Are People Basically Good?

[@stephaniec5215]

This is so important. Repentance is never popular. Even Jesus’ disciples complained, ‘This is a hard word.’ Yes, it is. Our flesh fights to be ‘happy’, have approval, ‘go with (our) gut’, ‘trust yourself’, ‘live your best life’...all lies. ‘The pride of life’ is sin! Thank you, April. Satan can’t harm us who are in the Father’s hand. But he *can* deceive us to harm ourselves. We decide who to follow.

[@AprilCassidy]

Love this. Thank you for sharing these beautiful, powerful insights. Blessings, precious sister!

[@daniellepiergreen5642]

Blessings! This is amazing - I have goosebumps because the Lord has been bringing the same very things to our attention this week! Many of the same scriptures even! You make some really valid points about how people justify their behaviour too. We live in perilous times where people say good is evil and evil is good! God bless you for standing up for God’s Word! How wonderful dear sister to have the same spirit and be on the other side of the world! We were also reflecting on how it is impossible to actually love others before you have been reconciled to God and are given a new heart, a new spirit and the Holy Spirit. We are born so selfish, self preserving and even at best we are so ignorant to how much every word and action affects God, other people and God’s creation no matter how much we deceive ourselves! The more I walk with the Lord the more I realise how much I need Christ and His mercy. We are so wicked by nature and even being born again with a new nature with new desires to love God and others I still fail terribly. Lately I have been reflecting on how much it must hurt God that the very creatures He created hate Him so much. It hurts to think about it! Imagine if our children hated us as much as most of mankind hate God? Heartbreaking! In addition the Lord is leading us to really trust Him, and let go of all the stability we have including where we live and my pension that we live off and to step out into the unknown in faith. We have no fellowship here, no support network and we don’t even know where we will be going! It is like we have been challenged and the Lord has brought to our attention that if we really do trust and believe His word then we wouldn’t live the way we do! It is scarey but the Lord loves us and if we believe the Bible to be true then we must live in a way that proves that we trust and believe what Jesus said in the Bible. He said if we forsake our life and put the kingdom of heaven first we can trust Him to provide for our needs, food and clothing. I have no idea how it’s going to unfold - I can only see the preparation steps but He is asking us to trust Him to provide for us. He really is so lovely because He has already started sending the odd person, even a stranger in the past couple of weeks to give us food or things we need! It’s like He is so gently and lovingly showing us not to doubt but just to trust. The Bible is true. It can be trusted! I have only been a Christian almost 4 years and God has proven many of the scriptures to be absolute truth to me personally. In fact a supernatural transformation of my nature testifies of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and that His blood has the power to save us from our sins. I am not the same person I can’t even be that same person! I don’t know how! More and more I believe the Bible to be true. It is full of so many wonderful treasures! There is only one greater treasure to be had and that is the Lord Himself! Sending much love and many blessings to you dear April and your family and anyone who reads this comment ((warm hugs))

[@AprilCassidy]

Danielle & Pier Green, I always love to hear your insights and thoughts. What a blessing and joy you are! So true. It is impossible to genuinely love others with agape love when we haven't received that love from God. If we haven't experienced God's forgiveness, mercy, grace, and love, we don't have those things to give to others. When we have that new nature and we have experienced massive grace, mercy, forgiveness, and unfathomable love from God, we are overflowing with those things for others in beautiful ways. If we make a move without the power of God's Spirit, we stumble. I know I do! I can't do anything good on my own. I need Him every moment. That is heartbreaking to think about how many people hate God and how painful that would be for Him. I love your heart for the Lord and for people and the way God is growing you in your faith! That is beautiful! I pray for His provision and praise Him for His faithfulness to you in every moment. Blessings, dear sister! And big hugs from America!

[@ericbrown6203]

I'm happy that your ministry talks about much more than just "women's" issues. I'm happy that you are doing this.

[@AprilCassidy]

Thanks, Eric Brown. These kinds of spiritual issues are foundational for us as wives to understand, I believe, so that we can be better followers of Christ, wives, moms, and witnesses.

[@LifeLifemoreAbundantly]

God Bless; Jesus is the only hope. Hebrews 12:2 “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”

[@AprilCassidy]

Very true!

[@LovingGod1]

April I truly need to talk to you.

[@AprilCassidy]

Hey! You are welcome to send me a private message on my contact page if you like. Thanks! peacefulwife.com/contact-us/

[@LovingGod1]

@@AprilCassidy ok thank you

[@FRN2013]

_Silly sinner:_ "There is no such thing as 'absolute truth.'" _Cognizant Christian:_ "Is that absolutely true?"

[@tumdeax]

The point you must understand about absolute truth is that anything we as human beings invent is always susceptible to errors and unconscious biases. Its inherent in our psychology. Only God is perfect in the most abstract sense of God. The bible is a human creation and like all of our creations can always be revised and obsoleted for better ones. Every now and then geniuses come along a blow our hair off with a paradigm shift, but this is rare unfortunately. As long as we maintain a strong sense love in ourselves without denial of reality (inner and outer reality), then dogma will be a unnecessary as people do not fear "losing themselves" to the point of suicide which perhaps the unfortunate reason why people become dogmatic in the first place. It keeps them from falling apart. No matter how hard fanatical you become, spiritualization is a individual emotional experience of love and idealism brought into the reality plane that you will have to do yourself. If not, your just playing air guitar.

[@AprilCassidy]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! True. If people were responsible solely for Scripture or even partially, the Bible wouldn't be worth much. Human wisdom is fallible. Human words are fallible. That's why the divine inspiration of God in the Bible is so important. Without the one God and Creator of the universe, there is no anchor upon which to determine truth. He determines truth for us. On our own, we are subject to delusion and self-deception. Here are some articles that may be a blessing about this and how the Bible is not a human creation. God used humans to physically write the words, but the words themselves were from Him. www.gotquestions.org/inspiration-theories.html www.gotquestions.org/Bible-infallible.html www.gotquestions.org/prove-infallibility-Bible.html answersingenesis.org/is-the-bible-true/ Does God Exist? www.gotquestions.org/Does-God-exist.html Have a lovely day!

[@tumdeax]

@@AprilCassidy Fallibility is perfectly okay. I have beliefs that may be wrong and if I test reality and found it needed to be corrected, that’s not an apocalyptic tragedy! What matters is that we continuously search for more and more truths about ourselves and the outside world. Children born into the world have no fear or repugnance towards themselves nor reality; if they are wrong and are often, quite excited to find out an alternative. For whatever reason, adults become far more rigid and intolerant to change. An absolute dogma of any kind limits the ability of testing psychical reality against objective reality. Whether we produce art or science, is a means of expressing our deepest experiences into reality through some type of representation. The Bible or any other religious text is just that. I know for sure that I will die never truly understanding myself completely, but that doesn’t frighten me. I still feel that no matter how we live on the earth, love and contentment with ourselves is the true “end” that we all as humans want to achieve. So long as we arrive, then I’d say we’ve made our paradise on earth, one with God.

[@AprilCassidy]

Tumdeaux - Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Yes, we are always learning, as humans. We never arrive at knowing all things. Or remotely close! That is very true. What I am thankful for is the blessing that God didn't leave us in the dark. He provided evidence of His existence in Creation so that we are without excuse. We can see that someone with an eternal and divine nature had to create such exquisite beauty and intricate design. And then He provided His Word, the Bible, so we can know Him. So He (Jesus) said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32 We do need a firm foundation upon which to build our lives, full of truth and wisdom. An anchor for our souls. Jesus and His Word provide that. Not to chain us down or put us in a dungeon, but to set us free from confusion, danger, lies, and falsehoods. Blessings!

[@FRN2013]

"What is the new nature like? How does God give us a new heart?" Good question! Let me illustrate: A cat is walking along the top of a tall, split-rail fence. It slips and falls...into the mud. It's a pigsty! Immediately the cat runs out and does whatever it can to get clean as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, the pigs laugh and think, "What's the problem? It's fun in here!"

[@AprilCassidy]

Oh, that is awesome!!!!! I may have to borrow that explanation from you. Love it!

[@FRN2013]

Yes, please do! I've been using it for so many years, I don't remember whether I got it from someone else. Hahaha

[@jimgchord]

You poor thing.

[@AprilCassidy]

Blessings to you. I'm here if you'd like to chat.

[@Crownliving]

Bad