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Interested in how one distinguishes "worldly" things from (I'm assuming) "godly" things in this context...?

There always seems to be a lot of fuzziness in the way church people talk about "worldly" things which creates a ton of miscommunication & semantic issues. Sometimes I'm not sure it isn't done on purpose by people trying to socially elevate themselves "as a better christian" while working very hard to never really define anything at all.

"Bad things" vs "good things" would be equally meaningless without a clear & well defined standard for distinguishing the two.

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Discussion

Willy Cooper 2y ago

The Bible is what real Christians use to distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil.

Jeff Swann 2y ago

It'd be nice if distinguishing between good and evil was as easy as looking it up in the good book, but I think most people tend to miss most of the point most of the time.

Abe 2y ago

Sadly what passes as "evil" today as defined by most of humanity "is anything that cuts across my will."

"Man's natural and inevitable urge to deny mortality and achieve a heroic self-image are the root causes of human evil."

~ Ernest Becker - 'Escape From Evil'

Jeff Swann 2y ago

The desire to be treated like a hero without having to actually be a hero is the real problem. The desire to be told you are healthy without the burden of actually living like a healthy person. Wanting a fraud maintained at the expense of reality.

The sort of person who takes pride in what he does because it's the right thing to do is the sort of person that will do the right thing even when others abandon or turn against him.

It's the person who wants respect & recognition & status, no matter how fraudulent or empty, who will corrupt the concept of good, & praise people for their vices in order to also recieve fraudulent praise.

G ✝ 2y ago

Dear sir,

It's typical of Christians to respond; "clearly, you've not read the Bible". But here am I, to say that it's because it's actually true and clear; you've indeed not read your Bible.

Regards,

Pleb

Jeff Swann 2y ago

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G ✝ 2y ago

💀

Jeff Swann 2y ago

When I read the Bible I go through many different versions at the same time (digital bible apps are great for this). I read the notes. And I look for other content on difficult passages. There is a lot of helpful stuff out there.

G ✝ 2y ago

Where on earth did you find that Christians feel they deserve to be treated like a hero? Blasphemy we say

Jeff Swann 2y ago

Why did you think I was talking about Christians when I said that?

𝔼𝕣𝕪𝕟 𝔹𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕔𝕠 2y ago

The Bible is (mostly) not a reference book where what’s good and evil can be simply looked up, but it’s still instructive, and the best possible tool for coming to understand that. The Bible shows some of the history and inner thoughts of God; through studying it deeply, we get to know Him and His desires and example in a much deeper way than if it were just an encyclopedic list of dos and don’ts.

Willy Cooper 2y ago

focusing on worldly things is just that. Anything of the world.

Jeff Swann 2y ago

This entire world is God's creation & there is nothing else any honest man is actually concerned with. God is the fabric of reality that brought the universe & everything in it, including us & this world, into existense. If you want to understand God, understanding the world is basically all we've got.

The only divide that I can see which makes any sense is social status vs truth. That which is only part of a person's imaginary little world vs the lasting truth of reality & existence.

But that would also kinda make the sort of people who are overly concerned about who qualifies as *real* Christian exactly the sort of status chasers that are concerned with the wrong things.

Abe 2y ago

It seems the fabric of reality you speak of testify about the invisible attributes of God. Truth's perceived since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.

Yet, the "man of knowledge in our time is bowed down under a burden he never imagined he would ever have: the overproduction of truth that cannot be consumed."

Greater burden is acknowledging our limitations in our understanding of truth. We like to think 'moral law', discerning of good & evil, is based in reason. But in reality its based on our shared rituals, mimetic creatures imitating one another, excusing & accusing one another, exchanging truth for lies so that we may feel safe.

Are the truth's of God limited to the planted placed, forest, glades; to flowing streams, rivers, where the oceans meet the shore; where the winds press against the mountains, sun, moon, stars spread across the skies? To animals grazing or crouching in the grass or forest, fish and bird's moving about? Are truths of God limited in the created things man brings forth from his knowledge of the natural world?

If so, let's us not forget the reality "nature is brutal...red in tooth, claw, and destroys what it creates." And the created things of man are not without its failures. Debris of mans creation's will outlast his fleshly life on this planet.

If we can acknowledge that creation testifies there is a God; why there is something, rather than nothing. Are we to understand that God has nothing to said to His creation about what is 'good', what is 'evil', what is 'right', and what is 'wrong'?

It seems in the futility of our overproduction and consumation of truth we can grow vain, perhaps even foolish in our thinking that God is impersonal.

Abe 2y ago

*consumption