Bro, I really needed to hear this. I just clicked on this video out of curiosity and it's exactly what I needed. Thank you for spreading positive hope in Christ and his love.
Beautiful message🙏😇. Past few years of my life have been pretty much what you mentioned. Divorce, death, job change, moving, faith crisis, and SO MUCH MORE....... my life makes horror movies look like daisy fields but I have definitely grown. I'm not even close to the same person I was years ago. Due to trauma, there was a lot of regression but I believe that's part of the growth. We have to totally break down and allow God to rebuild us better
When it comes to pain, loss and illness, I had and have a pretty extraordinary life, and one of the things I learned on my way is that many things in life just happen, and that many of these things don't always have a purpose, but that we can always choose to give it purpose.. The scriptures teach this beautifully when it states that we are to be thankful in all things. Personally I love the deeper meaning it give to me, that to be gratful "in all things", does not neccesarely mean that we ought to be thankful "for all things"... That way there is no need to be grateful for all the evil around us, or for all the hardships we experience, but can still learn to be grateful in all we experience, no matter how challanging it may be.. And there is no doubt, part of choosing to give all things a greater meaning, includes how we connect with God, putting our faith in him... Thanks for the great message.
I recently found your podcast and have been making my way through them…and I am SERIOUSLY grateful for the work you are doing. You’re doing a great service for so many on every side of the conversation. Thank you for all you are doing and the blessing you are!
This is what is so frustrating for me with the gospel and reli. We build up Christ like a Stan Lee Marvel super hero but better - no weaknesses. Always there. 7.5 billion people, … always there. That’s some super hero powers. Knows all, dreams, hopes, thoughts, wishes and loves. - again that is some super hero stuff. At one point in the middle of this video the host uses belief type language- and I respect that. I’ve got no push back with that. However the beginning and end is absolute knowledge type language. It would be imbalanced and a strawman for me to try to argue this host seems young and what life experiences has he had. Flip that now. Is it not a similar strawman and patronizing to tell me despite my hard experiences (which the hosts likewise doesn’t have a clue about) - Christ is always here for me and loves me and knows exactly what I’m going through. The reality is you can’t prove any of that and your smuggling your hopes as factual for everyone. When did this become a church of certitude.
If you've ever seen the movie the Matrix, we find that it's impossible to "know" anything. You don't know that you're talking to a human right now, you could be talking to an AI. You don't know that you're even alive right now, it could all just be a dream. It's impossible to "know" anything, so when we say "I know", we really mean I very very very strongly believe. I think truth, belief, and knowledge is found through having as many witnesses testify of something as possible. If one person saw a car crash, it’s possible that may be true. If 10 people saw the same car crash, the likelihood for it to be true is exponentially higher. The 12 “witnesses” I use for determining belief, truth, and knowledge are outcomes, sense data, reason/logic, authority, evidence, intuition, personal experience, personal revelation, consensus of trusted sources, observation of fruits, comparison, and reproducibility. If we depend on only one of those, it’s possible that truth can be found. But relying on all 12 and checking the box of each one is significantly more convincing that something would be true. With that in mind, when I say that I know that Christ is always there for you and that he loves you, I say that because I have such a strong belief due to those 13 witnesses, that I can say that I know. But me saying that I know doesn't invalidate your experience, and you can know different things based on your own experiences and the witnesses you have had. Does that make sense?
@@Faith_in_focus You stated, "It's impossible to "know" anything, so when we say "I know", we really mean I very very very strongly believe." This is what makes this so hard and difficult. Especially in a church setting with my 3 little kids that don't have the maturity to dismiss and swap out a testimony meeting jargon speak for the subjective. I,,, I am aware of your meaning. Often the youth are not. I'd argue many of the adults too because too often I hear them parroting each other or the leadership. Let me give you an olive branch to show I have some done some reading. I think I have a decent idea where the "I KNOW" statements got if not the start a very good push. In 1978 the priesthood ban was lifted. In Sept Bruce McConkie gave a BYU talk where the infamous line: "We spoke with a limited understanding and without the light and knowledge that now has come into the world." I make the claim he got in trouble for that. 3 weeks later he was back at BYU giving another talk that was tightening back down the bolts of orthodoxy. He uses the word Know more than 25X and speaks of or rather subtly coaches how to do testimonies in the church. You may disagree with me but that talk and its rigid orthodoxy really bothers me.
Bro, I really needed to hear this. I just clicked on this video out of curiosity and it's exactly what I needed. Thank you for spreading positive hope in Christ and his love.
Thank for this video Brother. This year hasn't been the easiest and its videos like this that are so helpful
Beautiful message🙏😇. Past few years of my life have been pretty much what you mentioned. Divorce, death, job change, moving, faith crisis, and SO MUCH MORE....... my life makes horror movies look like daisy fields but I have definitely grown. I'm not even close to the same person I was years ago. Due to trauma, there was a lot of regression but I believe that's part of the growth. We have to totally break down and allow God to rebuild us better
When it comes to pain, loss and illness, I had and have a pretty extraordinary life, and one of the things I learned on my way is that many things in life just happen, and that many of these things don't always have a purpose, but that we can always choose to give it purpose..
The scriptures teach this beautifully when it states that we are to be thankful in all things. Personally I love the deeper meaning it give to me, that to be gratful "in all things", does not neccesarely mean that we ought to be thankful "for all things"... That way there is no need to be grateful for all the evil around us, or for all the hardships we experience, but can still learn to be grateful in all we experience, no matter how challanging it may be..
And there is no doubt, part of choosing to give all things a greater meaning, includes how we connect with God, putting our faith in him...
Thanks for the great message.
I recently found your podcast and have been making my way through them…and I am SERIOUSLY grateful for the work you are doing. You’re doing a great service for so many on every side of the conversation. Thank you for all you are doing and the blessing you are!
This is what is so frustrating for me with the gospel and reli. We build up Christ like a Stan Lee Marvel super hero but better - no weaknesses. Always there. 7.5 billion people, … always there. That’s some super hero powers. Knows all, dreams, hopes, thoughts, wishes and loves. - again that is some super hero stuff.
At one point in the middle of this video the host uses belief type language- and I respect that. I’ve got no push back with that. However the beginning and end is absolute knowledge type language.
It would be imbalanced and a strawman for me to try to argue this host seems young and what life experiences has he had. Flip that now. Is it not a similar strawman and patronizing to tell me despite my hard experiences (which the hosts likewise doesn’t have a clue about) - Christ is always here for me and loves me and knows exactly what I’m going through.
The reality is you can’t prove any of that and your smuggling your hopes as factual for everyone.
When did this become a church of certitude.
If you've ever seen the movie the Matrix, we find that it's impossible to "know" anything. You don't know that you're talking to a human right now, you could be talking to an AI. You don't know that you're even alive right now, it could all just be a dream. It's impossible to "know" anything, so when we say "I know", we really mean I very very very strongly believe. I think truth, belief, and knowledge is found through having as many witnesses testify of something as possible. If one person saw a car crash, it’s possible that may be true. If 10 people saw the same car crash, the likelihood for it to be true is exponentially higher. The 12 “witnesses” I use for determining belief, truth, and knowledge are outcomes, sense data, reason/logic, authority, evidence, intuition, personal experience, personal revelation, consensus of trusted sources, observation of fruits, comparison, and reproducibility. If we depend on only one of those, it’s possible that truth can be found. But relying on all 12 and checking the box of each one is significantly more convincing that something would be true. With that in mind, when I say that I know that Christ is always there for you and that he loves you, I say that because I have such a strong belief due to those 13 witnesses, that I can say that I know. But me saying that I know doesn't invalidate your experience, and you can know different things based on your own experiences and the witnesses you have had. Does that make sense?
@@Faith_in_focus You stated, "It's impossible to "know" anything, so when we say "I know", we really mean I very very very strongly believe."
This is what makes this so hard and difficult. Especially in a church setting with my 3 little kids that don't have the maturity to dismiss and swap out a testimony meeting jargon speak for the subjective. I,,, I am aware of your meaning. Often the youth are not. I'd argue many of the adults too because too often I hear them parroting each other or the leadership.
Let me give you an olive branch to show I have some done some reading. I think I have a decent idea where the "I KNOW" statements got if not the start a very good push.
In 1978 the priesthood ban was lifted. In Sept Bruce McConkie gave a BYU talk where the infamous line: "We spoke with a limited understanding and without the light and knowledge that now has come into the world."
I make the claim he got in trouble for that. 3 weeks later he was back at BYU giving another talk that was tightening back down the bolts of orthodoxy. He uses the word Know more than 25X and speaks of or rather subtly coaches how to do testimonies in the church.
You may disagree with me but that talk and its rigid orthodoxy really bothers me.
Thank you Brother
Thank you!... Btw, what is the best way to contact you? I sent a message on Instagram, but not sure if that's right.