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2 Peter 2:2
2 And [kai] many [polus] shall follow [exakoloutheo] their [autos] pernicious ways [apoleia]; by reason of [dia] whom [hos] the way [hodos] of truth [aletheia] shall be evil spoken of [blasphemeo]. KJV-Interlinear
2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; NASB
Believers in Christ can be the worst representatives for Christianity. Most believers do not pursue their spiritual life, and therefore, they lack wisdom, foresight, discernment and such in their souls.
This makes them no better than, and certainly more similar to, unbelievers. However unbelievers don’t spend much time criticizing one another, when they have Christians to criticize for their Christian hypocrisies.
This is the devils world, and Satan does not gain much by targeting non-Christians. His target is God and therefore Christians get caught up in his crosshairs too.
Prior to the Cross, Satan’s target was the line of Christ, in order to prevent the Cross from occurring. From Adam to Joseph and Mary, Satan tried to destroy humanity first, in the pre-flood era, and then the line of the Patriarchs subsequent to that period, and then the nation of Israel subsequent to that.
Once the Cross had occurred, then all believers in Christ became the target. To prevent the gospel from getting to people in general, and to prevent doctrine from allowing them to grow after salvation, has been Satan’s objective all along.
After the Rapture, his only course of action will be to destroy all Christians, so that there will be no one for Christ to return to in His second advent, to rescue. And failing that, Satan will attempt to destroy all of humanity in the Armageddon war.
Satan is good at what he does.
But humanity helps him along with their own sin natures.
In this world, there are those who deceive, and those who are deceived. The leaders and the followers. Both are equally guilty of their respective versions of sin.
The leaders are guilty for their lustful pursuits for power and such, and the followers are guilty for their believing that the promises of the leaders will get them something better in life, or better stated, so they can get something for nothing, something for no responsibility, something for no accountability.
In every case, all are sentencing themselves to doom.
Those believers who adopt this attitude, only make things worse for others who may be observing them. Believers who boast Christianity on the one hand, and then pursue lascivious or ascetic habits on the other hand, only make a bad name for Christianity.
People should view the Bible for its own merits, and not the people who boast of its practice. People lie. People are hypocrites. People are users or opportunists when they have the attention of others.
You cannot judge God, Christ, the Bible, doctrine, or the spiritual life, by the actions or lifestyles or tendencies of people. People are the worst of examples.
Your role model is Christ and doctrine, not people. There will be lots of folks who try to make people of history, or even people of contemporary times, as heroes.
If you are impressed by firemen, astronauts, rich or successful people, athletes, celebrities and so forth, then your observations are in error.
No living or dead person, is worthy of being a role model. People are dust, made into life and given all of their attributes from God, and from no other source.
God created life. God saved life. God originated the plan for the perpetuation of life and everything associated with it. People do nothing.
You cannot earn or deserve anything in life.
Everything comes to you courtesy of the grace of God, and from no other source. Certainly not from yourself.
When you have your eyes on people, than you will have a tendency of being critical, judgmental, and otherwise distracted by human standards.
When you get your eyes on God, then none of the people stuff, will matter.
