Do you believe?

[girlhappy]

I just wonder..... do you believe there is a logic in everything and reason for all things? Can you really hold that thought?
I guess my question would be ..is everything out of control, because "you cant fight faith".......because i am more and more certain that it is. Not in the sense....i can walk and feel better, or i can stay and feel worse.....But in all thinngs that really matters like ..will you have a home, job, husband, wife.....I am trying, trying and many times i feel it is just out of my control. I know it sounds like i am too much into destiny or something, but i really feel at times like there is nothing else i can do. Just wait.
Do you believe in the interventional God?

 

[bsp77]

Whether or not you believe in God, you have to make things happen for yourself. Don't just wait.

 

[girlhappy]

Yea, and what if i"ve done all in my power?

 

[UberBeaver]

I believe the time of divine intervention is over. We're on our own from here on in. I think karma is the way to go. I believe all good acts get rewarded and all bad acts get punished. Sometimes it just takes time.

 

[angelordevil]

Whether or not you believe in God, you have to make things happen for yourself. Don't just wait.

I believe in the importance of taking action too. I also believe there is an order in all of the disorder. I'm constantly fascinated by the latest images beamed back from the universe via Hubble, etc. I think that we've got a place in the plan, whatever that is...

 

[lady luck]

I am strarting to believe that destiny is an important, real element.
I never thought about it that much in the past -- but now I am comsidering it with more attention

I've been lucky till this point -- I dunno if God has put a hand in this, because I am not a strong believer...

I don't think there are people destinated to be happy/rich and have the best.
Some parts of what you reach and gain in your life is up to you.

But a part is independent from your will and your control.
Good things & bad things can came your way without distinction.

But it's us duty to learn how to react to the negative events and turn them into strenght to face what's next.

 

[AtomicBono]

I honestly don't know. There are people who waste their lives away debating the ideas of free will and destiny, but I really don't concern myself with it. Whether there's a reason for everything or not, it doesn't really matter, does it? It doesn't change what happens. It'd be nice to think that God was looking out for us, but I don't see why God would help me anymore than he'd help Bono or a homeless guy starving on the streets. I guess my point is...things happen, whether you believe in God or God's intervention or free wll or destiny or whatever - that doesn't change what has happened, and what is happening right now. Whether there's a reason or not, you have to live with the hand you've been given, and play it out the best you can.

 

[Dismantled]

I believe in the importance of taking action too. I also believe there is an order in all of the disorder. I'm constantly fascinated by the latest images beamed back from the universe via Hubble, etc. I think that we've got a place in the plan, whatever that is...

the Hubble images blow my mind! I can stare at something like that forever!

 

[scarlet october]

For the most part, I think you have to do things for yourself. But at the same time "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own". There is some things you can't accomplish without God's intervention. But we have free-will ... we aren't puppets.

 

[I'm Ready]

well I'd like to believe, but according to my bio teacher all thought and knowledge is just the movement of ions

 

[For Honor]

I'm curious as to what your real question is, girlhappy. I am uncertain of how to address the original post.


my short response is...
If you seek to find god in something, he will be there.

=

reading this thread, my general comment is that
I have no doubt whatsoever that "all things" are connected together

 

[Liesje]

Do you believe in the interventional God?

I believe in a supreme and omnipotent God and that the only way to Him is through the grace of Jesus.

The concept of intervention in regards to petitionary prayer is something I struggled with for a long time, especially when one of my best friends, the sweetest soul that ever lived, slowly died of cancer when she was 20 years old, despite months of hundreds of family and friends praying relentlessly for some divine intervention.

Then I read a piece by the theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher on petitionary prayer (asking God to intervene on your or someone else's behalf) and it all finally made sense. First, I believe that God has the power to do anything, including intervening on our behalf. However, just because he CAN do it doesn't mean he should/will. Schl. uses perhaps the best and most concrete example - Jesus praying in the garden for God to "take this cup away". We all know that Jesus endured the most intense physical and emotional suffering, and in the end, God did not take the cup away. So, if the Son of God himself, the most pure human being, could not change the mind of God, what does that mean for us?

If you look at those passages again, you'll see there's more to it than a prayer and God's response. Jesus prays three times: the first time is like desperate pleading, but by the third time he is calm and saying "thy will be done".

Now take a step back to appreciate "prayer" for what it is: entirely human forms of communication - listening, talking, pleading, conversing, etc. We are blessed that God encourages us and even participates in something so human. We also use communication to establish human relationships. Not every time we talk to our significant other are we asking for something done on our behalf. Our conversations help us get to know each other so that we're on the same level.

This is how it is with petitionary prayer. It's not us asking God to do something for us, but us conversing with God so that we get to the point where we're on the same page, so to speak. "Not my will but thy will be done."

 

[Meghan]

I've thought for a long time that God is a part of every human -- Your soul.

And I also think that God's power can also be refered to as simple will-power. Think about it. Stretch your hand out for something that you've put just out of reach. Close your eyes and think to yourself that this time you are going to reach it, even though you've just shown yourself you can't. When you open them and try again you will probably be able to reach it, or at least get a bit closer to it.
Think of all the amazing feats you've ever seen performed, not someone who can turn their eyelids inside out, more like the greatest intellectual and endurance accomplishments. None of those things could have happened had the person lost sight of their goal.

In saying this, I have no proof that God isn't there doing all these things for us, but I just think that it is a part of who we are that makes humans able to do so much more than even our closest genetic relatives; not a force beyond our control.

I could go on and on with various theories and quotes that support my idea, but its more of a personal thing for me, and I think it already looks too much like I'm trying to convert you all and start a cult. (Which I am certainly NOT, you stick to what you're happiest with.)




Em... Anyway, in answer to your question.... I do think you have control of your own destiny. However, you must take into account the lives of others, and remember that their choices in life can effect the way your life turns out.

 

[For Honor]

Hmm........t obe honest....

I don't really concern myself with god's interventions. I'd almost say "not applicable". It's not that I disbelieve in god, not at all. But... I just deal with what I can deal with, and let the rest fall where it may. I pray sometimes, and talk with god, I guess, but... I don't concern myself with trying to figure out god's reason for doing this or that.

But then again, that's just my perception. If I were more religious, I would say that I am constantly trying to see gods reasonings, his plans, his will in things. All the time. For me, it just makes things clearer if I look at them secularly. But I never have denied gods presence or workings in thing.


=


One thing that I never got into was, a distant part of my family saying "god bless him" all the time, over small things, and other sorts of phrases using God and or Jesus, etc. It seems strange for me to bring him into every conversation. Yet at the same time, I respect that viewpoint - that god is everywhere and in everything.

Yet, last night, and tonight, when I saw the beautiful sky and the moon, I said a heartfelt and sincere thankyou, to God. So ...... ...... I don't know. I guess I can't really answer the question in a direct manner, so I'm sorry for being so longwinded.

=

I guess my one solid conclusion with god is this: I accept my actions, and wherever it lands me in his judgement, then so it will be. I guess that is something that "I believe in".

Anything more than that gets to be very wordy, as I've demonstrated above...

 

[VertigoGal]

I don't believe that everything happens for a reason. People just say that to make themselves feel better about things like the tsunami. And I don't believe in an interventional god...I think you honestly have to do things for yourself.

Maybe I'll feel differently "when I'm older" but whatever...

 

[neverman]

Do I believe in the interventional God?

There have been moments in my life where I KNOW if I had left in my car to go somewhere...just a few moments earlier...I would probably be dead right now.

I know that if some of my friends had not made me aware of some behaviors I have had to change...I would be miserable.

I know that if I had not heeded certain thoughts about what job to take or not....I'd have a lousy job.

So, I believe that SOMETHING intervenes at certain times of our lives for all of us...but is it God? or is it the good sense that God has given us? or is it instinct?

And what have I done to deserve the hand of God to intervene in my life?

To answer the question....I do believe in and intervening power in the universe...but I wish the intervening power would interven against hunger, poverty, and the atrocties of my own government and other governments.......I'll take the chance of leaving at the right time on my roadtrips if the intervening power needs more time to stop the above.

 

[For Honor]

I found an old book a while ago, called

"The Gospel Accoding to Zen" (I know that should be underlined, but I'm in too difficult a position to press the neccessary key.... don't ask)

the subtitle is "beyond the death of god"



the into chapter is called "the mos serious of all questions", and it is really interesting into the next chapter where I am at the moment. The first chapter concludes with



zh..........crap, it would takt too long to write out at the moment...... maybe tomorrow.