The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

1 John 2:17

Its a dumb commercial and makes no sense

Do you have a church you got to? try to get more connected with the people there, most churches have events and social gatherings that they have. Go to the social gatherings, springtime is coming up and there should be more opportunities to go outside. Also ask if they need volunteers. Volunteering helps you meet more likeminded people.

As for feeling lost in life there's the phrase "Love God and do what you want" you have a lot of freedom as a Christian and as long as you continue to walk in the Spirit, you should be fine. If you feel like doing something even if its not a calling, go ahead and do it as longs as its not sinful.

If you a daily prayer schedule I recommend valley of vision. books.feedvu.com/nonscrolablepdf/the-valley-of-vision-a-collection-of-puritan-prayers-and-devotions-pdf.html?page=15

I do have a church I go to on Sundays, but not sure it's right for me to involve myself there. Feel a little out of place lol.

Appreciate the advice and will definitely take a look at the Valley of Vision.

Trying to read the Bible some more (been slacking for awhile) to find an answer to things

So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will remain in fellowship with the Son and with the Father. And in this fellowship we enjoy the eternal life he promised us.

I am writing these things to warn you about those who want to lead you astray. But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ.

1 John 2:24-27

Everyone who sins is breaking God’s law, for all sin is contrary to the law of God. And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, and there is no sin in him. Anyone who continues to live in him will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or understand who he is.

1 John 3:4-6

We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us.

But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.

God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.

Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.

If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.

1 John 4:11-21

And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.

I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.

1 John 5:11-13

I am writing to remind you, dear friends, that we should love one another.

Grace, mercy, and peace, which come from God the Father and from Jesus Christ—the Son of the Father—will continue to be with us who live in truth and love.

2 John 1:3

I am writing to all who have been called by God the Father, who loves you and keeps you safe in the care of Jesus Christ.

May God give you more and more mercy, peace, and love.

But you, my dear friends, must remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ predicted. They told you that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to satisfy their ungodly desires. These people are the ones who are creating divisions among you. They follow their natural instincts because they do not have God’s Spirit in them.

But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love.

Grace and peace to you from the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come; from the sevenfold Spirit before his throne; and from Jesus Christ. He is the faithful witness to these things, the first to rise from the dead, and the ruler of all the kings of the world.

All glory to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by shedding his blood for us. He has made us a Kingdom of priests for God his Father. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.

For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.

You must teach these things and encourage the believers to do them.

@nonviolence thoughts? Read all three parts.
contrast2.wordpress.com/2018/09/21/on-social-justice-pt-1-the-ambiguity-of-social-justice

@commonwrongdoer hey, mind if I DM you some questions?

Go for it

just DMed

the writer says:

"The major and gaping problem with this formulation is that it takes a phrase that has an actual history and usage in modern social commentary (that, whether Keller and Carter like it or not, assumes Marxist (nonbiblical) assumptions about rights, legal obligations, the justice of wealth, the justice of profits, and so on)"

contrast2.wordpress.com/2018/09/21/on-social-justice-pt-1-the-ambiguity-of-social-justice

the writer says:

"If one obeys God’s commands he is just before God,
but that does not mean everything one does
in obedience to God is therefore a matter of justice
between men."

contrast2.wordpress.com/2018/09/25/on-social-justice-2-defining-social-justice

but this is not what Christ said.

Christ actually guarantees justice for the poor:

Thus, Jesus cites the words of the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 61:1–2) in proclaiming his mission:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."

(Luke 4:18–19)

the writer is confusing courtrooms
the writer commands us to ignore
the reasonings and logics of Christ

and to instead,
worship the word of courtrooms, contracts,
managers, and bureaucrats

the writer demands incredible conceptual clarity
from Marxists and adherents of social justice

but fails to recognize the historical reality that Christ
inspired Marx (this is beyond fact, it is actual historical reality)
not necessarily that Marx inspired Christians.

but when Christ says things exactly and concisely,

the writer interestingly makes no reference to what
Christ said about these topics:

1. rights
2. legal obligations
3, the justice of wealth
4. the justice of profits
5. and so on

when, in actuality, Christ has A LOT to say about wealth, economics, and material goods:

Christ's word are very objective and very specific

their universality and relatability are testament to Christ's supreme intellect and sympathy

Christ actually leaves no room for ambiguity regarding what form of social praxis we should submit ourselves to

Jesus counsels his followers to remove from their lives
those things which cause them to sin:

Jesus makes Mammon a personification of riches, one in opposition to God, and which claims a person's service and loyalty as God does. But Jesus rejects the possibility of dual service on our part: for, he says, no one can serve both God
and Mammon.

In the story of Jesus and the rich young man the young ruler's wealth inhibits him from following Jesus and thereby attaining the Kingdom. Jesus comments on the young man's discouragement thus:

"How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." Those who heard this were astonished, "Who then can be saved?", they asked. Jesus replied, "What is impossible with man is possible with God."

-Matthew 19:23–27

"If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than to go with two hands into hell, where the fire never goes out." Mark 9:42–49.

the writer asks:

"But how does that work, exactly, with regards to the poor and their daily bread? If their daily bread is their right (their property) and it has been stolen from them, who stole it? Who must be taken to court and tried for violating the poor person’s right? Interestingly, you can’t point to an individual or even a group of specific individuals. You can only point to “society” or “the rich.” Perhaps this is why the language of “social justice” came to fruition. Simple “justice” presents a roadblock. If an offense is too vague to identify a specific culprit, justice can’t be pursued."

contrast2.wordpress.com/2018/09/25/on-social-justice-2-defining-social-justice

how is this true? how do you ignore the state?
large corporations? the military?

you can find the names and faces of the board of directors,
the exact addresses of headquarters and regional offices,
all with one simple google search

here's an example:

“It is deeply troubling that financial institutions, including our nation’s largest banks, profited off fees charged to those struggling the most as the Covid-19 economic crisis left many families in severe financial distress,” the lawmakers wrote in a Wednesday letter to JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.

"JPMorgan (JPM) collected nearly $1.5 billion in overdraft fees last year, more than any other lender,"

cnn.com/2021/06/17/business/jpmorgan-overdraft-fees-covid/index.html

“Overdraft fees are one of the ‘most common exploitative mechanisms big banks use to target the poor’... Overall, the discrepancies in who pays overdraft fees, and how heavily the penalties are levied against them, amount to a ‘tax on the poor, an extraction from the country’s poorest Americans to its wealthiest banks,’” wrote the lawmakers.

warren.senate.gov/oversight/letters/warren-booker-maloney-blast-jpmorgan-chase-bank-of-america-and-wells-fargo-for-continuing-to-profit-from-overdraft-fees-that-target-low-income-americans

when we can finally put names to faces, when does the
justice between men occur that the writer was so concerned about earlier?

in the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus exhorts his hearers to sell their earthly goods and give to the poor, and so provide themselves with "a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys" (Luke 12:33); and he adds "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Luke 12:34)

In The Parable of the Rich Fool Jesus tells the story of a rich man who decides to rest from all his labors, saying to himself:

"And I will say to myself 'You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.' But God spoke to him, saying 'You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will get all that you have prepared for yourself?'" (Luke 12:16–20)

And Jesus adds, "This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God." (Luke 12:21)

"And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in; it chokes the Word, which becomes unfruitful"-Mark 4:19

God does not tell us to be God
God is Jesus and
Jesus tells us to be like him

He has shown the might of his arm:
and has scattered the proud, in the conceit of their hearts.
He has pulled down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich has sent empty away.
—Luke 1:51–53

In the Parable of the Wedding Feast, it is "the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame" who become God’s honored guests, while others reject the invitation because of their earthly cares and possessions (Luke 14:7–14).

in relation to the modern neoliberal capitalism that shapes the Western world:

American theologian John B. Cobb has argued that the "economism that rules the West and through it much of the East" is directly opposed to traditional Christian doctrine.

Cobb invokes the teaching of Jesus that "man cannot serve both God and Mammon (wealth)".

He asserts that it is obvious that "Western society is organized in the service of wealth" and thus wealth has triumphed over God in the West.1

Scottish theologian Jack Mahoney has characterized the sayings of Jesus in Mark 10:23–27 as having "imprinted themselves so deeply on the Christian community through the centuries that those who are well off, or even comfortably off, often feel uneasy and troubled in conscience.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_views_on_poverty_and_wealth#Wealth_as_an_offense_to_faith

TLDR: the writer is a neolib anglo-american

So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

John 1:14