I looked at the top thread and thought it might make a person think they would actually think it was in Spanish so I changed it. I do want to open a discussion on making RF more accessible to intellectually impaired people like me but, I gotta gota mi bedo seenyore.

Hmmm, a youth version. I'll have to look into that. It would end up being a little long, I think.

(11-09-2018, 05:38 AM)Ed Hurst Wrote: Hmmm, a youth version. I'll have to look into that. It would end up being a little long, I think.

There really is no short way of explaining how the very foundation of one's entire existence is wrong at best but, actually a massive web built on a single lie Genesis 3:4,5. Plus, one must be thoroughly disgusted with WC in the first place. Who is like that? A lot of young people.

(11-10-2018, 08:51 AM)IainH Wrote:

(11-09-2018, 05:38 AM)Ed Hurst Wrote: Hmmm, a youth version. I'll have to look into that. It would end up being a little long, I think.

There really is no short way of explaining how the very foundation of one's entire existence is wrong at best but, actually a massive web built on a single lie Genesis 3:4,5. Plus, one must be thoroughly disgusted with WC in the first place. Who is like that? A lot of young people.

You have a great point, though I think younger folks getting into this are going to find themselves in a world of ostracization if they're not careful. That would be hell in that stage of life when you mostly just want to fit in and get along.

That's not a reason to not do anything about it, but just something to keep in mind.

I've taught my kids to the best of my ability, at the same time cautioning them about being overly vocal in youth group. They know the difference between being heart led and western. It's all I can do, I cannot force them to believe as I do. My daughter gets it because it's more in line with her nature. My son, well he wants to go to Liberty University because it has his major, sports nutrition and it's conservative. "Whenever organized religion fails you, and it will, you'll know where to turn" said father to son.

On the one hand, I would gladly give my life to see this thing spread across the world. On the other hand, I honestly believe God has given us a multi-generational strategy, so my end is unlikely to be that dramatic. There comes a point when the real curriculum is our daily human existence to be read by the heart, not the words we might offer. Paul's first missionary journey was roughly twenty years after the Ascension of Christ. Their methods simply don't fit our situation, at least not yet.

On the one hand, I'd love to be in a position to travel with this message. On the other hand, I'm not sure I'm the right guy for that mission. For now, I'm still focused on praying that we few can simply meet once in the flesh somehow, never mind some kind of missionary journeys. We don't yet have any kind of openings where we can expect an audience when we go somewhere. There would have to be an awful lot of circumstantial changes in this country first. This is simply way too foreign right now, so the nature of our work means a very slow penetration. Without divine assistance in the publicity department, we have to think in terms of the long haul.

You are doing it right, Iain. Give what you can to those who will listen. But I've been trying to approach this from the angle that my writing is mostly aimed at helping us become the gospel message. There's already a ton of crap for folks to read ("data overload") so we have to distinguish our message by getting attention some other way. I believe that's the better focus.

I feel like we're building our wings after we've jumped off the cliff, as Ray Bradbury once put it. Not that it's bad, but we have to franchised framework we can just pick up and move along. God forbid we look at it as a modern business venture, because as it stands with that, we're a complete failure.

Most mainstream churches operate like a business franchise. That's how I was trained in the ministry schools. In our avoidance of their sins, we can afford to fail at some things. I've been praying for clarity for quite some time, so jumping off or not, we get the wings when we need them. They have to be discovered; they are already there. We have to undo all the church stuff done wrong so we can rediscover what was done right, and what it means to do it right in our current context. To the mainstream, it looks like we keep crashing because they don't know what to look for. In my heart, I know we are on the right track.

(11-11-2018, 01:33 PM)Ed Hurst Wrote: Most mainstream churches operate like a business franchise. That's how I was trained in the ministry schools. In our avoidance of their sins, we can afford to fail at some things. I've been praying for clarity for quite some time, so jumping off or not, we get the wings when we need them. They have to be discovered; they are already there. We have to undo all the church stuff done wrong so we can rediscover what was done right, and what it means to do it right in our current context. To the mainstream, it looks like we keep crashing because they don't know what to look for. In my heart, I know we are on the right track.

Yes, indeedy. I know most of the people I go to church with have it wrong. I won't go on Sundays anymore because to begin with the Arminian preaching isn't even done right. The Baptist explosion in the south had Hellfire and Brimstone juxtaposed with the promise of Salvation and Heaven, you had a decision to make. It was a very democratic proposition and fit in with the early settlers and the new republican ideas before and after Independence. In today's sophisticated world, only the nice part is preached. The Church in America grows into a more political institution whose purpose is centered on preserving conservative "values", social "ministries" and making injection molded christian type thingys. It grows increasingly bizarre to me. I pray for those whose heart is inclined towards Christ but, whose path is obstructed by the nonsense called church. The biggest difference between me and my church people is joy. I don't have to be quiet for long before it just overtakes me. By the time I bound up the stairs on Wednesday night I'm ebullient, it's not a worked up emotional state but, the true overflowing that Jesus taught us. It is His Spirit in one sinners renewed heart. The Church may be moldy, rotten and unsaveable but, right now I ve no other place to go. 
  The whole thing has to be trashed and started over.