There are boundaries you cannot cross
I really want to be a part of this, but I want to be my own person while being in a partnership.
But some things have to be made clear.
Other people should UNDERSTAND that no matter how good the intentions, they have NO RIGHT to come and provide their piece of mind and force us to abide by their rules of life.
At the end of the day, we are a partnership, and it should stay that way.
I pray you will remember this the next time a conflict like this arises again.
I will not allow anyone, to come into my life to teach me how I should treat my Jesus Christ and my God. My relationship with him is PERSONAL, and has nothing to do with anybody. How I choose to worship him how I choose meditate in his Good Works, is between ME AND GOD, and no one has that right to tell me how it should be like.
August 22nd, 2006 at 10:09 am
Listen one ear, go out the other ear?
Thing is, we CANNOT stop people from telling us this and that and giving us their views (hey! Now you see that I am giving you my views on what you have just blogged). Not unless we chop off our ears or get ourselves deaf.
I humbly believe that it is in the way we react to advises, comments, criticisms etc. that matters most. Why would God give us ears if not to listen? Why would God give us brains if not to think and act accordingly?
At the end of it all, God judges all of us according to how we have lived our life. No one will be spared.
August 22nd, 2006 at 10:22 am
I was what you might call a model Christian. I filled the bill. Any church or Christian school would have seen me as a poster child Christian. There was only one problem: I thought I was, too :twisted:– when all the while I knew I wasn’t. I knew it was all pretty much a game.
All this was back when I thought a Christian was all about being a good person – someone who would rank high in relative goodness when compared to others more spiritually challenged.
This was before I realized that Christ died to save sinners, and to qualify for the free gift of salvation you have to realize you are desperately in need of being saved. You are drowning. You are dying. As a sinner, you are among the worst.
Once you make “being good” the criteria for being a Christian, you of necessity become the judge of others, because you have to judge others in order to remain good in you own eyes. So if you have not come to this, (i.e. you are still pretty good in your own eyes), and you preach the gospel (MANY DO, from this perspective), it becomes a gospel for other people – not for you. And something doesn’t ring true.
I’ve been thinking a lot about Billy Graham lately and I think this is one of the things that made him such a good evangelist. When he preached about the gospel, he never excluded himself from needing it. He knew the gospel wouldn’t preach if it were not, first and foremost, for him.
Thanks mini, another good post once again. Bless you
Alvin
August 22nd, 2006 at 11:27 am
I don’t know when some people will realise that a relationship is a partnership and not a hostile takeover.
August 22nd, 2006 at 12:43 pm
Ah, let me be as so bold as to give you a piece of my mind even if you warned that you did’t need it.
i don’t know what the fella did as to exasperate you to your boiling point, but to shut yourself out of the congregation is a very dangerous thing to do.
If you take your faith on your own terms, then you fall into the danger of reading the terms of your faith wrongly.
Who makes the rules? Yourself, or God?
i know that your relationship with God is a personal one. But to shut yourself out, and not take in comments from other people in the faith?? That’s a bit like taking matters into your own hands, no? So the question that needs answering is ‘How properly grounded are you in your own faith that you know what’s best for yourself?’
i also understand your side of the story; Who gives them the right to tell you what to do, what to believe, what to listen to?
But i am telling you, if you shut yourself out, into your own shell, you will be no better than them. You are only depriving yourself from learning more about God through the people around you.
If faith is indeed all about ‘MY personal relationship with God’, then why would the Holy Book ask us to ‘Do not stop this habit of meeting together’?
If indeed faith is just about ‘MY personal relationship with God and I will do as I deem fit’, then i believe you have missed a little point.
The point that you should not be sitting at the throne of your own heart.
August 22nd, 2006 at 2:18 pm
We are but mere humans, with limited understanding, and full of shortcomings. I hope things will work out nicely where one should respect personal choices made, regardless if it’s a ‘correct’ choice or not.
August 22nd, 2006 at 4:01 pm
Thanks for worshipping me. I love you very much too. You’re very cute and cuddly like a soft toy.
August 22nd, 2006 at 4:26 pm
‘NO RIGHT to come and provide their piece of mind and force us to abide by their rules of life.’
That’s why I generally offer free advice, which is also free for people to ignore.
August 23rd, 2006 at 12:05 am
There, there.
It’s best to take everything with a pinch of salt….
There will ALWAYS be self-righteous, “holier than that thou” people out there ever ready to “save you from yourself” by “giving GREAT advice”….
Besides, you got it exactly right - it’s a personal thing between you and God. Whether you break out in tongue or say a quiet prayer, it’s YOUR CHOICE.
Hang in there.
(Hope you feel better soon)
August 23rd, 2006 at 8:12 am
J oh you mean ppl like sadness jc up there, who erm… decide that i ’shut myself up’
jc: eh you know what happened meh? lagak pandai je?
August 25th, 2006 at 5:54 am
I’m puzzled. If you do not accept what anyone says concerning God and the Lord Jesus Christ, what are you going to church for? When you listen to a sermon, when you attend cell group, aren’t you allowing someone else to teach you how to love God? Christianity is personal, but isn’t it communal as well? Isn’t it about relationship with the Lord and with others? If you do not listen to others, how do you expect others to listen to you? You say you ‘will not let anyone come into my life to teach me how to treat Jesus and my God,’ then what about Eric? Isn’t that exactly what he has done/is doing? How can you say your relationship with God is personal and has nothing to do with anybody? Jesus taught the apostles how to love God and they taught others. We permit ourselves to be taught how to love God. It requires humility and a willing heart. What’s wrong with that, minishorts?
August 25th, 2006 at 8:12 am
jah, the analogy i’d give you is this: i know i love my parents, and i do it in my own way. i may be wrong, i may do terrible things, but at the end of the day, how i behave and show my love to my family, is for me to figure out. that is a path i want to walk alone. while i appreciate outsiders who care for me, who want me to see things from another point of view, they also have no right to come into my life and teach me, ‘this is the way you should love your mother and your father.’
because at the end of the day, this is my life, this is my family. i accept suggestions, i can talk about things, but if i choose to walk another way, that choice is mine to make. no one can persecute me by their values.
i hope you’re able to see it in that light.
August 25th, 2006 at 11:40 am
Oh I see, you’re talking about persecution. Sorry for not understanding that. Re loving: I don’t think a person who suggests better ways for us to love our parents is wrong. I come from a family of several brothers and sisters and sometimes we help one another to learn how to love our parents. I’m a real messer and my younger sis helped me to show love to Mum by picking up after myself. But of course, sis didn’t persecute me into it. But I do get what you mean about those who persecute others into ‘loving God.’ It’s very, very wrong. Goes against everything God Himself demonstrates. Jesus never persecuted us into loving Him.
August 25th, 2006 at 11:57 am
Individualism… We’re all suffering from it…
I am who I want/choose/like/feel like I want to be. I will do whatever I want with MY life, MY time, My own space, My blog…
I will run at my own pace, I will believe whatever I want on MY own terms, I will take in comments and criticism when I want to, as I want it to be.
If it ain’t nice to hear, I have all the right to choose not to take it in.
[Minishorts, I'm just trying to bring out a point that many of us tend to overlook. And the Church is suffering from this silent, but deadly 'virus'. *And let me not be a hypocritical jughead for I am battling the same sentiments and issues within myself.* Please don't hate me for stating my point of view. My words might come as harsh, but I do mean well. But then, you already know that...]
So, in the end, I would like to ask, ‘Are we accomodating God into our lives, or are we accomodating our lives into God’s will?’
August 25th, 2006 at 12:18 pm
sadness JC: MY is for MALAYSIA
August 25th, 2006 at 2:43 pm
likewise. this was the very question i’m asking up there, can you see it?