Growing

[Anonymous]

Been feeling pretty drained by confessing to my bishop,

I’d rather clear it up with God

and quit trusting in the arm of the flesh, because that’s exactly what it feels like.

[Anonymous]

Fwiw, there’s a huge difference between confessing (symbolically expelling something from within) and trusting (placing one’s faith in).

When even Jesus said, “There is no one good but God” (or whatever the exact wording is), I take it to mean that there is nobody in whom we can place our complete trust on this earth – to be “right” all the time OR to never let us down. Your Bishop can be very inspired (or not); your attempt to ascertain God’s will is the only thing you can “trust” in the end – and that ultimately rests on your willingness to trust yourself.

That might be one of the ultimate paradoxes of life.

[Anonymous]

quietblue wrote:

To add a little more perspective, I’ve been reading about the stages of faith,

and I am finding myself shifting through phases 4/5/6, back and forth depending on the principle and experience.

I think only as a broad generalization, can we say that a person is in one particular stage or another. I prefer to use the language Fowler provides as a way to talk about our thoughts and feelings regarding faith. We are complex, and rarely would anyone’s personal beliefs and viewpoint be only from the vantage point of a single “stage.”

So I say to myself “That thought of mine is a stage 3 way of seeing it,” or “This other feeling I had about my experience at Church today seems like it comes from a Stage 5 perspective.”

It all depends on the person and their faith perspective in individual areas of experience.

[Anonymous]

Valoel wrote:

quietblue wrote:

To add a little more perspective, I’ve been reading about the stages of faith,

and I am finding myself shifting through phases 4/5/6, back and forth depending on the principle and experience.

I think only as a broad generalization, can we say that a person is in one particular stage or another. I prefer to use the language Fowler provides as a way to talk about our thoughts and feelings regarding faith. We are complex, and rarely would anyone’s personal beliefs and viewpoint be only from the vantage point of a single “stage.”

So I say to myself “That thought of mine is a stage 3 way of seeing it,” or “This other feeling I had about my experience at Church today seems like it comes from a Stage 5 perspective.”

It all depends on the person and their faith perspective in individual areas of experience.

Thanks for all the insights, and please keep them coming.

I found this particular post above helpful, thanks.

[Author]

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