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Old 01-31-2010, 05:07 AM   #1  
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Default Digging Deep--What does it mean to be human?

"Even when I lie, I tell the truth". I was reading earlier today, lol I know what time it is! St. Michael the Archangel gave people a chance to repent during their hour of death. Do you think some people in your life would reject God when so much is at stake? Why or why not? I think my Mom would reject God 'cause she loves to lie a lot. I was afraid of her but now I pity her. I'm not sure about my Dad. He walks the walk and talks the talk but he's too smug for his own good. I was thinking about how unfair it is that all my good works truly mean nothing when someone like my Mom and my Aunt Felicia could gain entrance into heaven just for being born. Life is precious and I don't truly understand its value to be honest but I hope to redefine myself in 2010 as a worthy subject of God's. Happy Sunday to non-believers and believers alike.
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Old 01-31-2010, 08:59 AM   #2  
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I have a lot of thoughts on this....

but not enough time to post them right now....

I will return....
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Old 01-31-2010, 09:05 AM   #3  
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For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians, 2: 8.9.

Some reject God even in death.
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Old 01-31-2010, 09:35 PM   #4  
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Right on, CAROL -- the thing that I love about our GOD is that He offers us ALL salvation no matter what we have or have not done in this life; it is a GIFT, that cannot be earned thru works. We are save by our faith: that is, just by believing ... isn't GOD awesome? It is sad to think that anyone wouldn't want this free gift.

I just cannot get my head around that ... but I am so grateful and thankful that we have such a caring GOD that went to such lengths to provide the way for us thru his son, JESUS CHRIST. Thru Him comes forgiveness and a restored relationship ... all for free ... with no work necessary on our part ... just for the asking ... we ask, we repent, we live ... awesome!!!
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Old 01-31-2010, 10:06 PM   #5  
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Originally Posted by FoodObsessed View Post
"Even when I lie, I tell the truth". I was reading earlier today, lol I know what time it is! St. Michael the Archangel gave people a chance to repent during their hour of death. Do you think some people in your life would reject God when so much is at stake? Why or why not? I think my Mom would reject God 'cause she loves to lie a lot. I was afraid of her but now I pity her. I'm not sure about my Dad. He walks the walk and talks the talk but he's too smug for his own good. I was thinking about how unfair it is that all my good works truly mean nothing when someone like my Mom and my Aunt Felicia could gain entrance into heaven just for being born. Life is precious and I don't truly understand its value to be honest but I hope to redefine myself in 2010 as a worthy subject of God's. Happy Sunday to non-believers and believers alike.
Good questions you ask here

I see people reject God each and every day, no doubt they would reject Him when the hour of death was upon them. I do think many people feel that when the time comes for death that they will in fact "make a choice"...but God tells us through scripture that no one knows the hour...death comes like a thief in the night. We need to have our relationship with Christ in "the LIFE" that He gives us!

As far as your mom and dad go, lies or walking/talking ...we are not perfect people...we fail miserably in life....but through our faith in Christ for what HE DID...we have life in death.

As far as good works go...any works we do cannot compare with what Christ did for us. There is absolutely NO WAY IN HE** can we get to heaven on our own works....only through faith by grace in our Savior Jesus Christ.

I am not sure what you mean about your mom and aunt...but no one gets to heaven just by being born...we all are born into sin...that separates us from God....our bridge to Him is Christ through His work and our faith in that grace...nothing else.

You are a worthy creature to God...he created you! If you see Him through Christ...He sees past your flaws and that my dear makes you worthy!

Be a believer
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Old 01-31-2010, 11:05 PM   #6  
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I envy simple faith. I don't have it. I'm a questioner. I think I would have given Thomas a run for his money in the doubting department. I can't wrap my head around a lot of things. I struggle with being the person I want to be.

I also used to think that "faith alone" was a bit "unfair." Not only because some very bad people could get to Heaven while some very nice people would be damned to ****, but because of my struggle with faith and belief, I always wondered what would happen to me if I happened to die at a weak point in my faith. What if I died during one of the nanosecond in which I doubted God's existence?

I still am not really sure about that one, except that I'm sure God will judge me on the faith I've had during the sum of my life, not just at the moment of my death.

I also used to think about the "unfairness" of nice people going to **** and bad people going ot heaven - but eventually I learned that's MY problem, not God's. Who but God gets to decide who deserves Heaven?

Also, my experience in law enforcement changed my understanding of "bad people." Before college, I always assumed that evil was not only a choice, but a clear choice. People chose evil because they were just bad people. Then I studied psychology worked with mentally ill people and criminals in the juvenile and adult legal system. I saw that many people who did very terrible things were sometimes very good-intended people. Or they'd been so beaten and battered (physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually), it was no wonder that there values were so warped.

We can't walk in anyone else's shoes, so we don't know what struggles they face. Who is "better" a person who has always been good (by human standards), but doesn't have to work at it very hard, because they've always only known good and have never been mistreated in any way OR a person who is only half as good but has never known anything but evil, and every day has to fight hard not to treat others as badly as he/she has been treated?

"Judge not, lest ye be judged," is a difficult directive to follow and most of us do it imperfectly (which is why we're all lucky that God does not demand perfection for salvation).

I think what helps me in understanding the unfair and difficult to understand parts about God and Heaven, is that God will take care of it all, and in the end it will be made clear and we'll understand. (Our pastor talks about the "list" of questions he has for our Creator when he gets to heaven). Also, the evil that any of us have done on earth, will not be going with us to Heaven. People we've known as hurtful (even ourselves) will not be that way in heaven, because we'll be healed and cleansed of the imperfect parts. The Colleen I am now, probably wouldn't even recognize the Colleen I'll be there.


That's what I believe (on a good day, at any rate, and I'm thankful that today is a good day). It's hard stuff to wrap your mind around though, isn't it?

Last edited by kaplods; 01-31-2010 at 11:08 PM.
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Old 01-31-2010, 11:37 PM   #7  
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Colleen I truly love reading your posts!

As you can tell I am not that smart a guy! Maybe that is why my faith comes to me easily!

I believe, through the power of the Holy Spirit, the truth I speak about. I don't try to figure all things out.

I believe the truth I read in the Bible....I am not God...I cannot understand why some things happened and happen today...but I can say from growth in the Word that I know a little more each day how He brings things together for our good.

Just like the tragedy in Haiti right now...the questions where was He...Why did it happen are coming to every one's minds...

but I KNOW that HE WAS THERE...HE CRIED...and HE COMFORTS....HE HEALS...

and I know this from faith and trust through grace.....

I can't answer any of it...yet...through the power of the Holy Spirit...I KNOW!

Our nature is to doubt and wonder the whys....

I figured out a long time ago that I will never know those answers because it is not necessary for me to....he knows what is best for me!

Peace ~ Gary
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Old 02-01-2010, 08:18 AM   #8  
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Does anyone remember this children's hymn "My God is so big"?

I was raised in a home where we were taught that "the smartest man wins". I'm pretty clever but I'm no rocket scientist. I struggled with "the meaning of it all". I actually lay awake nights trying to figure it out.

For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves

Not me, not my smarts, I'm not doomed because I'm not super intelligent.

Colleen's post about simple faith made me smile. I often am accused of being too simple. Aside from salvation, the greatest gift He has given to me is peace.
Remember that children's hymn? I cannot understand. God is so big, so strong and so might, that He can. I don't have to. And by grace ... I'm OK with that. I don't know some stuff and that's OK by me.
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Old 02-01-2010, 01:33 PM   #9  
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Colleen, you might enjoy John chapter 3. Nicodemus was a knowledgeable man in Israel and yet Jesus said to him, "Ye must be born again." Later Nicodemus helped Joseph of Arimathaea prepare the body of Jesus for burial in John 19.
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Old 02-01-2010, 03:45 PM   #10  
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Colleen, you might enjoy John chapter 3. Nicodemus was a knowledgeable man in Israel and yet Jesus said to him, "Ye must be born again." Later Nicodemus helped Joseph of Arimathaea prepare the body of Jesus for burial in John 19.
Yes I do. It's one of my favorite bible passages. I'm preferential to the teaching moments in scripture - the passages in which Christ's patience for us questioners is so clear.

Even as a fairly small child, I was always disappointed that no one could tell me what the 12 year old Jesus and the rabbis discussed in the temple during the three days Mary and Joseph thought he was lost.


When I was going through classes to become Lutheran, my husband would sometimes kick me under the table, because I asked so many questions. One of the ministers teaching the class told me that I reminded him of being back in seminary. He teased my husband that he should stop kicking me, because he suspected that I was putting into words what many of the other classmates were probably thinking, but didn't know how to ask.

I have the blessing of having virtually no fear of appearing stupid when asking questions. In that respect, I supose I am childlike as Christ asks us to become. I was and still am that child who asks 1000 questions, barely pausing to hear the answer to one question before asking the next.
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Old 02-01-2010, 04:03 PM   #11  
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Originally Posted by EZMONEY View Post
Colleen I truly love reading your posts!

As you can tell I am not that smart a guy! Maybe that is why my faith comes to me easily!

I believe, through the power of the Holy Spirit, the truth I speak about. I don't try to figure all things out.
Peace ~ Gary

You know Gary, my husband has said almost exactly this to me. And I think that you and he are both much smarter than you realize.

You and he are both very good influences on me. Reminding me that while I may desire to, I don't NEED to understand everything.

Before I met my husband, I didn't admire simple faith very much. I didn't understand it. I didn't understand why anyone wouldn't have the burning curiosity and questions that came with it, that I did.

Hubby says I'm a good influence on him too, helping him see deeper meanings in scripture because of my questions and struggle to understand. I still think I'm getting the better part of the bargain though.
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Old 02-01-2010, 09:14 PM   #12  
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KAPLODS ~ I was like you when I was younger, esp in my 20's ... I used to drive my mom bonkers asking her why this and why that, from my childhood on; and sometimes, she struggled to answer and would say ... I just don't know ...

My mother said that I was like a salmon that was always trying to swim up stream ... against the current, instead enjoying the ride and going with the flow (that simple faith that I now have).

I was very inquisitive too; but over the years, my angst has been calmed. Life taught me many answers that I didn't know way back then -- but I also learned (like GARY and others) that I don't have to know all the answers to believe. As a matter of fact ... that may not be such a good idea.

Maybe we couldn't handle all the truth. Suffice for me to say ... that my GOD knows them all, so I don't need to worry about that anymore. I wrote a poem once about this very topic ... "I know all I need to know".

I do find your posts fun to read though; they feed that old inquisitive part of me, and I enjoy them very much ...

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