Topic: Self Control

[oldcoastie6468]

I'm speaking only of the burden of darkness in my own heart, and the disservice I do to my own conscience by repeatedly descending into expressing thoughts of manifest hatred. Sometimes it feels like I forget to come up for air. But sometimes your feelings are correct, because they are leaving us little or no air to breathe.

I appreciate the addition to our membership of posters like oldcoastie, who reminds me that even in dark times, a cartoon or clever saying is worthy of a glance and a comment. Thank you, but I never considered that I was an important member of this forum. To my way of thinking, that would be conceited and self-serving. I just post things - good and bad - that I think people will express an interest in or will generate a smile. Each morning, I say to myself, "If I can't make someone smile or laugh today, then there's no reason to even get up." I've felt that way for as long as I can remember, and it still serves me well today.

I appreciate ChristianHusbandFather for simply asking the question. Whether anyone chooses to look within as a result is their own business. Whether they want to share what they see when they look is also their own business.

I also appreciate you Weisshaupt. Your clarity of purpose keeps the laser-pointer on the target. I think everyone here is on target, and although I may sometimes not share the same target I always learn something.

{Stepping down off the soapbox...}

[Glock32]

I can't read CHF's appeal and not wish to do a better job holding my thoughts and words up to the light of Christ in my heart.

There is so much darkness in my thoughts, and thus my words of late. I don't like it, but it is there, and it comes to the fore.

I have to be honest and say that what Pablo describes is what I truly wish. The evils to which we are forced to bear witness evoke a hatred in me that I've never known. I know I'm worse off for it, and I don't want it to rule my heart. And yet it feels righteous; justified, and therefore, hard to keep at bay. It comes out.

I sure don't want to make anyone feel unwelcome here because of an overall timbre of seething hatred. I want people to be free to express what they're feeling, me included.

But I hear CHF's appeal, and it makes me want to personally do a better job checking my emotions with the love of Christ. Whether I can succeed or not... Jesus help me.

I agree with your sentiment.  I also understand CHF's concern in not wanting to see people corrode their souls.  You just have to pray with sincerity that God show the righteous path. I am sometimes aghast at the thoughts that now dwell in me with regularity, sort of like in The Empire Strikes Back when Luke fought the apparition of Vader only to see himself behind the mask. But sticking with the Star Wars analogy, to your point:

There is so much darkness in my thoughts, and thus my words of late. I don't like it, but it is there, and it comes to the fore.

it's also true that Luke had to touch the Dark Side to vanquish Vader in their final duel. And that's rather how I look at the darkness. Your reptile brain is steeling you for times ahead. Wasn't it Orwell who said that people sleep peaceably in their beds only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf? Circumstances simply require it sometimes. It's only evil if you engage in it out of malice or sadistic pleasure. When it is forced upon you, your only choices are to fight back or submit.

I know some of my comments are probably among those referred to in this thread. I don't like the place we're being taken to as a civilization. I don't like the things it's made me think about. Just a few short years ago my only concerns for the future were things like a career and marriage and all that stuff. But there's one thing I find more repugnant than the thoughts that dwell, and that's the thought of just letting these scum complete their fundamental transformation. The "fundamental transformation" means people like us get shoveled into unmarked graves. They're not getting any freebies.

[KittenClaws]

I can't read CHF's appeal and not wish to do a better job holding my thoughts and words up to the light of Christ in my heart.

There is so much darkness in my thoughts, and thus my words of late. I don't like it, but it is there, and it comes to the fore.

I have to be honest and say that what Pablo describes is what I truly wish. The evils to which we are forced to bear witness evoke a hatred in me that I've never known. I know I'm worse off for it, and I don't want it to rule my heart. And yet it feels righteous; justified, and therefore, hard to keep at bay. It comes out.

I sure don't want to make anyone feel unwelcome here because of an overall timbre of seething hatred. I want people to be free to express what they're feeling, me included.

But I hear CHF's appeal, and it makes me want to personally do a better job checking my emotions with the love of Christ. Whether I can succeed or not... Jesus help me.

I agree with your sentiment.  I also understand CHF's concern in not wanting to see people corrode their souls.  You just have to pray with sincerity that God show the righteous path. I am sometimes aghast at the thoughts that now dwell in me with regularity, sort of like in The Empire Strikes Back when Luke fought the apparition of Vader only to see himself behind the mask. But sticking with the Star Wars analogy, to your point:

There is so much darkness in my thoughts, and thus my words of late. I don't like it, but it is there, and it comes to the fore.

it's also true that Luke had to touch the Dark Side to vanquish Vader in their final duel. And that's rather how I look at the darkness. Your reptile brain is steeling you for times ahead. Wasn't it Orwell who said that people sleep peaceably in their beds only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf? Circumstances simply require it sometimes. It's only evil if you engage in it out of malice or sadistic pleasure. When it is forced upon you, your only choices are to fight back or submit.

I know some of my comments are probably among those referred to in this thread. I don't like the place we're being taken to as a civilization. I don't like the things it's made me think about. Just a few short years ago my only concerns for the future were things like a career and marriage and all that stuff. But there's one thing I find more repugnant than the thoughts that dwell, and that's the thought of just letting these scum complete their fundamental transformation. The "fundamental transformation" means people like us get shoveled into unmarked graves. They're not getting any freebies.

How do we overcome normalcy bias?  These dark thoughts we have, the things that come unbidden from our mouths to the keyboard.

Why did the Jews resign themselves to getting on the train?

We see history, we know history. Reading it in a book and wondering why is far different than actually living it.  I'm trying to say something and do not know how.

Will future generations see our choices, perhaps even read historical posts..and wonder why? Why did they do nothing? They saw it coming.

This electronic age allows us to vent on forums such as this. Let's think about that. Would the Jews of WWII posted such as we have?  Surely, they would have. Yet they got on those trains, they took the star that identified them as, yes, enemies of the state. Would posting on a forum changed that? Helped them know they were not alone?

We are living in some terrible times and we howl against it. But we are law abiding, it is our nature. We seek the proper channels for our outrage.  Has our outrage become too large for the "proper channels"? Do the proper channels still exist?

I'm in a mood and it is not pretty.

[Glock32]

The Jews had become culturally accustomed to various pogroms and expulsions since the Middle Ages. I suspect they just thought it was another of those things, and that "resettlement in the east" really was the true intention. I don't know how things would have been different if they had known it was literally life and death.

We on the other hand do know what happens when a modern state centralizes so much power. How many examples do we need? I think genocide is just the inescapable consequence of the modern technostate centralizing more and more power. It doesn't even necessarily require conscious intent, it's just the trajectory that becomes established. The ideology and personal traits of the ruling class don't even matter. The sheer hulking gravity of the massive state makes it tyrannical without even trying.

That we do have an element of conscious intent only makes matters that much worse.

[KittenClaws]

The Jews had become culturally accustomed to various pogroms and expulsions since the Middle Ages. I suspect they just thought it was another of those things, and that "resettlement in the east" really was the true intention. I don't know how things would have been different if they had known it was literally life and death.

We on the other hand do know what happens when a modern state centralizes so much power. How many examples do we need? I think genocide is just the inescapable consequence of the modern technostate centralizing more and more power. It doesn't even necessarily require conscious intent, it's just the trajectory that becomes established. The ideology and personal traits of the ruling class don't even matter. The sheer hulking gravity of the massive state makes it tyrannical without even trying.

That we do have an element of conscious intent only makes matters that much worse.

The Jews did think it was just one of those things. In a very haunting interview, a Jewish man was asked why they meekly got on the trains. His haunted eyes told the full story of his brief comment " it was just one more thing".

I'll never forget that.  Is this where we are headed? It was just one more thing?

BULLsh*t.

I believe the powers that be are counting on our compliance, yet gleefully  looking forward to armed outrage. Evil. Pure evil is running this country.

[Pablo de Fleurs]

Alright...enough restraint...

300 - Final Battle Scene - Death of Leonidas - Full HD

[Glock32]

I believe the powers that be are counting on our compliance, yet gleefully  looking forward to armed outrage. Evil. Pure evil is running this country.

Oh absolutely.  I am not using hyperbole when I say this is the eternal battle playing out around us. It's Good vs. Evil. There is a diabolical intelligence guiding the Left. I think they are literally the pawns of Satan, even though they would of course scoff at the notion (as an aside, it's said the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing people he doesn't exist).

They are very adept at arranging the arcs of history, the trajectories, into Win-Win scenarios for themselves. I suppose that's fairly easy when you have absolutely no moral or ethical anchor: if your enemy weakens himself through adherence to his own code, you win. If your enemy fights back, you get to unleash the full power of the state on him. Another win.

And you know, we've not even scratched the surface of their evil yet.

[Pandora]

Do the proper channels still exist?

No.

I'm in a mood and it is not pretty.

Are we a party yet, then?  A not-pretty party?

CHF wants to build a bunker and hide.  You know, ride out the raid and such.  We disagree.

You cannot hide.

Are "they" not coming for us all?

Then we come for them first.

[KittenClaws]

Alright...enough restraint...

300 - Final Battle Scene - Death of Leonidas - Full HD

Restraint will be the end of us if we are not careful.

Restraint on a forum, yes. Wise choice.

Restraint otherwise. Deadly.

Normalcy bias will get us killed.

[KittenClaws]

I believe the powers that be are counting on our compliance, yet gleefully  looking forward to armed outrage. Evil. Pure evil is running this country.

Oh absolutely.  I am not using hyperbole when I say this is the eternal battle playing out around us. It's Good vs. Evil. There is a diabolical intelligence guiding the Left. I think they are literally the pawns of Satan, even though they would of course scoff at the notion (as an aside, it's said the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing people he doesn't exist).

They are very adept at arranging the arcs of history, the trajectories, into Win-Win scenarios for themselves. I suppose that's fairly easy when you have absolutely no moral or ethical anchor: if your enemy weakens himself through adherence to his own code, you win. If your enemy fights back, you get to unleash the full power of the state on him. Another win.

And you know, we've not even scratched the surface of their evil yet.

I think its personal this time Glock. In this great battle between good and evil. I believe our personal choices, regardless of how we believe others feel, will play an important role.

I had a complaint at a store once, it does not matter what it was.  The manager says to me "well, no one else has made this complaint".  "So what?" Says I. "I'm making it. If others do not, perhaps they await the rest of the herd, this does not void my complaint".

Before we can become a force, our individual choices must be made.

If the choice is correct, we should believe in it enough to stand alone if need be.  This choice will bring us together.

[KittenClaws]

Do the proper channels still exist?

No.

I'm in a mood and it is not pretty.

Are we a party yet, then?  A not-pretty party?

CHF wants to build a bunker and hide.  You know, ride out the raid and such.  We disagree.

You cannot hide.

Are "they" not coming for us all?

Then we come for them first.

There is no hiding and no first move to be made.

And yes, it will be a  "not pretty" party.

Hopefully, it will be the tyrants who suffer the hangover from hell afterwards.

[Pandora]

Wrong.

Have I not chosen a thread wisely, CHF?  Ask your progeny.

[Weisshaupt]

I agree with your sentiment.  I also understand CHF's concern in not wanting to see people corrode their souls.  You just have to pray with sincerity that God show the righteous path. I am sometimes aghast at the thoughts that now dwell in me with regularity, sort of like in The Empire Strikes Back when Luke fought the apparition of Vader only to see himself behind the mask. But sticking with the Star Wars analogy, to your point:

As I said earlier, we are not Jedi.  The "dark side" of the force is an allegory for the abuse of power. Both the Sith and the Jedi used the same Force, it was the dark side already within  each an every human that needs to be avoided. We, as of yet, do not have that sort of power.  After the revolution has succeeded and our enemies vanquished is when this becomes important. As Whittle said, that is the moment when the good man, the hero, walks away from power- from revenge and retribution and simply returns to his plow.  This isn't to say that  what we are feeling isn't corroding our souls... of course it is. If it weren't we wouldn't be capable of the acts we will need to perform. And being capable of those acts may be the difference between winning or losing.  I can see myself being confronted and "asked" to get into the cattle car by some kid who knows no better, who was recruited in desperation,  ignorance and propaganda, who has a mother and a father who love him,  and I will need these last years of rage to overcome my fear and pity, so I can  do what is needed without hesitation.
 


 
 

[Predator Don]

I pray for those in leadership, yes, even those who I feel are destroying our nation. Problem is, I also believe people like Barack Obama have been turned over to a reprobate mind, never to discern truth again....ever. So, I have no trust in them. I am wary and no different than the apostles, who carried swords and were commanded to, I need to be armed.

Next, I would never take a life in a pre meditated way. It is forbidden. Spilling blood does not need to be in malice, for revenge or hatred. It makes me no better than the thief or Barack Obama......but it does not mean I would not protect myself or my family, as I find, scriptually, a very narrow road in regards to protecting myself. I am commanded to not become angry easily, verbal assault against me is not grounds to kill and I am commanded to suffer persecution......so I trust in god in these things.....but again, just as the prophets carried a weapon, I will too.

I have friends who think arming myself shows a lack of faith on my part, but I believe this is untrue. Plus, if his will provide, then why should I work or go to the doctor if I'm sick? My friends have no answer for that little dilemma. So, with me it is a narrow window for self protection.

Reminds me of a joke. Floods to come and frank was warned to leave his house....but he says, god will protect. Water gets to first floor, boat come by to get him, but again, he says god will
protect...finally, he is on the roof, in flys a helicopter to get him, but he refuses and states god will protect......frank drowns.

He is at the pearly gates and meets god. He must ask, why did you allow me to drown? God responds, I sent a weather warning, a boat and a helicopter, what else do you expect me to do?

[Pablo de Fleurs]

I pray for the leadership as well...but a totally different prayer (it's certainly within God's power to change their hearts, but that seems an unlikely hope). When I study men of the Bible, I see frequent examples of good men who questioned God and/or prayed for deliverance from their enemies (and I consider Barack Obama a domestic threat & enemy of the state, Constitution & citizenry) - Moses, Ezekiel, Jonah & David come readily to mind...

...so I'm O.K. with what I think & feel - but agree in this: that we should not let our hatred invoke daily rage, but only rage to a point of action when the time comes.

[Libertas]

Pslam 109.

[rustybayonet]

Pslam 109.

Libertas; reading this thread the same verse was at the fore front of my thoughts.  Once again you beat me posting.  The past 3 weeks in the Disciple IV course I'm taking, we have been studing Psalm in depth, and if this verse doesn't speak of the minorities and worlds feelings toward the U.S., and what we must do, nothing does.  It's getting past time for this country to take a stand.

[KittenClaws]

Psalm 109 is very powerful and scary to read.  I would not wish to be on the receiving end of such a petition.

It is notable that the psalmist has exhausted all personal efforts before bringing this before God and for good reason; I can feel the spiritual power behind it in my bones - seriously.

[IronDioPriest]

Well let's just bring that here and eat a Godly feast of relevant scripture, shall we?

Psalm 109

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

1 My God, whom I praise,
    do not remain silent,
2 for people who are wicked and deceitful
    have opened their mouths against me;
    they have spoken against me with lying tongues.
3 With words of hatred they surround me;
    they attack me without cause.
4 In return for my friendship they accuse me,
    but I am a man of prayer.
5 They repay me evil for good,
    and hatred for my friendship.
6 Appoint someone evil to oppose my enemy;
    let an accuser stand at his right hand.
7 When he is tried, let him be found guilty,
    and may his prayers condemn him.
8 May his days be few;
    may another take his place of leadership.
9 May his children be fatherless
    and his wife a widow.
10 May his children be wandering beggars;
    may they be driven[a] from their ruined homes.
11 May a creditor seize all he has;
    may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor.
12 May no one extend kindness to him
    or take pity on his fatherless children.
13 May his descendants be cut off,
    their names blotted out from the next generation.
14 May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord;
    may the sin of his mother never be blotted out.
15 May their sins always remain before the Lord,
    that he may blot out their name from the earth.
16 For he never thought of doing a kindness,
    but hounded to death the poor
    and the needy and the brokenhearted.
17 He loved to pronounce a curse—
    may it come back on him.
He found no pleasure in blessing—
    may it be far from him.
18 He wore cursing as his garment;
    it entered into his body like water,
    into his bones like oil.
19 May it be like a cloak wrapped about him,
    like a belt tied forever around him.
20 May this be the Lord’s payment to my accusers,
    to those who speak evil of me.
21 But you, Sovereign Lord,
    help me for your name’s sake;
    out of the goodness of your love, deliver me.
22 For I am poor and needy,
    and my heart is wounded within me.
23 I fade away like an evening shadow;
    I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees give way from fasting;
    my body is thin and gaunt.
25 I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
    when they see me, they shake their heads.
26 Help me, Lord my God;
    save me according to your unfailing love.
27 Let them know that it is your hand,
    that you, Lord, have done it.
28 While they curse, may you bless;
    may those who attack me be put to shame,
    but may your servant rejoice.
29 May my accusers be clothed with disgrace
    and wrapped in shame as in a cloak.
30 With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord;
    in the great throng of worshipers I will praise him.
31 For he stands at the right hand of the needy,
    to save their lives from those who would condemn them.

What if millions of people - instead of allowing their emotions and their tongues to have their way, would instead meditate on this Psalm and pray, petitioning God's intervention?

I'm just asking the question. I don't think anyone will find it offensive for me to say that often times, when we engage in the behavior that ChristianHusbandFather asked us to contemplate, we are allowing our emotions and our (typing) tongues to have their way with us. We embrace the righteousness of our hatred, and open the door for darkness to move through us, bringing whatever spiritual consequences may come with it.

What would God prefer? Again, I am just asking the question. Would he prefer me to lash out with a loose tongue? Or would he prefer me to turn to His word, and channel my anger into prayer, meditating upon how my righteous anger and the Psalmist's righteous anger are alike/different?

What will give me more moral clarity in the upcoming battles to which Weisshaupt refers? My own uncontrolled thoughts and tongue? Or God's word, telling me how to petition for His aid against evil enemies?

I'm chewing this feast.

[LadyVirginia]

What if millions of people - instead of allowing their emotions and their tongues to have their way, would instead meditate on this Psalm and pray, petitioning God's intervention?

I'm just asking the question. I don't think anyone will find it offensive for me to say that often times, when we engage in the behavior that ChristianHusbandFather asked us to contemplate, we are allowing our emotions and our (typing) tongues to have their way with us. We embrace the righteousness of our hatred, and open the door for darkness to move through us, bringing whatever spiritual consequences may come with it.

What would God prefer? Again, I am just asking the question. Would he prefer me to lash out with a loose tongue? Or would he prefer me to turn to His word, and channel my anger into prayer, meditating upon how my righteous anger and the Psalmist's righteous anger are alike/different?

What will give me more moral clarity in the upcoming battles to which Weisshaupt refers? My own uncontrolled thoughts and tongue? Or God's word, telling me how to petition for His aid against evil enemies?

I'm chewing this feast.

Excellent questions, IDP.

For the larger picture-- I don't believe we will be victorious by our own hand. I believe we need millions to drop to their knees and beg for forgiveness and help from God.

Individually-- we must be prepared to defend our families.