CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Indeed the hour is coming . . . that you will be scattered . . . —John 16:32

Jesus was not rebuking the disciples in this passage. Their faith was real, but it was disordered and unfocused, and was not at work in the important realities of life. The disciples were scattered to their own concerns and they had interests apart from Jesus Christ. After we have the perfect relationship with God, through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, our faith must be exercised in the realities of everyday life. We will be scattered, not into service but into the emptiness of our lives where we will see ruin and barrenness, to know what internal death to God’s blessings means. Are we prepared for this? It is certainly not of our own choosing, but God engineers our circumstances to take us there. Until we have been through that experience, our faith is sustained only by feelings and by blessings. But once we get there, no matter where God may place us or what inner emptiness we experience, we can praise God that all is well. That is what is meant by faith being exercised in the realities of life.

“. . . you . . . will leave Me alone.” Have we been scattered and have we left Jesus alone by not seeing His providential care for us? Do we not see God at work in our circumstances? Dark times are allowed and come to us through the sovereignty of God. Are we prepared to let God do what He wants with us? Are we prepared to be separated from the outward, evident blessings of God? Until Jesus Christ is truly our Lord, we each have goals of our own which we serve. Our faith is real, but it is not yet permanent. And God is never in a hurry. If we are willing to wait, we will see God pointing out that we have been interested only in His blessings, instead of in God Himself. The sense of God’s blessings is fundamental

“. . . be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Unyielding spiritual fortitude is what we need.

drill wrote:I think we can still serve God without the emotion involved. For some people, emotions just are not a very important part of their lives, and to say that they must have emotion to have faith or to praise God is pretty much forcing your ideals upon them.

drill wrote:I would have to say that I easily have interests apart from Jesus. Just by living in society today, which is by far more complex than that of biblical times, it is much easier to have distractions. Take the disciples for example, they didn't have to work, they just followed their teacher which was a common practice back then. So, besides needing food to eat, which is seen in several passages, they did not have too many distractions because they were always with Jesus. I find it interesting that if the disciples who were with Jesus the entire time were scattered, why do people today think that they can have faith equal or greater than the disciples? I think that having a goal for faith is kind of silly though, as is it really possible not to have interests other than Jesus in today's society? Also, I think that instead of having a goal for faith, people should learn to enjoy their relationship with God because when you think about it you don't really say "My goal for my relationship with Joe needs to be at this level by the end of the year." Instead you will probably think "I wonder if me and Joe could hang out this week." Basically, what I'm trying to say is that I think people need to focus more on enjoying the faith they do have instead of worrying about the faith they don't have.

John_Smith wrote:

drill wrote:I think we can still serve God without the emotion involved. For some people, emotions just are not a very important part of their lives, and to say that they must have emotion to have faith or to praise God is pretty much forcing your ideals upon them.

I agree with you, drill. I’m sorry if you interpreted what I wrote above differently, and sorry to anyone if you felt I forcing ideals on you.

I don’t mean to say, ‘You have to have an emotional connection with God!’ but rather, ‘Can we lean on God without emotional security?’

John_Smith wrote:The first verse to ever have an impact on me was Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”
I think God teaches us to lean on Him in different ways, and that includes the low points in our lives, low points in which we might not enjoy being with God. I also think it’s nice to enjoy our faith, but there’s times where we won’t enjoy it. Maybe there’s no way to prepare for those times, but we should at least be aware that faith isn’t always sunshine.

Mother Theresa spent a significant portion of her life with struggles of faith and with something of a long-lasting spiritual drought. She didn’t feel spiritual joy or an overwhelming urge to shout ‘Hallelujah!’ The emotion, the zeal, the passion; it simply wasn’t there.

faithb4sight wrote:Woah - that's news to me.

Not to say I don't believe what the preacher is saying, but rather that I've heard what they are saying so many times before that their sermon seems too simple.

shooraijin wrote:

Not to say I don't believe what the preacher is saying, but rather that I've heard what they are saying so many times before that their sermon seems too simple.

I think this is a common problem. When I visit my parents, I go with them to their fellowship and the Sunday service is more like an academic course, which actually I really like because it's very indepth. It makes the other church I semi-regularly attend appear very superficial.

On the other hand, it is not a church for a new believer. And I guess reaching people where they are is the biggest problem of all.

faithb4sight wrote:@ shooraijin
Exactly. It's hard for a church to be in-depth while still being accessible to those new to the Faith. Which is why I try my best to keep my attention on the preacher when he goes into an overly-familiar topic. It just doesn't always work :/

Sammy Boy wrote:You've just reminded me that I used to attend a church that had structured / graded Bible study classes and exams at the end of each year. I remember one time I only scored 57%.

Yamamaya wrote:Also, sometimes people that are very emotional about their faith can be..highly zealous. Of course this isn't the case for all people, but I've been on the receiving end of more than a few zealous evangelical Christians.

But I've met Christians who look down on people who don't go on mission trips.

faithb4sight wrote:
I've met some Christians so "zealous" that they make me feel like a horrible person. Which, yeah, we're all sinners. We should continually seek to be more Christ-like. But shouldn't we be building others up instead of tearing them down? Some go way too far with their zeal and expect every Christian they meet to be exactly like them.

I'm of the mindset that God gave each of us special gifts/talents to use for the benefit of His kingdom - and that they are unique to each individual. Therefore not every Christian is called to minister in a way synonymous to each and every other Christian.

For an example: not every Christian is called to go on a mission trip to Haiti. But I've met Christians who look down on people who don't go on mission trips.

Nate wrote:I honestly can't remember the last time I was reasonably zealous about Jesus. That's probably a bad thing but I have no idea how to remedy it.

Nate wrote:

Sammy Boy wrote:You've just reminded me that I used to attend a church that had structured / graded Bible study classes and exams at the end of each year. I remember one time I only scored 57%.

What happened if you failed?

I don't like the idea of this though, sounds like you'd have a situation where you could have an answer that is theologically sound but the church marks it wrong because they just disagree with it.

AdaI wrote:Do you guys ever get those days where you actually are reasonably zealous about Jesus, but then after a while it fades, then it starts up again a couple days later?