Can We Really Be at Peace with All

by Jim Gordon

To be at peace with all people, including believers and non-believers, it seems almost impossible in our world today. We have so many different thoughts and ideas, different denominations, interpretations and beliefs and all the different religions. It makes you wonder how it is possible to be at peace with everyone?

The dictionary describes peace as freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions; harmony in personal relations.

I have been thinking recently about how some Christian people act towards those who see things differently. I do not know why we can be so mean at times. We feel we have to prove our point to others and stand our ground when it comes to doctrine and interpretation of the bible. I am not sure why we feel it is our job to be the morality police. Why do we feel the need to force our views, beliefs and interpretations on others?

Rather than base our lives on following doctrine and interpretation, we are to follow the example of Jesus. He said to love God and love one another. There is no way to be at peace with others without loving them. We cannot love others without the Spirit of love living within us.

Often times when we meet new people, or even when we get together with current friends, if we could just see the person as a human being without any labels, knowing that God loves them, it is easier to be at peace with them. The problem often seems to be when conversations get onto the subject of politics or religion, things can get divisive. We quickly forget the good things and only focus on our differences. It is very sad to let politics, religion or a number of other labels cloud the good things we see in people.

I think what God is saying about being at peace with all is that we are to live in harmony with others, not allowing any oppressive thoughts or emotions to take control of our feelings toward them. In other words, we live in love. Just because someone does not interpret the bible the same way we do or go to the same church we do or does not go to church at all, we should realize that in regard to other believers, we are all wanting to love God and do what is pleasing to God. We are to accept one another in love and respect the fact that God is working in different ways in people. Just because it is not what we are used to does not mean it is not of God.

In regard to non-believers, we do not need to condemn them or force our beliefs on them. We are to let them see the love of God by the way we treat others. They do not need someone beating them down or twisting their arms to get them to believe like us. We are to love them as they are and let the Spirit do any work that needs to be done in their lives just as the Spirit does in our lives.

If we believers could understand that we are responsible for ourselves in the way we live for God. We are not responsible to live the way others do or the way others think we should. We are to allow the Spirit to work in our lives and follow the Spirit on the path we are on.

Our responsibility is to do what Jesus said, love God and love others. We are to accept them for who they are and pray that the Holy Spirit will teach us and guide us in the way we are to go. We are not responsible to force others to see things the way we see things. We are to love one another and accept one another as they are. Only by living in love can we live at peace with all.

Jim Gordon and his wife left the institutional church after spending over fifty years within the system. Jim wanted a way to express his thoughts and concerns about the religious system and why he and his wife decided to leave the institution but not their faith in God. Jim can be contacted by email at: jimgordon731@gmail.com

Be at Peace with All Men….Really?

by Jim Gordon

Romans 12:18 – If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. That almost sounds like an impossibility in our world today. To be at peace with all men, including believers and non-believers, those who accept God and those who do not accept that there is a God. Live at peace with those who believe in a similar way we do and those who believe in a variety of different ways than us.

With all the different thoughts and ideas, the different denominations, interpretations and beliefs, all the different religions, how could it be possible to be at peace with everyone?

The dictionary says of peace: freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions; harmony in personal relations.

I think this is what God is saying, that we are to live in harmony with our fellow human beings, not allowing any oppressive thoughts or emotions to take control of our feelings towards others. In other words, we live in love. Just because someone does not interpret the Bible the same way we do, or go to the same church we do, or does not go to church at all, we should realize that as believers we are all wanting to please God and do what we feel led to do out of love. We should respect the fact that God is working in different ways in people. Just because people see things differently does not mean it is not of God.

In regard to non-believers, we should not be condemning them or forcing our beliefs on them. We need to let them see the love of God, yet they do not need someone beating them down or twisting their arms to get them to believe like us. We are to love them as they are and allow them the freedom to make their own choices in spiritual matters.

If we believers could just understand that we are responsible for ourselves in the way we live for God. We are not responsible to force our beliefs on others. We are to allow God to work in our lives and follow God on the path the Spirit has for us. Our responsibility is to love God and love everyone we come in contact with, accept them for who they are and let the Holy Spirit work in all our lives. Living in this manner would accomplished much more in showing the love of Christ to those we have contact with each day.

Jim Gordon and his wife left the institutional church after spending over fifty years within the system. Jim wanted a way to express his thoughts and concerns about the religious system and why he and his wife decided to leave the institution but not their faith in God. Jim can be contacted by email at: jimgordon731@gmail.com

Be at Peace with All

by Jim Gordon

Romans 12:18 – If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.

This almost sounds like an impossibility in our world today. To be at peace with all men, including believers and non-believers. With all the different thoughts and ideas, the different denominations, interpretations and beliefs, different religions, how could it be possible to be at peace with everyone?

The dictionary says of peace: freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions; harmony in personal relations.

I think what God is saying is that we are to live in harmony with our fellow human beings; not allowing any oppressive thoughts or emotions to take control of our feelings towards others. In other words, we live in love. Just because someone does not interpret the Bible the same way we do, or go to the same church we do, or does not go to church at all, we need to realize that in regard to other believers, we are all wanting to please our Father and share his love with others. We need to accept one another in love, and respect the fact that God is working in different ways in people. Just because it is different from the way he is working in us does not mean it is not of God.

In regard to non-believers, we should not be condemning or forcing our beliefs on others. We need to let them see the love of God by the way we live, love and respect them. We need to be kind and caring without any ulterior motives. They do not need someone beating them down or twisting their arms to get them to believe like us. We are to love them and let the Holy Spirit do the work that needs to be done in their lives.

If we believers could just understand that we are responsible for ourselves in the way we live for God. We are not responsible to live in a way that others think we should, nor are we responsible for converting others to our beliefs. We are to allow our Father to work in our lives the way He wants and follow Him on the path He has for us. Our responsibility is to love God and love others. Accept them for who they are, and pray that the Holy Spirit will work in their lives. Living in this manner would accomplish much more in showing the love of Christ and living in peace with others.

Jim Gordon and his wife left the institutional church after spending over fifty years within the system. Jim wanted a way to express his thoughts and concerns about the religious system and why he and his wife decided to leave the institution but not their faith in God. Jim can be contacted by email at: jimgordon731@gmail.com

Peace in a Time of Turmoil

by Jim Gordon

War, terrorism, politics, COVID-19 pandemic, how could we possibly be at peace in our world today with all this turmoil?

How can we be at peace with people with all the different thoughts and ideas, the different denominations, interpretations, beliefs, different religions and ways of life?

The dictionary says of peace: harmony in personal relations; freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions. We certain have a lot of strain in personal relations and much unrest and worry in thoughts and emotions about events going on in our world today.

Romans 12:18 reads, if possible, so far as it depends on you be at peace with all men. To me this means we are to live in harmony with others, not allowing any oppressive thoughts or emotions to take control of us. In other words, we live in love. That does not mean total agreement, but love and acceptance of who the other person was created to be.

Jesus told us we were given the peace of God by saying “peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid”. It is a peace that we, in our finite human minds cannot make sense of or understand.

Jesus also said “in me you will have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” This world will provide plenty of worrisome events, plenty of turmoil and plenty of things to worry about each day. Yet Jesus said by putting our trust and hope in God we can overcome the worry and fear we have in the world.

The Kingdom of God is not like the kingdoms of this world. Our world is a temporary home, yet the Kingdom of God is now. It is within us. The Spirit of Christ is within us. Our spiritual home right now is in the Kingdom of God. We do not recognize all the effects because we are to accustomed to the ways of the world. Jesus said the ways of the world have been overcome by the Kingdom of God.

The more we can focus on the Spirit and the Kingdom within, the more we can enjoy the peace Jesus provides. The peace of Christ works within our spirit, much different than the peace we think about in our world system.

Remember that we are responsible for ourselves in the way we live and trust God. We are not responsible to live as others do or think we should. We are not responsible to tell others how they should live. We are to allow the Spirit to work in our lives and follow the Spirit on the path we are following. Our responsibility is to love God and love everyone we come in contact with, accept them for who they are and pray that the Holy Spirit will work in all our lives. Living in this manner would accomplish much more in showing the love of Christ and allow us to live in peace amidst all the turmoil in our lives.

Be at Peace with All

by Jim Gordon

Romans 12:18 – If possible, so far as it depends on you be at peace with all men.

To be at peace with all people, including believers and non-believers seems almost impossible in our world today. We have so many different thoughts and ideas, different denominations, interpretations and beliefs and all the different religions. It makes you wonder how it is possible to be at peace with everyone?

The dictionary describes peace as freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions; harmony in personal relations.

I have been thinking recently about how some christian people act towards those who see things differently. I do not know why we can be so mean at times. We feel we have to prove our point to others and stand our ground when it comes to doctrine and interpretation of the bible. I am not sure why we feel it is our job to be the morality police. Why do we feel the need to force our views, beliefs and interpretations on others?

Rather than base our lives on following doctrine and interpretation, we are to follow the example of Jesus. He said to love God and love one another. There is no way to be at peace with others without loving them. We cannot love others without the Spirit of love living within us.

I think what God is saying about being at peace with all is that we are to live in harmony with others, not allowing any oppressive thoughts or emotions to take control of our feelings toward them. In other words, we live in love. Just because someone does not interpret the bible the same way we do or go to the same church we do or does not go to church at all, we should realize that in regard to other believers, we are all wanting to love God and do what is pleasing to God. We are to accept one another in love and respect the fact that God is working in different ways in people. Just because it is not what we are used to does not mean it is not of God.

In regard to non-believers, we do not need to condemn them or force our beliefs on them. We are to let them see the love of God by the way we treat others. They do not need someone beating them down or twisting their arms to get them to believe like us. We are to love them as they are and let the Spirit do any work that needs to be done in their lives just as the Spirit does in our lives.

If we believers could understand that we are responsible for ourselves in the way we live for God. We are not responsible to live the way others do or the way others think we should. We are to allow our Father to work in our lives the way He wants and follow Him on the path He has for us.

Our responsibility is to love God and love others, accept them for who they are and pray that the Holy Spirit will teach us and guide us in the way we are to go. We are not responsible to force others to see things the way we see things. We are to love one another and accept one another as they are. Only by living in love can we live at peace with all.

Live in Peace

by Jim Gordon

In the bible we are told to be at peace with all men (Romans 12:18). In our day it seems almost impossible to be at peace with all men, which includes believers and non-believers. When we think about all the different thoughts and ideas, the different denominations, interpretations and beliefs and the different religions, how could it be possible to be at peace with everyone?

The dictionary says of peace: freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions; harmony in personal relations. We can easily see that without the Spirit we certainly cannot do this.

I think this is what God is saying, that we are to live in harmony with our brothers and sisters in Christ, not allowing any oppressive thoughts or emotions to take control of our feelings towards others. In other words, we live in love. Just because someone does not interpret the Bible the same way we do, or go to the same church we do, or does not go to church at all we should remember that all believers want to please our Father. We are to accept one another in love and respect the fact that God is working differently in people. Just because it is not the way we believe does not mean it is not of God.

In regard to non-believers we are not to condemn them, force our beliefs on them or treat them like second-class citizens. We need to let them see the love of God by the way we live and treat others. They do not need someone beating them down or twisting their arms to get them to believe like us. We are to love them and let the Holy Spirit do the work that needs to be done in the lives of others.

If we believers could just understand that we are responsible for ourselves in the way we live for God. We are not responsible to live the way others think we should, and we are not responsible to make others live the way we think they should. We are to allow our Father to work in our lives the way He wants and follow Him on the path He has for us. Our responsibility is to love God and love everyone we come in contact with, accept them for who they are and pray that the Holy Spirit will work in the lives of others as he works within us. Living in this manner will accomplished much more in showing the love of Christ to a hurting world.

Two Tragedies in Recent Days

As I sit here thinking about two tragedies that have happened in the last few days, I find my heart aching for the people and families involved.

On Saturday November 10, two local police officers from Westerville, Ohio were ambushed, shot and killed. It is so sad to see two people trying to do their job and protect the citizens lose their lives, especially in such a senseless way.

Both had families who are now going through the worst time of their lives. I cannot imagine how they feel but I am sure the worst has not even hit them yet. They are probably in such shock that they cannot comprehend the whole situation.

Then on Wednesday November 14 the terrible school shooting in Parkland, Florida with multiple lives lost, many injuries and hundreds having their lives changed for years to come.

As a parent, it is easy to understand the fear and horror of parents wondering if their child is safe. Yet not actually being in the situation there is absolutely no way to really know what those parents are going through.

The shooting was at a high school that had grades nine through twelve and roughly three thousand students. Needless to say, these kids are going to be scarred for life because of the terrible events they have gone through.

It is so sad to hear of situations like these, and very upsetting that things like this are becoming more common. I wish there was an answer as to what to do to curb tragedies such as these, but I for one do not have an answer. I pray that someone will come up with ways that will help stop such terrible things from happening.

I ask my brothers and sisters in Christ to pray for all people involved and ask for the peace and comfort of God to be upon each one. For those who are not of the christian belief I would ask you to also, in your own way remember the victims of these terrible tragedies.

Days of Uncertainty

Living in these days of uncertainty, for me it is good to have a faith and trust in God. I know not everyone agrees with me on that and I certainly understand. This is just my opinion, but for myself and my wife we would not want to be without God in our world today.

We hear so many scary events going on in our world, threats of nuclear war, natural disasters and terrorism.

Here in the US it seems that sometimes we over-react to certain groups of people and do things that not always seem so Christ-like. We do things and say things that I just do not think we would see Jesus doing or saying.

We are told in the bible to put our trust in God, cast our cares on him and do not worry about events going on in the world.

We are also told to love God and love one another, yet we see so much hate and unacceptance even coming from fellow Christians.

Here in the United States we have a wide variety of beliefs, ideas and interpretations all falling under various labels. Labels such as christian, atheist, religious, LGBT, straight, asexual, male, female, black, white, illegal alien, nationalist, republican, democrat and such. Yet we need to remember behind each of the labels is a person who we are to love, accept and treat with the love of God.

We obviously will not agree with one another or see eye to eye with all the different views in the world, but we should be able to look past those differences and love the person who was created in the image of God.

In the organized church I have found we have been taught many things that may not necessarily be exactly as we have been told. Most of us, me included, have been taught a lot of things we take as truth without checking out for ourselves.

Most of us do not know Greek or Hebrew. Most of us do not have access to anything other than the current versions of the bible. I think I am safe in saying that many of us do not do a lot of in-depth studying for ourselves. We seem to take the teachings of a particular pastor or evangelist as gospel truth.

I am finding that this is not a good thing to do. We are told in the scriptures that we have the mind of Christ. We are also told the Holy Spirit lives within us and we have no need for anyone to teach us. To me that says we should stop focusing on listening to only a few people tell us their versions and interpretations and listen for the voice of the Spirit to guide us into his truth.

We find ourselves listening to one person give their explanation of the bible and we do not even check into it for ourselves and seek the guidance of the Spirit to see what is the correct way of interpretation.

We have been taught for so long in the institutional church that God is up in heaven and he shows up now and then at a special church service. We are in the frame of mind that we can only hope to find the will of God while we are in this current world.

The truth is, the bible makes it clear the Spirit of God lives within us. God is not a person that resides in one place. God is spirit. God is not male or female, white or black. He is not an American or a republican. God is spirit and God lives within us. He is closer that we can imagine and it is time we begin to realize this truth and listen for the still, small voice of the Spirit from within.

For me, I feel it is time to put our trust and faith in God and not worry about all the things going on in our world today. Worry will only affect our health and make us miserable. We cannot do anything about most of these things anyway. God promised to be with us always and that he would never leave us. Whether in the physical world or the spiritual world, having the God of the universe tell us he is with us and loves us is the best thing I can imagine.

The goal of myself and my wife is to become more and more accepting of all people. We all have different personalities, different ways of life and different beliefs but there is no reason why we cannot be respectful and kind to one another. Rather than attack LGBT people, people of different nationalities and color, people of different faith or no faith, look past the differences and see a human being who can be a good friend in your life.

This is one thing for me that has become more and more evident after leaving the institutional church. The organization that should be known for its love, so much of the time is known more for what it is against and for showing judgment and condemnation against people who see things differently. I think it is time for this to come to an end.

We do not have to agree with one another, we do not have to condone what we do not agree with and we do not have to participate in things we feel for us is not right. Yet we are called to love one another even in the differences, and we can be kind and accepting to all people without pushing our personal views on them.

So, in this day of uncertainty focus on the love of God. Put your trust in him and walk each day in the power of the Spirit, letting the love of God touch each person you meet throughout the day.

Peaceful Living

Romans 12:18 – If possible, so far as it depends on you be at peace with all men.

This sounds like an impossibility in our world today, to be at peace with all men including non-believers and believers. Sometimes it seems harder to be at peace with other christians due to the various differences in beliefs and interpretations.

Thinking of all the different thoughts and ideas, different denominations, interpretations and beliefs and different religions how could it be possible to be at peace with everyone?

The dictionary says of peace: a state of mutual harmony between people or groups, especially in personal relations: cessation of or freedom from any strife or dissension.

I think this is what God is saying, that we are to live in harmony with our brothers and sisters in Christ, not allowing any oppressive thoughts or emotions to take control of our feelings towards others. In other words, we live in love. Just because someone does not interpret the Bible the same way we do, or go to the same church we do, or does not go to church at all we still have the common bond of being one in Christ. We are to accept one another in love and respect the fact that God works differently in each of us.

In regard to non-believers, we do not need to condemn them or force our beliefs on them. They do not need someone judging and condemning them or trying to force them to believe like us. We are to love them and let the Holy Spirit do the work that needs to be done in their lives.

If we believers could just understand that God speaks to each of us in his own special way. We do not have to live the way others live or based on what others think. We do not have to force our beliefs on others or argue with people who see things differently. We are to allow our Father to work in our lives and follow Him on the path He has for us.

Our responsibility is to love God and love everyone we come in contact with, accept them for who they are and pray that the Holy Spirit will work in their lives. Living in this manner would accomplished much more in showing the love of Christ to all of those we meet