Greetings

Nice meeting you all, I am a new memeber. I live in North Carolina and I am desiring to be stronger in my faith and closer to God. I hope you are all having a nice summer so far. Today it is going to be 96 degrees here. I find it interesting that this site takes a strong stand against the Rapture Doctrine. I am not partial to it myself, but I figure it is really only younger believers who are attracted to this thinking. It is probably only popular in the U.S.A where we are used to being the "good guys" who are "invincible" and never suffer any persecution. I figure that just as in the days of old, prophecy and eschatology are understood as the events unfold. I don't exert a lot of mental effort trying to figure out all the ins and outs of it. I figure if I listen to God and trust Him, I will understand what I need to do when the time comes. I like these three verses a lot: 6 With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.This is Micah 6:6-8 and it says a lot to me. I think we can get really crazy trying to do all the right things to please God and get His attention - we can expend a great deal of "religious energy" trying to figure out what will make God happy. But in the end He wants us to acknowledge Him as the Ruler and Creator of the universe and bow down to Him and simply "do the right thing." I have realized that God is high above our understanding and that His thoughts and ways are definitely not our thoughts and ways. Sometimes we just have to cooperate with righteousness and trust His words even if we don't always understand our circumstances and how God is operating within them. Anyway, it's nice meeting you all and hopefully we'll have lots of interesting chats!