Current society looks at love as accepting others for what they choose to be.  You can be whoever and act however you want with no backlash because you are being your true self.

Hate is when you disagree with someone and try to push your beliefs on them.

Christians are the most hateful bunch because they don’t accept anybody.  It’s cultish isn’t it?  To believe in an imaginary person and follow what a book says that was written by a bunch of men.

Everyone has their own truth and should be allowed to practice it.

In one sense that is true because we were all born with free will and are allowed to freely make a decision.

If everyone has their own truth how do you know what is really true?  How can anything be true if everything is true?  How do you know what truth is if everyone can have their own?  If my friend’s truth is different than mine how would I know for sure that she is not right because I have my own and what if I doubted mine?  What makes mine wrong if I doubt it and my friend is right?  Or how does my friend know she is right?

There are so many people that have been on earth since the beginning of time.  How can there be a common “moral code” but everyone have their own version of it?  To make something true or false there is one option that is right and the other is wrong.

In school growing up on my true or false tests there was no gray.  Something was either true or false and I either got the answer right or it wrong.  It was a 50/50 chance and if I didn’t study then I got it wrong.  I couldn’t fight the reason I saw fit my answer was right or wrong.  There was a teacher and there was a study guide and my responsibility was to study the material.  If I didn’t study the material and got the answer wrong whose fault was it?  It wasn’t the teacher’s fault.  She gave me everything I needed to be prepared.  She taught class and said the material out loud … it was my responsibility to pay attention and if I didn’t pay attention it was still my fault if I got the answer wrong.  She was providing all kinds of ways for me to get these answers right.

“FOR THE INVISIBLE THINGS OF HIM FROM THE CREATION OF THE WORLD ARE CLEARLY SEEN, BEING UNDERSTOOD BY THE THINGS THAT ARE MADE EVEN HIS ETERNAL POWER AND GODHEAD SO THAT THEY ARE WITHOUT EXCUSE.” – ROMANS 1:20

Believing Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life isn’t my belief.  It’s actually the truth.  It’s not true because I believe it and it’s not true because I say it out loud or even that it’s my truth.  It’s been the truth since before the foundation of the world.

Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?  saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. – John 14:5-6

He even continues to Philip they had been with him so long and still do not understand knowing Him (Jesus) is knowing the Father.  They walked with him and were taught by Him and still did not see that He and the Father are one and He came from Him.

I say all this because we were all given a measure of faith.  God is a just God.  He doesn’t just condemn people to hell for fun.  We were all given a measure of faith and we were all given the choice to choose Him or not.  God has used several people to refine me.  A few of them I considered friends and are atheists.  I’ve gotten to see up close the beliefs and arguments of what they believe and how they outright have to deny the simplest truths because ‘their foolish hearts are darkened’.  Because of the tiny measure of faith they have been given deep down they know they are wrong which is why they refuse to face anything.  Their only form of attack can come in sarcastic responses.  It’s much easier to joke about something or call someone crazy than it is to look within and question your own beliefs and admit to themselves they are wrong.

Ask an atheist about the after life and keep going and watch them squirm or change the subject.  They don’t like talking about it because they have to face it.  One day they will face it and by then it will be too late.

One time while praying my bible fell open to Psalm 36:

“THE TRANSGRESSION OF THE WICKED SAITH WITHIN MY HEART, THAT THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE HIS EYES. FOR HE FLATTERETH HIMSELF IN HIS OWN EYES, UNTIL HIS INIQUITY BE FOUND TO BE HATEFUL. THE WORDS OF HIS MOUTH ARE INIQUITY AND DECEIT: HE HATH LEFT OFF TO BE WISE, AND TO DO GOOD. HE DEVISETH MISCHIEF UPON HIS BED; HE SETTETH HIMSELF IN A WAY THAT IS NOT GOOD; HE ABHORRETH NOT EVIL.

THY MERCY, O LORD, IS IN THE HEAVENS; AND THY FAITHFULNESS REACHETH UNTO THE CLOUDS.  THY RIGHTEOUSNESS IS LIKE THE GREAT MOUNTAINS; THY JUDGMENTS ARE A GREAT DEEP: O LORD, THOU PRESERVEST MAN AND BEAST.  HOW EXCELLENT IS THY LOVINGKINDNESS, O GOD! THEREFORE THE CHILDREN OF MEN PUT THEIR TRUST UNDER THE SHADOW OF THY WINGS. THEY SHALL BE ABUNDANTLY SATISFIED WITH THE FATNESS OF THY HOUSE; AND THOU SHALT MAKE THEM DRINK OF THE RIVER OF THY PLEASURES.

FOR WITH THEE IS THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE: IN THY LIGHT SHALL WE SEE LIGHT. O CONTINUE THY LOVINGKINDNESS UNTO THEM THAT KNOW THEE; AND THY RIGHTEOUSNESS TO THE UPRIGHT IN HEART. LET NOT THE FOOT OF PRIDE COME AGAINST ME, AND LET NOT THE HAND OF THE WICKED REMOVE ME.

THERE ARE THE WORKERS OF INIQUITY FALLEN: THEY ARE CAST DOWN, AND SHALL NOT BE ABLE TO RISE.”

“PRIDE GOETH BEFORE DESTRUCTION, AND AN HAUGHTY SPIRIT BEFORE A FALL.” – PROVERBS 16:8

When this person was a little boy he asked the Sunday school teacher about dinosaurs and why they weren’t mentioned in the creation story.  This guy is a trouble maker though and out to make his own point with no regard of listening or hearing what the truth is anyway.  When the lady didn’t answer him because I guess she didn’t know he decided it was all fake.

A goat is a goat and a sheep is a sheep.

You have to want Him more than…

He didn’t actually care about creation or how we got here.  They mock a Creator, but cannot have a real answer because the TRUTH of the matter is THERE HAD TO BE A CREATOR.  If you ever ask how this got here and how what created that got here it all goes back to a speck… but then cannot answer how that speck got there.  Nothing can come from nothing and they cannot answer that.  Because deep down they know there was a Creator.  How do they know?  We have all been given the truth and they have just chosen to believe the lie.  I was not there at creation, but have faith to believe the bible is true.

The atheist who does not have religion was not there at creation either.  But, they rely on what evidence to prove evolution?  Faith.  Their faith is in science that cannot prove nothing came from nothing.

Before that conversation I told him that when he was little something happened that caused him to lose faith and there was no one around to guide him on the right path.

“Maybe”

So, I told him where dinosaurs were mentioned other places in the Bible and that even unicorns were mentioned.  In Job it mentions unicorns and they are rhinoceros that represent strength.

This guy already chose to be blind and live in darkness because he just chose to run with the fact that since dinosaurs were not mentioned in the creation story that the Bible lied.  My response was cows weren’t mentioned in the creation story either but they exist.

Kangaroos weren’t mentioned either… nor a lot of other animals we see every day.

Due to his stubbornness, arrogance, and pride he refused to acknowledge any of it because to acknowledge it is to admit that he had been wrong his whole life.  The lie that was created in his heart he chose to believe.  Only one of us could be right and he chose to remain blind to the truth or at least the fact that dinosaurs were indeed mentioned in the Bible.  I had spoken to this guy for 4 years and it was honestly the first time I really saw “blind”.  After four years I realized I would’ve benefitted more from throwing a tennis ball against a brick wall.

Unbelievable.  I would stay up at night praying for this person knowing the road of destruction they were on and couldn’t bear the thought.  God shows up for a season.  He knocks but it is up to us to answer Him.  One day God told me to stop praying for them.  Before that I met them for coffee and told him how the Bible states that if we reject Him long enough He will eventually let us go and live in our delusions and it seemed that He had already let him go.  I told him the Bible states if someone rejects Him we are to walk away.  I pleaded with him and said I couldn’t bear to walk away yet.  I couldn’t give up on him.  It didn’t do any good.  Eventually I realized God can’t lose any of his sheep and if he is a sheep then one day his eyes would be opened, but I couldn’t watch it anymore.  The time came that the desire to pray for him stopped.

Romans says he is without excuse.

I have learned that all atheists are the same.  They believe they are all different and have their own truths… free spirits if you will… but because they have the same father (the devil and father of lies) they all believe the same.  They have to.  They say they hate religion and do not hate.  They say Christians are the hateful ones.  But, their religion is themselves.  They have their own moral code as in they don’t do bad things … haven’t murdered anyone so they’re ok.  They don’t need a god or religion to tell them not to hate or murder.

This person was someone I saw every day.  “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers”.  I talked to them a lot and told them pretty much everything about my life and especially what God delivered me from.  Their response was I needed more confidence in myself and had too many walls and was afraid to get close to people.

All I could do was laugh.  I literally told them my ENTIRE LIFE STORY and have no idea what walls they were talking about.  The only walls they had were spiritual blindness.  They were trapped behind their delusions.  The flesh and spirit cannot see each other.  He could not see that everything I did was stemmed from my relationship with God and that I cannot rely on myself.  I came to the end of myself.

He and I bounced off of each other.  In the world’s eyes we were perfect for each other.  I’ll spare you all the reasons why, but if I were to tell anyone my feelings for this person and the obvious religious problem they would say, “Nobody is perfect Aimee.  You can look beyond and sometimes have to accept people for who they are”.  That, of course, is what the guy told me as well… that I should just accept him.  I can accept people.  I love people. God put this love for people in my heart.  But, I cannot accept sin and someone just outright hating my God and walking the same path as them.  Of course, how do you hate someone you don’t believe exists.  Telling someone the truth is caring about them.  Warning them about the cliff ahead while they are running full speed toward it is caring about them.

Telling them that all these churches that tickle people’s ears are leading them straight to hell and explaining what the bible actually says about sin … is love.  Calling out false teachers and telling people those preachers are charlatans God warns us about in Ezekiel  is love.  They teach grace.  Yes, we are saved by Grace through faith and not any works from ourselves.  Ephesians 2:8

If you love Him you will keep his commandments.  Grace does not give you the freedom to continue in your old ways.

“WHAT THEN? SHALL WE SIN, BECAUSE WE ARE NOT UNDER THE LAW, BUT UNDER GRACE? GOD FORBID. KNOW YE NOT, THAT TO WHOM YE YIELD YOURSELVES SERVANTS TO OBEY, HIS SERVANTS YE ARE TO WHOM YE OBEY; WHETHER OF SIN UNTO DEATH, OR OF OBEDIENCE UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS? BUT GOD BE THANKED, THAT YE WERE THE SERVANTS OF SIN, BUT YE HAVE OBEYED FROM THE HEART THAT FORM OF DOCTRINE WHICH WAS DELIVERED YOU. BEING THEN MADE FREE FROM SIN, YE BECAME THE SERVANTS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. – ROMANS 6:15-18

One of the big things for me was when I was delivered from bitterness a lot of my sarcasm went too because the roots of the sarcasm were plucked out.  (This was simultaneously a blessing and kind of sad… kinda miss the quick wit… ha)  This caused our conversations to lessen because I no longer had anything to talk about.  He can ONLY be sarcastic.  So, a few days ago when I saw him we talked back and forth a little to which we finally had this conversation:

“… every day is a good day.”
“Nobody to set on fire?” – sarcasm
“No, God made me free.”
“I thought he already did that?”- sarcasm
“He did but then I found out I was holding on.”
“So you were more free?”
“Yep. I don’t hate anymore. He made me free. Life is too short for that. Hate only hurts yourself.”
“That’s true.”

And then he left.

Jesus says if you ever hated anyone you are just as bad as a murderer.  If you have ever lusted after anyone you are an adulterer in your heart.  They of course believe they are not hateful.

I already knew I was filled with bitterness and hate and begged God for so long to deliver me.  Thankfully, he has and I’m just this new person walking in freedom.

Love means always saying you’re sorry…

Forget the former things…And then suddenly you’re not a grumpy old man…

“AND EVEN AS THEY DID NOT LIKE TO RETAIN GOD IN THEIRKNOWLEDGE, GOD GAVE THEM OVER TO A REPROBATE MIND, TO DO THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE NOT CONVENIENT; BEING FILLED WITH ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, FORNICATION, WICKEDNESS, COVETOUSNESS, MALICIOUSNESS; FULL OF ENVY, MURDER, DEBATE, DECEIT, MALIGNITY; WHISPERERS, BACKBITERS,, HATERS OF GOD, DESPITEFUL, PROUD, BOASTERS, INVENTORS OF EVIL THINGS, DISOBEDIENT TO PARENTS, WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING, COVENANTBREAKERS, WITHOUT NATURAL AFFECTION, IMPLACABLE, UNMERCIFUL: WHO KNOWING THE JUDGMENT OF GOD, THAT THEY WHICH COMMIT SUCH THINGS ARE WORTHY OF DEATH, NOT ONLY DO THE SAME, BUT HAVE PLEASURE IN THEM THAT DO THEM.” – ROMANS 1:28-32

God has opened my eyes to so much in the last 5 years.  As an unbeliever you think you know everything.  As a believer you realize you don’t know anything.  We are to continue growing in our faith, but remain as a child and have faith like a child because a child is totally dependent on their parents.  They cling to them and we are to cling to God and rely on nothing except Him and His wisdom.

“BUT THE ANOINTING WHICH HE HAVE RECEIVED OF HIM ABIDETH IN YOU, AND YE NEED NOT THAT ANY MAN TEACH YOU: BUT AS THE SAME ANOINTING TEACHETH YOU OF ALL THINGS, AND IS TRUTH, AND IS NO LIE, AND EVEN AS IT HATH TAUGHT YOU, YE SHALL ABIDE IN HIM. AND NOW LITTLE CHILDREN, ABIDE IN HIM; THAT WHEN HE SHALL APPEAR, WE MAY HAVE CONFIDENCE, AND NOT BE ASHAMED BEFORE HIM AT HIS COMING.” – 1 JOHN 2:27-28

Christians are not better than atheists or anyone else.

FOR ALL HAVE SINNED, AND COME SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD- ROMANS 3:23

A Christian is a person who recognizes their sin and begs for forgiveness.  They realize nothing they could do can save them and can only rely on Christ’s sacrifice to take away their dirty and filthy nature.  As a new creature they can no longer stand the thought of their sin and offenses.  As a new creation it is impossible to comfortably live the same and if you do would have to ask yourself if you really are saved.  You are brand new and have His nature.  You are now made into the image and likeness of Christ.  You are seen as holy and righteous.  While we live in the flesh and sinful body we have His spirit living inside because we are now temples of the Holy Ghost.  We are the tabernacles and because He hates sin and unrighteousness we do as well.  The difference between an unrepentant person and a new creature is the unrepentant continues living in their sin and loves it.  They love the ways of the world and will glory in it whereas the Christian, the new creation, cannot stand the thought of their old ways.  They turn away from their old ways and follow the ways of Christ.  We are forgiven and made new.  God doesn’t even see the old person when they turn to Him.

“FOR WE OURSELVES ALSO WERE SOMETIMES FOOLISH, DISOBEDIENT, DECEIVED, SERVING DIVERS LUSTS AND PLEASURES, LIVING IN MALICE AND ENVY, HATEFUL, AND HATING ONE ANOTHER.  BUT AFTER THAT THE KINDNESS AND LOVE OF GOD OUR SAVIOUR TOWARD MAN APPEARED,  NOT BY WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH WE HAVE DONE, BUT ACCORDING TO HIS MERCY HE SAVED US, BY THE WASHING OF REGENERATION, AND RENEWING OF THE HOLY GHOST; WHICH HE SHED ON US ABUNDANTLY THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR SAVIOR; THAT BEING JUSTIFIED BY HIS GRACE, WE SHOULD BE MADE HEIRS ACCORDING TO THE HOPE OF ETERNAL LIFE.” – TITUS 3:3-7

The world hates God.  They don’t understand Him.  They don’t want anything to do with Him.

The new creatures thoughts all stem from a godly view.  God is always on their mind.

“Religion is sitting in church thinking about fishing.  A relationship is fishing and thinking about God.”

“Religion says ‘I messed up. My dad’s going to kill me.
Relationship says, ‘I messed up.  I need to go talk to my dad.”

Part 2 has a whole new conversation God is dealing with me on.

It’s always an adventure. 🙂