honorthesabbath said:
Well Palehorse--it's just another excuse for them to gripe. They live to gripe--they can't be happy unless they are gripping.
My 2 bobs!! lol
You know? I've been observing something that just came to mind, to the point where I feel I can put it into words.
It seems to me that those of us who CHOSE, later in life, to become Adventist, appear to appreciate the church, the fellowship, the family, and truth coming from all of those things out of God's word, more than those who were born and raised in it.
I can still remember the first night I listened to Leo Schreven, and followed him along in my study bible. My mouth opened and got bigger and bigger as we went along. The Holy Spirit really blessed me that night with understanding. When Pastor Schreven first started speaking, I was certain I wasn't going to be able to keep up with him, because he talks so fast for one thing, and because I was grossly unfamiliar with my bible. It took me forever to find the books he was going to read out of. But the Holy Spirit was with me, and before I knew it I was keeping up with him pretty good. My mind was made up that very night, that I was going to leave the faith I was raised in and become Adventist. Once I started learning God's TRUTH, I was like an addict with his drug of choice...I just could NOT get enough. I felt like I had been living on the desert somewhere and had not had water in days, and all of a sudden I came upon the well of Midian. Water, in the form of knowledge rained down on me from above. How quickly I realized that though I had turned away from Jesus, He had not turned away from me. He'd been right behind me all along waiting for me to turn around and run "home", as all lost children will eventually, at least TRY to do.
I just think that maybe those who were blessed to be raised up in the truth don't understand how it feels to finally realize that you have been being taught the wrong things by PREACHERS, people who are supposed to know and understand God's word. To realize you have been stumbling around in the dark for all of those years.
As I said, I felt like Moses must have when he came upon the well at Midian. He rested there. Eventually chose a wife, and was living happily in that land of peace and plenty. God kept tugging at him however, and he eventually had to go up the mountain, and heed God's call. Just as Moses did, I am resting in the light of the truth and the loving arms of my church family that God so blessed me with.
I go out and travel...visiting other forums and chatrooms just about every day. Not to mention the witnessing I do right here in my apartment complex, and anywhere I have the opportunity. Sometimes I am met with excitement, as there are many lost folks out there who are starving to death for God's truth, more often than not I am looked at as if I have 4 eyes, and two heads. I come back here hoping to fellowship with other church members. As I have stated so many times, I don't think it's wrong or even that unusual for someone to expect to find love, harmony, and acceptance in their own church family.
We all tend to take for granted things we have always had. That's just human nature.
No, the Seventh-day Adventist church is not perfection. I'm not blind to the point of not being able to see and/or read about some of it's problems. But let me tell you something...in this church we have God's word, we have His TRUTH, no matter what. As long as we have that, we have it
all as far as I am concerned.
Let us all pray for unity and love of one another.
