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First of all I think I ought to clarify something. By ungodly creature I mean us , all of us. Our flesh, our sick hearts. I didn’t mean it as an attack to anyone. I’m probably the worst person on here, when it comes to sin. Another thing to clarify that was brought to my attention. My avatar. It’s a spin on the Triumph logo. in the 60’s Triumph racers had trouble with their bikes. I’m an avid motorcyclist and triumph fan. It was the only avatar size pic I could find in my cluttered picture folder.
Poppyseed, you asked so i’ll give my opinion. I think it’s wrong to look inward for God. I don’t think you’ll find Him there. I don’t believe that any of us have any righteousness in us ourselves. I agree that when were born again, the old dies and we become new creatures. What I would call sactification, but there’s nothing in me that is Godly apart form the spirit, But that would be God and not me. It sounds Deepak Chopra esque to look into ourselves to find God, I don’t think it’s right and could become an Idol for us. That’s what I think.
Ray,
I’m not Mormon, I was for about 20 years, so your right there. I didn’t mean to Chastise anyone though, I was sharing scripture with someone who was struggling to know what faith is. Valolel told me not to quote scripture, so I replied. For me scripture is the best place to look for answers. I do use the bible as my guide and believe it to be the infallible word of God. I haven’t addressed many topics that could spark doctrinal debates about what’s right and what’s wrong simply because this isn’t the forum for it. This forum is for people struggling with their LDS faith right? Well I struggled with my faith and found something that helped. I’m trying to help others. I’m not saying that everyone has to leave the LDS church I really don’t think they do. For me it seemed the right thing to do, so I did. But if someone is struggling with faith, I believe they need focus on finding who our faith should be in – JESUS
I don’t agree with many things about the LDS church, and I haven’t addressed those here, when I’ve found a topic I though I could help on I did. And I believe I’ve done so in a way that doesn’t violate the rules of this site. Stay LDS, I don’t care what people call themselves, I just want to help others come to a saving knowledge of Jesus. For me I didn’t have that. I’m sure there are people here that don’t know if they have that. So ban me if you want, I don’t see where I’ve violated the rules.
Gratitude is a dangerous area for a believer. We should be thankful yes, but if turn our gratitude into a payment for grace whether it be keeping commandments or paying tithes, it is no longer grace. The correct “payment” for grace, is faith in future grace. The last two lines are fantastic though, praise God.
Quote:In general, the people in this community are very familiar with scripture J-Pip. We don’t tend to need a lot of quotes recited. You’ve posted similar advice elsewhere in the form of Bible quotes. We all have a copy of the Bible. What can you share from your experience and your personal journey of faith? Have you struggled with faith and found a way to recapture those feelings of the Spirit by seeing things from a different and new perspective? That is what really helps us here in our community — that sharing.
What would you say to someone who struggles with the existence of God, or that it is important to have faith? Simply saying “try harder” or “just do it” doesn’t really satisfy most concerns. Those answers are obvious to someone blessed with the spiritual gift of faith. They are irritating answers to people who are struggling. It ends up sounding like “you don’t know ’cause you didn’t try.” When in fact many that come here have given their all for that experience of confirmation so often talked about in the Church.
I found it interesting that No one mentioned Hebrews 11:1 when someone is asking what faith is. What better answer could someone give than the definition of faith in God’s inspired word. My knowledge and advice isn’t going to be better than the word of God. Our own thoughts or feelings are not what we should use for guidance since ” the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked” “but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.” (oops more scripture references)
Why search for Godly things in an ungodly creature?
Read Hebrews chapter 11. It starts out with the definition of faith. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the proof of things not seen. The author of Hebrews goes on to state that it’s by faith that we understand that God created the universe, we don’t know how he did it, but we see things in creation and we “know” that God did it. All the examples of faith that follow pretty much describe faith as being trust. I think Valoel put it pretty well here as well:
Valoel wrote:
On a more serious note, I think we run into major language problems in English when using one word “Faith” to describe so many complex thoughts and feelings. I’ve experienced something similar in my journey. I feel like my faith (confidence) has increased a lot in the past couple years. It gives me much more faith (hope) in the goodness and mercy of God. It gives me more faith (will, focus) to move forward along my journey, even though I had to sacrifice my attachment to feeling like I had real faith (understanding in an intellectual sense) in the nature and characteristics of the divine.Faith is what it’s all about. Heb 11: says it’s impossible to please God without faith. The Bible teaches that it’s by faith that we have eternal life. But faith has to be in something, faith has to have an object. Jesus Christ should be that object. One of the problems I feel the LDS church has is that it’s doctrines promote faith in the church and not in Jesus, that Jesus is just a part of the process. I think Jesus is the only part of the process. Another topic to consider with faith is what Paul teaches in Ephesians 2:8-9. By grace we are saved through faith, not by any doing of our own- it’s a gift from God, not obtained by any works. We can’t earn faith or salvation, it’s given to us.
Heber, as I read your first post I felt I should point something out. You listed your priorities. By a worldly standard these are very good, but God should be first. It is because of Him that we are, and that we have a family to love. I’ve been attending several different churches lately, today a pastor was talking about idols, that they are anything that we give more importance to than God. Family can become an idol for many of us, I don’t know you or what you meant when you typed that, but it appears you may have your priorities mixed up. Trust in God first, he will provide all the rest.
