Main news for 21 September 2017

As seen, Paul quite skeptically evaluates the possibility of evaluating the Christianity of man by appearance ("personality"). It would seem that such skepticism is not always justified: because often the appearance of man (in the large sense of the word) can say a lot of him: the lifestyles, the behavior, even the manners sometimes give quite full representation not only of the outward, but also of the inward of their owner.

Yet, having thought, it is necessary to agree with the apostle: the appearance understood even widely, speaks very little about the Christian life of man, and maybe even absolutely nothing. Certainly, if the Christianity was simply another new religion, the appearance of man would have been able to say a lot about his Christianity: indeed religiosity (or its absence) is in many formed by the very appearance. But indeed Christianity is not a religion, but the life in the Kingdom.

And here without personal experience of such life it is practically impossible to understand anything. Of course, we could remember love, joy and several other characteristics of such life, but indeed, the reflections of the Kingdom are sometimes also met in the not transformed world, and if we take again into consideration that the joy, for example, as many others, can be caused by various spiritual reasons, we shall arrive involuntarily at the conclusion that it is even very difficult, impossible to judge of how man has joined the life of the Kingdom, only by outward signs.

Remains only one criterion: experience in general. Indeed: the life of the Kingdom, as life in general, can be very different from outside, its forms are practically inexhaustible, but the essence is the same, and each, familiarized even a little with this life, will never confuse it and with anything, if only for certain reason he will not want to deceive himself. And the apostle, as seen, calls in particular to this experience allowing without doubts and hesitations to define, if a particular person has a relation with the life of the Kingdom, or not.

If a man knows that he lives the same life with Christ (and if it is really the case, then there cannot be doubts to the one living the Christ life, for the life he lives), then he will also know for another person, if only he feels in him the presence of the same life, which he himself lives, he will say with full confidence: we live together the same life. As we see, there are no other criteria. And it is not surprising: because there cannot be by definition in the world not transformed instruments, allowing to fix the manifestations of the Kingdom. And we ourselves can see them only as much as we do not belong to this world completely. And Paul suggests to each, when it comes to the spiritual life, to rely on this feeling of the Kingdom. On this only reliable instrument, that allows us to distinguish the life of the Kingdom from the life of "this world".