Dorothy Mae
Member
When I was a teenager just starting out in christianity, I heard that this truth is the gospel itself. But if we look around, we do not see a lot of freedom in the church. There is a lot of fear, especially manifest in the last few years. Knowing Jesus or becoming a christian does not seem to alleviate fear or pride or other indications of a state of being free. (Free people do not attack others when faced with a different opinion, for example. Fearful people do that.) When people face personal difficulties, they do not seem to exude more courage than the atheist people out there. Most were not free of fear and so are not free. There are many examples of people who are believers who seem to be bound in fear or pride or other cages. This state of reality begs the question as to what Jesus meant.
Jordan Peterson has a very wise presentation on this that is minus the Biblical promise as a reason. I know many think that such presentations without scripture are useless but the thing is, the truth that Jesus taught is the Truth whether we include scripture or not. Scripture is powerful because it is true. And the truth it presents, if embraced and becomes a pattern to live by, sets free. This principle works whether Dr. Peterson says it or anyone else says it, because it reflects real life. He and others came to realize this powerful truth because it matches real life from observation. I find it inspiring that wise people come to the same conclusions or teaching Jesus gave just by looking at real life. It makes his teachings more powerful and convincing, not less.
Now make no mistake, I love the scripture and can quote numerous passages from memory. I rarely cut and paste when I do quote scripture because I do actually live it out in real choices. And I can testify, as does Dr. Peterson, that this painful embracing of the truth and seeking the truth and nothing less, sets you free. One of the freedoms is the freedom of fear but another is simply you come to know yourself as you truly are (much much worse than in your most despairing lack of self-esteem moments) and so you come to understand people and why they are as they do. You come to understand man and the world around you. This breeds a love for people and yet wisdom as you known what is in man same as Jesus knew what what is man and did not trust himself to them. But he had a deep trust in God. That also came from knowing the truth.
Well, anyway, maybe some will find this inspiring.
Jordan Peterson has a very wise presentation on this that is minus the Biblical promise as a reason. I know many think that such presentations without scripture are useless but the thing is, the truth that Jesus taught is the Truth whether we include scripture or not. Scripture is powerful because it is true. And the truth it presents, if embraced and becomes a pattern to live by, sets free. This principle works whether Dr. Peterson says it or anyone else says it, because it reflects real life. He and others came to realize this powerful truth because it matches real life from observation. I find it inspiring that wise people come to the same conclusions or teaching Jesus gave just by looking at real life. It makes his teachings more powerful and convincing, not less.
Now make no mistake, I love the scripture and can quote numerous passages from memory. I rarely cut and paste when I do quote scripture because I do actually live it out in real choices. And I can testify, as does Dr. Peterson, that this painful embracing of the truth and seeking the truth and nothing less, sets you free. One of the freedoms is the freedom of fear but another is simply you come to know yourself as you truly are (much much worse than in your most despairing lack of self-esteem moments) and so you come to understand people and why they are as they do. You come to understand man and the world around you. This breeds a love for people and yet wisdom as you known what is in man same as Jesus knew what what is man and did not trust himself to them. But he had a deep trust in God. That also came from knowing the truth.
Well, anyway, maybe some will find this inspiring.