Friday, 06 July 2012
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The Path and Faith I Profess
I often wonder what life would be like if I were more stable in my efforts to follow the path and faith I profess. I always hit ‘chaos land’ after a plateau of peace. I come to an intersection with five points and it seems that my energy takes off into all of them at the same time. I can’t seem to focus, am restless, can’t sit for any length of time, and seek some entertainment to offset the inner maelstrom. Things do settle of course. Perhaps one of the good things about aging is that I can get a better idea of what lies ahead because I can see so far behind. Now the cycle of chaos still hits me, but I can handle it a little bit better than when I was younger. When in a bad spot, the illusion is that this experience, this pain and emptiness, is permanent and will only end if some kind of escape is looked for, or planned. Of course no one can escape from life or it’s up and downs. My center is becoming clearer and even in the midst of the inner storm or perhaps the flip side of that -- the inner deadness and calm that leads to lethargy, I can still experience, even if only darkly, that inner place where Christ Jesus awaits me. Perhaps I never leave that place, my wanderings just another illusion to remind me of my dependence on the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.
I am slowly learning to trust the process of my life and the ups and downs, even my failures and sins will bring me ever deeper into the mystery of my relationship with the Father through his Son. It is all about surrender, trust and love in the end. Trust being a conscious choice, just as faith often is. Such is the gift of aging, allowing what needs to healed to come to the surface. There is much I don’t understand, yet my faith and my trust allows me to continue on my journey, with all of its stops and starts and at times wandering off the road for a while. Then, grace becomes apparent, the light beckons and I feel a healing of my inner pain and chaos.
The path for the Christian is about becoming childlike, which I believe is the highest form of maturity. It is about embracing life, its pain and joys and deep sorrows, without seeking to escape from the experience. It is about allowing the heart to expand and to not constrict into cynicism or the numbing embrace of despair. It is in trying to escape that we wound ourselves more fully, allowing the evils and injustices done to us to gain power and control over our lives -- it is called fear. I am speaking of my own struggles, my getting up and falling down, my trying to escape through actions that only slow down the growth into new life that I believe we are called to. It is about love, all else is secondary. To love ones-self, others and most of all, to love God, with ones whole mind, heart and soul and to be open to the loving response that is experienced in ways that we need and not always want.
Do you sometimes feel like there's chaos in your life that prevents you from walking down a path of faith? What are you learning as you walk down the path?
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About the Author
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- From: markdohle
- Name: markdohle
- Location: Atlanta, Georgia, United States
- About Me: I am a Roman Catholic, who seeks to ever deepen my love of Jesus Christ.
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Comments (33)
@PrisonerxOfxLove@xanga - Trying to associate being right or wrong with some University is fruitless. I have no idea what these guys teach or what they believe. Regardless --- the magical and mystic qualities associated with Jesus are fraudulent. And further, he religion of Christianity is designed to subjugate individuals and make money.
If the reality of Jesus and God are SO self evident why do they not PROVE it. That would be easy for an omniscient and omnipotent entity. Do something to convince me and the majority of the worlds population that does not believe. Grow the limbs back on an child amputee would be a good example. But no your omniscient and omnipotent ghost will not anymore than Buddha - Tao - Allah - Krishna - the Spaghetti Monster or any other God you choose. Because they are ALL MYTHS.@Captric@xanga - I am not trying to associate right or wrong with academia.
You tried to refute my claim that Christianity's critical role in the development of Western Civilization was a result of bias.I blasted your refutation to smithereens by giving you examples of scholars of religion who teach at various reputable universities.
Self evident means provable by reason. So people like you, who have rejected what is achievable by reason, have done so by remaining irrational and impervious to the facts.
That is your fault.
So asking others to prove away your own irrational choice is simply an irrational request. Only you can deal with your own irrationality.
And since proof requires reason, someone in your state of irrationality will be impervious to any proof because irrationality is the rejection of reason.
@Captric@xanga - God did reveal himself to mankind. That is what the Bible is all about. It is a written account of God's revelation to mankind.
If you read the Bible, you will see God command the Hebrews to remember those monumental events. That memory is passed down by ritual and tradition.
The Jews have various holidays that have been passed down through the ages that commemorate the Ten Commandments and the exodus from Egypt, for example.
The Christians remember the birth of Christ and his Resurrection at Christmas and Easter.
And the Catholics celebrate the Mass every day in remembrance of the Last Supper because Jesus said, "Do this in remembrance of me."
But you reject all that.
You want God to give you a personal demonstration because you reject God's way of revealing himself and demand that he do things your way.
So as long as you are in a state of rejection and denial, which are the central dogma of the religion of atheism, any understanding of God will remain beyond you.
@PrisonerxOfxLove@xanga - So - God is not going to reveal himself because according to you and the scraps of stories put together 300 years AFTER the death of so called Jesus are irrefutably inerrant?? Here is some advice for YOU - do not expect the rest of the free thinking world to BUY in to your mythology just because you say its true. You have to PROVE it. A sucker is born every minute and you are a sucker.
Give me ONE shred of physical evidence of a world flood - which would have been the largest and grandest geological event of the history of the earth. I can point out million year old individual stream bottoms and their associated lifeforms - why cant you show me evidence of a world flood?! Or - one piece of this wooden boat that would have had to be larger than a steel constructed nuclear powered aircraft carrier? We find all sorts of archaeological evidence and even human and animal remains locked in ice from WAY before Noah existed bit not one piece of Noahs ark.That is because - in spite of your Bible saying so - a world flood NEVER happened and there is NO garden of Eden and there was NO shroud of Turin and NO tomb where Jesus arose from the dead and NOTHING at all to show for your proverbial God or Jesus to show they are REAL. Just you saying it is so and then asking people to give you money in your Cult ceremonies.This proves to any clear thinking individual that Christianity is the greatest fraud ever perpetuated on mankind and feeds off of the fears of the weak of mind - the poor - and the sick.@Captric@xanga - God has already revealed himself. And the memory of his revelation lives on in Judaism and Christianity.
Because God has already revealed himself there is no need for him to repeat his performance.As Jesus once said: "Do not cast pearls before swine."
Haha - typical Christian! Hate on anybody who disagrees with you or forces you to prove your argument. I DO cast "pearls before swine" and you do not see them. There is no God and there was no MAGICAL Jesus and your Christian cult is no more valid than Hinduism Sikhism - Shintoism - Buddhism - Mohamadism - Judaism or any of the hundreds of other religions here and in the past. What separates Christians MOST in the US is their intolerance of criticism and violent approach to evangelism.
You are just another non thinking cult member blindly following a bronze age mythical belief that you have NO proof is relevant or true.@Captric@xanga - I didn't express any hatred. You are the one expressing hatred, in fact.
Why would God waste his time on someone who is so faithless, prideful and full of hate?Be he does things his way, not your way.
@PrisonerxOfxLove@xanga - Christians never cease to amaze me - a lifelong entertaining run around in circles proclaiming their own arrogance and superiority based on works of fiction 5000 years old! LOL
Yes indeed - why would a God I do not believe in waste his time on me? You imaginary God has blessed me with good kids - a fascinating career as a major ailrine captain - an extremely healthy and athletic body for 60 years - your imaginary god protected me from harm in a shooting war - in car accidents - in aircraft emergencies where the wrong decision on my part would have killed 200 innocent men women and children. So WHY would your imaginary god not do what you believe is logical and SMITE ME MIGHTILY!!!
Because there IS no god and you and others like you cannot frighten me in to believing. I know better and I am NOT ten years old anymore where little kids believe adults in positions of authority about ANYTHING they say. The majority of Swedes - up to 85% - are atheist - agnostic- or non spiritual. Why is it that they live such a better life than ANY Christian in Africa or even closer to their own culture - AMERICA?
Because there IS no god. There was no magical Jesus and just because you believe it doesnt make it true or valid. You might fool yourself with your circular arguments about reasoning nit you are not fooling very many others. The people learn about Chrisianity in its true form the more they turn their backs and marginalize those who are. Any co-pilot of mine who starts to speak to me of god and jesus gets removed from the aircraft as being not of mental fitness to fly an airplane!