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@mchill
I just participated in a great three day specialized multinational exploration into Bible and themes related to God's move and operation.
Here are the languages into which the messages given in English were translated.
Amharic, Bulgarian, Burmese, Cebuano, Chinese, English, Farsi, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kachin, Korean, Malaysian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.
Thank God spiritually hungry seekers all over the world still are opened to receive more from the Holy Spirit.
@moonbus saidI don't worry too much about organized religion; it is either authentic faith in Christ or not, and you find both in and out of organized religion.
I recommend to everyone, theist and non-theist alike, two books on the spiritual quest:
Th. Merton, The Seven Story Mountain
and
Karl Jung, Memories, Dreams, Recollections
Two profoundly spiritual men who sought, and came to radically different conclusions about organized religion, neither of whom ever lost the sense of the spiritual quest.
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@moonbus saidI have the Jung book on Kindle. Very good.
I recommend to everyone, theist and non-theist alike, two books on the spiritual quest:
Th. Merton, The Seven Story Mountain
and
Karl Jung, Memories, Dreams, Recollections
Two profoundly spiritual men who sought, and came to radically different conclusions about organized religion, neither of whom ever lost the sense of the spiritual quest.
In my psychology studies, I lean toward Jung over most others. This definitely places me in a certain 'school'. The psychologist who helped me the most with my own problems also followed Jung.
@kellyjay saidIt is my position that faith without direction, as found in a church, results in a faith turned and twisted by their own ignorance and vanity.
I don't worry too much about organized religion; it is either authentic faith in Christ or not, and you find both in and out of organized religion.
This doesn't mean that your choice of church is not important. Some are little more than cults.
@suzianne saidWhat a church provides, when it is doing what it ought to do, is guidance around spiritual pitfalls. But of course, a church can do this only insofar as its ministry has itself avoided those same pitfalls.
It is my position that faith without direction, as found in a church, results in a faith turned and twisted by their own ignorance and vanity.
This doesn't mean that your choice of church is not important. Some are little more than cults.
@moonbus saidI believe a church is much more than this. I believe a church's attention should be on Jesus, and charitable works, and outreach. Too many consider "spiritual pitfalls" just an opportunity to judge people. I get tired of the church "message" becoming almost corporate in nature, and promoting a "brand". The sermons I appreciate the most aren't the preachy "do as I say, not as I do" type of taking the congregation to task, but the ones that do a deep dive into what a certain passage means, what it meant to others in that time and now, and how we all can apply it to our lives in the here and now.
What a church provides, when it is doing what it ought to do, is guidance around spiritual pitfalls. But of course, a church can do this only insofar as its ministry has itself avoided those same pitfalls.