Ephesians 6:12 and fighting extremists

A just man falleth seven times, yet standeth back up again. Maybe we should just lay in the mud and let everyone walk all over us?
 
1 Corinthians 2:14 Context


11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

hook, line, and sinker because it gives me great joy
 
Can anyone look at the spiritual aspects of this and how it relates to the physical today? This is from the old testament.



Ecclesiastes 3King James Version (KJV)
3 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

I hear the spirit of man talking......


Russian President Vladimir Putin has again scrambled his jets in a snap military drill meant to prepare his air force for a "time of war."

"In accordance with the decision by the Armed Forces Supreme Commander, a snap check of the Aerospace Forces began to evaluate readiness of the control agencies and troops to carry out combat training tasks," said Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, according to Russia's state-run media.

"Special attention should be paid to combat alert, deployment of air defense systems for a time of war and air groupings' readiness to repel the aggression," Shoigu added.
 
just me said:
Can anyone look at the spiritual aspects of this and how it relates to the physical today? This is from the old testament.
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It doesn't.
 
Could that be partially because there are no true spiritual leaders in today's world?
 
just me said:
Could that be partially because there are no true spiritual leaders in today's world?
Click to expand...

You should totally start your own Religious Sect/Cult!
 
just me said:
"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

Are extreme measures necessary to protect ourselves from the extremism we face daily? We all have struggles.
What is it our inner spirit fights with each day? Why do we fight inside? Why do we wrestle against the night?

Greater jihad is described as such: the spiritual struggle within oneself against sin. At what point does one become extreme? Are we fighting extremists, or are we fighting militants?

We talked today regarding how mafia, as we know it, never murdered women and children. I remembered the old movie "The Professional" when it was simply said as such: no women, no children. NO WOMEN, NO CHILDREN! The world, in general, is losing the spiritual battle. They have even forgotten the spiritual battle. Even mafia of old knew it was wrong to kill women and children. It was an unwritten code I would like to think is still upheld. Threatening a man's wife and children is morally wrong. What has happened?

We may know where most of those killing our men, women, and children are coming from. Do we go to the extreme and stop all people from those places from coming and going? We must make a stand somewhere, and we must not be weak. I ask again if we have forgotten what we are truly wrestling with and struggling against?

All I seem to hear lately are complaints. Is there nothing else to offer?
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The Bible told you.. We are fighting principalities.

You chose a very pertinent quote, but could you even begin to conceive of what it truly means?

"The Mafia didn't kill women or children" ... Now, is that what you actually know, or what Hollywood told you to think?

The Mafia, practically built Hollywood. Think about that for a moment.

Most people really do not understand how remarkably dark our controllers are, most people live in denial, those who dare to look and point are often ostracised by society... labelled "nutter" and done with.

You know where to find me if you want some tales from the crypt.
 
I'm a Christian, but I wasn't always, and I understand many of the arguments against it. I'm also more of a perennial philosopher. Because of that, there are many Christians that would say I am a bad Christian or not a true Christian. I welcome that criticism with open arms.

The problem with engaging in spiritual warfare with other groups is that many of us are spiritually ignorant. The real spiritual battle is within. Once the battle is won for our own hearts and minds, then and only then should we engage in spiritual warfare outside of ourselves. Why? Because then we know what the hell we are talking about, we know what we are doing, we understand how not to cause more harm and compound the problem. More importantly we know God is calling the shots, not us. As it is, many people take in the Bible as data and regurgitate it as data without truly knowing. (That's not directed at anyone on this forum, it just a generalization) Every day is a spiritual battle within, and with others. The opportunities to plant the seed of love in everyday life are endless. And it's a slow, never ending process...it takes time for seeds to grow. Generations, lifetimes even.

It is my opinion that our current approach to fighting extremism/terrorism is making matters worse. Look at all hatred we dump on entire groups of people and religions. Is that Christ-like? Look at all the civilians that are killed as collateral damage. Is "collateral damage" what happens when we have God in our hearts? If we be still and know God, we know love, we know "peace beyond all understanding" when we act not of our will but of God's, that is, when we know God in our hearts, it is expressed outwardly as compassion, kindness, understanding and love for our brothers and sisters. It is an automatic selflessness to benefit others. Not just to do no harm, but to heal.

When we close our borders, point our fingers, judge, hate, seek vengeance, divide and kill we are not acting in love but fear. Spiritual warfare without love is just war.

When we act in fear and seek to protect what is "ours" through violent retaliation we are doing more harm than good. By rejecting refugees, hating Islam, and killing civilians we are not protecting ourselves and eliminating a threat. We are creating a bigger and stronger enemy with deeper roots. When we kill a child's parents we plant a seed of hate in that child. When we kill a child the parents want revenge. When we turn away people seeking safety we plant seeds of resentment. When we spew hateful ignorance at people that look different and practice a different religion we are only making ourselves their enemy.

I believe that in fighting this spiritual battle with extremism we need to look deeper than we currently are. What we tend to focus on is the obvious. People are brutally killing other people. That's bad. They are doing this because of Islam. Islam's bad. And we stop there and we go to war with people of Islam. But if we look a little deeper we may see the economic struggles of the people, we may notice the lack of education, poor living conditions, shortages of food, unemployment, any number of things that contributes do a shitty quality of life. The terrorists promise to fill those voids in this life and after.

While we're dropping bombs on the land and ignoring the root cause, we're making matters worse and ensuring this battle will last quite a bit longer. We're wasting money, resources, lives all while strengthening the enemy. Spiritual warfare steeped in ignorance is just war.

I am of the opinion that love is the answer. God is the answer. What would that look like? To me, it is providing a safe place within our borders so that the people fleeing can start anew. It is acceptance of those people and their religion, so they feel welcome here rather than rejected. It is an understanding that we are dealing with human beings just like us with the same needs. It is helping the people that live in "terrorist hotbeds" attain the basic needs for life, an education and potential for employment.

How do we defeat the idea that we are the enemy? By not being one.

Spiritual warfare: We're doing it wrong.

(^think I'm gonna turn those into bumper stickers)
 
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Milktoast Bandit said:
I'm a Christian, but I wasn't always, and I understand many of the arguments against it. I'm also more of a perennial philosopher. Because of that, there are many Christians that would say I am a bad Christian or not a true Christian. I welcome that criticism with open arms.

The problem with engaging in spiritual warfare with other groups is that many of us are spiritually ignorant. The real spiritual battle is within. Once the battle is won for our own hearts and minds, then and only then should we engage in spiritual warfare outside of ourselves. Why? Because then we know what the hell we are talking about, we know what we are doing, we understand how not to cause more harm and compound the problem. More importantly we know God is calling the shots, not us. As it is, many people take in the Bible as data and regurgitate it as data without truly knowing. (That's not directed at anyone on this forum, it just a generalization) Every day is a spiritual battle within, and with others. The opportunities to plant the seed of love in everyday life are endless. And it's a slow, never ending process...it takes time for seeds to grow. Generations, lifetimes even.

It is my opinion that our current approach to fighting extremism/terrorism is making matters worse. Look at all hatred we dump on entire groups of people and religions. Is that Christ-like? Look at all the civilians that are killed as collateral damage. Is "collateral damage" what happens when we have God in our hearts? If we be still and know God, we know love, we know "peace beyond all understanding" when we act not of our will but of God's, that is, when we know God in our hearts, it is expressed outwardly as compassion, kindness, understanding and love for our brothers and sisters. It is an automatic selflessness to benefit others. Not just to do no harm, but to heal.

When we close our borders, point our fingers, judge, hate, seek vengeance, divide and kill we are not acting in love but fear. Spiritual warfare without love is just war.

When we act in fear and seek to protect what is "ours" through violent retaliation we are doing more harm than good. By rejecting refugees, hating Islam, and killing civilians we are not protecting ourselves and eliminating a threat. We are creating a bigger and stronger enemy with deeper roots. When we kill a child's parents we plant a seed of hate in that child. When we kill a child the parents want revenge. When we turn away people seeking safety we plant seeds of resentment. When we spew hateful ignorance at people that look different and practice a different religion we are only making ourselves their enemy.

I believe that in fighting this spiritual battle with extremism we need to look deeper than we currently are. What we tend to focus on is the obvious. People are brutally killing other people. That's bad. They are doing this because of Islam. Islam's bad. And we stop there and we go to war with people of Islam. But if we look a little deeper we may see the economic struggles of the people, we may notice the lack of education, poor living conditions, shortages of food, unemployment, any number of things that contributes do a shitty quality of life. The terrorists promise to fill those voids in this life and after.

While we're dropping bombs on the land and ignoring the root cause, we're making matters worse and ensuring this battle will last quite a bit longer. We're wasting money, resources, lives all while strengthening the enemy. Spiritual warfare steeped in ignorance is just war.

I am of the opinion that love is the answer. God is the answer. What would that look like? To me, it is providing a safe place within our borders so that the people fleeing can start anew. It is acceptance of those people and their religion, so they feel welcome here rather than rejected. It is an understanding that we are dealing with human beings just like us with the same needs. It is helping the people that live in "terrorist hotbeds" attain the basic needs for life, an education and potential for employment.

How do we defeat the idea that we are the enemy? By not being one.

Spiritual warfare: We're doing it wrong.

(^think I'm gonna turn those into number stickers)
Click to expand...

I don't have to be a Christian to say <3
 
Milktoast Bandit said:
Yay! Care to buy a bumper sticker? The proceeds go to my Rocket Propelled Grenade fund...
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You kidding!? Just like any good pacifist, I love me a good ol' fashioned RPG launcher!!!

'Merica
 
You get my drift, Milktoast. Spiritual warfare isn't for everyone.

13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Pretty tough armour to find, let alone wear.
 
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Spiritual Warfare: we are doing it wrong.

Hard to beat misinterpretations in the world's teachings.

Tempting people with 72 "virgins" when they wouldn't know how to treat one heavenly virgin...
 
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