[JM]

Originally Posted by surrendersacrifice

How does faith in God brings us freedom
Most people are enslaved by anxiety, worries, thoughts of revenge, hate, jealousy, feeling of inadequacy and selfishness. Lack of faith in God’s love is the common cause for all these enslavements. When we have doubts about God’s love we get anxious and worried. This makes us selfish. Furthermore, when we do not have faith in God’s love, we try to solve our problems by ungodly or hateful ways- such as: law suites, war, divorce and revenge. On the other hand, if we trust in God’s love; we know that His love can solve all the problems in the world. We will, therefore, solve our problems by forgiveness, mercy, compassion and self-sacrifice. Furthermore, if we believe that only God’s love in our heart is the true treasure we have; and also believe that no one can take this treasure away from us; then, we will feel secure and be free of anxiety, worries and selfishness. Furthermore, if we trust God we can be generous with our time and resource in helping others, because, then, we would not be worried about our own needs.

SurrenderSacrifice I understand where your coming from with this post, as your sharing what you have been told are the answers to why people dont perceivably have freedom and why Jesus is apparently the answer

I dont wish to take away from what you believe to be true, But i would like us to explore and give some thought to this a little more than just accepting the usual answers that are given. no harm in that right?

Im not sure if you have taken Mycernius reply as being one of attack or trying to Dis you.. but mycernius has made some points worth taking into consideration, as its very easy in Christianity to see things from only one side, one view, one perspective.. and alot of it is not because people dont mean well. I honestly think people have good intentions, their doing the best with what they know, based on what has been taught to them, the questions they have allowed themselves to answer without fear, and how they have educated themselves on topics which might seem objective to their faith.

K so lets go through this

Originally Posted by surrendersacrifice

How does faith in God brings us freedom

Well to be fair.. using the word freedom in a very generalized way could incorpoate many things.

One person might say, i experience freedom from this, another says.. i was never enslaved or restricted by it, so I dont class that as freedom, I class XYB as freedom..

Faith in God, believe in spirit, source and such can be very liberating yet at the same time it can be very restricting and damaging to a person, depending on what a person has been taught about God, and what a person has been taugh about themselves, and what a person has been taught about the idea of God wanting something..

So the starting point here really is to bring things into the right perspective and make sure that we arent looking at Freedom from an inbalanced view as rarely is anything imbalanced though at times it might appear that way.. a closer look, or a different view on it can show that an underlying balance is always there.

Originally Posted by surrendersacrifice

Most people are enslaved by anxiety, worries, thoughts of revenge, hate, jealousy, feeling of inadequacy and selfishness. Lack of faith in God’s love is the common cause for all these enslavements.

First, having carried the label of a Christian for 17years, visited numerous countries and been in countless church meetings and conferences, I can assure you.. All of the above which you have mentioned are prevalent in Christians as much and no less than someone who doesnt profess Jesus as Christ.

In fact for the opposite to exist, the other must do too.. So when a person thinks they have or Jesus has got rid of, anxiety, worries, or such... really its there, its just not currently at the Volume that it might be later in the day when someone brings some news that could cause them to react with anxiety.

The above usually in the christian world are considered Negatives, things to get rid of from our lives.. and as people try to resist them.. they keep being seen.. as the old saying goes.. what you resist, persists.. because you keep giving it attention.

What we or others consider our negatives such as worry, selfishness, jealousy, laziness at times can be very positive.. for example.. Someone who is a workaholic could need a dose of laziness every now and then.. Someone who spends all their money on others and never has enough to cloth themselves.. could need a dose of selfiness as they are as important as the others.. its all comparable based on how we are looking at it all.

The Idea that people LACK faith, as those its a commodity that increases or decreases is a misunderstanding. Faith is neither big or small, its just faith, what distinguises between what people think is lack or gain is merely observations of another persons actions in comparison to your own or another. Its like making a judgement call on a person and saying.. they lack love.... catch anyone at the right time and you could say they lack any number of things.

Noone is lacking love or faith, they are just paying attention to other things at that point in time which they deem more important than displaying acts of faith or acts of love.

Originally Posted by surrendersacrifice

When we have doubts about God’s love we get anxious and worried. This makes us selfish.

Man the teaching of Self in churches across the world is one that really could use a little bit of looking at again as its one which has labelled Selfishness as being negative, bad, something God doesn't like... and so you have all these people running about, trying desperately not to look or sound as though they are selfish as of course... selfish is bad, immature, not good... Again though this is just a perception and one perspective among many.

I would submit even a person who appears as being UNselfish is still selfish... Most of what people do for others still has intentions and motives which fuel the self.. at the deepest level. People do things and say things.. because it makes them feel Good, it makes them think God is pleased, it makes them think they are purposeful.. Its pretty much wrapped around themselves and what they think and feel about what they are choosing to say and do..

Life is about Life, Another person is Life, You are life and neither are more important or less important than the other. In helping another you may actually be helping them to be more selfish, can you be sure it wont?

Again ... its looking at what has been taught.. not throwing it out, just examining it and seeing it from different perspectives.

Originally Posted by surrendersacrifice

Furthermore, when we do not have faith in God’s love, we try to solve our problems by ungodly or hateful ways- such as: law suites, war, divorce and revenge.

Well there are im sure many Christians who would argue that you are telling them that they have no faith in Gods love because they have filed a law suit, gone to war in iraq, filed for divorce because they are being beaten or verbally abused,...

Lets be honest here.. Christianity has its high rate of Divorce as much as those who dont say they are christians. Why? Partly I think its due to the High un realistic expectations they are taught to live by.. most which are based in Fantasy instead of reality.

Originally Posted by surrendersacrifice

On the other hand, if we trust in God’s love; we know that His love can solve all the problems in the world. We will, therefore, solve our problems by forgiveness, mercy, compassion and self-sacrifice.

I had a dishwasher leaking today. It could be argued that Gods love did not solve the problem. A part from Home Depot Did

Christians are trying to Solve all the problems of the world. Yet all the problems of the world is not what God is looking to solve. If that was Gods agenda, ( as if God even has an agenda ) do you not believe Jesus could have solved them all with one word when he walked the earth?

Problems are not all problems, some are just ones we have concuted as we think they shouldnt be in our lives. A view of life being ONE without the Other.

If all the problems of the world were solved, God would be out of a Job,

Originally Posted by surrendersacrifice

Furthermore, if we believe that only God’s love in our heart is the true treasure we have; and also believe that no one can take this treasure away from us; then, we will feel secure and be free of anxiety, worries and selfishness. Furthermore, if we trust God we can be generous with our time and resource in helping others, because, then, we would not be worried about our own needs.

Again as I mentioned before. Anxiety, Worry, Selfishness, Fear and whatever else you want to tack on this are not things you need to be FREE of.

We all need to just learn how to manage these. Turn the volume down when we are over amplifying them in any given situation. Become more aware of when we are turning up the volume and then decide is this too much volume? Is it serving me or not?

They are tools and in our lives for a reason, its not a case of trying to remove what you think is negative, but deciding if it serves you and others in the present moment.