I have been struggling for a good while now with the thought that God must really hate me, and happened across this article which spoke to me. Perhaps it will minister to someone here:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/formerlyfundie/god-hates-me/ (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/formerlyfundie/god-hates-me/)
Ronen
Quote from: gregoryfl on November 17, 2015, 06:00:06 PM
I have been struggling for a good while now with the thought that God must really hate me, and happened across this article which spoke to me. Perhaps it will minister to someone here:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/formerlyfundie/god-hates-me/ (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/formerlyfundie/god-hates-me/)
Ronen
Hi Ronen old friend and brother , thank you for sharing this ! :HeartThrob:
I too wonder if this chastening of the Lord can be bearable at times , I believe it is for our own good and also going though the experience lets us know what is in the hidden man of the heart from a dark place the Light comes to expose it , many times I wonder , What in the world is this ?! another fiery trial
:sigh:
Much compassion and empathy for others that have not been given those things we were given by the Holy Spirit to sustain us , just wait on the Lord and pray in the Spirit without ceasing for deliverance and His peace to come :HeartThrob:
very timely...this must be on the Holy spirit's teaching agenda. I just been through something like it. when such causes you to fear
and doubt His Love....we need to know...it is nothing but satan[accusor] demanding to sift us like wheat. AND>>>>>>>>>
THAT JESUS HAS PRAYED THAT OUR FAITH GIVE NOT OUT. Faith..that if we have seen the son,we have seen the Father....
sure,we want to 'do our Dad proud' to show our love for Him......succeed...not fail...but it is our very failures that....
show our Dad's love for us the most.[consider Job..Father's contentment with him..and satan trying God's love and Job's]
Faith...Hope...and Love...remain[a son]
Interesting article. To me, saying that God hates me sounds like a blasphemy.
Such good responses above! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Right away when I started the article, I thought, I've been there.. Just yesterday i was thinking how I used to call myself names, to myself, when under stress.. now when i do something silly, i may call myself a dweeb, but it's not without humor.
The writer says it's habits of thinking.. and he's right! I suffered some strange things as a child, and some very negative thought patterns followed me into adulthood and my life. Those fiery neutrons (oops, neurons) burn pathways in our brain (I wonder if that's the frontal lobe, cause that's what it seems like :dontknow: )
It's the Lord, I believe, who taught me to cross out xxx every negative thought. When I thought (think) a negative thought, cross it out mentally XXX and praise the Lord!! Replace it with a positive.. May sound weird but it sure helped me. The other key He gave me was quietness. Being a bit of a hermit. Especially a spiritual hermit. All those bad vibes all around people.. even in, or especially in churches? who believe in a God of eternal torment.. Yes, I dare say that god does hate us.. each and every one of us.
When we are persecuted.. physically, mentally.. or spiritually.. rejoice, for ours is the kingdom of heaven..
The blog writer is right.. I think he points out the fruit of e.t. doctrine..
And I think to a degree he describes all of us.. the human nature, let alone if we've been taught and lived under the e.t. doctrines..
I love his line - "the peaceful, inclusive Rabi who said "if you're tired and burnt out, come hang with me- because my way is light and not burdensome".
and - "Let's repent together, and stop thinking that God hates us.
Cause honestly, I don't need anymore enemies (you should see my in-box).
I need friends.
Friends who will stick it out with me, no matter what. Friends who will receive me and just love me- for who I am, and nothing more.
Let's remind ourselves so often that we are fully and completely loved :thumbsup: :thumbsup: that the emotional memory eventually switches from hate to love.. ..Thankfully, I'm half way there- because my mind no longer believes in this god.
My mind acknowledges that the real God, looks exactly like Jesus- and that his final words were words of forgiveness... not rejection."
..and this line,
"Instead of the god who hates me, I'm trying to embrace the God who would like to have a beer with me sometime." :faint: :laughing7:
Very interesting blog! :smile:
:dsunny: Marie :HeartThrob:
constant fault-finding and 'never being good enough" erodes our self-esteem[devalues our feeling worthy of love, from our fellow man
and Our Father"
I remeber going to Him in prayer about this very thing in my late 20's. I was involved in a very legalistic church at that time.
the tears where hot that night on my pillow...I prayed 'Father,I do love you and everything you stand for...what's right and
good and true. BUT I don't feel like you love me....because all the things you say you hate..in the scriptures...are in me."
now this church STRESSED legalistic works for salvation.....and did NOT but barely mention Jesus and His sacrifice and the
gift[free] and forgiveness and healing.. I look at it now...and they were really of an anti-christ spirit....when they come out in one
of their publications saying that Jesus wasn't the mediator of all men..but just the anointed.....I left........I didn't know much...
but I knew better than that.
to me....mixing law and grace..or shrinking back to law....will cause this everytime. WHO will condemn those God has forgiven?
Satan the accusor of the brethern...that's who. The Lord does rebuke him and throw him to the earth.......out of your heaven
....then all he can do is persecute your flesh[just as Ishmael persecuted Isaac the child of promise/spirit.]
:thumbsup: Sheila :HeartThrob:
Perfect love casts out all fear.
God is perfect.
His love NEVER fails.
Man's opinion may put us under stress or sense of failure.
God is greater than man.
Satan tries to convince us to earn our position.
The gift of God is eternal life. His gift is irrevocable and permanent.
God is greater than satan as well as greater than us.
Again- His love NEVER fails. Nothing can keep us from that love in Christ.
Amen!
Very timely post by Ronen.
I have had spinal fusion surgery on Oct 7 with complications as a few of you know. I am now in rehab. I was close to either recovering OK or ending up in a wheel chair because of a spinal problem. It was during those difficult days just after surgery that I began to see, more profoundly than ever, God was in charge and my reliance was totally in Him for His will to be done. I am recovering thanks to God and for the prayers of many.
Interestingly I am reading the book "The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life" by Hannah Whitall Smith. What a great book. She deals with so many perplexing questions in the Christian walk. Not the least of which is having the right perspective on Christ's work in us. I wish I could copy some of her marvelous revelations on the inward power of the spirit working in us that which is pleasing in His sight.
Ronen provided a link to Benjamin Corey's story of "God hates me". Here are a few sentences from that story:
I think emotionally I've never fully been freed from it.
Did I not try hard enough?
I still too often feel as if God hates me, and when something bad happens in life, I immediately assume that he's punishing me.
The concept gets rooted so deep, that even when we mentally reject it, our "emotional memory" still uses it as a go-to hermeneutic for understanding life events.
The point I want to make is that as Hannah points out is that our emotions normally dominate our thoughts. Emotions are natural, a mans way of thinking . In the sixth chapter on "difficulties concerning faith" she points this out :
Mans order of relying on God is 1. the feeling (emotion) 2. the faith 3. the fact (believe God)
God's order is the reverse 1. the fact (God really loves you and is with you) 2. then faith comes (Gal 2:20) 3. then the feeling and emotion.
I see that tentmaker has a book by Hannah whci must also talk about this, I have yet to read that.
http://www.tentmaker.org/books/TheGodOfAllComfort-HannahWhitallSmith/ccel/s/smith_hw/comfort/htm/TOC.htm
Joe :2c: :dsunny:
I have actually heard of this happening in some cases..........some people have actually heard an evil spirit sneering and saying.....
'HE DON"T LOVE YOU" the thing is...when they actually heard that voice revealed...it set them free from the dialogue running
over and over in their mind/thoughts. and the 'gig' was up. they realized what was behind it.
nothing hidden will not be revealed.