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Showing posts with label perfection. Show all posts
Showing posts with label perfection. Show all posts

February 8, 2011

We want you to show this same diligence to the very end

Heb 6:9 "Even though we speak like this, [warn against falling away] dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case — the things that have to do with salvation. 10 God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. 11 We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, so that what you hope for may be fully realized. 12 We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised."

'Convinced of better things', but anyway, salvation seems to be accompanied by works of love. What to do if I think I don't have these enough in my life? Really, not easy. Right now, I don't manage much more than taking care for my little kids, and even this is far from perfect.   I'm not able to add much more deeds to my life, but I can still fight for patience, faith and other good attitudes in everything I do.
2 Pe 1:5-9 "For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;  and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;  and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins."

January 22, 2011

Good and bad side of the community

To give some balance I try to list what I think was good and what bad in the community.
 Good was:
- everyone encouraged and allowed to contribute - teaching that every Christian is called to serve God and people, not just the clergy.
- Bible-study, knowing the right teaching valued and practiced (but probably too strict concerning some details and too demanding for mentally weaker ones)
- meeting often to strengthen, encourage/admonish and serve each other, sharing our lives  (but in expense of all other relationships)
- relationships, loving of every brother/sister the same way was valued, building relationship with every brother, not only symphatic ones. 
- evangelization encouraged and practiced (the content of message was not always ok: community-centered instead of Jesus-centered)
- devotion, giving all our life (but sometimes extreme) 
- discipline, balance between bodily and spiritual: daily walks, rest after work/before common time (only too uniform, for all the same)
...

 Bad was:
- discouraging personal time, making too dependant on each other instead of God. (I mean, it was seen negative, when somebody didn't join common activities, but wanted to be alone)
- making our life-style as the only possible for a Christian. Daily meeting and frequent traveling are not affordable in poorer countries and for families with little children. Some may have specific tasks for certain social group (seniors, orphans, homeless, addicts, poor, prisoners, etc). etc.
- extreme, loveless, dependent-making delimitation/separation form all outsiders, including own family. So they cannot experience our love.
- too exhausting schedule. There were changes for better: walks became shorter, WM topics not at night etc.
- activity as the main measure of endeavoring, bodily weakness sometimes mixed up with little endeavoring 

Good theory but bad application
- no hierarchy, 'all are brothers', but the special position of GH (rather according to other's words, I don't have much personal experience of it)
- theoretically allowed to marry (theory about marriage probably insufficient because of lack of practical experience), but in practice forbidding marriage -> making the yoke too hard for several + insincerity
- according to the Apologia we were open, but really closed for justified corrections and learning from people outside
- fighting for holiness together, but sometimes too much dealing with sins, calling too many things a sin, not trusting enough one's self-assessment and God's work in the other


January 1, 2011

There was so much love for the truth

There was so much love for the truth in the community. Can we imagine that also something bad happened there?
As creatures of the perfect God we long for perfection. We are called to be perfect and holy as God is. But unfortunately we are all still imperfect.. It is sad. It can make me angry sometimes: why we are so weak? But anyway we are only on the way to perfection and sometimes we mistake or sin. We sin as individuals, but as interdependant beings we may mistake also as a community of Christians. It may be hard to believe or accept, but if we look honestly at our community and the fruits of it's practice both inside and outside, I think we have to admit that not all has been holy, loving and merciful.
Concerning an individual I think it was clear, but concerning the community it was taught that we are the church and the church is the pillar of the truth - infallible. Because the Lord is with His church. But why have all forms of the church in the history proved to be imperfect?  I suppose because all men except Jesus have been imperfect. Is GH or Josef or anybody else from the community perfect? Of cause not. Everyone can make a mistake and being that much connected to each other the whole community can make a mistake.

 Looking for the truth was good, but the truth is not measured by our community's understanding.