Lies

Today's question from Internet Cafe Devotions is about LIES. Most of us are or have been plagued by lies, some from just being a woman. Lies are destructive and defeating. Lies about priorities, marriage, family, emotions or sin invade our spirits if we let them.

What is a lie that you have believed in the past (or even currently), and why do you think you believed that lie? Find a verse in God’s Word to combat the lie.

This question seems to me to be quite similar to one we had some time ago about lies about women that contradict God's word which I answered on my other blog. This question is more wide ranging though in that it covers lies about anything and specifically asks me to seek out a verse from the Bible that combats this lie and so helps me become more familiar with God's Word.

After some thought I have decided to talk about the lie that is very pervasive in today's society, which is that the only way to be happy is to have the biggest and best in the way of material possessions, or to have as much as possible in order to feel happy. You see it all the time in the more affluent societies as people earn more and more they then feel as though they have to own more and more (or bigger and better); and I am no exception to this as I have things like a nice car, a new laptop, piles of books, more clothes than I need and so the list grows!!

As a child it is easier to think that a pile of goodies on your birthday or for Christmas will make you happy and yes, perhaps you are happier on that particular day than you were a week ago because you have lots of new things to play with. But that feeling doesn't last does it? It is to be hoped that as we grow up we begin to realise that that feeling doesn't last and therefore stop looking for material possessions in order to make us happy.

But that's not true is it? No matter how old we are, we fall into the trap of thinking that owning the best car, the brightest jewelry, the latest iPod, or the fastest laptop will make us happy. As much as I am particularly enjoying my new laptop, I know that it is not making me happy in myself, which is a different kind of happiness. If anything, I am more content because I am answering this question and learning more about myself spiritually and personally.

Indeed, the Bible says that Those who trust in their riches will wither, but the righteous will flourish like green leaves (Proverbs 11:28), which is just what I have been talking about - if you trust your possessions to give you what you need then you are not going to get very far!

Happiness is to be found in other ways as the Bible points out; Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) If you are always thanking God for your blessings and thinking of those blessings how can you be anything but happy as your spirits are lifted! It is hard to be unhappy when you're saying thank you for the cat that curls up next to you, thank you for the sunshine that streams through the window and thank you for everything!

P.S The Internet Cafe Devotions is having a give-away!! I seem to be a bit late in the game to know about this, perhaps the day the give-away was launched was the day that I clicked on the wrong button on Bloglines and cleared my list of posts to read! Anyway, hurry on over to find out more about the give-away as it includes lots of lovely things to help you in your faith journey; like a journal, a bookmark to save your place and a candle to get you in the mood for listening to God!

Reading matter

When I want to find out about something, I naturally reach for a book, when I want to enjoy myself my first instinct is to look for a book to read!

So, when I want to find out more about Christianity the first thing that I do is seek out books to read. There is the Bible of course, but I have decided to try and find the right Bible study tools first before I try and read something that is a bit heavy and in the meantime I looked for other books.

I have a pile on my shelves already, but want to talk about the book that I found last weekend which is "The Gospel according to Harry Potter: the spiritual journey of the world's greatest seeker" as written by Connie Neal. I am about half way through the first chapter and am thoroughly enjoying this book. More so because I have read the Harry Potter books and can remember the bits in the book that Neal points out and uses to illustrate sections of the Gospel.

Yes, I realise that the Harry Potter books are reviled by some as being tools to teach witchcraft to children. To which I peer over my glasses in a manner very very familiar to my family as the "are you being stupid" look!! It's just a story and is meant to be enjoyed as a story! Indeed, Connie Neal has chosen the HP books almost for that reason, in order to show that it is possible to find anything you want in a book if you are selective enough!

As a librarian, I am particularly aware that it is very easy to pick and choose the perfect sentence in order to support or disprove your point. Anyway, by selecting the right sentences from HP books one through seven, Connie is able to reveal the Gospel to me in a way that makes sense to me by using examples that I can understand, especially as I have yet to read the Gospel myself!

I am certainly enjoying this book and would recommend it to anyone who would like to have a starting point to the Gospel without getting too bogged down in theology whilst having something enjoyable to read and still manages to get the point across!

different faiths

Jennifer at the Gathering Grace blog picked out an interesting article to read. Do go and read it, but essentially the article suggests that while many follow a particular faith, they no longer think that theirs is the only way to eternal life.

This is a long way from the times when Cathars were persecuted for their faith, when Jews suffered the Holocaust, when Catholics fought with Protestants; and shows a definite increase on our levels of tolerance for other religions and traditions.

However, there are some that say that such tolerance goes against your own religious beliefs. What they mean to say is if your religious teaching reveals that your tradition is the only way to eternal life, how can you then say other religions can also lead to eternal life - either you believe that your religion is the truth or it isn't!

Personally, I think that this increasing tolerance is a very good sign and we should work to be even more tolerant of other ideas, faiths, traditions and thoughts! Does it matter that we may all believe different things as long as we decide what it is that we believe and work to deepen our own beliefs.

There is one section of the article that does really annoy me though and it's where it says

The Catholic church teaches that "one church of Christ...subsists in the Catholic Church" alone and that Protestant churches, while defective, can be "instruments of salvation"

Surely these two religions are not so far apart as, say, Buddhism and Catholicism? In which case, I might have had more sympathy for such an outrageous statement. Despite the history between the Protestant and Catholic religions, the two are surely closer than that statement would suggest! Both religions use the same Bible, teach the same Holy Trinity, celebrate the same religious dates, and so on.

Thus I believe that it is statements like that that are more damaging than it is to suggest that many people believe that there is more than one way to eternal life. Which at least shows that we are more open-minded and willing to accept that ours is not the only way. As the Rev. C. Welton Gaddy is quoted in the article this shows "a level of humility about religion that would be of great benefit to everyone".

Comfort

So, my earlier post begs the question...why don't I feel comfortable about detailing my faith journey on my main blog?

Well, while I recognise that many orthodox Churches believe that there is a mandate to spread the Word and to encourage people to follow the Christian faith, I personally feel that everybody should be able to make up their own minds without having other faiths thrust in their faces.

According to the BBC website (I'd have to check this out for myself) what St. Paul said was that each of us should be ready to give witness to the faith that is within us, St. Paul apparently saw no need to seek to convert but to simply be clear on the origins and dimensions of one's own faith.

So, although I do want to talk about my own faith and get some conversation going, I don't want to make other people feel uncomfortable. So my plan is that although I will occasionally direct people to this blog from my main one, I wont post about my faith in any great detail on the Life and Times of Me. That way I will feel freer to say what I want about Christianity on this blog, otherwise I think that I would deny myself a voice at all! (or at least be far more hesitant about saying what I really want to say!)

My journey

Some of you may know me through my other blog, but as I don't feel particularly comfortable blogging about my faith journey on my 'anything goes' blog, I thought that I'd set up a new one. One where I will discuss Christianity and chat about my ups and downs as I learn just what my faith means to me.

Although I have been brought up in a Christian faith, I didn't consider myself to be particularly aware of Christianity means to me, after all, we only really went to Church at Christmas and Easter and did not discuss faith issues at home. So, up until a few weeks ago I always knew that there was a God - how could I not when the beauty of the world around me revealed his Hand in it!

But I never really gave it much thought, 'it' being the Bible, the Lord, my faith, the Church and so on! I forget where the original desire to find out more came from, but a few weeks ago I became conscious of a fierce need to know more. That being so, I dug out the Bible, bought a few books and found a lot of online stuff (not to mention all those blogs!) and have started to experiment with a few local Churches to see which one suits me.

Having said that, I am finding it difficult to get going with the Bible as I have no idea where to start, or how to read it with thought instead of just reading for the sake of reading if you see what I mean.

And that, basically, is what this blog is about - my grappling with my faith and just what it means to me and how I can live my life according to that faith, and I hope that you will accompany me, guide me, pick me up when I stumble, and smile with me when it begins to make sense!