What does it mean?

[Guest LadyC]

gentlewind, your post was very touching... very real, very humble, and i appreciate that as well. i do believe there is a LOT you can learn from the people here at worthy. i've been here for years and still learn things once in a while

i can relate to being numerically challenged. i also tend to recall scripture without necessarily knowing where it is. that's why i tend to paraphrase and often ask for my brothers and sisters in Christ to provide the chapter and verse for me. when i take the time to search for the chapter and verse i tend to lose my train of thought.

that being said, i understand it is critically important to doublecheck everything we believe or think we believe against scripture. we are to be as the bereans were, and whether it's in church or on a forum, we must verify that what we're hearing is actually in line with scripture and is not being taken out of context. and when we hear that still small voice inside of us, it must also line up with scripture... not just with love, but with the written Word.

you asked that you be able to start over with a clean slate. as far as i'm concerned, your slate is clean. welcome to worthy.

[traveller]

Gentlewind, I want to offer my hand in friendship and fellowship. I'm one of the old timers here, as I've been fully active on this site since 2002. I've seen a fair share of misconceptions, misunderstandings, and flat out rebellions. The ones that speak, as you just did, with humble and gracious words are the ones that seem to blend right in and grow and mature along with the rest of us. I welcome you and hope your stay here is both a blessing to you and to the others on this site.

I had a lot of misconceptions when I first came, and I'm pleasantly surprised to find that even at my age I can still learn. We have a vast assortment of very learned men and women here. I find it an honor to be able to gain from their knowledge. They are patient and love to share with the family.

So - pull up a chair and sit a spell. Learn along with the rest of us. There's a lot of work to be done in the kingdom.

[nebula]

Gentlewind -

In addition to what's been said, one of the reasons for reacting in alarm has to do with our history of infiltrators - people coming here with an agenda ("I am here to teach you all").

When seeing several individuals joining around the same time and buddying together, especially on topics that are a bit, shall we say, unconventional . . . well?

So I thank you for your discernment in picking up the confusion and being able to respond to it.

And it is good to know where you all are coming from.

Blessings and welcome!

[~candice~]

GW, with a gentle and humble spirit like yours, I am sure you will fit in well here and learn and grow and blossom. I've had my fair share of misunderstandings too but they all seem to be worked out in love, just like a real family. Welcome to worthy ..

Blessings

Andy

[Guest LadyC]

man, i bet you've got tears streaming down your face reading all these posts!

[KC02]

Wow that was beautiful Gentlewind. I'm glad that you are stubborn and have stuck around. Tenacity is a great quality for Christians to have!

I love Jesus too much to ever leave Him in any sense of the word; I've

simply wondered if it is possible to truly understand . . . beyond my

simple faith. (?)

Yep! You are certainly on the right path. To get closer to God, you just have to seek Him. Don't get discouraged about your questions and misunderstandings. We don't have to have great understanding or perfect theology to know God to to draw closer to Him. It's all a learning process.

Jesus is our shepherd and our teacher. He is all we will ever need. Hang in there.

[OneLight]

Greetings Everyone~

... snip ...

Peace to All.

In Love of Christ~

Gentlewind

I usually don't like emoticons, but these seem to fit how your thread made me feel.

I personally believe that each of us here have grown spiritually due to both the kind words and harsh reproof from those who are part of His Body. At first, I too took everything personally. I thought I had "thick skin" from being online in other climbing sites, but they never touched my heart as my faith does, and I had to learn to readjust how I read posts and also had to readjust how I posted, in all humility.

Like you, before I came here, I never used a lexicon, nor an Interlinear Bible. The tools that others gave me increased my understand of the meaning behind the words in scripture. If you wish to use these tools, I will give you those which I use, and others can add to the list, I am sure. This alone has been one of the greater blessings that I have received here, second to the love and guidance I see behind the words of our brethren (I use this to mean both make and female). As in life, there are some here who I find hard to understand, or agree with, but that does not mean there is no love, just a different challenge. One thing I had to learn, as someone once had to tell me, is that "Iron sharpens Iron, and sometimes sparks will fly". To me, these sparks show the dedication to Him that we possess, for if we do not stand for what we believe, then our faith is useless.

It has been mentioned that we ask for scripture a lot. This is true. Scripture speaks of a group of people called the Bereans: "Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. " As the Bereans, we also search scripture. The reason why we ask is so that we can review where they get their belief from. It is never a personal attack.

As for myself, and I am sure others will agree, I can not read the mind of the poster, so all I have to go on are the words they use. I am not gifted as you are, for numbers are easy for me, and I often find myself going to dictionary.com to find the correct word and spelling. Maybe I can learn for you how to understand words better.

Slate cleaned, Sis. Let's do encourage each other and help each other.

In His Love,

Alan

LOL ... I started this thread right after you posted and am now the last in line! Shows my lack of word usage.

[Gentlewind]

Thank you all so much for your replies. I do feel much better and ready to move on. I will take all you've said into consideration.

And, Lady C, I do understand the "Berean" concept; after coming to Jesus, I searched forreevver for a church I felt comfortable in, and my "home" is now in a small Berean church. Living far out in the country, I can't always attend as much as I would like to, especially in the winter, so the internet is a special faith blessing.

And, Permie, my good friend, I'm afraid I've done a wonderful job of derailing your thread, but I also hope, perhaps we've "cleared the air" a bit.

Grace to All~

Gentlewind

[Permie]

Thank you all so much for your replies. I do feel much better and ready to move on. I will take all you've said into consideration.

And, Lady C, I do understand the "Berean" concept; after coming to Jesus, I searched forreevver for a church I felt comfortable in, and my "home" is now in a small Berean church. Living far out in the country, I can't always attend as much as I would like to, especially in the winter, so the internet is a special faith blessing.

And, Permie, my good friend, I'm afraid I've done a wonderful job of derailing your thread, but I also hope, perhaps we've "cleared the air" a bit.

Grace to All~

Gentlewind

Dear Gentlewind,

I see no derailing done. My prayer is always that the Father's will be done and that the Lord's truth and love be manifest.

Yes, no derailing has been done. Unity, love, fellowship, understanding, humility... this is what I have seen, not derailing, and I praise God.

Plus, as I have only a few hours this morning and had planned on only reading here for a bit before getting things arranged for the day ahead, this has been a very uplifting happenstance.

Guess what? I am the same way with the bible. I do not know the chapters and verses of scripture. I only know the words written between the bible's covers. Yes, I too might know the general area the verse is, but I too am numerically challenged in this area. I mainly 'think' in the language of the KJV, but the NASB also is predominant. I like several different versions for different reasons, but all in all I love all that concerns God! When people just post the book chapter and verse during a conversation, it makes my eyes blink...their point has immediately been lost to me. Let me see the scripture itself! LOL

I too will refer to scripture in a conversational way, but then I noticed that one guy at the other site you mentioned who didn't recognize it to be scripture that was being referred to. Remember him? Said he had studied the New Testament 77 times? But would then come in and say why didn't you post any scripture? All you are writing are your own words! He just didn't recognize the words as scriptural. So now, if I remember too, I'll put into parenthesis (that's biblical) as a help to others who might be the same way.

Thank you, Gentlewind, for blessing this thread as you have done. May Our Father's will continue to be done!

[OneLight]

Permie, I appreciate what you are trying to do when you state "So now, if I remember too, I'll put into parenthesis (that's biblical)". It is a step closer to what we do here. To say something is biblical without stating where you find the biblical support will, as you say, "makes my eyes blink...their point has immediately been lost to me. Let me see the scripture itself! LOL" I offer an online word search link to assist you in doing so, which is how i find the scripture I quote. http://www.biblegateway.com/keyword/

Yes, it is far better when discussions are done in the light of the Lord, in unity, love, fellowship, understanding, humility and not in the flesh.