Bear with me as a take a cosmological event and compare it to the “radioactive Christianity” of today- those who want to pull back 2,000+ years ago and retreat into dead theology. I call it IMPLODING CHRISTIANITY because it is very similar to what happens to the death stars. Either the star explodes or it implodes. Let me deal only with the latter for that’s where I see the best comparison for today.
Black holes are created when a star can no longer generate enough energy to stay alive and it basically collapses in on itself. The star gets DARKER as hell fire and damnation is the currency of the realm. Sin management is the topic of the week. BAD NEWS overtakes GOOD NEWS for those who don’t “do right” (right according to those who administer the laws of course).
The star also gets more DENSE as it exhausts it’s nuclear fuel resulting in too much negative energy. In like fashion, the church gets more full of itself, more sure of all things, and unable to accept anything new, creative, innovative, or fresh. Everything is found in the Bible and nothing can be found outside the Bible: not even the Holy Spirit to teach us new things as Jesus said He would in John 16.
What’s up with that?
Peter Walker put it this way, “Jesus Christ called us to be neutrons who stop the black hole collapse of the body. We must live as those tiny particles with no electrically charged egos getting in the way of God’s perfect post modern storm: a supernova right here on earth.” The church has been shrinking, particularly in America, for decades now; however, worse yet is the dimming of its influential light.
Religion is increasingly irrelevant, while spirituality is on the rise.
Thankfully the church is being re-fashioned into smaller COMMUNITIES which are not radioactive to diverse ideas, that don’t sit as a judge of who is going to heaven and who is going to hell, but communities that invite open dialogue where certitude isn’t the goal, but LOVE is the practice. The church in America is going through a transformation. And it’s good.
May we neither explode nor implode, but be the LIGHT that we ARE. Twinkle-twinkle little stars! 
Walking in love goes hand in hand the principles set forth in the Bible, telling us how to love others. II John 1:4 shows John’s joy that some of God’s people are walking in the truth. Verse 5 agrees that loving people is vital. The next verse confirms, “this is love, that we walk according to His commandments.” In other words, we have to be taught how to love the unlovely. It doesn’t come naturally.
Jesus made it clear that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments (John 14:15;15:14). Much of what Jesus taught is not to judge others, but to give mercy (Matthew 7:1-5). Loving people isn’t always easy, but I agree with you that it is important to the heart of God.
“the principles set forth in the Bible, telling us how to love others.”
More instructions for living from the Bible. I feel an implosion coming!
I love you not be cause the Bible tells me to but because Christ-consciousness which has been referred to as unconditional love is being formed in me and I can’t help but love you. My experience is when I try to follow Bible laws I fail every time.
Even scripural writings affirm the fact that the law is not a book of words, but rather an experience of the heart. Man lives not by the law, but by “every word that prodeeds out of the mouth of God”. Unfortunately, we’ve interpreted that passage to mean a book of quotes attributed to God or Jesus, as transcribed by enlightened (and some not so enlightened) sages and masters of the past.
I relate to the intent of this passage when it reads as such: The energy that originates out of the depth of our experience pours out into all of Life directly from the heart essence of who I AM.
What a testimony you two young men are to the LIFE of the Spirit and the enhanced consciousness that is growing within the Christian community. We’ve so ABUSED the Bible because we’ve not been trained how to interpret, embrace, and receive SACRED LITERATURE. Religions that have sacred books, and Christianity in particular, have fallen into Bibliolatry. Protestantism has idolized the Bible and then condemned Catholicsm for idolizing Mary. Idolatry “is” regardless of the cloak of religiousity. May we reverence the wisdom from the past while forging new streams of consciousness for ourselves and those who follow after.
Paul told us that scripture is inspired by God, profitable for teaching and training in righteousness (II Tim. 3:16). He exhorted God’s people to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. Believers are predestined to become conformed to the image of God’s Son (Romans 8:29). Paul never preached law, only GRACE (dozens of times). It’s very possible to remain in God’s grace and still apply God’s principles to our lives.
If only Paul had written II Timothy. Most Biblical scholars, except the ones you follow, agree he didn’t write it. It was a much later writing, probably by a follower of Paul. Applying principles is one thing, worshipping the book is another. Exactly what is a believer? I used to think I was one, but I never found a definition that everyone agrees with. Oh wait, that’s kind of like interpreting the Bible.