What would you expect from God?

mickiel · Jul 5, 2008

As I examine life and all that it has to offer, there still seems to be something missing. I have two good jobs, my son is doing well and I have a great girlfriend. My mom is a great woman, my sisters and brother loves me , I am 53 years old and have never been real sick. I am out of debt and free from any kind of slave mentality dealing with my Spiritual Understanding.

So I can't complain about anything, I mean its going ok, could be a whole lot worse, so I try to be content and thankful. There are humans living a whole lot worse in situations than I. But I just want to know more about God. I mean, the real unadulterated truth about him, and learn it from nobody BUT him. So thats the first thing I am expecting from God. I don't know God, but I sure would like to. I mean, if God is real, and I suspect that he is, he must be quite something, but he's just too laid back in revealing himself to a person. I can't seem to force a relationship with him. But in considering him, he is really quite something. The more I learn about him, the more I expect from him.

In Galations 5:22-23 is what I think is the best discription of God in the bible. Love, Joy, Peace, Goodness, Gentleness, Kindness, Faithfulness and Self Control. And you know what, I think we can expect these things from God. I grow so tired of hearing about Gods wrath, his anger, hell and punishment, that it sickens me. People seem to think those are Gods strong points, his wrath. In Isaiah 57:16 it says anger grows weaker in God. God is not a social path bent on trimming humanity down to just " The good people", then to hell with the rest.

Why should a believer in God, actually expect God to punish humanity? Why are you expecting God to beat up on sinners? I mean Why? What kind of mentality is that? Thats not Kindness or Gentleness, no matter what twisted way you put it, if you are expecting God to punish, what kind of desire do you think that is. Vengence belongs to God, not to the followers of God. Sometimes I think certain believers in God would actually roast marshmellows in the lake of fire, just to enjoy watching others suffer.

But what can we expect from God? And I want to go into that. Peace.

whereismynotecard · Jul 5, 2008

I don't believe in god, but if I did, I think that he or she would be understanding of people who sin, as they are like his children, right? And as a parent, if your child makes mistakes, you still love them, and don't damn them to hell.

Starfish · Jul 5, 2008

mickiel said:
As I examine life and all that it has to offer, there still seems to be something missing. I have two good jobs, my son is doing well and I have a great girlfriend. My mom is a great woman, my sisters and brother loves me , I am 53 years old and have never been real sick. I am out of debt and free from any kind of slave mentality dealing with my Spiritual Understanding.

So I can't complain about anything, I mean its going ok, could be a whole lot worse, so I try to be content and thankful. There are humans living a whole lot worse in situations than I. But I just want to know more about God. I mean, the real unadulterated truth about him, and learn it from nobody BUT him. So thats the first thing I am expecting from God. I don't know God, but I sure would like to. I mean, if God is real, and I suspect that he is, he must be quite something, but he's just too laid back in revealing himself to a person. I can't seem to force a relationship with him. But in considering him, he is really quite something. The more I learn about him, the more I expect from him.

In Galations 5:22-23 is what I think is the best discription of God in the bible. Love, Joy, Peace, Goodness, Gentleness, Kindness, Faithfulness and Self Control. And you know what, I think we can expect these things from God. I grow so tired of hearing about Gods wrath, his anger, hell and punishment, that it sickens me. People seem to think those are Gods strong points, his wrath. In Isaiah 57:16 it says anger grows weaker in God. God is not a social path bent on trimming humanity down to just " The good people", then to hell with the rest.

Why should a believer in God, actually expect God to punish humanity? Why are you expecting God to beat up on sinners? I mean Why? What kind of mentality is that? Thats not Kindness or Gentleness, no matter what twisted way you put it, if you are expecting God to punish, what kind of desire do you think that is. Vengence belongs to God, not to the followers of God. Sometimes I think certain believers in God would actually roast marshmellows in the lake of fire, just to enjoy watching others suffer.

But what can we expect from God? And I want to go into that. Peace.

Hi Mickiel.
I agree with and appreciate your post. There are a lot of threads focusing on a vengeful god, and I, like you, don't see him that way at all. He is as described in Galatians and Isaiah. He loves us; he is our father.

The "punishment" is simply consequences. We sin knowing the consequences, then rage against God, or deny his existance, because he doesn't intervene and save us. Sounds kind of like the behavior of immature children, doesn't it? Not all adversity, that some interpret as punishment, are consequences of anything we've done. Some just happens as part of this imperfect world. I've found that when I've reached out to God, he doesn't typically take away the adversity, but he helps me through it.

To avoid a long post, I'll stop here. Thanks again.

DallasApple · Jul 5, 2008

I dont expect anything..

Love

Dallas

Mister Emu · Jul 5, 2008

I believe we punish ourselves...

Charity · Jul 5, 2008

He has given me grace and mercy, It's more than I deserved I'm sure.

mickiel · Jul 5, 2008

I would expect God to be absolutely nothing like religions are saying that he is. The bible states that his ways are NOT like our ways, and his thoughts are not like ours. I believe that. God is nothing like us, humans being in Gods image, I believe that means we shape like God, and we have a Consciousness , and we think. I think God has a head, a body with arms and legs, but just not a human body, I quess some kind of Spirit body. Maybe wings, or maybe none of that, I just don't know. I don't see him as some kind of "Gooey Mist".

But his mind, his personality, his ways and means, ALL are expressed by each fruit of the Spirit. God is Kind and Gentle, we are not. God is always Joyful and Happy, we are not. God is very Loving and Patient, we are not. And this is how God thinks. Hes not up there designing ways to punish humanity, sending us through obsticle courses trying to trip us up. Why would you expect God to be like that? What are you expecting the great God to be like?

If God is all that I begin to think he is, then NONE of the ways that we think about him are correct, none of them, myself included. We can't understand God because we are finte and nothing like him. He is infinte, and has no limits to his Grace, forgiveness, Love and Understanding. BECAUSE of that, I see no condemnation in no human as even being possible.

And I want to go into that.

Peace.

Riverwolf · Jul 5, 2008

Sounds to me like you're already well on the road. Although if you want YHWH to speak to you directly, it's going to take a bit of effort on your part. For one thing, he won't speak English, so you're going to have to learn to listen to your feelings and your heart. Take a long, long walk in the nearest forest near you, or any other place where man hasn't touched yet. Don't take your cellphone with you; isolate yourself for those few hours. As your walking, meditate a bit on just being in the now. I know that's a Buddhist perspective, but trust me, it's a lot easier to listen to your feelings when your mind is quieted.

zenzero · Jul 5, 2008

Friend mickiel,

What would you expect from God?

The understanding is that only when one ceases to have any EXPECATIONS does not only god but gets everything .
Love & rgds

mickiel · Jul 5, 2008

Riverwolf said:
Sounds to me like you're already well on the road. Although if you want YHWH to speak to you directly, it's going to take a bit of effort on your part. For one thing, he won't speak English, so you're going to have to learn to listen to your feelings and your heart. Take a long, long walk in the nearest forest near you, or any other place where man hasn't touched yet. Don't take your cellphone with you; isolate yourself for those few hours. As your walking, meditate a bit on just being in the now. I know that's a Buddhist perspective, but trust me, it's a lot easier to listen to your feelings when your mind is quieted.

Its kind of strange to read you say this, because I most certainly like to get by some water and some woods and then pray to God. I don't understand why, but the water soothes my mind and nature is just a good place to do this kind of thing, where no human meddleing is around you. God does not talk to me, and thats fine by me, I just want to be influenced by him and not by religion.

Religions are just not for me, but I am finding that comming to know God is nothing like I thought it would be. He does not talk to you. He does not answer each prayer like you think he might, his way of helping you is unorthodox. He cannot be manipulated by your tears. He does not remove all of your sins and weaknesses. He never lets your opinion of yourself get inflated, and willnot message your ego. He will make you divorce yourself from everything that you have set up to represent him. He willnot allow anyone to teach you, and wean you totally on him.

And he will keep you weak.

Peace.

zenzero · Jul 5, 2008

Friend mickiel,
Surely understanding about god is right and also about vreligion.
Those who have an understanding they are areligion unto themselves.
Religion is TILL one gets the hang of it, the ART of it.
Once someone gets a hang about the subject or object then he himself is the religion.
More as we go along.
Do carry on my friend.
Best wishes.
Love & rgds

.lava · Jul 5, 2008

hi Mickiel

i wish and pray for many things. i really wish all people who has good intentions to be saved and enter heaven, even if they followed wrong path. expectation is another issue. i don't think i could expect anything from God. i expect from myself. God has already given everything i need. if i am not happy as much as possible, it is because of me. i put obstacles between me and happiness, not God.

.

mickiel · Jul 6, 2008

.lava said:
hi Mickiel

i wish and pray for many things. i really wish all people who has good intentions to be saved and enter heaven, even if they followed wrong path. expectation is another issue. i don't think i could expect anything from God. i expect from myself. God has already given everything i need. if i am not happy as much as possible, it is because of me. i put obstacles between me and happiness, not God.

.

Interesting premise. Yet the scriptures strike me quite differently, it most certainly reveals God actually putting obstacles in a humans path. Consider what God did to Job. In 42:11 for example;" Then all his brothers and sisters and all who knew him before, came to him and ate with him in his house, and consoled and comforted him " For All the Evil that The Lord had brought on Him." The bible says that Job was blameless and upright and turned away from evil, Job 1:1. In vs.8 God himself describes Job as being sinless. Now Job did absolutely nothing to deserve what God did to him, and oh yes, it was God who " Sicked satan on him." It was Gods idea to do this to Job. God saw to it that the obstacles were placed into Jobs life, and it was God who did this to both Adam and Eve. And God does not change, he still is doing it to people, for certain reasons.

And I think this is misunderstood about God and how he is using that. Did you know that you can expect God to do this, and once that is understood and reconized, the handling of personal trials can be viewed much differently. And I want to go into that. Peace.

science_is_my_god · Jul 6, 2008

If I were to believe in god, the abrahamic god I am referring to, I would have only one expectation. And that is to never try creating anything like the human race again. I think the notion of him supossedly creating beings in his likeness is proof enough that he makes mistakes. That would have been one little science experiment that blew up in his face.

blackout · Jul 6, 2008

expect?

nothing.

mickiel · Jul 6, 2008

science_is_my_god said:
If I were to believe in god, the abrahamic god I am referring to, I would have only one expectation. And that is to never try creating anything like the human race again. I think the notion of him supossedly creating beings in his likeness is proof enough that he makes mistakes. That would have been one little science experiment that blew up in his face.

I tend to view atheist as I do christians , the both simply believe things that I do not, or do not believe in certain things that I do. Thus one of my expectations from God is to one day make himself clear to everyone, and to stop hideing himself from humanity. I expect him to bring clarity of himself to all.

And I expect that experience will be quite something.

And its quite needed.

Peace.

.lava · Jul 6, 2008

mickiel said:
Interesting premise. Yet the scriptures strike me quite differently, it most certainly reveals God actually putting obstacles in a humans path. Consider what God did to Job. In 42:11 for example;" Then all his brothers and sisters and all who knew him before, came to him and ate with him in his house, and consoled and comforted him " For All the Evil that The Lord had brought on Him." The bible says that Job was blameless and upright and turned away from evil, Job 1:1. In vs.8 God himself describes Job as being sinless. Now Job did absolutely nothing to deserve what God did to him, and oh yes, it was God who " Sicked satan on him." It was Gods idea to do this to Job. God saw to it that the obstacles were placed into Jobs life, and it was God who did this to both Adam and Eve. And God does not change, he still is doing it to people, for certain reasons.

And I think this is misunderstood about God and how he is using that. Did you know that you can expect God to do this, and once that is understood and reconized, the handling of personal trials can be viewed much differently. And I want to go into that. Peace.

if i understood you correctly, i assume you are confusing dynamics of reality with will of God. if there is an reality, then there must be rules and dynamics, so it can function.

.

mickiel · Jul 6, 2008

.lava said:
if i understood you correctly, i assume you are confusing dynamics of reality with will of God. if there is an reality, then there must be rules and dynamics, so it can function.

.

I am simply saying that God will most certainly put obstacles in the path of a human. And does it all the time.

Peace.

.lava · Jul 6, 2008

mickiel said:
I am simply saying that God will most certainly put obstacles in the path of a human. And does it all the time.

Peace.

obstacles are in life with its exact opposite. it is up to person to choose between swimming against flaw or not. that flaw is reality with its orders and rules that do not change by time. if God has given a command, that would be the best advice, if one follow that command, he would eliminate an obstacle we're talking about. that is what i think and also what i experience all the time. whenever refuse to follow a command, i do it because of my personal desires. then i come face to face with an obstacle. God does not put it in front of me. it is already there, always been.

.

mickiel · Jul 6, 2008

.lava said:
obstacles are in life with its exact opposite. it is up to person to choose between swimming against flaw or not. that flaw is reality with its orders and rules that do not change by time. if God has given a command, that would be the best advice, if one follow that command, he would eliminate an obstacle we're talking about. that is what i think and also what i experience all the time. whenever refuse to follow a command, i do it because of my personal desires. then i come face to face with an obstacle. God does not put it in front of me. it is already there, always been.

.

I disagree totally. In Romans 11:32;" For GOD has shut up all into disobedience, that he might show mercy unto all." Here God has put obstacles in everyones way, not just a few of us, but all of us. Locked us all into a disposition to sin. Again in Gal. 3:22;" But the scripture has SHUT UP ALL men under sin." What makes us mess up so much is this nature planted within us called the law of Sin. Rom.7:17;" It is no longer I who am doing this , but sin which is IN me." Thats what makes us stumble so much. Our lives are not a result of how strong our wills are, its according to what God wants you to go through. Hes the one who directs all humans path.

Peace.

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