Posted by giveawayboy on December 08, 2002 at 23:57:30:
guys, please help my friend. he has expressed to me a desire to grow spiritually and to find a group of people with some spiritual goals to connect with. i think he is realizing the need to 'not go it alone' in life. still, his conception of god is more fear-based. he also perceives the christian religion as one of fear and not of love. i absolutely refuse to try and force christian views on this person. he knows i believe in Jesus, and he knows i believe in heaven, sin, the whole works. still, i don't cram my views down others' throats. i am concerned not so much that he arrives at christianity--i don't herd cattle--but i wish he would, since i believe Christ is the icnarnation of god. Still, i don't feel the need to be pushy or make projects out of people. i would like you all to pray for him. i won't say his name. still, if you could pray for a few things. if you are a christian, please pray for him to come to see that christ and the gospel are not about fear and hell and damnation, but about love and mercy and grace. please pray for him that he will at least be free of fear, so he can progress spiritually in this lifetime. also, if you are here and do not believe in christ, please pray for or meditate in your own way that he be liberated from this fear which binds him and any ignorance that creates it. thanks. since i believe in truth and god and such, i will pray w this frame of reference, but i just don't feel the need to go in and try to prove my religion to him, or fix him or recreate him in my image. i really don't like that. he is wanting to grow and explore and transcend where he is at. i want to assist him, but from a safe distance as a friend. i want to be as close as he wants me to be, but far enough away that he sees i respect him and his own decisions. i want to give him the dignity of his own spiritual life, but he has opened himself up to me and so i want to be as much a part as he wants. also, i don't want to be somewhat detatched as i believe that god is a real person who reaches out to each man in his own way. thanks again for reading this and for sending your prayers and thoughts in love to my friend. and when we lend support to one person we help liberate all beings.
later, Bill