Isn't there some verse about growing uncertain about absolutism and spiritual maturity? Been a while since I read it, but I should probably post it on my "about me" section...
2007-02-23 05:38:01 · 6 answers · asked by Cheshire Cat 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Hmmm... Not what I was thinking, no. It wasn't about testing God, but it was about having reasonable doubt of one's own "perfect knowledge" - which so many people appear to presume these days. Can you at least join me in saying "I am not omniscient?" There is at least one verse that tells of this admission being an indicator of spiritual maturity, but, sad to say, perhaps only one verse and certainly ignored by our dogmatic charismatic peers. Yet for all their bluster, I would not be surprised if I were not more pious in my caution of my own ego than they are in being bombastic. After all, I know all too well the meaning of "pride comes before a fall."
2007-02-24 05:30:03 · update #1
Imacatholic, for being the best answerer in this category, I am disappointed. I expected you would have more insight into my use of language here. Clearly I am not talking about a cultivation of doubt for the sake of doubt alone. How does that come from spiritual maturity? Why would such an idea come from any part of the Bible? If uncertainty is presumed sinful, why did the verse I recall endorse it? I sense you are confusing judging me with my question... Perhaps the answer is in cutting the rest and elaborating on "involuntary doubt." An interesting concept - particularly "Difficulty in overcoming objections connected with the faith (and) anxiety aroused by its obscurity." Please elaborate on these?
2007-02-26 09:36:17 · update #2
Hmm... I'm not doing any thumbs up or down here... Not sure where that came from... At least Imacatholic tried. It's fascinating that we're all selectively overlooking one set of verses for another. You do realize that the good book is fraught with inconsistencies? Well, if you find what I asked for, you'll now be sure to know of one of them.
2007-02-27 16:50:35 · update #3
joshuakane_uk, I'm not so young with so much time to waste. I'm sure the others have been busy too, which is why there isn't time to look for the facts, but just settle for what you have noted down as personally important. Perhaps if I had not thought and read so much I would be happily married and Christian. As it is, every time I go back to that damn book I find yet another criticism saying I'm not good enough because I failed to get married. The "believers" want to say that part is metaphor but that the other parts are not. Vanity, vanity, vanity. The reason why you can't have your cake and eat it too is because once you start eating your beautiful cake, the cake is gone... silly people. It get's tiresome fast.
2007-02-28 04:26:46 · update #4
Read it all again!! Although I would love to see the very FIRST 'old' testament, to see what has been edited out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_testament
2007-02-28 01:04:32 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You sure do like words....but you aren't saying much that matters.
The Torah...is the early part of the Bible...and the Bible as a whole is one complete story, and you don't understand it by picking and choosing a few passages....
But the basic teaching is that God created us, that Adam and Eve disobeyed God and brought sin into the world, and that everyone born after that has inherited that same sinful nature which has earned them condemnation and physical and spiritual death for all eternity. They can't save themselves....they can't earn their salvation...and the only way they can be restored to God the Father is thru His plan of saving them
He sent His Son Jesus to be born of a virgin, but with God the Holy Spirit as His father, and to die for us in our place....He paid the price for our sin. And God's offer is very clear and simple.
He says....(John 3:16) "God so loved the world (that's all of us), that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him should have eternal Life"....and that He who believes not, is condemned already (because they inherited it).
He holds "salvation" out as His gift....but you have a choice ...to take Jesus' offer ...and saying yes, I need Jesus to be my Savior".....when you confess you are a sinner and need Him, God says you are given eternal life and that no man can take you out of his Hand. God saw you needed a Savior and He provided it.
It is up to you whether you choose to listen.
If you want to know more, find a church and ask "Do you believe that the Bible is God's Word and absolutely true?" In the original, it is without error. They can tell you more if you really want to know.
But all that other stuff you are spouting, means nothing.
2007-03-02 15:01:45 · answer #2 · answered by samantha 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
God said in the bible "Lam 3:35 To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High" if anyone has doubt first he/she should turn aside what he thinks is right and bow his/her head onto the Lord because every man has his own knowledge and has his own way of thinking like Paul said in "1Co 6:12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any"
but we need to be careful because there are way that we think is right but that will lead as to perdition
. Pro 14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
2007-02-27 14:48:17 · answer #3 · answered by cath g 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The first thing that crossed my mind was this proverb:
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths." (Proverbs 3:5-6)
I think that relativism is the subject of the parsha that reads, "With ten trials did our ancestors test the Holy One, blessed be He, in the desert, as it is said, 'They have tested Me these ten times and did not hearken to My voice' (Numbers 14:22)."
Where the Jews after the Exodus were constantly trying to do things their way instead of God's way. They were rebelling against the absolute moral standards set by God because they brought with them a lot of the Egyptian ideas of relativism and morality (which, for example, permitted all kinds of relations).
2007-02-24 04:36:46 · answer #4 · answered by DrRJP 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
+ Agnosticism +
Agnosticism assumes a number of forms. In certain cases the agnostic refrains from denying God; instead he postulates the existence of a transcendent being which is incapable of revealing itself, and about which nothing can be said. In other cases, the agnostic makes no judgment about God's existence, declaring it impossible to prove, or even to affirm or deny.
Agnosticism can sometimes include a certain search for God, but it can equally express indifferentism, a flight from the ultimate question of existence, and a sluggish moral conscience. Agnosticism is all too often equivalent to practical atheism.
http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt3sect2chpt1.htm#2127
+ Faith vs Doubt +
The first commandment requires us to nourish and protect our faith with prudence and vigilance, and to reject everything that is opposed to it.
There are various ways of sinning against faith:
+ Voluntary doubt about the faith disregards or refuses to hold as true what God has revealed.
+ Involuntary doubt refers to
. + Hesitation in believing
. + Difficulty in overcoming objections connected with the faith
. + Also anxiety aroused by its obscurity
If deliberately cultivated then doubt can lead to spiritual blindness.
http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt3sect2chpt1.htm#2088
+ With love in Christ.
2007-02-26 07:43:29 · answer #5 · answered by imacatholic2 7 · 1⤊ 5⤋
You answered it yourself. God Bless !!
2007-03-02 14:50:53 · answer #6 · answered by fuzzypetshop 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋