13-03-2014, 03:28 PM
(13-03-2014, 04:57 AM)Kari Leigh Doodlebug Wrote: I also agree with you about the manipulative influence man has had on what Jesus said and taught. I have no place for religion or denominations whatsoever and it pains me hear the endless stories of wonderful people who have been abused, hurt and misled by denominations and those claiming to be followers of Christ. Personally, I just try my best to know him and love the unloved as he did. And no, you don't have to be a follower of Jesus to be a good person or to love well ...but I do. So, I guess when you started this thread by bringing up LOVE (and sex), I couldn't resist. You electrified me by talking about the pinnacle emotion / action of my life. ...Faith, hope and LOVE, but the greatest of these is LOVE!
Thanks for tolerating my rant everyone. I honestly try to refrain from these types of comments here because politics and religion are so controversial ...but I really couldn't help myself this time. I'll shut up now. [sighs of relief from the crowd]
I actually read this yesterday, and was going to leave it alone, but something occurred to me while drinking my coffee this morning. It seems a rather obvious question now:
How much help is your faith, really, given the raw internal conflict you're still posting about here?
You talk a lot about guilt and shame, and there's an awful lot of sadness that comes through in your words, whether you mean it that way or not.
It reminds me of a co-worker years ago who told me, without a shred of doubt, that Jesus made him kick his alcohol addiction. It was a long conversation I'll not try to rephrase here, but the gist of it was that he was equally certain that he, as a human man, could not have possibly quit drinking by his own mental effort. Well, guess what fella, lots of people have done just that.
Where am I going with this? It just feels to me like what you are doing is making someone else responsible for your happiness, and when that doesn't happen, assigning yourself all the blame. You get the blame, but none of the credit when it goes right. All the good stuff comes from Jesus, but you, Doodle, are just a flawed human.
Right?
That's no way to live. In fact, it is setting yourself up to fail; virtually guaranteeing your unhappiness because you don't believe you have any control over it.
Please realize, this is not a criticism of what you believe. I respect everyone's right to believe what they please, and reserve my wrath for the organized forms of religion. Rather, I'm presenting the practical faith of a bygone era -- my grandmother whose favorite thing to say was "the Lord helps those who help themselves" -- if you probed further, she'd cuss you out for waiting around for the Lord to do something for you. Get off your ass and do it, He's probably busy -- was the extent of her spiritual dependence. When you're bringing up 8 kids through the Great Depression, that's about the only way, isn't it!?
The dude from Nazareth was a pretty cool cat, by all the stories told... and a good example to follow. Chill out, relax the moralism, and treat your neighbors well. I like that. Just don't wait around for him to come by and fix your head. Provided he's actually still alive, he's gotta be feeling his age about now.