> General Discussions
My answer to your questions and other ramblings
rsks:
Wow Wow Wow is what I said after reading this Craig. So true. So true. This is exactly how I have been finding myself thinking for years now. I used to be so excited to share the truth that God will not fry most of humanity, but the realization that next to nobody wants to hear or believe it and that God is in charge of picking who will believe that very truth, has left me turning inward, spiritually inward.
Inward spiritual growth with my Father. It used to just crush me that no one believed God's grace and truth, but now I soooooo get it. He picked me and my husband to understand this and for us to grow personally in our INDIVIDUAL walks with Him.
He picked our dear dear Ray to teach and show us even further deep truths that we did not see before and to put most of the pieces together after reading and re reading Ray's papers as we have done.
What a blessing indeed Ray has been to us all. And all the time you all and Ray have put in to further the truth.
Ray left us more than enough material to study in depth for a life time. I have binders upon binders of his printed papers, colored with every color pencil in my box, with little comments on the side margins like " Ray I love you, you are so very funny" or "How true Ray". My Ipad is jammed with copies of his papers too.
Thank you all so much for continuing his work by reminding us all that he taught. Kat, is so right on, I just love when she gets into a thread!
Yes Craig, I do whole heartily agree, we must work in small ways every day to make our "today" a better one for all of us. We only have today. Yesterday is gone and cannot be changed and tomorrow may not even come for some, so right now is all we really have. And let us not forget (when we encounter our personal "touch stones" in life), that we are all God's children, vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor.
I love the paragraph about being ONE with God. So insightful, because yes we will be ONE with God and Christ. Can we even come close to imagining what that may be like? The most perfect way it should be, makes sense to me! Glorious Glorious!!!!!
This current wicked age really stinks sometimes (most times) and sometimes I get kind of discouraged with God having the backdrop of evil to spotlight His good, but I get it, I do get it, it is the only way, and a perfect way at that. Yet I still cry.
My little one pound three ounce, 14 year old Chihuahua fur child is slowly going blind and can't hardly walk any more nor can she hear much of anything, and I grieve her quality of life every day several times a day. I have told God, I get it, corruption will put on in-corruption, yet I still cry for my sweet baby Chi Chi, that someone so little and innocent is fading away in corruption.
And still I do get it. And still in my tears I thank God for choosing me to understand His plans for us, His ultimate plans for us.
I thank you and love you all, Grace and Peace, Kelli
lauriellen:
i really love this post. i can relate so much with all you said. i have learned more about God in the last 3 years or so than in the rest of my life combined; and the biggest thing i learned is i know next to nothing, and will probably never understand much in this life. lol . . .i have also found that those with alot of knowledge are usually very prideful and vain. i would rather have 5 minutes left to live and have understanding, than 50 years to live with none....but that is up to God. I look around me and i see people in pain and misery. Yesterday my sons' friend, a 22 year old young man, burned to death in a travel trailor he was staying in while working out of town. So many things just don't make any since. i find myself thinking, would my time be better spent locked away for hours studying and reading and trying to fill my head with all the knowledge i can cram in, or would it be better spent doing something that just might brighten someones day, or make life a little easier for them or bring comfort to those who need it? i just don't know anymore.....i read a saying that i love...."i am not afraid the world will end on 12/21/2012,......i am afraid nothing will happen and nothing will change...."....
lilitalienboi16:
--- Quote from: John from Kentucky on December 12, 2012, 07:05:30 PM ---O.K. Craig kicks a little butt. Right on.
Does this mean the annual argument over whether Christmas is a completely heathen holiday will not be allowed?
That was a wonderful holiday tradition on the Forum. ;D ;D
--- End quote ---
I second this motion! The tradition must be allowed to continue!!
cjwood:
--- Quote from: Craig on December 12, 2012, 08:56:58 AM ---
If today God gave us all the knowledge we search for, will it make us more Christ like? A better human? Parent? Friend?
--- End quote ---
so flippin true...
claudia
p.s. craig, your post was awesome.
Kat:
Hi Craig,
--- Quote ---What we should be asking is how to be a light in this existence, salt in this world.
--- End quote ---
I certainly do agree with your comment there, it is our struggle to die to self every day.
--- Quote ---We all sometimes preface our responses with "our understanding is, or our thoughts are." The thing is I've come to understand is that my understanding and thoughts have mostly been wrong, and they become wrong because I am trying to understand; trying to force the issue. I may be wrong now.
Our understanding is clouded by our beliefs, upbringing, grasp of the meaning of words and plain old time and translation. We see things through human eyes and understanding. Jews had scripture showing the Messiah would come and when He did they did not even know it. We can look at those same scriptures today and see the fulfillment, the Jews still can’t; why? Because of their traditions and upbringing. Most of us here, and Ray, were brought up on the traditions of the Christian religion; I wonder what we can’t see that is as clear as the nose on our face?
When we become Christ like and a vessel for Him we realize our understanding is vanity, chasing the wind. When Christ said if we had the faith of a mustard seed we could move mountains, do we really believe that? Can a little faith literally move a mountain? I believe just what Christ said, and I don't think we have a clue or very little understanding (much less than a mustard seed) about what faith really is; what it really means.
When Christ says He and the Father are one, and we will be one with Them both; we don’t have a clue about what that means or entails. We are too wrapped up in our own unique identities to consider that perhaps One really means One. One is all around, we frame being One, and in relation, God and His creation around the framework of time. Is time even in God’s vocabulary? Einstein even said time was an illusion. We just cannot grasp God’s knowledge or plan.
--- End quote ---
And I will say I respect your opinion and how you feel, but I do not feel exactly the same about these comments. I can see what you are getting at and yes the Truth has been a mystery for all - 'but a few' that have the Holy Spirit, so there are 'a few' that can and do have understanding and I don't just mena Ray.
Yes we all have baggage, but the Spirit will lead us to the truth. Now I will not profess to have unlocked the great mysteries of Scriptures, but I will say I see little truths in what I read all the time and I have come across a few things that I thought to be profound. I do believe that the Scripture is God's tool for teaching us and the answers are there. But yes they only come as God determines to reveal them to us and I think He leads us to put forth much effort, so we will be more thankful when we do find something.
God gave Ray some of those answers that he shared with us, does that mean there are no more answers to be found? The Scriptures are full of answers and God will give them as He pleases and I will continue to search. Yes those things that were told to Daniel were sealed up, but if you keep going it says, "till the time of the end." That means that they will be revealed at some point. I don't see Ray's dying as an end to finding answers, the Spirit is still alive and well in His elect and will continue to open our understanding. The Scriptures for most of my life were a big struggle just to read, much less understand, but now I feel much comfort in them.
It's easy to get discouraged, like when Ray died. But it kind of forced me to stand on my own and that was not a bad thing. I do not feel dependant on anything now, BUT God and I do feel a connection there, that's important to me.
mercy, peace and love
Kat
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version