The one thing that really annoys me about fellow Christians is when they start yammering about "I'm so blessed". It sounds pretentious and arrogant as if you were looking down from high on lesser humans. It put me off about organized churches and thus that kind of behavior started to make me look upon churches as more of a gathering place for like minded people who seem to have a "superiority complex".
I tend to quote KJV Matt 5:5-8. (5)And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. (6)But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. (7)But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. (8)Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
Yet I hear all the time, people saying "I pray to God that I can have this...or give me the strength to overcome such and such a burden". Matt. 5:8 already says that "for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of..." Why should we have to pray to Him "for things". What we need to pray to Him for is guidance.
Evangelical Christians like to quote "right to testimony" with 1 John 1:7. "For there are three that testify:" What they do not realize is that they have cut that quote completely short. The true quote is from 1 John 1:7 - "(7)For there are three that testify: (8)the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. (9) If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. As much as people would like to testify to the great things that God has done for them. If they do they fall afoul of Matt 5:7. If you wish to testify to the non-Christian, then wait until they are receptive. Otherwise it's like talking to a locked and bolted door. Do not batter on the locked doors in non-Christian forums or news comment feeds. "If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son."
To me, nothing is greater than to have private communion with God and His Son. And for me His Church is the Great Outdoors (not to be confused with the Great Outdoors Church in Titusville Florida - where people go inside to pray
), where I can see his majesty and creation not sequestered in some stuffy four walled complex created by man where all I am able to do is look at structures and idols created by man. When I take my camera out with me and take a look at all the photographic opportunities thus created, where I marvel at the ducks and the geese who will walk up to me with no fear in their eyes, when I see at night the stars and the galactic vista that is displayed to me - the cosmos arrayed in front of my eyes; that's when I marvel of the creation that is the world that God created. That is why I do not need fellowship with my fellow man. I take my fellowship with God's creatures. I stand in amazement and awe of God and his creation. Heck. he created the dinosaurs as far as I'm concerned. Evolution and God may have stood hand in hand. God has blessed me with photographic skill that I've been able to develop to operate my camera in such a way that I can capture the images He presents me with for which I am THANKFUL for such blessings.
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