Hi Literalman! I like your tone. I feel that the real “revelation” is the experience in the heart… the experience that when we open our hearts to God, we have a sense of reciprocation of love that makes us feel, “This is what I have been searching for all of my life.” When we have this experience, even if only intermittently (because I am a beginner who is distracted and forgetful) this is all the proof we require.
God reveals Himself to us as His Son. And His Son reveals God to us, not simply by speaking, but by assuming the role of one who has so much love for the Father, that he says, “Not my will, but Thy will be done.” In this way, He not only tells. us about the Father, but is a practical demonstration of love for the Father, a practical demonstration of loving service to the Father. In this way Jesus describes himself to be like unto an oxen who is yoked in service to the Master. He encourages us, “I am wearing this yoke. Take my yoke. It is very nice…not heavy.” In this way God takes the form of the servant of God, so that we can follow in His footsteps.
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Too confusing for me. Why is there always a question, do you believe in God??Everyone believes in somekind of higher power of course its God all that bologne about aliens, ai,et are just a way of them saying because they cant see him, but we walk in faith, not by site!!!
The atheists relationship with “science” is different from the theists relationship with God. The thiest relates to God as our loving master, and the Supreme Controller. The atheist relates to “science” with the orientation that "We are the masters, and through “science” we can be the supreme controller. The scientist is building "the Tower of Babel. In this way, no one understand anyone else, and the world is filled with wars, imperialism, slavery, exploitation. In fact, the scientist envies the position of God and wants to usurp that position for himself through his so-called science. Actually, genuine spiritual life is the real science, and each of us has to make the experiment in order to arrive at the right conclusion.
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The atheist is demonic. He doesn’t mind thinking there are beings coming from other planets. That is another diversion, just like going to a night club, or watching movies on Netflicks. Anything to avoid thinking about God. It doesn’t mean he is broad-minded. We are only broad-minded when we make room for God within our hearts. the atheist is small-minded , ungrateful, filled with false pride, unable to acknowledge the glory of the Lord. But he is willing to consider beings from other planets…maybe he can go to the clubs with them, maybe find a girl-friend. Anything to avoid praising God, bowing down to God, desiring to serve God with his thoughts, words and deeds. That’s why there are those who believe in Aliens…but not in God.
I just listened to an interview with Ed Feser, a philosophy professor and I think you would enjoy it.
Hi Cade! Very long program (about an hour) but I caught some 10, 15 minutes. Jesus says in bible that he didn’t come to patch families to gather, but to find the one in the family that would follow him, and tear the family apart (paraphrase). Also, my understanding is that we are eternal souls. Eternal means no beginning and no end. But for the moment, we are in one family or another, for the tiniest speck of eternal time. Our real family is One. God is our eternal Father, and we are all His children. Children of God. But of course there is a tendency for us on earth to get all caught up in these very temporal relationships. The essential criterion, I feel, is that if family life is conducive to our spiritual growth, great! And if not…“what profitith a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his eternal soul?” And I believe that’s what Jesus meant when he said that he came to tear families apart. In other words, the path to eternal life is very often, or almost always in opposition to the mundane values of family, society, friendship and so-called “love”. That’s why those who are supposedly more spiritually advanced (like the pope, and his associates) divorce from themselves, all family connection, so that they can be servants of the greater family, the real family. In other words, they are aligned with the reality, while we, as social beings, have one foot in both camps…which is usually called “wanting to have our cake and eat it.” Of course no one can be reclusive, in that sense, unless their connection with God is strong enough to fill their heart. Otherwise we end up with priests who are child abusers, etc. But my understanding is that the message of Jesus was not about having a nice social existence while considering himself to be a good Christian. In fact, he told the wealthy pious man, to give away or sell all of his belongings, give it all to the poor, and follow him (Jesus). But the pious, good man of material means could not do it. In other words, the message of Jesus is a lot more stringent than the average Sunday church goer is willing or able to embrace. He was basically saying, “Your real life is not here. Put it aside, and follow me.” However, the church, may conceivably have watered that down in order to accommodate the masses. But that’s not the picture of how Jesus was teaching when he walked among us. Nor was he living, literally like a king in the Vatican. Big subject. Obviously going to upset a lot of people.
Nothing you have said here is wrong. And at the same time, we can look to the Holy Family and see that they were a Family that stayed together through some hard times. And we can learn by their example.
Satan wants to divide Families. Yes, you can argue that Jesus’ message did/does divide Families. Unity for the sake of unity is useless. But, so too, “blessed are the peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9).
Yes! Satan breaks up families to cause discord and dissension. And Jesus breaks up families if he wants to take one of us under his wing. The family can make us strong, or break our spirit. My parents were atheists. So I had to go my own way. My feeling is whoever helps to strengthen my faith and my walk…they are my real family.
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