It's time to grow up!

Last updated: 05/11/13

World, especially those of us calling ourselves Christians, it's time to grow up (to have the psychological attributes expected of a mentally healthy full grown adult). Church, likewise, it's time to stop pretending to be Christians and actually become like Christ (mature). The message of the Bible is loud and clear, God desires people, for their own good, to do as expected and grow up. This message has never changed. The good news: For those of you are are tired of the internal compulsion towards mental adolescence, you are free now, because of the death and resurrection of Christ to grow up (1 Corinthians 13,15). It's your choice and your choice alone. You now completely free behave like a adult. Just so you know, not making the choice to grow up unfortunately equals choosing to not grow up. Growing up means you have to give up living in a fantasy in which you allow yourself to pretend to be God. It means you know for certain and acknowledge that you are not God, not equal to God, and that God, being your creator, actually owns you. Being mature means knowing your place.

Abnormal psychology
What it abnormal psychology? It is simply the psychological malfunctioning of the mind due to the internal compulsion (sinful nature) to not think, speak nor act as expected that we're all stuck with due to Adam's choosing to purposely malformation (act against his preinstalled psychological programming)

Agape love (adult maturity)

Agape (noun) = The psychological attitude expected of a mentally healthy full grown adult adult (being mature). It means to think, speak, and act as God expects of adults. Agaeo (verb) = Being completely sold out to something, with being mature to the point of no regrets and no looking back.
Jeff Rader 1

It's time to grow up!

Last updated: 05/11/13

Maturity rule #1 Luke 10:27:

Be mature enough to respect the Lord your God with all your conscience and with all your consciousness and with all your physical strength and with all your subconscious mind.

Maturity rule #2 Luke 10:27:

Be mature enough respect others as yourself.

What it sin?
Sin is thinking, speaking and acting immature (thinking, speaking or otherwise acting other than expected for your age). Sin forces sinners into mental regression so they think, speak and act immature. This forces those that sin to think unwise, speak falsely and act foolishly. All these things lead to eventual death.

1st Corinthians 13:1-23 (adapted from the ESV)

The Way of Adult-maturity: If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not adult maturity I am like a child banging on a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not maturity I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned (that I may boast), but have not adult maturity I gain nothing. Adult maturity is being patient and kind; maturity does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. maturity bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Adult Maturity never ends.
Jeff Rader 2

It's time to grow up!

Last updated: 05/11/13

As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and adult maturity abide, these three; but the greatest of these is adult maturity.

1st Corinthians 15:1-11 (adapted from the ESV)

The Resurrection of Christ Now I would remind you, brothers, of the good news I proclaimed to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed pretentiously. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
Jeff Rader 3

It's time to grow up!

Last updated: 05/11/13

John 21:15-17 (adapted from the ESV)

Jesus and Peter When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, are you grown up enough now to respect me more than these? He said to him, Yes, Lord; you know that I'm your friend. He said to him, Feed my lambs. He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, are you mature enough to respect me? He said to him, Yes, Lord; you know that I'm your friend. He said to him, Tend my sheep. He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, Are you my friend? Peter was grieved because he said to him, that third time, Are you my friend? and he said to him, Lord, you know everything; you know that I'm your friend. Jesus said to him, Feed my sheep. For those of you are whom are tired of religious Christians, and that want to git rid of Christians and Christianity, perhaps you would care to know what it (really) means to be a Christian, before desiring to get rid of us. Being Christian (Christ-like), as Jesus is the only model of true maturity, simply means nothing more than "being mature" (behaving as expected for one's age). In other words, it simply means to "model (imitate) Christ". In fact, while Christians do believe Jesus is God, and honor Him as such, "being a Christian" has nothing to do with "worthless" religion. If any Christian thinks himself to be "religious", and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this mans religion is worthless. Pure and uncorrupted religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world (James 1:26-27). The likes of these are what you can and should expect of "real" Christians: "patience, kindness, generosity, modesty, humbleness,
Jeff Rader 4

It's time to grow up!

Last updated: 05/11/13

meekness, selflessness, joyfulness, trustworthiness, truthpromotional, dignity, faithfulness, forward looking, and endurance" (extrapolated from 1st Corinthians 13:4-8). The "natural" result (fruit) of those are maturity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; against such things there is no law (taken from Galatians 5:22). If any of us Christians are not "being mature" (as is expected of us); if we are ever caught being the likes of "impatient, cruel, covetous, self-promotional, arrogant, naughty, selfish, irritable, devious, cheerful of calamity, worrisome, unfaithful, stuck in the past, or give up hope; be honest, yet polite, and call us on it. As no one is perfectly mature all the time, perhaps it's merely years of stress, abuse, or persecution. To be honest, simply the person is, more likely than not, just faking being Christian.

Jeff Rader