Final Thoughts on Belief

You wrote:

Interestingly, my experience (as above) tells me that the only way that I (and therefore anyone else) can truly believe is to be touched by Him in some way, some direct intervention.

I think there's something to this. I don't think on our own we would ever seek God in any earnest manner. It is only through His power that we seek and hopefully find. And maybe there's an element of free will in this as well -- some choose to believe and others choose not to. This may explain why many preachers I've heard urge people to never pass up the opportunity to commit to Christ if they find their heart so inclined at a particularl moment ... there may never be another such moment. I honestly just don't know.

I choose to believe that they are connected in the way that it says so in The Bible.

That is precisely where I am as well.

Perhaps the best prayer that we can ever make is that this blessing is given to those whom we love?

Amen. I am quickly coming to the understanding and belief that I should never, ever try to argue on behalf of the Bible. I'm simply no good at debating things. So if there's another I wish to help, my first course of action should be prayer on their behalf. And patience. And watchfulness, waiting for a door to open where I might help the person a little more. But going for the "slam-dunk" conversion is, I think, just foolish and wrong.

Note: the other petitionary prayer I've often thought seemed reasonable was a prayer for help seeking a deeper understanding and relationship with Christ. But then again, who am I to say what's reasonable and what's not? I'm having a crisis of conviction here, brother -- not conviction in Christ, but conviction in my sense of my understanding. Perhaps I've become to arrogant and proud, which I probably have.

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From two posts ago you wrote (and I missed):

... why is Judas hated and vilified by everyone? His betrayal of Christ led to the Crucifixion and the saving of all mankind after all.

That question is akin to my wondering why some people lament that Jesus should never have been crucified. I want to ask them, "What? You'd have preferred that he grow old and die some other way? Who would be your saviour then?" It's a fine line, isn't it? On the one hand we ought be grateful for the result of Christ's death, but saddened for the need for it. How we should treat those pawns in the Eternal Plan that unfolded in Jerusalem I'm at a loss to really say. Clearly not with adulation. But also not with hatred and codemnation. Pity?

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Do you have all your CDs ripped to MP3 and on some massive jukebox? How exactly do you have so many different songs going?