Now, now...git your mind outta the gutter! I have a serious topic today.
Seebs continues to provoke my thoughts with his wisdom. He spoke about inspecting fruits and it brought to mind a sermon I heard several years ago: How Christians are to be fruit inspectors.
The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 7:
16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
And just what, exactly, are my fruits??
Galatians, Chapter 5:
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Now, when I was a Christian, I had a psuedo-form of all these things. I was forced to love my neighbor (the filthy sinner anyway), jumped around as much as I could during church service (cuz I was joyful, dammit), made sure I kept that smile on my face...mustn't let others know that my Peace Tank isn't topped off and overflowing!
You get the picture.
Now I'm not saying that my Christian experience was all bad. Far from it. But I do find it more than facinating that it wasn't until I shed my claim to Christianity that I found that "fruit of the Spirit" I was so desparately trying to obtain. I am at peace. I am happy. I have genuine joy when appropriate and have learned that self-control is not best when regulated, but when obtained through inner desire to not mess up the only probable go-round on this ride we call life.
The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 7:
21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'
If there is a heaven to be had, some of y'all might be surprised at who's up there and which side of the fence you're on.
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Been there done that - now I'm just me and am glad that God made me and I wouldn't want to be any different. That does not mean that everybody should be like me, there are many sides to a round world. There is even a place for those bad people in a balanced world. Its when its out of balance that things is not good. Love your post, glad I stopped by. 
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