Ξ December 29th, 2006 | → 3 Comments | ∇ Life |
Eckhart Tolle has some interesting comments on these two all-to-common words. He says Happiness comes from outside. We have to find something outside us that makes us happy. It is something that we do. It is not permanent. That is, the effect of happiness wears off/goes away with time. Whereas, Joy comes from within, from deep within. It is internal. It is not dependent on an outward stimuli and therefore is not as subject to declilne. Things give us happiness. material things give us happiness not joy. We strive emphatically to get more things hoping they will make us happy or happier. We miss the whole point. Happy is only temporary. It is external. Material things are temporal. They cannot give us Joy. Joy comes from deep within when we get in touch with our true selves and realize that it is the spirit of God deep within us that gives us true joy. Joy comes not from the material, but from the spiritual.
Ξ December 28th, 2006 | → 2 Comments | ∇ Life |
I believe that the spirit of God is within me. Within me……So when we say we want to know God, what are we saying? Are we saying that we want a close or closer relationship with the spirit of God or some other entity that we call God, or are they the same? Are we seeking someone deep inside us or are we seeking to know ourselves on a deeper level, if after all, God’s spirit is in us. Can we separate God’s spirit within us from ourselves, or are they one and the same?
This question has confounded me for some time. I don’t think I’ve ever been able to successfully differentiate, if there is or should be differentiation between the spirit of God, God in me, and God. I know that “God in me” makes theistic sense to me. His abiding presence manifests itself frequently and reminds me that He makes his home within me. Still, there are times when I feel alone and there is little evidence that He is there. Yet, I know that it is often the result of what Tolle refers to as excessive mind activity, which prevents me from being in the “now”, where the realization that He is there manifests itself. It is when I am “in the now”, when the mind’s overactivity is quietened, and I can manifest and realize what is deep within me, that the spirit fills me with life to the fullest.
To know God….Is that a realization that He lives within us or is it a conscious effort on our part to “get to know” Him better, building a better relationship with Him. Is that even possible?; to build a relationship with the Deity. I believe we have at least one type of relationship with Him; a love relationship: He loves us more than we can imagine, and has proven it, and we in turn try to return some degree of love to Him, in thanks, which often seems an impossible task, seeing what He’s done for us. I am just not sure of any other type of relationship.
I know there are some who believe that we are God, and He is us; since he is in us, we are in Him.
Maybe all this is unimportant. But to me it is very important to my understanding. Maybe it is something we are not meant to understand. “It’s a mystery”. But, you know, I heard that too many times in my standard Christian experience. As I try to be “in the now” more of the time, speculation arises in my mind as to what is really our relationship to God. Maybe that’s just my overactive, obsessive mind activity that I haven’t yet got a handle on.
Ξ December 28th, 2006 | → 1 Comments | ∇ Life |
I have been listening to “The Power of Now”, in audio book form. I don’t think I have been moved as much in a while as by this book. I have found it to be very enlightening in many ways. I find no conflict with what Tolle says and what I believe. Differences are in semantics. I know that the choice of words which we use can make a difference in how we perceive things. However, I find this book to be very logical, peaceful, and very useful. The following is from the book. Tolle is discussing all the things that for most people, for an entire lifetime, get in the way of them discovering their true self inside. He says we have trouble stripping away all of these things which continually, if we let them, keep us from living in the “now” and enjoying our lives more fully. He says,”Death is a stripping away of all that is not you….The secret of life is to die (to all those things) before you die and find there is no death” More on Tolle as I listen further……..
Ξ December 22nd, 2006 | → 3 Comments | ∇ Life |
May the one whose birth we celebrate, bless each and every one of you and may the Spirit fill you with truth. Revel in the Gospel of grace and thank God for giving you belief.
I will return home next week. If you travel, travel blessings to you.
Ξ December 21st, 2006 | → 6 Comments | ∇ Life |
For those of you who view the revelation of Jesus Christ (to John) as a future event, I offer an alternative interpretation. Follow the link below to Kevin Beck’s Nov. 30 post on his Transmillenial blog. Then finish up the post on Kevin’s 12/16 post. Great stuff Kevin! Please keep it coming.
I don’t believe in accidents. I believe the Spirit led me to the Pantelism website: http://www.pantelism.com The doors it opened to my understanding of God and Christ’s purpose are multifaceted. I am constantly going back to the website, re-reading, checking other sources, and finding others of like belief.
Ξ December 18th, 2006 | → 11 Comments | ∇ Life |
One of several of my favorite comics is Non-Sequitur, by Wiley. What, you don’t read the comics! That’s the first place I go in the newspaper (less disturbing news). Before I discovered the Gospel of Grace, I thought Non-Sequitur was just too left-wing, liberal for my taste. Now I find it very funny, most of the time. This one appeared in my Sunday paper on December 17.
(Click this link to see the comic strip)
Ξ December 17th, 2006 | → 8 Comments | ∇ Life |
Welcome to my new blog. A big, big thanks to Bruce D for setting me up and getting me started in my new location. Please bookmark my new address (that is, if you want, for some strange reason, to read my posts).
I went to Houston for a visit with my wife this weekend. I listened to Mike Williams CD’s all the way down there. I am so impressed with Mike’s talks. They are so easy to understand, revealing, with great clarity, the wonderful gospel of grace. If you haven’t discovered Mike, here are two links to his different websites.
http://www.gospelrevolution.com/
http://www.gospelogic.com/audio.htm
His talks in MP3s for downloading can also be found at:
http://www.pantelism.com/
I can guarantee you have never heard the gospel of grace presented any better. He will challenge you, inform you, and set your feet on a firm foundation.
Come back soon. When I learn all the tweeks and tricks, my site will be better.
Ξ December 16th, 2006 | → 11 Comments | ∇ Life |
In the Spring of 2005, my best friend gave me a few websites to check out, and nothing’s been the same since. I discovered the fact of God’s (unconditional love). I grew up in a Southern Baptist Church; the son of a Baptist deacon. Several years after we left our hometown, I became a deacon at age 32 in our new church. I was a deacon for 17+ years. I’m 61 yrs old now (2006). Very little of that time was I satisfied with my relationship with God. I went down front (altar call) on two different occasions in my life to be saved and baptized. Guess it didn’t take. The church where I was a deacon was large one (10,000+ members). I saw a lot that made me question what was going on, but you didn’t dare ask those kinds of questions; especially as a deacon. I would finally decide it must be just me; not enough faith, not doing enough for God, MAYBE I’m not even SAVED. My wife and I eventually left that church for a smaller, country church when we moved out of the city (325,000 pop.). We were happy there for a short while. I saw my wife get heavily involved in the music program, she is very talented, and watched her wear herself out. I was happy to do nothing of significance there. In 2001 the world changed for more than one reason: the terrorist attacks, the death of my wife’s dear sister, and a revelation that my youngest son was homosexual. All these affected our family deeply. I will be honest. We had a great deal of trouble dealing with my son’s revelation. However, we never failed to love him as our son. His revelation led me to think seriously about how I felt about humankind; all of humankind. The death of my wife’s sister was particularly hard on her and resulted in her manifesting some anger at God for taking her away (she was only 50 yrs old). That is totally understandable to me. My wife wasn’t nearly as interested in going to church as she had been before. This gave me the excuse I needed for not going as well. I now believe that most people must go through deep pain or suffering, either mental or physical, to be drawn to the spiritual. We were out of church for around two years, while we wrestled with these painful issues. My wife finally felt she was ready to join again somewhere, but we couldn’t find somewhere. I didn’t feel that I fit in anywhere. We finally joined a very small Baptist church near our country home. Still no peace. Still no answers to tough questions. I began to search. I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for, I just knew I wanted to know the TRUTH. I now know just how elusive truth can be. I am a retired school teacher (34 years, most of which was spent teaching History, jr high, high school, and university level). I knew enough about the history of Christianity to really begin to wonder about things I had always been taught. Many theological "truths" didn’t sound just right to me. Finally, I decided to start a real search (fall of 2004). I asked God to lead me on that journey . I began reading everything I could on early Christianity and early church history. I looked at all sources, not just the church’s version. I read Crossan’s “The Birth of Christianity, Chilton’s “Rabbi Paul”, Pagel’s “The Gnostic Gospels”and "Beyond Belief", and many books of my favorite author, Bart Ehrman. All of his books are very readable and informative. I certainly didn’t agree with them on all points, but knew there was more to learn. I was interested in the formation of the "Canon". How did we get the New Testament we have today. The more I read, the more I questioned. I read “Five Gospels” from the Jesus Seminar. All these led me to believe there was a very different Christianity at one time from what I know today. I began to read some of the early writers, 1st and 2nd century. I was now ready to throw out just about everything I had been taught. Inerrancy went first, the King James translation was next. It was about this time that I spoke with an old high school friend (who, at one time, was engaged to my wife’s sister, the one who died). I had seen him at the funeral and he called me. He had been on church staff for 25 years (Baptist) here in Texas. He told me that the death of my wife’s sister had made him realize he was in the wrong business. She had worked for a hospice group for several years and he became convinced that’s where he should be. He was very disillusioned with what he saw in the church from a staff perspective. He was fed up with “religion” like that. We talked a while and I realized he had changed greatly. He told me he got out of the church position and took a job as a hospice chaplain. He told me wonderful stories of his experiences, sitting at the bed of dying people. What struck me the most wasthat no one, not a single one (in over 100 deaths) died in agony or fear. All died peacefully and most with smiles, some seeing relatives who had passed on, some patients he believed were met by someone special. He told me that ministers seemed to have more trouble with dying than any other patients. I was fascinated. He gave me a hint that he believed all are loved unconditionally by God; exactly what I was finding in my studies of early Christianity (Origen, Gregory of Nessa, etc;). He gave me a few websites (Tentmaker, etc) and I checked them out. I asked God to guide me in my search and He is faithful to do that. Of course, there are as many different ideas on how we get from here to there, but all lead to the same peace. I am happier than I have ever been in my life. I AM FREE. I can’t even explain what that "freedom" feels like, but it’s great. I know God loves me in spite of me. My outlook on life is different. My outlook on politics is different. My outlook on my fellow man is different. There’s no hurry to “evangelize” the world. I would just like everyone to experience the freedom I have found. The guilt is gone. HIS love has changed me. I am a different person. I’m still not what I want to be. Every once in a while, my old “religious me” tries to crawl out and make me feel the way I once did. But it only takes a minute to see that "religion" is the source of those feelings. Those feelings are a part of another person from the past. I realize that all we have is NOW. My wife does not share my joy and my beliefs at this time. Neither does my best friend’s wife. The things that he and I talk about don’t interest either of them. That’s OK…. However, it is very tough for me as a teacher, not to be able to help her see what God has shown me. I constantly have to tell myself, “No hurry”. Let her see the change that it’s made in me and maybe some day soon she will ask the right questions, as I did. But, if not, that’s OK too. I have gone to many Blogs. There are many fine ones around. Steve Jones will always be one of my favorites. Martin Zender has shown me much. He is so plain spoken and clear. I have all his books and heartily recommend them to you if you are beginning your journey. Someday, you may move beyond Martin’s teaching. That too, is OK. boldgrace.com is especially inspiring to me. I look forward to every new post. There are so many good blogs. Check out my blogroll. Every one of those folks write great, inspirational, posts. God bless all of you for enlightening me. I honestly feel that the Internet may well be the wave of the future in spreading the real "good news". I am so so glad that God directed me to begin a journey of discovery. I thank God every day for supplying me with all I need. I look forward to every day I have as an opportunity for God to bless me and teach me. Your fellow seacher, Don
http://donrogers.org/?page_id=340
Ξ December 16th, 2006 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Life |
God used my experience as an historian and teacher to peak my curiosity about Him. In the fall of 2004, He began to lead me on a journey of discovery. I am a seeker of Truth. He has been faithful in showing me so much. I am just a man IN SEARCH OF LIFE through Jesus and God, our Source.
Stumble it!
