Left Powerless Over Sin? No!

[joeb]

I am going to use this post as my example here. This theory has been repeated over and over in this thread.

But if those that keep throwing a version of this mentality out at Ig, Card and myself would actually take the time to really read what we are saying, as in not just looking at the words, but really read you will discover something.

In the years we were Christians, we all "called on him" in our times of trouble. Sometimes desperate pleading. We all believed deeply, we had that FAITH.

But in the end nothing. Not even a glimmer of light, a sliver of hope. I doubt any of us expected the Lord to sit down and have a tea with us, but there could have been at least a feeling ya know.

So for us........... I would say Psalm 50:15 is basically a lie. Or of course maybe we just did not believe hard enough - right?

I can't even begin to tell you what went wrong between you and God. Wouldn't even want to try and speculate on it as that would be arrogance personified.

I can tell you my experience though. As much as God has done for me there have been times where I thought God just wasn't listening anymore and no longer cared what happened to me. When I prayed it seemed like none of my prayers went farther than the ceiling, and this went on for an extended period of time sometimes.

After each of those times I found one thing, the same thing each time, wrong. I had taken my eyes off Christ and was either looking at my own pain or what others had done rather than taking God at His word and just trusting Him. Each time it was only after I went back to the basics of building relationships, with my relationship with Him, that I found my way back.

For me it boiled down to a lack of faith. Remember the story of paralytic at the pool of Bethesda and the man let down through the roof Peter's house? Both of those guys could have doubted and not jumped to their feet and carried away their beds. Instead they took Christ at His word, acted on it, and were rewarded with life and health, as well as forgiveness of their sins.

My problem was I stopped to doubt rather than taking God at His word, as unlikely as it seemed at the time that His promises were being fulfilled in my life. That led me a long ways away from God each time.

Did that happen to you? I have no clue. You can take it for what ever it's worth to you. If you find it's of value, good. If you find it to be worthless, that's OK too.

[cardw]

Like I said, thanks for saving my life....

You're welcome to disagree with me as much as you like.

[M. T. Cross]

I would like to touch on another thing that has been brought up in this thread. That one needs God to help beat addictions.

From about Oct. 1989 to July 1990 my usage of drugs went from quite a bit to my entire life revolved around it. I would ingest 6 tylenol 3's or the equivalent in Codeine with whiskey every 2 hours. I was very organized, as I made sure that never in 24 hour period was I ever not high. Mixed with that was any other drug I could put in my body. I ate about a dollar worth of potatoes a week, unless someone else showed up with food. I did things that were so messed up.

You know how I quit?

I locked myself away in a house on a mountain and just suffered cold turkey until I did not crave anymore. That was 23 years ago. Still good. God had nothing to do with it. My determination and the support of a very good friend that held onto me when I had a 104 fever and felt like my skin was peeling off.

[phkrause]

I locked myself away in a house on a mountain and just suffered cold turkey until I did not crave anymore. That was 23 years ago. Still good. God had nothing to do with it. My determination and the support of a very good friend that held onto me when I had a 104 fever and felt like my skin was peeling off.

EC, how do you know that for a fact? God answers our prays in ways we never would expect.

[joeb]

Well I'm glad it's OK with you. LOL

I'm going to mirror back your own words. I don't really believe this, but I'm trying to show you how condescending your words are.

You say you're happy? Good for you. I'm not going to tell you that you aren't. I'll tell you that you are really under threat of punishment and if you don't tell me that you're happy you won't go to heaven. You don't buy that? That's OK with me too as it's your choice, and your right, to disagree. I can't convince you of anything against your will, and I have no desire to try.

Glad to hear that.

[M. T. Cross]

Originally Posted By: EmptyCross

I locked myself away in a house on a mountain and just suffered cold turkey until I did not crave anymore. That was 23 years ago. Still good. God had nothing to do with it. My determination and the support of a very good friend that held onto me when I had a 104 fever and felt like my skin was peeling off.

EC, how do you know that for a fact? God answers our prays in ways we never would expect.

As close as I can know anything based in spirituality is a fact PK.

I never asked him for help. I just decided that enough was enough.

[phkrause]

I never asked him for help. I just decided that enough was enough.

How do you know that others were not praying for you? I never prayed for God to protect me from anything when I was younger, my teen years, I also did many things that should caused my demise, but yet I'm still here. I found out years later that many were praying for me, I never knew that. God never gives up on us. I Believe that with all my heart, no and, ifs or buts about it.

[M. T. Cross]

Very few people knew about my addiction outside of the few people I did drugs with. They never knew I was walking away from them and that lifestyle. I just walked away.

2 atheists.

1 member of the band I had been in, and I think he was just hoping I would die at that point.

My family never knew until after the fact.

Were there people praying for me? Who knows, I will never know. But see there is what it boils down too. What I do know is that I kicked that with my own willpower, and the person that sat there with me was an atheist. There was no praying. There was a lot of swearing, a lot of screaming and a lot of hatred ( that was all from me ). From her there was a lot of patience and understanding.

PK, I am not questioning your personal walk and your experiences. It would be wrong of me to do so. That and you seem to be a super solid guy, whatever you are doing, regardless of if I agree with your beliefs or not, seems to have worked well for you.

What I question is those that have come along and suggested that because some of us had the exact opposite experiences that we just were not trying hard enough. That it is impossible that our experience turned out the way it did. We are wrong and its our fault that we are wrong. That just baffles me.

[phkrause]

Very few people knew about my addiction outside of the few people I did drugs with. They never knew I was walking away from them and that lifestyle. I just walked away.

2 atheists.

1 member of the band I had been in, and I think he was just hoping I would die at that point.

My family never knew until after the fact.

Were there people praying for me? Who knows, I will never know. But see there is what it boils down too. What I do know is that I kicked that with my own willpower, and the person that sat there with me was an atheist. There was no praying. There was a lot of swearing, a lot of screaming and a lot of hatred ( that was all from me ). From her there was a lot of patience and understanding.

PK, I am not questioning your personal walk and your experiences. It would be wrong of me to do so. That and you seem to be a super solid guy, whatever you are doing, regardless of if I agree with your beliefs or not, seems to have worked well for you.

What I question is those that have come along and suggested that because some of us had the exact opposite experiences that we just were not trying hard enough. That it is impossible that our experience turned out the way it did. We are wrong and its our fault that we are wrong. That just baffles me.

Many people are praying for my daughter, but most of them have no idea why? When I say "why" I mean what her problems are? So in that respect they have no idea if she is on drugs, or something else, just that we have requested pray for her. It does tell us in the Bible that we should pray for each other, even if we have no idea if they are in a situation of one kind or another. So even though many have no idea what or if there are any problems. We pray just because we love that other soul.

Yes, we will never know who had us in there prays and why or for what reason.

Never thought you were questioning my walk or experience's.

I definitely agree with your last paragraph, only the almighty knows our hearts and motives. To tell others that they did or didn't do something is wrong.

[joeb]

I would like to touch on another thing that has been brought up in this thread. That one needs God to help beat addictions.

From about Oct. 1989 to July 1990 my usage of drugs went from quite a bit to my entire life revolved around it. I would ingest 6 tylenol 3's or the equivalent in Codeine with whiskey every 2 hours. I was very organized, as I made sure that never in 24 hour period was I ever not high. Mixed with that was any other drug I could put in my body. I ate about a dollar worth of potatoes a week, unless someone else showed up with food. I did things that were so messed up.

You know how I quit?

I locked myself away in a house on a mountain and just suffered cold turkey until I did not crave anymore. That was 23 years ago. Still good. God had nothing to do with it. My determination and the support of a very good friend that held onto me when I had a 104 fever and felt like my skin was peeling off.

EC,

Actually, I never spoke to addiction on this thread. I did speak to drug use, but it was concerning psychedelics, acid in particular.

I never said what really happened, but if you're interested I'll tell you.

[M. T. Cross]

I didn't actually mention any names about who had brought it up Joeb

Simply that it had been brought up, 12 step programs etc.

I am almost always happy to swap LSD stories though.

[joeb]

I didn't actually mention any names about who had brought it up Joeb

Simply that it had been brought up, 12 step programs etc.

I am almost always happy to swap LSD stories though.

I know you didn't, but cardw brought it up in a post to me as if I had. And, since you posted after he did it seemed logical to me that your thought about addiction/recovery had its origins in his post.

As I previously stated I lost it on a 4-way hit of windowpane. I watched my mind fly out an open window and became really paranoid. I knew I had lost it and was begging people to take me to a hospital where I could get treatment but no one would, or so friends of mine told me later. A couple of weeks, or was it months as my sense of time passing was pretty messed up for quite a while, later I ran into my older brother in a gas station.

I was still very paranoid and my grasp on reality was pretty shaky so it just freaked me out to see him. He came over to talk to me and I looked at him and asked him if I knew him as he didn't look familiar to me.

I have a faint recollection of the incident and the fear I felt at the time but I doubt if I would have remembered the incident, if the next time, again several months later, I saw my brother he hadn't told me how he disgusted he was with me that I had been driving while I was so high. I asked him what he meant and he told me what happened. Even at that point I wasn't about to tell him what had happened so I just said, Oh, that, and let him rant on about me being high. To this day I've never told him the truth about it, but then we haven't had much to do with each other for 3 decades, and haven't spoken for more than 15 years.

I suffered from major anxiety and paranoia until meeting Christ. He took it away along with my desire to use any kind of drugs when I surrendered my will to His.

That's just one of a bunch of miracles that have happened to me since I was a first grader. Why these things have all happened to me, I don't know as there is nothing special about me. Other than my IQ I'm a pretty average guy, and even that doesn't make me worth anything more than anyone else. But, here I am today.

[skyblue888]

Wow interesting story. I have somewhat of an idea. When I was 18 or 19 I experimented with acid two or three times. It was called "snow flake" and boy was I ever high and did I ever hallucinate. Luckily it did not become a habit. But it is amazing what drugs can do to your mind.

Glad to know the Lord delivered you from it all.

Psalm 50:15.

sky

[joeb]

Wow interesting story. I have somewhat of an idea. When I was 18 or 19 I experimented with acid two or three times. I was called "snow flake" and boy was I ever high and did I ever hallucinate. Luckily it did not become a habit. But it is amazing what drugs can do to your mind.

Glad to know the Lord delivered you from it all.

Psalm 50:15.

sky

Psychedelics are not habit forming. They are mind altering/destroying, but not in the habit forming way that opiates, meth, alcohol, etc... are, or even in the way pot becomes psychologically addictive if abused badly enough by someone looking to escape. They are in a class all by themselves.

[Gail]

You did acid, Sky? Wow! That's something I never knew about you before!

[skyblue888]

You did acid, Sky? Wow! That's something I never knew about you before!

Now you know!

How about you Gail? you never experimented with any drug?

sky

[Gail]

Originally Posted By: Gail

You did acid, Sky? Wow! That's something I never knew about you before!

Now you know!

How about you Gail? you never experimented with any drug?

I was a drug user (yes, I did acid, too) and lived in a drug dealer's house. It was from that that I decided to seek a relationship with God.

[Gail]

To EmptyCross-

I was very high on acid once and the ones I was with made me drive to where I was going.

Now, you know Vancouver. Can you imagine driving the Simon Fraser Univerity road up and back down that mountain stoned on acid? It's probably a good road now, but back then it was a windy, 2-lane road up a steep mountain. It would have been an easy thing to drive through a retaining fence down a couple hundred foot cliff.

It scared me, I mean, REALLY scared me. But they always got me to drive when we were partying because I kept my head better than they, I guess. But that was uber freaky. I thank my guardian angel and praise God for bringing me through that. I do not miss those days.

[skyblue888]

Wow, beats me!

Do you have pictures of you from those days? :)

[Gail]

I don't know if I do. But I don't look too much different from when I did then.

[skyblue888]

I don't know if I do. But I don't look too much different from when I did then.

Your one of those who don't age that easy, hey? :)

[joeb]

I don't know if I do. But I don't look too much different from when I did then.

Wish I could say the same thing. Back then I had hair. Clear down to my shoulders. Today I'm about as bald as a cue ball on top. Just have a short fringe left around the sides. I've gained quite a bit of weight too.

[Gail]

I have put on weight, too- I was always underweight. And I wore glasses back then. :(

[joeb]

I have put on weight, too- I was always underweight. And I wore glasses back then.

Wow. You are amazing. Most of us have our eyesight degrade with age. Yours has gotten better....

[John317]

Well, since I define "good" in humanistic terms, I'd say selfishness and nihilism are evil... but that's just my opinion.

From the evolutionary viewpoint, what is "evil" about selfishness?

And where does the idea that selfishness is evil come from in a world made by evolution?