A life change is more than a "testimony" -- RSQUBF discussion forum

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Date Posted: 02:13:14 02/06/05 Sun
Author: Chris
Subject: A life change is more than a "testimony"
In reply to: carbon-based lifeform 's message, "Re: soliciting "human's" opinion" on 00:54:13 02/06/05 Sun

A life change itself is not enough to validate a movement or group by Christian standards.

That's right. Also, a "life change" can only be really assessed after many years, i.e. only then it can be decided if it was a real life change or a momentary hype or euphoria.

Jesus warned: When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, �I will return to the house I left.� When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.�

Or, even if we don't make it so extreme and don't talk about demon possession, it can happen that a man has been a womanizer, then becomes a Christian, but because the process of sanctification is replaced by the process of indoctrination and cultification, he does not mature, but more and more becomes dependent of men, corrupt, cowardly, arrogant, hypocritical. In the end, the result is probably worse than the condition he was in before.

If you read the gospel, you will find that Jesus did not make a big fuzz of people being womanizers, but much more about people being hypocrites, particularly "spiritual" hypocrites.

This is not to discourage Jim, I hope all the best for him. But in a cult environment, it is questionable whether people's character deep inside is really changed, or whether they only learn to conform on the outside, in order to gain acceptance or out of fear of condemnation. The two driving forces of cult members are pride/arrogance/elitism on the one side, combined with fear/guilt/shame on the other side. Both are completely unchristian motivations, but they are fostered by the cult environment and become stronger and stronger. It should be the opposite, these motivations become less and less, as the Christian matures.

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Replies:

Re: seems heavily edited -- cblf, 09:31:29 02/06/05 Sun