Posted by Chewwy on December 09, 1998 at 11:09:50:
In Reply to: Re: an open question posted by Robert A. Spong on December 08, 1998 at 00:12:40:
:
: : What do you think about spirituality in daily life of Christians and people in general?
: : I will respond to my own question after someone else does.
: I see the answer to this question in two answers, one is the spirituality of the church, a social spirituality, and a personal spirituality, I will focus on the first, Social, then the personal.
: Spirituality is something that has to be met under individualistc terms. It seems to me that unless people get it "their own way" they will never come to know Jesus, or God. There are many ways to achieve spirituality, some are not as socially acceptable as others. Simply look at the different churches in the area. I dare say that there is a cirtain amount of animosity that is held between the houses of God. But it should be realized that they are STILL houses of God.
: Until we as God's creations,(men) try to look past these differences, and try to get to know the people of these houses, we will never achieve any kind of unity. I believe that once this unity takes place, THEN the second comming will occure. I may be wrong, but it just seems to me that when Jesus accended into the heavens,(after his ressurection) in my opinion, it just seemed to say,"Okay, the ball is in your court". I think we as the churches of God, have splintered and fractured the religeon into too many different churches. I don't believe that Jesus wants to return to his bride if she is in many pieces.
: However, if you are talking about the personal acceptance of spirituality, again, there are cirtain levels of acceptance. People are going to pray, meditate or celebrate in one of two ways. One being that they are going o choose the way that they will go about doing any of the three, (prayer, meditation, or celebration) But only if they come from a family that has no religeous foundation that has been passed down through the generations. The second way is ofcourse, the foundatin that has been passed down from the generations. A cirtain amount of change will occure durring the transfer of traditional religeous "values" from one generation to the next. One that I can vouch for personnally is that I was brought up in traditional Catholic values, I "personalized" my "way" by doing differeent things. I burn incense as I meditate. I was not taught to meditate in my religeous upbringing, I was not taught to burn incense either. But I think this gives me a better spirituality, and I do feel closer to God. I imagine that there are hundred of thousands of different "ways" to achieve spirituallity, some people have to do it their own way.I found my way, whats yours?
Well, i guess its Chewwy's turn to say something!
the way I see it and a LONG time of prayer about this subject, yes i know theres different ways of reaching a spiritual state and i totally encourage anyone who's attempting to get to a spiritual state of peaceness (is that a word?)
but we have to ask ourselfs is it us reaching it or God Himself? And for me God has to lead me into the sprit not me.