leov
Well-Known Member
Achieving access to the Kingdom, I.e becoming perfect, mature, state of Agape, to know God so God knows you.
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Faith?
- Thread starter Alone
- Start date
So I've been working on this path towards perfection so to speak, or at least trying to get the sin out of my life and some people say I don't have the free will to do that, other say I'm trying to find righteousness on my own volition, and other say no matter how hard I try I will not achieve that, and then of course the other ones say that only that can happen with God's help. I'm not sure which position you hold or if you hold a different position than these 4, but I have thought of the idea that only God can do that my only hurdle then would be is how do I get God to be on my side as a sinner, because my understanding of the scripture is that God here's the prayer of the righteous if I cannot be righteous on my own and he will not make me righteous then I'm left with nothing, except confusion, guilt, the fear of hell and so on. This has been a 10-year struggle and I need some clarity or else I'm basically ready to give up on this? The problem is if I give up then I'm definitely doomed?
leov
Well-Known Member
"But solid food is for the mature*, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil."
*the same Greek word as 'perfect'. I think God situated everything in the right place, we just responsible for choosing based on knowing of good and evil.
Discern very good word here I thought that I knew the difference between Good and evil but the further this quest continues the more I realize I don't know. I just feel so helpless.
halbhh
The wonder and awe of "all things".
One clear evidence of definite faith in Jesus would be a desire to listen to all He said, meaning all that we know He said in the accounts we have called the gospels. This isn't the only possible evidence, but it's a convincing one. Consider for instance that God directly instructed us to listen to Jesus: Luke 9:35, Matthew 17:5, Mark 9:7, and that Jesus said all of his words were simply from God His father: John 12:49 (and several other instances). And He said that His sheep, those who are His, would listen to Him, John 10:27. On the whole, it creates a convincing picture that those really believing in Him would want to know what He said, even if it takes the form of just straining to hear His words at times in a church, for instance. But more likely it seems to me, at times really wanting to just read something He said. A feeling of wanting to, and not wanting to avoid.
I must admit that my constant frustration for the past year or so has most definitely hindered my desire to read, I guess I need to get back on that thank you for reminding me, some of it, the lack of reading that is, stems also from the uneasiness that I get from it now. when I first started reading it was like wow this is something new and I was all like on fire so to speak, but after some grueling years, it's like the same old thing I'm bad he's good repent repent repent, and for some strange reason I have not been able to find a way to do that?which is where the frustration comes from.
dybmh
ויהי מבדיל בין מים למים
No no... no offense. It's good we got all that out of the way.
The verse in the OP is from the Christian bible. Your follow-up question is about heaven and how do you know if you're on the right track.
I mean, I have struggled with all that too. And searching, not knowing where to fit in... yes. I can relate. I just wanted to be sure that you knew my point of view and bias. It could be, that you simply hadn't noticed the tiny writing in the far left corner of my posts...
Yeah, faith that is internal cannot be proven. I can't see any way around it. but I do not think that Faith is required in order to be holy in the eyes of the Almighty. I don't. I think there are other ways. And if a person needs something that they can hang their hat on... I recommend charity and virtuous deeds. You can't go wrong there. If while you're doing it, you can cultivate a sense of purpose, and attach your faith to the deed. Great. But, IMO, a good deed is a good deed, and you don't need faith to get into heaven.
BTW, as far as I can tell, that approach of not needing faith... is NOT Christian. I do believe that Christianity requires faith to get into heaven. So, if that is what you are hearing, and it's confusing... I would expect that it's coming from a Christian. And they have a lot of good reasons to say that. But that's not me. I don't connect with that mindset.
halbhh
The wonder and awe of "all things".
Hmmm... Have you read the Gospel of John yet? Or if you have, have you read the short epistle 1rst John. Those can be helpful. See, we are in the situation of being given amazing grace. As soon as we confess that we've done wrong to God (silently in our minds), even at that very moment, we are forgiven (as you learn in the invaluable 1rst John).
No as my title States I literally am alone I do not associate with hardly anyone, I get that idea from the book that I'm reading.
Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:Not of works, lest any man should boast.
dybmh
ויהי מבדיל בין מים למים
I haven't read that one...
MonkeyFire
Well-Known Member
Only St. Michael has faith and only his friends and lovers he shares it with does he.
Well to be honest with you, I don't really like to say this, however I have actually read the Bible from cover to cover multiple times, preacher 0nce told me, you got the book smarts but not the heart smarts, it's like I said I was on fire supposedly at one point, and all I could do was read and nothing else, but now it's almost like it scares me to read it, go figure I think that's kind of why I got on this forum hoping that it would stir up my mind again to get back in it ,and it seems to be at least going in that particular direction especially now after people telling me to get back into it, that definitely helps. So thanks again for your comments
Yeah my mind has been so cloudy as of late that I just had to separate myself for a while see if I can sort things out, it's a whole lot different on a medium like this, for one I have to think about what I say before I say it + 2 if I don't like what somebody says I don't necessarily have to reply, so this outlet is what I'm using now to try to connect the dots through all this mayhem that's going on in my mind I need clarity!I haven't read that one...
dybmh
ויהי מבדיל בין מים למים
I can relate... I felt the same way when I joined.
So you don't have to answer this question if you don't want to but I'm just curious which country you are living in?
Same
leov
Well-Known Member
just remember that "works" means the Law.
As opposed to something else? Are you sure that works refers to the law only?
leov
Well-Known Member
that what Paul was after, saying that the Law can not improve consciousness (Heb.9) and keep veil on worshippers eyes (2Cor3), all it reflects conflict that was between Paul and Peter/James understanding.