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I have decided to delete some of my posts
Though people might think they are benefited.. theological discussions and some thoughts can be harmful .. even though there are answers it is not given to all people like myself.. so quickly. and I think more questions keep coming to disturb me and others..
When I pray to God sometimes I know He is my Father and I can trust Him.. I believe He will notice my pain and help me in due time..if not let me perish alone.. Sometimes when I pray and am close to God I feel confident that I know God and do not doubt that He has answers though I do not know them now and sometimes they come to me in a peaceful manner
I do not have to post all my questions online where there is no monk, priest, bishop or pope who can fast and ask God..
You can delete this post too after sometime
Just really pray for me
Pray that I am not condemned for not knowing certain things and that I do not believe they are important if they are not important and to know what to do and do what I should do when I am tried..
When I pray to God sometimes I know He is my Father and I can trust Him.. I believe He will notice my pain and help me in due time..if not let me perish alone.. Sometimes when I pray and am close to God I feel confident that I know God and do not doubt that He has answers though I do not know them now and sometimes they come to me in a peaceful manner
I do not have to post all my questions online where there is no monk, priest, bishop or pope who can fast and ask God..
You can delete this post too after sometime
Just really pray for me
Pray that I am not condemned for not knowing certain things and that I do not believe they are important if they are not important and to know what to do and do what I should do when I am tried..
Comments
Though people might think they are benefited.. theological discussions and some thoughts can be harmful .. even though there are answers it is not given to all people like myself.. so quickly. and I think more questions keep coming to disturb me and others..
When I pray to God sometimes I know He is my Father and I can trust Him.. I believe He will notice my pain and help me in due time..if not let me perish alone.. Sometimes when I pray and am close to God I feel confident that I know God and do not doubt that He has answers though I do not know them now and sometimes they come to me in a peaceful manner
I do not have to post all my questions online where there is no monk, priest, bishop or pope who can fast and ask God..
You can delete this post too after sometime
Just really pray for me
Pray that I am not condemned for not knowing certain things and that I do not believe they are important if they are not important and to know what to do and do what I should do when I am tried..
Hi Mike,
I 'll do my best to erase all your messages, but u also have to try. Its in your hands. Just find ALL your messages and erase them.
Actually, that's a good idea. Im gonna do the same also.
I am rather with Kerestina on this one. I don't know how the site works, but suspect the moderators might have something to say.
If one erases one's own posts then some of the subsequent ones will not make a great deal of sense to readers coming fresh to the thread; at least I would have thought so.
Perhaps it is a pointer to us all to think before we post? But I would not want Mike to worry about his posts - I am sure that he is not the only one to have been tormented by these thoughts, and in so far as answers to them here are of any help to him, so they will be to others.
But I do hope that Mike can see his FoC and get some face to face personal help with what are obviously very distressing questions.
In Christ,
Anglian
which can be found below
www.copticchurch.org/Texts/Spirituals/Diabolic%20Wars.pdf
c) The wiles of the devil may come in other forms through
guidance, where rather than offering no news which defiles
the heart, he offers doubts which trouble the mind.
Here the heart may have faith in simplicity, reading nothing but
that which is spiritual, deepening his attachment to God; then he
is asked for guidance from someone with respect to doubts
which trouble him. The doubts follow each other from every
direction seeking solutions till the faith of this guide moves
gradually from the heart, to the mind and scientific research.
Only a few can keep both together, and he finds doubts
increasing upon him but he has not the talent to refute them.
We must know that not everyone is qualified for giving
guidance.
61
Those who have such a talent are not injured due to spiritual
problems or hearing carnal sins, or due to problems pertaining
to beliefs or hearing doubts.
In such a case, the resourcefulness of the devil lies in that:
He offers the service of guidance to persons who do not
have the talent for it, and who may be injured by it.
I only found this very recently.. unfortunately many people have read my posts.. I am afraid I will be held accountable now ... Jesus said "Whoever causes one of these little ones (believers some say) who believe in Me to Sin (such as lose faith and other sins) it would be better for him if a heavy milstone was hung around his neck and he was thrown in the depth of the sea" But I know God does not want to destroy me...
I am new to this war of severe doubts really..
Will people go to hell now maybe because of me? far be it.. please no.. can't God do anything to erase the effect I have done.. who knew I could do so much damage..
Please pray for me
You are in my prayers.
Please do not think that anything you have written will have caused anyone to have doubts. Those who had them any way will have recognised what you were thinking; those who do not will have seen the answers any way. What you have done is allowed a discussion of topics that do come up time and again in fora like this where religious matters are discussed. What we try to do here is to provide Orthodox answers. Our respected and knowledgeable moderators are here to guide us when we err.
Moreover, look what your last post did for us - provided us with a link to His Holiness' book - and that provides excellent guidance for us all.
The Devil does indeed try to find ways of shaking our faith; but the fact that he is trying so hard with you should make you think that he is worried that your faith is very strong indeed. Pray; seek the advice of your FoC and any Orthodox friends; talk, if you can, to family members. Remember, as part of the Church you are not alone - and you can get help resisting the wiles of Satan.
With prayers for your welfare,
Anglian
im confused, how can u erase other people's comments???
u can't. only the original poster can delete the post.... and when someone replys to that, he's, the replyer, the only one who can delete that comment.
For in much wisdom is much grief, And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.Ecclesiastes 1:18. Yes but knowing some things is important. Although you have to be wise about what you post. If you think that a question will bring up problem ask you FOC first, and see what he tells you. Also almost all the the really interesting topics are brought up by you. Pray for me. And may God help you in discernment between what to post and what not to post.
thanks everyone who tried to comfort me.. but I think what I am doing is wrong..
I emailed a bishop about some doubts which I was going to post here.. and I emailed him because I did not want to post it here.. and he said he thinks I should not post it on a forum (If I understood right it might because I can cause others to doubt)
I pray that you all understand what I am doing is right.. or I understand what is the right thing to do..
we are young.. we do not know the devil well ...
the pope said something spot on it seems..
I think it is a very wrong idea to erase any of your posts (sorry for being frank).
The devil will fight you or any person by any means anyway. To some he will say the posts are harmful to readers, to others he will suggest the posts are shameful, or they will cause bad reputation of the poster, and so on. The torments and attacks may never totally cease but The Lord God allows indeed for some breaks. He will always turn evil into a wealth of goodness for those who seek Him.
As HH rightly wrote: the devil has centuries of practice, understands and abuses human minds and bodies, and never gets tired to tempt, lure, confuse and destroy humans by various techniques and strategies.
The devil fights are much elaborate and harder against the faithful. Glad you read HH great books, it's an excellent series (of 3 or more books?), I read two of them they are full of deep insight, spiritual experience and guidance.
Hey this is for fun! it's an answer to some funny comments I read on U-Tube: "why atheists never get possessed?! - clearly because the devil won't waste its time on you" it's a bad joke I know. But, is it a joke? we ARE all attacked all day long. We fall then with God's grace we try to stand firm again. He renews our faith and our strength. Just fight it and do not surrender that's the winning formula.
I'd like to confirm this fact: you're not alone. Conclusion: your posts WILL HELP YOU AND OTHERS not stumble you or them.
GBU
not sure all I said is true..
in revelation those who were saved were those who kept the faith of Jesus and did His commandments.. so we are to expect a war on our faith.. I hope God has pity on us and does not make it too hard on us and that He saves us and that His wrath and anger burnts Hot on Satan and his fallen angels..
I also think I might have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.. sometimes I doubt even facts.. I do not even fully if at all trust some or all historical documents.. anything that can not be proven sometimes I do not trust .. Keep praying for me
but I know sometimes society gives people the label OCD when it is not.. e.g praying alot to remove bad thoughts and lusts .. society which is influenced by the devil makes that a symptom of OCD .. but we know it works and that it gets better and not worse when we pray to Jesus.. if it stays bad it is because God is testing how much we want to obey Him I think and because He wants to give us crowns.. we know His Holy Spirit talks to us which as Jesus said the world cannot receive it because it does not know Him..
But I think there might be real cases of OCD.. and I might have it to some degree
Is it true Jesus has us in the palm of His hands and noone can take us away from Him? why then did some people fall and perish. e.g heretics ?
It's with humility, faith, and perseverance that our forerunner that we must imitate that we remain in His hands.
We are not puppets!
Mike, I am still trying to regroup myself after my last bout of agnosticism. So I believe I can identify with you.
I myself have removed a post seeming that it offended someone, though I believed the stated facts could help, though the tone should have been different.
However, I am glad I didn't remove some of my more audacious posts. I think the discussion became fruitful, and I found out it actually helped someone. God certainly can make good from bad. I think that is because anything has the potentiality of good or bad.
I certainly believe that doubt is one of those things. It humbles us. It calls us to become enlightened. It forces one to seek answers beyond one's own resources.
Of course it is a lonely time. Christianity is the foundation and center of your life. To have this shaken is terrible. But you see, this foundation obviously had some cracks and holes! This is your opportunity to do some fortifying! This is our opportunity to learn our weakness, and pray and depend on the strength of the Lord. This is the time to identify with the heathren, and find answers for ourselves that may one day be shared with someone else!
The difference between success and failure is not necessarily the conditions of the road, but the intent of the traveler.
When the sucessful guy meets a river in the way, and he can't swim, he says I will learn, while the failure will moan how it was a mistake to go on the journey. It's our turn to look at this obstacle and learn how to surpass it. It's what we are called to do.
And you know what that successful guy will say when he goes back home- he won't say "I can't believe that a river was on the way." Instead, he will with a smile tell his friends, "I learned how to swim."