I've noticed that men in the westernized Christian Church spend a disproportionate amount of time fighting sin with their heads, mainly over sex. They reach an age where, whether through medications, disease or natural reduction in hormones, their libido diminishes to the point where they just don't care about sex. When this happens they start praising the Lord for getting their minds right. An old gent at church Wed night gave an excruciatingly long prayer thanking God for right thinking. I wanted to scream "You idiot! You've wasted your entire life focusing on something that is fallen, irreversibly broken and that no amount of praying, self flagellation, determination and rigorous self discipline will ever make right!" Man, I am so over that. It is the washing of the heart by the blood of the Lamb through faith given solely by God's grace that gives the Spirit a fit place to dwell. When that becomes the reality of your heart, you are able to see that the mind is just a blob of fallen grey sludge and wicked thoughts are what it does. Fighting bad thoughts through any medium but the heart is a sucker bet that you will always lose. Now I would like to convince some people of this truth but, I guess the time is yet to come, one day when I've been prepped the Lord will say "sicc 'em boy" and I will.

Don't forget the camel hair shirt and leather belt. I'll endorse you; count on that.

(09-13-2018, 09:43 PM)Ed Hurst Wrote: Don't forget the camel hair shirt and leather belt. I'll endorse you; count on that.

Yes sir, I did it to myself for years. I must give credit to my Dad, he taught me to question everything. When I was trying to convert him, he never would accept the western evangelical reasoned argument. He had been raised on that and saw through it. When I quit arguing and started listening, things began to change. God used him to get me to see that the only place the Spirit could work was through the heart, something my Dad knew instinctively. About a month before he died we were coming back from the VA hospital in Salisbury, NC, an 1&1/4 hour drive I was talking about this and Pop who was very sick and could barely speak have me his "Well, Duh!" look . He had the most serene smile, like he was happy I'd figured something out. Since he's been gone,  the Spirit has shown me over and over how he was favored and used by the Lord for my benefit. He saw clearly what was wrong with the church and that's why he didn't go until the end, he did it not because he needed to but, rather as a comfort to people who loved him. He tried to teach me that a man's treasure was in his relationships with people. I missed it while he was alive but, I do now and that would make him  happy.