Being Prone to Suspicion

Next, let’s discuss being prone to suspicion. Which manifestation that we just discussed is somewhat similar to being prone to suspicion? (Sensitivity.) What kind of problem is sensitivity? (A defect of humanity.) Being prone to suspicion is one level higher than sensitivity; the problem is more serious. Sensitivity is merely a sign of somewhat immature humanity, like that of a child, whereas being prone to suspicion involves some specific thoughts and viewpoints—it’s what is commonly known as overthinking, which indicates poor character. For example, someone asks a person who’s prone to suspicion to help purchase an item that costs ten yuan and especially emphasizes, “You absolutely can’t go over ten yuan. If it’s too expensive, don’t buy it.” After hearing this, they ponder, “Are you just being polite? You actually want an item that costs one hundred yuan but you’re too embarrassed to say it. I’ll buy it for you then, to make you happy and leave you with positive feelings toward me.” It then turns out, after they bring it back, that the other person says, “It’s too expensive. I only have ten yuan; I don’t have that much money.” So, by buying an item that costs one hundred yuan for that person, didn’t they end up making them suffer a loss? Yet, they cannot understand the other person and instead harbor doubts that this person doesn’t want to spend more money and is trying to take advantage of them. Tell Me, aren’t such people who are prone to doubts very troublesome? (Yes.) In what way are they troublesome? (Their thoughts are too complicated.) People with overly complicated thoughts are difficult to associate with. Tell Me, are people with straightforward personalities willing to associate with such people? (No.) You don’t know what they are thinking inside or in which direction their thoughts are going, and you cannot see through to their intentions or how they are doubting you. So when you entrust something to them to handle, even though it’s clearly a very simple small matter, they make it very complicated and cumbersome. As they, in the process, overcomplicate matters, even you feel exhausted and think it would have been better to do it yourself. You don’t want to associate with such people and just want to avoid them. For example, say that you have something you no longer need, and just leaving it there would be wasteful, and it would be a pity to throw it away, so you give it to a person of this sort. Not only do they not appreciate it, but they also doubt in their heart: “Why are you giving this to me? There must be something behind this. Are you trying to make me think that you’re a good person, to get me to owe you a favor, or are you trying to ask me to do something for you?” You never expected that they would think so much about such a small matter, that giving them a little something could lead to so much doubt. You have to say a lot of things to dispel their doubts. Isn’t this very troublesome? You begin to feel repelled by this person and after that, if you have something spare, you’d rather throw it away than give it to them. Why not give it to them? It’s not because you’re ruthless, but because you don’t want to incite trouble. In the past, someone had just rented a place, and there were no cleaning supplies in it. So, I brought over some cleaning items from home; some cleaning agents were full bottles, while others were half-full. The person who was renting the place looked at them and said: “Even though You’ve given these things to me for free, I’m not going to thank You—these are used. If they had been new, would You have given them to me?” Aren’t these words hurtful? (Yes.) Why are they hurtful? (A piece of good will was distorted by them in this way.) They took My good will for ill will. I didn’t ask you to thank Me, nor did I ask you to pay for the items. It’s simply that you’re renting a place, and there aren’t any cleaning supplies in it, and it’s inconvenient for you to go out and buy them. I just brought you some of what I have to make things more convenient for you. I wasn’t trying to suck up to you by letting you use these things—I don’t owe you anything, and I didn’t ask you to owe Me any favors either. They became suspicious over such a simple matter: “Hmph! What’s so great about this? You brought me a few things and now You think I owe You a favor! The stuff You brought isn’t anything good anyway—how could it be good if You’re just giving it away?” This person is really difficult to deal with. I didn’t claim that these were some kind of rare elixirs—they’re just some ordinary cleaning products. If you don’t want to use them, you don’t have to. Why make things so complicated? I realized that this person is hard to get along with and difficult to deal with. Wouldn’t it have been less trouble if I hadn’t brought anything at all? Not necessarily. Bringing nothing at all would likely also have caused trouble. They might still have thought, “I’m renting this place, and You didn’t even bring me any cleaning supplies. We’re supposed to be brothers and sisters, yet You haven’t shown me any love at all!” They would still have had something to say. The character of such people is very poor. They always use their own preferences and standards to measure whether others are good or bad. They constantly scrutinize and measure others with a harsh eye, thinking that they are morally superior while others all have a dark side to them, and that other people always have their own motives regardless of how they act, whereas they alone are not corrupt and are perfect.

People who are prone to suspicion have poor character. Since they have poor character, they will inevitably act under the dominance of this character. What they reveal will be corrupt dispositions, it will certainly not be normal humanity. If it is not normal humanity, then what exactly is it? This is related to corrupt dispositions. When it comes to being prone to suspicion, the representative corrupt dispositions revealed by such people in their actions and interactions with others are certainly wickedness and deceitfulness. Their thoughts are just that complicated, just that wicked and insidious. Since they themselves won’t lift a finger unless there’s something in it for them, they assume that everyone else is the same. Even if you are not that kind of person, they won’t believe it, and even if you try to explain, it won’t help—that’s just how they view you. They use a wicked method and a wicked disposition to view all things and matters and all people. Even if what you do is proper, accords with the needs of humanity, accords with the rationality of humanity, or accords with the truth principles, they will place a series of question marks behind it and ask you, “Why are you doing this? What is your motive?” You say, “I have no motive,” but they simply won’t believe it—they insist on pinning a motive on you and making you admit to it. Aren’t such people troublesome? (Yes.) It is difficult for people who are prone to suspicion to get along with others. Such people are certainly not simple and open, and, of course, they are not honest people. In their character, the elements of honesty, kindness, and rationality are basically all absent. So, what are the main components of their character? Paranoia, deceitfulness, wickedness, a lack of simplicity, and dishonesty. They view all people and all issues as being very complicated. Even if you speak honestly to them, they will analyze and ponder why you said it. Even if they have interacted with you for a long time and know what your character is like, they will still often adopt an attitude of suspicion toward you when conversing, handling matters, or associating with you. So, such people are very troublesome. Interacting with them adds a lot of burdens and formalities, and you also have to do a lot of homework and get to know them—getting to know what things they don’t like, and what they don’t like to do or don’t like to talk about. Otherwise, if you are not careful you may offend them or, in their view, hurt them. They treat people this way, so how do they treat God? (They treat God the same way.) Would they treat God with sincerity? (No.) For example, when the church arranges for them to do a duty, they start pondering, “Does God know that I’m doing this duty? Will He remember it? How much effort should I put in to get by and for it to be remembered before God?” After doing their duty for a period of time, they also probe into how the leaders and workers view them and whether they have any negative evaluations of them. Just what sort of humanity is this? Judging from the humanity manifested through the attitude with which they handle matters, such people are very troublesome, and it is not easy for them to accept the truth. Why is that? Because it is difficult for them to be honest people; their conscience lacks a sense of justice, their reason is not sound, and their way of judging things is irrational. Why do I say it’s irrational? Because they are relatively extreme, prone to getting fixated on things, and vile—they don’t view things using the manner of thinking of normal humanity. They aren’t open and candid but instead live in an especially dark way. Yet, they never feel that they live in a dark way and even think that they are smarter than others, and that they live with more refinement and attention to detail than others. They particularly admire their own cleverness. This is called thinking oneself to be clever. People who think themselves to be clever are very lacking in terms of the reason of their humanity, and in terms of the sense of justice within their conscience. Therefore, the humanity of such people is bad, and others are unwilling to be in contact with them. No matter who says something, such people will make an issue out of it. What they interpret are all extreme things that are distorted, of impetuousness, of Satan, and of emotions—they are all things that are dark and negative, things that are contrary to the truth and resist the truth. These things cannot guide people onto the right path at all. So, people of this sort are very repulsive and disgusting. They live in dark corners and in their own little world. They are especially narcissistic and self-admiring, thinking that they live more exquisite, noble, honorable, and dignified lives than others—no one may touch them. In fact, the character of such people is very lowly, and they have no real dignity. What is meant by a lack of real dignity is that their character is especially poor, because what arises from their humanity are all dark things that cannot be brought into the open, not upright and straightforward things. Therefore, such people have no dignity to speak of. What consequences are likely to be brought about by people being prone to suspicion? In plain terms, such people are full of cunning trickery. Being prone to suspicion means that these people harbor lots of cunning schemes. Look at how the devil kings oppress and arrest God’s chosen people—they harbor so many cunning schemes, ultimately harming people to the extent that their families break up, with some of the members dying, and become separated from each other. That is the doing of demons and devil kings. Therefore, none of those who are prone to suspicion are anything good. Believers in God should view people and things based on the truth principles, they must not engage in random suspicion, and there must be evidence behind what they say. The thoughts you develop when viewing a person or a matter should at least be positive and agreeable to others. Better yet, they should conform to the truth principles, be helpful to others, and have a positive influence on them. However, none of the thoughts and viewpoints generated by people who are prone to suspicion conform to the truth; at the very least, they are not positive things—that is, the perspective such people consider problems from or the thoughts and ideas they produce simply do not conform to the truth. Therefore, people of this sort live in dark corners and have no integrity or dignity to speak of. The things that arise from their thoughts are all dark and wicked—these things do not conform to the truth principles and will not have a positive influence on people or their lives. If you accept the various thoughts and viewpoints that arise from such people’s suspicion, you become poisoned and are dragged down by them—this is tantamount to being corrupted by Satan. However, if you have discernment of such people and treat them as a negative example, you can make some progress and gain some discernment in understanding negative things. This concludes our discussion on being prone to suspicion.

Ineptitude

Next, let’s talk about ineptitude. Everyone understands what ineptitude means—it refers to being unable to handle anything well, appearing impotent, just like when people often say: “Why are you so inept? You really have no prospects!” Is ineptitude good? (No.) Then let’s categorize it—what is it? (It is a defect of humanity.) Ineptitude is clearly a defect of humanity. Ineptitude means that a person has very low intelligence in handling matters and poor survival abilities—this is referred to as ineptitude. Some people speak in a clumsy manner, unable to express themselves; some even have bashful, introverted personalities—when they have to speak in front of a lot of people or be in the limelight, they get stage fright, feel timid, and do not dare to speak, and they are often bullied by others. Some evil people believe that bullying such people is justified, and that it is very fun and enjoyable—they make fun of and tease people of this sort every day. Inept people have a poor ability to handle matters. It may be that some of them also have poor survival abilities, are unable to earn money, and are always very timorous and overly cautious around others. When they see formidable people they avoid them and do not dare to speak. Even when they are bullied, they do not dare to resist, fearing they might offend others. Judging from the manifestations of ineptitude in the humanity of people of this sort, this is merely a kind of defect of humanity. Nobody’s ineptitude ever caused them to develop erroneous thoughts and viewpoints or to bring any adverse impacts upon themselves or others; therefore, ineptitude is just a defect of humanity. Does anyone want to be an inept person? (No.) No one wants to be an inept person—why is that? Inept people are bullied, and everyone looks down on them, right? (Right.) If you were asked to choose between being evil and being inept, you would certainly choose being evil rather than being inept. You would think to yourself: “I will never be an inept person! In this society, inept people are mistreated and bullied, they’re unpopular; no matter where they go, they are looked down on and trampled underfoot by others. Not only do they have no sense of presence, but even their right to survival might be taken away. But being an evil person is different—wherever evil people go, others fear them and treat them with great respect. No one dares to provoke them. Wherever they go, they enjoy privileges and can even ride roughshod over others. Evil people thrive wherever they are in this world.” If you were asked to choose now, none of you would choose to be inept people—you would all choose to be evil people. Is this viewpoint correct? (No.) Why is it not correct? Which truth principle does this contradict? Ineptitude is a defect of humanity. The most common manifestations are being unable to handle anything well, being discriminated against and excluded. Because inept people are bullied, and trampled underfoot in society, no one is willing to be inept. People all envy those who are capable and skilled, and they even all wish to stand out from others, to gain power and influence, and to ride roughshod over others, to have privileges and prestige within any group, not only avoiding being bullied by others but also being able to bully others at will. Is this kind of thought and viewpoint correct? Does it conform to the truth? (No.) You have listened to so many truths, yet even now you still approve of evil people—this means that your disposition is also quite wicked. Whoever you see that is evil, you envy and admire them. You know full well in your heart that evil people are bad, yet you can’t help but follow them, feeling that doing so gives you a means of support and prevents you from being bullied. When you see inept people, you feel repelled by them and look down on them, even wanting to trample on them. But have you ever considered how much evil you would commit and how much retribution you would receive if you followed evil people? What would the chances of you receiving salvation be if you followed evil people? Would you be able to avoid committing evil if you followed evil people? Let’s say you follow evil people, serving them faithfully and acting as their subordinate. They may share a piece of the pie with you, and you may be able to follow them to ride roughshod over others and have the best food and drink, experiencing great enjoyment, avoiding being bullied, and gaining status among others in this life. But you must commit a great deal of evil to enjoy these things! Do you know how much retribution and how severe a punishment you will receive? Is this the right path? (No.) So, are you still willing to make the sacrifice of choosing to commit evil and receive punishment all for the sake of not being an inept person and avoiding being bullied—sacrificing your destination and fate in exchange for pleasure in this life? Is this your thought and viewpoint? Some people actually hold this kind of viewpoint—they would rather choose to be evil people than be inept and bullied. Isn’t this wishing to walk the path of evil people? Ineptitude is merely a defect of humanity—what’s so bad about that? Is bullying others and committing evil really the better choice? If God does not let you starve and provides you with food to eat, could you really starve to death? If God allows you to live with joy, freedom, happiness, delight, and peace, you will lack none of these things. So what if others bully you? No one can take these things away from you—what God grants you, no one can take away. If you follow evil people and walk the path of evil people, the pleasures you enjoy will all be sinful pleasures. Additionally, any money or material enjoyment you gain by means of committing evil will be obtained by forceful seizure, the enjoyment you experience in this life will exceed what God has given you, and so you will have to repay it with multiple lifetimes in the future. Obtaining the pleasures of the flesh in this life at the expense of receiving punishment—isn’t this not walking the right path? You would rather choose to be evil people than be bullied—this reflects your perception and treasuring of evil in the depths of your soul. So, what’s so bad about being inept? Looking at it from the perspective of humanity, it is a type of defect, but it is also an innate condition, which is something that people cannot change. Inept people did not become inept by their own choice. Although it is a defect, it is not a corrupt disposition, it is not a problem of one’s character. So what’s so bad about it? If, because of your ineptitude and low status, you are often bullied and can deeply understand the injustice and evil of this world and the darkness of this society, and as a result sincerely come before God to accept God’s sovereignty, and willingly submit to God’s dominion and orchestrations, letting God take charge of your fate—then isn’t this ineptitude a form of protection for you? Ineptitude is not a negative thing; it is merely a type of defect of humanity. What does defect refer to? It means an inadequacy, a minor issue, a blemish—it is merely something that is imperfect, somewhat lacking, not entirely to one’s liking, or not ideal, but it does not indicate poor or vile character. So why can’t you tolerate this minor defect? What’s more, this minor defect can bring great benefits to your life entry. Or it could be said that some people, because they have this defect of humanity, this innate condition, are more capable of wholeheartedly following God to the end. Ultimately, because they can accept the truth, submit to God, and possess a God-fearing heart, they are able to cast off their corrupt dispositions and receive salvation. From this perspective, it is a blessing—people should not refuse to be inept. What’s so bad about being inept? A person’s corrupt disposition will not worsen because of ineptitude. God will not look down on someone or refuse to save them because they are inept, nor will ineptitude impact them accepting the truth or being saved. So, your thought and viewpoint has to change—it is still quite far off. Some people say, “I would rather be an evil person than an inept person. Inept people have no prospects, they are looked down on by everyone, and even they look down on themselves. Being an inept person is pointless; being an evil person is awesome—you can do whatever you want, bully whoever seems easy to bully, and no one dares to resist. How glamorous it is to live that way!” What benefit is there in glamor? If you prosper and live glamorously in the world, your prospects and destination will be ruined. You will no longer be able to come before God, and you will no longer feel attached to God; God will no longer appeal to you, and the living environment and work environment of God’s house will no longer appeal to you. You will leave God and search for a living environment where you can bring your strong suits into play and realize your value. God’s house restricts people’s evildoing, and no evil person can get anywhere or stand firm in God’s house. If you like evil people and want to become one, can you still remain in God’s house? Sooner or later, you will be cleansed away. Not only will you fail to obtain a good destination, but after death, you will also receive punishment for the evil you committed. Therefore, although ineptitude is a defect of humanity, it’s not a corrupt disposition, nor does it mean that one’s humanity is evil. Who doesn’t have some flaws? Ineptitude is just like how some people are born with stutters or how some people are born a bit ugly—these are all innate defects. Humans have different skin colors—some people are born white, some are born with yellow skin, and some are born with black skin. This is an innate condition. People with yellow skin may appear to be not so healthy, with a not-so-great complexion—this is a minor defect. People with black skin appear more robust, yet no one wants to have black skin. People with white skin are generally envied, but even among them, some feel that being too pale isn’t good, and so they like to tan their skin to a bronze color, believing it makes them look healthy and gives their skin a glow. You see, ineptitude is the same as people’s various innate conditions—it is just that it is a kind of defect. So, is it a major problem? (No.) Therefore, even though this problem is a defect of humanity, it does not impact your acceptance of the truth or your understanding of the truth. So, do you still resist being an inept person? (Not anymore.) Will you still bully inept people when you see them? (No.) You used to bully them quite a bit, didn’t you? Now, when you see inept people, will you still look down on and belittle them? (No.) If you yourself are an inept person, you even more so should not look down on yourself. If you’re inept, then so be it—practice being an honest person according to God’s words. Though you may be inept, you should be honest and not deceitful, and God likes this kind of person. What does God like? It’s not your ineptitude. It’s that because of your ineptitude, you are willing to be an honest person; it’s that because you are looked down on and cannot find favor with people, you think of ways to be an honest person to make God happy and to satisfy God, and you do whatever God says. In this way, your ineptitude becomes a benefit, doesn’t it? (Yes.) Has your viewpoint changed now? (Yes.) Of course, not all inept people are necessarily able to accept the truth. Some people, in addition to having the defect of ineptitude in their humanity, also have problems with their character. This cannot be generalized. In itself, ineptitude is not a major problem, but you must also look at what someone’s character is like. If someone is deceitful or has a vile character—if they’re unashamedly thick-skinned, prone to suspicion, sensitive, obstinate, or even have a vicious disposition—then that person is not anything good. So, an inept person is not necessarily someone with good character. Alright, that’s all for our discussion on ineptitude.