The Conundrum of Faith - If It is Real or Not - NO External Human Assurances

Submitted by M Tovey (United States), Nov 21, 2021 at 05:41

Modern Christian discipleship is as mysterious now as it was when Yeshua proclaimed His church in Jerusalem roughly two thousand years ago; and it take no more than His own words to help discern what is a true conversion version versus a claim for alternate desires that invariably end badly.
That this story speaks to one that ended badly, it is not alone and it is not preventable in a world that continues to put outrageous pressures on religions and religious persuasions, both the Christian as well non-Christian environments. How does one tell(?): in this case, a clue.
Outside of the Christian community, determining the spiritual status of an individual is virtually impossible; there is not a human way to validate whether one is eternally sealed or is a believer in intellect only. Two cases (of many) are Biblically presented: Judas Iscariot and Ananias and Sapphira; things did not end well in these cases.
Judas was deluded in his thinking, that while it appears he was a devoted follower, his own pride of thinking he could use his relationship with the Savior to an advantage cost him any hope of eternity that might have been afforded to him.
In the case of Ananias and his wife, while there may have been a belief of the Risen Savior, they allowed themselves to entertain evil thinking and became object lessons that no one is going to fool the Holy Spirit without the most dreadful consequences.
In this case, which is developed in a decidedly Christianesque environment, the clue. Motivation: most clearly the original story is one of supposed desperation of one (out of many) who are seeking self worth, which in many cases are genuine; others are cautionary tales of taking advantage in order to justify a validation that suffers from irrational (but believable) thinking that is self absorbed and destructive, irrespective of who may be hurt. This is true, even in Christianesque surroundings. Evil is clocked everywhere, even in cloistered surroundings.
Could this have been prevented? Unlikely; it would be dependent on the ability of the agency to discern to evidences of faith and the truth of why conversion is sought, for eternal purposes or to beat a system for personal reasons; fortunately the truth had limited the situation to harm in limited circumstances, as a warning to be more aware that Christianity is under attack, especially for destroying its true credentials in the belief of the cross for eternal salvation in the Savior. .

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