by Sirona 90 Replies latest jw friends
LOVE!!! if we are doing that you have the ingredient that JESUS left us
I agree that love is highly important, a love for divinity, nature, justice, peace, for each other are just a few examples....that too isnt just a Christian concept.
Whatever path we choose to walk it is important we find our higher self, whether that be through a Christ spirit or otherwise is not relevant.
G
But I don't believe you have to be a Christian to experience that - we're all on a journey, some of us can live our lives dedicated 'to the unknown god' as the Greeks whom Paul encountered in Acts. He's looking at our hearts, not so much at what we do.
Sad emo, yes indeed! You don't have to be Christian to experience things like that. I don't see God as the God of the bible though.
Sirona
Do you believe God's (or your "other gods") love can be demanded?
No pagan God has ever demanded anything of me. Gentle pushes, maybe. They accept love if given and they give love back.
It is a shame that your God doesn't see fit to accept all humans.
Sirona
Edited to add - gentle pushes or slaps upside the head LOL
Mouthy,
Thanks for giving your story.
I have experienced profound feelings of peace - a loving presence - a feeling of "it all being OK" too. I just didn't attribute those feelings to Jesus.
I think that the point you made about love is a good one. Love is something that many pagans view as being paramount.....in fact certain traditions aim to treat each other with "perfect love and perfect trust". Also the pagan idea "an it harm none, do as ye will" doesn't mean just doing what you want - it means harming none, not even yourself...and searching out what your Divine Will is.
I don't need to try and convert anyone to Paganism because I do believe that Christians are on the right path FOR THEM and pagans are also on the right path for them.
It just becomes a problem when Christians demand that we all become Christian!
Blessings
Sirona
It just becomes a problem when Christians demand that we all become Christian!
Blessings
That is something I dont think any can accuse me of ...Your right we all walk a differant path >Jesus taught me....Your God taught you I gather... But if we do not have love I dont think we are profitted at all
But I have to add. the thread you started seemed to be ASKING to be converted AM I WRONG???
If I were to find myself amongst a group whom I felt part of 12 months from now, it would be because I had found my spiritual home - something that resounds in my soul and attaches to life itself. I do not know of such a group presently - more perhaps from ignorance than from knowledge - but I cannot follow blindly again - I have done that and it is bad for me!
I haven't logged on here in a day or two......and I am a bit late for making any profound statements for you to contemplate Sirona.....but I was mildly surprised at what Grace just wrote about her experience! Two years ago this month, I had been watching a late-night preacher I like on TV (before I had been back into attending church since DAing from the WTS in October 1999), but he said that we should ASK Jesus to come into our hearts, guide our lives and let the Holy Spirit work on us.
I went to bed and did this exactly as he said (a bit of an "okay lets see if this works' attitude" going on here).....and immediately this warm and beautiful feeling just overtook me....a feeling of complete peace and contentment I had NEVER, EVER experienced ever before. For the record---I had no alcohol in my system....I have maybe one or two sips on Christmas Eve and only once in YEARS when my sister and I got together last August for the first time since 1972. I seldom drink more than two or three sips when I DO "drink", LOL! I just needed to make that clear so that the experience that I had was in no way related to alcohol. I was as surprised as could BE when it happened, and it was a real as could be.
After this happened....I ALSO began to understand scriptures that I had overlooked before, or did not understand when I read them. I began to see a LOT more passages that seemed to leap off the pages at me.....passages that the WTS never covered at the WT study on Sunday. I saw how they would weave together to make certain points MUCH clearer---points that as a CHRISTIAN I needed to (or should have ) known, but due to the WTS total ommission of these points----it ALSO became more clear how cleverly they are pulling the JWs AWAY from the reality that IS Christ. They do not WANT JWs to know, love, appreciate OR understand who Jesus IS and what he SHOULD MEAN to every Christian on earth.
As for my experience that Sunday evening, I did not even realize that I HAD been "born again"......so I was not looking to attach a label to the experience, but I told someone about this and she laughed and said that I indeed...had been born again. I always thought it would be the bells and whistles, fall-on-the-floor and all that....and maybe it IS for others. I can't say. I can only tell what happened to ME. I can't imagine my life WITHOUT Christ in it.....and Sirona, dear....I do not want to rain in your parade or demean your beliefs in any way....but from MY viewpoint---I do not understand ANY religion that not include Jesus.....nor do I need to, I guess!
He has been there all along, and it took ME 64 years to realize this. He died for ALL and it takes recognizing this and acting on it. I was misled and deceived by the WTS for 30 years....I still "believed" in God when I left.....but just didn't know what path to take. He persisted in revealing himself and then I FINALLY saw his hand reaching out to ME, and took hold of it. He is TRULY not far off from each one of us.
hugs,
Annie
But I have to add. the thread you started seemed to be ASKING to be converted AM I WRONG???
Mouthy, I started the thread asking Christians to tell me why I should become Christian. All my life I've met Christians who wanted to convert me so I thought I'd give the Christians a chance and at least listen to what they had to say. Sirona
Sunspot,
Years ago when I hadn't yet become pagan, I attended a Christian church frequented by Born Again Christians.
I learned the idea of asking Jesus, from the heart....and being open....and being repentant for all I'd done wrong.
I tried it. Nothing happened. I tried it again. Nothing happened.
Sirona
