Aren't these witchcraft practices?

[turnorburn]

This is for Orian, lets say your at home its January and outside there is a serious thunder and lightning storm. You can't see for more than a few feet in the darkness, rain rain rain it won't
stop and of course either does the thunder and lightning. Your in the tub because there is no
shower except the one outside, now its Wednesday and about a mile up the road is a church.
That's prayer meeting night Orian if you didn't know, now as you get dressed you discover you have left your umbrella at a friends house 30 miles away and your only mode of transportation are
you two legs, I could walk then. O.k. now you have a real good idea that church up the road
is the one the Lord wants you to go to, "but" that horrible storm and now it has gotten worse,
viability is one foot. Then it strikes you just like a two by four, hey dummy ask the Lord, and
so I did I said Lord Jesus if you want me at that church prayer meeting make it stop raining or I'll
get sick. When I had spoken the last word a huge bolt of lightning struck next to a tree and then
came the instant crash of thunder. The storm ceased it just stopped completely

 

[Havoc]

That's a wonderful story.

I'm not really sure what you think it should mean to aanyone but you though.

 

[turnorburn]

You have been a member here for a number of years "right" maybe you can tell me.
Why is God hiding himself from you? because he is you know and that's a tough
break

 

[Alabaster]

I don't believe God hides from people---but the man himself is simply rejecting. I suppose a constant barrage of "no" is sport.

 

[Biblereader]

there is witchcraft in most churches, but it's so subtle they don't even see it.

Please elaborate on this. What kind of witchcraft,subtle or otherwise, do you KNOW is in churches now a days?

 

[Biblereader]

That's a neat picture!

 

[Biblereader]

But I don't see the Canon (Bible) as a book that God wrote, so . . . . . . :-?

After you're born again, you'll see. The Bible will not seem foolish to you.

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

 

[Biblereader]

I think that I would be better to guard my heart against "doctrines of men". You have only the words of a man, and faith IN that man, when he says that his words are "from God". I choose not to trust the words written down by men even if they claim divine inspiration.

Oh, and I actually DO "thirst for living right". I prefer it over incorrect living.

Very wise of you to think that way. Guarding your heart against the doctrines of men, which began to flourish around the 3rd century AD, and got progressively worse, as time went on.

Read up a little on how different splits, schisms, were created, after the apostles died.
It's fascinating, and it will show you how NARROW the true Christian path really, really is.

 

[Havoc]

You have been a member here for a number of years "right" maybe you can tell me.
Why is God hiding himself from you? because he is you know and that's a tough
break

God and I had a bit of a laugh, this morning at our usual morning devotional, at your idea that He is hiding Himself from me.

The Idea that you have a monopoly on what God does or doesn't do would be funny, if it weren't so tragic.

 

[Havoc]

What I meant though, is that the story is a nice one, but would it mean the same thing to anyone else.

First we have to determine whether it's a true story or not. Now I'm not suggesting you are lying, but human memory is selective. Our perceptions color our recollections, especially in a religious context. We know that two people seeing the same event, one desiring a religious experience, and one an disinterested spectator, will usually remember it two completely different ways. We also know that as time goes by the two different versions of the story diverge more an more until, after a few years, you'd think the two different people had witnessed two entirely different events.

Also you interpreted it to mean what you were looking for. Would the storm have stopped just then if you hadn't prayed? Who can say? The problem with coincidences is again related to human perception. We only remember the unlikely. If an event has a one in a hundred chance of happening, we will simply not notice the 99 times it doesn't happen, but stand amazed at the one time it does, even though it's obviously within the realm of probability when looked at that way. The fact is that it's human nature to forget the ordinary, and latch on to the memorable.

Whan you combine the two principles; the difference betwqeen what happened and what we remember, and the tendancy of only remembering when probability peaks, it's not surprising that practically every religious person has a miracle or two in their testimony.... and fervently believes it too. God has blessed me with miraacles too. I believe.

 

[Orion]

That's a wonderful story.

I'm not really sure what you think it should mean to aanyone but you though.

Havoc, that was my exact thought on that story. I kind of lost interest in the pummeling of the deceased equine.

 

[Orion]

In my city, because of the topography, occasionally a storm line will part, compelely skirting the city, only to reform just after it. It is nothing to do with any divine power.

 

[Orion]

I don't believe God hides from people---but the man himself is simply rejecting. I suppose a constant barrage of "no" is sport.

I wouldn't reject a deity who would actually make themself known to me on a level greater than "my faith that it is real".

 

[Orion]

But I don't see the Canon (Bible) as a book that God wrote, so . . . . . . :-?

After you're born again, you'll see. The Bible will not seem foolish to you.

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

I was a christian all my life up until just a few years ago. I had a "rebout with Christianity, in an attempt to "be the Christian I was supposed to be", centering around the separation of my marriage", but during that time, I recognized the complete lack of anything real for me.

I'm in the middle of writing a non-fiction book with the subject of why I am no longer a christian (in the general term), and why I find the Bible to be "just from men", with the occasional episode where God may have shown up, for real. I would not recommend christians reading though. They should discover such things on their own.

 

[Alabaster]

I don't believe God hides from people---but the man himself is simply rejecting. I suppose a constant barrage of "no" is sport.

I wouldn't reject a deity who would actually make themself known to me on a level greater than "my faith that it is real".

Are you so sure about that? God says that if He openly reveals Himself people still wouldn't believe. It has to do with the heart condition.

 

[Alabaster]

But I don't see the Canon (Bible) as a book that God wrote, so . . . . . . :-?

After you're born again, you'll see. The Bible will not seem foolish to you.

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

I was a christian all my life up until just a few years ago. I had a "rebout with Christianity, in an attempt to "be the Christian I was supposed to be", centering around the separation of my marriage", but during that time, I recognized the complete lack of anything real for me.

I'm in the middle of writing a non-fiction book with the subject of why I am no longer a christian (in the general term), and why I find the Bible to be "just from men", with the occasional episode where God may have shown up, for real. I would not recommend christians reading though. They should discover such things on their own.

Discover what? No thanks. If you are already that deeply invested in your bitterness toward God that you would pour it all into a written work, then you are obviously not in a position to hear from Him.

How were you a Christian "all your life"? Being a Christian is not a work of one's will. It is a regeneration of one's spirit by the Spirit of God who comes in and makes a home in us...for the asking. Once a person has met the living God in the person of Jesus Christ, there is no turning back, and no renouncing!

 

[Orion]

I don't believe God hides from people---but the man himself is simply rejecting. I suppose a constant barrage of "no" is sport.

I wouldn't reject a deity who would actually make themself known to me on a level greater than "my faith that it is real".

Are you so sure about that? God says that if He openly reveals Himself people still wouldn't believe. It has to do with the heart condition.

Ridiculous! And if what you said WERE true, then you would have to wonder WHY, . . . .what it was about God, who is supposed to be perfect, that someone would find objectionable. If there WAS nothing objectionable, then no one, in their right mind would reject the love of that type of deity.

 

[Orion]

Discover what? No thanks. If you are already that deeply invested in your bitterness toward God that you would pour it all into a written work, then you are obviously not in a position to hear from Him.

How were you a Christian "all your life"? Being a Christian is not a work of one's will. It is a regeneration of one's spirit by the Spirit of God who comes in and makes a home in us...for the asking. Once a person has met the living God in the person of Jesus Christ, there is no turning back, and no renouncing!

Of course, the "you must not have been a good enough, believing Christian, then". Another ridiculous statement. I was completely believing of all of it! I was VERY sincere, all through my childhood and young adult life, and even into my adulthood. I once dropped a college class because the instructor was bad mouthing a "young earth". So don't tell me I wasn't truly attempting to follow Christ, I was. He just never made himself known to me. Why is that? Because it ALL has to do with a person's "level of faith" in the unseen, unfelt, and literally unknowable, outside of a book.

This isn't a "bitterness towards God". I simply don't believe that the God mentioned in the bible, especially of the Old Testament, was truly who God really is. I think a lot of it was MAN'S words, speaking for who they thought God was and what they thought God wanted of people.

 

[Havoc]

Once a person has met the living God in the person of Jesus Christ, there is no turning back, and no renouncing![/b]

That's an interesting idea. Strange that you should believe that, considering your Bible says otherwise.

 

[Havoc]

Are you so sure about that? God says that if He openly reveals Himself people still wouldn't believe. It has to do with the heart condition.

Did God say that?

Or did men write that, in order to insure that the "faithful" would stay with the program, and not question...