What if you are wrong about something? Does this worry you? Are you concerned that God won't care for you if you are wrong about something?
Perhaps you work(ed) in a high stress job where it is essential to be right. Such as a job where many lives were in your hands. Do you fully trust your OWN knowledge skills or do you trust in God's ability to strengthen your knowledge skills?
The bible clearly says: "Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." In other words, even the brightest ivy league scholars have flaws in their thinking. The patterns of what they know can have error!
Because of these incorrect methods of thinking, people can be wrong! It is ok to be wrong! Even if your neighbor thinks wicked things about you personally! We are supposed to forgive people "Matt 18: 21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.". The bible instructs us to "love our enemies." Especially if the enemies are wrong in their thinking!
Should you persecute people for making wrong choices? What if the biblical choice is not followed by your neighbor? What if they are making unhealthy choices? Do you purposefully go around persecuting them? As a Christian, I would think that you would NOT do that. You would want them to think more "biblically," but doing that by force actually ends up hurting you in the long run. Respect keeps you safe in the good shepherd's arms (Psalm 23). "I shall not want".....means we should not want other people's thinking and goals in life to go our way!
When you disagree with someone whether they acknowledge biblical things or not, it is DISRESPECTFUL to go around and attack what they are doing! Even if they are following "pagan customs" and calling them selves true conservative believers in Jesus!
We do not have the responsibility to correct people in error on this earth. Rather we need only to POINT people in the right direction and POINT them to truths that are in the bible. That is it. If a man is robbing another man on the street, do we sit there and "do nothing" or do we react and "do something" because that is clearly wrong? We correct them obviously! But if they are doing things that are not necessarily wrong in a social way, such as going to a certain restaurant, we only need to pray for their decision to repent and follow the biblical way if we don't, in our minds, feel that it is a good place to go. Prayer for them opens up their heart to hear God's word and act upon it.
What about biblical belief systems? What if one person's interpretation of the bible clearly says that marriage is between one man and one woman with divorce as a crime if there is no severe life threatening abuse. Does this mean they are wrong? No. What if another person's interpretation of the bible clearly says that there is a covenant relationship between one man and one woman and that bad things or sexual things that happen to the spouse is not always in violation of the bible if it is done by outside force and it is agreed upon by the spouses. Does this mean that they are wrong? No. If the couple is in agreement and no one has violated another person's belief systems then the choices people make are not wrong.
Same can go with interpretations of womanhood in the bible. One ministry says it is absolutely wrong for women to speak in front of a church. Another ministry says women should be granted equal opportunity in developing her speaking skills as men. Neither is wrong about the particular talent, but "feminism" is against biblical beliefs (angry woman, scorner etc).
Same can go with interpretations of womanhood in the bible. One ministry says it is absolutely wrong for women to speak in front of a church. Another ministry says women should be granted equal opportunity in developing her speaking skills as men. Neither is wrong about the particular talent, but "feminism" is against biblical beliefs (angry woman, scorner etc).
If your expectations of humanity are down-to-earth and realistic about the conditions of humanity, then you will stay mentally healthy.
Realistic expectations can also transfer into the interaction between parent and child. Your child is sitting in an uncomfortable position in a shopping cart. Do you get angry and force the child to continue sitting in that position? Do you listen to what the child says and ask the child why he or she doesn't want to sit in that shopping cart? By listening, you are showing respect towards the child! By not getting angry when situations are difficult you show that you understand the power in your words to fix the situation. Forcing a belief that is wrong on another is a way that people have misinterpreted right from wrong from generation to generation!
What about forcing the child to "not touch" everything in the store! I know that sounds scary, but why do we FORCE the children to behave a certain way, when WE ourselves need to react to certain situations in a better way ourselves! If the child touches fruits in a store and we scream at them not to "spread germs" we are saying they don't need to KNOW about the fruits in the store. Instead, we should pick up a fruit and explain what type of fruit that happens to be and explain how the fruit helps us maintain better health.
Expect that people are not going to behave the way you want them to behave. Expect that people are not going to understand you. Expect that people are going to get mad at you for telling them various truths. Expect that people are going to reject you. Expect that people are going to touch things that you don't want them to touch (so long as it is not unlawful). Expect that people are going to eat things that you don't want them to eat (so long as it is not unlawful). People are born "sinners"....but to react to them in a merciless way is to say.......I don't love you......I don't respect you......
Because we are "smarter" than someone else, we expect them to meet up to our standards. As a result, their value is not considered as a person! We loose touch and connection with people we love and with the God we serve! Force without reason, is unlawful force!
Do as you please seems to be a conflicting statement in the Christian world. Which it is. However, without doing things and making errors, people do not know and come to the knowledge of the truth!
We can learn from past mistakes, but some people never listen no matter how many times you reason with them. If this makes us upset, the thinking pattern in ourselves is not correct. We need to fix our error and be more merciful towards them. The difficult people in our lives are "lessons" for a better tomorrow. You cannot control other people's thinking patterns, you can only correct yours.
Why spend your entire life, even if you only live to be 35, constantly correcting people who don't agree with you? You only need to be like Jesus and get them to agree with the heavenly father! Jesus himself showed us how to do this clearly and effectively. "FEED THINE ENEMY" "PRAY FOR THOSE WHO PERSECUTE YOU" The enemy may appear to "wear Muslim(false prophet) clothing" or have such appearance....but by further investigation in their lives.....they may come to believe the GOSPEL more strongly than conservative Christian friends!
If you don't want to "think biblically about the situation" then you could be at risk of mental health conditions that are not healthy.
Depression- Feelings of being overwhelmed when things don't go my way in life. What if you can't do xyz? Does it mean that you should stop doing what is right in your thinking? Who do you rely upon when people oppress you?
Anxiety- Feeling that situations and people's reactions will not go my way. Fears when it seems things won't go right.
Mood Disorders- Unrealistic expectations that create manipulative responses. The sound-doctrines of history and nature seem to be out of order, so create unrealistic expectations for neighbors and friends. Rather than changing the personal life decisions of one's own thoughts, they think to change the thinking of others.
So in essence to think biblically and to "think like JESUS," one needs to TRUST in the reality that you need to: -think with reality not against reality -expect people to behave incorrectly from time to time -expect that things are going to be problematic in this world. -serving others overcomes the desire to think of others in a negative way -unconditional love and humility are good servants
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
For further study and information on issues of psychology and biblical based thoughts consider doing a concordance research on the specific "words" that describe thinking patterns. Determine what is healthy thinking patterns according to God's word and what are unhealthy thinking patterns according to God's word. Words like "mind" "thoughts" "think" etc. may be studied and verses memorized to help overcome bad thinking patterns. Also, look up positive and negative emotions "angry" "joyful" "happy" and so forth. Simply studying these words and the verses associated with them can clear away MANY unhealthy reactions to this world.
If you continue to have issues after advice from these blog posts is given try: https://settingcaptivesfree.com/
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