I quit.

[MacPherson]

I quit. Enough is enough. I remember a golden age, when all I knew was God's love for me and my love for Him. Then I started looking for answers and I find myself wading in an endless sea of conjecture. This means that. That means this. Yes it does. No it doesn't. That person is right, the other person wrong. The other person right, that person is wrong. But, they both sound right.  Can I take 60% of one and 40% of the other and scrap the rest? Sort this, sort that. Eat the meat and spit out the bones. Eat the meat and spit out the bones. Time to leave the discussion boards. Time to turn off the Bible answer shows. Time to put away the articles, pamphlets and books that keep piling up. Along with the websites, wbeblinks and PDF's. Time to just focus on Christ, and Christ alone.

[Taffy]

Brian :icon_flower:

Been there myself Bud...stayed for some seasons too , SEEK HIM AND HIM ALONE...sometimes we go full circle...

Dont be too disheartened Brian , He takes US THROUGH THIS JOURNEY, and will be there equally so at the END of it.
Blessings
:icon_flower:G

[claypot]

I quit. Enough is enough. I remember a golden age, when all I knew was God's love for me and my love for Him. Then I started looking for answers and I find myself wading in an endless sea of conjecture. This means that. That means this. Yes it does. No it doesn't. That person is right, the other person wrong. The other person right, that person is wrong. But, they both sound right.  Can I take 60% of one and 40% of the other and scrap the rest? Sort this, sort that. Eat the meat and spit out the bones. Eat the meat and spit out the bones. Time to leave the discussion boards. Time to turn off the Bible answer shows. Time to put away the articles, pamphlets and books that keep piling up. Along with the websites, wbeblinks and PDF's. Time to just focus on Christ, and Christ alone.

Hear ya clearly Brother. Go away into the mountain, alone but not alone. Been there and hope to be there again soon. Go with God and explore. I'm almost envious. You seem to be being called away by God Himself.

cp

[Redlettervoice]

Ha.......Brian, that's a good place to be in.  Quitting.  God won't
quit tho.  He sees you before you see yourself.  He did JOB,
didn't He?  Job had to go thru all that mess, like we all do, to
get our eyes off the first "image" adam and on to the Second Image
Adam...........what an excercise.  I think we agree with Solomon.
This is an exercise the Lord has given to the sons of men to be
exercised therewith.  ha
Oh, Brian, God help you.......we have all been there. 

I remember this lady years ago she came in to this meeting where
they were trying to teach people how to say the right "abra ca draba" and she said just what you did, I quit.  And quit she did.

Guess who God moved for the very next week.  HER.
The rest just stood with their mouths open! ha

You'll NEVER figure God out, He does what He wants to.

[aspiring son]

Been there as well. I pray it's a fruitful season for you- full of truth. I'll tell you what God tells me all the time............ "Be still."

God Bless

[Paul Hazelwood]

I quit. Enough is enough. I remember a golden age, when all I knew was God's love for me and my love for Him. Then I started looking for answers and I find myself wading in an endless sea of conjecture. This means that. That means this. Yes it does. No it doesn't. That person is right, the other person wrong. The other person right, that person is wrong. But, they both sound right.  Can I take 60% of one and 40% of the other and scrap the rest? Sort this, sort that. Eat the meat and spit out the bones. Eat the meat and spit out the bones. Time to leave the discussion boards. Time to turn off the Bible answer shows. Time to put away the articles, pamphlets and books that keep piling up. Along with the websites, wbeblinks and PDF's. Time to just focus on Christ, and Christ alone.

The longer you try to sort out what everyone else says it means the deeper that tangled web becomes.   Shed all the perceptions and shed assertions,  realize that life just is and it either is worth living primarily because we exist or figure a life full of uncertainty.

This does not negate the wonder that the bible may contain, but arguing the bible to find a place in faith is not going to work.

Find that simple place you know exists Brian, the place thats undescribable.   The place that even your own thoughts cannot betray.

[MacPherson]

Ha.......Brian, that's a good place to be in.  Quitting.  God won't
quit tho. 

"And God completeth by the seventh day His work which He hath made, and ceaseth by the seventh day from all His work which He hath made."

Said the Holy Spirit to me, "ceaseth". Modern day translation: Give it a rest.
I wonder how many times God has had a good laugh, wiping a tear from the corner of His eye at all the different ideas theologians come up with. Like watching an episode of "Kids Say the Darndest Things". Especially if you were watching 4 year olds having an argument over something neither one of them really understands. What would be a classic example? Where babies come from? Are 4 year olds these days still that innocent?

[Akira Takahashi]

Good time to take a break.  As for me, I know that if I were to take a break right now, I may not come back.  I'm sure that when my time is right, however, I will also take some time off to be with the Lord, without all the distractions of doctrine.

[willieH]

I quit. Enough is enough. I remember a golden age, when all I knew was God's love for me and my love for Him. Then I started looking for answers and I find myself wading in an endless sea of conjecture. This means that. That means this. Yes it does. No it doesn't. That person is right, the other person wrong. The other person right, that person is wrong. But, they both sound right.  Can I take 60% of one and 40% of the other and scrap the rest? Sort this, sort that. Eat the meat and spit out the bones. Eat the meat and spit out the bones. Time to leave the discussion boards. Time to turn off the Bible answer shows. Time to put away the articles, pamphlets and books that keep piling up. Along with the websites, wbeblinks and PDF's. Time to just focus on Christ, and Christ alone.

It is GOD's way that only some have REVELATION and others do not... This does not mean one is right and the other wrong... it means one has REVELATION and the other does NOT...

Because one is VEILED, ...or... has REVELATION, ...is GOD's doing... (Rom 11:29-32)...

Please know brother, that we all experience these things... but seek as did Paul, that whatever state GOD has placed you in... to be CONTENT... (Phil 4:11)

May you go in PEACE and find it!  :cloud9:

...willieH  :HeartThrob:

[martincisneros]

As they always said in my previous circles, you can't live on someone else's revelation.  It's got to be a revelation to you!

I quit. Enough is enough.....Time to just focus on Christ, and Christ alone.

Now you're ready to hear from Him. :cloud9:

You're in my prayers and blessings always!  Jump into the arms of Daddy, like I did 19 years ago, and never look back. :HeartThrob:

[MacPherson]

Please pray for me folks. I'm starting to lose it big time again.

[Sarah]

Ceaseth.

perfect word for you brother.

Love, Sarah

[jabcat]

Please pray for me folks. I'm starting to lose it big time again.

Stop.  Rest.  He is working all things according to His will.  You are in the palm of His hand.  Stop squirming (they say it takes one to know one).

[sparrow]

Praying for you, Brian...

[MacPherson]

Please pray for me folks. I'm starting to lose it big time again.

Never mind I had a good talk with my #1 mentor. A man of strong and simple faith. he smoothed things out. All is well.

[jabcat]

what's his #?  :happygrin:

[martincisneros]

Never mind I had a good talk with my #1 mentor. A man of strong and simple faith. he smoothed things out. All is well.

Cool.  I know what that's like.  Even in UR to be at the overloaded point and to have to reach for a good CD/DVD of my 1Corinthians 4:15 'mom and dad'.  They're still premillenial ET believers with one more issue in their lives that I won't get into that's disturbing to me, but beyond that, they're the reason I'm still alive, why my body is healed, why my mind is sound, why my every care is cast upon Him and my every thought has been brought to the obedience of Christ, etc.  Never ever let go of the person or people whose Onesimus that you are (Philemon 1:10) -- no matter how much you ever think that you know 'cause if God used 'em that way in your life, there's probably still a lesson or two that they can teach you, no matter how many things you're able to sort out for yourself.  I'm not sure if it's a Texas saying, but I know it's definitely Southern: you dance with the one that brung ya! 

Many folks that know a whole lot less than they think they do will try to destroy that relationship in your life and try to make you ashamed of it with Matthew 23:8-12, but that just demonstrates that they know far less than they think that they know.  The whole New Testament is written from the perspective of "Mr Miyagi speaking with Daniel-san."  Many folks have never had that kind of a relationship with or to someone else in the faith.  That's perfectly fine too.  But it doesn't mean they'll never have it in this world or in the world to come.  Many times pride never allowed that kind of relationship to form, for others, it's simply never been their season to get there.  And some come in like St. Paul, from a rich theological education, and nobody but the Holy Spirit showing them stuff. 

Doesn't make either group of Christians any better than any other.  Because St. Paul is such an anomaly along those lines, many folks have sought for that kind of relationship to have existed between St. Paul and Barnabas, or St. Paul and perhaps Peter or James when he presented his Gospel to them in Jerusalem as it says in Galatians.  If you stick around, either without interruption or wander back after a Sabbatical anyway, you're going to notice if you haven't already how many UR folks pride themselves on being Lone Rangers.  They've had no father but God, they'll often boast, and they bark and bite like Luther or Calvin to prove they're an unbroken horse that the Scriptures warn to not require the bit and bridle to be forced upon them for them to learn all of His depths. 

You're definitely on the right track with UR, even if you've got to sort out for yourself what Biblically satisfies you about a lot of the pesky details of how God freely gives the abundance of grace and gift of righteousness to sinners whose payday is drawing near.  You'll probably eventually come to the same [comfortable and generalized] conclusion as many of the more seasoned students of the Word regarding the Universal Restoration have come to about many of the pesky details: after looking at every single Scripture even remotely related; it'll be as long as it takes and it'll be whatever it takes within the parameters of God's Character, Holy Word, provisions in Christ, and Wisdom that He's granting for our glory.

[MacPherson]

what's his #?  :happygrin:

He's practically my dad. Last night was like a little kid curled up in daddy's lap after a bad dream receiving comforting soothing words from an old familiar voice. And I was looped into tranquility on a double helping of Celexa and Xanax to boot.

I cut out the rest of what I wrote because I don't want to be a public stumbling block. If anyone wants to reason with me or console or counsel me, it'll have to be by way of PM. Thanks.

[martincisneros]

Brian, if I don't get a chance to reply to your PM, I just wanted to say that I have read it and can see that what you wrote those people is from the heart.  And they'll either be understanding or they'll try to convince you of why they themselves are 100% right! LOL!  I've been on the Count Dracula shift since about Valentine's Day with the job situation, so I'm desperate for sleep right now and am hoping to be online for an hour or two before heading to work.  Gotta toss the dress blues into the dryer and then head for bed right now.  I better take a really impossibly hot shower right now or I won't be able to move when I've put the Superman outfit back on tonight.  I'll explain the colorful metaphors later for where I'm at and what I'm doing.  Not sure if anybody at the boards would have understood a Chuck Bartowsky (Bartowski?) reference, teasing allusions to a CIA career, etc.  So I used the more common frames of references, since somebody usually asks when I go all cryptic or parabolic from sleep deprivation.

[CHB]

Brian,

None of us know it all. Once you come to see this, it won't matter what any one says, you will always look to God for the answers and no one else. We just all throw out there the way we see things so just let God sort it all out and you will be ok. You can drive yourself crazy trying to figure out who is wrong and who is right on certain things. Just take it to God and let him figure it all out. This is just my opinion.  :laughing7:

CHB

[MacPherson]

From a personal letter written:
I suppose if I have enough people tell me I have nothing to be upset over, I'll be okay. Right now I feel like I have a legitimate reason to feel anguish, and admittedly anger. Not at anyone, just the situation. Then Again, I have this fantasy of a hundred foot tall angel proclaiming to all the "orthodox" teachers of the Word, that they better agree on a unified doctrine or they're all toast. I wonder if that would mend the schisms? And then maybe "May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus" Romans 15:5, would be fulfilled.
You're wonderful at talking me down. Soothing my worries. Edifying me.
My brain however is like a dog with an old shoe. It just won't let it go.
I wonder if I can bring myself back through the doors of my church after all this.
But I made a personal oath to regularly attend for at least one full year.
Tonight is home group with another great mentor, Bill, one of the elders and usually my pastor is there to. I love being at Bill's. But I don't see how I can show up in my current condition. I'm liabel to start screaming into a pillow or start punching holes in walls.
I remember my pastor once saying he'd like to go into the office of some other guy on the radio he doesn't care for, and say "knock it off already!" That's what I feel like doing with all the radio teachers I have. Then make them write Romans 15:5 a thousand times on a blackboard.

[sparrow]

But I made a personal oath to regularly attend for at least one full year.

Why? I'm just curious....
Maybe.. you need some time away.
Just because you made a personal oath doesn't mean you can't change your mind.

Sorry, that just popped out at me and I had to comment.

Maybe what you need... is alone time.
Just you and God, without "religion", without a bunch of other people's opinions?

Well... I don't truly know your situation, but it was just a thought..

:HeartThrob:,
Sparrow

[Paul Hazelwood]

Brian,

One day you will understand that what you write is simple honesty.  Your not trying to be me, or anyone else that is telling you it will be alright.

There is nothing wrong with others, including myself, who try to sooth you, to talk you down.   But you are just being you and being honest and quite frankly the world needs more people that listen to all the chatter (good or bad) and find that it just becomes noise and says  "ENOUGH" and tries to see somehow the God, being, entity that really is there.

You want truth, and sometimes it doesn't come easy.   Never stop looking bro.

[sparrow]

Brian,

One day you will understand that what you write is simple honesty.  Your not trying to be me, or anyone else that is telling you it will be alright.

There is nothing wrong with others, including myself, who try to sooth you, to talk you down.   But you are just being you and being honest and quite frankly the world needs more people that listen to all the chatter (good or bad) and find that it just becomes noise and says  "ENOUGH" and tries to see somehow the God, being, entity that really is there.

You want truth, and sometimes it doesn't come easy.   Never stop looking bro.

I second that. 

[chuckt]

God bless you brian.  :icon_flower: