Cool thinking Longtire (congrads on the house
)
Everyone is different. God is smart enough to realize this. God approaches different people in different ways as appropriate. A one size fits all approach does not make sense in light of this.
I agree! (Except I’m not sure if God is external or internal, or if that even matters.)
Fear of Hell does not really motivate me. Been there, done that. (Can you relate?)
Oh yes.
What really gets to me is feeling unconditionally loved. THAT breaks right on through for me where threats of pain and suffering do not. I don't believe it is a coincidence that has been my personal experience of God so far. Whenever the pain and suffering was being brought up, it was always by another human, well-meaning I'm sure.
Question: are you saying you feel God’s unconditional love? Or are you saying that you see that suffering is a result of contact with other humans? Or both? (I’m wondering if you feel the love as well as the suffering I guess.)
Now I admit, this could be immaturity on my part, "the rules don't apply to me kind of stuff."
I’m not sure that would be immature (and what does
immature mean anyway?). Most rules are human-made (God’s rules, or nature’s rules, appear pretty rigid – don’t eat = die kinda thing)…..so maybe just some rules don’t apply to you? Nothing wrong with that is there? Hey to some people I’m a terrible sinner and in some countries I would be dead by now for breaking the rules! True. Stoned to death. Wouldn’t be here.
But, I feel something there. This doesn't feel like a rejection of something to me. Actually, in some ways it feels like an acceptance of a heavier burden. To go this way means I may lose out on understanding and "popular" support from other Christians. It means I may not be able to find any guidance from others. But, I feel something there. Separating feels like the "right" thing to do, not just for me but in a higher sense. I don't know where it will lead. For now I will follow my path and feel ambivalent about my ambivalence.
Grasping uncertainty to your heart is a way to freedom, from what I’ve read. It makes sense to me. The more possibilities we can ‘see’, the deeper the understanding of the basic ‘truths’ perhaps. Do I know what I mean here? Not sure. Maybe it’s back to pattern-recognition! Could be. But if we talk to certain other people, interpret how they live as being rather closed-off, insular, contained, ‘safe’….like they’ve decided what life is about and they’ve settled on their decision…where’s their life-force of curiosity, of awe, of wonder, of learning? To be open to more (to be ambivalent) seems to me to be *living*. Boredom, stagnation of the spirit, is a killer. As is fear. Presumably people live with their decisions, hang on to their bigotries, their negative absolute ideas, because they’re afraid of something?
Is it a Buddhist thing? –
when the pupil is ready the teacher will appear. I’m sure you will be able to find guidance from other people Longtire. You won’t be alone! (Christ was pretty much alone, on the cross. Except of course he could talk to his Dad. That must have been a comfort, knowing it was for a purpose.) The world is full of people who have ideas to share. Some may not be Christians. Maybe you’ll find guidance from people who aren’t Christians? That might be part of your new ambivalence! Now I feel I’m too cheeky, too challenging, so I’ll stop. (Hey and in case it looks like I think you should talk to
me, forget it, I know nothing - and I know that at least.)
Isn’t it funny how there’s a ‘para’graph in the middle of ‘separate’? I like how words do that sometimes, hold meanings we can impose on them. I was looking at your use of the word separate Longtire. Bye for now, P
