Faith

[Guest]

Faith

There should be more of us using this thread. There has to be more people of faith with this common problem. Please let us know how you use your faith to deal with it. E

[Guest]

Faith

Eliziby,
Alcohol takes me far, far away from God. I stayed out of touch with him for a long time, even though I was going to church (sometimes), praying only when I felt miserable after drinking for what I did, said, etc...I used my relationship w/ him in self serving ways and felt angry at him for this condition I have. When I am not drinking, I turn to him as a trusted friend and seek guidance and understanding. I feel the faith back in my heart and soul. I know he doesn't make junk. I know I have a purpose here. These feelings disappear as soon as I pick up that drink. I am finding comfort in prayer these days. It's really helping me thru some tough periods and the road of recovery. Church has NOT played much of a role in my recovery, but my faith is growing deeper each day as I grow in sobriety.

[Guest]

Faith

Faith has played an important part in my life, my whole life! From a very young girl I was taught the rules of the church, as an adult, I embrace them. However, there are some of those rules, as a child, and as an adult I do not agree with!

I am not angry with God for this afliction, I believe it to play a signifcant role in my life. It is not something I am yet able to put into words, but something I have been heavily reflecting on for the last four weeks. I do look forward to being able to share my thoughts on this when the time is right and am glad we have this spot to do so!

Donna

[Guest]

Faith

ginaofca,
I have never felt good about my drinking right from the very first glass of wine. God made sure of that. I have really suffered from guilt. He's been right there with me making me miserable with conviction. The only time I'm not feeling so bad about it, is when I'm drinking. That only makes me want to drink more. You're right, the church doesn't play much of a role in support for me either, but it was because I never shared my problem with them. It was my secret. I never let my drinking keep me from attending, but sometime I felt like such a hypocrite. I can't tell you how many times that every word that was spoken at our Bible Study or a worship service was meant just for me. God has not let me rest, and I am getting very tired. Even though we drink, we are still His children. And like a good parent should do, He punishes us when we do wrong. If you are in this program, exercise is a part of it. I walk for mine. I read the Bible verses that go with a short devotional from a book of daily devotionals, then I pray as I walk. Somewhere in this program I heard or read the term "Power Walk" I call mine my "Prayer Walk". Hope to hear from you again. Prayers, E

[Guest]

Faith

Hello,
I copied this from the "My Faith" thread just to be thorough.

I read from RJ that it may be a good idea to talk about our faith and that she was going to start a new thread. I do not wish to make waves in this arena at all but my original comment was that perhaps we may get in to debates about religion. I understand that a lot of the MWO members know who God is. I wonder if anyone here knows who are Allah, or Budha, or Centeotl, Sita-Rama, or Yahweh, or Elohim, or Isis or even Nike (the running shoe). Nike is the Greek goddess of Victory. There is some history to this and many others. It is important that we are not blind by our personal beliefs.

I understand what faith is and I know personally about the power of prayer. I was baptised Catholic and raised as a High Anglican for what that's worth. It confused the heck out of me as a child. I now believe that there is an omnipotent energy. I know that just to ask does not always get the results. How many times have I tried to make a deal with God praying that I promise to quit drinking if He please let me feel better now. I don't know what God looks like, or feels like. I believe that if we lead our lives in an honest and ernest manner, that we will have no regrets. Now, this could be the guilty quality of Catholicism. I don't know. I believe that there is a power and it has many forms and many names but I do not believe that we are able to capture, hold, have, control or otherwise get favours from this power, no matter what we do. I think that if we do not go against the natural flow of life then our lives will be without obstacles. I think that this ominpotent energy is the same energy no matter what religion or what name we give it.
CB

[Guest]

Faith

I think you are talking of religion. I believe religion itself exists to control faith. On the other hand, faith exists to keep religion in check. Religion is man's interpretation of God's will, faith is mans acceptance of that will. I have met many people who are devoutly religious; sometimes to a fault. They are so busy trying to do the right thing (as they believe is described in their religion) they overlook the main issue of what God has in store for them.

They fail to learn what they have based their faith in / on. Religion is based on doing for God. Faith is based in believing in God. I think if one truly has faith in God and what God has in store for them, they will do marvelous things for God. Not because they have to, but because they want to; and God wants to use them. Then again I think one can work night and day for their religion. Sacrificing much of themselves and their families and have their work come to naught, because it wasn?t from faith.

I believe in God. And no matter what you may call Him, He is an almighty God.
God Bless

Bear

[Guest]

Faith

Aha MD,
This is my point exactly. You say "God". That is your "God", not someone else's God. You are talking about a Christian God, are you not? I am talking about all the other "Gods", NOT the Christian one. I could be a Buddhist and my Buddha is not your God. Also, Transcendental Meditation does not worship any particular God, however it is a type of religion, just like Scientology is a type of religion. I wonder if there are any MWO members out there who are not Christian?????
Jai Guru Dev to you all. That does not mean "God bless" because I think "God" is Christian.
Thanks for letting me have my say.
CB

[Guest]

Faith

Ditto Gina;

I feel the same way....We use our faith when we mess up real bad...But it feels good to now open my heart when I pray(which is 100 times a day) and know that so long as I stay close to prayer I will be alright...

Hugs,
Brandy

[Guest]

Faith

CB

Truthfully, My daughter, son-in-law and both grandsons all go to Buddhist temple. My son-in-law immigrated here from Thailand when he was 5 and is very much a Buddhist. They worship God. I don't study the Buddhist religion, so I don't really know what they believe; but I have watched them and I will tell you they have a deep faith in God. If they call their God Buddha, it is OK with me. What they are doing is good for their soul.

It is beyond my comprehension that anyone could think that life as we know it just happened. Even if our God is a spaceman, this living system we inhabit is an intricate creation.

I know for a fact many of the people here at MWO are not Christians. We have had these discussions in the past. That doesn't bother me at all. I wish it didn't bother you so much that someone might be a Christian.

And, as always, you can have your say anytime you want.

Have a great day and
Tetragrammaton Bless,

Bear

[Guest]

Faith

HI Bear,
I am a Christian. I was baptized Catholic and studied both High Anglican and Cathocism. I'm not sure why you think it bothers me so much that someone is Christian. What I am saying is that Buddha is NOT God, was never meant to be God and is never going to be God. Buddha is Buddha. I am saying that the use of the term God is used by Christians. The word "bless" is used by Christians. Have you read any Buddhist literature? I have and I have never seen the word "God" there. Maybe my books are all old and the new ones refer to "God".
Sorry to have confused the issue. I do not think that all religions worship God at all. ie. Allah is not the same as what we think is our God at all and if you suggested that to a Muslim, they would be very angry. That is the point I am trying to make. There have been hundreds of years of wars fought over religion and I am not aiming to start one here. I had a feeling I would not be able to get through to some people about this.
Jai Guru Dev
CB

[Guest]

Faith

Wow,



What great topics we are bringing up here, one after another. Just wanted to jump in with a few thoughts.

On Buddhism: Yes CB. Buddha is indeed Buddha. (While to each his own), to my knowledge Buddhism is regarded as a non-theistic religion. Not that it denies the existence of a god or gods or goddesses, but it does not require them for the basis of its belief. Is this religious freedom or what?

And on the terms God vs. Allah: Technically speaking Allah, the God of Islam; God, the same of Christianity; and Judaism?s ?the Lord? are all the same.


You are correct that Muslims indeed might get angry if a Christian were to call Allah ?God,? but then Christians might well get angry if a Muslim were to call their God ?Allah,? or a Jew might well get angry if ?the Lord? were to be called ?Allah? (imagine if that happened in a temple), and this is due to a variety of factors, including religious beliefs, practices, and appreciation of other religions or religious tolerance.


Nonetheless, Jews, Christians, and Muslims (and those of The Bah?'? Faith, as well as many others I am overlooking) all worship the same one, the God of Abraham. ?Allah? means ?the God? (as in the one and only) just as the Hebrew ?Elohim? does.


CB, you are certainly truthful when stating that all the world?s religions are not God based (the Abrahamic God).


According to this chart en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maj..._religions

my best guess if adding together the non-God religions (depending what you do with Hinduism?s God, which is not the Abrahamic God, or is it the same supreme being by another name?) is this:

If I add the following as non-Abrahamic God based religions:

12% Buddhist and Chinese traditional (Taoism and Confucianism)

1% other

3% Primal (I only took half, though I think most all Primal religions believed in a supreme being. For example, in the Navajo religion God is the unknowable, Unknown Power, so there is no name for God. To the ancient Toltecs, God is every living thing, or everything in existence.)

14% Hinduism


That's about 30% of the world's religious population who do not believe in the Abrahamic God, an amount just shy of the 33% world population of Christianity.

So CB you clearly have a very valid point here.

Of course, there are 16% of the world who are not religious at all. And that leads me to Bear's statement. I find it interesting when you said, "It is beyond my comprehension that anyone could think that life as we know it just happened."

Well, in many respects I agree, but on the other hand, I have a good friend who is atheist and thinks creationism is such a lame human attempt at explaining the origin of the universe that it borders on insanity. And I can see his point of view as well. (In fact, he is very well read and informed when it comes to the world's religions.)

Christianity relies on faith primarily, does it not, to explain the origins of the universe? He has no faith, so him thinking the way he does makes perfect sense to me.

I look at the earth at times and say, "How could this be an accident?" At other times I look at humanity and say, "We are the accident."

Peace,

Backpacker

[Guest]

Faith

Thank you so much for your words, Backpacker. You have talked about this way better than I could have. Thank you also for the clarification on the "Allah" information. I must be watching too much T.V. So, there we have it. A world of beliefs. I hope I have not soured this thread because of my little blurb. It was meant as food for thought and not to force an opinion. :rolleyes
CB

[Guest]

Faith

Re: world conflict vs. religious percentages

And food for thought it was. As I look at that chart, I am struck by current world conflict vs. religious percentages in the world.

I'm sure many others will disagree with me here, but we (Americans) are in a religious war, whether we want to be or not. It is the Muslims (some of them at least, as well as others) against (what the radical Muslims, as well as the others, see as) the mainly Christian Americans.

Of course, our president won?t say that because it does not make for good war politics to say that we are in a religious war, but we are. Let?s look at history. It is payback time. Osama?s version of Islam is paying back Christianity.

But what really startled me was the little number at the top: Judaism, at .22% of the worlds? religious population. How much of the world?s energy has the Israeli/Arab conflict used up in the last 75 however many years? In fact, one could easily argue it is at the core of the current war the Americans are in. Wasn?t it Saddam that sent scud missiles to Israel way back in 1991? And here we are in Iraq again 15 years later.

And of those .22% of the world?s Jewish population, how many of that .22% actually live right there in Israel?

I sure do not understand religion, and world politics, and war.

Peace,
Backpacker

[Guest]

Faith

Re: world conflict vs. religious percentages

Yes, and you know, this thread was about faith but it is not that easy to separate faith from religion. I have some friends who - for example lose their house keys - , say "Oh, the universe was trying to tell me something". Now, that is their faith / religion, that the higher power is the whole universe and not (dare I say) an icon / image / perception of an actual "being".
In reality, I have faith in my strength to get through rough times but probably because I've been there, done that all by myself. I have faith in a higher power that I do not wish to envision as any "being", just that there is a flow and my belief is to go against the flow will cause spiritual / financial / physical / whatever hardship. I visited India several years ago and I was surprised to see how mellow everyone was there. The very poor and sick people were mellow, not all stressed out. They went with the flow. That's what I want in my life.
And peace.
CB

[Guest]

Faith

Re: world conflict vs. religious percentages

CB,
I totally get your "higher power" flow idea. It's a comforting view.
Backpacker