If you are a Christian and you wish to point out how one can succumb to the powers of evil, here's your chance.

Tell a story of how YOU, succumbed to evil and how you know it was evil. Try referring to those evils/sins you see most often in others.

Instead of pointing out the evil that you see in others, exemplify yourselves. Teach by example.

Oh, come now, is there no one who wants to admit their sins? No teachers here.

Hello ((( Red )))
I dont know if i have succumed to evil,,, I do know that I am far from perfect and try not to pass judgement,,,, I have done
alot of things in my life I am not proud of... I also have strayed away from church and my once beleifs in life,,, due to
situations in my life I have no answers for .... I have doubts and am trying to overcome them,,,, I do know that when I pass on in this life .... My soul will sing and the answers will
come


Its always a pleasure to see you ((( Red )))) and to hear the song in your soul

Great thread, Red. James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

This eventually became the changeover of becoming spiritual rather than being religious for me. The transformation started for me November 11, 1983. The first three words, "Confess your faults" I had to relearn. I had been confessing someone else's faults and begin learning how to confess my own faults. The next three words, "and pray one for another" became different because I was so selfish that I only prayed for myself before. I wasn't what you call selfless because my prayers were conditional. It was like a bargaining thing of, "I will do this for you if you will do this for me." My God was more of a Godfather rather than a God. The final part of the sentence, "that ye may be healed" was difficult for me because in my spiritual programming I had to realize I had a spiritual banctrupcy. My Atheist taught me some great principles but was as religious with them as my mother's theist religion. I had to find some spiritual principles which I do find in my spiritual meetings. I had to relearn, "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" because my righteousness was selfrighteousness. Basically the logic was I was right therefore how could you be right. So when I got to rehab I just through up my hands and admitted that my way wasn't working whether it was right or wrong was beside the point. I just had to start over from scratch. Eventually I had to learn not to throw the baby out with the bath water though because some of what I had learned was functional.

LOL

I tried that, my words were twisted and I was made to sound like a pervert. No thanks. My sins have been washed away by the blood of Jesus. I would share my sinful past with Christians or those who are seeking Christ, but if someone wants to throw stones at me, I'm not going to give them any.

By my Atheist I am referring to my dad. My dad I think had a problem dealing with my grandfather being a preacher and running a still. Dad was Aquarius, too like me. Oh, the contradictions that so easialy beset us. I was following in my dad's footsteps of becoming an alcoholic and my mother's former drug addiction. It is not easy having a Atheist father and Theist mother. I grew up so confused that by the time I hit treatment I was ready for a rubber room. Fortuantely for me I got help.

I guess the difference was that I was twisted and not my words, Spider.

Di;

I think that there needs to be a qualifyer here - just what exactly does "evil" mean here? This question is a bit trollish Di - because a Christian sees "evil" as equated with action and it is an absolute, whereas those who are not, quantify evil - with a massive grey area. They measure evil by their own set of standards. They also tend to attribute evil to "things" - which now sets a standard of inequality in semantics.

For instance. I often hear that guns are evil, drugs are evil, alcohol - etc, so perhaps this thread might have more success if a definition of evil be established - before this turns into a war zone over semantics.

Welcome to my world, Spider. Only I wasn't confessing my sins.

I think what was funny when my dad would tell me I was just like my mother and my mother would tell me I was just like my father. I think one of the happiest times in my life was when I got away from both of them. I could stand both of them for about five minutes then I run back home with a big sigh of relief. I am most happiest when I get to spend time with my friends who have similiar problems dealing with reality on its own terms. Sharing strength, hope and experience is just a lot simpler way of life now.

no offenses, but that is a too personal question. That is something my Lord and me, nobody else needs to know my sins. I know them I work hard on a daily basis to keep them under control some days it's easier other days is harder.
Sins in general are very well lay out, if u want an enumeration of them there are a lot of publications online where u can find all the sins and its explanations.
But just to give an instance: Hate it's a sin because the command of God is to love each other, so hate is exactly the opposite.
Sometimes i feel hate when I see, hear, or read non-sensical attacks to my Lord. What I hate the most is when non-believers get sarcastical, I really feel the need to punch somebody in the face, it's like somebody where cursing my mother.
I'm being a sinner because i need to understand that if people get to that point is because for whatever the reason is they are blind, it's not their fault, it might be my fault as christian for not showing what christianity really is, so instead of feeling hate i need to think a way to show non-christians how wrong they are, but not with my words and judgments, but with my example.
However, as i said somedays it's easier somedays it's harder.

LaMom - gracious lady, thank-you!
Hill - I do enjoy reading your stories, happy to see your post.
Spider - welcome
DKW - happy to see your vivacious spriteness

Eljay - let emplain. In so very many posts I find that many Christians attribute sin to the devil. Therefore committing sin is evil. Many are fond of pointing the 'evil' in another or by using another's sin as an example of how evil contols us.

I thought it might be more appropriate, for those who like to teach by showing examples, that might teach by exemplifying themselves.

It's called making a connection rather than showing where there's a divide.

TLW, we posted at the same time. Welcome. I don't recall that you have ever pointed out or used another's downfall as an example of sin.

There are those who don't do that. I was just attempting to show those who do, that they could make a better connection by showing their own fault, downfalls or sin, whatever they call it.

As for me, I was just curious what others have felt guilt over, and how they dealt with it, and if they have found more tolerance of others who have had similar experiences.

Nice you could join us.

I don't follow the Christian faith, however, over my life I have been judgemental, and narrow-minded.

For the longest time I had no honour for my Mother and Father.

I was self abusive, taking drugs, and not looking at the impact it had on myself, and others around me.

I have put myself first, my feelings, my desires and wants.

I have made some terrible choices in my life that caused harm to both myself and others.

Wrong choice in men, where the outcome was violent, and it subjected my children to feel insecure and unsafe in their own home. My choices were need based at the time, selfishly so, and the impact was great on my family.

And at times I still do. At times I still make wrong choices.

I am here to learn, not so much here on this site, but in this lifetime.

I do get it wrong, at times.

However, I didn't require anyone to wash away my sins, except for me. And the desire to cause good in this world, rather than bad.

^^^^^^

This is why I'm a lapsed Catholic, I don't need to confess my sins to another person, its between me and my God.

Thanks, Red. When comparing the two versions of the King James and the American Standard I noticed something.

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.

Confess therefore your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.

Faults equal sin? Huh? I think they are two different things entirely.

I could probably put in a few sins in here ...

In fact having checked, there is a limit of how many words you could put in each post ...

I could manage that.

Im sure it was the chocolate body paint, the 18 year old student from Marseilles and the desire to succumb to earthly desires that has me mostly in sin-debt ...

But ...

Hillbilly wrote:
“Faults equal sin? Huh? I think they are two different things entirely.”

I would think so too.

There is no commandment “Thou must be perfect”, but to hear some people talk they seem to believe this. I often hear people say that no one is worthy of the presence of God. To me those are just very negative thoughts. Why would anyone want to feel that they are unworthy of God’s love? And if they don’t believe that they are even worthy of being in the presence of God surely they can’t imagine that he loves them. After all, what does the word ‘love’ mean in such a context?

We don’t go around saying to people, “I love you. Now get the hell out of my sight you despicable unworthy creature!”

LOL, James. I was in this impossible situation I thought with a resident the other night. I was on one side of the bed and the nurse was on the other side of the bed. The resident didn't like the light on so I was like a bull in a china shop. I tripped over her call light which jerked it out from under her neck because it is air operated. Then I tripped over her overhead table trying to put ice in her lunch bunket which knocked a framed picture she had on the table. Then I heard her say, "Way to go, Grace." It was like I couldn't do anything right. I was already nervous and getting more pissed by the second. Finally, I retorted with, "I guess I am just a dumbass." The nurse laughed and told me I was not a dumbass. Then the resident retorted with, "I am just tired of teaching new aides." Oh, that really pissed me off even more since I have worked with the resident for over a year. After the resident and I cleared the air the resident told me that the room light didn't bother her eyes but the one by the sink did. I was so glad that I didn't take my anger out on the resident and the nurse helped to difuse the anger. We were all fault finding because the nurse said that we had to have light to see what we were doing. So many times I have to declare my own ignorance or otherwise I don't learn anything. My ignorance or fault in that case was that I failed to notice which light hurt her eyes. Now I can go into room and turn on the room light and there isn't a problem. The other day she got angry at me and asked a younger aide to show me how to straighten her leg. It was a real kick to the old ego but now I know how to do it the right way.