Posted on 11/19/2011 7:23:19 PM PST by pastorbillrandles
No, but it's in one of the creeds...
You might have thought it was funny but it was deadly serious. Heavy on the deadly. The simple gospel of Jesus is “believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved-and your house”. Add to that at your own peril.
And still there were thousands of souls saved prior to those creeds. Go figure.
“Am I alone?”
No. While threads like these can be enlightening, interesting, etc. - I find that in the end they are not all that helpful. Sort of the “how many angels can fit on the head of a pin”.
It helps to get back to the facts.
We live in a sinful world - people do bad things to us.
I am sinful - I do bad things to myself and to others.
I am proud - and push against God and his guidance and direction. ALL the time!
Life is too hard, too much pain, and too much suffering. Would be best to just kill oneself and have it all done with.
That last part is from Satan - and whispered or shouted in my ear many times. That is why the scriptures are so important - and KNOW that GOD LOVES YOU!
I recall the story about a gal. Her husband was killed in Iraq. A child died shortly thereafter. Then she lost the home. Then another child became severely long-term ill. She talked about how she couldn’t understand God, doubted her faith, gave up believing most everything in the Bible - and she threw it all out. Except for the one verse that says something like “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him...”
She didn’t understand God. She didn’t understand the Bible, she didn’t even understand this verse. But she said “EVERYHING was gone - and the ONLY thing left was that one verse.” But she held onto its promise.
But perhaps most importantly - know that God loves you.
Thank you, I need to hear that and also that I am not alone. So many Christians I know seem to be so much happier, better than I am, I wonder if I am the only one who is in this mess, this fight, it’s like I am the bottle of the barrel Christian when I compare myself to them, they seem to have it altogether, or least do a good job of not showing the struggles.
“..or least do a good job of not showing the struggles.”
Yeah - we’re pretty good at that! Although I know when I have been in a small group of Christians (8 or so), studying the Bible and getting to know one another we all open up more. But it takes awhile to build a level of trust - and it takes a commitment. But it is really great to have a small group of fellow believers to trust. Not that I agreed with them on everything! But I did trust them.
Tell me more about creeds. They are useless without the gospel. THAT is the POINT of Christianity. The finished work of Christ on your behalf. The free gift of salvation by grace through faith in His finished work. Not there. But everything else is. Everything but the ONE thing you need for salvation..
that's what we're looking at some day. (I don't know if that qualifies as a standard answer or not)
The way I figure it is we have the choice here on earth. When we die, God seals that choice.
Am I alone?
No. I'm looking forward to the day when that old nature isn't dragging me down all the time. And it will be a choice I've made of my own free will.
*B* Definitely *B*. When you see everyone in church and they're all smiling and everyone asks how someone else is doing and they all say *Great!* (IMO) they're lying.
It's just that nobody really thinks that the person asking really wants to hear an honest answer.
So everyone goes through life smiling and pretending that nothing is wrong and that makes everyone else, like me, think that I'm the only one with problems and struggles.
The problem with sharing, though, is that it often leaves you vulnerable and open to being hurth through betrayal of the person you thought you could trust sharing with.
Relationships that take that level of trust take time to build and most people don't have that kind of time these days.
“...and open to being hurt through betrayal of the person...”
My 14-year old daughter is going through a real tough time now - even to the point of counseling. One of the things in the counselor’s brochure was talking about how counseling at first may create MORE hurt and pain. Because instead of hiding it we are bringing them out into the open to deal with them. It was a good point that I hadn’t thought of.
And she is VERY good at hiding her distress - she’s the happiest, most caring and upbeat kid I know! (Well, happy and upbeat on the outside anyway.)
I’ve learned the hard way that the only way to deal with issues is to confront them and when that happens, yeah, it comes with the pain that came with it the FIRST time.
What I think happens is that when we’re hurt we bury the feelings deep and the pain goes away and we make the mistake of thinking that we’re over it because it doesn’t hurt any more. But the real reason it doesn’t hurt any more is simply because we only did a really good job of burying the feelings really deep.
But confronting them and dealing with them in Christ, which means mostly with honesty and forgiveness, is the ONLY way to be free.
Eve was not there when ADAM was told not to eat from the tree.
Gen 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
Gen 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Gen 2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
Notice what is told to Adam
Gen 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
Adam knew exactly what was told to him and he ate it anyway.
Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
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