Loneliness and God

methodsofdance said:

What is the good idea of God?

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You asked: Does God really care for me? Does God love me? How long will I have to suffer? Does God want to make me feel depressed? Does he even exist?
The real God does care for you, loves you, explains suffering, doesn't want you depressed, and exists. Plus, so much more.

Jamdoc said:

well, it's a nice thought but, I feel pretty confident that the Lord doesn't mean for me to have those things.
I went prodigal for many years and since calling me back, the Lord has increased isolation in my life I mean I came back to the Lord in December 2019. The timing is uncanny.
My only guess.. to condition me and increase my dependence on Him by shutting out most other things, including other people. I feel like 2020 was a wakeup call to many people to come back to the Lord. All our idols were taken away.

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That is very true. I felt conviction like never before and have been on fire for the Lord since mid-2020. I feel like something major is going to happen. Like the San Andreas fault is going to collapse or yellowstone is going to blow. I cannot put my finger on it but it is big and natural. ( Or Supernatural) What do you think?

Jamdoc said:

I guess I can say one thing, but this is not advice for those who are lonely but rather advice for those who have families and loved ones in how they can help the lonely.. if you notice single people in your church that come alone, I understand during the pandemic not doing this.. but when you can, sit next to them, include them. Make them feel like family, because ultimately that is what we're all supposed to be, brethren, family. I know that when I'm feeling alone in a crowd, that is what I want. To be included, to not feel like I'm on the outside looking in. To feel like I do have some connection to other people. Because when you're isolated off by yourself in a crowded room, that's what it feels like. Like you have no connection to all these other people like you're outside looking in. It is far more difficult for that one person to try and include themselves in the group, because they have not really been invited to join, they feel like they're "butting in". It is easier for the group to open up and invite them in. Think of it like you're on a ship out at sea, and the lonely person is man overboard.. what's easier, for the man overboard to try and climb back aboard the ship? or for someone on the ship to throw them a lifeline?

I notice that a lot of the advice focuses on growing more comfortable with your singleness and working on your relationship with the Lord but..
Adam walked with God, and God said
Genesis 2:18

Human companionship is important. We are simply not meant to be alone with God as our only relationship.

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I totally agree with this, and I think a church leader should be aware of this and orchestrate activity that includes everybody.
I ran art courses, and having been in groups of cliquey people myself that just didn't let me in, I structured my classes to make sure everyone was included, had a voice, was mentored and encouraged to join in, group dynamics can be really horrible on newcomer's either through lack of awareness, or simply being in your comfort zone, but that can be at the expense of the newcomer who, if anything like me would quit after a short while because of the extreme awkwardness of trying to fit in with people who aren't interested, this is bad enough in any situation but it is inexcusable in a church community.

Jamdoc said:

Unfortunately, it's part of human nature to associate with people you already know, like your family, it goes kind of against human nature to welcome other people into your group, the onus is generally on the single person to try to invite themselves in (and often facing rejection in the process like "who invited you?"). In my analogy... the man overboard is left trying to climb aboard the ship on their own while they're drowning. The are two real exceptions to this is when you first go to school, or boot camp, because everyone is on the same boat at that point, everyone is a single and no cliques have formed yet so people meet their friends in that setting all on the same level. But if you move and join a new school where people have already established relationships, you start facing that problem, where you're the outsider trying to join into a group to make connections, and often times, can be rejected by the group.

To be perfectly honest it's one of the things I fear about heaven itself, because other people will be going and reuniting with family, where my family is all unbelievers. I have a few friends that I will reunite with I guess but I fear that people will want to reunite with their families first and I'll be kinda .. awkwardly by myself, alone in a crowd.

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Sadly, it think you're right about people being cliquey because that's all they know, family etc that they are lucky enough to have, if you've been on the outside looking in as often as it have though, you develop a true empathy for others who are new to your circle, no matter how much you enjoy their company.
I think it's only the fearful who want to protect the unique identity of their tribe and keep others out, this should be a red flag if you've tried multiple times to introduce yourself and been met with indifference.

Just another note on the subject of loneliness and dating from an old Lady that I am now, who has had more boyfriends than hot dinners before I saw the light, there is a lot of wisdom on this thread about the importance of being fulfilled and mature enough to be able to give without needing too much...boyfriends and relationship's came very easy to me, I was pretty, funny and gregarious, but desperately needy, although I didn't recognise that at the time, if I had not been either pretty, funny or gregarious, I may have had to spend more time in my youth being lonely and finding ways to come to terms with myself, but I never stood a chance, because as soon as I started standing on my own feet along came another man, they never lasted because I needed them to complete me or vice versa, I'm just saying it can be a curse getting what you want and not what you need, I didn't mature till it was too late for me to have children of my own, and those plain Jane's of my youth who were were wallflowers whilst I appeared to have everything, quietly got on with their frienship groups where they met their husbands found happiness and stability, had homes and families, whilst I spent decades in one relationship mess after another. I finally prayed not for another relationship, but for what God wanted for me.

I have now been blissfully married for 17 years and I wish I had said that prayer when I had my whole life ahead of me.

GraceBro said:

I don't believe God is "3 people" keeping Himself company. I believe an infinite God who lives in unapproachable light, revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, so a finite people could begin to have a relationship with Him. And He experiences loneliness as a byproduct of all the ways humanity rejects Him and all He has done for us.

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That is modalism.. which doesn't fit the way God said let US make.. in Genesis 1.

Jaxxi said:

That is very true. I felt conviction like never before and have been on fire for the Lord since mid-2020. I feel like something major is going to happen. Like the San Andreas fault is going to collapse or yellowstone is going to blow. I cannot put my finger on it but it is big and natural. ( Or Supernatural) What do you think?

Click to expand...

70th week of Daniel
I believe I will either die for the Word of God and Testimony of Jesus Christ, or see Him coming in the clouds with power and great glory. Either way.. with my track record, I'd be having to leave any family I make here behind, and it is possible that the Lord did not want me to have a family that would make me choose them over Him.
God forbid Jeremiah from marrying or having children because God did not want Jeremiah to see his family suffer during the fall of Jerusalem. He spared Jeremiah that pain. The only real drawback is that in heaven and in the resurrection, He also would never be able to have his own family, no sons and daughters.
That is what I lament about it all. if this was just a temporary thing.. I'd bear with it a lot better. It's the "never" part that gets me.

Or at the very least, Apophis impact event though I think that is in itself, connected to the 70th week and wrath of God.
Close flyby in 2029
Possible impact in 2036

Jamdoc said:

Well that post wasn't addressed to me so I wasn't answering it.

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Oh, so sorry. I didn't realize.

Lot of people w/ similar struggles, unfortunately ( me too, & it breaks my heart seeing others struggle w/ it. ugh why does it seem to affect so many men & why do men in particular seem to be so vocal about it??)so makes sense I'd get confused.

It seems like lot of people are stepping in. I don't want my posts to overwhelm you & them so I'll step aside for now. But some of it's helpful to me too.

Abide with me. said:

Just another note on the subject of loneliness and dating from an old Lady that I am now, who has had more boyfriends than hot dinners before I saw the light, there is a lot of wisdom on this thread about the importance of being fulfilled and mature enough to be able to give without needing too much...boyfriends and relationship's came very easy to me, I was pretty, funny and gregarious, but desperately needy, although I didn't recognise that at the time, if I had not been either pretty, funny or gregarious, I may have had to spend more time in my youth being lonely and finding ways to come to terms with myself, but I never stood a chance, because as soon as I started standing on my own feet along came another man, they never lasted because I needed them to complete me or vice versa, I'm just saying it can be a curse getting what you want and not what you need, I didn't mature till it was too late for me to have children of my own, and those plain Jane's of my youth who were were wallflowers whilst I appeared to have everything, quietly got on with their frienship groups where they met their husbands found happiness and stability, had homes and families, whilst I spent decades in one relationship mess after another. I finally prayed not for another relationship, but for what God wanted for me.

I have now been blissfully married for 17 years and I wish I had said that prayer when I had my whole life ahead of me.

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Abide, the problem is some of us are at the age where we got passed over even by those Plain Jane's.

Jamdoc said:

That is modalism.. which doesn't fit the way God said let US make.. in Genesis 1.

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Don't label me to try and dismiss my belief. I don't worship 3 gods. Genesis 1 doesn't talk about 3 separate gods. When God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness ... (Genesis 1:26)," this just means that there was no word to describe the immensity of God. Therefore, He was spoken of in the plural in the original language.

GraceBro said:

Don't label me to try and dismiss my belief. I don't worship 3 gods. Genesis 1 doesn't talk about 3 separate gods. When God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness ... (Genesis 1:26)," this just means that there was no word to describe the immensity of God. Therefore, He was spoken of in the plural in the original language.

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3 persons, 1 God
we won't fully understand it yet, but that is what we got.
but modalism (the belief that it's 1 person who takes 3 different forms) doesn't really work because Jesus prayed to the Father, and the Holy Spirit descended on Him. They all exist simultaneously.

Jamdoc said:

70th week of Daniel
I believe I will either die for the Word of God and Testimony of Jesus Christ, or see Him coming in the clouds with power and great glory. Either way.. with my track record, I'd be having to leave any family I make here behind, and it is possible that the Lord did not want me to have a family that would make me choose them over Him.
God forbid Jeremiah from marrying or having children because God did not want Jeremiah to see his family suffer during the fall of Jerusalem. He spared Jeremiah that pain. The only real drawback is that in heaven and in the resurrection, He also would never be able to have his own family, no sons and daughters.
That is what I lament about it all. if this was just a temporary thing.. I'd bear with it a lot better. It's the "never" part that gets me.

Or at the very least, Apophis impact event though I think that is in itself, connected to the 70th week and wrath of God.
Close flyby in 2029
Possible impact in 2036

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I put Jesus first above family and friends hands down any day of the week. My kids, my husband, no one comes close to Jesus except God the Father. I love them both about equal and though I would die for my children, I cannot express my love for the Lord. If I am not raptured, I will most likely have my tongue cut out, my eyes gouged out, be skinned alive and dipped in acid for the sake of the Lord. Better to do it once and be with the Lord than do it over and over again continually in hell...

Jaxxi said:

I put Jesus first above family and friends hands down any day of the week. My kids, my husband, no one comes close to Jesus except God the Father. I love them both about equal and though I would die for my children, I cannot express my love for the Lord. If I am not raptured, I will most likely have my tongue cut out, my eyes gouged out, be skinned alive and dipped in acid for the sake of the Lord. Better to do it once and be with the Lord than do it over and over again continually in hell...

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Luke 17

28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
31 In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.
32 Remember Lot's wife.
33 Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.

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If you have a good and fulfilling life on earth, it's like Lot's wife, she didn't want to leave Sodom, she looked back, and it cost her.

GraceBro said:

I don't believe God is "3 people" keeping Himself company. I believe an infinite God who lives in unapproachable light, revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, so a finite people could begin to have a relationship with Him. And He experiences loneliness as a byproduct of all the ways humanity rejects Him and all He has done for us.

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Are you saying you're a modalist? That's the impression I have.

Old Lady said:

Are you saying you're a modalist? That's the impression I have.

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That's what stood out to me too, but he got angry when I said it.

Jamdoc said:

Luke 17


If you have a good and fulfilling life on earth, it's like Lot's wife, she didn't want to leave Sodom, she looked back, and it cost her.

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You can't look back. What is ahead is too important. If you are looking back, you are looking down and we all know what is down there.

methodsofdance said:

What is the good idea of God?

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God isn't the way GraceBro describes Him. He is Triune.

There is only one God.
The Trinity and the Gospel
The unity of God is not something we can grasp completely, yet it is woven into the fabric of the gospel. In order to understand, discuss, and preach the gospel, we need to have an understanding of the Trinity. The simplest way to explain it is to say that God is a Divine Team—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They work together in all of God's works, but now particularly through the gospel for the salvation and sanctification of us needy sinners.

The unity of God is not something we can grasp completely, yet it is woven into the fabric of the gospel. In order to understand, discuss, and preach the gospel, we need to have an understanding of the Trinity. The simplest way to explain it is to say that God is a Divine Team—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They work together in all of God's works, but now particularly through the gospel for the salvation and sanctification of us needy sinners.

The gospel involves all three persons—the Father, whose kingdom it is; the Son, who was to die on the cross; and the Holy Spirit, who brings us to new birth.

We cannot understand the message Jesus shares here without the Trinitarian frame of reference.

For example, if we leave out the Holy Spirit, we'll give people the idea that it's entirely up to us whether or not we come into the kingdom, even though it's dependent on the work of God in our hearts.

If we leave out the Cross, we’re buying into a post-Christian ideology of religiosity—the religious feeling, unfocused but sobering to the heart, that people mistake for real religion.

And of course we speak of God and his kingdom, because that's what it's all about: a relationship with a God who in fact turns out—when we look with the guidance of Scripture to help us—to be three persons in unity.

Read More

What is modalism?

The orthodox understanding of the Trinity has again been under attack, with a resurgence of Oneness doctrine infiltrating even Baptist and non-denominational circles. But this is not the first time that the fundamental view of the holy and blessed Trinity has come under fire...

Modalists believe that God is One God who manifests or appears in different “modes” or “forms” at different times, either as the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirit. As such, Modalists make the assertion that Jesus is not only the Son of God, but that He is also the Father and the Spirit. The Father, therefore, is Jesus; the Son is, therefore, Jesus; the Spirit is, therefore, Jesus. Jesus is the One True God.

Sounds good in many ways, but completely unbiblical.

Trinitarian theology asserts that Jesus is not—in any way, shape, or form—the Father or the Spirit, but that Jesus is exclusively the Eternal Son of God. The Trinitarian can affirm that Jesus is the Son; but he cannot rightly say that Jesus is the Father or the Holy Spirit. Jesus alone is the only begotten Son of God, incarnate in the flesh, born of a virgin, crucified, buried and risen.

SINGULARITY

“We worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity, neither blending their persons nor dividing their essence.”1

Modalists and Oneness believers inevitably hold to patripassionism, “the teaching that God the Father suffered on the cross with (or as) the Son”.2 But Jesus alone died for us on the Cross, not the Father or the Spirit. Jesus alone was buried and resurrected, not the Holy Spirit or the Father. The Spirit raised Jesus from the dead; the Father sent Jesus to die for us. But it was Jesus and Jesus alone, the eternal Son of God, who made atonement for us at Calvary’s cross. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son …” (John 3:16).

Refuting Modalism

To put it simply: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are God.
The Father is not the Son, and He is not the Holy Spirit.
The Son is not the Father, and He is not the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not the Father, and He is not the Son.

The statement “Jesus is Lord” means that Jesus is God. Jesus has “all authority in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). He is Lord of the Sabbath (Luke 6:5). He is “our only Sovereign and Lord” (Jude 1:4). He is, in fact, the Lord of lords (Revelation 17:14).

Jesus referred to Himself as “Lord” many times (e.g., Luke 19:31; John 13:13). And when we compare the Old Testament with the New, we find several times when the “LORD” (Yahweh) of the Hebrew Bible is equated with the “Lord Jesus” by the apostles. For example, Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the LORD is good,” and that passage is alluded to in 1 Peter 2:3, except there Jesus is the “Lord” who is good. Isaiah 8:13 says that “the LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy”; in 1 Peter 3:15 we are commanded, “In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy” (ESV).

Amazingly, the Lord Jesus left His exalted position in heaven and came to earth to save us. In His Incarnation, He showed us what true meekness looks like (see Matthew 11:29). Just before His arrest, Jesus used His power and authority to teach us humility: “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14). The last will be first, according to our Lord (Matthew 19:30).

What does it mean that Jesus is Lord? | GotQuestions.org

I was in a non-trinitarian cult for years and it was a miserable experience. I finally prayed and asked the Real God to teach me the truth.

Jamdoc said:

That's what stood out to me too, but he got angry when I said it.

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I'm glad you noticed. Audio: John Chapter One: