Humble Lion

Everytime I look inward upon self examination. I see how desperately wicked my fleshy heart is and the ultimate need I have for the Salvation of the Lord. That's because it is full of incomplete partially sanctified humans. Gathering to Worship God for all that He has done for us. God Loves the Church so much that He died for it. Joh 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Are you a Friend of God Lion? Has Jesus Christ bridged the gap between you and Himself? What's He done for you? Peace, Dave Hi Matthijah, I respect your devotion to your church. I guess I found all the "incomplete partially sanctified humans" either a poor template for my spiritual journey or distracting from deeper truths(with all due respect to those I met in those places). You should know your flesh is not wicked, but perfect, like all humans. That doesn't mean you are infallable, of course. You should know that because you exist you are perfect and complete. Are you a Friend of God Lion? "Has Jesus Christ bridged the gap between you and Himself? What's He done for you?"----what do mean by this, exactly or more specifically. Or in a broad sense...however you want to describe it. Thanks:)

Seems rather self-serving to me. Where does serving each other fit into this, and being part of the Church? Why does a holy feeling have anything to do with being obedient in belonging to a local body of believers? It does sound self serving. But if you don't take care of yourself, how can you take care of others? I think a holy place is intuitivly obvious, whether it is in a church or on a mountain. That intuition serves to water the seeds in your spirit. It is not about being obedient or belonging to a local body of believers.

I agree with Ted...political parties should not associate with religion. Look at this Bush fellow...he will spout christianity one second and then bomb people the next. Very contradictory.

I think the church is way overstepping its boundaries. Just because their interpretation of the bible says that man didn't come from monkeys or whatever (and why is that such a bad or unlikely thing, anyway?!?!?!), doesn't give them the right to do that. It will be not good for our country if religions tell people what they can or cannot learn...I think they call that fundamentalism.

Dear Failed Christian I hear what you are saying. I had a similar experience. I went to church twice a week for about a dozen years. I stopped going for a couple reasons. The biggest one was the teachings of church just didn't speak to my heart. Listening to the pastor did not cultivate the sense of innner peace, compassion, and love that Jesus exemplified during his life. I found that instead, much of the teaching was based on fear of judgement, and interpretations of a very old, good book. Mostly, what I found at church was a lot of judgement and fear. I was not endowed with a sense of the bueaty of life, the ubiquitous existence of love in our universe, the fabric of stillness and peace that is our self, the power of spirituality, and how we are spiritual beings having a worldy experience....and how these things relate practically to your life, instead of what happens to you when you die. I basically concluded that if I wanted to walk in the path of Jesus I needed to cultivate innner wisdom and peace. I have been on that quest ever since. I know now I am closer to Jesus by looking inward. When you penetrate inward you see yourself and God as one. This actualization is so founded no-one could convince you otherwise. I did not find church to be a holy place...I think the idea that God is a separate, judgemental, being that one should appease and offer reward to in the hope that one may fall into its good graces is a backwater concept. That is not what we are dealing with. My advice to you is practice your spirituality in a place that feels holy either with yourself or others and cultivate a penetrating inner gaze. You won't be disappointed. Which denomination you choose is irrelavent. I hope I didn't offend anyone.