" even deep down right in there is nothing, but emptiness & darkness"
How does this quote and feelings like these contrast with what true believers in Jesus Christ have experienced for 2000 years?
2007-12-07 17:33:34 · 13 answers · asked by realchurchhistorian 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
+PAX
It may be someone going through the dark night of the soul in which case they need all our prayers love and support that we can muster!
Merry Christmas,
j
2007-12-07 17:46:33 · answer #1 · answered by teresa_benedicta_of_the_cross 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋
It's easy to have a great superficial relationship with Jesus. You just imagine Jesus walking beside you, sharing love and approval. But that's not the real Jesus. At some point, the relationship needs to go deeper, to an unfamiliar level.
The great Christian mystics have reported something often called the "dark night of the soul". After years of immersing themselves meditatively in the mystery of God, they suddenly hit a metaphysical wall. Where they sought fulfilment, there is only a profound, empty silence. It is quite frightening for someone who has felt something of the consolation of God and wished only to go deeper, to suddenly find nothing there. It is the beginning of a realization that God is far vaster and fundamental than our tiny minds have ever imagined.
A few make it to the other side of the mystery. Many never progress beyond the darkness. And the vast majority of Christians never get anywhere close to this state. Their sense of the absence of God is trivial, like misplacing your wallet. The real thing is spiritually terrifying because up until then, the seeker has genuinely felt the presence of God, and now only a void. They persist despite their distress, hoping eventually to achieve that ultimate ecstatic state, but while it's going on, prayer and meditation are a trial.
2007-12-08 02:13:21 · answer #2 · answered by skepsis 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yes
those who experience mystical closeness to Jesus often find the lows of the spiritual blahs that everyone gets to be all but unbearable and dark in the light of the intense"Tabor Experience"
Mother teresa also had "Dark Night of the Soul"( described by St. John of the Cross) that some privileged saints experience as "drinking from the cup" of dark suffering (My God,My God, why have you forsaken me) that Jesus experienced on the Cross.
Mother Teresa is one of the truest,most faithful and loving of the followers of Jesus in2000 years.
Christianity Today, an Evangelical Protestant magazine, mentioned tha Luther and other "true believers in Jesus" felt similar feelings of darkness, abandonment and nothingness that Bl. Mother teresa of Calcutta wrote about. Mother Teresa's faith in Jesus was so strong that nobody even guessed about the inner assaults that she fought.
Teresa lived her faith while so many arrogant fideists just feel their faith but live their hate of "the others' and their indifference to seeing Christ to be served in the sick and poor.
Jesus is present to be served not just in the Christian sick and poor but in all the sick and poor.
Many of us are praying that you come to areal and loving relationship with Christ as the Lord of Love and the Saviour of the World
2007-12-08 13:51:37 · answer #3 · answered by James O 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ever had the life sucked out of you by kids? I know that feeling. You give and give till there seems to be nothing left.
We don't park our humanity at the door when we meet Jesus and ask Him in. He works best through our weaknesses.
This is the MAIN reason WHY Christ came to save us. Do you think He came because we were strong and perfect? Each and every one of us is imperfect. Each and every one of us is weak. Each and every one of us is IN NEED of a Saviour.
2007-12-08 01:55:22 · answer #4 · answered by Shinigami 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If they used the words 'emptiness and darkness' in a negative way, instead of using them to describe what cannot be described - then yes, they need Jesus in their life.
2007-12-08 01:51:40 · answer #5 · answered by Katie 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
depression may be said to be the devil's work, but I wouldn't say that someone isn't a true believer if they felt this way. One can be tempted to feel emty/depressed, yet still believe. On the other hand, if one believes that there is NOTHING but emptiness and darkness literally, then they do not believe in Jesus.
2007-12-08 01:39:17 · answer #6 · answered by badabing 3 · 2⤊ 2⤋
How can we possibly know what this quote is in reference to?
"Deep down in there" could mean anything, or anywhere. You have not given enough information to have your question answered effectively or accurately.
2007-12-08 01:38:11 · answer #7 · answered by Bobby Jim 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Actually, this is a quote from Mother Theresa. What's your point? I think everyone has felt despair from time to time. I would say that with everything she saw and tried to do, she felt it more than most. Only God knows what was truly in her heart.
2007-12-08 01:44:16 · answer #8 · answered by mysongsrhis 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
what was the context?
all people have times of doubt and testing even Saint Peter denied Christ three times.
2007-12-08 01:47:50 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
what makes a person a christian is there relationship with christ the good in us comes from him
2007-12-08 01:36:48 · answer #10 · answered by gina green 3 · 2⤊ 2⤋