The following is a comment I made on the blog of a good friend, and their response....
My comment:
Their response (emphasis mine):
We have been conditioned I believe to be helpless. Psychology calls it learned helplessness, we have learned to be helpless and this is reinforced by a message from a well meaning (open to debate of course) church which has told us to just hold on, Jesus will be coming to save us out of this mess. We have believed this message to the degree that our efforts are not to develop ways to make the lives around us better, but to concentrate on some abstract definition of "perfection" so that we will be ready when he returns.... meanwhile we suggest that everyone who does not engage in the same kind of narcissistic pursuit that we have will be fuel for the fires of hell, so we see others who don't believe as we do as converts to our self-absorbed religious existence. If they reject our way then God will deal with them in due time.... and the wait continues....
When I was a kid going to church school, my grandfather would pick me and my younger brother up after school, then take us to his house where our grandmother would feed us and then take us home.... It was reassuring that Dad would be there everyday in his 1963 green Chrysler waiting for us. One day we came out, and Dad was not there. We waited. And waited some more. We were not concerned because Dad always came to pick us up. More than an hour passed, and there was no Dad in sight....... what should we do? My brother looked to me for the answer? Dad's not here what should we do? Everyone else was gone, teachers, gone, other students gone... just me and my brother sitting on the steps, waiting.... At some point it occurred to me that I was prepared, that I knew the way to my grandparents house, but it required us to walk, a long walk(for a 6th grader and his 2nd grade brother) approximately 2.5 miles.... My brother was reluctant, and wanted to stay, but I knew we could do it..... and do it we did.... we walked home, scared because as you know the journey is different on foot than in a car, the terrain looks different... what takes minutes in a car, can take almost an hour when you are walking with a little brother who thinks we should have stayed at the school and wants to return to wait.... We walked home.... Turns out Dad got busy as he did sometimes and forgot about us.... however he had prepared us, told us if we ever needed to walk what path we should take... God I believe has prepared us not to wait.... but to walk....
A passage for your consideration:
QUOTE
John 14:4-7 You know the way to the place where I am going." (5) Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you're going. So how can we know the way?" (6) Jesus answered him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one goes to the Father except through me. (7) If you have known me, you will also know my Father. From now on you know him through me and have seen him in me."
In light of the above.... thoughts?
My comment:
Their response (emphasis mine):
Interesting comment don't you think?
We have been conditioned I believe to be helpless. Psychology calls it learned helplessness, we have learned to be helpless and this is reinforced by a message from a well meaning (open to debate of course) church which has told us to just hold on, Jesus will be coming to save us out of this mess. We have believed this message to the degree that our efforts are not to develop ways to make the lives around us better, but to concentrate on some abstract definition of "perfection" so that we will be ready when he returns.... meanwhile we suggest that everyone who does not engage in the same kind of narcissistic pursuit that we have will be fuel for the fires of hell, so we see others who don't believe as we do as converts to our self-absorbed religious existence. If they reject our way then God will deal with them in due time.... and the wait continues....
When I was a kid going to church school, my grandfather would pick me and my younger brother up after school, then take us to his house where our grandmother would feed us and then take us home.... It was reassuring that Dad would be there everyday in his 1963 green Chrysler waiting for us. One day we came out, and Dad was not there. We waited. And waited some more. We were not concerned because Dad always came to pick us up. More than an hour passed, and there was no Dad in sight....... what should we do? My brother looked to me for the answer? Dad's not here what should we do? Everyone else was gone, teachers, gone, other students gone... just me and my brother sitting on the steps, waiting.... At some point it occurred to me that I was prepared, that I knew the way to my grandparents house, but it required us to walk, a long walk(for a 6th grader and his 2nd grade brother) approximately 2.5 miles.... My brother was reluctant, and wanted to stay, but I knew we could do it..... and do it we did.... we walked home, scared because as you know the journey is different on foot than in a car, the terrain looks different... what takes minutes in a car, can take almost an hour when you are walking with a little brother who thinks we should have stayed at the school and wants to return to wait.... We walked home.... Turns out Dad got busy as he did sometimes and forgot about us.... however he had prepared us, told us if we ever needed to walk what path we should take... God I believe has prepared us not to wait.... but to walk....
A passage for your consideration:
QUOTE
John 14:4-7 You know the way to the place where I am going." (5) Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you're going. So how can we know the way?" (6) Jesus answered him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one goes to the Father except through me. (7) If you have known me, you will also know my Father. From now on you know him through me and have seen him in me."
In light of the above.... thoughts?
