Friday, September 14, 2012
Hopelessness.. the elephant in the room
Hope seems lost in so many ways.. ppl live in denial on so many levels these days because disappointment is overwhelming in a society wrought with sin.. hopelessness is the elephant in the room that positive thought refuses to address.. I attended a Bible study on Hope recently.. no one showed up but me and the teacher... It's like 90% of the ppl today, even in the church, have been hit by some betrayal or disappointment or failure.. they look around and see it in the lives of most of the ppl sitting in the pews beside them or living under the same roof with them.. and hope of a better life seems so out of reach and unrealistic... how do we bridge that gap with more than words?.. in a way that stirs hope to rise up within ppl rather than something we beat them over the head with and condemn them for not feeling?.. we need revelation.. God has a way, an answer, a miracle, a something to make Hope a dominating force in our hearts and lives. When enuff of us begin to make it a passionate and personal quest, He will open our eyes and our hearts and our lives to live in it and to share it...
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Thoughts from a College Age Friend...
ReplyDelete"You know, I felt this way very powerfully for a while.
And then I stepped back and reexamined my ideas of right/wrong, the personality of what god I could fathom loving, and...
I realized I was so much happier and had so much more hope by aligning most of my beliefs with Humanism. Or maybe not even that. More like just valuing life for being life, in any form, and being okay with it ending at any time. Enjoying and treasuring the people, animals, food, and experiences that I encounter without relying on the idea that it has eternal weight.
I know you're probably not open to such reevaluations, but I personally just can't deal with the lack of answers and the immensity of hopelessness and fear I was finding in christianity. =/
I personally find hope lies in getting to know people and understand them, to love the ones you can and try to point the ones that are dangerous to you in better direction.
I could be wrong and I could wake up after I die in a bad situation, but...I can't bring myself to believe things I don't just out of fear of that happening."
wow, I love your honesty and the thought you have put into your search.. thanks for sharing this with me so openly. Yes, I can relate to much of what you have said.. but the thing for me is that the Christianity I see in the world today, is so far removed from the Christ I see in Scripture.. somehow there has been a great disconnect among his Church.. much like when he was challenging church leadership and their form of godliness back in the day.. I know Christ and his teachings are the answer.. I think ppl and organizations have drifted from Truth.
ReplyDeleteChurch has become so polished and a power play.. pastors are so hung up on statistics and techniques that it's more a ministry of manipulation than relationship. I miss the days when people moved with such depth and freedom to hear and express what God was speaking directly to you.. I want to see that again, even if I only get to watch it happen among other ppl, but with the climate of the church so business minded in how it handles ppl.. I feel so hopeless and helpless that I will ever get to see it again. I miss being deep in the presence and move of God.
Friend:
ReplyDeleteThe church certainly has gotten very convoluted. I feel so very uncomfortable even walking into a church these days -- and even more so when near worship songs. I feel so much insincerity in the air that it's sickening.
I do believe that the message of love, healing, and non-discriminate acceptance that Christ is written as portraying is incredible and ideal for making a kind society. The part that gets me is things like the supposed existence of hell, the plagues and the flood god sent, and the instance of Ananias and Sapphira being struck down for lying, even in the new testament.
Not that I want to start debates, I just want to put out there the series of facts that have contributed to my questioning.
It seems like much of god's behavior boils down to...bad parenting, almost. He has different standards for his behavior than for his children's, has punished out of wrath rather than calm explanation and discipline, and by using himself and his word as a standard of perfection, he makes the largest "it's wrong because I said so" claim ever.
I mean, all of these things could be a result of mistranslation. But if that much of the Bible is misleading, it's hard to take any of it on faith. =/
And I do worry sometimes when I have thoughts like this that I might be so offensive to god if he does exist as described in the Bible and I fear for my safety. But then I realize that if eternal damnation is a real thing, I would never be able to look the god that allowed it to happen in the eye....
Friend:
ReplyDeleteOh - on the bright side though, I do feel a kind of life/energy/interconnectedness that I can virtually see. Light and vibrations that connect me to different things across the planet and universe. It sounds so hokey to describe but it's such a tangible presence in my daily life that I've begun to think it's normal. o.o
Me:
ReplyDeleteThat interconnectedness is merely a keen discernment that there is a real and active spiritual realm that supersedes all physical law and connects the universe and heavens and all that is. Much of what you have said is understandable, and the error is true that you have described, but the error lies in the failures of ppl rather than of God. He is complex, but only requires the simplest faith from us. It's like thinking back to when you were a kid and all the complexities of life and the responsibility of adulthood were beyond your comprehension.. as it should be for a child.. and yet there was a trust to obey those who claimed to love you. It is that child-like faith that is necessary for followers of Christ.. there is so much to know beyond what is in the Bible.. it is merely a temporary/noncomprehensive handbook until we enter that spiritual world and better grasp the complex workings of right and wrong and why. It boils down to whether or not you believe that God is good and that he loves you.. not like earthly parents or people.. but a perfect love, a perfect Father who comforts you and yet disciplines you to keep you from hurting yourself or someone else (including God). He is emotional.. he feels.. which really bugs me when these ppl teach that we are to disregard our feelings. Feelings are key to many things. We are not to let our feelings control our behavior.. we are to be self-controlled.. we are to react according to God's standards rather than how we feel. Think of all the times you have done the right thing, even though you didn't feel like it. But after the fact, your feelings were very positive about it.
Me:
ReplyDeleteVery seldom does God say.. do something because I said so. He often explains why we are to do something or not do something in the Bible.. sometimes he says, that he will explain later or that you are not ready for the explanation yet.. but faith is required only because what is being fulfilled in the earth at this time is merely a chapter of eternity and our finite minds aren't able to deal with the whole picture. But one day, God says we will enter into something, an era, where we will be in his direct presence and everything will make sense. That is the trust and faith that is required of us for now. At least that's my understanding of it.
Friend:
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you can find hope in what you believe iin. I personally can't find faith in myself adequate to allow me to trust a bigger picture more than my own comprehension. As you said, we are not to let emotions control us but to be self-controlled - and all my self-control stems from the logic i can fathom. So...yeah. <=)
Me:
ReplyDeleteKnowing that ppl do evil things to ppl.. how do you think a loving and kind God should respond to protect the innocent and the victim?
Friend:
ReplyDeleteWhen you realize that most people that do evil things do it out of misunderstanding or brokenness resulting from either biological or psychological damage/malfunctions, you -- or least I -- have no desire or right to condemn someone based on evil actions.
If I was in god's shoes, I would design a series of worlds with levels of complexity that vary - and whenever someone becomes harmful in one world, you would pluck them from it and place them in a more simple world where they would have the chance to 1. have a new childhood devoid of any abuse they may have suffered. and 2. they would be able to learn more directly the effects of their actions on other people.
I actually think some aspects of reincarnation make sense both philosophically and physically. Since matter and energy are conserved, why not consciousness? What if our spirits mingle and are recycled to those near us when we die and we begin to experience the world from another person's perspective -- to walk a mile literally in their shoes?
In any case, I can never, ever, ever conceive of the possibility that people would be punished permanently for actions taken in the limited time frame we spend on earth. That would be like failing all college classes you ever take on account of missing one question on your first exam. It's bs. I couldn't love a god that operated like that. Nor could I believe that such a god would portray himself as loving and hold such a philosophy.
Friend:
ReplyDeleteAnd for all the arguments of "bigger picture" and not understanding the universal significance of the "weight of sin", I'm sorry but I can only purely and simply call BS. I would never, ever condemn something I created regardless of how violent or nasty it was. I would make a safe room for it full of flowers or whatever it liked and let it stay there, away from all other creatures, until either it changed or time ended.
Me:
ReplyDeleteWhat if all the worlds you placed that person in were exhausted and there was no where else to put them?
Friend:
ReplyDeleteThen I wouldn't be an all powerful god and the conditions of being unfair would be more understandable. But the god of the Bible is described as Almighty, All-knowing, All-powerful, and loving. Those can't all coincide with a god that would let people end up in hell. =/
Me:
ReplyDeleteHe cannot control freewill... so when someone continues to choose to hurt others or to disrupt the peaceful loving world God desires for us.. how should he deal with that person.. a being whose spirit exists eternally?
Friend:
ReplyDeleteLike I said, I would think an all powerful god, given the infinite universe we live in, could find a little pleasant planet with no other inhabitants for every truly poisonous, doomed person that may exist.
Though I still think no-one is that lost. People almost always do what they think is best in some sense, even if it's selfish motivation or something. Even Hitler was not pure evil. He was broken and sad and had a vision that he thought would help the world, albeit misguided.
Anyway, I think both of us simply have different philosophies. We'll see how things work out on the flip side. =)
Me:
ReplyDeleteSerial killers and serial rapists are plentiful in the world... some ppl live selfishly because they dont care who gets hurt as long as they feel good.. thats the risk of giving someone the freedom to choose.. they may choose to call such evil good.
Friend:
ReplyDeleteThey don't care because they've either been wrong and feel entitled to such selfishness or they don't realize what they're doing. Or - it also makes sense if you think of humans as animals instead. =P Which I know goes against your beliefs too, but...it's certainly less depressing than imagine the possibility that there could be truly corrupt creatures. If instead you view things as brutal circle-of-life sort of things, and the only thing that makes humans have some chance at leaving that cycle is our ability to communicate more intricately with eachother.
Again though, I think "we'll see" is the only conclusion this discussion can come to. ^^' I've thought at great length about this and only occasionally find an aspect I haven't examined.
Friend:
ReplyDeleteI simply hope for the best and accept the worst as possible, and try to view it as understandable or forgivable in the scope of eternity.
Me:
ReplyDelete.. but a good and loving God knows that real Love cannot be forced .. it is a choice.. it was a risk he chose to take.. to let his children whom he loved be free to love him or to reject him. He didnt want robots or pets.. he wanted family to share his kingdom and love with.
Friend:
ReplyDeleteYes, I'm familiar with that platitude. But nowhere in free choice is the idea of hell a necessity. Poisonous people's souls could be exiled to a place of solitude and comfort instead of torture. People that do mean things are most likely already in a great deal of pain. There's no reason to further condemn them.