i really do.
when i read the bible... which is beyond rarely.. but none the less, when i do i love who he was. i love the way he loved, i love the way he challenged religious minds, i love the way he lived with conviction... whether i believe he was right is irrelevant to my life as well as my perception of him. him being God or not does not change the love i have for the person he was or the things he did. i have heard so many people say that if he's not God then he's a liar and not someone they would want to follow... i dont understand the logic because from what we can read of him, him as a liar is greater than most of us being as truthful as we can be. the way i see jesus, i know, is very different than most of my christian friends and family.. but i dont feel that its any less. knowing who he was has changed my life.. if seth came to me tomorrow and said he was God i wouldn't love him any different and i wouldn't discount all he has done as my dear friend... he is one of the most amazing people i have ever known and the way he loves is beyond what i feel my heart can grasp... if he believed he was God, i wouldn't give a shit.. to be perfectly honest.
that's how i feel about jesus, if he was a crazy person who thought he was God, but loved with that much intensity, that much conviction, and in that much service.. does it really matter?
jesus can be God, he can not be God... either way when i read for myself about the person he was i admire him and want to learn to love like him. i believe that there are few things that i am deeply convicted about for my life and i dont believe that all in all i live a life of spiritual conviction... but i do respect very highly people who live that way in love.
seth and i have become very different these past three years, there's still a lot we do relate on but a lot that we dont...i respect so much the conviction he has for what he believes and how he balances the truth of what it is he believes with how he loves. i have a handful of christian friends that i respect so much because i can see how they truly love in a way that i believe jesus did... which i think is really hard considering his unfriendly message. its hard to balance the part where i go to hell with the part where you love me without trying to make me like you... if that makes sense... and i have some friends who balance that beautifully.
all this to say that despite the fact that i am not a christian, there are people i know who's lives are impacted by his love everyday and they live it out in a way i can admire and i love who jesus was and am blown away that he had so much conviction for what he believed that it took him to his grave. to impact the world for centuries after your death is an amazing accomplishment and something i believe comes from living a life of greatness. i only hope that the impact he has through his people and people like me who loved him can be for peace and love, not hate and bigotry.
14 comments:
amen amen amen. i love him too. so much.
and yes, it is sad what people have done "in his name". Can you even imagine what it would feel like to be Jesus... watching little puffed up humans running around doing crazy hurtful things "in your name"? murdering, slandering, ostracizing, and breaking the very hearts that he came to love?
I WOULD BE SO PISSED.
You know whats sad is that my husband and I were pushed out of a church because we wanted to show love. Not kidding. We did this skate ministry and refused to shove the bible down kids throat. We told the pastor that we just wanted to show the kids love and be there for them when they needed someone. He was too worried about the numbers (how many kids were being "saved"} to care about them. So he kept pushing us to leave and eventually we had to get out of there.
I feel the same way and not the same way. I think belief and understanding are so complicated. I know I will die without figuring all this stuff out, and I'm okay with it. It seems like you're figuring out what you believe and not just believing what you were told and I whole heartedly stand behind that. It seems you aren't judging and understand where other people are, even though you don't agree with it and I think christian or not you're treating people with respect and love, I can't argue with that.
I agree completely with what Meg said above. Keep seeking, I sure haven't got it all figured out. All your friends that commented make a lot of sense too. xo aunt
props to you for acknowledging your fears and allowing yourself to feel. your situation with your husband is most definitely not the ideal. however, your strength and devotion to love him is beautiful. you've chosen, not to ignore the troubled issues of your relationship, but to exercise humility and to accept him as he truly is – a perfect example of unconditional love.
ian
Jesus said in John 10:30 - "I and the Father are one." Jesus is the son of God and is ONE with the Father. I am a married man, and the bible tells me that when we got married, we became ONE. It says it in Matthew 19:4 - "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female, 'and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." So me and my wife are ONE? yet I am in one place and she is in another? YES!!!! It's very similar with God and Jesus. They are ONE with 2 different functions. God is the Father, Jesus is the son. The son is ONE with God, meaning HE IS ALSO GOD, just not God the father, he is God the son. Jesus' function was to communicate who God is AND also show us that our God is RELATIONAL!! Just as the Father and son are relational, we are to be relational with the father!! There is so much to learn from Jesus, but we need to believe that He is the son of God, believe He is one with the Father, and also believe that God will send his Holy Spirit to live inside us to guide us and make us more like HIM! How can you not see that Jesus was the Son of God and also ONE with the father? He couldn't have done what He did unless He was who He said he was! Did you not know about all the prophesies that came true? Jesus's Death on the corss was predicted 500 years before it happened! We have proof in the scrolls that this was written over 500 years before Jesus lived! Read PSALM 22, all 31 verses, it is the prediction of the cross and everything that happens. How could someone write this before and know this would happen exactly!?! Oh I know how.... GOD!!!!!! And this is just 1 of 300 prophesies that have come true. Jesus is the Son of God, and if you believe that, and pray TO THE FATHER through the Son, (When you pray to God you pray to Him in the NAME OF JESUS) then the Lord will hear you and save you through what His son did on the cross! He paid the penalty for the sins of all who would put their trust in Him! If you don't put your faith in Him, then your sins aren't forgiven and you will be punished for them when you die. We all deserve this punishment, because all have sinned. But God made a way to be Saved. I would encourage you to pray to the Lord and ask Him to save you through the work Jesus did on the cross. He wants to have a relationship with you!! It's soo awesome! When you pray to God in the name of Jesus and ask Him to give you His holy spirit, He will do it! You will have God living in you! And He will change you, and guide you, and speak to you, and SAVE you from your sins! I am praying for you. And if you ever want to talk more about it, I would love to. Being in Love with God is the best thing ever. Praying For You!!!!!
-Stephen
That is so beautiful what you said Stephen. I believe to that Jesus is one with God. That he is the Son of God, the intermediate between us and the Lord. We pray to the Holy Father in the name of Jesus Christ.
During His life, Jesus was always truthful, humble even though He held such power, and His ultimate sacrifice and show of humility and love for us, was the cruxifiction.
Many people believe that Jesus was a great teacher and/or prophet. But logically, this cannot be, because Jesus said that He was the Son of God. So this will only conclude, that Jesus was either someone evil and a liar, someone who is crazy; but He could not be a "good teacher".
Also consider all of the miracles that Jesus created. These were proof that He came from Divinity and was granted such authority on earth. His cruxifiction was complete humility. Being GOD, he allowed to be cruxified in order to save those who cruxified Him. I believe He was truly who He says He was. But the point, being is that many people take the teachings of the Lord because of their good morals and consider Jesus a good teacher. But I believe the truth is that He is the Son of God. Pray to Him, and He will show you.
I am still a growing Christian, I am a sinner, but I am working to learn to Love like Jesus. My boyfriend says He does not believe in God yet I can see that he is changing. His heart is softening. I pray every night that He will allow Jesus into his heart. I know He will and soon my bf and I can have a healthy Christian marriage. But I pray for you as well that you come into understanding with Jesus and who He was. I know that it is very complicated, because God is just so much SO GREAT that we can hardly understand so many things. But there is so much within the Bible that is true and that has been prooven true. So continue reading and learning and praying for God to guide you.
<3 you
Amen
Amen!
Just stumbled across your blog and thought i would show some love.. I to am on a journey towards Jesus and I love him Oh so much!
Check out Matthew 7.7 - one of my many fav verses at the mo
Pass by my blog sometime, Follow me, Grow with me...
RhiRhi
if u love me u wil obey me...-Jesus. being n love is a feeling and we have that feeling towards god man things that are good...ect. but to love somone is an action.. "no greater love has a man than to lay down his life for his frend"... that is an action. we may feel love toward Jesus and that is beautiful but to show Him love is another story.. it is a way of life a series of actions not they way we feel about who he is was and what he did.. if u want to kno if He is God or not believe Him, ask Him and believe Him.. u wil kno from the source and not from any man..
I think you are on the right track Artriece
I lived most of my life thinking that I was following Jesus, but looking back I can see that my goals were foremost.
Four years ago I went through a very hard time, it was like all of my sins were revealed to me,and I could also sense that God was no longer close to me, it was horrible.I later found out that this was "conviction of sin" and is a known method of the Holy Spirit for conversion. I went through this for two years, the worst years of my life.
Through Bible study, I came to the decision to get baptised (even though I had been baptised as a child). I made the decision to follow Jesus for the rest of my life . My wife baptised me in the ocean.
Since then, Jesus has relieved me from all ties to alcohol, and the Holy Spirit has returned to me, thank GOD.
God has also moved my wife and I to adopt a young boy that had post traumatic stress. He is now my son. Without going through my own fears , I would not have been able to help him with his.
God is truly amazing, he can even use bad for good. Praise be to Jesus.
Dear Skylana,
Jesus loves you too - and He hasn't been dead for centuries - for on the third day after His death he rose again, defeating death. He is the first born of the dead. More than 500 witnesses saw Him in Jerusalem, he returned to speak with His disciples, and He was seen rising from the Mount of Olives as on a cloud. The angels who stood by his disciples that day said to them "...Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." From Acts 1:11
He ascended bodily, and He sits at the right hand of the Father - but He did not leave us alone. He sent the helper He promised, the Holy Spirit with whom we Believers, His Church and betrothed, are baptized. That Spirit is God, is Jesus, and that is what He accomplished. God inside of us - an intimate relationship there can be no parallel for. When you see the love of Christ in your Christian friends, it is literally His love you see. It is He who transforms them, they are new creations in Christ!
There is a peril in loving Him but not knowing Him. To truly love someone you have to spend time with them. You have to listen to them as well as speak to them. You have to share with them. You cannot grow to love someone based on your friends testimony of who they are, you need to get to know them yourself.
When Jesus returns bodily, as He promises He will, There will be many who will say to Him ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Jesus is speaking here not to sinners who did not know him, but to people who professed to love Him - but whom He never knew - because they never really knew Him.
He loves you Skylana. Speak to Him. He's real, He's done so much in my life, in the life of family... it is absolutely amazing. You don't want to be left out of this, and He doesn't want to leave you out. Whoever believes and calls on the name of the Lord and is baptized Shall be Saved!
Amen, we love you Lord Jesus!
lawlessness means doing evil; continually sinning. eg balaam was a prophet.God has a calling on him; whoever he bless is blessed and whoever he curse is cursed. What power balaam has!
king balak knew this and bribed baalam to hurt the Israelites; but God stopped him.
But balaam loves the money/gold; so he taught balak to trap God's people: make them sin with the heathen women, commit sexual immorality, and bow down to other gods. balaam knew God, he knew God will judge sins; so he trapped the Israelites; and brought them under God's judgement. he hurt God; he destroyed God's people.
The fruit of his life was evil. God does not change his calling.
There r ministers who teach same sex union is ok; it is not, their teaching will destroy many. Some of them may also practise same sex unions.
The fruit of their lives are evil. Though they have God's power and annointing in their ministry; but they do evil and spread evil.
So the Lord will say to them, "depart from Me,I never knew u, u doers of iniquity/lawlessness."
"Whoever continue to sin does not know God; whoever does what is right belongs to God."
"No child of God keeps sinning, because God's nature is in him."
I am young and I am often told I have a mind obove my age, this is irrelivant, I have philosophed many times and my only answer is Jesus. I have been born into a cristian family but the ignorance of childhood plagued me for a bit letting me oversee many of my faults,
In the short version
I had doubts
However I considered science, I love science it is a fun subject at school, I looked at evolution but then released that this "proof" means that all humans are related, hang on... The bible also says this....
Then I looked at the garden of Eden, a time where dinosaurs and things thrived and I released actully after sin of man perhaps there was a need for minor evolution among creatures, such as humans teeth changing shape, makes sense, but how do I know the bible is the correct religion? There are others such as judaduism and muslims who believe the same thing.
So I looked at history, another very fun subject at school and actully the bible is a perfect historical reference of ancient times, it explains the rise and fall of Rome, and the babilonians and the tribes of is real, whereas the Koran dosnt ( the Muslim holy book) and the Torah scroll is incomplete and has much missing.
Then I studied my bible for further reference and I found myself drawn to the birth of Jesus, and actully if the other 2 Theories are correct ( which I have proven so) then Jesus is related sortoff to Mary, and if all humans are related to each other it means Jesus is a blood relative to all of us, so when the bible says the holy spirit is within you it means quite littrally too, found this amazing! Really amazing it has opened my eyes to see the true beauty of this planet,
I also looked at the life of Jesus and weather or not your religious he is an amazing person! He stood up to the most powerful empire the world has ever known, turned water to wine, saved, healed and fed hundreds of thousands!
Then I read the bit where humans think there cocky and kill Jesus, I finally understood what happened, and I cried sook hard. Then I saw this website and rejoced, Jesus is my savour and you guys have helped prove this thank you! :)
I am young and I am often told I have a mind obove my age, this is irrelivant, I have philosophed many times and my only answer is Jesus. I have been born into a cristian family but the ignorance of childhood plagued me for a bit letting me oversee many of my faults,
In the short version
I had doubts
However I considered science, I love science it is a fun subject at school, I looked at evolution but then released that this "proof" means that all humans are related, hang on... The bible also says this....
Then I looked at the garden of Eden, a time where dinosaurs and things thrived and I released actully after sin of man perhaps there was a need for minor evolution among creatures, such as humans teeth changing shape, makes sense, but how do I know the bible is the correct religion? There are others such as judaduism and muslims who believe the same thing.
So I looked at history, another very fun subject at school and actully the bible is a perfect historical reference of ancient times, it explains the rise and fall of Rome, and the babilonians and the tribes of is real, whereas the Koran dosnt ( the Muslim holy book) and the Torah scroll is incomplete and has much missing.
Then I studied my bible for further reference and I found myself drawn to the birth of Jesus, and actully if the other 2 Theories are correct ( which I have proven so) then Jesus is related sortoff to Mary, and if all humans are related to each other it means Jesus is a blood relative to all of us, so when the bible says the holy spirit is within you it means quite littrally too, found this amazing! Really amazing it has opened my eyes to see the true beauty of this planet,
I also looked at the life of Jesus and weather or not your religious he is an amazing person! He stood up to the most powerful empire the world has ever known, turned water to wine, saved, healed and fed hundreds of thousands!
Then I read the bit where humans think there cocky and kill Jesus, I finally understood what happened, and I cried sook hard. Then I saw this website and rejoced, Jesus is my savour and you guys have helped prove this thank you! :)
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