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Showing posts with the label open minded

Growing in Understanding

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The greatest piece of evidence in support of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob for me, is the fact that we can't define him. If this God was created by man then we could comprehend who he is.  Before I was a believer, as I looked from the outside in, my view concerning a relationship with this "almighty" God, was that these people believing this stuff were creating a God that they wanted and on top of that it seemed that people believed in this same God differently. For an example The same God that freed the American slaves in the 1800's was the same God who protected the slave trade. People on both sides of this had a relationship with God, justifying their position yet rejected the other position.  I didn't realize it but I was making a big mistake. I was allowing my little bit of knowledge to determine my opinion, ignoring all of the knowledge that could be understood. This might sound odd but if we're honest, its a lot easier putting our own t...

Moving Mountains

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He said to them,  “Because of your little faith. For  truly, I say to you,  if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed,  you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and  nothing will be impossible for you.”   Matthew 17:20 I don't know about you but after reading what Jesus said to his disciples I feel like I have very little faith. Im not near any mountains but if I were, I feel like I wouldn't be brave enough or would doubt I could move a physical mountain by my command.   When thinking about how much of something we tend to think in quantity. In this remark by Jesus we can notice that he uses such a small item to describe a faith that can move mountains. If one mustard seed of faith can do that I must have less then a 10th of that kind of faith. The trouble with this thinking is that if I want to gain a larger faith I'd need to somehow add to what faith I already have. I can try to work more, pray ...

Influences That Create Who We Are

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We are influenced by everything around us. The weather, our culture, news, available entertainment, our friends, family, social media When I get curious about something to the point that I am going to look into it the sources I use, either to educate myself or to support a thought or an idea I currently hold, that shapes my understanding. This is the case for me when  I first took on the task to educate myself with a greater understanding of God's existence and the history the Bible. I started by buying a bible for myself but I found it difficult for myself to study it on my own. I found it more helpful to listen to someone who could make the scriptures more relatable. When I came across a guy named Mark Driscoll, I thought I found the teacher I needed. Mark Driscoll is a passionate, "beat Christian men up" kind of preacher. He was the first preacher that I listened to that I felt like was preaching my life. I even at one point, when I first started going to c...

Perfect Communication

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“Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.” ‭‭James‬ ‭1:21‬ ‭NIV‬‬ "To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of the mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Colossians1:27 NIV The word in us? Christ in us? Seems to me that scripture suggests the idea that God is always with us. If thats the case, why is communicating with God so hard or often unclear? And if God is perfect in every way, why do we struggle to understand him. Often I feel like we treat communication as if it were a cycle. I say something to you, you then process what I said, once you come to an understanding you respond accordingly. Unfortunately this method is flawed. I think one of the biggest problems we have is our inability to communicate clearly. This causes fights, ends relationships and starts wars. When we are in a conversation with another, we o...