Avoiding a Midlife Crisis - 'Bulldog Proof' against ''Bulldog Faith''
@mythociate (21432)
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
July 8, 2018 8:23am CST
As I go about my 'routine' (today, it was 'putting my bedsheets in the washer, getting a cup of instant coffee, and then sitting down to my desktop-computer (which is where I'll be until breakfast, then more computer, then maybe a bath)), I think to myself, "How do I stay so well put-together?"
(I know, I'm only 36--37 tomorrow --but I guess I need to "bite down" on this thinking 'early.')
Of course (like most 'sheep of the Christian flock'), my first instinct is to think "it's God's plan" or "God's gift" or some other fairy-tale belief the majority of 'the flock' holds to.
But then I remember that I have to stick to a diet (with a few big restrictions---no sweets (except maybe a small cup of Sprite) after noon, no big meals after 6 pm, more-or-fewer carbs (depending on which one my doctor told me most recently).
So--as long as I 'stick to a few rules' (the diet, plus some things about bathing, exercise, noise-control, etc.)--my body's systems keep themselves up---if you really have to 'bite down' on "Thanks Be to God," you could say God-designed the system-of-systems and -gave it to me.
That brings up this 'series of Bible-discussion sessions' on "Bulldog Faith." Pastor George Pearsons (Eagle Mountain International Faith) tells Gloria Copeland (Kenneth Copeland Ministries) about some research he's been doing.
https://www.emic.org/service/bulldog-faith-part-1/?format=audio Bulldogs--he says--have noses that are set so that they don't have to stop breathing when they 'bite down' on what they want and hold it until they have it.
He quickly connects that to 'Faith in God.' The whole "When you pray; Believe you receive what you ask for, and you shall have it." In the 'Bible-talk with Gloria' (not the sermon about Bulldog-Faith at the link), he even says 'when you pray, your mind is ready to find what you need to fulfill your goals.'
Do you see there? That's not "God!" (unless you credit God with 'giving us the senses required to perceive "the answer to your prayers"') The bulldog doesn't care that The Master 'wants it to have the chew-toy,' it just knows it won't get the chew-toy unless it continues to clamp-down.
So my continued health ... is it 'part of God's plan'? Maybe, but that's 'none of my business' ("My (God's) Reason is above your Reason"). I'm just a notch in the gear-wheel on the cog of an engine in the the factory with millions of other engines (with a million cogs each, with a million cogs each, with a million gear-wheels each, with a million notches each).
I don't even know exactly what the factory is producing ... probably engine-parts for another factory (built of parts from a million other factories too). I don't need to know, and I trust that whoever does know can handle any problems that are too big for me (or -can take them up with 'whoever knows an even bigger part of the plan').
I just need to focus on my little piece of the human network (my body, mostly---as I don't have a wife or children to worry-about), and 'do unto others as they should do unto me.'
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2 responses
@RasmaSandra (79858)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
8 Jul 18
That is me now all alone in this world with my cat Sid. Having returned to my homeland the US from 20+ years in Europe I am glad to have made the decision to live in an apartment in my best friends house since we have known each other from 6th grade. It helps when you are just starting out all over again. Afterward, I might move on but I can say the one thing that helps me is my faith that the Lord is beside me and my determination to do everything that I can that is the best for me.
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@mythociate (21432)
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
10 Jul 18
We like that we can have 'childlike faith' like that---the knowledge that "someone will help me with any problems I can't handle alone."
"Why?" the mortal subconscious mind asks. 'Because ... uhh ...' the hopeful conscious mind answers, 'The Creator of the Universe is the sponsor supporting you all your life (as long as you heed his will, or something like 'as long as you don't rebel against his will'). You're representing your sponsor, so he gets all the glory for all the money you receive "in his name."'
Makes me think of this LAST WEEK TONIGHT report. All these televangelists "thanking God" for their huge mansions & private airplanes ... including the very ministry I mention in the OP. They claim "God gives them the money for their huge purchases," when we KNOW that we sent them the money! (I've even sent them money! ... only about $25 over the last 15-or-so years, during which time I'm sure I've gotten at-least-10-times-as-much in the form of 'Partner-Letters' & sermon-recordings & Bible-discussion-DVDs etc.)
@stringer321 (5644)
• Kiryat Ata, Israel
17 Aug 18
Good to have friends, you feel good with each other. Think about it that way, you can help and take care of each other as you take care of yourself. In a way, you start to become each other, understand each other. God then is felt among you.
2 people like this
@stringer321 (5644)
• Kiryat Ata, Israel
15 Aug 18
Trying to find the connection between a diet and the big plan behind the univers, It's complicated.
The science tries to discover and understand the atom, the particles inside the atom, it comes to the point where it is not a material but other things that has an amorphic shape that depends in our perceptions. I don't know how to understand it all.
1 person likes this
@mythociate (21432)
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
17 Aug 18
@stringer321 Anthropomorphizing 'God' (describing God as if God's a person) shows what prideful beasts we humans are. "God must be a person like us," we imagine.
I imagine God is something entirely different. God is EVERYTHING ... not a piece of it, ALL of it.
@stringer321 (5644)
• Kiryat Ata, Israel
17 Aug 18
@mythociate Right, I agree with you. When we are connected together the right way, we make a difference for good, not each for himself, but each for the other, we become good friends, we start feeling the positive.
When I meet someone new and choose to help him and get to know him, if we become happy to see each other, that's a little step to feel GOD. The force behind each of us.
@stringer321 (5644)
• Kiryat Ata, Israel
16 Aug 18
@mythociate We can find GOD together if we all try to become like him, by following the golden rule, we take care of each other, try to see things from the other's point of view, we together change our perception.
Plus, everyone has a piece of GOD inside him, he created us. When we connect to each other the right way, GOD is being discovered among us. It is something we can feel, not only have faith of.