tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16714549.post4309397241177601588..comments2008-07-03T23:23:10.999-07:00Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01067954787472463337noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16714549.post-60547577442064938512008-07-03T23:23:00.000-07:002008-07-03T23:23:00.000-07:00Tyler Dawn - Me too. Because that's a lot of rules to follow, especially in today's culture.Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01067954787472463337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16714549.post-51364381822782111202008-07-02T14:36:00.000-07:002008-07-02T14:36:00.000-07:00Hey Erin, just wanted to let you know that Orthodox Jews (called the Pharisees before the Inquisition, wonder why they changed their name, hm...) still believe that if every Jew on earth kept the Sabbath perfectly (according to the takonot, not the Torah) for just one day, that it would prompt the coming of Messiah.<BR/><BR/>Every single one? That would make me stop trying right there....Tyler Dawnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17021870354703680808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16714549.post-77493319782836667482008-07-01T23:00:00.001-07:002008-07-01T23:00:00.001-07:00Nate - No worries. I just wanted to be sure you knew.Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01067954787472463337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16714549.post-22271982140711609112008-07-01T23:00:00.000-07:002008-07-01T23:00:00.000-07:00Barbara - let me know if you have any thoughts on it.Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01067954787472463337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16714549.post-75345780553223694422008-07-01T20:46:00.000-07:002008-07-01T20:46:00.000-07:00Erin, I know you do not mind the cussing. You do it in your posts and it does not bother me. But as time goes by, I like me cussing less and less. Don't know why, I just do.Natehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11286219824281974297noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16714549.post-87832513338011200132008-07-01T00:59:00.000-07:002008-07-01T00:59:00.000-07:00I like this, Erin....still processing all my thoughts on it.Barbara(aka Layla)http://www.blogger.com/profile/11100008292699584336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16714549.post-11971827945411130712008-06-30T22:50:00.001-07:002008-06-30T22:50:00.001-07:00Nate - Where I said "a divinity which insists I care for others and am constantly chasing a better self"...<BR/><BR/>Becoming better at being like the Man I emulate is, for me, a personal directive. I didn't mean it to be a mandate. And I didn't mean that the Divinity insists, but that when it is in me, that I what I feel for myself.<BR/><BR/>(and no, I don't mind cussing in the comments...)Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01067954787472463337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16714549.post-77107753225401279962008-06-30T22:50:00.000-07:002008-06-30T22:50:00.000-07:00Sue and Katherine...I'm getting so I kinda like scary...Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01067954787472463337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16714549.post-86004219478895114602008-06-30T22:45:00.000-07:002008-06-30T22:45:00.000-07:00Just to clarify about the mean spirited comments. Rest assured it was not directed towards anyone who is a regular commenter here. <BR/><BR/>The other day I was visited by an unidentified, antagonistic commenter...aka "troll"...a person who has no relationship with me and chooses not to put their name behind their words. It seems that turning off anon. comments did the trick, but I wanted to warn him/her that I would be deleting his/her comments at my discretion.<BR/><BR/>So Sue and Nate and anyone else who might be wondering, no, it's not you. <BR/><BR/>Fire away.Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01067954787472463337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16714549.post-8535803385516411642008-06-30T19:54:00.000-07:002008-06-30T19:54:00.000-07:00Couple of quick comments.<BR/><BR/>First, where in the bible does it say we have to become better people? If improving ourselves is a personal belief, OK. But is it a truly religious specification?<BR/><BR/>"Can it be as simple as having a relationship with God?" It is for me. F--- the rest of the world. The expectations that they placed upon you in the past that defined what a "Good Christian" is, no longer matter. It is just what God thinks about you that matters. All he wants is a good relationship with his child, no expectations really.<BR/><BR/>Now as to those that are very intuitive and follow God by listening to the Holy Spirit all the time. No idea. Because, what about the Muslims that dedicate their lives to God, our God, and follow Him devotedly their whole life. Even though they reject Jesus as a savior. Will God reject them offereing themselves up as a daily sacrifice to Him? Not the God I envision. That would go for the Catholics, Jews, Ba Hai, and all of the other off shoots that believe in our God. If they truly dedicate themselves to our God, that is what he is really looking for. And with God, the only thing that I do know, is that there are no absolutes with Him. He asks people to do some whacky stuff, even stuff contradictory to what he said in the recent past.<BR/><BR/>(kind of in a surly mood tonight, sorry if I offend.)<BR/><BR/>((that last statement also is not in there due to the disclaimer at the bottom))<BR/><BR/>((( I really didn;t think about the bottom statement until after I wrote the firt parenthesis.)))<BR/><BR/>((((I could keep going allll night)))<BR/><BR/>(((((NO, I am not drinking)))))Natehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11286219824281974297noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16714549.post-89977186832212464432008-06-30T18:37:00.000-07:002008-06-30T18:37:00.000-07:00Sue~<BR/><BR/><I> "Somehow, though, the scariness of freedom is safer than the (seeming) safety of the confines of a very small box." </I><BR/><BR/>Very well said. It sums up were I am at, too. This scary freedom is far more restful - peaceful - safe, than the 'safe' confines of the religious box I used to try to stuff myself into. ;)Katherine Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06574051760314762024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16714549.post-6997104174254898452008-06-30T18:18:00.000-07:002008-06-30T18:18:00.000-07:00I've got that poster splattered all over my heart, heh ;)<BR/><BR/>It is scary, isn't it? Somehow, though, the scariness of freedom is safer than the (seeming) safety of the confines of a very small box.<BR/><BR/>That's my opinionated opinion, anyway :)Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122659239039900398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16714549.post-83558372445111440842008-06-30T14:21:00.000-07:002008-06-30T14:21:00.000-07:00Tara - it IS scary. All we can do is follow our heart and the leading of Jesus. The question of Ghandi is a sort of poster child for universalism...it's a tough one.Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01067954787472463337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16714549.post-24624431295756855382008-06-30T13:51:00.000-07:002008-06-30T13:51:00.000-07:00Free Spirit - No worries. We are all in a different place. I'm glad it got you to thinking, even if your conclusions end up being different than mineErinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01067954787472463337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16714549.post-35250885245414682392008-06-30T12:28:00.000-07:002008-06-30T12:28:00.000-07:00Tara~<BR/>This is a scary place for me, too. But I posted a passage from Romans 2:14-16 on Erin's previous blog. That passage is part of what has helped me get to this point. And it took me a long time to get here. Religious teaching that I grew up with screamed for a long time, but... my heart kept coming back to the idea of God being a just God.Katherine Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06574051760314762024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16714549.post-87561979041740907512008-06-30T11:56:00.000-07:002008-06-30T11:56:00.000-07:00I used to have all the answers...or I thought I did. This weekend a friend asked me..."Ghandi wasn't a follower of Christ does that mean that he is in hell?" and then Mother Theresa? This is all so much bigger now that I have allowed myself to function outside the 'box'. I think that there is great freedom when we start to think for ourselves...but it can be pretty damn scarey too!! <BR/>Katherine said..."Is that not enough"?? Some deep thinking to be done there for me. Thanks.Tarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13585407421360114530noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16714549.post-49817705986954959402008-06-30T09:49:00.000-07:002008-06-30T09:49:00.000-07:00Can I just admit that this is all a little scary for me. I haven't deconstructed so far as to consider such things yet. So I'm mostly just sitting back saying hmmmm....<BR/><BR/>Thanks for encouraging me to think it out.Free Spirithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00942692680513002360noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16714549.post-79446916325845145402008-06-28T20:05:00.000-07:002008-06-28T20:05:00.000-07:00Katherine - I think that still small voice IS good and IS from God. Both. And we all have it, whatever we call it, all we have to do is listen to it.<BR/><BR/>I completely agree with you.Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01067954787472463337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16714549.post-21915845949140085042008-06-28T20:03:00.000-07:002008-06-28T20:03:00.000-07:00Sue - God is the ultimate in counterintuitive. I guess that's where this though process has taken me - into the ultimate Christian paradox. Or something.Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01067954787472463337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16714549.post-38132036627497739532008-06-28T19:58:00.000-07:002008-06-28T19:58:00.000-07:00Jeff - Me too.Erinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01067954787472463337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16714549.post-12779275705168574552008-06-27T19:55:00.000-07:002008-06-27T19:55:00.000-07:00Hmmm... I don't think we get to God by being good. My own life experience has proven that to more than adequately. I think we get to Him by listening to that still small voice in our hearts, even if we don't know his proper name. Jesus stated that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life and that no one get to the Father except through Him. I see this differently that I used to - than I was taught to. This is brand new (just this week) territory for me. I can almost here Jesus saying, "I know how to talk to people even if they don't know who I am. And if they will listen to Me - follow Me from the heart... is that not enough?"Katherine Gunnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06574051760314762024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16714549.post-83027879094254785642008-06-27T18:50:00.000-07:002008-06-27T18:50:00.000-07:00I think we <I>will</I> worry about where grace takes us simply because it feels like total, complete death. And, in a way, it is. <BR/><BR/>But should we worry about being led where we don't know, what looks like death and sometimes is literally death? Well, no.<BR/><BR/>But then, a lot of God is counterintuitive. But for mine, it's a counterintuitivity that strips away the stuff that is not-me or un-me, the way that foods processed an inch beyond their life are un-food. <BR/><BR/>There is so much I could answer here, but that will do for now :)Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01122659239039900398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16714549.post-46602536224501681592008-06-27T15:24:00.000-07:002008-06-27T15:24:00.000-07:00I would rather love someone than be worried or concerned that I am right.Jeff Greathousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11658741692973255432noreply@blogger.com