Hi, Levnishbar
Welcome to Christian Forums; we are so glad to have you. Already you have talked about some good things, and this can be encouraging for us, right while you also share about your difficulties.
Thank you com7fy8. Your welcome is much appreciated
I would say this is not belief only that is intellectual. But possibly God in you has developed you to become understanding that He created the universe. So, you could be closer to God, than you know! I mean, if He in you has brought you to believe He made the universe . . . in you is close.
It is God who opens our eyes. With an open mind and curiosity like a child, I see evidence of God's intelligent design everywhere.
But I think to whom God chooses to reveal Himself, He does so in ways that are appropriate for the person. To the rational thinkers, God reveals Himself in a logical way.
And how did you come to believe this? Certainly such believing can be what God in a person has a person doing.
Again by logical conclusion and deciding on the balance of probabilities. If we can accept the Tanakh (Old Testament) is true, and the prophecies were indeed fulfilled by Yeshua, then we may also assume that His death and resurrection were also true.
Also, God drew a line on the possibility of any other Messiah coming afterwards - for example records of Davidic lineage have been lost and in Jewish tradition, the Messiah needs to come in through the Golden Gate which has been sealed.
Not from my head, but from my heart, I recognize the Suffering Servant and His personality as the personality of God - how God is merciful, just, lends His ear to the weak and afflicted and humble.
Have you somehow become stronger and in more peace, as you have come to believe these things? This peace and increase of strength could indeed be God blessing you so.
There was a time when I read the Bible first thing in the morning, a chapter of Proverbs before bed, pray often and tried to keep His Commandments better. But the troubles of the World and everything just has made all this seem more difficult to do.
So, you can relate to these things; a lot of unbelievers can not. And the Holy Spirit is the One who changes a person to believe in such things . . . acting within the person . . . not long-distance!
Sometimes I doubt if God really was talking to me through His Word. One of the biggest decisions in my life, I read Scripture the night before it was due and decided God wanted me to do X. So against what I wanted, I did it, and now lived to regret that decision. Of course I do not know what would have happened if I did what I wanted.
So, yes, do trust God to do this with you. He is committed to so sharing with each of His children. Being intimate with God is not some status thing for only certain super-spiritual out-of-reach saints.
I agree, Yeshua came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). And the holier or more knowledgeable about Scripture one thinks they are, the more will be required of them (Luke 12:48).
There is something to learn from, I consider. If we sin, this can keep us so we are not with God the way we could be. The spirit of sinning is not in God's love. Arguing, for one example, can wreck things . . . with God and with other people, so we can suffer deeply and miss out on how we could be loving with God and with one another.
I used to be described by my friends as one of the coolest headed and calm people they know. Several years ago, a friend of mine was in a car with me when we almost had a head-on collision by a car overtaking another car in a two lane road, around a bend. When she saw what was happening, she gasped and screamed. I just swerved the car into the oncoming lane and back into my lane, missing both cars by the skin of our teeth. After that I looked at her and started laughing, joking that we just missed an appointment with God.
Now, all the other irritations in life has worn my patience out and made me easy to get angry. Honking, getting irate at stupid drivers, davka* blocking people who cut queues in merging traffic (a very Israeli thing to do) - I see how I am losing my sanctification the moment I get out of my house.
*A Hebrew word that is difficult to translate, but best illustrated with an example. You are driving behind a slow driver, and honk your horn to get them to speed up. They then slow down even more. This is davka - something deliberate in response to something else.
I really feel I showed more fruits of the spirit when I was outside Israel and the idealistic notion of this place being the Holy Land filled with righteous people welcoming immigrants was in my head.
Galatians 5:22-23
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."
Let's take a look at things - my love has gone cold after seeing so much wrong and injustice (Matthew 24:12). Joy - none, it has become bitterness. Peace - some. Forbearance - lots because I am suffering and contrary to my fight or flight instincts, staying in painful situations. Kindness - when the opportunity arises. Goodness - it would be wrong to self-testify that I am good. Faithfulness - to God I hardly feel so. Gentleness - probably. Self-control - very limited.
In some other translations - generosity. Very little - my salary is 1/5th of what I should be getting for my qualifications, because I am the mild mannered, rational immigrant who won't do the hot headed thing and break the system if they don't get what they want. I don't see why I should be generous with anything when every day I feel exploited.
If you look at Israeli politics, you can see that it is not uncommon for leaders to break the system and make everyone suffer if they do not get what they want.
Worry is another very abusive and anti-love sin problem.
Fortunately I don't have a problem so much with worry or anxiety. I'm used to problems.
So is unforgiveness. Perhaps you need to get your forgiving up-to-date. This can help a lot. Because if we are unforgiving, this can keep us weak and not in God's way of loving.
Yeah, I understand. But after enough traumas, you start keeping score. It is hard to forgive deliberate and long term harm caused knowingly by other people. In Israeli culture there is a thing of not wanting to be a fryer (someone which everyone takes advantage of). So you need to push back or else you will be known as a fryer, and piranhas will take advantage of you.
Edit: Removed story of a friend and will prefer to stick to things in the news.
Also I don't know if anyone of you is following the whole Israeli prison scandal of letting young female army recruits doing their Army service be sexually abused by prisoners. What kind of system.
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news...rael/00000182-63dc-d454-a5aa-e7ddab2b0000?172
What kind of system knowingly feeds its young women to predators and then tries to cover it up? Multiple women have come forward now and the trickle is becoming a torrent. When it happened, does one suppose the women voluntarily kept quiet? Like many other things (including what happened to my friend above, and myself), we keep quiet because we are threatened with consequences if we do not.
I hope you all understand I bring out some of these concerns with a heavy and embarrassed heart. It is like talking bad about your family. Being Jewish and seeing my own extended family do this is very saddening. It's like Moses got us out of Egypt, and now we are acting like Egyptians to each other.
I now consider that your group could be people who were brought up "kosher"; and so may be they have never even heard of sin things and sin caused troubles that you have had. They might have been in a status culture where such things are never mentioned; so they don't even know they exist.
It is probably people who do not believe or do not want to believe that the Holy Land is a work-in-progress (aren't we all) and that there is evil and corruption here too.
And it is possible we should not say things which can get people distracted and their attention away from God. And in case you discover someone who is mature and aware of the real world of sin and evil, you can talk privately with that person. Prayer meeting can be used for dealing with problems, but it is first for attention to God and trusting God. And there should be unity.
I agree there should be unity in prayer meetings. That's why after there was discord I left the group.
Now, can you just love and forgive, like this? I would say no. There is a wavelength issue. Our Apostle Paul and Jesus are on the love wavelength which is gentle and quiet and humble and soul-resting and all-loving unconditionally and generously forgiving with hope of prayer for the person who needs forgiveness. Now, you can have that wavelength right inside of you . . . but not be on it . . . like how a smooth jazz radio broadcast can flow right through a radio but the radio is on the acid-rock setting so it is not affected by the soul-soothing smooth jazz radio waves. We need how God in us tunes us to His love, as He changes us out of our sin problem stuff.
I am trying to find the Bible verse in the New Testament that I read some time ago, along the lines of "Those you condemn, I will condemn." Can anyone find it?
I understood it at that time to be that some bad things people do will be subject to peer judgement on Judgement Day, but obviously our judgement against these people must be justifiably so.
"Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." (Ephesians 4:31-32)
This is a hard thing to do!
In fact I would say that a balance must be struck between 100% mercy (which is unjust) and 100% justice (which is unmerciful).
I think the often Christian view of forgiving everyone for their transgressions against us leans towards being unjust.
Remember that King David also hated his enemies with perfect hatred (Psalm 139:22). What is perfect hatred?