This was my exact experience in the church as a teen and young adult. I left church for years and went into spiritual crap like crystals and zodiacs. (stupid) so glad someone somewhere is saying this. I "came to faith" through the vehicle of Celebrate Recovery which is feuled somewhat by the story of your testimony and how you got sober, etc. I was constantly comparing myself to those who "succeeded" and why couldn't that happen to me?!? Never once focusing on Jesus or the gospel. Now I'm comfortable in a good Lutheran Church. It's all about Jesus all the time! Woo!
Pride and despair as a spectrum, now that's phrasing I have needed for years. Thank you! I would answer yes, salvation is always miraculous, but it doesn't always look (or feel) like a miracle. Love comes softly
An interesting parallel to this is the number of people I know who were raised in the church and (even ignoring their baptism) were clearly Christians but once they went to middle school/high school they would have an emotional spiritual experience that which they called a conversion experiences that were (perhaps unintentional) designed to make their testimony more exciting.
Haven’t watched yet, but I would say that at their root all conversions are miraculous in a sense that God is working through whatever means He has deemed fit to use in a supernatural way to quicken someone’s heart unto new life.
This is somewhat related. If you ever get a chance to read Eliot’s poetry chronologically it is an extremely powerful testimony. It’s a tragedy that his conversion isn’t more widely used as an example because it’s not that different from other people. It is really just a testimony to how God is faithful to those who earnestly seek truth and humble themselves. He was able to articulate the human condition as we experience it in a way that is painfully precise. From Prufrock to the Four Quartets although his beliefs completely transformed he never said what wasn’t experientially true. Certainly for me it made me feel not alone in wrestling with God for years asking for a faith I couldn’t manufacture on my own. I felt more deeply understood by a man who died 60 years ago than anyone else I knew in my life. I don’t think anyone comes away from reading Eliot without feeling challenged in some way.
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This was my exact experience in the church as a teen and young adult. I left church for years and went into spiritual crap like crystals and zodiacs. (stupid) so glad someone somewhere is saying this. I "came to faith" through the vehicle of Celebrate Recovery which is feuled somewhat by the story of your testimony and how you got sober, etc. I was constantly comparing myself to those who "succeeded" and why couldn't that happen to me?!? Never once focusing on Jesus or the gospel. Now I'm comfortable in a good Lutheran Church. It's all about Jesus all the time! Woo!
Pride and despair as a spectrum, now that's phrasing I have needed for years. Thank you!
I would answer yes, salvation is always miraculous, but it doesn't always look (or feel) like a miracle. Love comes softly
I never speak of my experience out of fear that those listening may think they should experience something similar, and absolutely it's not the case
An interesting parallel to this is the number of people I know who were raised in the church and (even ignoring their baptism) were clearly Christians but once they went to middle school/high school they would have an emotional spiritual experience that which they called a conversion experiences that were (perhaps unintentional) designed to make their testimony more exciting.
Haven’t watched yet, but I would say that at their root all conversions are miraculous in a sense that God is working through whatever means He has deemed fit to use in a supernatural way to quicken someone’s heart unto new life.
Well said!
He says that in the video
This is somewhat related. If you ever get a chance to read Eliot’s poetry chronologically it is an extremely powerful testimony. It’s a tragedy that his conversion isn’t more widely used as an example because it’s not that different from other people. It is really just a testimony to how God is faithful to those who earnestly seek truth and humble themselves. He was able to articulate the human condition as we experience it in a way that is painfully precise. From Prufrock to the Four Quartets although his beliefs completely transformed he never said what wasn’t experientially true. Certainly for me it made me feel not alone in wrestling with God for years asking for a faith I couldn’t manufacture on my own. I felt more deeply understood by a man who died 60 years ago than anyone else I knew in my life. I don’t think anyone comes away from reading Eliot without feeling challenged in some way.
arent call conversions by nature miraculous?
He says that in the video
Very good hat!!!
6 degrees in may?
Hi