Thank you for the comment. This year will not truly be better than last. The only thing that can really improve things is getting on the right path that is the narrow way. Anything less is deceptive. The sheep's clothing brightens in appearance for while to those who don't see through it. Then it goes dark again over and over.

The leadership has not changed. The plutocrats, the worldly ones, still worship what they worship, which isn't God, and people still grovel to those chief priests of mammon. Make no mistake. Barack Obama is 100% in their pocket.

By the way, Akismet anti-comment-spam treated your comment as spam. I'm not sure why. I suggest you make your comments longer and use key words used in the post perhaps. Also, "Rex Tableware" (which is a commercial brand name) in your handle is probably not a good idea. Anyway, the fact that I approved your comment has been noted by Akismet (training the program).

Blessings to you.

Tom Usher

Hello Again, Chris,

Thank you.

This is what Christianity is supposed to be like. We discuss to help each other get closer to God (Godliness).

Your brother in Christ and your flesh relative as well, really,

Tom Usher

I can see that I misunderstood you, as I thought you took what I had said out of context.

Thanks for clearing things up for me.

Blessings to you,
--Chris

I added a little update notice at the beginning of the post too to encourage people to read your clarifying comment.

Thanks again.

Hello Chris,

Thank you for your clarification. Of course, I too don't want to be misunderstood and will take the opportunity now to further clarify.

When I wrote, "If we follow the advice of Chris on [deleted], we'd be rebuking Jesus for arguing with them and being 'cunning.' What Jesus is not is deceptive, affected, or contrived. I'm positive Chris isn't saying that he is. We must be sure that we aren't allowing that usage (connotation) of the term cunning to do a psychological number on people."

What I meant was if we were to follow your advice without the clear qualifying aspects you've now supplied. I'm sure you understand that my concern was with people running with it with only partial understanding, meaning people taking your admonition as being against all argumentation with unbelievers and even mockers.

I hope you see this give and take process as a good thing. I do.

I agree with your clarified position in total. My post was written with that in mind. There is definitely a point where further discussion becomes an obvious waste of time. I've told people that I wouldn't continue the conversation (comment thread) on this site on account of it. I wouldn't be surprised if you've done the same thing for the same reason or at least considered doing it.

You are absolutely right that Jesus did not sit there arguing in futility. We must not lose sight of the fact though that as the Gospel story progresses, we see Jesus speaking less and less in parables to those closest to him and we hear him speak more and more plainly and directly to those who were conspiring against him. In addition, he said that the Holy Spirit would come and make things clear.

We aren't charged with teaching solely in parables for instance. Some of Jesus's parables directly about the Pharisees standing around were fairly long by today's short-attention-span standards too. He'd be booed half way through some of them today. As the old saying goes, times change even while they stay the same.

I like your reply. It's open, honest, and direct. Although, I'm concerned you were offended. I hope you were not. If you were, please understand that it was not my intention to offend but to illicit the very clarification you rendered.

God bless,

Tom Usher

"If we follow the advice of Chris on [deleted], we'd be rebuking Jesus for arguing with them and being "cunning." What Jesus is not is deceptive, affected, or contrived. I'm positive Chris isn't saying that he is. We must be sure that we aren't allowing that usage (connotation) of the term cunning to do a psychological number on people."

I was speaking within the context of arguing with mockers who will take what you have to say about God and throw it back at you with malice.

Such people are to be addressed and thereby witnessed to, and even rebuked if need be; however, to sit there and argue with them for hours over what you say they ought to believe when they are clearly giving you the message that they don't want it, is to not only waste valuable time, but also to give the impression that you are trying to shove the truth down their throat.

Moreover, it is important to note that Jesus answered the questions of and rebuked those who sought to use the truth as a means to ensnare Him; but He did not sit there and argue with them for hours over semantics and phraseology. Indeed, there is a place for Apologetics; but there is also an appropriate time for it too, as well as a right and wrong way to practice it.

Finally, what I meant by 'cunning argumentation' is that there is a tendency to debate with others in a spirit that is not of the Lord. In other words, sometimes Christians answer fools according to their folly and thereby make fools of themselves.

Therefore, we must not rely on our own intellect when endeavoring to witness to others; rather, we must allow both our thoughts and words to be in complete dependence on what the Spirit moves us to say. Hence, 'self' must not take precedence over the Spirit; rather, the Spirit must take the lead in all things. In this way, we will avoid becoming a stumbling block to others and properly reflect the truth as it is in Jesus Christ.

I hope this clears things up for you.

Sincerely,
--Chris [deleted]