(no subject)
I've taken to going to the Bible studies that happen here. Here, New College, ranked number nine for "Students Ignore God on a Regular Basis."
Tonight, there was a girl there, who was Jewish(?) I don't know, but she didn't agree with some things being said, namely that Christ is the only way for man to know God. She felt that God is in every person, inherently, whether they know Jesus, or any religious figure at all. And everyone else began explaining Christianity to her. Which, I guess, says we're all imperfect, and Christ was and is God's only plan, the only way to form a link between God's Perfection and our imperfection. When they talked, they said 'we', and the girl asked, "Is that what you all believe?" One person said yes.
And what does that mean for me? I don't know. Part of what we studied was saying how no matter how little you have, if you give your life to God, He gives you double of what you could ever need. When discussing the point of that, it was concluded that you recieve more happiness than you can contain, so that you might give it to others. One kid said he needs to love Jesus so that he can love every person in the world as much as he loves himself, and that's what Christianity is to him. That, is right for me. Using the Bible and many of the other practices of Christianity, is right for me. I haven't concluded whether Jesus Christ is my personal savior. But I know He is not right for everyone. I know that completely and fully, because no God that I can believe in would make only one path to Himself. I believe in every religion. Even atheism is just a special path that God uses to reach people who need that path to find Him, though they do not name what they find 'God.' That's what I believe.
It sounds more like what that girl was saying. She said she wakes up every morning and rejoices in God, and that she was born with God in her, as was every person. Christianity, I learned tonight, says God is only within you when you have accepted Christ. Should I have known this? Probably.
I don't know. I like these people, and I love reading and evaluating the Bible. We spent five minutes discussing the difference between "Priest" and "Minister." It was like being back in Mr. Williams' class. I leave wanting to be a better person, and having some vague idea how to do it. The feeling fades, but going to multiple meetings a week, they begin to bleed into each other, and I feel more hope and love coming into me from the world, and entering the world from me. I believe in God's Will and want to be more open to it, more responsive to it in my life and the choices I make. "Thy will be done," I believe that. I'm not going to stop going. That would be ridiculous. But it isn't exactly what I want. I don't want to be spoken for as part of a group. I've never believed that the religion of any two people should be identical. I am okay with the differences between my beliefs and theirs, though, because they all at least agreed that God wants us to be concerned with our own hearts, and not the hearts of others. One person said, in response to the girl's beliefs, that he "Knew her beliefs were not right for him, but loved her fully and completely despite it, and knew it was not his concern." That God wants it that way.
We talked about the intangibility of the Holy Spirit, and the uncertainty of such an abstract concept. From what I gathered, they do not feel the Holy Spirit resides in everyone. I've always felt the most drawn to the Holy Spirit, of any of the three points of Christianity. To me, it makes the most sense. But, to me, it's the inherent beauty and goodness that resides in all living things. All existence, really. Think, "Colors of the Wind." But anyways, I love that, and it's central and holy to my idea of God, that God resides as the Holy Spirit in all things. That sometimes, it gets clouded over, but until you reject it entirely, reject life, it is in you, and you are holy for it. And I guess that's also not what Christianity says.
But what can you do? It's a big, beautiful, world. No one denies that.
Tonight, there was a girl there, who was Jewish(?) I don't know, but she didn't agree with some things being said, namely that Christ is the only way for man to know God. She felt that God is in every person, inherently, whether they know Jesus, or any religious figure at all. And everyone else began explaining Christianity to her. Which, I guess, says we're all imperfect, and Christ was and is God's only plan, the only way to form a link between God's Perfection and our imperfection. When they talked, they said 'we', and the girl asked, "Is that what you all believe?" One person said yes.
And what does that mean for me? I don't know. Part of what we studied was saying how no matter how little you have, if you give your life to God, He gives you double of what you could ever need. When discussing the point of that, it was concluded that you recieve more happiness than you can contain, so that you might give it to others. One kid said he needs to love Jesus so that he can love every person in the world as much as he loves himself, and that's what Christianity is to him. That, is right for me. Using the Bible and many of the other practices of Christianity, is right for me. I haven't concluded whether Jesus Christ is my personal savior. But I know He is not right for everyone. I know that completely and fully, because no God that I can believe in would make only one path to Himself. I believe in every religion. Even atheism is just a special path that God uses to reach people who need that path to find Him, though they do not name what they find 'God.' That's what I believe.
It sounds more like what that girl was saying. She said she wakes up every morning and rejoices in God, and that she was born with God in her, as was every person. Christianity, I learned tonight, says God is only within you when you have accepted Christ. Should I have known this? Probably.
I don't know. I like these people, and I love reading and evaluating the Bible. We spent five minutes discussing the difference between "Priest" and "Minister." It was like being back in Mr. Williams' class. I leave wanting to be a better person, and having some vague idea how to do it. The feeling fades, but going to multiple meetings a week, they begin to bleed into each other, and I feel more hope and love coming into me from the world, and entering the world from me. I believe in God's Will and want to be more open to it, more responsive to it in my life and the choices I make. "Thy will be done," I believe that. I'm not going to stop going. That would be ridiculous. But it isn't exactly what I want. I don't want to be spoken for as part of a group. I've never believed that the religion of any two people should be identical. I am okay with the differences between my beliefs and theirs, though, because they all at least agreed that God wants us to be concerned with our own hearts, and not the hearts of others. One person said, in response to the girl's beliefs, that he "Knew her beliefs were not right for him, but loved her fully and completely despite it, and knew it was not his concern." That God wants it that way.
We talked about the intangibility of the Holy Spirit, and the uncertainty of such an abstract concept. From what I gathered, they do not feel the Holy Spirit resides in everyone. I've always felt the most drawn to the Holy Spirit, of any of the three points of Christianity. To me, it makes the most sense. But, to me, it's the inherent beauty and goodness that resides in all living things. All existence, really. Think, "Colors of the Wind." But anyways, I love that, and it's central and holy to my idea of God, that God resides as the Holy Spirit in all things. That sometimes, it gets clouded over, but until you reject it entirely, reject life, it is in you, and you are holy for it. And I guess that's also not what Christianity says.
But what can you do? It's a big, beautiful, world. No one denies that.