Spiritual Warfare?

[SomethinStrangeIsGoingOn]

I only learned about this theory during the major lockdown from some evangelists. Just wondering if other walks of Christianity think this goes on to?

Have you ever experienced it do you think?

Say in your spiritual journey to get closer to God, has it ever seemed like each action you made to further your commitment to God, you received a knock back in your real life that gave you difficulty/stress/illness etc?

I feel like it's happening to me as crazy as it seems.

but there is truth within the bible certainly.

How do you determine which are the true bits?

How do you determine which are the true bits?

That's where Faith and Belief come into play. Some people accept with little supporting evidence, whilst others need more, like Thomas when Christ reappeared.

That's where Faith and Belief come into play.

How does that work?
So you read something in the bible and your faith tells you whether it is true or not?

Prayer and experience of God in your life

And hearing testimonials from others of God in their lives

So some stuff in the bible is fake?
Like talking snakes?
People rising from the dead?
The great flood?
The garden of eden?
Are these things real or fake?

@speakout no in my opinion those things aren't fake. This is just my interpretation by the way. I'm not a well studied Christian, these are my youngish laywoman's views currently (depending on your definition of young). I can't afford to study Theology unfortunately.

So creation, adam & eve, talking snakes, Noah- all real?
How old do you think the earth is?

I struggle with accepting the creation story verbatim. I take that part with a huge pinch of salt as it was written pre scientific era. I do wonder about drug use in biblical times, which may explain the talking snake. I think there are huge embellishments in the Noah story. The Earth is 4.5 billion years old roughly. We evolved from amoeba. But all was the work of God, including the "big bang".

Garden of Eden was just an area where life sprang from somewhere in Iraq

Some people have mused the Garden of Eden represents tribal nomadic people pre-agricultural societies.

So living in complete harmony with the natural world before ownership of land/property or institutionalised formal knowledge or 'civilisation'- living completely in the present then a shift once knowledge and thought becomes more formalised and separate.

I should have said indigenous not tribal, thinking about it.

Hi OP
If you haven't already, read the book of Daniel. He has an experience where he's praying and not getting an answer but it's because there's a 'war in the heavenlies'. Super interesting and encouraging!

@ItWillBeOkHonestly OK thank you

We all know who you think the evil ones are.

I like the idea about the garden of Eden.

I think it’s pretty obvious to see some parts of the Bible are allegory eg Noah’s ark and other parts just how things were in society at the time eg slavery. I guess as there was no social security, being a slave was how you stayed alive rather than starve? It was how society arranged itself, it was like that pre-Bible so not a Christian thing. It was Christians who pushed for the abolition of slavery (eg William Wilberforce) and they continue to do so now.

Christians have never claimed to be perfect - in my experience it is only atheists who expect them to be so. Jesus always preferred to be with the outcasts and sinners in society - he said they needed him most. He actively disliked the ultra religious Pharisees. Luckily for me you don’t have to be perfect to be a Christian - I am most definitely not.

I have to say though that out of the atheists and Christians that I know it is the Christians that do most for society in general. That’s not to say atheists don’t - that would be obviously wrong, but I find that Christians are actively encouraged to serve others and to tithe, so the majority of them do so; but again in my experience most of my non religious friends (who are about 90% of my friends) do nothing to serve the community.

My church runs the city’s night shelter, the city’s food bank, financial and practically supports an orphanage abroad, runs a counselling service and a debt advisory service, provides a social group and meals for the elderly, runs transport services for elderly and vulnerable, street pastors, toddler groups, give financial support to the desperate, befrienders. Those services all for those outside the church and most people wouldn’t know the church is behind them. Those are the official church services, then most people do things off their own back too eg helping neighbours, volunteering at youth groups, schools, hospitals, village halls, parish councils etc.

Again, I know non religious people do many great things, but in my experience, as they are not actively encouraged to, they do so much less frequently. I also don’t know any atheists who give 10% of their income but most Christians I know do so.

Christianity, in my opinion, brings massive benefits to society.

PurpleandPlatinum do you think the slaves chose to be slaves? I would suggest not. You are making excuses for hineous behaviour because it is sanctioned in the bible. Slaverey has always been wrong, and your all knowing god should have known that. He had plenty opportunity to tell humans not to own each other- far more important than wearing mixed fabric clothes.
Religion makes good people do bad things.
How do you know which bible tales are allegorical? Is the garden of eden also a fairy story
Analysis shows that only 26% of charitable income is raised by faith based charities- so what you say is a lie. Christians certainly make the most noise about their contributions.

Of all the charitable acts around me almost all are non religious- river clean up, food banks, guerrilla gardeners, woman's shelter, charity shops, carer's support, none have religious administration.
It is true that christians often claim not to be perfect- that is a common standard that they themselves choose to reflect upon. Most of the rest of us know it is a silly standard to use as a descriptor for the human state. It is christians who hold up this broken mirror to themselves- and find themselves lacking. One of the many tactics that the church uses to keep adherants in the broken victim mindset, forever a flawed 6 year old- easy to manipulate and control. Fill your boots.

I like the idea of the garden of Eden

Genesis 3: 16 “To the woman he said: “I will greatly increase the pain of your pregnancy; in pain you will give birth to children, and your longing will be for your husband, and he will dominate you.”

Very heartwarming. Gives me the fuzzies every time.

Genesis 3: 16 “To the woman he said: “I will greatly increase the pain of your pregnancy; in pain you will give birth to children, and your longing will be for your husband, and he will dominate you.”

@speakout, that's a very interesting piece of scripture you have brought up there which has lead me to muse about the evolution of brain size amongst humans. Since it is our relatively large brain size (compared to our size) which contributes to pain in childbirth.

Regarding the Eden account in Genesis, before separation from God and expulsion from Eden there would have been less reason to need possession and ownership of a separate knowledge as there was an unity with (all knowing) God and everything in Eden worked together in harmony. Once knowledge becomes separate there is an issue of ownership and the brain has to develop to hold it all. This ownership creates divisions and power struggles as knowledge and the power with it are held onto and people act as gatekeepers to guard it.

Er OK. So Adam and eve were not homo sapien?
They were ape like ancestors with smaller brains?

Er OK. So Adam and eve were not homo sapien?
They were ape like ancestors with smaller brains?

No idea, just throwing ideas out there. But the facts are there concerning human ancestors having smaller brains. Larger brains make for larger heads relative to size and problems in childbirth. If we had a unity with an all knowing being, God there is not as much need for a larger brain. If everything exists in harmony there is not as much need for a larger brain. As soon a knowledge becomes separate and owned that is when a larger brain is needed and also when competition and power struggles occur.

If you think about how narrative was passed down and communicated you could see the Eden account as something which has genuinely survived since the dawn of human kind.

Er OK. So Adam and eve were not homo sapien?
They were ape like ancestors with smaller brains?

But they did have language. That's interesting too.🙂

@speakout not sure what you're trying to achieve here. I was asking my question to fellow Christians. We're not trying to get you to believe, that's going to take more than just comments back and forth on MN. You're free to believe in what you want as are we. You have knowledge so can make that choice.