Spiritual and Religious Difficulties
Martin Luther struggled with a terrible sense of sinfulness. He tried all the tools at the disposal of a monk of his time time to overcome it: not just a great deal of time and effort spent in prayer, fasting and confession, but also, if I recall correctly, some of the more extreme methods of his day – the horsehair jacket, bed of nails, flagellation...
Eventually he had the insight that became the original impulse of Protestantism: “justification by faith alone” and not by works of any kind. He came to feel that salvation arrives as a sheer, incomprehensible gift to the faithful and that there’s nothing a person can do to earn it. Amazing grace. This brought him a sense of gratitude and peace that his earlier efforts had not.
***
It’s interesting how a particular religious or spiritual issue can be important in one person’s life and yet of little to no importance in another’s. Also, how it’s possible for us to work through an issue until we find resolution.
Examples of Spiritual and Religious Issues:
Ego. My guest post today on Awake is Good is an example.
Sin and grace.
Enlightenment.
Personal immortality.
Staying in the church or leaving.
Science as a challenge to religion.
The problem of evil.
The idea of free choice and whether people bear ultimate responsibility for their actions.
Life’s unfairness.
More Issues - brought out by commenters to this thread:
How to understand the bible. Literally? Metaphorically?
The "dark night of the soul..."
Judgment - how and whether to judge others, God's judgment...
What’s a spiritual or religious issue that’s been of past or present importance to you – and why? What made it important? Alternatively, what’s something that’s never been an issue for you that you’ve seen others struggle with?
Author Jan Lundy has invited me to be a guest on her “Awake is Good” blog. Thanks, Jan!
Eventually he had the insight that became the original impulse of Protestantism: “justification by faith alone” and not by works of any kind. He came to feel that salvation arrives as a sheer, incomprehensible gift to the faithful and that there’s nothing a person can do to earn it. Amazing grace. This brought him a sense of gratitude and peace that his earlier efforts had not.
***
It’s interesting how a particular religious or spiritual issue can be important in one person’s life and yet of little to no importance in another’s. Also, how it’s possible for us to work through an issue until we find resolution.
Examples of Spiritual and Religious Issues:
Ego. My guest post today on Awake is Good is an example.
Sin and grace.
Enlightenment.
Personal immortality.
Staying in the church or leaving.
Science as a challenge to religion.
The problem of evil.
The idea of free choice and whether people bear ultimate responsibility for their actions.
Life’s unfairness.
More Issues - brought out by commenters to this thread:
How to understand the bible. Literally? Metaphorically?
The "dark night of the soul..."
Judgment - how and whether to judge others, God's judgment...
What’s a spiritual or religious issue that’s been of past or present importance to you – and why? What made it important? Alternatively, what’s something that’s never been an issue for you that you’ve seen others struggle with?
Author Jan Lundy has invited me to be a guest on her “Awake is Good” blog. Thanks, Jan!
Posted by Paul at 12:25 PM Permalink
8 Comments:
I've been exploring the challenges I have with faith and doubt on my blog. I understand Christianity, Christ, and salvation in theory, but my heart is baffled. Something I've never had a problem with is ditching biblical literalism. I just don't think of fiction and myth as "false."
I've been reading an excellent little Lion Book by Graham Tomlin on Luther.
You hit on an important point about how something particularly piques a particular person... if not for Luther's raging torment about his own sinfulness, would we have arrived at 'grace justified by faith'... perhaps, but not through his contribution?
Be interested to find out how your guest spot goes.
Bless you
Steve
At the time it feels like the opposite of part of the process. You feel alienated, out of it. But the subconscious can be doing huge work that we don't catch on to till it breaks through...
So to feel one with God, or whole in spirit, it is necessary to banish those learned ideas of "not being good enough", and just go to your inner truth. God doesn't have a concept of "not being good enough"!
Sin is simply being distant from God (or your guiding spirit). All that we need to banish "sin" is making the conscious decision to come closer. Just like a child coming home.
LIARA: Will add "judgment" to the list...
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