Victory2011 Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 Well I have been on this board on and off, struggling with my faith, doctrine and everything in between. Lately I have really REALLY been reaching out to Him and crying out from the depths of my soul for direction, vision and purpose. But mostly I have been really asking for more of HIM. See I drifted away from Him, ended up doing things I wish I never did, and just became a total train wreck. Now I am starting to feel and sense His presence again. I feel so humbled, and I feel His love again. Not that He stopped loving me, but I just stopped believing that He loved me. He's real, and He is alive. I cannot believe how kind and sweet He really is. It's like the more I draw closer, the more I see His love. I encourage you all to seek Him, because He will reveal Himself to you. It does not matter what you did, or where you are coming from. I just wanted to share because I was struggling myself for a while. I found my way back home, and I hope you all do too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Overcame Faith Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 Hi, Victory. I think you said that in a kind way and you didn't seem judgmental. I applaud that. I know what it's like to struggle with your faith, it's just that I came to the opposite conclusion you did. If you are happy, that's great. If your struggle ever resumes, seek the truth. It can be tough to do, though. Best wishes. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dyanaprajna0 Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 You seem to think this is a place where no one has ever been a part of your cult, and that we just don't believe for whatever reason. Everyone here has reasoned out why there is no point in being a xtian anymore. We realized that xtianity makes no sense, that jesus, if he existed, doesn't care at all, and the same holds true for your god. We realized that we had been duped and tricked into accepting something that isn't real. We realized what a sham it was. We understood that the only reason to accept such an insane belief was out of fear. And, we took our lives and minds back by rejecting the brainwashing of your cult. So, good for you, thanks, but no thanks. I rather like my freedom, sanity, and ability to think for myself and accept reality. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeCoastie Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 Try hard enough to believe in something and you will. I tried to do what you did. I was scared to leave the faith. I can't really recall when I realized it was okay for me to let it go. I stopped trying to believe what I thought was wrong and ridiculous and I freed myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrotherJosh Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 Which Jesus? Bible Jesus? I'm more of a Harry Potter fan, myself, but to each his own. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dyanaprajna0 Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 Which Jesus? Bible Jesus? I'm more of a Harry Potter fan, myself, but to each his own. Gandolf is cooler, and more powerful. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
par4dcourse Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 Who? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurari Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 I'm happy you're feeling better, Victory. I used to feel "His" presence and hear "Him" all the time before I deconverted. I felt those same feelings of warmth, love, and care. When I deconverted, I thought I had lost that, and it was rather traumatic to me. But I figured that those feelings WERE real even if gods are not. So I set out to recreate them, and I'm happy to say that I have been able to do so without needing to go back to the delusion of religions. Many Christians tell me that I could not have possibly felt the "real Him" then, or it's Satan deceiving me, or it's a lie, I'm lying, or some such excuse. But they can't really understand, or they don't want to. But I know in my heart that that sweetness, kindness, love, compassion, and warmth is from my own core, it comes from being alive, I can give and get it from other beings (human and otherwise), and it makes the world so beautiful to be a part of. It's much better. Anyway, I'm rambling. I'm glad that you're feeling better about life and moving in a positive direction and feeling those good feelings. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Margee Posted March 15, 2012 Moderator Share Posted March 15, 2012 You are highly blessed to feel and have god's presence again. Would you ask him to come and visit Margee and make himself 'real' again to me? I've been sincerely seeking and asking for many, many years......Maybe, he will listen to you. sincerely.........Best of everything to you! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcdaddy Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 its all in your head, dude. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deva Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 Its all in your mind, Victory. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centauri Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 Well I have been on this board on and off, struggling with my faith, doctrine and everything in between. Lately I have really REALLY been reaching out to Him and crying out from the depths of my soul for direction, vision and purpose. But mostly I have been really asking for more of HIM. See I drifted away from Him, ended up doing things I wish I never did, and just became a total train wreck. Now I am starting to feel and sense His presence again. I feel so humbled, and I feel His love again. Not that He stopped loving me, but I just stopped believing that He loved me. He's real, and He is alive. I cannot believe how kind and sweet He really is. It's like the more I draw closer, the more I see His love. I encourage you all to seek Him, because He will reveal Himself to you. It does not matter what you did, or where you are coming from. I just wanted to share because I was struggling myself for a while. I found my way back home, and I hope you all do too. You like being aligned with the supernatural. Has it ever occurred to you that (since you believe in metaphysical beings) this thing you call "Jesus" could just as easily be aliens pretending to give you what you're so desperate to find? Fooling earthlings would be a piece of cake because they're so gullible when desperate. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrotherJosh Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 Has it ever occurred to you that (since you believe in metaphysical beings) this thing you call "Jesus" could just as easily be aliens pretending to give you what you're so desperate to find? No worries. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mymistake Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 Well I have been on this board on and off, struggling with my faith, doctrine and everything in between. Lately I have really REALLY been reaching out to Him and crying out from the depths of my soul for direction, vision and purpose. But mostly I have been really asking for more of HIM. See I drifted away from Him, ended up doing things I wish I never did, and just became a total train wreck. Now I am starting to feel and sense His presence again. I feel so humbled, and I feel His love again. Not that He stopped loving me, but I just stopped believing that He loved me. He's real, and He is alive. I cannot believe how kind and sweet He really is. It's like the more I draw closer, the more I see His love. I encourage you all to seek Him, because He will reveal Himself to you. It does not matter what you did, or where you are coming from. I just wanted to share because I was struggling myself for a while. I found my way back home, and I hope you all do too. What a wild imagination you have. God is only as real as your imagination. Yes it's true that ideas buzz around inside your head. However that doesn't mean these ideas exist on the outside. So here you are with a testimony about God and you have as much objective evidence as a palm reader or somebody who believes in ghosts. And no God won't reveal himself to anybody. I was a Christian for about 35 years. The only God I experienced was wishful thinking and self delusion. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToonForever Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 I'll take a slightly different tack - Good news. All those feelings of divine presence? All that nearness, all of it - it's all you. You're generating those feelings inside with your own thoughts, imagination and desire. Why is that good news? Because it means you can dump the delusion and experience those feelings in reality. You don't have to conform to an ancient, irrelevant morality and worry about god looking over your shoulder and measuring up. You can just live. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vigile Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 See I drifted away from Him, ended up doing things I wish I never did, and just became a total train wreck. Now I am starting to feel and sense His presence again. I feel so humbled, and I feel His love again. In psychology, Stockholm Syndrome is an apparently paradoxical psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and have positive feelings towards their captors, sometimes to the point of defending them. These feelings are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims, who essentially mistake a lack of abuse from their captors for an act of kindness.[1][2] The FBI’s Hostage Barricade Database System shows that roughly 27% of victims show evidence of Stockholm Syndrome.[3] 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xerces Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 I cannot believe how kind and sweet He really is. It's like the more I draw closer, the more I see His love. Sounds like you have a real hard on for this guy, maybe you two should hook up, have a little slap & tickle ya? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Margee Posted March 15, 2012 Moderator Share Posted March 15, 2012 You should have known Victory that you would get these responces. You are posting on EX-c......not the best site to give us your wonderful testimony about the god we've dismissed. Sorry bud. We need the real god to come here and post to get our attention. He hasn't shown up yet. Just you guys with the bible we don't accept as the word of god. I'm not a mean person Victory - just angry to think god would 'speak' to you and not me??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antlerman Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 It was great to see Kurari's response above. I was thinking to say something to this effect and she said it well herself. I think it's great you can move beyond negativity in yourself through an object of faith. But recognize this that what you experience is within in you all along. The point is to ultimately love yourself. Love yourself so completely that you become love itself. That's the point. I know full well what you are saying about feeling that presence. It is something I experience on a daily basis, and it is what is in all of us at all time, only obscured by the mind. In certain states, we are distracted long enough to experience it as it is at all times. To quote the Buddha, "The only way to bring peace to the earth is to learn to make our own life peaceful." Experiencing what you say you are is for you to look at and embrace and become. That's how you become peaceful in yourself. What you experience, everyone experiences the world over regardless of the objects of their faith. Ultimately it is who they are, beyond themselves. Here, I'll share this video with you that says a lot of this well without being bogged down to any religion's theology. Take the angel in the story as a vehicle for the real message - much the way all the symbols of any faith are for: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aQslMHDYCs&feature=share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Margee Posted March 15, 2012 Moderator Share Posted March 15, 2012 It was great to see Kurari's response above. I was thinking to say something to this effect and she said it well herself. I think it's great you can move beyond negativity in yourself through an object of faith. But recognize this that what you experience is within in you all along. The point is to ultimately love yourself. Love yourself so completely that you become love itself. That's the point. I know full well what you are saying about feeling that presence. It is something I experience on a daily basis, and it is what is in all of us at all time, only obscured by the mind. In certain states, we are distracted long enough to experience it as it is at all times. To quote the Buddha, "The only way to bring peace to the earth is to learn to make our own life peaceful." Experiencing what you say you are is for you to look at and embrace and become. That's how you become peaceful in yourself. What you experience, everyone experiences the world over regardless of the objects of their faith. Ultimately it is who they are, beyond themselves. Here, I'll share this video with you that says a lot of this well without being bogged down to any religion's theology. Take the angel in the story as a vehicle for the real message - much the way all the symbols of any faith are for: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aQslMHDYCs&feature=share This is good stuff Antlerman - I like this...what you said. This I can handle! thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackpudd1n Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 We'll be here for you, Victory, with ice-cream, chocolate, and wine, when jesus stands you up yet again, lets you down, and fails to return your calls. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted March 15, 2012 Super Moderator Share Posted March 15, 2012 In another thread I mused about a god who loves you, wants to spend eternity with you, yet hides himself and makes you beg for any indication that he's really there. It makes no sense, but what does make sense is how we can let our imagination and desire run obsessively wild until we alter our own perceptions. It's sad to see someone so desperate to believe any ridiculous thing if it makes them feel special - even for a little while. The human brain can come up with some crazy shit, can't it? 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oddbird1963 Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 I encourage you all to seek Him, because He will reveal Himself to you. I'm glad you found some sort of happiness in your experience, but in my experience and the experience of many others, this just is not true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Realist Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 Well I have been on this board on and off, struggling with my faith, doctrine and everything in between. Lately I have really REALLY been reaching out to Him and crying out from the depths of my soul for direction, vision and purpose. But mostly I have been really asking for more of HIM. See I drifted away from Him, ended up doing things I wish I never did, and just became a total train wreck. Now I am starting to feel and sense His presence again. I feel so humbled, and I feel His love again. Not that He stopped loving me, but I just stopped believing that He loved me. He's real, and He is alive. I cannot believe how kind and sweet He really is. It's like the more I draw closer, the more I see His love. I encourage you all to seek Him, because He will reveal Himself to you. It does not matter what you did, or where you are coming from. I just wanted to share because I was struggling myself for a while. I found my way back home, and I hope you all do too. ... hey, I am so glad it works for you! I hope it keeps on doing that for you! But don't forget the old saying though. "Different strokes for different folks." e.g, if Neil Diamond's music works for someone ... it may not for everyone else. And by the way your post title, "Jesus is so sweet and kind", I assume you cannot be talking about the same Jesus that said this? "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple." Luke 14 v 26. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 And by the way your post title, "Jesus is so sweet and kind", I assume you cannot be talking about the same Jesus that said this? "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple." Luke 14 v 26. Right, or Luke 13:28 “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts