Posted on 12/05/2017 7:37:41 AM PST by SeekAndFind
I can’t know about this guy, but I think a lot of people want to be liberated from the idea that they are weak and imperfect, and that it’s good to work on being better.
St. John of the Cross said something like ‘It’s easier to go into battle than to see ourselves as we truly are’.
“We are who we’ve been waiting for.” That’s exactly what Obama said.
Being honest enough to admit it should be a
big plus the way I see it.
If you lost your “faith” because you witnessed bad things happening to good people...
One thing to keep in mind is we are living on a fallen planet. You won't get a break here.
What we have to figure out as a Christian is many times we doubt because we don't understand God. We think we understand God, but He tells us His ways aren't our ways and they are Higher than our ways. He is looking for people of faith. He told Thomas "Blessed are those that don't see, yet believe." Stay with your first love. There is some reason you decided to follow Jesus in the first place. There is usually some undeniable circumstance that convinced you. The Holy Spirit will place a divine appointment in front of you that will convince you.
We must always keep in mind, the world killed Jesus. The world killed Paul. The world killed Peter. ect. They all chose to follow Jesus unto death. Our faith comes in that life on this rock is NOT the objective. Eternal life with God is the objective. When we come to Jesus we are supposed to lay down our life here and follow God. Many of us go back to the baptismal and drag that old dead body out of the water and give him mouth to mouth. Life down here is about a choice. Choose God or choose the world. God tells us to choose blessing or cursing, death or life. I always thought it humorous that God had to tell us to choose life. If you pray for something and don't get it,...trust God that He has the right answer for you. That's hard when it involved love or death.
The story of the potter and the clay comes to mind. We don't have the right to tell the potter what to do with His clay. The Bride is to submit to the Bride Groom. As we walk with God over the years, we learn that He loves us completely. We live in a bad place and things happen to good people. We all die eventually. Our eternity is what He is consumed by. He only has our good in His heart. When someone tells you to trust Him, do we really? We cannot please Him without faith.
Remember, we can pray for God to increase our faith. If a son asked for bread, would He give him a stone? Ask God to show Himself to you. Ask the Spirit to fill you. Ask for a divine appointment with Him. Set aside a time to listen to praise music. thank Him for what He has done in your life. If we give praise and thanksgiving, He will come into our presence. When people have complaints like yours, they are in need of an experience with the Father. He will strengthen you if you meet with Him.
God bless you and I will pray the Holy Spirit will strengthen you soon.
So its out of the frying pan and into the fire. Good luck with that.
My first response when I encounter such people is to ask then how Christianity could have had the growth it did in the first centuries, in a world of dark barbarism , in a world without recourse to drugs, anesthetics, and other accoutrements of modern medicine. The Roman world was filled with pagan Gods who could not speak or answer, why did so many embrace Christ in that era, rejecting the old myths?
Job
“It’s a stretch to call Willow Creek a church.”
Really? Why’s that?
there are numerous reasons to show that Willow Creek is not a Christian church. The primary one is that their “model” is to use worldly, secular methods to get people to come to the church. MARKETING is one of their biggest strategies.
But Jesus told us about the wheat and the tares. He said there will be tares that look just like the wheat. Tares = unbelievers; they will look and even act like believers. But at the end of the age they will be ripped out and thrown into the fire. (see Matt 13:24 and following)
Hope that answers your concern.
Lost faith? He apparently never had it. Otherwise he’d know: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?—Jeremiah 17:9
Sounds like weak faith to start with.
The problem is that his faith was always in humanity instead of God. When people didn't measure up to his expectations he was groundless.
If he read scripture he would have seen many examples of this
you said “He chose to leave God.”
Jesus called it when he said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you....” John 15:16
pastor loses faith after humans be humans and suffering occurs.
All believers in Christ need to be in prayer for this man and his family.
I can see how people brought up in certain “churches” would have a crisis of faith. Happy clappy, self-help doctrine will crumble very quickly.
“I couldn’t count the times God has allowed ‘”
God is not passive-aggressive.
“The fundamental problem with Willow Creek and churches like it is that they believe they should bend the church into what pleases men, instead of molding men into what pleases Christ.”
Specifically, regarding Willow Creek, can you provide specific examples?
“There are numerous reasons to show that Willow Creek is not a Christian church. The primary one is that their “model” is to use worldly, secular methods to get people to come to the church. MARKETING is one of their biggest strategies.”
Actually, the primary reason new folks attend is that they were invited.
Declaring them as a non-christian church is frankly, ignorant.
Hello Sky, noiseman posted a very good reply, here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/3610773/posts?page=60#60
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.