I wasn't happy with the kitchen set up at my place and not happy of how slowly my local church isn't growing; I'm just a regular attender (Lord willing, I'll be a member in due time). So I was seeking about greener places both my living quarters and at my local church to the point where (on paper it had all the things I wanted) I was thinking uprooting my life to go to a different church in a different city and different state (No, I'm not talking about MN).
But I realized after those two things happen, I asked myself, I thought I was in the state of contentment but clearly I'm not. "But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it, either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content." - 1st Timothy 6:6-8 NASB2020 Being Biblically Content is an extremely hard thing for any person living in a wealthy country like the USA; especially when everyone including most Christians that live in USA would say, pack up and leave and do whatever makes me happy. Yeah, NO that is the wrong answer; the correct answer is "All of Christ for All of Life" a Doug Wilson phrase that I use to often.
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I'm romanticizing the time of Joshua, Judges and Ruth, especially in light of 1st Samuel 8. There is a part of me that would like to have lived in the time of Joshua, Judges and Ruth, because it is the "ideal" form of government. This is basically the only form of government that I can endorse. I would like to see across the globe this form of government that mimics the pre 1st Samuel 8 Israel. Sure, it is a bit chaotic at times but it sure beats the extra cost (both financial and moral cost) of having a kingship or in our more modern times democracies which is just a different form of kingship, basically "we" get to choose our kings and queens, then they all get together to make the rules and regulations for the whole nation.
As I was walking in the furnace of Georgia summer (95 degrees Fahrenheit / 35 degrees Celsius), I went to Barns and Noble then decided to purchase a NKJV, I want collect all of the Word for Word translations of the Bible of the English Language. I've noticed in the NKJV (Thomas Nelson publisher). I noticed the bottom "Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic" this nice to know that they actually put in the effort to be transparent. But since the NKJV isn't the most Word for Word translation out there I will not be using it for my day to day Bible, I'm too much of a stickler for the NASB 1995 / 2020; I use the 2020. I'll use for comparing between the translations of the Word for Word.
My personal policy is to stick with the Word for Word translations because of my concern of putting too much emphasis on the human interpretation of the Word of God within the Word of God. I can kind of tolerate the thought for thought but lets say I won't want to be in a church that uses a thought for thought translations on a regular basis. Reason, if I want to start a family in the next few years or so, I would want to make sure that future wife and kids (if the Lord wills it) get a near accurate English translation of the Bible. So the NKJV is how far I'll personally go on the Word for Word; Thought for Thought; and the dumpster fire paraphrase "translations" chart. Typically I do my Devotions in the morning starting between 5:30 am to 6:00 am, If I missed it, I do them right before bed. I heavily rely on the "Be Thou My Vision A Liturgy for Daily Worship" by Johnathan Gibson. It helps me to stay focused on Christ. Then I typically on my lunch break, I go to a Christian theme coffee shop that is near work and spend my time in the Word of God, via on my cell phone. As much as I don't like the YouVersion name, they make it extraordinarily easy to keep track on what I am doing and the audio is great.
I hope this helps you and give you a few ideas on what on can do, especially if you live in a westernized nation. Christian Anarchism:
Since there are too many "flavors" of Christian Anarchism on the inter webs, I'll yet submit my "own" definition of Christian Anarchism. When I mean Christian Anarchism (mostly the Anarchism part), I mostly mean the ethics around what to do with the state (government), I've came to the conclusion in 2017 that I can no longer do any political actions because I saw the extreme wickedness of politics (including 3rd party politics, in which I came out of). What do I mean about political actions? Voting in government democracy, supporting a political party or candidate, and discussion in length of politics of which political party do I favor over another. Now, if one ask me or press onto me about what candidate I prefer over another candidate, I'll probably give them either "Jesus is my King" or if one does a hypothetical question to me, I'll give them a hypothetical answer. Other than that, I will not be participating in voting or cheering on a particular candidate. After some thought about my anti-political stance, I've came to a particular way of looking at things. I look at Christianity as my "nation" and the local church as the "city" that I live in, the denomination that I'm associated with is the "political party" (without being too political about it) that I'm in, but I will cheer on my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to become more theologically conservative meaning actually believing in what the Bible says and try to live out the principles of what the Bible teaches. History of my thought process to this form of Christian Anarchism: Libertarian 2008 and 2012 Consitution Party in 2016 (basically a protest vote against the Libertarian Party) 2017 Quit voting 2020 Pass the test Christian Anarchist / Anti State Libertarian test, meaning I actually followed through of not voting, my major concern heading into 2020 even when I made the decision to not vote in a state / gov democracy ever again, was that it was "easy to say no to voting" right after a major election. To make things simple and easier to understand for non ultra libertarian / anarchism, I just point to the Amish of the type of Christian Anarchism that I subscribe to. |
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