Taking a second look at things

[th1b.taylor]

Hi Bill,
Yes. It is a journey indeed!
For some it's a short journey and for some it takes longer.

But then there's that other journey we're ALL on... The journey of the believer, who knows that one day we'll all be going home and will meet. Some day you and I will meet! And what an exciting journey it is.

I do hope this poster will join us in that journey. Even though there is so much in the world holding people back. We Christians are even told that this is all just a need we have in order to be happy.

Yes sir, I say. It IS indeed a need. A need to know the one who created me. A need to fill that heart-shaped hole within my spirit that only God can fill.

Augustine said that, BTW. He got some things right...

Wondering

AMEN!

 

[Silmarien]

You like St. Augustine??
Lord help us.
Give me Acquinas anytime.
Was Augustine ever sure of anything?? I wonder.

Anyway, if Chris Hitchens could explain two things to me, I might listen to him seriously:
1. Where did everything come fromj?
How does something come from nothing?
2. Why is everything in the universe effected with good and evil?
Where does that come from?

Christianity is the only belief system that answers these two questions for me.
Everything else comes after.

You never use the bible when speaking to atheists, but I don't think you're one,
so... I do like Romans 1:19-20. God is evident in creation.

Hitchens and company go on and on and babble forever about all these intellectual concepts that make my eyes glaze over.
Here's why it's simple, as Chopper said:

Everything had to come about in some way.
Is it easier to believe that God made everything or that everything came about from nothing. (which is impossible).
There is good and there is bad. A major theme in literature, movies, etc.
Where does that come from? Maybe God and satan? Two strong forces.
So, it would seem that I'd have to decide with which force I side. That is, if they exist. First question to conquer.

Then the decision becomes simple.

You can come to God through some kind of personal encounter, or you could come to God through sheer intellect and will.
Jesus said to love God with all our heart, soul, and MIND.
Mathew 22:37
God gifted us with a mind, and He intends for us to use it to seek Him, find Him, and understand Him.

A priest friend of mine once told me that if you are seeking God, you have already found him.

Wondering

Haha, no. I don't like Saint Augustine at all. More because I sympathize with Pelagianism than for any other reason, though. I'll need to read him for real at some point, but not just yet. Acquinas does interest me more--I vaguely remember liking something ethics related I read by him, but it's been a while.

My problems are two-fold. For one, skepticism isn't necessarily atheism. I was a terrible atheist; it just seems empty and arrogant to me, but it's impossible to entirely silence the voice that says, "You may think you feel something, but it's all just brain chemicals." I don't think science and religion are at all incompatible, and just because something has a chemical component doesn't mean it's not real, but having a little voice always saying, "Yes, but what if...?" complicates things a bit.

Especially when that little voice took one look at Christianity and started screaming, haha. Which is very interesting--a month ago, I thought the religion was beautiful and figured that if I was going to try to find God on my own, maybe there was something there that could help me (and I was absolutely right about that), but I was disinclined to actually believe. Since wandering down this road, I've realized I have an actual mental block in place, and that there's a part of me that's still rebelling at the idea of being wrong. So I end up thinking, "You've only been fighting it because on some level you knew it was true," and then, "You only think that now because you like the symmetry," so it's a wild spiral into madness, haha. I need to be quiet and start learning to listen now that I've finally figured out how to pray, because I'm just thinking myself in circles.

My other problem is theological, though I don't think it's all that much of a problem in the long run. Could I believe that Christianity is true on some level? Yes. I'm not there heart, mind, and soul yet, because I have been fighting too long, but there's some interesting circumstantial evidence out there. The apostles' behavior after the Crucifixion, Paul's vision and conversion, Constantine's vision and conversion. I could believe in the Resurrection, I could believe something is going on, but then I look at all the dogma, up to and including the Trinity and substituionary atonement, and those are the sort of absolute metaphysical claims I'm just not comfortable making. But I think "I have no idea what's going on, my Christology is a complete mess, but I still believe Jesus is the way to God" is a decent enough place to draw the line between struggling non-believer and struggling believer, haha.

I think that's where I'm headed. I hope so, at least.

Amen! The very moment I called out, God was there. And you're right, as soon as I realized that the science was perfectly illogical, there was only one remaining answer. It took me better than twenty-three years to journey from Deist to Christ. Our brother here is on that journey is how it all strikes me.

Sister. ;)

 

[th1b.taylor]

Which is very interesting--a month ago, I thought the religion was beautiful

Christianity, as a religion has save many a person from doing this or doing that but if you read and study the four Gospel accounts of Jesus you will discover that He put said His Devine Power to become a mere man for one purpose. He came to restore what was lost!

So the question to answer is what was lost? The answer is found in Genesis 3 when God is searching for Adam (Man) to walk and to talk with Him as they walked together.

This upsets people that have their names on the Church Rolls but the truth is that if we read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus did not cme to build a new religion, He came and opened the door to us for the purpose of establishing s personsl relationship with any that will walk (follow) Him.

Praying for you.

 

[dianegcook]

It takes FAITH..

Welcome

 

[Wrg1405]

So the question to answer is what was lost? The answer is found in Genesis 3 when God is searching for Adam (Man) to walk and to talk with Him as they walked together.

I have never thought about it that way.
What a wonderful way to explain it.

 

[th1b.taylor]

So the question to answer is what was lost? The answer is found in Genesis 3 when God is searching for Adam (Man) to walk and to talk with Him as they walked together.

I have never thought about it that way.
What a wonderful way to explain it.

That is what the Spirit taught me and to tell the truth, this is the most enjoyable thing I have ever done and believe me, I loved the ladies in the bars when I was singing. I would not turn fro, walking with God if I could be 20 years old with all the pain gone, I love the LORD my God with everything I am and His fellowship is finer than gold.

 

[Wrg1405]

I love the LORD my God with everything I am and His fellowship is finer than gold.

It surely has blessed me.

Refiners fire, my hearts one desire is to be holy, set apart for you Lord.

Zechariah 13:9
This third I will put into the fire;
I will refine them like silver
and test them like gold.
They will call on my name
and I will answer them;
I will say, ‘They are my people,’
and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”

 

[Silmarien]

I was looking into some of the prophecies last night--most of them did nothing for me, but the Crucifixion ones were intriguing. They were ultimately more trouble than they were worth, though, since I don't trust translations with stuff like that and Hebrew isn't quite at the top of my linguistic wish list, haha.

But I wandered over to Isaiah 53 in my ancient family Bible and found a note from my late grandmother tucked inside the page. Nothing particularly interesting, just a reference to 1 Timothy, but... kind of neat. It's clearly been there for years and means nothing, but at the same time, it says, "Stop being a nihilist who insists that nothing ever has any meaning," so... when you're the sort of person who's going to run away if pushed too hard, tiny messages that you could easily ignore are the only ones you're likely to get.

So the question to answer is what was lost? The answer is found in Genesis 3 when God is searching for Adam (Man) to walk and to talk with Him as they walked together.

I have never thought about it that way.
What a wonderful way to explain it.

Hmm, what's also interesting to me right there is their newfound fear of God--turning away from His love predates getting kicked out of the Garden. I'm all about the metaphorical approach here, and also a crazed existentialist who thinks that self-knowledge is the root of human suffering (it's not for nothing that I came back here, haha), so it's a bit neat to see that the main problem isn't actually the punishment.

...I'm eyeing celtic crosses on amazon, so I think I've made a decision. I'll probably continue to shift back and forth a bit longer, because sudden paradigm shifts are hard, but I think you've all caught me, haha. Once you start looking seriously in this direction, anything else just leads to despair.

The actual commitment part is going to be fun, but I suppose that's where faith comes in.

 

[Wrg1405]

. I'll probably continue to shift back and forth a bit longer, because sudden paradigm shifts are hard, but I think you've all caught me, haha. Once you start looking seriously in this direction, anything else just leads to despair.

Paradigm shifts are hard.

In a base sense there is a thing known and used called 'Lewin's change management model'

Basically it's to unfreeze, change and refreeze.

Key Points
Lewin's Change Management Model is a simple and easy-to-understand framework for managing change.

By recognizing these three distinct stages of change, you can plan to implement the change required. You start by creating the motivation to change (unfreeze). You move through the change process by promoting effective communications and empowering people to embrace new ways of working (change). And the process ends when you return the organization to a sense of stability (refreeze), which is so necessary for creating the confidence from which to embark on the next, inevitable change.

I think this can be applied to faith in God and our walk with him.

The Holy Spirit is the change agent.

He reveals the Father, comes to convince us that Jesus is who he says he his.
When he unfreezes us he creates the change in us, belief in his revelation.
He then starts the process of change in us as the children of God, shifting paradigms.
Communicating with us and empowering us to walk in new ways.
As we do he starts refreeze the change in us.
Of course this is an ongoing process.

Anyway just thought I might be able to bring a different dimension

 

[Sparkey]

Greetings!

I wanted to find a way to say 'hi' in a more peaceful place.
We are told, "a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace." James 3:18

My foot has been drawn toward a path of peace since the beginning. Saying, "drawn to" or "toward" something necessarily means not yet attained, and yet Trusting God in all things, even the impossible and especially the impossible, makes perfect sense to me.

As I would a stranger at my gate, so also do I warmly welcome you, Silmarien

 

[JPPT1974]

Hello and welcome! Feel free to post. Do not be shy at all. God bless!