grab straws throw rock?

[bluetuesday]

Here raise questions. Do people have a certain spiritual growth path? Do they have different levels of spiritual growth? Is it necessary that people have to get to certain degree of spiritual growth to know God? Can they jump several degrees?

 

i don't think people have a specific spiritual growth path meaning they must do a. b. and c. because there is more than one way to find god. i do think people have a general spiritual growth path meaning they must see through certain illusions before they receive certain truths which will help them grow.

 

yes, people have different levels of growth. some are currently atheist, some are within organised religion, some are believers in god but of no religion, and some don't know. each of these places on the path is different, but equally valid. as long as we're in this world (which can be likened to a spiritual schoolroom), the purpose of our life is to grow and increase our understanding. while we're doing that, we're heading in the right direction. when we think we don't need to do that any more (or at all) we've stepped off the path. but even stepping off the path can be helpful to an overall journey if it makes you realise you're not growing, and should be. it can be an aid to getting back on track, if you like.

 

is it necessary that people have to get to a certain degree of spiritual growth before they know god? yes. this world is created with what some have called 'plausable deniability'. which means it's plausable to deny god from this perspective because god purposely isn't obvious. this is necessary in order to give people on earth free will to deny god - which actually will benefit their journey once they find god.

 

whether you can jump several degrees isn't a straightforward one. you can have a 'road to damascus' experience where your life changes pretty swiftly and you enter a whole new understanding - this happened to me. or you can take little steps which lead to a point of being ready to make a big shift - this also happened to me. but every incorrect thought about god which holds people back will need to be consciously removed one by one, no matter how big a leap you think you've made. this is also still happening to me.

 

I remember a pastor talked about Abraham H. Maslom (a psychologist) 5 needs theory. Maslom think human being has 5 basic needs. and he think when the first need met, then human being will go to 2nd need. then 3rd, then 4th, 5th. The 4th and 5th are in spiritual realm. But I've seen many poor people who have a higher moral level than the rich ones. and rich ones can stuck somewhere not to grow anymore, and some of them are very pride.

 

i am a 'seek first the kingdom of god' kinda girl. one of the questions which really helped my spiritual growth was asking 'if it's god's good pleasure to give me the kingdom, why don't i have it yet?' i thought i was seeking god, but really i wasn't. i was holding onto my beliefs and not wanting them challenged. this isn't seeking the kingdom of god, because unless we question what religion tells us about god - which may or may not be the truth - we don't give god the opportunity to open our eyes to whether our religion IS the truth or not.

 

people who place anything above god - material possessions, fame, family, love, career, religion, whatever, have not followed jesus' instruction to seek first the kingdom of god. that's their right, but when they rely on this world for their happiness/wholeness they're the servant of the forces of this world. to truly enter the kingdom of god, you must be willing to give up (as opposed to actually giving up) everything that ties you to this world. you must be in this world but not of this world. people who seem to have very little, those who are humble, those who are pure in heart, those who are selfless, are more likely to be prepared to serve god in this world than those who are busy serving themselves.

 

some people have said to me 'yes but it's easier to give up everything when you have nothing to give up'. actually, it isn't. everyone has something to give up. and imagine if it was your only something. wouldn't that be harder to let go? fact is, having nothing can make you desperately focus on what you don't have and turn your life into an endless quest for possessions just as much as a person who has $100million in the bank and feels like he can't be secure or happy until he doubles it.

 

and some very poor people in Jesus time got healed by power of Holy Spirit simply by believing in Jesus. Some of them lived by begging food from others. and they got healed!

 

this is an interesting one. yes, jesus healed some people (those who believed he could) and their faith was the only criteria. he didn't demand they be 'good' people. but jesus' healings weren't a reward for behaviour. they were a sign to the people of who he was. a physical healing isn't an end in itself. imagine if jesus healed someone who afterwards thought 'i can do anything now because i'm untouchable'. do you think that person would live forever without getting sick again? or would they, like everyone else, be prone to disease?

 

i believe that jesus healed to shock the people who witnessed his healings out of a certain mindset. some people's eyes were indeed opened and they became his early followers. some would have used the healing as evidence they were special. some would have called it a trick, more still probably denied those 'healed' had ever been ill in the first place. but physical healing is nothing without spiritual healing.

 

imagine i go to see a doctor with open wounds all over my body. one gives me ointment to put on the wounds, and initially they heal but after a while the wounds come back. so i go to see another doctor and this time she runs tests and discovers i have blood poisoning. she treats that condition - the underlying condition - and it heals the wounds permanently. it is ths same with jesus' healings i think. he treated the wounds and they healed. but unless people changed their hearts - the underlying condition - and allowed god to show them the way, the physical healing would be temporary.

 

And I found the people who are self-rightenousness and pride are the ones who difficult to get through. They think they are good people, well, in THEIR terms and in this WORLD terms, so they don't need God's forgiveness. This is the most sad part.

 

some people are unreachable right now - but right now is a very temporary state. you have to trust that they will eventually have been through enough suffering or pain or confusion that they cry out 'isn't there another way to go?' if at that point they open their hearts, god WILL open their eyes.

 

god's forgiveness is instant. it doesn't need asking for. all that is needed is that a person transcends the thinking that caused them to make certain harmful choices. once they do, they are already forgiven. god has no memory for mistakes.