mat@hou5d.UUCP (03/29/84)
___ (Note that I am bringing this back to net.religion!) On a special relationship with one's Creator: >> 2. Don't knock it if you haven't tried it. If you've never tried such a >> commitment, such a relationship, you can't know what it's like. (As an >> analogy, I suppose the same can be said about marriage--I don't know what >> it's like, never having married.) > You're quite correct in that respect; I can't know what it's like. I'm > not sure I can ever do so. I can picture myself standing rigid with my > eyes tightly shut and saying something analogous to "I *do* believe in > <fill in blank>! I *do*! I *do*!" (mail re the character that I'm > thinking of (the Cowardly Lion?) and the proper fill is invited, since > forgetting such things bothers me), but internally I know it's a lie. It looks like you are still trying to do it all yourself here. That's not the way for a Christian. Even in Zen, where the emphasis is on doing/not doing, the goal is to efface the self that is doing the doing (flames on THAT statement are welcome). If you are accepting a person-like God, then how can you expect LESS from God than from Nothingness? The Christian does not try to force a relationship with God. That is not what God is about. It is useful to consider the humorous ``prayer of the agnostic'': Oh God (if there is a god), Hear me (if you can hear ...) This is a place to begin. Our faith is going to be weak (remember that parable about faith the size of a mustard seed?) and that relation to God will strengthen it. > It's also the case that people who use various controlled substances > make the same claim about the "higher reality" or "greater creativity" > that they say they get from them; how many of us believe that they are > correct in their claims? I certainly don't make such a claim. If I wanted to see life in the most convenient way, I would put God aside. God calls for us to do, and not do, certain things. And these are not easy. I don't claim to do them well. No, trying to live to God's requirements is a burden for me. And I make no claims of enchanced skills or of Cosmic Conciousness. If that is what you want, then investigate the Rosicrucians (Society of the Rosy Cross?). (By the way, does anyone have any info on who these people are and what they claim? -- and why?) Mark Terribile hou5d!mat