Very interesting JP , the way I look at my weeds I carry is that they help me understand others, they helped me with my son's growing up , if they did something wrong or fucked up a little I from my own experiences knew they were not dammed and I would share something similar I did at their age, it took away their sin in a way , the three of them never gave us any troubles and are good upstanding young men that will make good husbands and fathers .
So I would say to André's stop punishing yourself , if you fucked up just accept it and try not to fall into the same mistake next time. That's coming from a Man that has fucked things up lot's all by myself and who after many years of dying from sin's just accepted my life and from that point have something to strive for , To be better , to grow , to be truthful in my eye's not another's .
But André without my weed's I would think I was just good without the effort.
Thanks for that realy heartening comment Richard. It's early days but I think there are sensible people out there, religious people, who simply believe in what they see and hear around them and aren't too bothered by dogmas or doctrines.
But there also those who reject the nonsense they find in the Bible, or the conflicting teachings, and become atheists or whatever. Being a 'conspiracy theorist', I think this muddying of the waters was deliberately engineered to drive good people away from religion, while keeping 'rule followers' (like me) close at hand.
But thank God for the sensible people. They are key to winning this fight.
Muddying of the waters I feel is exactly what they did JP and being a conspiracy theorist gives you the critical thinking you need to examine these things, is what I would say.
Your opening words ‘It is like humanity is holding its breath right now, as if everyone is waiting anxiously for something to happen’ & the title ‘Waiting for God...’. are probably partially correct. The world is waiting for someone but it isn’t for God . They’re waiting for someone to arrive on the world scene to solve the problems & bring peace. And that guy is the Antichrist - the Jews will believe he is their Messiah not realising they murdered their Messiah 2000 years ago. He will bring world peace & stability for 3.5 years - specifically a peace deal with Israel. Everyone will love him. Then mid way through his 7 year reign he will turn on the Jews & they will realise that Jesus was the real Messiah. The next 3.5 years are hell on earth - at least for Christians & Jews as they will be slaughtered. The Bible says that ‘unless those days be shortened no flesh would survive, but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.’ Matthew 24 v 22. The prophet Daniel fainted & was sick for days when he had a vision of the last days. Daneil 8 v 27. No one can be certain when these things will happen but Jesus told His disciples that before His return ‘nation will rise against nation & kingdom against kingdom & there shall be famines & pestilences & earthquakes in divers places.’ Matthew 24. So I watch events unfolding with interest knowing that what lies ahead is bleak as the world descends into further immorality & wickedness. I believe we’ve past the point of no return. And for anyone who doesn’t believe the Bible, Voddie Baucham does a thought provoking sermon on YouTube, ‘Why I Choose to Believe the Bible,’ which is worth watching before you write it off. At the end of the day, if it is true, where does that leave you?
I suspect we're not on the same page when it comes to the Bible. I have already summed up my own position as:
'According to an academic source, “the Bible is the most widely disseminated book in the world”. It may be the most misunderstood too. It is tempting to either consume it whole as the word of God transcribed by holy men, or reject it completely as a grotesque distortion of all that is good. Neither approach requires much critical thinking and both are wrong.'
I take the Bible very seriously as a potential historical source so I definitely would not write it off. My interest is primarily in the New Testament because that deals with Jesus. My thoughts about Jesus can be read in my recent book or in this blog. But I have only started to delve into the record, i.e. the Gospels, so it's early days.
Thank you very much for taking the trouble to comment. Much appreciated.
Thanks for your reply! I knew you & other folk who commented don’t hold the Bible with the regard that I do. Hence why I gave Voddie’s sermon for further research - I hope you listen to it before you make any final decision on it’s authenticity! I believe it is the word of God written by holy men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. I disagree that writing it off or accepting it as a whole doesn’t use critical thinking 🤔. Anyway, I love that you are reading the New T specifically the Gospels. My fav is John & also the Book of Acts. Also it’s interesting - not sure if it was your writing or one of the comments that said the fact only one of the Gospels mentions that Jesus told the thief he would be in heaven with him shows that the Bible is inconsistent. (Or words to that effect). On the contrary, I would say the opposite because if it was written by men who wanted to ‘hoax’ the world in some way, surely they would have made sure that every word agreed & every T crossed & every I dotted. The thing about the Bible is this - you can read it academically (& a friend’s father did that & said it was a load of rubbish). Or you can read it believing that God wrote it & pray to God that He would open your eyes to it’s truths. There is a vast difference. As someone said one time ‘it warms the cockles of your heart.’ But keep reading & searching!
Thanks again Dorothy. I have watched a bit of that video, a few minutes at the start and again at the end. I think I got the gist of it but if I missed anything crucial please let me know. And I will keep reading and searching. That's a lifelong endeavour!
BTW, it was Samuel Beckett who focused on that story about the 'good thief' in Waiting for Godot. I'm not sure about Beckett though. My impression is that he found these inconsistencies and then stopped looking. I like his work though.
I like this .. asking sensible questions about our ideas and beliefs .
When I was younger I once asked a born again Christian friend who was trying her best to" bring me back to God " a few ,what I thought were , sensible questions ,like: does God have a willy ?(since men were created in his image it seemed sensible to assume that he does ) ; And if so what does he do with it ? .. Must have seemed cheeky but I was genuinely curious . I was kicked out of the house..so no more questions !
This is wonderful. I have a few things to add though - God never gives you just one chance to prove yourself. Just as a parent doesn’t give their child only one chance. We have many chances embedded in every choice that we make, every day.
Pulling up the weeds would destroy the crop - indeed, perhaps. But trusting that God would enable the crop to be perfect no matter for the weeds would be another way to look at this. Perfect in God’s eye is not the same as in our own. The rose bush grows alone on the mountain trusting that God won’t strike it down in a storm and will give it enough water to quench its thirst. But to trust God also means that if he was to strike it down, then there would be reason, and that reason needs to be enough for us. We have lost our humility, and our need to know all the answers has taken us down a road that perhaps we do not need to go down. Want vs need is always something we struggle with. Let go of the want and the needs will be fulfilled. When is it ever enough for us?
Thank God for sensible people. I agree. Perhaps Beckett was channeling Gods word directly from ear to hand and his ego was struggling with that and in denial. He was the one who was waiting for God, but also resisting what he knew was the truth. Waiting to be at ease with God. That’s probably what the collective struggles with now.
Thanks for spending time today it flew past and gave me plenty of grist for the mill.
Very interesting JP , the way I look at my weeds I carry is that they help me understand others, they helped me with my son's growing up , if they did something wrong or fucked up a little I from my own experiences knew they were not dammed and I would share something similar I did at their age, it took away their sin in a way , the three of them never gave us any troubles and are good upstanding young men that will make good husbands and fathers .
So I would say to André's stop punishing yourself , if you fucked up just accept it and try not to fall into the same mistake next time. That's coming from a Man that has fucked things up lot's all by myself and who after many years of dying from sin's just accepted my life and from that point have something to strive for , To be better , to grow , to be truthful in my eye's not another's .
But André without my weed's I would think I was just good without the effort.
Thanks for that realy heartening comment Richard. It's early days but I think there are sensible people out there, religious people, who simply believe in what they see and hear around them and aren't too bothered by dogmas or doctrines.
But there also those who reject the nonsense they find in the Bible, or the conflicting teachings, and become atheists or whatever. Being a 'conspiracy theorist', I think this muddying of the waters was deliberately engineered to drive good people away from religion, while keeping 'rule followers' (like me) close at hand.
But thank God for the sensible people. They are key to winning this fight.
Muddying of the waters I feel is exactly what they did JP and being a conspiracy theorist gives you the critical thinking you need to examine these things, is what I would say.
Your opening words ‘It is like humanity is holding its breath right now, as if everyone is waiting anxiously for something to happen’ & the title ‘Waiting for God...’. are probably partially correct. The world is waiting for someone but it isn’t for God . They’re waiting for someone to arrive on the world scene to solve the problems & bring peace. And that guy is the Antichrist - the Jews will believe he is their Messiah not realising they murdered their Messiah 2000 years ago. He will bring world peace & stability for 3.5 years - specifically a peace deal with Israel. Everyone will love him. Then mid way through his 7 year reign he will turn on the Jews & they will realise that Jesus was the real Messiah. The next 3.5 years are hell on earth - at least for Christians & Jews as they will be slaughtered. The Bible says that ‘unless those days be shortened no flesh would survive, but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.’ Matthew 24 v 22. The prophet Daniel fainted & was sick for days when he had a vision of the last days. Daneil 8 v 27. No one can be certain when these things will happen but Jesus told His disciples that before His return ‘nation will rise against nation & kingdom against kingdom & there shall be famines & pestilences & earthquakes in divers places.’ Matthew 24. So I watch events unfolding with interest knowing that what lies ahead is bleak as the world descends into further immorality & wickedness. I believe we’ve past the point of no return. And for anyone who doesn’t believe the Bible, Voddie Baucham does a thought provoking sermon on YouTube, ‘Why I Choose to Believe the Bible,’ which is worth watching before you write it off. At the end of the day, if it is true, where does that leave you?
I suspect we're not on the same page when it comes to the Bible. I have already summed up my own position as:
'According to an academic source, “the Bible is the most widely disseminated book in the world”. It may be the most misunderstood too. It is tempting to either consume it whole as the word of God transcribed by holy men, or reject it completely as a grotesque distortion of all that is good. Neither approach requires much critical thinking and both are wrong.'
I take the Bible very seriously as a potential historical source so I definitely would not write it off. My interest is primarily in the New Testament because that deals with Jesus. My thoughts about Jesus can be read in my recent book or in this blog. But I have only started to delve into the record, i.e. the Gospels, so it's early days.
Thank you very much for taking the trouble to comment. Much appreciated.
Thanks for your reply! I knew you & other folk who commented don’t hold the Bible with the regard that I do. Hence why I gave Voddie’s sermon for further research - I hope you listen to it before you make any final decision on it’s authenticity! I believe it is the word of God written by holy men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. I disagree that writing it off or accepting it as a whole doesn’t use critical thinking 🤔. Anyway, I love that you are reading the New T specifically the Gospels. My fav is John & also the Book of Acts. Also it’s interesting - not sure if it was your writing or one of the comments that said the fact only one of the Gospels mentions that Jesus told the thief he would be in heaven with him shows that the Bible is inconsistent. (Or words to that effect). On the contrary, I would say the opposite because if it was written by men who wanted to ‘hoax’ the world in some way, surely they would have made sure that every word agreed & every T crossed & every I dotted. The thing about the Bible is this - you can read it academically (& a friend’s father did that & said it was a load of rubbish). Or you can read it believing that God wrote it & pray to God that He would open your eyes to it’s truths. There is a vast difference. As someone said one time ‘it warms the cockles of your heart.’ But keep reading & searching!
Thanks again Dorothy. I have watched a bit of that video, a few minutes at the start and again at the end. I think I got the gist of it but if I missed anything crucial please let me know. And I will keep reading and searching. That's a lifelong endeavour!
BTW, it was Samuel Beckett who focused on that story about the 'good thief' in Waiting for Godot. I'm not sure about Beckett though. My impression is that he found these inconsistencies and then stopped looking. I like his work though.
Lovely writing .
I like this .. asking sensible questions about our ideas and beliefs .
When I was younger I once asked a born again Christian friend who was trying her best to" bring me back to God " a few ,what I thought were , sensible questions ,like: does God have a willy ?(since men were created in his image it seemed sensible to assume that he does ) ; And if so what does he do with it ? .. Must have seemed cheeky but I was genuinely curious . I was kicked out of the house..so no more questions !
Terrific question!
Here's another: does God have a vagina?
Now there's one I hadn't thought of ! Definatly a good question 🤔..quite possible !
This is wonderful. I have a few things to add though - God never gives you just one chance to prove yourself. Just as a parent doesn’t give their child only one chance. We have many chances embedded in every choice that we make, every day.
Pulling up the weeds would destroy the crop - indeed, perhaps. But trusting that God would enable the crop to be perfect no matter for the weeds would be another way to look at this. Perfect in God’s eye is not the same as in our own. The rose bush grows alone on the mountain trusting that God won’t strike it down in a storm and will give it enough water to quench its thirst. But to trust God also means that if he was to strike it down, then there would be reason, and that reason needs to be enough for us. We have lost our humility, and our need to know all the answers has taken us down a road that perhaps we do not need to go down. Want vs need is always something we struggle with. Let go of the want and the needs will be fulfilled. When is it ever enough for us?
Thank God for sensible people. I agree. Perhaps Beckett was channeling Gods word directly from ear to hand and his ego was struggling with that and in denial. He was the one who was waiting for God, but also resisting what he knew was the truth. Waiting to be at ease with God. That’s probably what the collective struggles with now.
Thanks for spending time today it flew past and gave me plenty of grist for the mill.
Food for thought, food for harvest, we go deeper into the garden......
I loved this article. It is just what I needed today.