Should we handle victory the way the Christian god decrees?

Phoenix,

Can you elaborate? I am having a very rough couple of days and perhaps I am not reading something correctly.

0 Replies

Phoenix32890 wrote:

MommaAngel wrote:
I know others don't understand that and that is okay. Some, though, do understand it perfectly.

I believe that I do understand exactly where you are coming from. And that is why I find your words so disconcerting.

Unfortunately, they would only be understood by someone who shares faith.

0 Replies

Quote:

I realize what I stated was the truth. I know what my life was like without God. It was nothing. I was nothing.

Momma- I cannot imagine a person, as sensitive and caring as you are, believing that you were nothing without your faith in a God. I think that you have a lot more within yourself than what you give yourself credit for.

I can understand that your belief helps you to gather your strength, and deal with life's tribulations. But you would have had to have that good "stuff" within you all the time, but maybe never realized it.

0 Replies

Phoenix32890 wrote:

Quote:
I realize what I stated was the truth. I know what my life was like without God. It was nothing. I was nothing.

Momma- I cannot imagine a person, as sensitive and caring as you are, believing that you were nothing without your faith in a God. I think that you have a lot more within yourself than what you give yourself credit for.

I can understand that your belief helps you to gather your strength, and deal with life's tribulations. But you would have had to have that good "stuff" within you all the time, but maybe never realized it.

Phoenix,

I wish so much that were the case, but in all honesty, it is not. Before I became a Christian, I was worthless. This is not something anyone had to tell me. I knew this for myself. I cared for no one. I didn't care who I hurt. I was concerned with only what I wanted and when I wanted it. I was so miserable. Never giving back anything given to me. If I was miserable, I would make sure you were miserable too.

Once I learned of God's love for me and started following the teachings of Christ, my heart changed. I learned how important everyone is. How everyone's feelings mean something. How important it is to treat others with respect. All the things I never did before I became a Christian.

I know people can change. I am living proof of it. But, left to my own devices, I did just what I did. It took God in my life to give my life meaning. It took God in my life to show me how I should love others. It didn't happen overnight. Sometimes, it's still a battle to do the right thing. It's all too easy to fall back into that "all about me" trap I was in.

I wouldn't trade one single second of my life after I became Christian for years of the life I had before. So yes, God is everything to me. He continues to work within me every day. And I am truly grateful for this.

0 Replies

The whole basis of salvation is that a person can change, and that there is hope for change. Jesus didn't come to save those who "had it in them all the time", but those who had need of a savior, and who could realize that. that's why God chose Saul, the meanest persecuter of Christians around, to carry the message. It was all about manifesting change.

0 Replies

We have to remember Momma still thinks she deserves to go to hell. IMO, anyone who possesses that belief can't feel all that good about themself.

It's too bad, to my way of thinking, that Momma can't give herself the credit for the improvements she's experienced in her life. It would make her feel better.

0 Replies

Truth be told, I envy the lot of you that have such a secure faith.

0 Replies

What 'we' have to remember is that the atheists try to push their agenda just as hard as any holy-roller they ever bitch about. Or else they wouldn't have such a stake in convincing momma or anyone else that there is no God. Hey, there better not be, right?

0 Replies

tycoon wrote:

We have to remember Momma still thinks she deserves to go to hell. IMO, anyone who possesses that belief can't feel all that good about themself.

It's too bad, to my way of thinking, that Momma can't give herself the credit for the improvements she's experienced in her life. It would make her feel better.

You seem to be making assumptions about someone you don't even know. Just as I am replying to your post without knowing Momma Angel.

However, I think that you presume that Momma thinks she deserves to go to hell. Whereas, I presume that she thinks she deserves to go to heaven. I also think that Momma does feel good about herself.

How do you know that she has not given herself credit for the improvements she has experienced in her life. How do you know that she needs to feel better?

Someone who has overcome much and seeks to follow the Lord does not need someone telling them how they feel bad about themselves and make them feel that they should feel bad. On the contrary, Momma probably feels good about herself and rightly so.

Do you feel good about yourself? If so. Why? Have you made changes in your life? Have you devoted your life to helping others?

0 Replies

Snood
I have never minded if someone believes there is a God. If the religious hadn't messed with me over the issue all my life and tried to force it into every aspect of public life I wouldn't even participate in a thread like this.
And if you tell me you have personal experiences with God, I say, lots of luck believeing that.

0 Replies

no matter how right someone is
kindness is always a step upward,
sometimes a very long step.

0 Replies

tycoon Wrote:

Quote:

We have to remember Momma still thinks she deserves to go to hell. IMO, anyone who possesses that belief can't feel all that good about themself.

It's too bad, to my way of thinking, that Momma can't give herself the credit for the improvements she's experienced in her life. It would make her feel better.We have to remember Momma still thinks she deserves to go to hell. IMO, anyone who possesses that belief can't feel all that good about themself.

It's too bad, to my way of thinking, that Momma can't give herself the credit for the improvements she's experienced in her life. It would make her feel better.

http://web4.ehost-services.com/el2ton1/bigeyedsmiley.gif

tycoon, do you really read my posts? Have I said anywhere that I do not feel good about myself or my life? I think I have posted the contrary many times.

Do I give myself credit for the improvements? Only in the sense that I have been willing to make those improvements. Can I credit those improvements to myself? No, I cannot. I credit God for those improvements because it has been Him working in my life that made those improvements possible.

Do I think I deserve to go to hell? You betcha! There is nothing I have done on this earth that is worthy of being able to spend a single second in heaven. Heaven is a perfect place and I definitely do not fit that mold. However, I know I won't be going to hell because of the promise that God gave to me through His gift of salvation.

I am always careful of where I put credit. If left to me, I would have a head bigger than Texas because my human ego is an amazingly deceptive thing. I believe God works through people. He puts them in my life where and when I need them. So, the credit always goes to Him, and rightly so.

Intrepid may not know me personally, but Intrepid does understand me spiritually. He knows I am a happy person that has trials just like anyone else. He knows that I find my comfort in God's love. It's hard to explain this to those that don't believe in God.

edgar,

A person can tell you of their experiences with God, yes. But, unless you have experienced it yourself, it is hard to understand. I wish for you that you could experience it. It changed my life so much for the better.

0 Replies

Let us speak of love. The Greeks, a thousand years before Christ, and the Hindus, a thousand years before the Greeks, both wrote of Love springing out of the natural world and creating Life. This was before the gods were born. Love is as tangible an emotion as grief, though they are perhaps too entangled to seem separate. So, how's this: Love is as tangible, as visceral, as hate or envy or pride or shame. Are these emotions mere thoughts, full of meaning yet without form or are they somehow more real, more touchable? Common thoughts seem just that, ideas floating on the brain, but emotions, awe, wonder, ecstasy, these feel as if they arrive from within us and from some distant star simultaneously. (Hence the Hindu forbearance against too much emotion and the distancing oneself from the heat of the world's emotions.) Yet they are not from anywhere, or anything, but ourselves.

If we exist then we are never nothing. We may mistakeningly think that, but it is not true. Within us, and within all living things is the capacity to love, and that is the engine of life. We may make the mistake that there are somehow supernatural forces which can redirect our lives, but it is only Nature that can do that and it does it with or without our permission and with or without the permission of any superpower we may have mistakeningly attached ourselves to.

Joe(I love you Snood and I know you love me too)Nation

0 Replies

Joe Nation wrote:

Let us speak of love. The Greeks, a thousand years before Christ, and the Hindus, a thousand years before the Greeks, both wrote of Love springing out of the natural world and creating Life. This was before the gods were born. Love is as tangible an emotion as grief, though they are perhaps too entangled to seem separate. So, how's this: Love is as tangible, as visceral, as hate or envy or pride or shame. Are these emotions mere thoughts, full of meaning yet without form or are they somehow more real, more touchable? Common thoughts seem just that, ideas floating on the brain, but emotions, awe, wonder, ecstasy, these feel as if they arrive from within us and from some distant star simultaneously. (Hence the Hindu forbearance against too much emotion and the distancing oneself from the heat of the world's emotions.) Yet they are not from anywhere, or anything, but ourselves.

If we exist then we are never nothing. We may mistakeningly think that, but it is not true. Within us, and within all living things is the capacity to love, and that is the engine of life. We may make the mistake that there are somehow supernatural forces which can redirect our lives, but it is only Nature that can do that and it does it with or without our permission and with or without the permission of any superpower we may have mistakeningly attached ourselves to.

Joe(I love you Snood and I know you love me too)Nation

Wow! And I really thought I knew how I felt and what has happened in my life. You mean all this time I have been deluded?

I wish someone could please explain to me why someone, ANYONE, would want to take this away from me?! I have asked this question before and still have not gotten an answer I can understand.

I am not a child. I am a 49 year old woman. I am educated. I know what I think, feel, and believe. Someone please explain to me why anyone would want to take away the best thing in my life! I just don't get it. I am missing something here.

I try to share my faith. I don't try to make you believe it. I do not tell you that you are wrong. I tell you how it is for me. "We may mistakenly think that?" Amazing.

0 Replies

Quote:

You mean all this time I have been deluded?

yes.

Me too.

Joe(I'm on my own now)Nation

0 Replies

Joe Nation wrote:

Quote:
You mean all this time I have been deluded?

yes.

Me too.

Joe(I'm on my own now)Nation

I am quite sure you understood that to be sarcastic, Joe Nation. If you didn't, you should have.

I am not deluded. I am a Christian. I am content and joyful in my faith. Now, why do you want to take that away from me? (Not necessarily you per se, but anyone.)

0 Replies

Oh, and saying the oneself is worthless, worth nothing, is a recognized symptom of a psychopathic personality disorder. Look it up.

No one is trying to take anything from you. I am merely pointing out the realities. You take it from there.

Joe(this is it.)Nation

0 Replies

Joe Nation wrote:

Oh, and saying the oneself is worthless, worth nothing, is a recognized symptom of a psychopathic personality disorder. Look it up.

No one is trying to take anything from you. I am merely pointing out the realities. You take it from there.

Joe(this is it.)Nation

Psychopathic Personality Disorder? Are you a psychiatrist or did you just stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night, Joe.

Yes, you are trying to take this away from me. YOU are telling ME I am wrong. You may not be saying, "You are wrong, Momma Angel," but your words are very clear.

You are pointing out realities to me? What realities? YOUR realities! Not mine. Did you even read my post about why I felt my life was at onetime worthless? Was there something about that post you did not understand?

0 Replies

Do you live in the real world, Joe? Do you have all the answers to what people think? Do you know what they believe in and trust in? Your delusional world is one of hurt and torment for those whose believes are different than your own. Why should your "realities" overshadow those of other decent folks? Why does the entire mood change when one is conversing with a Christian? Why is bigotry so prominent in the world today?

0 Replies

Not that it matters much what EM thinks, but here goes:
Religion is a very personal thing. Most folks are not going to change their minds because of something someone posted on a message board. If everyone let people believe what they wanted to we would have had fewer wars, for sure. Whether you are Holy-Roller, Jewish, Muslim, or Hindu does not matter. There is only one God (my belief) and you can call Him (or Her) Allah, Jehovah, God, whatever. If someone's religion gives them a sense of peace, what's it to you? Live and let live. No one should have to defend their faith here, but you could learn to agree to disagree, right? That's all I wanted to say.

0 Replies

Should we handle victory the way the Christian god decrees?

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know