Before reading the Bible and during all the decades miserably spent in darkness, I never knew that 'being a Christian' was also going to be a "mournful" and "gloomy" existence (James 4:9) but I'm hangin' in there with you Jesus and eternally grateful to you for bearing most of the load. And though I'm trying to get your message out, I'm afraid most believers have been given the message that a life in You is going to be Fun and Safe? Believers thinking they can pray for and expect Christ to provide them with own their own home, vehicle, great jobs with great pay, plenty of satisfying sex, long and healthy lives, wonderful families and friends and then die comfortably in their sleep after they have enjoyed every earthly pleasure they possibly could; rather than pray for the gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:1) in order to serve God more than their self? Some might even think you will give them a Windfall Lottery so they can buy several homes and vehicles and quit their job so they can have even more sex and recreation time and earthly mammon and have plenty money left over for their loved ones after they die comfortably in their sleep and of course, eventually; they will also give some money to needy causes?

But that's what I'm hearing from most sermons and have gotten the very clear impression with contemporary Christianity that; in addition to, but apart from God's people Israel, most believers in America truly expect to find in heaven, all of their family members and friends and perhaps their pets too? They're probably not sure if paradise includes heavenly golf courses, shopping malls, even better sex and everything else like that but they hope it's a possibility even though there is basically no evidence of this in most of God's real bibles? So Lord, you see what I'm working with and know why I'm writing this and why I think it's almost impossible to find like-minded brethren. Anyway, I gotta finish this message in case God wanted it done but will you please also bless the ones who got off my metaphoric bus at this "stop"?

Okay, rest stop is over and the impatient have been acknowledged. Here's a dandy saying I think: “good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment”. So, from experience, I don't read forum rules anymore because if the owners/mods/admin are imposing Their Rules instead of God laws, then it's just a gossip forum but also because as I said, we're not bound by man's rules anyway and everyone: "must be allowed to make mistakes in what we say (James 3:8) and learn how to deal with the consequences (Matthew 18:15-17) of our behavior" IMO. Anything short of that is a dictatorial forum and probably owned/run by adult-aged girls and boys attempting to Control people in their little patch of cyberspace? Or perhaps they actually are children just fooling around on the Internet? But what I truly think is that these forums are probably started by naïve believers with good intentions who do not have a 'leadership role' in their own physical church or maybe don't belong to any church; so the Internet affords them the opportunity to 'practice at' being a biblical pastor over their own flock of Anonymous cyber-lambs and wolves but they don't have to face the reality of ever being questioned about what they're doing and believing and saying; and I'd be interested to hear what this forum thinks about that?

Yes, that was sarcasm which I often utilize to provoke the "truth" from people and because I can admit I might be wrong and also do laugh at myself and especially when I say stupid things and someone calls me on it. But I also believe my sarcasm might be honestly inherited in Christ too and perhaps this is verified in the Bible where we often find Jesus calling people hypocrites, vipers etc. because He knows the truth and knew when people were trying to trap him in a lie. And since Jesus actually knew they were hypocrites, isn't that the Purist and Holiest sarcasm? Indeed, I often find myself lovingly wondering if Jesus ever had a smirk on his face sometimes when he was admonishing hypocrites? Do you? Yet, in those forums, when someone called another person a "hypocrite" or even implied it, the accusations and judgments started flying around like nobody's business. Then nothing good comes of it because everyone is too busy defending their self and demanding apologies. Practically hilarious really if it wasn't so sad and pathetic watching people bash each other while pretending to be Christians and then of course a moderator steps in and ejects their neighbor(s) from the forum for being fallible like everyone else in the real world. I see a truthful irony in that because isn't a Christian forum also supposed to be used for spreading the gospel? But if those who might seemingly be unruly are in darkness, then how can "we Christians" work on them if an ignorant mod/admin person kicks them out? Not to mention all the believers they ban too. Never ceases to amaze!

. . . Parts 4,5,6,7 to follow . . .