Only God can transform lives

I grew up on Kwasizabantu Mission in South Africa. I saw God at work around me. I suggest those that are interested should read the book, "God among the Zulus".

Here is a brief outline of the Book:http://www.christianaction.org.za/articles_ca/2003-2-testimonies_transformation.htm

A link to our Mission station:http://www.ksb.org.za/

Anyone is welcome to come and visit and see what God has done.

Originally posted by dj2becker
I grew up on Kwasizabantu Mission in South Africa. I saw God at work around me. I suggest those that are interested should read the book, "God among the Zulus".

Here is a brief outline of the Book:http://www.christianaction.org.za/articles_ca/2003-2-testimonies_transformation.htm

A link to our Mission station:http://www.ksb.org.za/

Anyone is welcome to come and visit and see what God has done.

Yes, good. I have also seen terrific work God has done in India in Hindu ashrams. I've also seen him hard at work in Nepal in Buddhist monasteries and with Tibetan refugees, and in Egypt with the sacred sites of pilgrimage and the "baraka" that surrounds them like a buzz. I've had the opportunity to participate in Native Indian sweat lodges with Ojibway shamans in Western Canada and seen the Lord doing great work there as well. In San Francisco I once participated in some Vedic satsangs based on esoteric Hinduism and wouldn't you know it -- the Lord was there again! I've seen Melvin Grey Bear, the Lakota medicine man, conduct yuwipi ceremonies and there again, the Lord! And I once participated in some Taoist alchemy workshops and darned if the Lord didn't show up again! And the other day, while asking for a meal to be replaced in a restaurant, the waitress was uncommonly friendly and helpful. There again, the Lord! And while walking through the forest the other day, I noticed the silence and wondrousness of Nature...all around, the Lord!

He gets around...as both a felt presence and a metaphor for meaning and goodness in life, you can find him everywhere...just keep those eyes open.

Originally posted by Metamorphosis
He gets around...as both a felt presence and a metaphor for meaning and goodness in life, you can find him everywhere...

pffff...where's the money in that? Keep him in a gilded box, and only let him out once a week. Let's say....Sunday. Sundays good for you?

Originally posted by dj2becker
I grew up on Kwasizabantu Mission in South Africa. I saw God at work around me. I suggest those that are interested should read the book, "God among the Zulus".

Here is a brief outline of the Book:http://www.christianaction.org.za/articles_ca/2003-2-testimonies_transformation.htm

A link to our Mission station:http://www.ksb.org.za/

Anyone is welcome to come and visit and see what God has done.

Geez, did you meet witches, too? I only see 'em around here on Halloween but I guess they're all over them Zulu towns!

Originally posted by Metamorphosis
Yes, good. I have also seen terrific work God has done in India in Hindu ashrams. I've also seen him hard at work in Nepal in Buddhist monasteries and with Tibetan refugees, and in Egypt with the sacred sites of pilgrimage and the "baraka" that surrounds them like a buzz. I've had the opportunity to participate in Native Indian sweat lodges with Oj ...[text shortened]... or for meaning and goodness in life, you can find him everywhere...just keep those eyes open.

Do you really think that those statues hear you when you pray?

Originally posted by dj2becker
Do you really think that those statues hear you when you pray?

Do you really think those statues represent anything other than what God and Jesus represent to you?

Originally posted by dj2becker
Do you really think that those statues hear you when you pray?

How about your book, you paper worshipper?

Originally posted by thesonofsaul
How about your book, you paper worshipper?

If I worshipped a book you could call me a paper worshipper. But I don't worship a book. I worship the living God of the Bible.

Originally posted by dj2becker
Do you really think that those statues hear you when you pray?

I don't pray to statues. I don't pray, period.

Prayer as it's usually practiced is mostly a form of consolation, often an expression of desperation, or a self-absorbed or self-centered form of spiritual practice. In many ways it's a kind of nagging of God, in a sense.

If the Christian/Muslim God was really out there, as some external Being hovering over Earth like a great cosmic dirigible or ethereal space station, and if he could really hear all the prayers being directed at him by Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, Parsis, and so on (we exclude Buddhists as they don't believe in any one God) -- if this God could really hear all these prayers from all these religious practitioners, he would have fled long ago to the furthest away galaxy from us, just to be free of this incessant nagging going on in the name of spirituality.

The furthest away astronomical objects are generally regarded to be quasars, some approaching 15 billion light years. If the Christian Jehovah God exists, I suspect he is on one of those quasars right now, a refugee of the naggers and whiners and prayers of planet Earth....

Originally posted by Metamorphosis
I don't pray to statues. I don't pray, period.

Prayer as it's usually practiced is mostly a form of consolation, often an expression of desperation, or a self-absorbed or self-centered form of spiritual practice. In many ways it's a kind of nagging of God, in a sense.

If the Christian/Muslim God was really out there, as some external ...[text shortened]... of those quasars right now, a refugee of the naggers and whiners and prayers of planet Earth....

I don't pray, period.

You seem to be talking out of a lot of experience.

You seem to be talking out of a lot of experience.

As a matter of fact, yes.

The most laughable use of prayer is by competitive athletes, when praying for God to help their team win over the other guys.

We might find that laughable but it's only an exaggerated form of how prayer is usually used. People pray to "get" something, to accrue something, and then at the same time go around espousing the noble virtues of one's religion and its apparent concern for their fellow man. The selfishness in such an approach is implicit. Until outlook becomes universal all such prayer amounts to a sophisticated form of nagging God, on behalf of one's "team" -- be that the team of one's religion, or the team of one's ego -- a Team of One.

The local Christian radio talk show host invites listeners to call and speak to him on air. Yesterday a fellow called to say that tithing has really turned his life around. The man said that he used to drink "a half gallon of Jack Daniels a day," and was heavily in debt. Since he started giving 10 percent to the work of the Lord, he has prospered. He now owns four vehicles and a paid-off house.

As I listened, I thought of RHP member Darfius. I believe Darfius once posted the astonishing fact that he does not attend church. That would tend to imply that he does not tithe to a church either.

I was going to lay that radio story on him, and see what his response to it might be, but Darfius doesn't seem to come around here anymore. (Or have I somehow missed recent posts by him?)

Only God can transform lives

i don't get it. are you saying that people cannot transform their own lives, and further, that people cannot transform the lives of others? are you saying that if a person, through his actions, helps to make the life of another person better, then it must be that god is acting through the former to help the latter? does that mean that an atheist or a non-believer could never help another person?

what about a person who transforms over time from christian to atheist...is that god's handiwork too?

what do you mean by 'transform'? maybe that is the first question i should have asked.

Originally posted by LemonJello
[b]Only God can transform lives

i don't get it. are you saying that people cannot transform their own lives, and further, that people cannot transform the lives of others? are you saying that if a person, through his actions, helps to make the life of another person better, then it must be that god is acting through the former to help the latter ...[text shortened]... oo?

what do you mean by 'transform'? maybe that is the first question i should have asked.[/b]

what do you mean by 'transform'? maybe that is the first question i should have asked.

By "transfrom" I mean "setting free from sin" or "bringing about a change in the nature of sinful man".

Originally posted by dj2becker
[b]what do you mean by 'transform'? maybe that is the first question i should have asked.

By "transfrom" I mean "setting free from sin" or "bringing about a change in the nature of sinful man".[/b]

Define "sin".