> Testimonies / Prayer Requests / Fellowship
I don't know what to believe.
Lupac:
Thank you. It might be easier to for me to accept what you're saying, if I hadn't had the evil version of "predestination" drilled into my head. Here's exactly what I was taught, so you'll know where I'm coming from.
I was taught that there is no way you can come to god without Him "calling" you. If you are called, you are one of the "elect" and god will continue drawing you through "sanctification" until you are very holy, then you'll die and go to heaven. Everyone who is not called, or one of the elect has no choice. They will live and die godless, and then finally go to hell. There is nothing anyone on Earth could do if God has not chosen them. It had been decided from the beginning that you would go to heaven, and they would go to hell. god is just. If he decided to put everyone in hell, right now, and never let them out, we would deserve it, and it would be "fair and just".
And, that's what I used to believe. You see what evil teaching I came from. This is what's been so hard for me to let go. I want to really badly, but I have such deep seated fear of God. Remember the scene in Indianan Jones, when the Nazis who opened the ark had their faces melted off? That was kind of taught to me, what would similarly happen if we looked at god, because he's so holy and we're not. (It was ALWAYS stressed to me how HOLY God is.)
So it's very hard for me to use "no free will" as a tool to fight these things. Having free will used to be the way I could cope with these teachings, as I couldn't believe that god would be so... dare I say evil?
Astrapho:
No, not evil. God uses evil for a greater good, I believe Ray has mentioned this many times. Okay I'm young and inexperienced, but in everything I do, everything I see, I realize that when something bad happens, it always, always!... Turn out to be a blessing later on. Too many examples to cite for me, but you must have them too. Maybe He's harsh at times (read: Yes He's very harsh), but I wouldn't say "evil".
As for everything else... I went through a similar phase not too long ago, and all I can say is, read the LoF again. The entire damned thing. Throw away everything you've learned in babylon and read again. Ray addressed all of it.
Lupac:
If you noticed, I said those teachings were evil. God is NOT evil, the teachings in the church about Him are. I will read it again. Thank you.
Kat:
Hi Lupac,
The beliefs you hold came from a trusted source (your parents) and now are 'real' to you, whether they were really true or not, now you believe in them. To stop these false beliefs that have been controlling your life you must continue to challenge them and by challenging them you will weaken them. Yes it's hard to unlearn the beliefs you have held for so many years, but you know that these false beliefs that you hold are what your parents repetitively fed into your mind when you were young. That is how you gained these beliefs, it's called brainwashing. You can see the reality of this because most often the child of a Hindu will remain a Hindu, the child of a Muslim remains a Muslim, as well as the child of a Christian remains a Christian. There may be exceptions, but this is generally true.
Your parents and friends have influenced you and transferred their false beliefs to you and the results is that you developed these deep seated fears. I think that in order for you to embrace the truth you must first get rid of your fears and anxieties about God, that is what's interfering with you accepting who and what He really is, "God is love" (1John 4:08). You must break this chain of learned fears by continually challenging them, until you have overcome them.
There is one source of the Truth and that is God. We have a very precious source of God's revelation to man preserved down through the centuries, the Holy Scriptures, but we need the original manuscripts set forth by the Apostles. This BT site is a source for us to have the false interpretations from Bible mistranslations removed, so if our eyes are opened we can have this wonderful Word of God to guide us into this one Truth.
John 8:31-32 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
mercy, peace and love
Kat
Vangie:
Great post Kat. I so agree with what you've said--very good advice for all of us.
Vangie
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version