Request for Answer Clarification by
barrys-ga
on
01 Jan 2003 03:53 PST
Hi.
This is some very impressive research. The stories are great and
really bring home a point. Unfortunatly, it seems I didn't succeed in
getting across in my question the specific point, that I want to bring
out.
Allow me to clarify, for many people when they begin dealing with the
concpet of trusting GOD, it seems foreign to them, as if by nature we
can't realy trust in something other than ourselves, so the idea of
trusing in a diety is difficult. In reality I think it is the
oppisite, by nature we must trust, we must trust in an entire
phlethora of "things", for our very existence. However, our trust is
so intuitive that we don't even recognize that we trust in these
things-- until they are taken away. Then we recognize quite how much
it is that we trusted in them.
To help bring home my point I am looking for story/stories that
emphasize this exact point. The Great depression is a good example,
"Who would have thought?". Who could have imagined that our entire
world would change so dramaticly"....
I will attach a (very)rough draft of the opening of the chapter that I
am working on to show you you the flow of my thoughts.
Thanks,
Barry
One of the difficult parts of learning to trust in GOD is that trust
seems to be counter intuitive. My entire life all that I have
experinced has taught me that I must take care of myself, "It is a dog
eat dog world out there". Bad things happen. If I don't make a
living then I will starve. It is my hand and my strength alone that I
can rely on. After all that is the way of the world.
So when we focus on trust in GOD it seems almost unatural, as if the
whole concept challenges my very instincts. Sure I wish that I could.
It sure seems to be a wonderful concpet. But can I really come that
lofty level of trully putting my trust in GOD? We may even go so far
as thinking that it is ony the rare individual who can trust. Maybe a
truly great person, one of the patriachs or matriachs, trullly
religious giants could actually trust in something outside of himself.
But for the rest of us, trust is almost a foreign thought.
The truth is very far from this, because we all trust. When I go to
sleep at night, I trust that I will wake up in the morning. When I
cross the street, I trust that I will make to the other side safely.
When I drive on the highway, I trust that I won't get into a car
crash. Do I have a guranatee? Can I say for sure that I will arive
safely? Do I know for a fact that I will wake up in the morning? After
all many people die in their sleep. It happens all the time. Do I know
that it won't happen to me? Can I prove it? No. But I just know these
things won't happen to me.
So I get up in the morning and turn on the gas range, knowing that it
won't blow up in my face. I plug in the toaster knowing that the
electicity will not short out and toast me instead of the bread. And
I leave my house trusting that it will still be there when I return in
the evening. After all we live in a civilized society, things are
regulated and orderly. We are accustomed to things happening exactly
as they should. And in our minds we are sheltered from all harm. If in
fact anything does somehow manage to go awry, there are always police
and emergnecy services, there are fire trucks and ambualances, there
are hospitals and the finest medical personell. And so I am safe and
protected. I trust that all will be well. And I go about my day.
I get on a plane trusting that it will arrive safely. When the
elvevator door opens, I trustingly plant my foot foward, fully
confident that the floor of the car will be there. Do I know for a
fact that it will be there? Kinda funny, I do read everyday about just
these sort of things happening to people. But those are different kind
of people. Not me. Those kind of things coudn't happen to people like
me, and my family. They only happen to people... Well, to people... in
the newspapers. And I continue about my day. I go to work, trusting
that the job I had yesterday, I will still have today. Trusting that
my customers will remain loyal. Trusting that the industry that I am
in will continue to be relevant (although with this global economy
thing it sure seems that everyday another segment of industry becomes
outmoded.)But I trust. I trust that the economy will continue to
thrive. I trust that stock market will continue to flourish. And I
trust that everything will be OK. Can I prove it? Didn't the market
crash before? Didn't many companies (similar to mine) go bankrupt?
Maybe, but I don't worry about those kind of things.
Can I bring statistical evidence to the fact that everything will be
OK? Can I logicaly prove that all of these bad things won't happen to
me? Certanly not. In fact if I were to analyse this issue from a cold,
hard, ananlytical standpoint, I wouldn't get out of bed in the
morning. After all, things happen. Planes crash. Drunk drivers lose
control. People get sick. But I continue to function. I do get out of
bed and I don't worry about these things. Because I trust. I trust
that what happened yesterday will continue to happen tommorow. I trust
that the same people I have been around will continue to be there the
next day, and the day after, and the day after that. My trust in these
things is so strong that I don't even think of it as trust. The word
trust implies a doubt. I don't doubt it even for a second. I know it
to be true. I know that things will continue as they have. I know I
will wake up in the morning. Of course I will wake up. Didn't I wake
up yesteday and the day before that. In fact as far back as I can
remember I've been waking up every morning. So I guess this sort of
thing will just continue. It has to.
{The pain and confusion that results when one of the imutable objects
of my trust fails}
Because we we become so accustomed to the object of our trust being so
imutable that we don't even recognize that we trust in it, when that
object fails we are left in a state of shock. If you have ever been
laid off, you know that first reaction was disbelif. For many people
it is as if they were hit by a violent, unexpected blow. "How could
it be"? "I knew that I had job security. I relied on it. I knew that
no matter what I would always have my job." "This can't possibly be
happening."
