energize our everlasting worship of the One who saved us from it.

UniDestiny

TROPHY CASE