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Test yourself: Do you want to be unhealthy, sheepish, a little possessed, sterile and victim of madness-bringing plots? a sorry Christian?
See what the Bible says in such matter to draw your own conclusions some time. A little book reading to assist such mental work could do you good. There are excellent reasons why: [LINK]. As you go on to consider the fit way of life for yourself, consider the options and think of some bizarre-looking characteristics to choose among: say what you prefer, adding "enough" to the choices too as you wish.
- Unhealthy Healthy (enough)
- Sheep Human
- Possessed Self-possessed
- Dry and barren Artistic
- Victim of madness-bringing plots Safe
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Write down your sincere responses. Here is the tip again: Go for the things in boldface before you harm yourself or come to harm, for maybe you don't need that . . .
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FIGURE. Five choices on five slide scales. Mark off along the horizontal bars - the higher the numbers, the higher intensity. Then count your scores. Study your profile. Less than 4 on any score suggests that you are vulnerable to derangements or negative influences. |
I would say it is normal - conforming to holistic health - to want 5 on each parameter (score). Now consider each dichotomy (pair) in the light of the Bible:
- Healthy: Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." [Mark 2:17; cf. Matthew 9:12-13].
- Human: "How much more valuable is a man than a sheep!" [Matthew 12:12]. Compare "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me." [John 10:14]. "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." [John 10:27] - "Simon . . . Take care of my sheep." [John 21:16]. Being human is better than being a sheep anyway, he says.
- Self-possessed: There is research that shows that meditation helps being self-controlled (self-possessed), whereas being taken over or ridden by a demon of glossolalia suggest being possessed (in a biblical sense), judged from the symptoms [MORE].
- Artistic: Artistic ones manage to be independent of mind in some areas, at least. Ensnared, conform and duped ones, on the other hand, may end up dry, barren or sterile. Many get focused on glamour instead of become nice craftspersons and so on, few master the educational ways that keep and develop zest for learning rather than becoming "dog-trainers" that molest young persons into conformism.
- Safe: Don't think you follow Jesus if you don't do all he demands. And don't think you really follow Jesus without giving away to the poor all you have and own either, since such self-destructive conduct is part of what he insists on. If you do abandon all property and take no heed for tomorrow, you are so unfit for the tough business world, to say the least, where money and planning strategies are at its very core.
Among men and in variable non-generous climates, general safety is had by handy rules of living that are followed day in, day out, whereas lots of commands by Jesus make you self-maiming, self-impoverishing victims of what looks like destructive plots. But perhaps you decide to be one of those condemned to hell by Jesus for hypocrisy by telling you "follow Jesus" without actually doing it in all matters? Well, those who called Jesus "Lord, Lord", without doing what he said, he condemned to hell, frankly. But there is at least hope somewhere: Jesus appears to have lost most of his old basis of rebuking in Acts 15, confirmed in Acts 21:25. The four essentials for non-Jewish Christians, are no-no to blood food and adultery, eating certain remnants, and food from animals who had died without being slaughtered. But paying attention to sayings of Jesus are not in it. True sheep hardly do that either.
SO: The Bible tells that if you want to be healthy and have a good life, then Jesus and Christianity is largely not for you, for sane humans don't need Jesus. Aim for a higher life, then. Maybe you don't believe Jesus in the matter in order to keep on saying that you "follow him"? To be ridden that way could be the sign of being screwed up and confused. [Mark 2:17].
But if you are not bound by the demands of Jesus (they were for Jews, he tells), but think that the deal for non-Jews (described in Acts 15) is all right, then drop adultery as much as having black pudding and blood sausage for dinner.
There is a disputed quotation by Winston Churchill: "Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened."

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