To stlizzy,(stlizzy)
Well, to search for God you have to be sincere... in that you must drop all of your agendas to find Him... I really think this is key... why do you want to find Him? Is it for His benefit or your own- because often times I think people have misconceptions or preconceptions about what God "is" or how He should "present" Himself... but to just say to Him... "You're there, I want to believe in You, allow me to see, work with me"... and then trying to listen... and this might take a while, you know, not because God doesn't want to reveal Himself to you but because sometimes when we say this to God, we really do have other agendas. I did this forever...
This is another thing I can relay to pray as I stand on it now. People ask me to pray for them, and I refuse to. It's not that I don't want to help, not that I don't feel empathy, it's that I feel, honestly, like prayers don't work. And if I do speak a prayer, all my words would be hollow, perhaps even insincere. To me, that like telling a lie, something which I refuse to do except in certain situations (e.g., where lying would save a life).(stlizzy)
So, one good point: you must follow through. If you truly want to find God, you must follow through with finding Him. You have to let go of your personal ideas about how or when or why He should reveal Himself to you, in the sense that it is up to Him. You leave everything up to Him and You are honest with Him.
This is a good point, and could easily expand to anything outside of God. About letting go of your personal ideas, it's very Yoda-like: "Unlearn what you have learned." It's...difficult, to say the least, and I try to allow my mind to wrap around it, but...yeah. I hope for a "booming voice from the sky". I put that in quotes because I use it very loosely. Sure, a booming voice would certainly help, but I mean that I'd like something to happen to me that is completely undeniable. A miracle, essentially, and I don't think I've ever seen one.On a slightly side note, though, are you saying, in other words, "stop looking for him"? Kind of like that saying where if you look so hard for something, you'll never find it, but as soon as you stop...?(stlizzy)
This is the second point: I was never honest with God! I mean, I confessed, but it wasn't totally honest confession because I always felt guilty about even having to confess and I knew that I was going to do the same thing again... so really "confessing" wasn't honest because I already knew that I would re-commit. But then I got to a point where I had to be honest, because I couldn't half-confess to God anymore and because I was so tired of living a life that was horrible... full of pain, and it hardly ever went the way I wanted it to be anyway (I was/and still can be a real control freak).. and because I knew a life with God would be better than a life against Him. When I say confessing what I mean is honesty- talk to God like He is a stuffed animal who will hold all your secrets and not tell a soul- because He won't, but also talk to Him with reverence because He's God. This doesn't mean you shouldn't wonder, because God knows that people wonder about His existence, but I mean... to say to God "You're a joke, but reveal yourself anyway" is really not being honest.
Honesty is something I have pride in. I don't think as many people as I can be so brutally honest with other people. For years, I was a liar, and it got to a point where I didn't really know who I really was any more. Almost immediately, I changed my ways. Life became so much simpler... If I say something I mean it--unless I'm joking around (you'll know when I am), or when I'm lying to protect someone.This brings me back to why I refuse to pray. I don't feel like I'm being honest to who I'm praying about, nor myself, nor God (whether or not he exists).(stlizzy)
Third point- God is not an idiot... if He is God than He already knows it all, right? So it's okay to ask questions and be confused. He would rather that you told Him and looked to Him than to wikipedia anyway....
I understand your point, and it looks to me that you are telling me to pray to him. I can't for reasons I stated above.(stlizzy)
Ummm. fourth point- you have to weigh your options. Do you really want to give up the life you have if you find God? Because this goes along with the whole honesty thing. Are you really prepared to find God? Or is life fine without Him? What is driving you? A lot of people shrug it off... until something bad happens then they really want God to help them. But others honestly want a change and God listens to those who aren't trying to manipulate Him. Before, I didn't really want my life to change enough to really do something about it...
This is a point I've never really considered, I'll admit. I think it's been in the back of my mind silently, but not because I've been avoiding it, only becuase I don't think I ever consciously thought of it. To a point, I'll have to say no. It's not that I'm actively doing bad things: I try to live an honest life, I try to help those around me, donate, be dependable, and have a little fun. Fun, of course, is semi-conservative. I'm not a wild person, and the most extreme things I do are paintball (it's FUN!) and martial arts (good social support, great for working out, and I learn to defend myself). Other than that, while I have a bit of an anger management problem, I'm well underway of fixing it, and it's NEVER come to the point of harming anyone or thing (though let's forget about the wall a year ago, shall we?)In other words, I think I'm a rather decent, average guy. Would I have to give these up? I don't think so. It would be hard to multi task, I would imagine, but time could definitely be found.(stlizzy)
Fifth point- God is God. What I mean by this is that you might have to accept that there are a lot of things that you don't understand about Him and that your viewpoint might change... mine certainly did... especially about men and how they treat women... and I always felt kind of mad when I thought of God as male because I thought it put down women... lol.. but what I mean is that maybe instead of saying "How could God do horrible things, allow suffering and babies and death and taxes"... maybe you just don't understand yet how He works... and so you have to be open to change. Open to ideas. And... open to others. By this I mean that when others really talk to you, like I am doing now, don't just wait for your turn to speak again, but listen to what they say to you! I have had to learn to do this because before I was all into arguing about politics... and I thought I was a lot smarter than a lot people and that half the country was idiots dependent on the way they voted... lol...
For what I say next, please don't think I didn't read what you said: Women, without any special considerations, are equal to men. While men might be naturally physically stronger, that doesn't make them better. It's just like that guy down the street do juggles perfectly, does that make him better? Nope, only better at a certain task. I cannot worship (I can believe in one, however) a God who thinks otherwise. Just as I can't worship a God who murders, or supports murdering. Killing in any form is wrong. This is treading into a Bible debate, though, and not my objective, but I did think your point was worth a response. I did want to point out though that I could still believe in him, it's just at that point it's a question of will I worship. I'll ask that question when I get there.(stlizzy)
Another point.. I lost count... don't let yourself be too easily persuaded one way or another. You are a smart, rational human being. You have a mind. Use it. Don't buy into crazy ideas too quickly, and don't join ranks with the mudslingers either- because this will blind you, this will stop you in your tracks.... please note that I am not trying to force you to agree with me either. Nobody forced me to agree with them. I did it all on my own...
Haha. We all lose count eventually...Thank you, tenfold, for that warning though. I've seen the...well... Is there a word for what Scientology does to people? It's beyond brainwashing! I'd stand beside a Christian or Muslim any day to protest against them! In fact, if I had known about it before had, I would have went to downtown Orlando to take part in the protests there against the cult. Pagans, while harmless, are silly, and so I'd never believe in that either. Nor astrology (though my mother would have you believe other wise as she doesn't know the difference between that and astronomy...). There are other faiths that seem sensible to me, however, like Islam, Buddhism, ...Christianity.Thank you, though, thank you.(stlizzy)
And by the way, if you are all the way down here to the bottom and you read all that I wrote, because I wrote a lot, I didn't use the Bible because you requested that answers don't use the Bible... well I can relate with what you are saying about it. It used to REALLY turn me off- especially the Old Testament- and I felt like it, too, was dead....... but not anymore.. hahaha!
And I thank you! It didn't go unnoticed, and I definitely feel you are someone whom I can have a chat with without fear of it becoming stagnant nor barbaric. To forgivenWretch,(forgivenWretch)
then open your heart and your mind, and make the choice not to be. You are what you choose to be.
This is the least helpful comment I've received here, nor is it respectful. Instead of reading what I, or anyone for that matter, wrote, you quote the title, say a little "take the red pill" blurb, and expect everything to make sense to me. Thank you very much for showing me the light in such a beautiful way. Stlizzy should take lessons from you.