Sunday sermons
Feb. 6th, 2011 02:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bladesparkI used to post these all the time. I thought I might try and get back into the habit, though I doubt I'll manage to post one every single Sunday. Just whenever something from church particularly inspires me to thought.
I'm posting this unlocked, and I ask that whether you agree or disagree with my views, that you please keep things civil in the comments. I'm normally very private about this sort of thing, and I'm giving you guys reading this a lot of trust by posting it for you all to see. Please don't abuse that trust. As Thumper's mother said, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."
There was a lesson at church a few weeks ago, about revelation, and the teacher said "God speaks to all men." Now "men" here doesn't mean "males" it means men in the sense of mankind, of all humanity. And I was thinking about this idea, that God speaks to everyone. I don't think it's a commonly held belief. I think most religions teach, or at least assume, that God speaks only to some certain group of the chosen. But I really do think that God speaks to all of us.
Some of you are probably going "But God has never said anything to me." Well, in the Gospel According To SPark (which is most of the stuff I post, this is always my opinion, not any kind of official doctrine) there are two reasons for that. One was addressed by the same teacher with the quote "God never uses a floodlight when a flashlight will do." Ie. He's not going to descend from on high with a chorus of angels to tell you something that He can say with a little spark of quiet inspiration in your heart. I think many of those moments of small yet profound wonder that we experience are from God.
The second reason we don't always hear God speaking to us is because we don't want to. Do you think, if God spoke to you, that He'd say "You're right about everything you believe, and you're doing the right thing in everything that you do, you're perfect, just carry on as is"? Yeah, no. God always calls us to be better than we are. Even if you're Mother Theresa or some other saintly, devoted, godly sort, there's always something you could improve. But God doesn't force that on us. If we don't want Him to call us to be better and kinder and less lazy and more inspired, then He won't. We have our free will, and how much God we want in our lives is entirely up to us. Though even those who reject God completely aren't rejected by Him, I think. I think He still sends them those moments of wonder, because in the end what God wants is for us to be happy, fulfilled, and accomplished people, who live up to our potential, and who reach out to those around us and help them as well. So within the limits that we ourselves allow, God does what He can to help each of us be that sort of person.
And on the subject of reaching out, I'm opening this post up for question asking. I tried formspring once, but I never did get any questions. :) Not "popu-fur" enough, I think. But anyhow, you can ask questions about the little sermon there, or about my religion, or about me personally, my business, my art, whatever. Any question you like. All questions are guaranteed an answer, though no answers are guaranteed to be the answer you hoped to get. :)
I'm posting this unlocked, and I ask that whether you agree or disagree with my views, that you please keep things civil in the comments. I'm normally very private about this sort of thing, and I'm giving you guys reading this a lot of trust by posting it for you all to see. Please don't abuse that trust. As Thumper's mother said, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."
There was a lesson at church a few weeks ago, about revelation, and the teacher said "God speaks to all men." Now "men" here doesn't mean "males" it means men in the sense of mankind, of all humanity. And I was thinking about this idea, that God speaks to everyone. I don't think it's a commonly held belief. I think most religions teach, or at least assume, that God speaks only to some certain group of the chosen. But I really do think that God speaks to all of us.
Some of you are probably going "But God has never said anything to me." Well, in the Gospel According To SPark (which is most of the stuff I post, this is always my opinion, not any kind of official doctrine) there are two reasons for that. One was addressed by the same teacher with the quote "God never uses a floodlight when a flashlight will do." Ie. He's not going to descend from on high with a chorus of angels to tell you something that He can say with a little spark of quiet inspiration in your heart. I think many of those moments of small yet profound wonder that we experience are from God.
The second reason we don't always hear God speaking to us is because we don't want to. Do you think, if God spoke to you, that He'd say "You're right about everything you believe, and you're doing the right thing in everything that you do, you're perfect, just carry on as is"? Yeah, no. God always calls us to be better than we are. Even if you're Mother Theresa or some other saintly, devoted, godly sort, there's always something you could improve. But God doesn't force that on us. If we don't want Him to call us to be better and kinder and less lazy and more inspired, then He won't. We have our free will, and how much God we want in our lives is entirely up to us. Though even those who reject God completely aren't rejected by Him, I think. I think He still sends them those moments of wonder, because in the end what God wants is for us to be happy, fulfilled, and accomplished people, who live up to our potential, and who reach out to those around us and help them as well. So within the limits that we ourselves allow, God does what He can to help each of us be that sort of person.
And on the subject of reaching out, I'm opening this post up for question asking. I tried formspring once, but I never did get any questions. :) Not "popu-fur" enough, I think. But anyhow, you can ask questions about the little sermon there, or about my religion, or about me personally, my business, my art, whatever. Any question you like. All questions are guaranteed an answer, though no answers are guaranteed to be the answer you hoped to get. :)