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Pastimes : Ask God -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sam Ferguson who wrote (20747)	9/14/1998 8:06:00 PM
From: Stan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 39621

Sam, I hope you don't think I implied that you hated (in the malice sense) your family because of differing beliefs. It didn't occur to me that you did. From what you say though, you have no spiritual fellowship with each other. This is what happens with spiritual conversion. As to hating family: Neither do I hate mine, but the old fellowship is gone. I was and felt different from my old life. My awareness of a living person, Jesus, was vivid and constant. Even though I felt lonely at times for my family and friends, I couldn't be untrue to what I came to know. My parents were at first pleased to hear of my acceptance of Jesus, but horrified that I had not returned to Catholicism. This led to a chasm that neither of us could span. I learned early to forego arguing and show through my life whether any substansive thing had occurred. Words, after all, are words and by themselves are as the wind, but actions are actions. ". . .for the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power." (1 Cor. 4:20)" This is where the old rubber hit the old road. They were annoyed at my position, but couldn't explain my sudden loss of interest and use of alcohol, (which had been severe and worsening. This change was sudden, truly miraculous and it is still valid, thank God, after 23 years.), cigarettes or swearing. Lest anyone concludes that I'd been intimidated by some shouting preacher's rule book, let them know that these things left my life in short order and privately, before I became a part of any congregation. In fairness, not everything about me changed suddenly or as easily. For example, I still have difficulty to this day being honest about things that bother me with family. I'll hide or suppress feelings with them. I have a hard time with my mother over some old issues. She now lives with me since she became infirm (she's 86). It's hard and it bothers me, quite frankly. But, it seems right that it does. It forces me to grow up and be more honest. I am aware of a constant need for God's grace and power in my life. Believe me when I say that it fits somehow. I found too that after 1975, my mind worked much better, not much worse. I found the bible to be liberating and educating more than any other work of writing in my life. It has never failed to answer my questions. I do not claim to understand it all perfectly. It often perplexes me or challenges me. But that doesn't change my appreciation of it. Lest perhaps you think me intellectually dishonest about that last remark, I ask you or anyone to consider that there is no pursuit of knowledge in all creation that doesn't pose perplexing and challenging questions. The fact that Christians disagree on their understanding of the Word: Rather than negating the bible, it seems to affirm it, and for the following reason: Math and science have widely opposing schools of thought and theory. Astrophysics gives the same spectral readings to 2 scientists, but ask them both what it implies! I don't mean whether the lines present sodium or not, but what sodium in a certain star means to cosmological theory. Are they presenting a unified front? Is all science a fraud? Is Fermat's theorem answerable by another proof? Is the Heisenberg principle a mathematical absolute (pun intended)? Again, I don't mean whether 2 plus 2 equals 4 but rather how it applies to certain models of quantum theory. Is it a wave or particle? Does the companion photon have a positive or negative spin? Is math a fraud? Whether anyone believes in the validity of a certain science or discipline, I have something to say about them fundamentally: They all are seeking to find the whole from the details in their hands. They look back to the first point of time, they look out for the farthest star. They seek the ultimate formula. How grand are the virtues of man's spirit! Yes, how magnificent are the achievments of his intellect!! How pitiful is his state that he can't answer one important question!!!!!!!!! God has settled my great questions -- my eternal concerns. My heart is at ease. I now grapple with the details from out of the whole! What's wrong with that???? Tell me that if I stare through the darkened glass with some question that I am hopeless. It is the one without the overview that is hopeless. I say these things in joy, knowing it's available; I say these things in sorrow, knowing many won't come to know. What did that to me unless it was -- dare I say-- God Himself?? Yes, what else could?????? True christians uphold the same fundamental assertions with unity. They also disagree on others, but most of these issues tend to be peripheral. Our faith boils down to a Person, not a theory. Ask a child to understand that! He can. That's where we agree. I don't find disagreement on the details to be grounds for a blanket refutation of the whole. Yes, the bathwater is undrinkable, but the baby lives. I hope you'll let me address your last paragraph when I can devote more time to it. Thanks. Stan