Difference between revisions of "God's Tips for Groups"

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(Don’t just talk, when you could act)
(Don’t waste precious time talking about what we can’t (or won’t) do anything about)
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==Don’t waste precious time talking about what we can’t (or won’t) do anything about==
 
==Don’t waste precious time talking about what we can’t (or won’t) do anything about==
  
'''Don’t talk about evils we can’t even document, or that we can’t or won’t do anything about. Don’t report news that does not motivate people to act, or that doesn't help us understand the mountain of evil we are pulling down. News you can use includes a range of action suggestions and relevant contact information. Don’t talk about evils we can’t even document, or that we can’t or won’t do anything about. Don’t report news without a range of action suggestions including relevant  contact information.'''  
+
'''Don’t talk about evils we can’t even document, or that we can’t or won’t do anything about. Don’t talk about evils we can’t even document, or that we can’t or won’t do anything about. Don’t report news without a range of action suggestions including relevant  contact information.'''  
  
 
<blockquote style="background: pink; border: 2px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); padding: 1em;"><pre>Titus 3:9 But avoid foolish questions [stupid inquiries],...for they are unprofitable and vain.  
 
<blockquote style="background: pink; border: 2px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); padding: 1em;"><pre>Titus 3:9 But avoid foolish questions [stupid inquiries],...for they are unprofitable and vain.  
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<blockquote>“The sense is aimless or resultless, as μάταιος εὐχή a prayer which cannot obtain fulfilment. The questions, genealogies, etc., lead to no attainment or advancement in godliness. Compare ματαιολογία jangling, 1Ti_1:6; ματαιολόγοι vain talkers, 1Ti_1:10; ματαιότης vanity, Rom_8:20; Eph_4:17; ἐματαιώθησαν were made vain, Rom_1:21; μάτην in vain, Mat_15:9.”</blockquote>
 
<blockquote>“The sense is aimless or resultless, as μάταιος εὐχή a prayer which cannot obtain fulfilment. The questions, genealogies, etc., lead to no attainment or advancement in godliness. Compare ματαιολογία jangling, 1Ti_1:6; ματαιολόγοι vain talkers, 1Ti_1:10; ματαιότης vanity, Rom_8:20; Eph_4:17; ἐματαιώθησαν were made vain, Rom_1:21; μάτην in vain, Mat_15:9.”</blockquote>
  
What a waste of precious mountain-pulling time, to  report news that does not motivate people to act, or that doesn't help us understand the mountain of evil we are pulling down. News you can use includes a range of action suggestions and relevant contact information.  
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'''News reports.''' What a waste of precious mountain-pulling time, to  report news that does not motivate people to act, or that doesn't help us understand the mountain of evil we are pulling down. News you can use includes a range of action suggestions and relevant contact information.  
  
 +
Don’t report news that does not motivate people to act, or that doesn't help us understand the mountain of evil we are pulling down. News you can use includes a range of action suggestions and relevant contact information.
  
 +
Don’t report news whose outcome you are unwilling to change. Of course, we should monitor other important battle fields than the one we especially engage, so we can shift support as needed, when needed, whether our support is our wisdom, our money, or contacting critical people. But where there is no vision of action, ever, there is no need for talk.
  
  
Don’t talk about evils you have no desire to confront. As if the only purpose of your talk is the entertainment of the Pharisee gloating how much more evil OTHER people are – those grimy publicans!
 
 
'''News reports.''' Don’t report news whose outcome you are unwilling to change. Don’t report news without reporting a range of action suggestions including relevant  contact information. Of course, we should monitor other important battle fields than the one we especially engage, so we can shift support as needed, when needed, whether our support is our wisdom, our money, or contacting critical people. But where there is no vision of action, ever, there is no need for talk.
 
 
'''Accusations'''. Don’t accuse anyone, or any organization, without giving those you accuse (or at least their supporters)  as much opportunity to defend themselves as they will use.
 
 
Don’t accuse before  you are ready to do the research necessary  to document your accusation solidly enough to withstand all the scrutiny thay anyone can give it.
 
 
Don’t accuse without a vision of action that your group can take to heal the evil you see.
 
Don’t accuse without love for those you accuse, with the desire for repentance and reconciliation, with no trace of gloating.
 
 
Don’t theorize about conspiracies, like Area 51, setting off demolition bombs in the Twin Towers, jet contrails,  a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well_to_Hell_hoax “well to Hell”], control of the world by the CFR or the Rockefellers, or messages from the Virgin Mary, where you have no vision of anything your group can do about it even if you had solid proof.
 
 
Don’t take Saltshaker discussion time for health claims like cancer treatments or vitamin supplements where your group has neither the medical training to examine competing claims, nor the willingness to scrutinize detailed studies, nor any vision of action your group could take to change medical laws or regulations. That is the kind of subject that might belong on a physical or online bulletin board for anyone interested for their own use, but does not merit group discussion time which is for getting Salt out of the Shaker and Light out into the Darkness.
 
  
  

Revision as of 02:12, 7 October 2019

Forum (Articles) Offer Partners Rules Tips FAQ Begin! Donate

This article was started by Dave Leach R-IA Bible Lover-musician-grandpa (talk) 09:59, 28 September 2019 (UTC). Interaction from other writers will be distinguished with horizontal lines above and below. Your response to anything you read here is most welcome. Please add your response next to what you are responding to. If your reaction is not to any specific part of this article, please add general comments on the "Discussion" page. The original version of this article was published at ipatriot.com on Thanksgiving Day, 2017.

Overview

Saltshaker Forums are designed for a mission given to churches by the Bible but discouraged by traditions and apathy: shining light in Darkness. That is, not just talk about evil, but pulling down mountains of evil. Together.

The fact that Darkness usually gets involved with politics does not relieve churches of God's calling to get involved with Darkness. But Darkness is not limited to politics, and mere Christian involvement in politics leaves Darkness pretty Dark so long as the Light of what Scripture says about darkness remains back in the pews, seldom if ever reaching those forums where voters decide whether to pattern our laws after the principles of Heaven or of Hell.

Saltshaker Forums are open forums where people discuss which mountains of evil they are going to pull down together, and strategize how to do it. That requires Biblical discussion rules. Because when a group moves beyond just talk dominated by one person with only minimal interaction from others, to planning for action in which everyone's wisdom is desired, agreement becomes far more important, and the discovery of disagreement becomes far more disturbing. God's rules help develop the relationship skills we need to work and reason together in harmony, respect, and love.

The relationship skills we thus develop to reason with each other even when we disagree will not only help us pull down Darkness, but will help us strengthen our marriages, families, friendships, workplaces, communities, and churches. They will enable us to reason with unbelievers, ala 1 Peter 3:15, bringing revival closer.

Secular meetings are kept orderly and democratic by Robert's Rules of Order. Saltshaker Forums can be kept not just orderly, but respectful and bathed in love and humility, helping Christians develop their love, by these discussion rules based on the Bible which you are needed to help improve.

As with Robert’s Rules of Order, it isn’t necessary for every participant to know these Scriptures. If a few know them, that will make them available when there is a need.


Order

We need rules that keep discussion orderly, productive, sensible and friendly

Titus 1:10 For there are many unruly [insubordinate, disobedient] and vain [Gr: senseless, 
or mischievous] talkers and deceivers... 11 Whose mouths must be stopped,

1 Peter 5:5 ...Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility:...

Luke 22:26 But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger;
...he that is chief, as he that doth serve.

“Rules” help the “unruly” become productive. “Law is...made...for the lawless”, 1 Timothy 1:9. But it isn’t just “the other guy” who is in need. We need help, ourselves, developing our ability to reason with others even when we disagree, in Christian love.

Our culture provides a school for these relationship skills which The Darkness has nearly destroyed: Family. God offers another school of skills able to heal families and other relationships: the 1 Corinthians 14 Fellowship we seek to re-establish. As conflicts arise, we need to continually meditate on the Word of God for solutions.

Jesus established a new measure of authority, which has become the foundation of Western Civilization: service. People choose authority which they judge will best serve them.

Our groups may choose a moderator, or to only have rules and to mutually share the function of moderating, depending on the size and personality of the group. The group needs to make a decision its members can honor.

The Bible is our rule book

Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins 
be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; ...

Acts 17:2 And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days 
reasoned with them out of the scriptures,

Luke 2:46 And it came to pass three days after, that they found him in the Temple,
sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions: 
47 And all that heard him, were astonied [astonished] at his understanding and answers.

We should search the Bible for how to reason together in Christian love, because the Bible, as in no other religion, is where we find Reason and Truth the ultimate weapons against evil, with the sword raised only in self defense.

God begs us to reason together, which was Paul’s “manner”, or way of presenting the Gospel. It was how Jesus began His ministry at age 12, and it is the manner in which God presents the Four Gospels: out of the 146 situations in which Jesus taught in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, only 20 – 1/7th – were not verbal interaction with others. And Jesus never discouraged verbal interaction.

In fact, neither Jesus nor Paul nor anyone else in the Bible are recorded as ever giving an uninterruptible “sermon” which no one could question or clarify. Reasoning is the Bible rule, so the Bible must surely show us how to reason in love.

Secular meetings from courts to legislatures to corporate board meetings to Parent-Teacher Associations have rules that are some adaption of Robert’s Rules of Order. Such rules aim for civility and productivity, but not for Christian love. Roberts’ introduction says his goal was “a set of rules for conduct at meetings, that allows everyone to be heard and to make decisions without confusion.” Which is a goal given in 1 Corinthians 14:40. That is certainly a goal of love. But perhaps people reasoning with each other would feel more love if their rules were clearly based on and related to Scripture.

Roberts’ contribution certainly merits our consideration as we search the Scriptures. Many churches have adapted his rules. But Roberts gave no Bible references in support of his rules. Surely there deeper relationships are possible when bound with Scripture than when merely bound by convenient rules that do not credit God.

Free Speech Zone

All may challenge, correct, and comfort each other, exercising the full range of Christian communication


1 Corinthians 14:3 But [in a Christian meeting] he that prophesieth 
speaketh unto men to edification, [οικοδομην, to build up, strengthen, 
inspire] and exhortation [παρακλησιν, to respectfully correct, implore], 
and comfort [παραμυθιαν, to give comfort and solace]. ISV: But the person 
who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding, encouragement, and 
comfort. BBE: But the word of the prophet gives men knowledge and comfort 
and strength.
(1 Corinthians 14:3 defines “prophesy” as encompassing the full range of Christian communication. Notice that the BBE translation calls the person who prophesies a “prophet”. The Greek contains only the verb “prophesy”, not the noun “prophet”. Many Bible commentators and scholars over the centuries have been confused by the statement in chapter 12 that only a few are “prophets”, but in chapter 14 all are called to “prophesy”. A simple comparison with singing can explain this. Everyone is called to “sing”, the verb, but only if you sing very well are you awarded the noun: you are a “singer”. Much confusion has resulted from imagining the difference is absolute, which Scripture does not say. Common sense and everyday observation reveal that the difference, whether of singing or of any other “Holy Spirit Gift”, is relative and variable.)

ALL. Seven times in 1 Corinthians 14, the most detailed format of a Christian meeting in the Bible, “all” are urged to “prophesy”. (Verses 1, 5, 12, 24, 26, 31, 30) The general meaning of the word “prophesy” [προφητευων] is to bring a message from God. Verse 3 explains the sense of the word meant in this chapter.

CHALLENGE. “Edification” means “architecture”, “help them grow”, “upbuilding”, and “building up”, according to Strong’s and the GW, ISV, and TLV translations. To “challenge” captures its sense.

The Greek word is οικοδομη. It combines οικια, meaning house, and δομα, meaning gift.

CORRECT. “Exhortation”, KJV, ranges from comfort to encouragement to “persuasive discourse” to “stirring address” to “admonishment” (correction), to “powerful hortatory discourse” (ie. a “fire and brimstone” message) according to Thayer’s Greek dictionary. These phrases describe correction that inspires, persuades, and comforts as well as warns. The Greek word is παρακλησισ.

Yet in this American generation, “correct” is in disrepute, either the noun or the verb, so the following translations fall back to the politically correct “encouragement”: Berean, CEV, Darby, ERV, GNB, GW, Holman, ISV, NET, NIV, NLT, TS2009, and Weymouth translations.

ASV, Geneva, JUB, NAB, Webster, WEB and YLT stick to the rather obscure “exhortation”.

COMFORT. The “comfort” we are called to give each other is almost the same word as the Holy Ghost which Jesus sent us. The former is the feminine gender of the word, and the latter is the masculine gender. John 14:26 says “The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost”, teaches us “all things”, and reminds us of everything Jesus has told us.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 is about God’s “comfort” for martyrs who are suffering for their faithfulness, which enables them to share the same comfort they receive with others who also suffer.

Whoever speaks needs to let others interact

1 Corinthians 14:29 Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. 
30 If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace. 
31 For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted. 

This rule summarizes the whole purpose of Robert’s Rules of Order: that in a group of, say, 200, the group may benefit from all 200 bp (brainpower) instead of just a few bp.

Where only one speaks, the group enjoys only 1 bp.

Where a “main speaker” takes “audience questions”, several bp are available, although the “questions” are very limited by time, usually are limited to literal questions, and are restricted to the one topic.

Where there are no rules, only the bp of the loudest, rudest talkers is available.

Roberts’ Rules guarantee the bp of all present, especially through its system of committees.

This verse states that God’s rules, if followed, reach the same goal, but better: not mere human bp, but revelations from God.

So when God reveals something to someone else, let him stand to speak, and let the current speaker wrap up his point with no further redundancy and sit down.

Does this verse authorize anyone to stand up and change the subject? It doesn't say so explicitly. It might imply that if it weren't for the following verse.

(The verse does not explicitly say one who wants to speak should stand to get attention, but the verse sort of implies it, and a person standing is much easier to notice than a hand raised. Especially when a hand is raised in the back of the room.

(The verse doesn't even explicitly say people should stand while speaking, but it is the practice in all but the smallest groups today and throughout historical records, because we speak louder when we are standing, and because we can be better heard, especially our consonants, when our mouths are in a line of sight with listeners' ears. That's because consonants are carried by the highest frequencies of our voices, 2,000-4,000 hz, which do not go around or through obstacles like low frequencies do. That's why sound systems place the tiny tweeters up high while the heavy subwoofers can be an the floor. The everyday experience proving these facts is that when your neighbor turns up his music some distance away, you hear mostly the bass, and hardly any of the higher pitched instruments or voices.)

Agendas should be approved by vote of the group

1 Corinthians 14:32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. 
33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

This passage entrusts the whole assembly, rather than one person – not even a pastor, with responsibility for meeting content.

Neither does this passage favor a “prophet” who suddenly starts speaking, interrupting whatever else may be going on, ostensibly “under divine inspiration”. Several Bible commentators agree.

The Popular New Testament Bible Commentary explains:

The statement is thus in glorious contrast with demoniacal impulses, under no control of consciousness and rational will (such cases, for example, as Act_16:16-18; Act_19:13-16), and with all wild, incontrollable ravings. The Divine gift of prophecy left the gifted in full possession of their own faculties, enabling them to regulate and exercise their gift according to their own judgment of propriety as to the time and the mode of its exercise.

Matthew Henry adds:

...the spiritual gifts they have leave them still possessed of their reason, and capable of using their own judgment in the exercise of them. Divine inspirations are not, like the diabolical possessions of heathen priests, violent and ungovernable, and prompting them to act as if they were beside themselves; but are sober and calm, and capable of regular conduct. The man inspired by the Spirit of God may still act the man, and observe the rules of natural order and decency in delivering his revelations. His spiritual gift is thus far subject to his pleasure, and to be managed by his discretion....“Ye can (if ye will) prophesy one by one,” that is, restrain yourselves from speaking all together; “and the spirits of the prophets,” that is, their own spirits, acted on by the Holy Spirit, are not so hurried away by His influence, as to cease to be under their own control; they can if they will hear others, and not demand that they alone should be heard uttering communications from God.

Bible commentator John Darby:

The spirits of the prophets (that is to say, the impulse of the power in the exercise of gifts) were subject to the guidance of the moral intelligence which the Spirit bestowed on the prophets. They were, on God's part, masters of themselves in the use of these gifts, in the exercise of this marvellous power which wrought in them. It was not a divine fury, as the pagans said of their diabolical inspiration, which carried them away; for God could not be the author of confusion in the assembly, but of peace.

Bible commentator John Gill:

And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. Meaning either that the doctrines which the prophets deliver, the explanations they give of passages of Scriptures, the revelations they declare, are subject to the examination, judgment, and censure of other prophets; who have a right to try and judge them, either according to a more clear revelation they may have, or rather according to the sure word of prophecy, the Scriptures of truth; and indeed they are subject to the trial and judgment of the whole church, and therefore ought not to be stiff in their own sentiments, and obstinately persist in them, but cheerfully and readily submit them to be examined, and approved or disapproved by others; and particularly when one that sits by signifies he has something revealed to him, which will better explain, or give further light into what the speaker is upon, he ought to submit and give way to him; and thereby truth may be made manifest and established, instruction, edification, and comfort promoted, and peace and order preserved:

or else the sense is, that the spiritual gifts of the prophets, and the inspirations and instincts by which they are acted, and the affections which are excited in them, are subject to themselves, so that they can use, or not use those gifts; though they have the word of the Lord they can forbear speaking, as Jeremy did, for a while, and as the case of Jonah shows; or they can refrain themselves and be silent, and wait till they have proper opportunity of speaking, being not like the prophets of false gods, who are acted by an evil spirit, and observe no order or decorum, but with a sort of fury and madness deliver involuntarily what is suggested to them: but such is not the case of true prophets that are influenced and directed by the Spirit of God, who will give way to one another; one will be silent while the other speaks, and by turns prophesy one after another; and where there is not such a subjection, it is a sign that the Spirit of God is not in them....

Bible commentator Albert Barnes:

…they were able to control their inclination to speak; they were not under a necessity of speaking, even though they might be inspired. There was no need of disorder. This verse gives confirmation to the supposition, that the extraordinary endowments of the Holy Spirit were subjected to substantially the same laws as a man’s natural endowments. They were conferred by the Holy Spirit; but they were conferred on free agents, and did not interfere with their free agency. And as a man, though of the most splendid talents and commanding eloquence, has “control” over his own mind, and is not “compelled” to speak, so it was with those who are here called prophets....

In this the spirit of true inspiration differed essentially from the views of the pagan, who regarded themselves as driven on by a wild, controlling influence, that compelled them to speak even when they were unconscious of what they said. Universally, in the pagan world, the priests and priestesses supposed or feigned that they were under an influence which was incontrollable; which took away their powers of self-command, and which made them the mere organs or unconscious instruments of communicating the will of the gods. The Scripture account of inspiration is, however, a very different thing. In whatever way the mind was influenced, or whatever was the mode in which the truth was conveyed, yet it was not such as to destroy the conscious powers of free agency, nor such as to destroy the individuality of the inspired person, or to annihilate what was special in his mode of thinking, his style, or his customary manner of expression.

Cambridge Bible:

The possession of a special gift from on high has, from Montanus in the second century down to our own times, been supposed to confer on its possessor an immunity from all control, whether exercised by himself or others, and to entitle him to immediate attention to the exclusion of every other consideration whatsoever. St Paul, on the contrary, lays down the rule that spiritual, like all other gifts, are to be under the dominion of the reason, and may, like all other gifts, be easily misused.

A holy self-restraint, even in the use of the highest gifts, must characterize the Christian.

If a man comes into the assembly inspired to speak in an unknown tongue, the impulse is to be steadily repressed, unless there is a certainty that what is said can be interpreted, so that those present may understand it.

If he comes into the assembly possessed with some overmastering idea, he must keep it resolutely back until such time as he can give it vent without prejudice to Christian order, without injury to that which must be absolutely the first consideration in all public addresses—the edification of the flock.

Estius justly remarks that the difference between God’s prophets and those inspired by evil spirits is to be found in the fact that the latter are rapt by madness beyond their own control, and are unable to be silent if they will. And Robertson illustrates by a reference to modern forms of fanaticism the truth that “uncontrolled religious feeling” is apt to “overpower both reason and sense.”

Bible commentator Adam Clarke:

And the spirits of the prophets, etc. - Let no one interrupt another; and let all be ready to prefer others before themselves; and let each feel a spirit of subjection to his brethren. God grants no ungovernable gifts.

Here is an example of how this principle could be applied to setting a meeting’s agenda:

Moderator: “At the end of our last meeting you voted to give Brother ___ 8 minutes to explain his interest in ____, and for my topic, you asked that a part of it be a Bible study on whether Matthew 25:39-46 indicates a sense in which, although we can’t literally repay Jesus, we can ‘pay it forward’.

“Now as we begin our meeting, four agenda proposals have been presented to me for your consideration. First is from Brother ___, who requests 1 minute to announce his engagement! Second is from Sister ____, who requests 3 minutes to report progress on food distribution discussions. Third is from a 4-member committee of our members, who request 5 minutes to summarize their witness at a school board meeting, and the response there, and to allow a couple of minutes to take questions. Fourth is from Brother ___, who has passed out a flier about ____ and requests 4 minutes of discussion to learn your responses. Only the fourth item was submitted as a time sensitive matter.

“In addition to these requests for time before the whole assembly, we have six announcements by small committees requesting volunteers for discussion, prayer, and action. I will read these announcements and ask you to indicate by raising your hand if you are willing to help those committees. ____

“Is there any discussion of these proposed agenda items before we vote?”

Robert’s Rules of Order offer a variety of ways members can influence the agenda.

Legislatures have a tightly organized system that favors the will of the majority in a very intense setting full of deadlines: the majority party elects one person to be the Speaker, whose principal duty is actually not to speak, but to moderate, and to set the agenda, along with assigning members to committees, half of which are by their choice. As he sets the agenda, he favors bills where an unofficial survey indicates enough votes to pass. The controversial part is when he veers from an impartial moderator role to a dictator role, suppressing bills which the majority favor; but his power to harm in this way is limited by the fact that he can be voted out of office by his own party, and by the fact that if he strays too far from the wishes of voters, his party could become the minority after the next election.

Topics of Discussion

We have received much. Let's talk about what we can give, together

Titus 3:8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that 
thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might 
be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. 

Matthew 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost 
his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, 
but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 14 Ye are 
the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 
15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on 
a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, 
and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Matthew 21:21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, 
If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done 
to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou 
removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. 22 And all things, 
whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

James 2:14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, 
and have not works? can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister be naked, 
and destitute of daily food, 16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, 
be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which 
are needful to the body; what doth it profit? 17 Even so faith, if it hath not 
works, is dead, being alone.

1 John 3:14 '''We know that we have passed from death unto life, because 
we love''' the brethren. '''He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.''' 
15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer 
hath eternal life abiding in him. 16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, 
because he laid down his life for us: and '''we ought to lay down our lives for 
the brethren. 17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, 
and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God 
in him?''' 18  My little children, '''let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but 
in deed and in truth.'''

1 Timothy 6:17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, 
nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things 
to enjoy; 18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, 
willing to communicate; 19 Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against 
the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. 

Titus 3:8 lesson: “We don’t want empty talk. We await action, and expect results.” “Profitable” = “gives results”.

“Good works” in this verse is contrasted with “foolish questions” in the next as if they are opposites: “good works” are “profitable”, while a lot of empty talk is “unprofitable”.

Matthew 5:13-16 lesson: Christian faith is not so weak that we are satisfied to merely declare how dark the Darkness is. Our faith is strong enough to plan a very bright Light.

Not just for ourselves, under our safe comfortable “bushel”. For others, who walk in Darkness. Darkness is not a merely intellectual thing. Darkness enslaves people. Truth that does not set people free is not the whole Truth. John 8:32.

Matthew 21:21-22 lesson: Christian faith is not so weak that we are satisfied to merely talk about mountains of evil! God equips us with the power to knock down as many of them as we are willing to pray about, think about, and act against.

Our courage is not so shallow that we barely dare to name the Dragon slaying our family, friends, churches, and nation. Our mission is to face it, and slay it.

Our trust in the promises of Jesus reaches beyond merely complaining about how high the Mountain of Evil is that destroys all we love, all the way to plotting how to make it jump in the lake.

James 2:14-17 lesson: The verbiage in this passage is that faith without “works” (action) is not faith. But the example given is that prayer without action is not prayer! “be ye warmed and filled” is a prayer.

1 John 3:14-18 and 1 Timothy 6:17-19 lesson: John describes American Christians who have “this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him”. How shall we answer John’s question, “how dwelleth the love of God in him?” If we do not “love our brother” enough to “lay down our lives” for him, we “abide in death” and have not “passed from death unto life”.

Can we exist in this condition, and justly trust in our Ticket to Heaven?

God powerfully, graphically calls us to do more than talk when we meet: but the focus of our talk should be to prepare ourselves for action, and to strategize how to act.

Acting together, in love for each other as well as for the victims of the Darkness outside, requires the full range of Biblical discipleship, so many traditional church subjects may require Saltshaker time. But when action is shoved into the remote distance, little urgency is felt about powerful discipleship. It is when action is imminent that the need to grasp God’s lessons about personal development is pressing...

This is personal. This is not about some sterile idea of “politics” – judging right and wrong about some authority remote from our daily lives. This is about destruction that has touched us personally and hurt those we love.

God offers a cure for our depression and despair for all the evil in the world: heal it! Neutralize it so it can never hurt anyone else, ever again!

We aren’t just fighting until Evil leaves us alone. Our “revenge” will be total victory over evil, with good, for all, in our time and for the future.

Don’t waste precious time talking about what we can’t (or won’t) do anything about

Don’t talk about evils we can’t even document, or that we can’t or won’t do anything about. Don’t talk about evils we can’t even document, or that we can’t or won’t do anything about. Don’t report news without a range of action suggestions including relevant contact information.

Titus 3:9 But avoid foolish questions [stupid inquiries],...for they are unprofitable and vain. 

1 Timothy 1:4 Neither give heed to [conversations] which minister questions, 
rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do. [TLV: or to pay 
attention to...useless speculations rather than God’s training which is in 
faithfulness.] 5 Now the end [purpose, goal] of the commandment [“all that 
 God has commanded”, Bible commentator Albert Barnes presumes]is charity 
out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: 6 From 
which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain [without a goal] jangling;

2 Timothy 2:23 But foolish and unlearned [uneducated, uninformed] questions avoid, 
knowing that they do gender strifes. [ISV: Do not have anything to do with foolish 
and stupid discussions, because you know they breed arguments.] 24 And the servant 
of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,

Job 15:3 (GW) Should he argue with ''words that don't help,'' with speeches that don’t 
help anyone? 

Inquiries below our capacity: What are today’s “foolish questions”, Titus 3:9? “Stupid questions” is the choice of several modern translations. “Useless speculations”, says 1 Timothy 1:4. “Foolish and unlearned [uneducated, uninformed] questions [issues]”, 2 Timothy 2:23. “Words that don’t help”, Job 15:3.

“Foolish” and “stupid” are relative terms. They are a measure of intelligence in proportion to one’s capacity. One is in a “stupor” whose brainpower is temporarily far below his potential. A grown man who talks like a 3-year-old is “stupid”, but a baby who talks at all is brilliant.

We who are empowered to move mountains are “stupid”, if all we do is talk about how evil those mountains are, as we leave them standing.

When Christians gather, they need to talk about what they are going to do. We need to pick mountains of evil to pull down, and our talk should be only what is necessary to get us pulling together. Soldiers in battle don’t shoot all the time. Sometimes they have to stop shooting long enough to talk about where to shoot.

The previous verse, Titus 3:8, had said our “constant” focus must the the “maintenance” of “good works”, which are “good and profitable”. “This is good and helps other people”, adds the GW translation. This verse, 9, says “foolish questions” are “vain”.

“Vain” describes talk without a realistic goal, or without any goal at all: talk without action. Vincent's Word Studies says the word (μάταιοι) is frequent in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) but in the New Testament it is found only here, in 1 Corinthians 3:20 and 15:17.

“The sense is aimless or resultless, as μάταιος εὐχή a prayer which cannot obtain fulfilment. The questions, genealogies, etc., lead to no attainment or advancement in godliness. Compare ματαιολογία jangling, 1Ti_1:6; ματαιολόγοι vain talkers, 1Ti_1:10; ματαιότης vanity, Rom_8:20; Eph_4:17; ἐματαιώθησαν were made vain, Rom_1:21; μάτην in vain, Mat_15:9.”

News reports. What a waste of precious mountain-pulling time, to report news that does not motivate people to act, or that doesn't help us understand the mountain of evil we are pulling down. News you can use includes a range of action suggestions and relevant contact information.

Don’t report news that does not motivate people to act, or that doesn't help us understand the mountain of evil we are pulling down. News you can use includes a range of action suggestions and relevant contact information.

Don’t report news whose outcome you are unwilling to change. Of course, we should monitor other important battle fields than the one we especially engage, so we can shift support as needed, when needed, whether our support is our wisdom, our money, or contacting critical people. But where there is no vision of action, ever, there is no need for talk.