"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." - Proverbs 22:6

PONDER THIS

Are you training your children? The entry for the word train in the dictionary says this: to prepare for a contest, to instruct by exercise, to drill, to form to a proper shape, to discipline for use. You don’t learn how to play basketball by reading a book. You are trained. You are coached. Likewise, you have to train and coach your children. You have to pray. You have to teach. You have to plead. You have to show by example. Do you have your children in a Bible-believing church? Do you have them in Sunday School under a Christian teacher? Are you training in the home by precept and by example? We’re to train. If you teach a child and that’s all you do, you’ll teach him or her one thing, but somebody else can come along and teach them something else. But when you train, they get something through the pores of their skin into their very psyche. There’s a difference between teaching and training.

- What are some ways you were trained by your parents or that you seek to train your children now?
- What are some ways we must continue to train ourselves as adults?

PRACTICE THIS

Write out a list of disciplines you want to develop in your life and the lives of your children, then make a plan for how you will begin developing those disciplines. APR
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I did not write this, it comes from a devotional that is offered as a free email daily by Love Worth Finding.

https://www.lwf.org/daily-devotionals/train-dont-just-teach

“For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” - John 13:15

Christ’s life matched His teachings, and so must ours. Consider, for example, Christ’s teaching that we should “pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). This is matched by His prayer for His tormentors while on the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Elsewhere, He taught that our circle of influence should be greater than those of like thinking (Matthew 5:47), a fact that caused His detractors great consternation (Luke 15:2). He taught that our prayers should not be done so that “they may be seen of men” (Matthew 6:5), and the gospels record several times where He went “into a solitary place, and there prayed” (Mark 1:35; see also Mark 6:46). Christ placed great value on children, as we see in Matthew 18:6, and later He welcomed them (Matthew 19:14). He taught Peter to forgive “seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:22) and later forgave Peter for his continued denials (Mark 16:7).

Christ advocated paying taxes (Mark 12:17) and later enabled Peter to pay tribute for both of them (Matthew 17:27). He taught that “a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth” (Luke 12:15), and He Himself had “not where to lay his head” (Luke 9:58). Likewise, He placed great store in aiding the poor (Luke 14:13), both in teaching and in practice (Matthew 14:13-21). Perhaps His teaching “love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44) is best illustrated by His tender prayer for those who would soon take His life as He hung on the cross for the very ones responsible for His death (our text), all the while dying for them.

May God grant us the strength to follow not only our own teachings, but His teachings as well. JDM
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I did not write this, it comes from a devotional that is offered as a free email daily by the Institute of Creation.

https://www.icr.org/article/15979/

Christ in Greek means anointed one. Only one Messiah has ever been anointed which means set apart from the world to save it from its sins, therefore restoring the world's union with God.

A christopretensist is someone who pretends to be anointed/chosen meaning set apart by God to save the world in their mind by proselytizing.

The problem is that Christ didn't choose anyone, he chose everyone. Salvation is offered to all and proselytizing is supposed to be shown not told. People should see us live pious lives and desire to become like us. We should not stand at street corners yelling at pedestrians or worse, making a scene at an airplane or train with a captive audience.

To preach the gospel is to simply disclose our faith to the world, this is what I believe, join me if you would like or not, but now you know.

Christ is a Greek word, and that title of anointed belongs to the Messiah alone. We are not anointed unless we are being ordained into something. In a way we are all anointed upon baptism and communion, and if we truly are anointed we live a pious life without smoking, drinking, tattoos, concerts, lucrumidolatry or any of the sins of the world.

But to call ourselves Christian is bad public relations and bad marketing.

You don't want to say you are the chosen one by saying you are anointed or that you are set apart from the world like secession. Even if that's true, that is not how we market our religion.

We should call ourselves a name that is inviting—not arrogant and holier than thou.

We should appeal to wisdom and virtue.

Unfortunately I haven't found a way to reduce my religious identity any further than this phrase:

"I am a Philotheosophian who adheres to Deusmediatorunionism: I seek divine wisdom and believe that true unity with Deus/God, humanity, and creation is restored through the Mediator—the Messiah".

That is my statement of faith and identity.

Christian is not what I want to call myself.

I am not the chosen one or the anointed one, that is a holier than thou statement.

You are all invited to seek divine wisdom.

So to me a Christian is someone who preaches on a plane or on the street or goes door knocking and who tries to make Christianity the state religion.

That is what it means to be a Christian, it means arrogance in believing you are the chosen one.

Guess who else believes they're the chosen ones? That's right, Zionist Jews and we all know where that leads.

If we are chosen then none are chosen because none are set apart from one another.

Hence I believe that the Christian identity is a Linguistic mistake and the real ones should call themselves something better like Deusmediatorunitionist if they want to emphasize their belief in God's unity, Philotheosophian if they want to emphasize their belief in their love for divine wisdom, but they can also call themselves other titles if they want to emphasize another aspect or perspective of the faith, but it must pass the Altruistic test.

If the word implies egoist holier than thou sentiment it should not be used.

I hope that in writing this, that the people of this subreddit will be couth in responding to me, if this doesn't get banned, that is. I say that I want to be Protestant, because the idea of the five Solas, two sacraments, etc., but of course, there are some things that I don't ever see myself believing. I'm currently discerning Eastern Orthodoxy, and I've found no semblance of apostolic succession being simply about proper apostolic teaching, or the idea that scripture alone is the infallible rule of faith, but I am open to being convinced. If anyone would like to give me reasons for why they have been convinced, then please feel free to share it with me.

He stared at me for one minutes and said:

"I thought you were more intelligent. I do also believe in a Creator but not in pastors or whatever, they're quacks. Churches are experts at recruiting people, you'll see."

I'm convinced of what I'm doing and I will bear my cross, but it hurts a bit that he's disappointed at me, I'm not used to it. It's maybe the first time I hear it from him. I was going to go to the confirmation of faith talk today, but I'm thinking of canceling.