Are we past the point of no return?

[MCgrease08]

Steve, we’re friends on facebook. I don’t know how many of my posts you actually take the time to read Anymore but I know you have responded to a few of them in the past. Over there, I’m much more critical of the church on these issues than I am here. You might have seen some of those posts. But to a large degree, I lay the blame at the feet of the 20th century Christian church. We largely abandoned the field and nature abhors a vacuum. We got more interested in growing congregations by building concert halls/mega churches, preaching ear tickling gospel, creating new programs to attract tithe paying customers rather than lost sheep to be redeemed.

We got too caught up in the hope we’d be raptured up we forgot our commission. We started to believe the lies of separation of church and state and judge not. We forgot that being the church was more than simply spending an hour a week rocking out to Christian rock shows and a 10 minute self esteem building pep talk. To a large degree it is our fault. It may be too late but it definitely won’t change without a heart change.

I'm very new in my journey to God. I joined my current church in January. Prior to that I was never a believer, having grown up in a boring church that I could never connect with.

Since I walked into iTown Church in Fishers, I have been hooked. I went through their Grow plan to learn about how my skills can help the church spread the word and connect with people and bring them closer to Christ. I'm on the outreach team and serve as an usher, greeter and first responder. I joined a small group that helped me start my journey, and I've participated in several events where we've fed thousands of families and passed out close to 200,000 pounds of food. We're actually on pace to become the largest hunger relief organization in the state.

iTown is everything you mentioned your church is not. It's not about outside in religion. They don't preach that you must follow God's laws in order to fit in. They preach that by building a place where people fit in first, they will eventually build faith and learn to follow Christ. It's been a remarkable awakening for me. It's all about connecting with other people and helping your fellow man (and woman for the PC crowd.) Pastor Dave Sumrall preaches that the church isn't a building we visit on Sundays. The people are the church.

We have some amazing things planned, including a partnership with several community organizations to create a transitional housing center to help people find stable living, get out of addition, build skills to find work, address health needs and find a path to a better, more productive life.

The inspiration and sense of calm I get from the message and the work I've done at iTown is the main reason I have hope for our future. It's the reason I haven't been more despondent over what's happening across the country. I know I have an opportunity to make an impact with real people in my community. It's an amazing feeling to be grounded in that. It helps me tune out those who seek to divide us.

https://itownchurch.com/

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

I'm very new in my journey to God. I joined my current church in January. Prior to that I was never a believer, having grown up in a boring church that I could never connect with.

Since I walked into iTown Church in Fishers, I have been hooked. I went through their Grow plan to learn about how my skills can help the church spread the word and connect with people and bring them closer to Christ. I'm on the outreach team and serve as an usher, greeter and first responder. I joined a small group that helped my start my journey, and I've participated in several events where we've fed thousands of families and passed out close to 200,000 pounds of food. We're actually on pace to become the largest hunger relief organization in the state.

iTown is everything you mentioned your church is not. It's not about outside in religion. They don't preach that you must follow God's laws in order to fit in. They preach that by building a place where people fit in first, they will eventually build faith and learn to follow Christ. It's been a remarkable awakening for me. It's all about connecting with other people and helping your fellow man (and woman for the PC crowd.) Pastor Dave Sumrall preaches that the church isn't a building we visit on Sundays. They people are the church.

We have some amazing things planned, including a partnership with several community organizations to create a transitional housing center to help people find stable living, get out of addition, build skills to find work, address health needs and find a path to a better, more productive life.

The inspiration and sense of calm I get from the message and the work I've done at iTown is the main reason I have hope for our future. It's the reason I haven't been more despondent over what's happening across the country. I know I have an opportunity to make an impact with real people in my community. It's an amazing feeling to be grounded in that. It helps me tune out those who seek to divide us.

https://itownchurch.com/

That’s great! There are a few out there.

I’m really glad to hear you jumped in and decided to help out instead of simply being a “customer”. One of the gripes I have at our church is that too many men (especially) are reluctant to step forward and lead.

 

[steveh_131]

Last time I was here, religion was a forbidden subject lol. Is that no longer the case?

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[Phase2]

Religion is back on the menu: Civil Religious Discussions : all things Christianity II

 

[churchmouse]

Last time I was here, religion was a forbidden subject lol. Is that no longer the case?

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

There were a FEW OF US MODS THAT DECIDED IT WAS TIME TO LET THE MASSES HAVE THESE DISCUSSIONS.
Caps lock again. Forgive me.

Yes it is again an open topic but with well defined lines drawn to keep everything civil.

 

[Tombs]

Do I think we're past the point of no return? In short, yes.

But the question you should be asking yourself, is that necessarily for the worst?
The evil has had its cloak ripped off, and is bearing its teeth in front of everyone right now. There's no more guessing what side is the right side in this fight. There's no ambiguity at all anymore.

We're at a crossroads that will determine the path we deserve in this country.

If good men stand up and destroy this evil that is lurking in our country, I believe we could be in for a golden era in our nation's history.
If good men remain apathetic or in denial, then we are absolutely plunging right off that cliff and into the fiery pits in no more than a few years time.

This isn't even about political ideologies or religion. It's about people who simply want good and honest people to suffer for their own pleasure, which is as close of a thing as you can get to an objective evil. Good men just need to be taught that sometimes a situation requires things of you that you'd normally consider harsh or objectionable. But in the face of an evil such as this, it is total war, there are no rules.

David didn't get into a moral dilemma debating with everyone for weeks about whether it was right to kill Goliath or not.

 

[MCgrease08]

.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Tombs again.

 

[churchmouse]

.

I just put +10 in he rep magazine.

 

[jspy5]

I believe we have past the point of no return and will never totally take back which was stolen. Sure, in the conservative circles we still have the conservative strength that will never back down or give into socialism......sure; I've heard that before. The liberal opposition is slowly chipping away at our constitution, our history, our morality....ever so slowly. There are blatant anti-Americans that have been elected to office, judges that write or abolish law, politicians who support a historical change in our system. Children are not being taught the constitution but rather Marxism, the gay agenda and anti-American viewpoints. You have mayors using tax payers money to write crap on the streets in hopes of swaying an election; crap that openly supports death to whites all in the text of racism. Government officials openly honoring fugitives, criminals and others who openly hate America. Mayors and governors willing to destroy the economy, create fear, and induce control in hopes of manipulating an election. Oh, the china flu.....that crap alone has certainly changes America, forever.

That is just the tip of the iceberg.

Can we turn it around? No way. We may slow it down but never stop it. They have been slowly turning the heat up and the water is about to boil. No turning back.

I think this sums it up, in my mind its inevitable based on the demographics. I can only hope I am wrong about this but until we change the education system, schools are spitting out children that have been brainwashed since day. By the time they get to college or just out of college they are all SJW graduates. Similar to puppy mills really. Meanwhile "old school" conservative people are dying off. Its just a matter of time.

 

[jspy5]

Steve, we’re friends on facebook. I don’t know how many of my posts you actually take the time to read Anymore but I know you have responded to a few of them in the past. Over there, I’m much more critical of the church on these issues than I am here. You might have seen some of those posts. But to a large degree, I lay the blame at the feet of the 20th century Christian church. We largely abandoned the field and nature abhors a vacuum. We got more interested in growing congregations by building concert halls/mega churches, preaching ear tickling gospel, creating new programs to attract tithe paying customers rather than lost sheep to be redeemed.

We got too caught up in the hope we’d be raptured up we forgot our commission. We started to believe the lies of separation of church and state and judge not. We forgot that being the church was more than simply spending an hour a week rocking out to Christian rock shows and a 10 minute self esteem building pep talk. To a large degree it is our fault. It may be too late but it definitely won’t change without a heart change.

I have thought this myself. Having grown up in a somewhat small ( 3-400 members ) local church I do believe these mega churches are more about the amenities and social gatherings than Gods work.

 

[NKBJ]

steveh,
You asked if people are thinking that we've passed the point of no return. My answer is "no" and here's why (please bear with me and I'll be as short as I can).

Remember when Clinton said that if Donald Trump became president then they'd all hang? I think she was right to be afraid because the timing of Trump's presidency is event driven. Spectacular once in a lifetime events.

In 1913 our republic was betrayed and lost. A Ponzi scheme was implemented to supply the financial power for world domination, an extension of the fevered dreams of Rhodes and Milner. Because Ponzi schemes have limited life spans due to their very structure the one implemented here has a beginning and an end. We are now at the end, the point at which the scheme implodes and the public shouts something about like the Greek guy that got short changed, "Hey, eucalyptus!" So enters President Trump.

Having arrived at those uncomfortable conclusions I have to decide what I think has brought him to the office. Passionate patriotism? Megalomania? Self defense? Nope. He was recruited a long while back with the prompting by President Richard Nixon, to run for the office during this time of great vulnerability, the transition from old scheme to new scheme.

And that leaves two possibilities as I sees it:
1. The job of the president is to prevent successful resistance to the transition.
2. The job of the president is to prevent the successful implementation of the planned transition.

By observation of his enemies I'd say #1 isn't very likely.
If what we have is #2 then the sky's the limit on what can be achieved if people start thinking and doing instead of reacting. It's time to take names and kick dragon.

 

[bmbutch]

I think this sums it up, in my mind its inevitable based on the demographics. I can only hope I am wrong about this but until we change the education system, schools are spitting out children that have been brainwashed since day. By the time they get to college or just out of college they are all SJW graduates. Similar to puppy mills really. Meanwhile "old school" conservative people are dying off. Its just a matter of time.

That sums it up pretty well for me.

 

[BugI02]

There were a FEW OF US MODS THAT DECIDED IT WAS TIME TO LET THE MASSES HAVE THESE DISCUSSIONS.
Caps lock again. Forgive me.

Yes it is again an open topic but with well defined lines drawn to keep everything civil.

And we are grateful that the man who pays the bills is willing to take that chance on us. There have been a few bumpy spots, but I think it has gone pretty well

 

[churchmouse]

And we are grateful that the man who pays the bills is willing to take that chance on us. There have been a few bumpy spots, but I think it has gone pretty well

It was a fist fight for the 1st month. Some folks just will not see any way but their own. Kind of like politics. We almost lost that as well.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

It was a fist fight for the 1st month. Some folks just will not see any way but their own. Kind of like politics. We almost lost that as well.

For a long time we had a constituency that used that rule as a sort of club and sheild. Most of them are gone now, I think.

 

[ditcherman]

We're already in a fight, only it's mostly online. Congress seriously needs to do something to prevent tech companies from censoring conservative opinion online. That will only happen if Republicans can keep the White House and take both houses of Congress. A tough challenge for sure. It is helpful to keep in mind that Twitter is not real life. It's a small collection of the loudest nut balls, but corporations keep looking at Twitter as if it's representative of what people actually think. It's not

I think defunding public Universities has to happen too. We can't allow these indoctrination mills to continue to erode actual science and critical thinking skills.

I always will have hope we can turn it around. Truth and logic will always win out. That's why it's critical to have conversations in person to find common ground. Speak the truth backed by love for your fellow Americans.

Also, this is definitely worth a watch. It's long, but it does an excellent job walking through how this started, where it's going, and how we might start to snuff it out.

This guy knows so much about woke culture and how academia fuels it, that he is actually able to win awards for fake research papers that troll the entire concept and resulting craziness that has sprouted up around critical theory.

[video=youtube_share;FtNW3I1FZ5o]http://youtu.be/FtNW3I1FZ5o[/video]

Been listening to this episode on and off today, and it is so good. Thanks for sharing.
Something in it for everybody to identify with, and he pulls no punches.

So much truth in this thread overall.

 

[churchmouse]

For a long time we had a constituency that used that rule as a sort of club and sheild. Most of them are gone now, I think.

They are. But the mindset was hard to shake off for some folks.

 

[BugI02]

I was just an INGO tyro at the time, so wasn't paying attention to how hard it must have been to moderate, but I enjoyed the heck out of religion v science and got to know some impressive INGO intellects there

I miss CathyInBlue

 

[Lex Concord]

I was just an INGO tyro at the time, so wasn't paying attention to how hard it must have been to moderate, but I enjoyed the heck out of religion v science and got to know some impressive INGO intellects there

I miss CathyInBlue

 

[churchmouse]

I was just an INGO tyro at the time, so wasn't paying attention to how hard it must have been to moderate, but I enjoyed the heck out of religion v science and got to know some impressive INGO intellects there

I miss CathyInBlue

I miss her and several others that were literally ran off by the staff at that time. The hammer down response of those times has been done away with for the most part. Times/people/life changes.