Many Christians Lack Responsibility

The entire Christian mindset that I was raised with has been laughed at and denigrated by many people. In this thread, I want to discuss how beliefs influence behavior. Specifically:1) If our own righteousness is "as filthy rags" and we are expected to "Let Go And Let God", does that imply that we are abdicating our personal responsibility by allowing God to fix things?2) If we believe that Satan is alive and well on planet Earth, does that serve as a cop out? In other words, if we say that the world is in a mess due to Original Sin and figure that nothing will ever really improve until Jesus comes back, is that an abdication of our responsibility as members of the human race?3) Does God expect us to be mature, rational thinking beings or does He expect us to be unquestioning obedient servants?Edited by Phat, : added jabberwocky

It is interesting that you bring up the analogy of a parent/child relationship. While many parents don't expect their children to depend on them their entire lives, the same may not be true of God.Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.David also mentions in Psalm 73:23-24
Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.The same type of daily relationship cannot be said to exist between parent and adult child.

More likely, I would only see how evil God is portrayed as. God either exists or He doesn't. That much is factual. How humans portray their understanding of God in literary and verbal form is all that the rest of us have to go on as to the character of the Deity, apart from any subjective personal experiences or epiphanies which we may individually have experienced.More on topic, however, is the idea of our responsibility. Has God left us in charge? Has God left us a charge?? (a task or duty imposed?) With all due respect to Mike, (Glad to see you actively participating,Mike. You have said all you are going to say, so sit this one out now and watch the arguments and opinions unfold) I do not listen to someone who tells me what God means for me to do. Since 99.999% of the time I do NOT hear an audible voice, I rely upon my own conscience to make a rational decision as to what it is that I should do in any given case.Am I in danger of error by not consulting scripture?I DO read scripture, and try to understand it in the context with which it was written. I also believe that God has given me a brain and expects me to use it. What differentiates me from an atheistic or agnostic mindset is that I DO pray and meditate upon my actions lining up with Gods will. This obviously means that I do NOT consider God to be evil. Were God evil, anything that humans attempted to do would ultimately fail anyway, so I consider that conclusion illogical.

Personally, I believe that God allowed for the potential for evil to exist and in that way, He created evil. Keep in mind that according to the Gospel of Dante, God never actually created an evil Devil. God merely created a freewilled Lucifer who chose of his own inclination to rise up and personify evil. Truthfully, though my Christianity is very eclectic and is not bound by either historical dogma or absolute belief in Biblical infallibility.I believe that God exists.I believe that God is fully aware of the true Big Picture, so that if He decides to wipe out the Amalikites or the Americites or even the Hypocrites, He does so knowing full well that it is His responsibility of the fate of these souls and that none of us have anything to say about it other than to voice our opinion based on limited knowledge and no foreknowledge.The evidence would show, however, that it is humans who kill other humans. There is no giant hand from the sky on which to place the blame. And thus this steers us back towards the primary topic, which is responsibility.After all, even if we could indict God and force Him into court, who would be the judge?

For some of us, God is not bound by the definitions in the Bible, however...so the Deity we recreate in our minds and hearts (some say we create rather than recreate and commune) is not a bloodthirsty tyrant. My point is that IMB God is living and active and is not bound by what was written about Him through countless myths.AbE: Truthfully, Brian nobody knows whether God exists or not and you and I could go to the pub and discuss the need for a God or not in human psychosocial development. Surely of all of the students you have met who pursued Theology degrees, some were at least rational and pleasant to be around, no?Edited by Phat, : No reason given.

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I would suggest to watch 'The God delusion debate' betweens Professor Dawkins and Dr. John Lennox.

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Do you have a link?

First of all, Mike...the only useful thing that Jar has taught me is that it is ok to question any and all answers and it is ok to test anything that I have ever been taught. I believe that God exists,although I cannot nor will not attempt to prove it to anyone apart from whatever they glean off what I say. So my first question to you, Wiz m'boy is this:
1) Does God expect us to use the minds that He gave us or does He expect us to follow what our human leaders indoctrinate us with? Tell me now, Mike...and be honest...are you afraid to question anything that you have been taught or are you going to honestly tell me that the Holy Spirit is your sole teacher?2) In response to this: two questions. Do you ever still sin? Also, if you no longer lean on your own understanding, whose understanding do you lean on? If you tell me that you lean on Gods understanding, ask God to tell you what it is that I DO believe. Otherwise, feel free to ask me, if you are unafraid of having your imparted Holy wisdom tweaked. God doeswork in mysterious ways, you know. Heck, He may even work through Stile!

The only problem that I have with this belief is that I would expect those people who have accepted Jesus Christ to actually be empowered to live better than those who do not or have not---and this isn't always the case. Many Christians are still very willfully selfish, materialistic, and unwilling to turn the other cheek. What does this say about the influence of the Holy Spirit?

I work at a grocery store and see shoplifting happening all the time. Many shoplifters steal because it is habitually ingrained--they dont necessarily need the money. Others are poor and DO need the money, probably figuring that the wealthy corporation can provide it. I, of course, would object that they are indirectly placing my advancement potential in jeopardy by keeping prices higher.Recently, we identified a very well dressed man who looked like he could work on Wall Street yet who steals a hundred dollars worth of product every week. I thus agree with Iano. Stealing is stealing. Sin is sin.

Because many of us believe that when you accept Jesus Christ you become empowered with the Holy Spirit and it is the Spirit working through you that makes the difference.

OK, you have a point. the punishment should fit the crime. A man who steals a loaf of bread to feed his kids is not as bad as someone who steals expensive vitamins to get a refund on and get money to support a crack habit...but then again, they have the excuse of being an addict! Edited by Phat, :

That's a rather thoughtful post, Stile. I will admit that I occasionally talk "to God" (an observer would report that I was talking to myself) BUT...I never yet have heard any audible response. If I were GOD, I wouldn't answer anyone because I wouldn't want them to get all giddy over hearing my reply and thus causing them to perhaps abdicate their faith and their daily responsibility to others and to the world around them.

Jar and I discuss this stuff a lot. The future of this country will, as Mr. Obama suggested in his speech to schoolchildren, depend on the education and acceptance of responsibility that the new generation needs to own. My question is this: Do we owe a responsibility to the older generation (even globally) and does this take away from our dreams?

Bringing this one back.I am currently taking a course in leadership--through a coalition of church folk in Denver.
Denver Leadership InitiativeWe are learning five core values.BALANCE
ACCOUNTABILITY
EMPOWERMENT
INTERDEPENDENCE
LEVERAGEI will discuss more later.

I agree. It is a sacred responsibility to teach others, and one must be intentional and therefore cautious as to what one teaches.I finished the Denver leadership Initiative, by the way. I graduated in December. 2015 will no doubt have many opportunities as well.