[AnimalMuppet]

> while my Trump-loving parents live within seven miles of us, full of COVID and bullshit, going to church but caring not for Jesus' teachings...

OK.

> dipshits that they are.

Um... that doesn't sound like Jesus' teachings either.

[MrMcCall]

You don't know the verse I'm talking about. He speaks of turning children against their parents, my friend. Why would a teacher of love tell us that? Well, when those parents live their lives in complete opposition to what that man gave his life to teach and exemplify. That's when.

My mother believes that Trump never cheated on his wives. That's a f_cking dipshit, dude.

Stupidity is the result of willful ignorance of the truth. I don't hate anyone or think people should be stoned for adultery or whatever, but the truth is the truth, and we must seek it, find it, and believe it.

She claimed that she loves the Ten Commandments, then votes for the two candidates that purposefully lied about legal-immigrant Ohio-residing Haitians eating people's pets. The 8th or 9th Commandment is "Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor." Why? Because it's evil to sow mischief and lies in order to "rile up your base". You know who else did that shit in the late 1930s? Yup.

She has left the path of Wisdom and been fooled by selfish, corrupt liars. And it's my father's decades of FoxNews, OANN, and that other one, that has brought them down.

2 Timothy 3 speaks very clearly about whom to have nothing to do with in this world. It's sound advice, even for a non-religious person, but especially -- especially -- when choosing the leaders of the most powerful country on Earth.

[AnimalMuppet]

I know the verse you're talking about. Jesus is talking about the result of his teachings, about what happens when people follow him. Other people will turn away, hate them, and fight them.

But he also said to love your enemies. Those people who turn away and are at enmity with you? Love them anyway.

And it doesn't sound like you do.

(2 Timothy 3 is talking about people in the church. Jesus is talking about people outside. If you want to say that your parents don't belong in church, fine. If discernment tells you to treat them like unbelievers, fine. But the contempt and bitterness doesn't sound right coming from someone quoting Jesus.)

[MrMcCall]

I do love my enemies, but they have to want to hear the truth. It is their human right to be ignorant and ignore God's Wisdom. And I treat them well, though they so loath the truth that they don't call anymore. They are supporting people who actively work against everything Jesus lived for, and those people are making the world much worse for my children, their effing grandchildren!

And you are not reading 2 Timothy 3 correctly. The first five verses are a set of qualities that the loathsome choose to manifest, and it ends with a Command, "Have nothing to do with such people."

That verse is about people, whether in a church or not. It's about people in "terrible times". And the Command is clear. It also includes -- for those whose minds have been clarified by loving God -- the implicit Command to not support their being a leader.

Was Jesus loving his enemies when he threw the moneychangers out of the Temple? He sure was, my friend. My father called it "tough love", and my love for him will save him from the fate of all cruelly ignorant hypocrites, if only he'd listen to the effing truth.

The fact is that my prayers for them carry no weight in the presense of their willful ignorance. Their free will is respected by God just as much as mine, but I don't believe Jesus will save my sins on the Judgement Day; I choose to repent now and become a better person while I live so that I might bring God's light of loving service to all the people I can reach.

Jesus even says, "That which you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me." The fakeass Christians will learn the meaning of those verses on that Day of Days, but, by then, it will be too late. We are judged for what we do here on Earth, while we live.

[AnimalMuppet]

> The fakeass Christians will learn the meaning of those verses on that Day of Days, but, by then, it will be too late.

Yup.

> We are judged for what we do here on Earth, while we live.

Be very careful with that.

"But we did all this stuff!"

"Depart from me, for I never knew you."

Any real "knowing Him" will change us, and thereby change our actions. But be very careful of depending on the actions.

Yes, there will be a judgment for what we do, but that will be for reward, not for "in or out".

[MrMcCall]

Judgement is heaven or hell, reward or punishment. What other outcome can there be?

Knowing Him is to follow God's commands and to love God with all your being and then love your neighbor as yourself. And to seek and find the meaning of "Hallowed be Thy Name", and other mysteries.

Intention is the multiplier for our actions, and that product is what we are judged upon. It's how the well-intentioned act of charity is weighed differently from giving charity in order to tell people, or merely for tax breaks.

Our change comes in degrees, over time with honest self-evaluation and effort, failures with apologies and, eventually, successes, until we see Its Face, and thereafter be "pure in heart", another "servant of all" taking their place as "the greatest among us".

It starts with begging God to take Its Spirit (our Conscience) back into Itself while we live, so that our soul may be cleansed and purified of its vices. That is the meaning of the 1st Beatitude, "Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs shall be the Kingdom of God."

Then we have to slog through and overcome our selfishnesses, to the end, as described by the 5th (IIRC) Beatitude, by learning how to choose selfless service to others over selfishness.

Most people believe Jesus will forgive them on the JD, just because they say some words; many Muslims believe the same but with different words, and many Buddhists believe we just keep getting more chances. No. Those are lies of the deceiver of man, who works on our minds and hearts.

We get one chance on this Earth, for good or ill, and everything about our choices is knowable as to whether it harmonizes with God's teachings. It is up to us to seek that truth, humbly and honestly, and without the misguided corruptions brought by generations of telephone, whereby human beings have been led away from the Truth of Love.

Peace be with you. We love you. I am at your service.

[AnimalMuppet]

> It starts with begging God to take Its Spirit back into Itself while we live, so that our soul may be cleansed and purified of its vices. That is the meaning of the 1st Beatitude, "Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs shall be the Kingdom of God."

That sounds like you took the Bible and some flavor of New Age stuff, threw them in a blender, and drank whatever came out. That's something weird, but it's not Biblical theology.

> Then we have to slog through and overcome our selfishnesses, to the end, as described by the 5th (IIRC) Beatitude, by learning how to choose selfless service to others over selfishness.

If you're trying to slog through that, on your effort and self-discipline, you're never going to get there. Neither am I. I am more broken than that; sin runs deeper in me than that. And in you.

I wish you truth, but in love I have to say that I don't think you really have it.

I leave you the last word if you want it.