So I've held this conviction for some time,but I rarely hear anyone talk about it...so I will.
I spend a lot of time with people who don't hold the same core beliefs as I hold. I actually love it, because I am often forced to really consider what I believe or I should really say Who I believe.
What I am constantly confronted with is this prevailing attitude that makes people really difficult to talk to. Frankly I am getting really frustrated and sick of it. This is the attitude ... Paraphrasing "I believe in God... I'm a good person"
I'm getting to the point where I am responding with " No. You are not good. You're a mess,'just like me."
The difference between us is this- I don't believe IN God. Not in the sense that kids believe in Santa Clause. Instead I Believe God. Full stop.
Believing in God is a nice comforting thought that somewhere out there is this God and if you're good enough then he'll let you in the gates. Believing IN God requires NOTHING from you. As a result it does nothing in you.
On the other hand Believing God requires everything from you. It implies that you trust Him and you can not trust someone you don't know. Not when they keep telling you things you don't believe about yourself. Not when they tell you do things you don't understand. Not when your circumstances seem to fly in the face of what a "good God" would allow to happen to you- the good person".
The only way to Believe God is to trust what He says~ and that means that you have to KNOW Him.
This is the faith that we read about in Hebrews. People who believe rather than believe in. These are those who endure. These are those who don't seek to "get into Heaven" but instead realize that they are already there.
By this I mean that for those who Believe Him eternal life has already started. Jesus said eternal life is the continuing, unfolding, experiential knowledge of the Father. This means that for those who believe Him-its already started!
So what about you? Do you believe in him the way kids believe in the Easter bunny or Santa? Or do you believe Him.
Quickest way to find this out is to face something you are afraid of. So right now, think about something causing you stress or fear- in that place you might believe IN God, but you probably don't actually believe God. If you did you wouldn't be afraid very long, you wouldn't carry stress- you wouldn't be burdened the way you are.
FYI- " you"= me cause that's what I need to do. Because even after all of this, I still sometimes think of Him like Santa,'and not the most trustworthy person in history. Jesus have mercy on me.
I have a tuff time with God... Yahway however u spell it... Like knowinv The name Yaweah is that suppose to' Get u cred with The Christian elite? Christian is such a religious term, How bout follower of Christ our Lord & Savior. I Think The keyword in This note is Knowing God, that is an intimate thing, Knowing Someone something, experiencing that, relation relationship. Believing in and Believing Him hmmmm, WELLs Knowing Jesus and God Are The same Thing But Not @ The same time....if you know Jesus then you know The Father, id rather know Jesus though... I Hope God doesnt Get jealous! Im sooooooo confused! I think The most frustrating ting about The Christian community is The division, division within The countless different "types" of christianity... But Mainly within these placet of gathering & worship, we Are human & Gracefully FORGiVEN uncommon Grace is a beautiful precious experience:D take whAt i say with a grain of Salt, i just feel Like "christians" should stop acting nice & FOCUS on start acting REAL... bring THE FiRE! Holy Spirit styles;)
ReplyDeleteGod bless you
ReplyDelete"Believing IN God requires NOTHING from you. As a result it does nothing in you" l and "I spend a lot of time with people who don't hold the same core beliefs as I hold. I actually love it, because I am often forced to really consider what I believe or I should really say Who I believe. " Good points, the issue also is, do i believe myself or God? If my self believes there is God, then I will believe in God. On the other hand, when being KNOWN BY GOD before 'my self' has time to think, by Revelation, there is nothing to believe; it's too late, you've already being Known of and there is nothing to Understand other than that! Then we can understand why Job repented in Dust and Ashes at the end of Job though he was considered a righteous man at the beginning of his life, because in being Known By God there is Fear of the Lord: Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom; Knowledge OF The Holy One IS Understanding. What I 'like' (but in the other sense do not) is people of other beliefs and why? Because if verifies this, the Truth, and disproves nothing.
ReplyDeleteTHough, then, believing God comes when You've been Known and understand that (i'ts impossible nto to understand that though at that point), and from there in Fear of the Lord you also Understand that the only True Choice is to believe Him ; though How He Speaks to us can vary as much as the sunrise is full day.
DeleteI know you'll find this offensive, and have "heard it all before", but here's my take on "God", and this is something that "believers" simply will not address, or admit to themselves: The very concept of religion has caused more blood-shed, death, pain and sadness than all of the diseases in the history of man! That's a fact!
ReplyDeleteAND, it continues to do so today. This whole ISIS mess is based on one group of people's "beliefs" differing from others. I THOUGHT I "believed" in "God" for a very long time, but after a while I started lending the idea some very close attention. For one thing, I realized that I "believed" because I was TAUGHT to. My family and I attended church every Sunday, and my mother was a Sunday School teacher. My maternal great-grandfather was a minister. After years of "putting two and two together", I came to my OWN (no one forced me!) realization that "God" is a made-up name, a contrived entity. "He" was invented by clerics who needed a fast and easy way to explain all the disease and famine and pestilence, even the bad weather that came through from time to time. The idea, essentially, was "believe" in this invisible man in the sky, PRAY to him, and he will love you and take care of you. Didn't happen, has never happened! You might as well believe in the Tooth fairy, or, has been suggested, the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus. We all know (or come to learn) that those guys were simply made up, to placate people, and put a "visible head", a "being", there, as a symbol for each of those occasions. They are not real, and, I'm pretty sure "God" is not real. As for Jesus and his teachings, that's a whole different subject, because some of it is undoubtedly true - but then there are all the fanciful "miracles" that came about. I suggested to a good friend a few years ago that I had doubts about the entire "religion thing", and asked him why he felt so strongly that all of this stuff was true. His answer, a real show-stopper: "Because it is WRITTEN!" Oh my gosh, because it is written? 'The King of Torts' was WRITTEN! 'The Old Man and the Sea" was written. We don't accept either of them as 'Gospel'. For me, it all boils down to this: if you WANT to "believe", you will. If not, you won't. I could go on and on, but it's time for a nap. Sure hope I wake up, so I can stave off, for another day, the question whether I'll go to 'Heaven' or 'Hell'.
Note: If you want a rather powerful commentary on the likelihood of a "Good God", please listen to Edward Fry's reasoning on the unlikelihood of 'God'. His commentary came long after I had ever come to the conclusions that I have, but absolutely bolstered them.
Can I get this to post?
DeleteI'm in complete agreement with you on religion btw.
DeleteReligion is created by people. It is created based on some principles, and then used by people, which inevitably leads to corruption. What ever the religion, Evangelical, Catholic, Muslim, Hindu...these are systems created to have a form of :godliness" without actually involving the Living God directly in those systems.
I don't mean to imply an "everyone" statement to this. Just an acknowledgement that Religion is often working really hard to keep God out of the equation, while doing things in his name.
What I meant in this post is that I TRUST the living God. I trust Him, because I have experienced Him to be a trustworthy friend and Father.
I do not "believe in" Him, like some mystical fairy tale creature. I KNOW Him. And because I know Him, I trust Him. ... which is to say that I believe Him when He says something.
But I am sorry that religion has left the taste of ash in your mouth.
I have listened to Edward Fry. He makes me sad. Sad that a man can be so arrogant as to think he knows everything in the universe and all of it's realms. That in his arrogance and he has applied his logic to judging something that is world's beyond his skill to perceive.
No more than a gnat can sit and judge the motives of a nation, that is the ability of this man to promounce his judgement on the Living God. And yet even in his arrogance and anger. Which probably stems from massive amounts of hurt and disappointment. Edward Fry is worthy of love. And he will always be welcome to hang out with me and especially would be welcomed by The Father if he were to turn and look at Him.
Just as you are welcome.
Not welcome to religion. Not to a system of rules. Not to a building and to coercion. Simply welcomed home by The Father.
Interesting that I posted a contrary point of view yesterday, and it is GONE today. Maybe I'm missing something, but if you are going to be a one-sided site, then you are practicing "blind faith".
ReplyDeleteThank you.
I've been trying to reply to your original post. It's not deleted though...I can still see. it.
Delete