As I have researched and compiled the information on DurableFaith I have struggled with and against the information I discovered. It has not been easy for me and I doubt it will be easy for you. But I firmly believe Truth is worth knowing and I want to encourage you to seek it out, no matter how difficult the journey. Sometimes exposure to truth is paradigm shifting and can cause an emotional reaction or even initiate a grieving type process that has a pattern and form of its own.
I am familiar with the grieving process because my first wife died of cancer in her early thirties. I quickly became a single parent with a (wonderful) 7 yr old son and for his sake I wanted to regain my footing quickly so I could provide a stable home environment. So, I sought information and sound counsel. I was advised by Hospice and Pastoral grief counselors that skipping or short-cutting the grieving process would cause internal stress to be bottled up and that under times of pressure the grieving process would lurch forward on its own without my co-operation, causing disruption and perhaps embarrassing displays of emotion.
As I was then a widower parent with a young child that needed me to be functional and soon, I gave myself fully to the process. I took time off of work and I re-read the love letters, I looked at the pictures, I acknowledged the love that I lost. It was a painful time consuming process but walking through the various stages and not fighting or delaying them enabled me to orient myself to the new reality.
The stages of grief are not always linear as people tend to bounce back and forth between stages as they process their feelings and questions. Psychologists, Christian Counselors, and Pastors often find it helpful to describe the grief process in stages such as:
- denial
- anger
- bargaining
- acceptance
- growth.
But what does grief have to do with having a DurableFaith?
Some of the information you will find here may be a stage or two ahead of what you are ready to deal with or process.
Its ok, denial is a natural part of the process of coming to terms with a painful reality. You will likely experience anger, denial, bargaining, and perhaps even depression ( not required or recommended) as you come across some aspect of the pre-dominant worldview you’ve always assumed was true that simply does not line up with scripture or reality.
What should you do when what you are reading or learning makes you uncomfortable?
The easy response would be to simply stop reading and return to the concerns of life’s daily affairs. But the failure to face the pressing issues of our times is clearly denounced in scripture: “The prudent see danger and turn away, the foolish keep going and suffer for it.” Prv 22:3, Prv 27:12.
Count the cost. Who in your life is depending on you to be in tune to the new reality and functional in it? Should you give yourself fully to the process or wait for inconvenient, embarassing, and untimely grief processing reality adjustment break-throughs?
When you encounter something that conflicts with your worldview or you find something unfathomable or unbelievable, I would encourage you to breathe deep and review the progress you’ve made in transforming your mind with scripture and with new information that you have verified is true. Get your feet firmly beneath you and then try to move forward again through the content with an open mind. Follow the links, do your own research.
Keep going but take it a step at a time.
Which of the following statements best describes you?
1) I am vaguely aware that the world is changing quickly and I am concerned that I might be under-estimating the seriousness of the situation.
Recommended resource: Visit www.drudgereport.com daily.
2) I am curious about what I am not being told. I am beginning to question the accuracy and perhaps the agenda of the mainstream media and some aspects of government as well.
Recommended resource: Visit www.zerohedge.com daily.
3) I have researched enough to arouse a “fight or flight response” and I am wondering what the spiritual and moral implications are to the situations we face and to the decisions I am considering.
Recommended resource: Read through the archives on www.durablefaith.com
4) I am determined to discern the moral path for navigating the complex situation before us and am willing to spend time, resources, and even sacrifice my standard of living in order to live before God with a clean conscience in light of what I have learned.
Recommended resource: Visit www.survivalblog.com daily.
5) Now that I have taken some prudent actions and begun to direct my life according to fresh convictions, I am interested in how we, as the Body of Christ, can best cooperate and strategize to advance the kingdom of God in the present hour and in the coming difficult days.
Recommendations: Seek out some like-minded individuals in your geographic location, try to network using www.meet-up.com or http://alt-market.com/
Will you make time to attain a more DurableFaith?
Whether we give time to understand it or not, there is a new reality being thrust upon us in America, in Christendom, and in the world in general. The establishment media has refused to meaningfully cover the issues of our times and people are voting with their feet en mass and switching to alternative information sources that still do real investigative reporting not just propaganda. The advent of the internet and what is called Web 2.0 has enabled knowledge to come to light that was previously hidden. Now blogging and social networking sites are pushing relevant information out at an ever quickening pace.
Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.” John 9:41
We cannot pretend to be blind anymore. The monetary, social, political, and even environmental issues of our day are moral and spiritual issues that the bible addresses. But the church is not yet asking the questions much less providing biblical answers. The church is disappointingly in a similar position as the mainstream media, silent on the important issues and very much at risk of being marginalized.
Let me encourage you to give yourself fully to the process of looking at the world around you with eyes wide open, asking hard questions, acknowledging beliefs that need to be retired, identifying those beliefs and values that need to be rediscovered, and then finding ways to act on your beliefs.
Matthew 10: 26 “So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.[b] 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Thank you for caring and sharing about the search for truth. Love ya, bro
kami