Saved from the waters.

Woah long time since I logged in to Tumblr. My tumblarity’s now 0. HAHAHAHA. Hmm maybe ill post when i have the mood to (:

FREAK. MY WHOLE POST GOT DELETED AS MY COMP HANGED =.=

hosannainthehighest:

PEOPLE SHOULD STOP preaching prosperity gospel.

What exactly is “prosperity gospel”? Well it simply states that if you be a good Christian and all God will bless you and you will an easy life. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s true that God does want to bless us and all—— BUT the Christian life is NOT all butterflies and daisies.

If a Christian bases his walk on the good things that happens, and His relationship with God is miracle-based, then the moment God brings trials in his life he will immediately fall away and think God is punishing him and that God doesn’t love him anymore because of all the problems. Or in some cases the person ends up cursing God and blaming Him for allowing these things to happen.

There’s a danger to half-truths. They’re not completely true because it’s only partially true.

Sometimes, people get so focused on making the gospel “first-time friendly” that they leave out the part in the gospel about us being sinners, they try to sugar coat the gospel by sharing the “benefits” of being a Christian.

Whatever happened to “pick up your cross and follow me” ? I’m not saying being a Christian is not a fun, rewarding thing. IT IS. IT REALLY IS. (And it’s actually worth the temporal sufferings we experience, and heck i enjoy my being a Christian so much-it’s really fun you know.) MY point here is, you CANNOT and SHOULD NOT base your relationship with God on circumstances and blessings alone.

Because fact is, GOD LOVES YOU, God loves you that He blesses You, God loves you that He allows trials to mold you to be better, God loves you that He rebukes you when He has to. GOD LOVES YOU. Regardless of everything, GOD LOVES YOU—- that’s a fact that will never change.

And that’s the message people need to hear. That God loves us. We should not focus so much on the gift and forget the giver. The blessings and all, they’re just bonuses, and as Paul said “i consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus as my Lord and Savior…i consider them rubbish THAT I MAY GAIN CHRIST.”

 Now I don’t wanna start an argument or a debate about this controversial topic even though it has become the most attractive aspect of christianity today. Firstly, what exactly is the prosperity or health and wealth theology? Wikipedia states this:

Prosperity theology (also known as prosperity doctrine, health and wealth, prosperity gospel) is a religious belief centered around the notion that God provides material prosperity for those He favors. It implies both that people who are favored by God will be materially successful, and also that materially successful people are successful because God favored them. The Prosperity Gospel is often used by its promoters to elicit donations, on the premise that donations will be materially repaid and rewarded via divine intervention.

Many churches today, especially pentecostal and charismatic ones adhere to these teachings on the basis that God took care of the Jews and thus is a God of providence to them (Jehovah-Jireh) and he gave them the power to be wealthy(Deuteronomy 8:18), thus if we are Godly, then God will give us the power to be wealthy also.

However, I believe that if christianity was just based on being prosperous or being physically healthy or having healing all the time, then what difference is that from the superstitious religions when a person prays to his or her God only to attain material richness and wealth. Therefore, I do believe that while this prosperity gospel is not entirely wrong, christians who adhere to this gospel have missed out one very important part of the gospel. The following commentary on Mark 8:34 is from http://www.neverthirsty.org/pp/corner/read1/r00385.html.

“Take up your cross and follow Me!” These are Jesus’ words from Mark 8:34. Peter has objected to the idea that Jesus will die, Jesus has just rebuked him for objecting and then He paints a picture of a man or woman who wants to be with Him.
 

 
When Jesus says, “come after”, He means “to come to a point of being with” Him. Have you ever wished you could have been with Jesus, to have walked with Him, and to have spoken with Him? If you are a Christian, do you want a greater relationship? Jesus tells us how here with black and white colors.
   Say No! The starting point is to “deny” ourselves. You want more of a spiritual relationship with Jesus? It starts just denying yourself. It starts by saying “NO” to yourself. The word Jesus uses for ‘deny” actually means “to say no.” This verse does not mean to deny ourselves something we want to eat, wear, or view. It means to say no to yourself! This is a complete denial of self in favor of Jesus. Peter had objected to Jesus dying. Jesus told Peter and His disciples simply that they must be willing to die to themselves in every way - including death. The early Christians did die to themselves - by torture, fire, and in the Roman Coliseum. Are you willing to suffer humiliation for witnessing for Jesus? Are you willing to deny yourself sexual pleasure, gossiping, pursuit of wealth for Jesus?
   Take Your Cross. We are to take up our cross and try to leave it there. Jesus did not say to take His cross. We are to take up our crosses - our struggles. The cross symbolized pain and suffering. What a contrast! We are to say “NO” to ourselves and to be willing to suffer - He did! How are we doing with denying ourselves the pleasures of this world? Are you willing to suffer insult for Jesus? How regular is your attendance at church? Or, are there more enjoyable things to do? Are you willing to suffer? Even to die?
     And Follow. Following is not a separate activity. We are not following Jesus if we are not saying no to ourselves and being willing to suffer with Him. Jesus says it is not possible to really follow Him if you are not denying yourself.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are mandated, like the apostles to renounce ourselves and carry our cross! This is true Christianity, to be in the likeness of Christ in every way including the cross (sufferings and tribulations) that we have to bear in the spirit of Christ himself. For we must not forget, that behind that very cross lies the resurrection of Jesus Christ and we too are invited to be resurrected from the deadly state that we are in, not on earth of course but when we are called in righteousness to be with the Lord.

Lastly, I’d like to conclude with a quote that I was forced by Auntie Pris to memorise during bible study, ”Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” Colossians 3:2.