The seperation of Christ and religion

[Jackalope]

Drich - whatever I may think of your religion aside, standing by your wife as you did is admirable and deserving of respect.

[Drich]

Drich - whatever I may think of your religion aside, standing by your wife as you did is admirable and deserving of respect.

Don't make me out to be something that i am not. Paul says in 1cor 13: 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

In the six years we fought this I failed my wife in every aspect of love to one degree or another paul mentions here. I do recognise your respect and thank you for it, but it is undeserving. while we did persever in the end, my obligation to my oath saw me to the end of this trial. It was this make a promise keep a promise (Love honor and obey for richer or poorer in sickness and in Health) Ideal that would not allow friends or even someone pretending to speak for God have me break this vow. Hell she could not even get me to break this vow, so what chance did these people have? why because it was a vow i made to her before God. It was my love and respect before God that saw me through well after my own love/magic/feelings for her ended.

The primary point of all of this is not to show case what i have done but to use this example to out line the clear seperation we all need to make between the formal act of worship, and the possiable direct contact we can have with God. The only way we can do this is by studying the bible with our own eyes, ears and hearts. To seek the holy Spirit to give us understanding, and not to just filter the bible though a given denomination's support structure.

[Kayenneh]

Don't sell yourself short. It might be scripture, it might be your faith, but nevertheless you stood by her when things were pretty much as rough as they can get. No amount of writ could make a person go through that without being a good person within.

[Tex]

The wife is more important than a building and the most important of anyone in that building. The only problem I see with this is "Have no other Gods before me". If you have to lose one, would it be Truth or your wife? This is usually the hardest question to ask anyone and one of the reasons Catholic priests do not get married.

[Drich]

The wife is more important than a building and the most important of anyone in that building. The only problem I see with this is "Have no other Gods before me". If you have to lose one, would it be Truth or your wife? This is usually the hardest question to ask anyone and one of the reasons Catholic priests do not get married.

Loose her to what? Death? With 'truth' death is only a finite experience, without it it is infinate.

Besides my charge is only till death do we part, so no matter what, i will loose her to death, and she me. Only leaving God. So Why choose what is fleeding to what is permenate?

[Esquilax]

I know we tend to disagree on a lot of things Drich, but I gotta give you props for sticking by your wife and supporting her when she needed it, and also for having the strength of conviction to not follow the groupthink of the vultures in your former church. That was a downright admirable choice, and it goes to show that mistaken or not, you've got some fundamental goodness in you that's got nothing to do with your god. Good stuff.

[Tex]

The wife is more important than a building and the most important of anyone in that building. The only problem I see with this is "Have no other Gods before me". If you have to lose one, would it be Truth or your wife? This is usually the hardest question to ask anyone and one of the reasons Catholic priests do not get married.

Loose her to what? Death? With 'truth' death is only a finite experience, without it it is infinate.

Besides my charge is only till death do we part, so no matter what, i will loose her to death, and she me. Only leaving God. So Why choose what is fleeding to what is permenate?

Perfect response. =)

[frz]

You are one step closer to waking out of the matrix buddy.

[Drich]

I know we tend to disagree on a lot of things Drich, but I gotta give you props for sticking by your wife and supporting her when she needed it, and also for having the strength of conviction to not follow the groupthink of the vultures in your former church. That was a downright admirable choice, and it goes to show that mistaken or not, you've got some fundamental goodness in you that's got nothing to do with your god. Good stuff.

Thanks i do respect and appreciate your kind words, but i know myself well enough to know that left to my own devices I would have turn and run. about 1/2 way through.

What saw me through to the end was The parable of the unmerciful servant, and the 'Lord's prayer' of all things. Both say that our 'forgivness' is completely dependent on our ablity to forgive. Everytime she blew past the 'last chance' i just gave her, after I calmed down I knew my own sins greatly over shadowed anything she could have done to me.

I was constantly reminded of my own sins through out this process, and as a result I needed to mirror the grace and mercy shown me. I literally stayed by the Grace of God, and nothing else. For something like a 250.00 a day habbit will eventually put anyone quickly past and 'magic or feelings/love' that they could have for anyone. This sort of thing will even errode the relationship and love between child and parent. All I am saying is that I was not above any of this. My last straw ended when i had to buy back our wedding rings from a pawn shop across town... For maybe 3 or 4 years after that I saw to her needs and held her accountable to the programs and various appointments we had.

The best thing that could have happened was that she OD'ed in the bathroom of a Large book store Chain, and the had to call the ambulance to revive her. 6 weeks later the local sheriff served a warrant at 3 in the morning for that innocident. (It was like a scene from cops. cops pounding on the door me running around in my underwear with a bat (i thought it was a dealer or something looking to collect) Her screaming, cops screaming it was pretty funny looking back. Terrifying at the time though.
Needless to say she went to jail, and i guess somewhere in that process hit bottom. Once she hit bottom and decided to make it work, she made it work, and 6 years later we have been completely drug free every since.

On the plus side we do not argue over petty crap other people do. It's not that i get my way all of the time, we just push for resolutions and do not seek to be spiteful or hurt each other in arguements. (I guess we had a life time of that in that first 4 years of marriage.) On the negitive side this has isolated us from everyone and we have to slowly rebuild every relationship we took for granted. We spent a total of 10 years wandering the widerness. Which wasn't a bad thing as Paul, Chirst, Moses all had to spend their time wandering in the widerness. As most of you know we have just started attending a church again, and mrs Drich has even started to teach sunday school.

Looking back I would not give up any of what I experienced with her for literally anything this world has to offer, but at the same time I do not think I could live through that again if my life depended on it. (Her drug problem, starting a business paying back a big loan, while being cut off from everyone family, Chruch and friends...)

I share that not as a testament to me as it was day to day most of the time, and it was alot me praying one or two word prayers in the middle of the day.. "Mercy, Mercy, Lord Mercy.." Over and over. As bad as that all was. It was where I found my 'proof.' Not in Hell not with the messenger he sent it was in those trials that I learned to see hear, and speak to God. I saw Him in the checks and jobs that came in sometimes to the dime I needed to pay the next bill, or if I lost a customer because i decided to take my wife to a meeting instead of going on a job, I got another. I hear Him speak to me through sermons i listened to on the radio. Some of them spoke to the very question I asked God or to a situation I was dealing with. At one point I would ask a question and something told me to turn on the radio at a given time and I hear just the right part of a given message I needed to hear.
Then I learned to speak/Pray, not wish. When I learned to pray I found there was nothing I could pray for that He would not grant me. That is when I started answering questions. It started with my own, then my friends, and everyone i could answer on a Christian forums (5 years worth) and then here, and a couple other places.

I think this is the first time I have shared all of this with anyone, It is almost unbelievable to see it all spelled out like this, but there it is. This is why I know there is a God. I was given a trial and I was faithful to what I was given. i saw it through to this point at least and God has given me much in return. (To the one who is faithful to what he has been given....)

---

You are one step closer to waking out of the matrix buddy.

It is funny you said that I saw that movie again recently on HBO or something and it Hit me. That is what 'death' is. It is our awaking from the 'matrix' of this life we think the universe revolves around. When we die we will literally wake up to eternity. Some to eternal life, some to the second death.

[Dragonetti]

I give my props for supporting your wife.