A Truth Worth Having

[Kia ora]

I too want to meet Jesus. Not so that he can convince me of his divinity with miracles. Not so that I can hear the man himself explain 'what is truth?'. But if he can inspire me as he did his contemporaries, to give me the faith with which I can die a thousand deaths...wouldn't that be something?

Someone I like once said:

[quote]

What I really need is to get clear about [i]what I am to do,[/i] not what I must know, except insofar as knowledge must precede every act. What matters is to find my purpose, to see what it really is that God wills that I shall do; the crucial thing is to find a truth that is truth [i]for me,[/i] to find [i]the idea for which I am willing to live and die.[/i] Of what use would it be to me to discover a so-called objective truth, to work through the philosophical systems so that I could, if asked, make critical judgments about them, could point out the fallacies in each system; of what use would it be to me to be able to develop a theory of the state, getting details from various sources and combining them into a whole, and constructing a world I did not live in but merely held up for others to see; of what use would it be to me to be able to formulate the meaning of Christianity, to be able to explain many specific points—if it had no deeper meaning [i]for me and for my life?[/i]

Of what use would it be to me for truth to stand before me, cold and naked, not caring whether or not I acknowledged it, making me uneasy rather than trustingly receptive. I certainly do not deny that I still accept an [i]imperative of knowledge[/i] and that through it men may be influenced, but [i]then it must come alive in me,[/i] and [i]this[/i] is what I now recognize as the most important of all.
[/quote]

So much of any knowledge really is acquired for reasons that have nothing to do with what should be the primary one: how to live one's life. There's the intellectual satisfaction of learning and knowing, which can only take you so far and always has the risk of becoming self-congratulatory. But I get a thrill when I read al-Ghazali, a man who underwent a religious experience so profound that he changed his entire life and abandoned his post as a teacher of theology, in order to become a Sufi with nary but a cloak on his back. Now that's a truth I can get behind.

Edited January 7, 2012 by Kia ora

[MaryJJD]

I was reading Jesus of Nazareth the other day, by Ratzinger and he gives an interesting take on the deepening relationship the apostles have with Jesus over time, and the different stages of response and fear present in each on. Initially, the apostles were called-they came, the followed, but they had no idea-they questioned, their motives were often off the mark, they just didn't understand what Jesus was trying to tell them. The second stage, could be taken as an example, was Peter-after he denied Jesus three times, and he went away and bitterly wept. After that, he was more resolved to follow Jesus. But it required still more-more from them in response, more grace from Jesus to be given for them to the be totally transformed into followers. That came at pentecost-when they were praying together in a locked room-out of fear, and the Holy Spirit came to them. THEN, after all that learning and all that time, only then did they reach that stage of being unafraid to follow Jesus in what He asked. For some it happens instantly-St Paul on the road to Damascus, but for most of us, it takes time and faithfulness in following.

[Papist]

Many died a horrible death refusing to reject Jesus without ever meeting Him. Why is that?

[brianthephysicist]

Addressing the idea of how to live one's life, I would say start with love.

Jesus said, of the greatest commandments, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

These two things go hand in hand. I tend to think of the Last Supper when Jesus washes the feet of the disciples because you need to be served in order to know how to serve. Start with the fact that God loves you (Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us). Love Him back. If you don't really know what that means, it's okay, it's not entirely well defined. Treat it like you would a new friendship and let it grow into intimate affection for each other.

Often, a good measure for how much you love God is how much you love your neighbor. He thinks that you are special and beautiful and important to Him and He has an insane amount of love for you. He also feels that way about every other person that has ever lived. When two people love each other (even simply as friends) they will each go out of their way to provide for the other person's interests. God is interested in showing people love, so to go out of your way for God's interests (other people) you show both Him and those people love. That's why these things go hand in hand.

I guess I should also clarify what I mean by love. Often people mean the warm and fuzzies, but those are just temporary feelings, they don't last forever. When I say I love a person, I'm making a choice, I'm deciding, I'm bending my will to put the good of the other person before myself, knowing fully that it will most likely cost me something.


I'm sorry, I'm rambling and I probably sound like a kook but whatever, lol, my point is:[b] [size=4]live for love[/size][/b]