My Church

[Imogene]

This community is my church, but on Sundays and sometimes during the week, I attend CHURCH services at Marble Collegiate Church in NYC. Peter is a deacon there and I belong to small groups and I've grown close to the ladies in the group and they teach me how to pray. One, even donated an iPad to our non profit.
They pray for us.

Today, it seems here at cysticfibrosis.com and in the US we have a lot to wonder and pray about.
My Church has live streaming....10 Am ET Sr Carol Perry a Roman Catholic nun, will continue us on the Advent journey, 11:00 we have a beautiful service. This is the church of Positive Thinking, Norman Vincent Peale in the mid century) Michael Brown is the minister now. He hails from N Carolina. I think his sermons always "hit home"...and there is a "talk back" afterwards. I always love to stay for it and ask questions.
My daughter Sarah is attending today...she is the PTA president at her children's school...and she said " I need Michael Brown's sermon today".

However, wherever you pray, let us know.
Our link is [video]www.marblechurch.org[/video]
If your church/temple/mosque is on line....Tell us.
Salt and Light,
Jeanne

 

[azdesertrat]

I've never been into 'Organized Religion' but I am most assuredly a Believer. I don't know how anyone who has a life threatening/altering disease like CF can be 'without' God.
Personally, I couldn't do it. I recognize that all good things in my life are a direct result of His intervention. I don't claim to have answers to anything. I do know that God makes the unbearable, bearable.
He makes my burdens less heavy & He has given me a great Woman to share my life & burdens with.
I could not have survived as long as I have without my God, and my Wife.
End of my little diatribe.

 

[Twistofchaos]

I don't know how anyone who has a life threatening/altering disease like CF can be 'without' God.

Yeah well there's that little catch.
If God was real CF would be a direct result of that "God" because he's omnipotent and all.
It's much more unbearable to see the state of the world and thinking there is some skydaddy on a cloud doing Nothing. Making him extremely, extremely evil.
Oh yeah, today about 25.000 people (mostly children) will die of hunger.

 

[anien2]

Discussions about god never get to an end. Faith is a matter of believing without proofs. I would love to believe that there is something or someone allmighty taking care of me, but i cant, it just doesnt make sense. And since the people who have faith dont need any proof there is no way to convince them.

In my opinion gods live where tooth fairy does. At least I had proofs of the tooth fairy existence, I still keep one of the coins she left me!!

 

[anien2]

Besides, the idea of a God being able to cure CF and not doing it leads to guilt. I am from Spain a country where religion used to be very important, but it isnt anymore. Well, it is amazing how differently older parents look at CF from younger parents do. Most of the old fashioned used to hide it to everyone, friends, family, school... They thought that it was something to be ashamed of, they must had done something terrible to deserve that from God. And the worst is that people around used to think the same.

 

[VAmom]

God gives us free will. Free will to do good or evil. We all sin and it’s our sin that hurts others -- not God.

The absence of light is dark. The absence of heat is cold. The absence of God is evil.

God uses all things to work for His glory. We may not see the glory, but we don’t see the wind either.

What men intended for evil -- the suffering and death of Jesus Christ – God allowed for His glory. Jesus, without sin, was sacrificed for us so that we could be reconciled with God.

If God didn’t spare his own son from suffering and pain, why should we expect him to shield us from suffering and pain?

In the book of Genesis, it says that God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. With sin came disease and suffering. God didn’t create or cause cystic fibrosis.

God wants relationship. He’s all about relationship: God the Father/God the Son/God the Holy Spirit. He wants relationship with us too. I encourage you to build a relationship with him.

He promises that there is no sin, no tears, no suffering (no cystic fibrosis) in heaven. I don’t want to lose out on that and I pray that you don’t either.

We all suffer is this life. Don’t risk an eternity of suffering too.

 

[Twistofchaos]

So first God is everywhere and hears everything, but then he's absent.
God creates everything and does everything for a purpose, but then he's absent and did not create CF?
CF has been around long before the mayor monotheïstic religions came to be. Who created it back then? Was it these people's fault as God had not reveiled himself yet/was not thought up yet?

But what I would really want to know. What kind of a God is He who demands such constant attention and ego boosting as to punish those who do NOT constantly worship him with Cystic Fibrosis? With starvation? With abuse, war and torture?
That's a kind and loving God to you? To me that's someone who kills billions for not liking his updates on Facebook. Worse, after killing them in horrible ways he promises to eternally punish those by burning them forever, every second of their future infinite existence, for not liking him up on facebook. .. nice.

 

[Gentrygirl]

God gives us free will. Free will to do good or evil. We all sin and it’s our sin that hurts others -- not God.

The absence of light is dark. The absence of heat is cold. The absence of God is evil.

The absence of dogs is cats? The absence of apples is oranges? With all due respect, this does not hold water. Perhaps without GOOD there can be evil, but even then, there can still be apathy.

I beg of you, very kindly, to open your mind; we have BEAUTIFUL people in our life that are kind, good, giving, selfless, etc., that are not believers in gods. There can't be anything in the world more loving than to respect and accept those who believe differently than you do. Kindness and acceptance of your neighbors.....

 

[DmT145]

A moral god?

If God didn’t spare his own son from suffering and pain, why should we expect him to shield us from suffering and pain?

We all suffer is this life. Don’t risk an eternity of suffering too.

Since you are a mom, may I ask you a question? Is there anything your child could do, including not loving you, that would compel you to lock him/her/them in the basement and torture them forever? What does this say about the morality of the god you worship?

 

[PACmommy]

Wow you guys all got really nasty and unjustifiably so. What I saw at the beginning of this thread was a person trying to use a personal experience to uplift others. The response was nasty claws that came out and tore it down. I don't know about you but I believe that speaks volumes.
I call myself Christian and was raised going to church every sunday which I try to do with my children despite lifes business sometimes getting in the way.
Thats not to say its easy. Life has thrown me some curveballs. When my daughter was diagnosed on top of it all, I cursed God, I was so angry and frustrated with life. But my faith did get me through, I saw there was a reason that I was going through trials. I used my experiences to help others and I became a paramedic.
I still struggle with my faith and have a hard time connecting with others in my Christian community. I've seen some of the most horrible situations a person can see. Believe me, you think you've been cursed with cf? I can always point to someone that has it worse.
The thing is guys, faith is being surrounded by darkness, including the darkness within you, and choosing to grasp onto the light. To use thatmlight to bring light to others. I never preach, I don't tell my patients about my faith. I just want to be the hand holding theirs when their in their time of darkness. That's my hope for all of you that you use your experience to lift others up, not tear them down. I think that's what I just witnessed.

 

[anien2]

God gives us free will. Free will to do good or evil. We all sin and it’s our sin that hurts others -- not God.

The absence of light is dark. The absence of heat is cold. The absence of God is evil.

God uses all things to work for His glory. We may not see the glory, but we don’t see the wind either.

What men intended for evil -- the suffering and death of Jesus Christ – God allowed for His glory. Jesus, without sin, was sacrificed for us so that we could be reconciled with God.

If God didn’t spare his own son from suffering and pain, why should we expect him to shield us from suffering and pain?

In the book of Genesis, it says that God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. With sin came disease and suffering. God didn’t create or cause cystic fibrosis.

God wants relationship. He’s all about relationship: God the Father/God the Son/God the Holy Spirit. He wants relationship with us too. I encourage you to build a relationship with him.

He promises that there is no sin, no tears, no suffering (no cystic fibrosis) in heaven. I don’t want to lose out on that and I pray that you don’t either.

We all suffer is this life. Don’t risk an eternity of suffering too.

You mean that God isnt everywhere? that a simple human can take God away from where he or she is just by being evil? that's kind of heretic,isnt it? I was told that God is almighty, that he (or she) knows everything and is everywhere. who is wrong?

 

[Hail2Pitt]

Jeanne - thank you for your post. I am a devout follower of Christ, and I know He gives me strength to continue battling this tough disease (and the terrible bugs that come with it) and still have a smile on my face!

Since accepting Christ in my 20s, I’ve been blessed to have heard sermons from some amazing pastors. Here are a few links for those who are interested:

http://www.acac.net/index.cfm/PageID/859/index.html (church I currently attend)
http://fairfaxvideos.com/ (church I previously attended)
https://willowcreek.tv/type/weekend-series/ (great church in the Chicago area)
http://mppc.org/sermons (great church in the San Francisco Bay area)

I’m an engineer, and my brain is wired to question everything. As such, I spent many years asking the same questions and making the same statements I see in this thread (and many more that weren’t brought up). So, I know where most of you are coming from. I don’t have all the answers, and there probably isn’t one thing I can say to convince you to put your faith in Jesus Christ. But, if any part of you is interested, I’d be happy to try to answer your questions or address your arguments, as I've worked through many of them over the years. Also, I encourage you to listen to a sermon by the lead pastor at any of the churches listed above. If you’re going to pick only one, try Bill Hybels at Willow Creek (third link provided). If you’ve never been a church-goer or got turned off by “religion” at some point along the way, my guess is you’ve never heard anyone like him.

 

[TreasureGoddess]

thanks Jeanne. It was a positive post and I like the idea you were brave to share something that gives you hope and peace. I hope others that want to can benefit from the online link.

 

[believingjesus]

Thank you Hail2Pitt! I loved reading your post. It is so nice to hear someone say that on here. I, too, accepted Jesus in my heart when I was 13 years old. I know that is young but I had already been through a lot at that point and I realized I needed Him and I repented in my heart and He did come live in me. I know that may sound weird to anyone who doesn't know this personally but it actually happened. I also am so flawed and life has left its scars on me but I still know He loves me and I still know that He will bring me home one day. I hope everyone else that I love will accept His salvation too. I do believe there is a Heaven and a Hell and I do believe you have to accept Him as your savior. God can't have sin in Heaven as He is Holy but that is why He sent His only begotten Son - for us, to make a way for us. We won't be perfect and are still human and on this earth till He takes us but He will never leave us nor forsake us. I also don't have any of the answers but I do have the one that matters and that I know is His word is true and He does love every person on this earth but He made a way and it is the only way. That is through Jesus Christ, His Son. If anyone wants to they can read John 3:16. I do believe and I do know it is true, not just a religion.

 

[GoryLori]

All the creepies just crawled out from under the dung heap and ATTACKED Imogene who posted her positive experience about her Sunday. Seems as those who deny/hate/dis-avow a GOD are the first to jump in and kill the messenger. Imogene was sharing what works for her and brings balance to her life. Why am I surprised the atheists/agnostics yelled the loudest and showed their deep seeded hatred of anything that brings comfort to another--especially if for them, it's Godly?

 

[Hail2Pitt]

Yeah well there's that little catch.
If God was real CF would be a direct result of that "God" because he's omnipotent and all.
It's much more unbearable to see the state of the world and thinking there is some skydaddy on a cloud doing Nothing. Making him extremely, extremely evil.
Oh yeah, today about 25.000 people (mostly children) will die of hunger.

Hi Twistofchaos – reading your comments makes me think of a few things:

1. God gave us all an amazing gift - the gift of free will. He created Adam and Eve, put them in paradise to live, and before long they sinned against God and screwed it all up. He gave them very simple instructions, and they chose to not follow them. And mankind’s sinful behavior went downhill from there. I didn’t always believe in the creation account in the Bible (I mean come on - how could someone with a science background possibly believe that?), and I spent many years believing that macroevolution was true on some level (for much of my life as a Christian, I thought theistic evolution likely made the most sense). But, I now believe that God did indeed create Adam and Eve as the Bible says, and I also believe that he did not create them with defective CFTR genes. So who was the first CF patient and how exactly did it happen? I don’t know, but I don’t believe it came from God. We live in a fallen world, and God allows us to experience some tough stuff. Though, allowing us to go through difficult things inherent to a fallen world is very different from Him pointing an omnipotent finger and zapping us with a disease. When it finally clicked that God wants His best for me, and He is using CF to make me a more loving and compassionate person, I was able to get some peace with my disease after struggling mightily when I was first diagnosed.

2. I’d like to address your comments on both God doing nothing and world hunger at the same time. First, I don’t believe that God created world hunger - we did. But, God has certainly given us everything we need to solve it. A quick google search shows that the UN estimates it would cost $30 billion/year to solve world hunger. There are almost 320 million people in the US alone, and about 67% of them are adults. If every adult in the US gave just over $120/year, we would end world hunger. So why don’t we just do it? God has certainly given us the financial means as well as the technology to fix it, hasn’t he? It seems to me we should stop blaming God for things like this, and instead take responsibility for not fixing them ourselves when he has empowered us to do so.

3. There is a Heaven, and this sure as heck isn’t it. God never promised that this life would be easy, and as we all know, at times it’s not. But, He did promise that we wouldn’t have to go it alone. If we put our faith in Christ, I truly believe that when our time here comes to an end (and CF or not, it will come to an end for everyone), the next life will be unimaginably better than this one.

 

[believingjesus]

Amen Hail2Pitt! Everything you said is true. Very well said.

 

[ethan508]

I often think that God's relationship with me is similar to my relationship with my toddler (without the perfection on my part). I love her to death but there are things I must do for her good that cause her discomfort, pain, or are just not what she wants to do. She'll sometime fight, whine, and cry against me when I'm changing a diaper, giving her healthy foods, putting her down for a nap, or going to the doctor. I'm sure at times these 'trials' seem like something her big uncaring Dad is doing to her out of anger, indifference, or hate. But as a loving parent, I can't just skip her bath time just because she doesn't like it. She doesn't quite yet understand that all these things are done out of love and will help her grow properly.

In my view, the purpose of life is to use Christ's grace to learn, to grow, and to move beyond our mistakes. We are children of Heaven Father and he knows what is best for us, even when we don't know why it is best for us. Someday (partially on earth and fully in heaven) we will gain a better understanding of what each of our trials taught us and how they helped us grow.

 

[believingjesus]

Beautiful post Ethan! I also believe God works all things together for our good and will also work together for the good for those we earnestly pray for as God does hear us and He knows all things and He knows the future. I believe He works on those we love too for their own good because of our prayers. What a powerful love God gave when He gave of Himself for us to make a way.

 

[kgfrompa]

My Church is the Methodist It is where I gain my strength and renew my journey,I have been a better person because of my Bible and being connected with God through so many actives in my Church we feed the hungry,we clothe others we support the community with what ever we can do for each other. I know i am stronger and lead a much better life because i have this connection and Church helps me help others and give back to the ones put in the path by God! Thanks Imogene I am going to be in NYC on April 14th and I hope to stay in a decent Hotel with out it breaking my bank