Yes, I believe in that with all my heart. God ALWAYS answers our prayers.
And this is the confidence we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His Will, He heareth us:
And if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him. 1 John 5:14-15
However, we humans tend to hear what we want to hear, skipping the most important part of the whole verse. What part of "according to His Will" did we not understand?
Yes, God always answers.
Sometimes it's "Yes".
Sometimes it's "No".
Sometimes it's "You've GOT to be kidding". (Although I know He knows I'm not kidding, the response makes me wake up to the selfishness or foolishness of my prayer.)
And sometimes, sadly, it's "I'm going to say yes, because there's a lesson you must learn in this. But you will be sorry".
Oh, I so hate that last answer. I heard that one so many times and, after I've learned the lesson, I've had to repent and pray to Him, submitting my will to His, asking Him to guide me in all things. Which, naturally, was part of the lesson.
Yes, I'm an obstinate child of God.
But you know, I'm so, so grateful that He is always here for me.
He always answers my prayers.
Always.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Sunday, March 2, 2008
The False Division In The Mind
I'm going to return to the topic, "There Is No Conflict".
I've started reading the most interesting book, Spiritual Evolution, edited by John Marks Templeton and Kenneth Seeman Giniger. It's a collection of essays written by scientists about their spiritual journeys.
Yes, despite what the world believes, scientists also have spiritual journeys.
What really struck me was "Tracks In Snow" by Dr. Larry Dossey, a doctor of internal medicine.
Dr Dossey was speaking of his journey while in college:
"...One could choose, on one hand, to be rational, analytical, logical, and scientific. Or one could choose to be intuitive, religious, spiritual, and intellectually reckless. It was obvious to me that these two psychological vectors -- science and 'the spiritual' -- were inherently incompatible and could not be harmonized.
"Although today I regard these choices as artificial, at the time they seemed valid and ineluctable. They persist in our colleges and universities. These choices are, literally, schizophrenic because they create a false division in the mind..."
I agree with his evaluation of this situation.
However, I want to take this a bit further. I think that we as the Body should teach our kids that we CAN believe in God, the Bible, the Word, without sacrificing the seeking, the exploration, the discoveries of science.
As I've said before, science is reaching to learn the mysteries of the Universe that God has created, it's seeking to rewrite what is already Written.
There is nothing wrong with seeking to learn all that we can about life, the world and the Universe.
If we weren't meant to use our brains, why did God give them to us?
Yes, exactly. He expects us to learn, the explore, to share the knowledge that we find. He expects us to be all that we can be.
The only problem is that we think there's a problem.
Think about it. If all good things come from God, why would we think that science, medicine, astronomy, the arts, even evolution didn't come from God? Why would we think that we discovered these things all on our own?
I submit to you, my brothers and sisters, that God has provided it all to us.
We are busy little creatures and we have to stay busy or, like all children, we get ourselves into trouble. He knows how we are, so He has provided many mysteries for us to ferret out.
We should thank Him for Blessing us with things to do, discover, invent.
There is no conflict, except the ones we create in our limited understanding of the Creation.
We need to stop creating false divisions.
Science has a valid place in our lives, we depend on it every day. We use it every day. Computers, the Internet, planes, trains, automobiles, electricity, eyeglasses, antibiotics, we use science all the time.
There is nothing wrong with science UNLESS we base our spiritual lives on it. How can you base your Faith on something that's only a tiny part of the Whole? Why limit yourself in such a simplistic way?
Have Faith, there really is no conflict.
Really.
Link:
http://www.dosseydossey.com/larry/default.html
I've started reading the most interesting book, Spiritual Evolution, edited by John Marks Templeton and Kenneth Seeman Giniger. It's a collection of essays written by scientists about their spiritual journeys.
Yes, despite what the world believes, scientists also have spiritual journeys.
What really struck me was "Tracks In Snow" by Dr. Larry Dossey, a doctor of internal medicine.
Dr Dossey was speaking of his journey while in college:
"...One could choose, on one hand, to be rational, analytical, logical, and scientific. Or one could choose to be intuitive, religious, spiritual, and intellectually reckless. It was obvious to me that these two psychological vectors -- science and 'the spiritual' -- were inherently incompatible and could not be harmonized.
"Although today I regard these choices as artificial, at the time they seemed valid and ineluctable. They persist in our colleges and universities. These choices are, literally, schizophrenic because they create a false division in the mind..."
I agree with his evaluation of this situation.
However, I want to take this a bit further. I think that we as the Body should teach our kids that we CAN believe in God, the Bible, the Word, without sacrificing the seeking, the exploration, the discoveries of science.
As I've said before, science is reaching to learn the mysteries of the Universe that God has created, it's seeking to rewrite what is already Written.
There is nothing wrong with seeking to learn all that we can about life, the world and the Universe.
If we weren't meant to use our brains, why did God give them to us?
Yes, exactly. He expects us to learn, the explore, to share the knowledge that we find. He expects us to be all that we can be.
The only problem is that we think there's a problem.
Think about it. If all good things come from God, why would we think that science, medicine, astronomy, the arts, even evolution didn't come from God? Why would we think that we discovered these things all on our own?
I submit to you, my brothers and sisters, that God has provided it all to us.
We are busy little creatures and we have to stay busy or, like all children, we get ourselves into trouble. He knows how we are, so He has provided many mysteries for us to ferret out.
We should thank Him for Blessing us with things to do, discover, invent.
There is no conflict, except the ones we create in our limited understanding of the Creation.
We need to stop creating false divisions.
Science has a valid place in our lives, we depend on it every day. We use it every day. Computers, the Internet, planes, trains, automobiles, electricity, eyeglasses, antibiotics, we use science all the time.
There is nothing wrong with science UNLESS we base our spiritual lives on it. How can you base your Faith on something that's only a tiny part of the Whole? Why limit yourself in such a simplistic way?
Have Faith, there really is no conflict.
Really.
Link:
http://www.dosseydossey.com/larry/default.html
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