What I believe...I think
Today has been a bit of a stressful day for me on an unusual level. I've been rather struggling with what I believe specifically.
I believe in God. I believe that Jesus was the son of God and died for our sins 'cause he's awesome like that. I believe that God created everything, and loves us more than we could ever possibly imagine. But from there, what? What are -my- specific beliefs? From listening to two pastors today, I found that I am rather in disagreement with some of what they say.
Too many Christians nowadays undermine our own free will, in my opinion. The whole POINT of Jesus dying for us was free will.
I do not think that God interferes as much in our everyday lives as people think. God gave us EVERYTHING, yes, but he doesn't script everything for us. God already knows what is going to happen, so everything is going to work to his advantage, obviously, but we still make our choices within that plan. God knows what decisions we are going to make before we make them, so he puts us where we are needed. Everything we do is OUR decision. God never has, and never will, force us to decide something.
God gave us our gifts. He gave us our intelligence, our talents, our desires...but it's up to US what we do with them. I could be extremely intelligent. But I might grow up to be a garbage man. It would be my choice. It would be a waste, but it would be my choice nonetheless. God gives us those oppurtunities, though.
So, basically, I do not think that a prayer like "God, help me have more time to study for math" get's a whole lot of attention from God. We should be in control of our own lives enough to make time. God isn't going to make time for us, unless of course it's something he needs for us to do.
So, when we accomplish something, we thank God. And duly so. God gave us our talents, our skills, and provided a good deal of the oppurtunities we have, but it was also because of OUR hard work, OUR dedication, OUR perserverance. God gave us all of those, too, but they are still ours.
God does a lot, but he lets a lot of stuff run on its own, I think. Everything will work out exactly as he wants it to, of course, but I think that some things are free of his immediate influence. There are miracles, there are influences, but not quite as often as people think, I believe.
I'm feeling rather agitated, so I'm gonna stop now.
I believe in God. I believe that Jesus was the son of God and died for our sins 'cause he's awesome like that. I believe that God created everything, and loves us more than we could ever possibly imagine. But from there, what? What are -my- specific beliefs? From listening to two pastors today, I found that I am rather in disagreement with some of what they say.
Too many Christians nowadays undermine our own free will, in my opinion. The whole POINT of Jesus dying for us was free will.
I do not think that God interferes as much in our everyday lives as people think. God gave us EVERYTHING, yes, but he doesn't script everything for us. God already knows what is going to happen, so everything is going to work to his advantage, obviously, but we still make our choices within that plan. God knows what decisions we are going to make before we make them, so he puts us where we are needed. Everything we do is OUR decision. God never has, and never will, force us to decide something.
God gave us our gifts. He gave us our intelligence, our talents, our desires...but it's up to US what we do with them. I could be extremely intelligent. But I might grow up to be a garbage man. It would be my choice. It would be a waste, but it would be my choice nonetheless. God gives us those oppurtunities, though.
So, basically, I do not think that a prayer like "God, help me have more time to study for math" get's a whole lot of attention from God. We should be in control of our own lives enough to make time. God isn't going to make time for us, unless of course it's something he needs for us to do.
So, when we accomplish something, we thank God. And duly so. God gave us our talents, our skills, and provided a good deal of the oppurtunities we have, but it was also because of OUR hard work, OUR dedication, OUR perserverance. God gave us all of those, too, but they are still ours.
God does a lot, but he lets a lot of stuff run on its own, I think. Everything will work out exactly as he wants it to, of course, but I think that some things are free of his immediate influence. There are miracles, there are influences, but not quite as often as people think, I believe.
I'm feeling rather agitated, so I'm gonna stop now.