Health The Value of Jesus/God in Your Life

[Exe Gesis]

There are tons of ancient stories/myths of virgin births, a resurrected deity, etc, thru the ages, under a variety of names, that predate "Jesus".
It calls into question the story of Jesus itself, the Biblical one of 2,000 years ago, during the Roman times, and thus, whatever morality and specific dogma/doctrines that the Christian message pushes across.
Or perhaps "Jesus" is just another name in an on-going re-telling of that tale of a virgin birthed resurrected deity, and that it was true.

Jesus and religion per se are not cool anymore in general society.

Something happened to me a few years ago. Well, a whole bunch of things did, it was a gradual process. But I came to genuinely understand "god's love", and more the reality of "Jesus"/Holy Spirit, a lord as path to salvation or returning to communication and being in touch with a "god"/creator.

I was always a good person at heart, despite all the bad things I've done/do. But that gradual process was a daily/nightly thing of stripping me bare, stripping me of ego, humbling me. Daily/nightly tears, shredded tears, till I lost my voice, so broken and broken down by the realization and understanding.

I THINK I know what's good for me. I THINK I am smart and can game life. I THINK I am honoring my own self with the choices I make and things I do. Etc. But really I never was...WHEN I went thru that gradual process and when I came out the other end of it. I realized instead that "god" knows my heart and myself better than I do. That "he" is truly all-powerful and can move literal mountains in a person's life at the snap of the fingers. No mortal hand can stop. No logic can defy. "He" can truly make miracles to impact people's lives purely to wake them up to "his" existence, love, power and presence in your life. Impossible things. Doesn't have to be big, but the sign is there. Something where there is literally no hope, can be turned on a dime. No mortal doing able to do it. No logic or human action can make it happen. It's beyond our power/reach, for such (small but significant) things to occur and to turn on such a dime IN THE VERY NAME of the lord.

To get to the point.....I appeal to everyone again, not to give up on what we call "Jesus" and "God" etc. I can't vouch for the Bible, or Christianity, etc. And for all I know, Jesus is just another name, a re-telling of an ancient true story passed down thru the ages till we reached the more recent era in humans (around 2000 years ago) when people could start writing stuff down and documenting stuff.

But there IS such a thing. There is a creator. There is a "holy spirit" (you could call it many other psychological/philosophical names/phrases). There is a "Jesus", some kind of figure that is testament to the tale of god birthing himself as a human to show himself, and to suffer for our love, to make us aware of it/"him" and point us to "him", to reconsider, to listen and ask for "him" to show "himself" in your life (in those small but significant ways) that make you realize it's true and return you to "him".....because to return to "him" is to return to you.

I thought I was smart etc, but only when I humbly accepted I am 'nothing' compared to god, and humbly gave up my wants/desires for what "god" wants for me, did things turn around for me. See, "god" is in you. And you always have the choice to LISTEN to and create a relationship between your material self and your ethereal self, or to ignore it, or to even go against it, or simply to just blindly decide things and do things thinking your own intellect is the highest power and not realize why things aren't working out for you, or leading you into trouble. You have that choice. Your ethereal self is the voice of "god" or that context of where "god knows your heart better than you".

To honor your own self truly, you have to honor "god". You have to follow what that ethereal self wants for you, go where it wants you to go, it's your possible destiny as such where the most "happiness" or peace exists for you. Listening to "god", to the signs, it's a real skill I can confirm. Because it's not your own intellect. It's like intuition instead. It's like being very circumspect and guarded and just letting things flow around you and go by you, and knowing when and where to pick a moment to do something, because the signs are being presented to you. Like breadcrumbs, following them, looking for the next clue or sign posted on a tree as youre blindly searching thru a forest.

Honoring yourself. Finding the right work. The right partner. The right friends. Etc. The right day to day chores and tasks and hobbies and training. Instead of wasting your time and life following things that your intellect wants and tells you to do, simply because you're putting far too much trust/power in your own intellect. But YOU and your intellect CANNOT move literal mountains, make impossible (small but significant things) change on a dime at the snap of the fingers.

This post is already too long, and I'm babbling. In future posts I will try to briefly capture the quintessence of what I'm trying to say here....

 

[Exe Gesis]

I have talked with hundreds of people....former teenage druggies/crims, former Muslims, long-time Muslims, long-time crims, etc....as well as ordinary people, who converted to believers in "Jesus".

When you genuinely open up and talk with people of a variety of backgrounds/ages, and you do not judge/mock them, and you share personal experiences with them....you'd be surprised how many people have GENUINELY had a "jesus/god" experience like happened to me.

Where they literally converted to being "jesus believers". They might not be bible-bashers. Not born again types. They can be too. But when you hear their stories and you share your own, you realize there is a great truth here. How miraculous stuff that happened is. It's really important talking about it, and sharing your stories with them, or if you're a non-believer -- to sincerely listen to their stories and just think about what happened to them. Give it a chance, to re-consider your non-believing stance.

 

[Poetic Justice]

*I'm adding the first line with respect to myself that you could very well just be trolling*

I presume this thread won't go long, but I respect your rights to your feelings.

I don't have a problem with your choices in life, but if God is smart.. why do atrocities happen? If we have to honor 'him', why does he not respect us back by providing solutions to our greatest problems.

He suffers for our love?
We suffer and yet we see no sign of love from him at all.
We see no evidence of what he is doing for our greater good.

 

[darthbards]

The value of god to me is...someone to talk to,someone who gives me hope,someone who keeps me on the straight and narrow.

God might not be as 'cool' anymore,but he is still in most people's hearts,whether they want to accept him or not. Plenty of people who claim to not believe in God,or care,but still discuss him,even if in a negative sense,probably says more about them.

If people truly don't believe,or if God was not within them,they wouldn't give him a second thought. Those who believe are well aware of his presence,and the mystery of his ways,that make us a stronger and better person.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Consider....how many people (famous or ordinary) you see/hear who praise the name of Jesus and aren't ashamed to. Famous athletes, stars, or just those ordinary people. Why do they do that? What happened to them that made them start to think/feel this way? Before judging/mocking them or that change in them....it's worth listening to their stories and in sincerity, like you're debating some other political/sports topic, in sincerity to consider what is being said, shared with you.

Sometimes the change happens when the person wasn't even looking for it, or wanting it, or seeking it. They were happily going about being womanizers, criminals, ordinary people. But then something happened. And it made them stop and think. They opened up a little to the possibility. Perhaps then asked for more signs/etc, and they came, and then they fully went into it.

Sometimes the change happens when the person is a wretch and specifically looks for it, wants it, seeks it. Same process. At first there's a sign. Enough to make you re-consider the possibility. Opens you up a little. You ask for more signs. It happens. You fully go into it.

Sometimes people will say, "god chose you", when they weren't looking for it. They were contently going about their way being "sinful" people and living it up. But it certainly does happen the other way, where a person can genuinely want to re-consider it, open themselves up, ask for signs, etc. "God" would never turn away from that call, because "god's voice" and the "holy spirit" is just another form of the ethereal you. The ethereal you would not ignore and reject the material you. It's simply because the material you is not GENUINELY opening up to it, the possibility. Not GENUINELY learning how to LISTEN to the signs, and to be more circumspect at first, stand back and appraise things more, watch life flow by and around you, wait, observe, use your intuition, start seeing what's REALLY GOING ON, learning what things are signs/crumbs, learning to follow them, listening to those clues and little pushes.

 

[Exe Gesis]

why does he not respect us back by providing solutions to our greatest problems.

God is a personal thing. We cannot understand/comprehend the big picture. The greatest problems are not ours to solve.
Look, it is %100 clear and certain there is a "creator". So the question of why do atrocities occur etc, is really tricky and beyond our human grasp. We say God's plan. Etc. But we don't know. Put it this way....even as citizens in a country, we cannot grasp the stuff that goes on in the higher echelons of govt and world control, by the rich and powerful. Lot of conspiracy theories. But stuff happens beyond our understanding and awareness of. Same I guess for why a "creator" would let atrocities occur. I can't explain it to myself either.

BUT...i do know a creator is real, and that there really is a "holy spirit" and "jesus figure". I have had the miracles happen to me too, and thus when sharing my stories with other people who also converted to being "jesus believers" it re-confirms what you went thru wasn't a dream, wasn't some psychological term only, wasn't some wishful thinking, wasn't at all logical or mortal.

And really, the end result i'm getting at is....when you do finally end up embracing "jesus"/"holy spirit" type thing....when you willingly choose to be a SERVANT to "god's will", and letting "him" decide what's good for you etc, you truly do become happier, start seeing results in your personal life (i dont mean money and chicks etc), i mean genuine relationship with your creator, your material self ALIGNED with your ethereal self, and you become a better person, not selfish and petty, not angry and nasty, not greedy and self-serving...and where many many people treat you with disrespect, fear, go out of their way to hurt you, abandon you etc. But instead, suddenly, the whole community where you live, they genuinely like you, treat you as a friend, love you, trust you, embrace you, and regardless of that, you just feel so much better as a person where you're giving of yourself to others, helping other people, encouraging them, guiding them thru troubles, lifting them up, helping bring light and humor and care and love to their lives, because it's genuine and unconditional from you. You really don't want anything from them. You're just being you. You're being a wonderful person, and you're not asking from them anything. You're just trying to be happy, youre humble, you make them laugh, you help them out, you're not a fool soft-touch either, you can stand your ground and you can admonish people, etc. You're not just some fool being walked on. Instead you're just a really wonderful person and people gravitate to you and out of it all.....you get what you were looking for, say, a sense of belonging, of being loved, not abandoned etc.

Depending on the thing your ethereal self and material self are not aligned on. The issues and problems in your life.

 

[Exe Gesis]

The value of god to me is...someone to talk to,someone who gives me hope,someone who keeps me on the straight and narrow.

God might not be as 'cool' anymore,but he is still in most people's hearts,whether they want to accept him or not. Plenty of people who claim to not believe in God,or care,but still discuss him,even if in a negative sense,probably says more about them.

If people truly don't believe,or if God was not within them,they wouldn't give him a second thought. Those who believe are well aware of his presence,and the mystery of his ways,that make us a stronger and better person.

you probably said everything i tried to say with 10 million words in about 200 words

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

but if God is smart.. why do atrocities happen? If we have to honor 'him', why does he not respect us back by providing solutions to our greatest problems.

There is both good and evil

 

[Exe Gesis]

There is both good and evil

so succinctly well-said.
ugh.

 

[woota]

Riveting tale. Is there a TLDR version?

 

[darthbards]

you probably said everything i tried to say with 10 million words in about 200 words

I think a lot of people mistake in their their own hearts the difference between not loving God,not having faith in God,and not believing in God.

 

[Exe Gesis]

Riveting tale. Is there a TLDR version?

Give it a chance, to re-consider your non-believing stance.

 

[Poetic Justice]

We say God's plan. Etc. But we don't know.

See from my perspective and I will reassert that this is purely my own opinion and not right or wrong, but you say it's God's plan because that's all you've got. You've got no other factual answers to give people who asks questions like I did because he does not exist in a capacity that can answer these questions.. and from someone looking at it from a pessimistic standpoint, it comes across as a major cop out.

Put it this way....even as citizens in a country, we cannot grasp the stuff that goes on in the higher echelons of govt and world control, by the rich and powerful. Lot of conspiracy theories. But stuff happens beyond our understanding and awareness of. Same I guess for why a "creator" would let atrocities occur. I can't explain it to myself either.

Rather than to focus purely on atrocities, why not bring up the creator as being responsible for things like cancer. Like a sickness in that creation that takes a man away at a younger age from a young family. Why would that be allowed to happen? Is it 'God's plan' to take him away without giving anyone else in the world a detailed view on what he was taking him for? Where is the fairness and reciprocation from 'him' when he wants us to serve and devote our thoughts to him when he cannot give us the courtesy to explain his actions?

.... and you become a better person, not selfish and petty, not angry and nasty, not greedy and self-serving.. ................. You're being a wonderful person, and you're not asking from them anything. You're just trying to be happy, youre humble, you make them laugh, you help them out, you're not a fool soft-touch either, you can stand your ground and you can admonish people, etc. You're not just some fool being walked on. Instead you're just a really wonderful person and people gravitate to you and out of it all.....you get what you were looking for, say, a sense of belonging, of being loved, not abandoned etc.

Is this all because you've got this profound shelf that's propped up by God that you can store your feelings that you don't want to address? I liken it to a man who ignores the things that bother him for time until he finally explodes... or the shelfs support drops from beneath it allowing all that is being held to fall aprt.

 

[FRUMPY]

Sent from my CPH1879 using Tapatalk

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

so succinctly well-said.
ugh.

Seriously tho, I never understood why people say that. If you believe in God, then it seems you would be open to the idea of the Devil. That answers the question pretty easily

 

[Poetic Justice]

Seriously tho, I never understood why people say that. If you believe in God, then it seems you would be open to the idea of the Devil. That answers the question pretty easily

So who has the upper hand?
Who is of higher power?
In our lords prayer we ask him to deliver us from evil - and when there is so many documented examples of evil, when has he ever prevented any of it?

 

[raskolnikov]

I have no problem with the concept of God. I have a problem with those like Lyle Shelton and Israel Folau who proclaim to know %100 what the mind of God is and discriminate against others on the basis of it.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

So who has the upper hand?
Who is of higher power?
In our lords prayer we ask him to deliver us from evil - and when there is so many documented examples of evil, when has he ever prevented any of it?

God. God doesn't control you. He will guide you if you allow him to. He can't prevent you from doing something.

 

[darthbards]

See from my perspective and I will reassert that this is purely my own opinion and not right or wrong, but you say it's God's plan because that's all you've got. You've got no other factual answers to give people who asks questions like I did because he does not exist in a capacity that can answer these questions.. and from someone looking at it from a pessimistic standpoint, it comes across as a major cop out.



Rather than to focus purely on atrocities, why not bring up the creator as being responsible for things like cancer. Like a sickness in that creation that takes a man away at a younger age from a young family. Why would that be allowed to happen? Is it 'God's plan' to take him away without giving anyone else in the world a detailed view on what he was taking him for? Where is the fairness and reciprocation from 'him' when he wants us to serve and devote our thoughts to him when he cannot give us the courtesy to explain his actions?



Is this all because you've got this profound shelf that's propped up by God that you can store your feelings that you don't want to address? I liken it to a man who ignores the things that bother him for time until he finally explodes... or the shelfs support drops from beneath it allowing all that is being held to fall aprt.

Your perspective is fine,but why would a Christian need to explain to you why we have faith. Those who seek gods message have their prayers answered,someone's ego who wants answers we cannot give has no interest to us,except in prayer.
People die,new life is born,that is gods choice,cancer is one way to die. All death brings sadness but we do tend to get over it in time. Maybe God wants us to discover cures for things like cancer,maybe these discoveries will lead to even greater discoveries.
The faith of a Christian is not to question God.

 

[Poetic Justice]

but why would a Christian need to explain to you why we have faith.

I don't necessarily think that at all, however I piped in from a discussion forum aspect.

 

[Exe Gesis]

See from my perspective and I will reassert that this is purely my own opinion and not right or wrong, but you say it's God's plan because that's all you've got. You've got no other factual answers to give people who asks questions like I did because he does not exist in a capacity that can answer these questions.. and from someone looking at it from a pessimistic standpoint, it comes across as a major cop out.



Rather than to focus purely on atrocities, why not bring up the creator as being responsible for things like cancer. Like a sickness in that creation that takes a man away at a younger age from a young family. Why would that be allowed to happen? Is it 'God's plan' to take him away without giving anyone else in the world a detailed view on what he was taking him for? Where is the fairness and reciprocation from 'him' when he wants us to serve and devote our thoughts to him when he cannot give us the courtesy to explain his actions?



Is this all because you've got this profound shelf that's propped up by God that you can store your feelings that you don't want to address? I liken it to a man who ignores the things that bother him for time until he finally explodes... or the shelfs support drops from beneath it allowing all that is being held to fall aprt.

No, I said OTHER people fob it off as "god's plan".
I cannot explain it away either.
LicoriceAllsorts answer was good. Tho your retort to him also opens up the cans of worms then. Just how tricky that question is.
All I can say is "humans cannot grasp the big picture".
All I can do is provide is analogies and examples that might touch on it.

Eg...
A father scolds his young child. The child does not understand/grasp it. He didn't do anything wrong per se. The father wants to teach the kid a lesson, perhaps just to toughen him up to adversity. Or to teach a lesson about something -- like, having desires for pretty toys is lame. The father doesn't articulate reasons exactly, or does so in a very abstract brief way, but the child does not fully grasp understand. Maybe when the child is like 25 and they look back, they start to understand why their father did those things, or, to better grasp the reason why, the more articulated version.

I don't know how atrocities work into the all-powerful creator model. I always thought good and evil were EQUAL power/strength. Why i don't put too much stock in biblical stuff or vouch for christianity per se. Religions and their dogmas are often just humans trying to think thru "why" and painting the answers in their own human understandings.

The ancient Gnostics believed the all-powerful God created Earth and when the Devil was cast down, he gained total dominion of it. That was the grant. So that "could" explain it probably better than Christianity or other religions could.....God is all-powerful and does love you, and as a test, as a competition against the Devil, a side-wager, who reckons humans wouldn't love God back etc....God gives the Devil dominion of the Earth, to test and torture us, and God letting it to be to see just who does rise, who does follow "gnosis" (self-knowledge), the ethereal self, who can see thru the lies of our Earthly existence hoodwinked by the Devil's machinations, and realize the Earth is just a testing ground, a prison of intent, and that there is a lord and god, and live their life toward that goal, freeing their souls from this realm. For all man's/god's good work on Earth, undermining the Devil, the Devil has dominion and gets the upper hand most of the time. We the Star Wars rebels, the Devil the Emporer.

That can work that way. I've always liked the Gnostic religion more than others. Has better explanations and what seem like crazy ideas compared to what we know of religions that borrowed from it and spun and twisted things from it around -- like Christianity did.

 

[Poetic Justice]

Eg...
A father scolds his young child. The child does not understand/grasp it. He didn't do anything wrong per se. The father wants to teach the kid a lesson, perhaps just to toughen him up to adversity. Or to teach a lesson about something -- like, having desires for pretty toys is lame. The father doesn't articulate reasons exactly, or does so in a very abstract brief way, but the child does not fully grasp understand. Maybe when the child is like 25 and they look back, they start to understand why their father did those things, or, to better grasp the reason why, the more articulated version.

The issue I have with this is in the bolded. The childs father has decided this upon his own opinions, not the word of the lord and therefore is irrelevant to the discussion of faith.

who can see thru the lies of our Earthly existence hoodwinked by the Devil's machinations, and realize the Earth is just a testing ground, a prison of intent, and that there is a lord and god, and live their life toward that goal, freeing their souls from this realm.

I'd genuinely love to believe in this though I'm on the side that can't believe it without actual proof.

 

[The Dice Man]

God is a concept by which we measure our pain.

 

[Exe Gesis]

But....to focus on something again.....forget religion. I don't and refuse to go to Church. I refuse to go to bible readings and hangout with born again's. I KNOW that when two or more people come together in the name of Jesus they are a "church", celebrating Jesus etc, and that the light of Jesus is on them etc.

But for me, and I can't alter it, a relationship with God/Jesus is a personal private thing. To me, for me. I am all for, like I am now/here, opening up and trying to get people to re-consider their beliefs, to go out and sincerely discuss with others who have already converted, their stories and all that. But I just can't do the other stuff. It CAN run the risk of getting too cliquey, like religions themselves ended up becoming. Where they ostracize people, start saying who is and isn't good/bad. Etc.

In order to follow the Truth %100, and make sure I'm not infected by outside influences, I personally ensure that I am always still singular, as I can only trust my genuine self. I am never one who deludes oneself, lies to oneself, afraid to see my warts and to burn down things I believe in purely to re-assess what is true or not. I've only always had myself in this life to rely on. And i never bs myself. So I can only trust the process of following truth if I rely on my self.

It's certainly true there are a lot of church-going people who are full of s**t. Aren't genuine believers. Or they're very misguided. Or it's all show. Etc. Not all of them are like that. Not all born again's are like that. Etc. But you can certainly tell the REAL Jesus believers from the general religious person who is religious because that was their upbringing.

My posts today, if you read thru them again....they show nuggets of what a real believer would talk about, how they would articulate things. Stuff like honoring yourself/god, stripping ego, learning to follow the signs, etc.

 

[Exe Gesis]

basically....a real believer preaches GNOSIS. this path of realizing the earth is all bullshit to amuse and distract us. not to say earthly things aren't important or nice. but there's a curtain for sure.

just start focusing on following gnosis, and get better at it, honing skills of intuition, observation, introspection, truth, circumspection, unafraid to strip yourself bare, and start understanding signs.

you will open a communication with your ethereal self/god, and by the name of jesus, that's what this process is all about.