Happened on 9-13-2019

	Sep 13, 2019, 10:54 PM
Relationship with God Question.

I was recently asked what my present relationship with God is.  I was kind of stunned that I was being asked this. Not because it offended me, but because of who was asking.  It came from a person who had never said anything remotely close to a religious question in the 15 years I have known them.   They said the question came across their mind because I recently quietly add the Th.D. to my signature block on emails. 

So I explained to them I still struggle with my relationship with God.  I still pray daily as I have since I was in elementary school.  At the same time, I rarely attend church in person, although I have started watching a local church on-line that somewhat appeals to me.  But as for my personal relationship, I told them it was complicated.  You see, I just do not believe God wants us as subservient slaves to him as so many churches tend to believe.  I tend more to the belief that he wants us to have a relationship more in the line of a Parent and Child.  I have a hard time believing he wants us to give our lives completely over to him (this is non-gender specific him by the way as no one knows what or who God really is).  I have so many friends I attended religious studies with and other places in life that state they have given their life over to God and his graces and what will be will be his will.   At the same time, their action shows an expression of living their life making free will choices.  Quite an interesting dichotomy to me.   So for me, I see God as there for help with guidance, to gift you things in life you need to be provided you have the clarity to see the gift, information to survive and move forward if you grasp its existence. But, he is also there to punish when you stray too far.   I believe he gave us free will and free thought so that we could advance both individually and as a species.  I have seen too many people struggle with paralysis in their daily life while waiting to hear or see their way from God.   While they appear happy to me, it looks like a sheep in a herd waiting to be guided to the next spot and not move until told.   To me, this seems counter to the God in the New Testament.

The funniest part was the person looked at me after I went through that explanation and then goes: “Well it looks like getting that degree did not do you any good, your still a non-believer.

A question for you all, not that I have any readers, but it makes me feel good posting this anyway.

Can you be a humanist and still believe in God?

I will be curious to see if anyone responds.

Todays thoughts

      I took an academic approach to all my religious and theology studies. I have very little pastoral course work or background. That being said I have seen I have a different viewpoint on some things. One of my little issues I get annoyed with at times is when I hear someone say Jesus Christ the Messiah. First because if you are referred to Jesus of Nazareth as the messiah then you should say Jesus the Christ. Why you may ask? Christ was an ancient Greek word for Messiah. So if say, Jesus Christ, the Messiah you are actually saying Jesus the Messiah the messiah. So if we truly wanted to be correct it would be Jesus of Nazareth the Christ of the Messiah.

Let us do some basic math about the bible. In the new testament, Jesus is shown to say "Follow me" 87 times in the four gospels. He said "Worship me Zero times, Name a new religion after me Zero, Recite a creed about me Zero, Erect building in my honor Zero. Further, the word disciple appears in the new testament appears 250 times. The word Christian ( all in the book written almost 200 years after Jesus was crucified) appears three times and the word Christianity appears Zero. Think about that, all the things the Church’s in our time push on us is counter to the word Jesus the Christ preacher and taught - Love. I think it is time we all refocus what we need to present to others. Just my humble opinion

I am coming to Theology and Religious Studies later in life than most.  I made life choices that did not include these studies even though the interest was always there.

This became more apparent to me when I was asked my position on the "Eternal security of the believer."  After what I am sure a confused look to the person asking this question, I asked him to give me a moment to go into the reaches of my brain and pull that out.  I was trying to ass levity to by time to truly try to remember what this was.

Let us revisit this before I give my reply and reaction.   As I was taught it is the belief in your salvation, on one hand, some hold if you believe that once you are saved you are saved.  But this leads to the propensity to sin.  Others tend to believe you keep your status of being saved through your good works.  I am not sure I like either of those based on my reading of scriptures and on educations.

I believe that once you have gained your salvation, you do not lose it. I do not believe this gives you a free license to sin either.  I believe that the three main scriptures that support this position strong enough to take this stance are found at John 6:37-40, John 10:27-28, and 1 John 2:19.  I further have taken the position that these three supersede any other arguments that take an opposing position.   I do not claim to know all there is to know biblically but I do know my position.  

The other issue is that the Christians that are on opposing sides of this issue do appear to be gracious and polite in their debates.  It seems to get very heated in fact.  This was made personal when I stated my position.  The person asking me the original question became defensive and even question if I was even saved anymore with that type of belief.   Then told me he hopes I was doing some very good work so I would be able to still be saved.  
  
I might add to this and explain my position more in depth but at this point, I wanted to relay this little encounter.

Today a thought

My journey in religion started as a sheep, blindly following what my parents told me was good for me. Then to inquisitive into what this christianity stuff really is about. Next was looking at all world religions and finally back to a more academic view as I sought a master and doctorate.

This led me to the understanding that we are all travelers in this religion,  None of us just settle in one spot in or belief nor are we static in our growth in our. Neither was our savior Jesus Christ.  He was constantly on the move performing miracles, and spreading his word. He could not remain static and in place.  It was counter to what he knew he needed to accomplish.  I fully believe it should not be our status inside any denomination or our position we hold, but it should be our trajectory: Not where we are, but where we are heading in our faith, not where we stand but where we are headed in the Christian Faith.  It is no longer a static location or place for me, but it is a journey of discovery and exploration of my faith and learning from those around me.