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No conviction of sin
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<blockquote data-quote="saralynn" data-source="post: 58245735" data-attributes="member: 290188"><p><em>Lost Hope: For me I fear that having a whole heart would be an absolute disaster, as far as my search for God is concerned. Suppose that by some miracle I was able to experience emotions for the first time in my life. Would that make it possible for me to experience a real conviction of sin, to come to God and to know the power of God in my life? Definitely not. Because I would see any apparent response from God as just a consequence of my emotions. Then I would know for certain that what most Christians call the work of God is in reality just the effect of overactive emotions and wishful thinking. Self-delusion. It would prove to me that emotions really are at the heart of the Christian faith, in complete contrast to what Christians keep telling me.</em></p><p> </p><p>This is reasonable, but I don't know if it is entirely logical. Because the brain responds to stimuli....in this case, the thought of "God"... with emotion doesn't necessarily indicate that the object which produces inspiration is not real. Either 1. Our emotions are self-induced and thus we are happily delusional. God does not exist and we are pathetic creatures who make meaning for ourselves because the alternative is too painful. 2. Our emotions are self-induced and thus we are happy, but not delusional because God exists and this is the way He made us. He uses the fact that our brains produce emotions to serve His ends. 3. God exists and directly affects our emotions by means of "Grace"</p><p> </p><p>Now, all three of these are possible, so, without any personal validation,...(which seems to be your and my fate).... we have to choose one of these options or forever vacillate between the three. If we select either one of the three, it requires faith. Faith in #1 requires that we decide not to believe in the testimonies of all Christians past and present and insist they are all self-deluded. The other two require that we have faith that God exists, but, in both cases, we are totally dependent on God to make Himself evident to us. All we can do is ask for a response, but if it is not given, we have to remind ourselves not to arrive at any conclusions because...well, we don't have enough evidence. We're all guessing here. </p><p> </p><p>I happen to believe all three are true, but, even that requires faith. No way around it...a choice is involved. Unless, of course, you decide not to choose, which is...yep...a choice. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>As I said, I have a "yearning" for God, but, have not felt his presence or had any kind of revelation.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="saralynn, post: 58245735, member: 290188"] [I]Lost Hope: For me I fear that having a whole heart would be an absolute disaster, as far as my search for God is concerned. Suppose that by some miracle I was able to experience emotions for the first time in my life. Would that make it possible for me to experience a real conviction of sin, to come to God and to know the power of God in my life? Definitely not. Because I would see any apparent response from God as just a consequence of my emotions. Then I would know for certain that what most Christians call the work of God is in reality just the effect of overactive emotions and wishful thinking. Self-delusion. It would prove to me that emotions really are at the heart of the Christian faith, in complete contrast to what Christians keep telling me.[/I] This is reasonable, but I don't know if it is entirely logical. Because the brain responds to stimuli....in this case, the thought of "God"... with emotion doesn't necessarily indicate that the object which produces inspiration is not real. Either 1. Our emotions are self-induced and thus we are happily delusional. God does not exist and we are pathetic creatures who make meaning for ourselves because the alternative is too painful. 2. Our emotions are self-induced and thus we are happy, but not delusional because God exists and this is the way He made us. He uses the fact that our brains produce emotions to serve His ends. 3. God exists and directly affects our emotions by means of "Grace" Now, all three of these are possible, so, without any personal validation,...(which seems to be your and my fate).... we have to choose one of these options or forever vacillate between the three. If we select either one of the three, it requires faith. Faith in #1 requires that we decide not to believe in the testimonies of all Christians past and present and insist they are all self-deluded. The other two require that we have faith that God exists, but, in both cases, we are totally dependent on God to make Himself evident to us. All we can do is ask for a response, but if it is not given, we have to remind ourselves not to arrive at any conclusions because...well, we don't have enough evidence. We're all guessing here. I happen to believe all three are true, but, even that requires faith. No way around it...a choice is involved. Unless, of course, you decide not to choose, which is...yep...a choice. As I said, I have a "yearning" for God, but, have not felt his presence or had any kind of revelation. [/QUOTE]
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