I just moved into a new house. As I was unpacking, I found my religious books and Bible. Well, as a person who has deep respect for the Bible and Education, I started looking through those things and began reading. This brought back to my mind a host of spiritual concerns about my life.
It also brought back the love of spiritual things that I had forgotten that I had. Bible study, applying Bible Principles, teaching others what I had learned. More importantly, attending meetings at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses. I have found that I really miss these things, along with the personal relationship I had with God.
I know that there are many people who say that one doesn't need organized religion to have a relationship with God. I disagree. If you wanted to have a relationship with another person, you need some sort of context for it.
First, you need to understand the type of relationship that you're in. Next, the boundaries need to be defined. After that, you need to nourish that relationship by learning about the other person and spending time with them. If they like going to the park, and you refuse to go to the park, you'll limit the relationship that you can have with them. The more of these places that you eliminate, the more limiting you'll find the relationship. A close relationship with another human being requires much work and time spent with them. If you try to dictate terms to them, it won't work very well.
Isn't God doing that to us, then? No. FIrst, he has written something of a series of letters to us (The Bible), so that we can learn about His life for the past 6,000 years or so and how he relates to humans in general. This establishes the type of relationship he wants to have with us (like a father). It also establishes the boundaries so that we don't offend or upset him (we have this in our everyday life with other humans, too. People are going to a lot of effort to change their speech and lives so as not to offend people. Do white people in the USA routinely use the word n***** to refer to African Americans? No. We have learned that it is offensive.). What about spending time with Him?
First, God makes it plain in the Scriptures that he is a God of order. Second, He set up an organization in the first century CE to care for the needs of His people (just as he did for the nation of Israel in the centuries prior to 33 CE). This organization was responsible for also ensuring that people knew how to have a relationship with God. It also taught its members how to grow that relationship as well as what personal conduct was needed.
Ha! Some will say, "That is just dictating to us!" "Ha!" I say in return, "we do it all the time ourselves!" If you want someone as a friend, do you necessarily want someone who is known for stealing another man's wife, killing his children, and then burning the house down? Perhaps you want to associate yourself with a thief? A known drug addict? I dare say that you don't. Why? Because we are judged by the company we keep. If we don't want to be known as theifs, adulterers, and drug addicts, is it reasonable to expect that God want's those people to be associated with him? No.
What about those who repent and give up that life? That is a different matter with God. If you had a child who went down that road, and then wanted to change and leave that path, but they needed your help, would you deny them that help if it was within your power to provide it? Absolutely not! As long as they are making progress, you, as a parent, would love them and help them on that road. You may not remove the burdens that were placed upon them for the past life. This may encompass incarceration or perhaps medical problems. Yet would you not help comfort them as they bore these burdens? What would others think of you as they saw the person change their life? Surely not negative things.
In this scenario, is it unloving for you to require that the child regularly visits your home? Perhaps you have them move in with you. Is that really dictating terms? No, it allows you to continuously provide encouragement and care for them. It helps you to show them the areas in their life where they need to make adjustments in order to have the life that they want. You are not keeping that happiness from them, you just know that to have a certain type of life, certain rules need to be followed. Perhaps that child never learned those rules. The home would be a safe, comforting, place to learn those rules. With that in mind, is it unloving or mean-spirited to require the child spend time with you at the home?
Of course, people will disagree with me. I am ok with that. We all have free will and will make our own decisions. As for me, I am going to move forward. Perhaps slowly at first, but a journey of a thousand leagues begins with a single step.
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