Saturday, February 20, 2010
Question of the Week
A suicidal anti-government fanatic flies a plane into a government building. Is this an act of terrorism? Or because he was white and not muslim, is this just a crazy guy? Because I'm having a hard time figuring it out considering the media hasn't said "terrorist" yet. But they didn't say "torture" either for 6 years unless of course another country was doing the same things to us and THAT is torture.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Inspirational Song of the Day 2/19
This is a good reminder for me that I shouldn't forget the Holy Spirit is here. Instead of trying to hammer things out by myself, He is here and has 100% prediction power that can help me.
Free Will
In the last several months, I've entered conversations with many about free will and how I reconcile it with my faith.
I tried my best to explain my position over and over again, but that only led me to be accused of talking in circles, changing subjects and suffering from mental gymnastics. I still feel that I did none of that. But on this post, I'm going to try one last time to clarify my position and my position only.
The Bible mentions in it's own way many times over where we have free will. It mentions where we can decide and we can choose what we want and where we want to go. This obviously means to me that our choices are free. We can alter our course in life and change directions. We are not obligated or pre-ordained to go down only one path. We have the ability to move from one path to the other.
Now, how do I reconcile this with an all knowing, all powerful God? Because if our choices are free, then an all knowing God isn't all knowing. But this is where my reconciliation begins, not ends.
I believe that God saw me make every choice. And saw where those choices led before they were made. When I make my choice, it cancels out that domino path. The knowledge God has of the choice I didn't make goes away and he continues to see further down the road pertaining to the path I'm on, and so on and so on.
Does he know the choice I make at the time I make it. No, he witnesses it. But to his Knowledge which is not our knowledge, he saw for certainty me making both choices. He saw for certainty both realities and both lives unfold.
People that disagree with me want to paint God as a human. They want him to have some sort of motivation for doing this. They want this to somehow limit Him. According to them, He has no prediction powers then. He sees no certainty.
I argue this is false. He sees multiple certainties. God and us the individual are a personal relationship and that's the way it's intended. God has left the Holy Spirit here to guide us and help us if we so choose. Since God knows every choice we will face for certain, every multiple choice we make for certain and the results of all the choices made for certain, the Holy Spirit can be exact with us. He can tell us everything we need to know about what faces us, what we should do, and what will happen if we listen to Him.
That is your prediction power. And through this system He has created, he has given us, by His decision, free will. But, He can help us with our decisions because He knows everything. And that knowledge He does know cannot be comprehended totally. Because you try to imagine knowing multiple realities and all these little decisions and affect of all the little decisions made, and you can't think it through. You get stuck. It seems illogical and unreasonable. Well, we're not God. We can't ever comprehend the kind of knowledge the Supreme Being has.
And that's all I will say about this.
I tried my best to explain my position over and over again, but that only led me to be accused of talking in circles, changing subjects and suffering from mental gymnastics. I still feel that I did none of that. But on this post, I'm going to try one last time to clarify my position and my position only.
The Bible mentions in it's own way many times over where we have free will. It mentions where we can decide and we can choose what we want and where we want to go. This obviously means to me that our choices are free. We can alter our course in life and change directions. We are not obligated or pre-ordained to go down only one path. We have the ability to move from one path to the other.
Now, how do I reconcile this with an all knowing, all powerful God? Because if our choices are free, then an all knowing God isn't all knowing. But this is where my reconciliation begins, not ends.
I believe that God saw me make every choice. And saw where those choices led before they were made. When I make my choice, it cancels out that domino path. The knowledge God has of the choice I didn't make goes away and he continues to see further down the road pertaining to the path I'm on, and so on and so on.
Does he know the choice I make at the time I make it. No, he witnesses it. But to his Knowledge which is not our knowledge, he saw for certainty me making both choices. He saw for certainty both realities and both lives unfold.
People that disagree with me want to paint God as a human. They want him to have some sort of motivation for doing this. They want this to somehow limit Him. According to them, He has no prediction powers then. He sees no certainty.
I argue this is false. He sees multiple certainties. God and us the individual are a personal relationship and that's the way it's intended. God has left the Holy Spirit here to guide us and help us if we so choose. Since God knows every choice we will face for certain, every multiple choice we make for certain and the results of all the choices made for certain, the Holy Spirit can be exact with us. He can tell us everything we need to know about what faces us, what we should do, and what will happen if we listen to Him.
That is your prediction power. And through this system He has created, he has given us, by His decision, free will. But, He can help us with our decisions because He knows everything. And that knowledge He does know cannot be comprehended totally. Because you try to imagine knowing multiple realities and all these little decisions and affect of all the little decisions made, and you can't think it through. You get stuck. It seems illogical and unreasonable. Well, we're not God. We can't ever comprehend the kind of knowledge the Supreme Being has.
And that's all I will say about this.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Faith Isn't Easy
It's been a while since I last posted. Many reasons have factored into this. I mean, I do have a lot to say and I know there are some out there interested in learning about my feelings in regards to my faith in Christianity and more importantly God. Work has been busy, travel has been heavy, and also I've been lazy to write something. I hate starting something and not finishing it. Therefore, I am going to make more of an effort to write something more often.
Prove God. The believer has to prove to the non believer. Not the other way around. As a believer, the non believer requires us to prove to them that what we believe is more possible than what they don't believe. This is impossible. This cannot be done, and this is why Christians as an example turn extremely volatile and ignorant in debates and conversations with a non believer.
An individual must prove God to themselves. An individual can get lucky and receive an experience without asking for one such as I. When you get these experiences, you cannot deny what you have experienced. In my case, I know for a fact I was reached by the Supreme Being(God). I was not down in my luck, guilty or in a remorseful state. After this experience, all signs pointed to reading and studying the Bible AND many other inspired works.
Once I got into the Bible, by faith and belief, I became a Christian. I experimented and practiced what is taught. I have a firm 100% belief in what I have chosen to be true. But I could never ever prove this to be the one true way to live to a person who is not a Christian. In my experience, living by example and showing a true interest in understanding my neighbor has been beneficial in peaking their curiosity into who I am and what I believe spiritually. At that point, I'm not discussing why I'm right and why they are wrong. Those points are irrelevant to me. All I can do is simply discuss what I believe, how I perceive what is taught to me and why I feel it's necessary. "Necessary" is the word.
But if it's not brought up, it's not mentioned. Because this isn't a race to convert. That is a dangerous game. There is so many stated Christians who I feel are getting the entire message wrong. They are converting and taking advantage of others and are giving them the wrong teachings. We must first realize what is going on within our own faith and fix it before we can go out and spread the word. And let me tell you, we got thousands of years to fix. It has manifested along with political agendas to the point of serious problems. We must witness to other believers and get them on the right spiritual path before we do anything else.
It's not easy, and it never will be. But we have to spread the good news to those who already think they got good news. A very difficult task. But a task that is worth it. It can be done.
Prove God. The believer has to prove to the non believer. Not the other way around. As a believer, the non believer requires us to prove to them that what we believe is more possible than what they don't believe. This is impossible. This cannot be done, and this is why Christians as an example turn extremely volatile and ignorant in debates and conversations with a non believer.
An individual must prove God to themselves. An individual can get lucky and receive an experience without asking for one such as I. When you get these experiences, you cannot deny what you have experienced. In my case, I know for a fact I was reached by the Supreme Being(God). I was not down in my luck, guilty or in a remorseful state. After this experience, all signs pointed to reading and studying the Bible AND many other inspired works.
Once I got into the Bible, by faith and belief, I became a Christian. I experimented and practiced what is taught. I have a firm 100% belief in what I have chosen to be true. But I could never ever prove this to be the one true way to live to a person who is not a Christian. In my experience, living by example and showing a true interest in understanding my neighbor has been beneficial in peaking their curiosity into who I am and what I believe spiritually. At that point, I'm not discussing why I'm right and why they are wrong. Those points are irrelevant to me. All I can do is simply discuss what I believe, how I perceive what is taught to me and why I feel it's necessary. "Necessary" is the word.
But if it's not brought up, it's not mentioned. Because this isn't a race to convert. That is a dangerous game. There is so many stated Christians who I feel are getting the entire message wrong. They are converting and taking advantage of others and are giving them the wrong teachings. We must first realize what is going on within our own faith and fix it before we can go out and spread the word. And let me tell you, we got thousands of years to fix. It has manifested along with political agendas to the point of serious problems. We must witness to other believers and get them on the right spiritual path before we do anything else.
It's not easy, and it never will be. But we have to spread the good news to those who already think they got good news. A very difficult task. But a task that is worth it. It can be done.
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