I want to share something here okay. If you didn't know already my name is T. J. and I am 27 years old. I am a Christian who loves God and who tries to live for Him each day. I do mess up and I do struggle. Yet I know that He loves me and He loves me and helps me to please Him. I am glad that I don't have to follow a list or religious rules or regulations to be a Christian or follow God. I love him and I have a relationship with Him and it is awesome. He is my best friend and I can trust Him with anything. I can go to Him and talk about anything from life to the Miami Dolphins. (Yes I do talk to him about winning the Super Bowl...one day they will get there!!) I have a desire to be more passionate in my relationship with Him and to impact everyone I meet or come in contact with...including you all. I love you guys whether you believe like I do or not. If you want to know more about what I believe I am sure there is plenty of people here who can hear you out. If not you can always pm me. Thanks for listening.... Go Dolphins!!
Despite struggles with my own belief system I think this forum needs to be used more often. Atheists included.
I'd probably say I'm closer to a Taoist than anything. It's not Tao I'm having an issue with it's God, or the lack thereof. Until recently I had considered myself a strong believer in that "it is everywhere all around us" and now I'm uncertain.
Wonderful testimony T. J. My thoughts and prayers will be with you. You will find there are quite a few of faith on here. Here, all come in and discuss, debate and talk about different faiths or no faith, what ever the case may be. This site has something for everyone. Pastor Keith is our resident Pastor here. You'll grow to love him and his wonderful ideas and posts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoism It's hard to explain. The wording "wei wu wei" underneath my username is translated to "action without action". It means "if you do without action everything gets accomplished". You can find copies of the Tao Te Ching online.. It basically uses phrases that balance the universe
That's interesting. If I am understanding it right, Taoism is believing that there is a balance to everything. In the spiritual sense, the human will must be balance with that of the universe. I wonder how one would achieve such a balance?
To my understanding you're thinking about it correctly. As far as achieving balance it takes consistent practice much like any other faith. I catch glimpses of the moment as it truly happens and without attachment. It's different than what I normally experience as my day to day, which seems to be a vacancy of the whole idea, but it's very fleeting. I like when I catch it, but it certainly takes getting used to. Over the years it has given me a sense of internal peace even at seemingly chaotic times. Because I knew that "this time" was so chaotic I figured "that time" would be coming and it would be peaceful. It has given me many different ways of thinking about time to which I believe what my signature says. There is a past and a future in a historical sense but as far as living life there is only one moment. I think that time moves around us not we move through time (if that makes any sense). It puts life and the universe into a very logical process for me (even though if you ever do read the tao te ching it won't seem like it).
Good post and interesting discussion. My Tao is pretty rusty, I'm a little more current on Shinto and Buddhism but I'm willing to look. Read big hunks of the Book of Tao back as an undergraduate (befoe most of you guys were born, I'm embaressed to say) but we didn't talk about it much in sem. and even less since.
re: heaven and hell. I'm not that sure to be honest. I've never really thought about it, but more often than not I believe they're concepts more than an actual place.
That is awesome!. And you are right God is good and what wonderful blessing he gives us each and everyday. I am going through one of the most difficult times in my life right now, my wife has left me for someone else and it has been through God that I have remained calm and have had some semblance of peace through all this. I know with His works I will come through this stronger in my faith and stronger as a person.
I understand. I believe that it is a real place a person would go if they didn't place their faith in Jesus....yep that is what I believe.
My understanding from a toaist perspective would be something that heaven is when you are living with the tao and hell is when you live outside of the toa. More states of beings rather than places.
Thanks for sharing and I will keep you in my prayers. I feel the same about impacting those around you. I have made it a goal of mine to be sure to make everyones day I talk to and say something that makes them smile, just have an overall positive impact.
fwiw, mormons have possibly the most reasonable beliefs of heaven and what some would call hell and is closest to what i think. but they have some other beliefs i just will never get my head around
Great thread dolfan7171. Dunken one of the two strongest messages I've received from God came during the worst night of my life while going thru my divorce and I truly believe that is one of the pillers of my belief. You're in my prayers brother.
strangest message I have received was on friday I learned my grandpa died of a aneurysm in his neck. That night I had a dream that I was diagnosed with neck cancer. Yesterday I learned that my grandpa died because he had a tumor in his neck which caused him to suffocate.
Here are the lyrics of a song by a great Blues Duo worth pondering: Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee - God and Man (spoken) In the beginning, there was just God, So God made man in his own image... a little image that is. Man asked God, "My God, how great art thou?" And to show man his great power, they played a game. Sonny, I'll play the part of the man, and you'll play the part of God God and man played hide-and-go-seek. God told man, "Now man, don’t you peek." Man counted to ten, and then looked around, But God was nowhere, nowhere to be found. Man looked on the mountain. He looked across the sea. He looked in the stars, in the skies, in the trees. He looked in the wind, in the sun, on the ground, But God was nowhere, nowhere to be found. So man made an image and he gave it a name, But this man-made god brought nothing but pain. Man started shouting "God! Where can you be?" "I’m right here man, inside of thee." Oh, man was so shocked, he was really surprised. 'Cuz he looked everywhere, but right there inside. Now when man found God, man found love, And man found out what we all are made of. God is in you and God is in me. To love all of God is to love humanity. God is in you and God is in me. To love all of God is to love humanity." Here are the lyrics with the music: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88A-x2Qk9T0"]YouTube- SONNY TERRY AND BROWNIE MCGHEE "GOD AND MAN"[/ame]
