Humanity

Bork said:

Now, I feel like i must make a decision for sanirty's sake. What would you advise I do?

Click to expand...

Well, first you need to take a moment and figure out what it is your are looking for, what is your driving force, what Void is it that you are seeking to fill, what is it, that you have not found, that you need to find.

Then, once you have come to that, you will see where the next step is.

But until you know what it is you are looking for, you can not find it, even if it is right in front of you.

I have tried prayer, I have tried study... what is next?

Click to expand...

Those never worked for me either... I would say, you really need to know what it is your looking for, and what it is your looking at.

Lets say, all you want is an answer, then, first you must have the question.

What is the Question that I can answer for you?

Is there a God?

Why is there a God?

Are those really questions of any importance, I would think not, see, they are just arbitrary questions, I could say "Yes there is a God, because of X, Y, and Z" but that is really pointless, as they do not answer your real questions, they just give you food for debate.

You need to start to dig into the deeper questions.

What am I seeking, what am I really looking for in this journey I call a life.

What is it, that I hope to find, or what is it, I am looking for, when I seek God.

Why does God talk to you and not me?

Click to expand...

Really, God is kinda a quiet person, and God "talks" to me, in my life by actions, not words.

Am I simply destined for Hell?

Click to expand...

That is not my place to judge, or say one way or the other on such matters.

Am I impatient?

Click to expand...

I do not know you well enough to answer this question. Sorry.

I hope I have given you food for thought.

God Bless

Key

Bork said:

Warning: This maybe depressing.

So, I am sitting alone while my so called friends play scrabble in the other room. This is actually a typical night for me.

However, tonight i tried to escape my humanity for a brief period of time. Simply put, I can not escape my humanity. I cannot leave the very idea of God/death/depression/morals alone. I can no longer escape the feelings that dwell inside of me. Infact, while most of my friends were entertaining themselves (sometimes at my expense) I was somewhat lost in thought of pain and suffering.

Now, I am not looking for a miracle (though divine intervention would be nice), but rather an answer. I have looked high and low for god the past few years, with the past year a lot harder than the previous. I see justification to believe/not believe in God but have not been swayed either way.

Now, I feel like i must make a decision for sanirty's sake. What would you advise I do?

I have tried prayer, I have tried study... what is next? Why does God talk to you and not me? Am I simply destined for Hell? Am I impatient?

I can't escape life through work, alcohol, or even drugs anymore... All I want is peace.

I don't want a pat answer: "Put your life in God's Hands", when in fact I don't feel a God exists...

Anyways, any answer is apprecitive: my so called friends are calling me an introvert again... so is life.

Click to expand...

Sorry. I wish I could offer a neat answer, but I can't.

I real life one could offer to sit with you, listen, pray with you, but over the internet even those are denied.

Sorry.

On the Internet, all we are given is the ability to make one think of what we have said, to allow them to process views and thoughts as we strive to explain them.

My hope is that, we open doors of thought, and allow people to make their own decisions, but, they can not do that, unless first you break the chains of what their thoughts were that placed them into the trap that they are in.

Imagine, say, a person is in a box, and they are looking for a way out.. we, then explain to them, how they can find the door out of the box, but the door is in a slightly different spot for each person, at best, we can maybe get them close to the door, where they can find it themselves..

But in the end of things.. it is they, the seeker, that needs to find the door for themselves..

We are just guides... on a very... unique journey...

God Bless

Key

Have you considered going away on a religious retreat - perhaps to a nunnery or monastery, or to an Islamic centre of retreat, or Buddhist, or somewhere, and just staying for a month away from mobile phones, e-mail, phones, work, stress, problems. Maybe in the peace and the stillness, you'll find peace with yourself and can work through problems. Silence is an undervalued resource - copious amounts of it in a warm environment can do miracles. On a similar vain, you might want to try reading Finding Sanctuary: Monastic Steps for Everyday Life by Christopher Jamison - it is written by a Monk, but isn't evangelistic or forceful of his faith - instead, he explains how he feels the different elements of his ordered life come together to bring himself to a place at peace with himself and with God.

So bottom line - take some time to yourself in a place you feel accepted away from all distractions in the outside world, and maybe, just maybe, in the silence, you will find peace.

Christians often have times in their lives when they feel as you do - that God is not speaking to them. In that situation we just have to live by faith that at some point he will speak to us again.

Maybe pray that God will reveal himself to you and then read the Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These books contain the life and teachings of Jesus, the basis for our faith.

Over the past few months I have found that when I have sought God over something, prayed and asked for the answer, he has revealed himself to me through doing this. Sometimes it will only be a verse or two sometimes a whole chapter, either way, I believe that God will lead you to the right place.

Catrin xx

Hi Bork,

You are only 25 years old. Your bones are just hardening and your brain has just recently been completely wired up. You have many thoughts flying around in your head (including those driven by hormones). You are in an uncertain place in most aspects of your life: career, money, women, your place in the social heirarchy, etc. etc. I know this because I and everyone I know has been there. Be honest with yourself. Separate your concerns and place them where they belong. Religion is often the dumping ground for personal problems that really don't belong there.

Also, get a good nights sleep. Things always look better in the morning!

Good luck,
owg

Being an introvert is only considered negative by an extrovert! You made a choice to sit outside the commotion because you valued thinking and analysis above activity -- a game that can result in no productive end, vain competition, and unfair assumptions about each other. (Um, I do like Scrabble...) You had higher goals, and unresolved questions.

You are in an uncertain place in most aspects of your life: career, money, women, your place in the social heirarchy, etc. etc. I know this because I and everyone I know has been there. Be honest with yourself. Separate your concerns and place them where they belong.

Click to expand...

I agree that your age puts you in a pivotal place where what you thought life was has changed. Life continually changes, and will change every time you reposition yourself. It can be enough to shake someone's soul out of their boots.

Idealism is known to be high at this stage in life. That's what drives young adults to move out in the world and accomplish great things. You have fewer blocks in your mind, and more aspirations. But the mind sometimes goes faster than situations will allow movement. So your brain pushes forward to a brilliant solution, and there are no results. It is not for lack of trying or planning.

It is just life that forms these obstacles, and everyone gets them. Older people appear calloused and resistant and sometimes slow, because they have met this mysterious resistance far too many times. It wears people out.

It's not that you've done anything wrong. I suspect it's because you've done and thought everything RIGHT, and Life hasn't caught up with you.

Also, get a good nights sleep.

Click to expand...

Sleep can't ever be overrated. It is the staff of life. Oh wait, that's bread.

Bork said:

Warning: This maybe depressing.

So, I am sitting alone while my so called friends play scrabble in the other room. This is actually a typical night for me.

However, tonight i tried to escape my humanity for a brief period of time. Simply put, I can not escape my humanity. I cannot leave the very idea of God/death/depression/morals alone. I can no longer escape the feelings that dwell inside of me. Infact, while most of my friends were entertaining themselves (sometimes at my expense) I was somewhat lost in thought of pain and suffering.

Now, I am not looking for a miracle (though divine intervention would be nice), but rather an answer. I have looked high and low for god the past few years, with the past year a lot harder than the previous. I see justification to believe/not believe in God but have not been swayed either way.

Now, I feel like i must make a decision for sanirty's sake. What would you advise I do?

I have tried prayer, I have tried study... what is next? Why does God talk to you and not me? Am I simply destined for Hell? Am I impatient?

I can't escape life through work, alcohol, or even drugs anymore... All I want is peace.

I don't want a pat answer: "Put your life in God's Hands", when in fact I don't feel a God exists...

Anyways, any answer is apprecitive: my so called friends are calling me an introvert again... so is life.

Click to expand...

I'm sorry that I really don't have the answer you're looking for. It pains me to see someone reaching out so hard, but don't know what they're grasping for.

To answer your one question about why God talks to me....I've submitted myself to him. I had a point in my life when I finally had to quit pushing back. Almost like the mother trying to feed a baby mashed peas and the child clamps their mouth shut and keeps turning his head away in the other direction. That's what I had been doing to God for a brief time. He reached out for me, and I finally had to stop avoiding it and open up.

I think most of christianity is all based on faith, but let me ask you this... in your case, say when the end comes an you find out that there is a god, are you prepared to possibly go to hell or where ever you are destend to spend the rest of eternity just because you didnt have faith in god an his ways? God speaks to everyone its just a matter of whether your listening or not. My mother in law was going to try an commit suicide about 2 weeks ago an i prayed off an on all that day an the next for god to save her an that if she did try to go threw with it let her fail. Two days latter she called me from the hospital an they were keeping her because she tried to od on pills. I was so happy I made sure I thanked god. Maybe your just not listening as well as you should. I've tried to give you a little piece of advice an some of my opinion I hope that this may help build your faith up.

We revere the lifetime soul-searchings of Gautama Buddha and Solomon; the influence of Mahatma Ghandi and MLK, but tend to want our own search for truth and enlightenment to ride on the backs of others' findings.

It's not an easy course, finding what works for us, and how to connect with God. But when you look back in retrospect, you will find that God was continually there, setting opportunities in your path and networking people for the right times and places.

Click on some of these words for definitions of the Greek:

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Jesus spoke these words to people who were already following him, in contact with him --some who spoke with him daily, some who were already devout Jews.

It's okay to have moments of silence, of pain, and even of suffering or emptiness. Life changes, and moves on to another realization.

Hello Bork,
I'm sorry you are depressed. I'll try to give you a non-religions answer.
You are lucky to be alive, you are extremely lucky to have friends and an internet connection. You have this one chance to experience the universe and act in it. Take advantage of the life you have. The values you have give purpose and meaning to your life. I think the simplest way to enjoy life is to find something you like doing and become very good at it.
If this life, this reality in which you are today is not good enough for you then you can work at making it better a little step at a time. For instance I don't like the dogmatic (and magical thinking) aspects of society and I'm looking for ways to advance freethought and critical thinking.

Cheers and best of luck to you,
Richard