| Author | Message | ||
| Jim02 Registered user Username: Jim02 Post Number: 242 Registered: 5-2007 |
I am trying to get to the so called point. "No Fluff" My questions come across as odd sometimes, but they mean something to me. Understand that I am at a crossroads in a restart phase when it comes to religon in general. I pray and relate in the only manner I know how even if it is technically wrong , undefined or confused on my part. The main thing I am trying to do for a start in rebuilding the basics is trying to know who and what I can trust. I have been tricked so many times by definitions and ommissions that I ask what seems to be off the wall questions. Platitudes have their place, but just as often they contain openen ended or non specific statements. Common sense understanding is often assumed until years later you find reason to believe you assumed a detail and got it all wrong. I am studying. But I assume nothing anymore. | ||
| Colleentinker Registered user Username: Colleentinker Post Number: 6960 Registered: 12-2003  |
Oh, I so understand the "I assume nothing anymore" stance. Jim, there's a "risk" involved in trusting no one but the Lord Jesus and nothing but His word...but it's a calculated risk. You can approach it kind of like an experiment. Ask God to make your heart able to know the truth and to be willing to recognize it, and give yourself over to one month of reading no religious materials except the Bible, praying for God to teach you the truth. Because of your background which includes both Catholicism and Adventism, for this month, limit your reading to the New Testament. (That is the part of the Bible that should be the most practical and has been obscured. The OT will come, but start with the NT.) Ask God to give you the courage and the willingness to be open to knowing what you do not know. Ask Him to give you the knoweldge and the reassurance to believe the truth He teaches and shows you. There are two parts to this venture: choosing to explore the traditional sources of bottom-line truth, the Bible and Jesus, and the willingness to let go of your skepticism when Jesus actually reveals the truth. There are always these two elements: facts/truth and faith/trust. Either without the other will leave you uncertain. Jesus is real; truth is real and absolute. But it is not absolute as defined by any Christian. It is absolute as defined by God--and He teaches it to us in a tailor-made fashion as we submit ourselves to His word. Praying for you, Jim. Colleen | ||
| Jdpascal Registered user Username: Jdpascal Post Number: 57 Registered: 10-2003 |
Hi Jim I think that you are the one that River was talking about when he composed his letter to the pastors in this post. http://64.226.233.122/discus/messages/11/6245.html?1192050562#POST83184 After my last regular attendance at the local SDA meeting place, I told my self and my family that I had no church. It took about 5 years before I could attend another church with any regularity and that was only once every 2-3 months. I didn't read, study or even think about doctrine during that time. The only verse that I clung to was Philipians 1:6. being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. As time passed, the way opened in my mind to understand the SIMPLICITY of the gospel and I was drawn to want to attend, hear and understand the message of salvation exclusive of all the negotiable beliefs that man complicates it with to turn it into religion. To often the sudden realization of our blindness as we leave adventism, creates a panic in our souls where we feel compeled to find the switch and turn the lights back on again. Those 5 -6 years where my lights seemed out were not easy but they were necessary to let me be as open to Gods leading as little as I seem to be today. As one who can easily become absorbed in the details of a subject or activity, I know it is not easy to let unanswered questions go unanswered. The only question that I know the right answer to in all of this is answered in the verse I quoted above and I think that it is the answer to your underlying questions too. That is something that you will never have to assume. It will always be. | ||
| Stevendi Registered user Username: Stevendi Post Number: 250 Registered: 10-2006 |
Jim, I am currently in a spiritual "dry spell". I've been through these before, but this time it's ok because I trust God to be there when and how I need Him. I can always look back in time to remember His faithfulness before. I just decided to put all books down, including my Living Translation Bible, and just pray and read the Message New Testament. No rush, I've just been enjoying the Spirit of the Word. No doctrine, no religion, no eschatolgy, just the simple factual story of Jesus. It's really all I care about anymore. I don't need to be right, and I am willing to let others be right or wrong in their own minds. I know this must sound simple, but it is working for me. steve | ||
| Jim02 Registered user Username: Jim02 Post Number: 244 Registered: 5-2007 |
Steve, I am continuing reading the stack of materials I have. Back issues ,and so on. I mix my reading. I was cramming for some time and realized I could not contain it. Forgot most of what I was reading almost as fast as I read it. What's with that ! ? Normally , I have a good retention level. But I discovered, I was flooding. Too much info. Recently, I have lightened up some simply because I realized I was losing traction trying to rush progress. I still have plenty of questions. The kind that pop up as I read. Asking every nuance tends to aggrivate people and gives the impression I have no common sense of my own. So I am trying to avoid doing that. I figure, best I can do is just study and read with more quality, less quantity and take the fretting out of it. Sounds good in theory.  But discouragement can get my goat somedays. I hope and I have belief that all this reading and learning will eventually guide me towards a balanced perspective. The main thing is this. I am not satisfied with "trying" to accept or believe an interpretation or doctrine. Faith has to have conviction. You have to have an honest mind and heart about truths. I do not believe in working myself up in order to convince myself. I think of the Laodicean message about where is our First Love. That is where I am. I continue by His mercy one day at a time. | ||
| Flyinglady Registered user Username: Flyinglady Post Number: 4376 Registered: 3-2004  |
Jim, Use only one book, the Bible. Start at the gospel of John, read the other gospels, then the rest of the Bible. It helped me. Diana | ||
| Stevendi Registered user Username: Stevendi Post Number: 251 Registered: 10-2006 |
Jim, Even in my darkest moments (nowadays), I always start at the beginning; that is, what else is there besides the Gospel that means anything? Once I started listening to the words of Christ, everything else slid back on my list of priorities. All other issues pale in His presence. No feelings or emotions need to stigmatize His being - He is just there. My level of belief or faith is inconsequential because He came to me when I asked Him to. It was this that allowed me reject the doubt and fear of Adventism. I have become quite familiar with uncertainty and doubt and disappointment (myself, others). Those things do not crash my world the way they used to, because there is only One answer to all the religious crap that makes such loud noise all the time. Christians are the worst at trying to validate themselves, and it gives Christ a bad name to the undecided. God has taught me that I have to give others the space that He gave me - the right to be outrageous and rebellious and questioning - whatever it will take to navigate through the fog to God. I'm not preaching, just sharing. I will not for a moment pretend to understand your issues, but I can see clearly that God's spirit is very much alive in you and I share your hunger and thirst for Him and His truth. We all continue by His mercy one day at a time, even those who claim they do not believe. What can we say then? Absolutely nothing except to give our Creator homage in worship and testimony. steve | ||
| Jim02 Registered user Username: Jim02 Post Number: 245 Registered: 5-2007 |
Steve, Thank You for your encouragement. | ||
| River Registered user Username: River Post Number: 1614 Registered: 9-2006  |
Amen Steve, In gods living presence the cares of this world just seems to recede into nothing. Take heart friend Jim. River | ||
| Helovesme2 Registered user Username: Helovesme2 Post Number: 1088 Registered: 8-2004  |
Jim, for what it's worth, putting aside all other reading material for awhile and just reading the Bible (particularly the New Testament) really helped me. I did not set myself a time schedule or limit, just, at first compared a bunch of different translations. Then later I did that less and just read - chapter after chapter. The time came when comparing translations became helpful again, and still later the time has come when I again am able to learn much from various Christian authors and sermons. But just the Bible alone,in a recent translation*, is a wonderful head clearer which I use even now when the religious roar gets too loud and confusing. God has promised that His Word will not return to Him void. I'm thankful He keeps His promises! Blessings, Mary *I love KJV but, especially at first when I read it my 'preprogramming' clicked on and what I hear was SDA teaching instead of what the words actually said, or even when it wasn't specifically SDA stuff I would find 'religious English' to be bouncing off the top of my consciousness instead of actually getting in. That got better with time. | ||
| Jim02 Registered user Username: Jim02 Post Number: 246 Registered: 5-2007 |
Mary, I agree, sometimes, it is a matter of just the Bible, and nothing more. Quite, simple,in the atmosphere of a settled teachable frame of mind. I agree. I read a NIV and I am currently spending time in Paul's writings. | ||
| Stevendi Registered user Username: Stevendi Post Number: 254 Registered: 10-2006 |
You couldn't be in a better place Jim. Blessings on you, steve |
