Hello, I don’t know how to continue living with such pain. I began to hate God. I understand that it’s a sin. But living a life like mine is impossible. I just can’t take it anymore. I prayed, I asked, I cried, he was deaf. God hears only those who are doing well, and helps them. Others serve only so that the happy ones look at them and say: "Thank God that I am doing well." Everyone says that God is just, it is not true. He doesn’t give a damn about me and everyone who feels bad. You torment and suffer further ... I don’t know how to live with such pain ... I don’t want to live ...
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Tina, age: 38 / 01/25/2013
Feedback:
What's your pain, Tinochka? What are you sick with?
For example, I was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, I went through two abdominal surgery and two chemistry, there was a lot of all pain. But all my friends and even many strangers to me prayed to God for my recovery, and just imagine, the last MRI showed that all organs are clean. By at least, while. And no pain.
Pray earnestly yourself and ask others to pray. If you ask for what you really need and use, God always answers!
Agniya Lvovna, age: 72 / 01/25/2013
Tina, so who does not hear whom, you God or He you? And if it does not reduce the pain, then it must be so, then he will explain why it was needed. Pain is usually treated with obstinacy, stubbornness, pride. This is so, a spiritual educational program. In general, I am amazed at God that He is so merciful to us, and I am ashamed of us. Okay, let's be honest, which of the advice He gave you have you already followed? He didn't give? What about the Bible? And the church? Did you get to know God yourself? Do you already know what good, love, light is? That is, you say that He does not help, but with me He, as with a written sack, rushes about. If He is so merciful to me, always consoles, always supports, and gives what advice, then what can we say about the righteous. How? Through other people, I recognize His help. And sometimes I will offend how you are Him, and then He shows me: "Look, then you were unbearable, remember I sent a man?" I remember and for sure. Then I repent. But I have one very bad quality: I am very, very stubborn, I ask until I get what I ask. Well, there is something that I will not ask, it's some selfish thing. If it hurts, then please show me how I created this pain. And usually, all my mistakes and nonsense are in full view. But I don't ask to remove the pain, I usually ask for the strength to endure it to the end. Otherwise, the lesson will not be passed. And more patience. Sometimes the Lord immediately gives an answer, sometimes months later. And yet, when you ask, just be sure and wait for help or an answer to come. Sometimes we need additional knowledge, or information, to understand the answer. Hold on. He loves you anyway !!!
Vika, age: 39 / 01/25/2013
You know, you're not the only one. If it makes you feel better. Sometimes it seems to me that God closed himself off from me so as not to hear my prayers. But God gave us the proof of His love - Jesus Christ. Jesus, the Son of God, took upon Himself the punishment for the sins of all mankind on the Cross. For your sins and mine. The Bible says the penalty for sin is death. And Jesus died. Having experienced before this terrible torment, which we, people, never dreamed of. Jesus descended into hell instead of us, but hell could not restrain Jesus, because He did not commit a single sin while on earth. Jesus has resurrected. And we will be resurrected after Him. Awaits us immortal life Where there will be no pain and tears. Where there will be no evil. This is my hope and hope. I will pray for you that God will help you to keep yourself from committing suicide. God bless you and keep you! Read New Testament, especially all 4 Gospels. This will help.
Tatyana, age: 32 / 01/25/2013
Hello!
It is not easy for all of us on this earth. Diseases, difficulties, losses, failures. There are people who have survived the horrors of war and death, psychological abuse, trauma, loneliness, misunderstanding.
All people are worthy of happiness and love. Pain signals that trouble has happened to us. Pain is neither bad nor good, it is like an indicator - if it hurts here, it is a signal "Caution! Danger! Something is wrong! Something is destroying you, stop! Attention here!"
Therefore, there is no need to grieve, but to think with your head how to fix the current situation. There are certainly options.
On the site's forum, you can start a topic and conduct a constructive dialogue about your problem.
I wish you happiness.
Rita, age: 28 / 25.01.2013
Tina, what happened? I cannot understand anything from your letter. Write about your misfortune, the people here are smart, they will tell you what to do.
Elena, age: 55 / 01/25/2013
Life is a gift from God ... you need to learn to love it in all its manifestations, learn to enjoy life. Learn to create joy, create, enjoy life, love .. it’s not easy .. if you take offense at life and just wait for that itself everything will come ... you can not wait. and in general, where there is resentment, anger and the like, there is no place for love .. maybe you should switch to good feelings in yourself, bright, positive, then the pain will not get a place!
it can't be that everything was bad for you .. maybe you just don't notice something? each person is individual, each is a wonderful unique creation!
Lena, age: 29 / 26.01.2013
Try to find the reason for this state. It seems to me that someone offended you and you transferred the offense to the whole White light, and faith in God left with resentment. And then depression covered it up and off we go. Throw it all out of your head, stop digging in yourself and carry yourself with new plans, Fulfill your dream and everything will fall into place))) I know by myself. Good luck to YOU and Love !!!
Alexey, age: 38 / 01/27/2013
Hold on. Sun. All will pass live !!!
Don't run from life
yuri, age: 46 / 01/27/2013
Hello Friend. Let's think together with you how you should be.
You say you are gay. And another person, for example, is obsessed with money, and the third is jealous. Everyone has different mental illnesses. Only someone wants to be treated, someone does not. You, friend, do you really want to be cured? Or do you want to escape from your problems (as if you can escape from them? - where did you get that in heaven you will rest from yourself, please put proof on the table for me!).
I think I need to be treated. How can a person get rid of, for example, envy? The only way is by abstaining from it. There is no such magic pill on earth - so that it relieves us of envy or some other vice.
And do not tell me my friend - that you are walking down the street - you see a guy - and you are ready to rush at him and kiss him - so that nothing will hold you back (if this is so, then this is schizophrenia - it is being treated, but you need to see a doctor).
Surely - there are some thoughts "Like - but it would be nice with him ...". At the stage of this thought, you must learn to refrain from developing it. And it is at this moment to call on God - because if you have ever read the Gospel or faced the action of the power of God, then you know that God is able to destroy any evil.
And also - you must fall in love with childish cleanliness. You know, when a small child is raised by kind parents, they never swear in his presence, they even try not to say anything bad, they will not turn on any evil cartoon, etc. etc. - because you know who you can make all this out of an equal-angelic flower. And the unfortunate parents are crying .. After all, your conscience inside probably tells you - it's not useful, it's not clean, it's a sin ... You're Homo sapiens. Don't you obey your conscience and reason?
Accordingly - down with the TV, the Internet is dosed. Visiting only godly places and friends. You have to come to that state - not to know the real meaning of the word "sex" and so on. words, as children do not know them.
Give me a couple more remedies (just promise to try all the medicines) - heavy debilitating physical work- knocks out all the nasty things from the head and allows you to strengthen the muscles. Confession in church, regular prayer at home to God help you to cope with your bad inclinations internally, even when you yourself no longer have the strength ... Helping others - disinterestedly - ennobles the soul. You can always go to help some monastery for free for obedience or join a group of volunteers or set out to earn money and give everything to sick children for treatment, etc. etc. Friend - I'm just sure - that you have not tried many of these drugs seriously and therefore the treatment has failed. Imagine that you have already contracted cancer, only it is cancer not of the body, but of the soul - and you die. And suddenly God through kind people sends you information about how you can be cured. Now it's up to you.
If you say that you are ready to fight, I expect action from you. The results won't be slow.
Svetlana, age: 30 / 28.01.2013
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Why do people hate God
First, we must remember that we are living in an age of apostasy from God.
Most people are atheists, atheists, although many still believe.
The lukewarmness and spirit of this world took possession of them.
Where are the reasons for this? There is no love for God and no regret for other people.
Let us ask ourselves the question: "How did it happen that people began not only to ignore God, but to fanatically hate Him?" But the question is this.
No one can hate that which does not exist. Therefore, we can say that people believe in God more than ever before in the entire history of mankind. People know Holy Bible, The teaching of the Church and God's creation and are sure that God is.
Humanity does not see God and therefore hates Him. And, in fact, people perceive God as an enemy. Denying God is revenge on God.
Why do people become atheists or remain believers?
(Why do people become atheists?)
(Copyright by Adrian BARNETT.
Translated and reprinted
by permission of the author.)
(Copyright belongs to
Adrian Barnett
Translated and published
by permission of the author.)
1. Reasons
People become atheists for many reasons.
By studying the Bible, one can quickly determine that it divides unbelievers into three main groups. There is a third, separate one - heretics. But they still believe in God, albeit distorted from other points of view. These three groups are: Hellenes, Jews and Gentiles. Regardless of their real nationality, the ancient Christian writers viewed them sometimes as unbelievers, sometimes as deluded, but believers in something. But if it comes about unbelief, then it will be discussed. As before thousands of years ago, so today Christianity sees in them people very intelligent, well-read, highly educated and very proud in their knowledge. They worship their vices, mainly pride. With all their might, the Greeks are trying to reach heights in intellectual work, raising the mind to the rank of their own deity. In conversations about the divine, they rely on scientific facts and personal observations.
While scholars have argued that faith can soothe pain, eminent psychologist Dorothy Rowe is exploring the arguments for and against religion.
I am not religious, but I have been thinking about religion all my life. My mother never went to church, but she insisted that I go to St. Andrew's Church - a cold, unfriendly place filled with cold unfriendly people. At home, my father read aloud to us from the stories of Robert Ingersoll, a militant atheist of the 19th century.
Ingersoll's prose was as musical and majestic as the King James Version. I liked the language of both books. I learned to use Ingersoll logic to research the teachings of the Bible. I infinitely condemned the cruelty and vanity of the Presbyterian God, and I liked Jesus: he seemed to me kind and a loving person like my father.
Some believe that faith in God is a matter of personal preference, while others sincerely argue that without faith, a person cannot be full-fledged personality, and still others prefer not to touch on this issue due to the deep conviction that people invented the belief in God for themselves, and it has no basis. These opinions are contradictory, but each of them has its own position, reflecting a person's view of faith in a creator in principle. So, people believe in God because:
- Born into a religious family. At the same time, religion mostly depends on the area in which the family lives. And this means that faith is similar to nationality - if a person was born, for example, in India, then he should be a Hindu, if in Russia - Orthodox. Usually such a belief is not strong and people live and believe "like everyone else."
- Feel the need for God. People from this category consciously show interest in religion and the creator, looking for something that suits them according to their inner feelings.
There are many reasons why many people do not believe in the existence of God. For example, the tendency to reject God for some people is rooted in a philosophy that exalts pure reason. According to Charles Darwin, the natural world is better explained by "natural selection" than by the existence of a Creator. True, Darwin in his theory, although he suggested how the various forms life, but did not explain how life arose and what its meaning was. Another reason for disbelief in the Creator is the presence on earth of suffering, chaos, lawlessness, hunger, wars, natural disasters, etc. understand why the Creator - if he exists - will not change life for the better. However, the Bible gives clear answers to this question. Unfortunately, many people do not know the Bible. This book explains why God temporarily allowed suffering on earth.
Many reject the Creator because they simply do not want to believe in him.
Why do people believe in God? And why shouldn't you believe in God? Why do people believe in God?
And why shouldn't you believe in God?
Man will never be free until he casts God out of his mind. © Denis Diderot
Today, many people simply do not think about why, despite the presence modern knowledge, some still continue to believe in the presence of a soul, in God, in afterlife... Indeed, in fact, there is simply NO basis for belief in the presence of a soul, in God and the afterlife, except for ancient superstitious delusions and ignorant conjectures.
1. The emergence of the idea of the soul and the idea of spiritual essence.
It was very difficult for the ancient man, in contrast to the modern, to comprehend the essence of what is happening natural phenomena... Not knowing the nature of many phenomena and events, ancient man could perceive them more emotionally than reasonably.
Faith is every person's right. We live in a modern, scientific developed society, where human body, the mind, the world around us is studied thoroughly. However, no facts that speak about the true version of the creation of the world and the absence of religious miracles in it can make a person turn away from his faith. Next, we will consider several reasons why a person believes in God and other people.
Why does a person believe in God?
V modern world there are many religious orientations, anyone can choose the most suitable faith for him. You will learn about some of them from the article Who to believe in. However, most people adhere to the faith that their parents chose for them. Why do people believe in God?
This question has been studied for many centuries. It is worth noting that each believer is unique in his own way, each person has their own reason to believe. But we will tell you about the main, global reasons.
Because believers are so weak morally that they are looking for someone to blame for all their troubles, and they are also looking for someone who would do all the work for them and help out at the right time ... said earlier ...
When people die, they do not go to hell or heaven, they go to the coffin! All, they are not! And never, do you hear, you will never see them, well, unless you dig out the coffin, you can see their remains! And when you die you will not be! There will be nothing, no light at the end of the tunnel, no God, no Devil, no Buddha, no astral plane, no reincarnation ... You died, everything, there will be nothing ...
It was with this that the weak and impressionable people were frightened by charlatans at the dawn of civilization, and they, in turn, believed them and gave all their wealth just to avoid going to hell ...
And it is good that people appeared who began to doubt the words of "kind" people in robes, how would you, believers, live now without us, atheists?
Researchers from Oxford University will spend 1.9 million pounds to answer the question: why do people believe in God? Scientists received a grant to study whether belief in divine power is caused by human nature or upbringing? Scientists will not answer the question whether God really exists. Instead, they will gather evidence in support of each of two hypotheses: that belief in God gave humanity an advantage over the course of evolution, and that belief arose as a by-product of other human traits, such as collectivism. Ian Ramsey and the Center for Anthropology and Consciousness at Oxford will use cognitive science tools to develop “ scientific approach to the question of why we believe in God, and to other problems associated with nature and origin religious beliefs».
- Speech the Lord this parable: Make the Kingdom of Heaven like a man a king, and make marriages to your son. And call your envoy slaves, invited to marriages, and do not want to come (Mt 22: 2-3)
From the current Gospel and the interpretation of it, we can see how God calls all people to perfection in the world and love, to the joy of life everywhere and in everything, but since we do not understand what it is about, we also renounce God's calling and God.
The reasons for our refusal can be very different, but they are all negligible in comparison with what God offers us. We realize that being born in this world, we could not survive without the help of our parents or patrons who looked after us, raised and educated us. As adults, we perceive life as we see it, according to our knowledge of life - life experience... We build our life like this ...
There are many reasons why many people do not believe in the existence of God. For example, the tendency for some people to reject God is rooted in their adherence to a philosophy that exalts pure reason. Many of these people believe evolutionary theory Charles Darwin. According to Charles Darwin, the natural world is better explained by "natural selection" than by the existence of a Creator. True, although Darwin in his theory suggested how various forms of life developed, he did not explain how life arose and what its meaning was. Darwin did not explain what is the purpose of man on earth, and whether it is at all. However, the Bible gives answers to these questions as well as to the way life appeared on earth and not only on earth.
This question may seem equally naive, meaningless and unanswered. Indeed, until recently, most scientists dealing with social sciences and the study of cognitive processes, it was ignored.
This has changed dramatically in the past decade, when renewed debate about the relationship between science and religion has spilled over into the cultural space and scholars from different areas got into arguments. The recently published book Why God Won't Go Away? By New York publishers illuminates this question in an interesting and new way, especially from a neurophysiological point of view, as the subtitle informs the reader about: Brain Science and the Biology of Faith ".
Why do people believe in God? Faith brings you closer. Faith is controversial. Because of faith, people organized the most ambitious Crusades, where thousands died. But faith was, is and will be an inexplicable and mysterious phenomenon. That is why people often ask the question: Why does a person believe in God, and someone chooses atheism. On this score, psychologists, scientists and religious leaders have their own points of view.
A scientific point of view on the question of faith
Researchers of the phenomenon of faith argue that religiosity is inherent in man, as an acquired, not innate quality. By its nature, a child very much trusts senior authoritative personalities from his environment (father, mother, other relatives), and therefore, like a sponge, he absorbs and unquestioningly trusts knowledge that is passed on by older generations, and subsequently follows the 10 commandments. It can be concluded that faith has been passed down as an inheritance for many hundreds of years.
Quote: Alexey Komlev
People believe in God because they fear Him.
The fact is, only those people who believe in his existence can fear God (atheists are not afraid of nonexistent Gods of any ancient mythologies). Therefore, the initial phrase will be like this:
"People believe in God because they believe in his existence." And this attracts a logical tautology, which, based on its properties, does not make sense and does not carry any useful information at all.
The question is, why do people believe in its existence? - remained unanswered ... I will try to express my opinion on this matter as briefly as possible.
But this question can be divided into two sub-questions:
- How does the belief in the very existence of God arise and on what basis is it formed?
- How does the very desire to believe in the existence of God arise?
In my note "On unreal reality", I expressed the idea that people in their lives usually believe in what they want to believe, that the lack of faith in God is a consequence of unwillingness to believe in Him. Why do people not want to believe in God, what are the reasons for this? It seems to me that there are three main reasons that hinder religious faith. I will try to characterize them. 1. At the very surface there is a reason associated with moral qualities. human personality... It is clear that a selfish, cruel, selfish person is very far from God and is not at all inclined to believe in Him. He has little love, i.e. God, in your soul, where does faith come from here? Accordingly, he also has no desire to gain faith, for it would expose his depravity, would give rise to fear of punishment. After all, if there is no God, then everything is allowed.
To the question What to do if God does not love me? given by the author Flush the best answer is He sends trials to those he loves. This is your feat. Learn to be patient. More than you can bear will not fall to your lot. Pray for patience and increased faith. God grant you everything will work out!
Maria
Enlightened
(39520)
I do not think. The bottom line is that you can cognize happiness and spirituality only after having passed many tests with dignity.
Answer from roast beef[newbie]
Do not grieve .... He does not love anyone))
Answer from Porfiry Razuvaev[guru]
Stop doing good, loving your neighbors, keeping the commandments and pulling your hair out .... body.
Live normally. What is stopping you? This must be removed from your life.
Answer from Yeun Svaroga[guru]
He doesn't like lying priests
Answer from Special[guru]
Perhaps - to train,
And if not, then nonsense is not to ask? o_O
And this is a complaint or a boast,
What is the question of being laid down? O_O
Answer from Max Stirlitz[guru]
It can not be.
You figure it out in yourself, maybe you do not love yourself or do not disinterestedly do good deeds expecting a return. But you can only answer yourself.
PS On this page at the very bottom there is a book of chakravidya, read there a lot on your question
Answer from Diamonds are best friends[guru]
You don't have to try ... you just have to do it ... if it disgusts you ... then don't do it ...
Perhaps then the balance will be restored.
Answer from G0 t0[guru]
Change God. There are others that are better.
Answer from Winter snowy[guru]
You don't have to try. Let go of the situation. It will become easier.
Answer from Lisa[newbie]
This means only one thing - YOU don’t love yourself, you left YOURSELF. So draw conclusions, look for information.
You can search the link.
God (the universe, the Absolute - whoever wants to) loves everyone, therefore fulfills all desires: you want to do good to people, and not to yourself - please, get it and sign it ...
But when you are happy, happy, beautiful with yourself - then people around you will feel good 🙂
Answer from Ѓill Smith Muslim[guru]
When you do something good, do not ask for anything in return ... Remember how the Lord tested the pious Job ...
Job (oppressed, or hostilely persecuted) - the name of two persons: Gen 46:13 - the third son of Issachar, called in Numbers 26:24 and 1 Chronicles 7: 1: Jashub.
Job 1: 1 - Job is a pious, Old Testament sufferer, from the country of Uz (now Huaran), whose history is set forth in the teaching book of V.Z., bearing his name. In Eze 14: 14-20, he is mentioned along with Noah and Daniel. Likewise, Apostle also mentions him. James in his conciliar epistle (5:11). In the book of Job, he is portrayed as a man blameless, just, God-fearing and retiring from evil (1: 1). Job lived in patriarchal times, even before the time of Moses. He had seven sons and three daughters and was very wealthy, so that, according to the book, he was more famous than all the sons of the East (v. 3) in the land of Arabia. Satan explained Job's piety before the Lord by the wealth that Job enjoyed in abundance. “But stretch out Thy hand and touch everything that he has; will he bless You?” Satan said to the Lord (1:11). In a short time Job lost all his property and all his children. No matter how hard the trial was, yet Job patiently endured it, did not sin and did not say anything unreasonable about God (1:22). “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, naked and will return. The Lord gave, the Lord also took, blessed be the name of the Lord!” Job said after all the hardships. Then Satan received permission from God to test Job again - to strike his body with fierce leprosy, from the sole of his foot to the very crown of his head (2: 7). Despite this, Job remained firm and unshakable in faith in God and integrity, although even his own wife tempted him with the words: "blaspheme God and die" (2: 9). In his suffering, he sat in the ashes outside the village, with tiles in his hands to scrape himself with them. His three friends, who had come to him for consolation, gazed at him silently for seven days and seven nights with sorrow and sobbing. And tore every one of them outerwear and cast the dust over their heads to heaven (v. 12). After seven days, Job finally opened his mouth and cursed his day (3: 1). "Perish the day, he exclaimed, on which I was born, and the night on which it is said: a man was conceived! Why did I not die when I came out of the womb, and did not die when I came out of the womb? I have no peace, no rest, no joy , misfortune befell "(4). It was this that served as the subject of the most remarkable and sublime conversation between Job and his friends, most book and ending with Job's humble and deep repentance before the Lord in dust and ashes, which the Lord accepted and again blessed him. For this prosperity returns to Job again - he receives a large family, lives 140 years and dies "in old age, full of days and saw his sons and sons of sons up to the fourth generation" (42: 16-17).
Answer from Yolava Boyko[guru]
God loves the children of his boy and girl long before the birth of priests Krishn, etc. God is the same as we are. HE rejoices, grieves, etc.! HE is among us, in us! Would you like to pet him please His creations are around us! Trees, water, wind, fire! Stroke them, scoop it up, feel it, feel its warmth !!!
Answer from Sergiy[guru]
Understand first what is inherently good for a person and what is bad.
Perhaps after that, the opinion will change.
Answer from Lu mai[guru]
Don't say that. Everything has a meaning, and sometimes the Lord tests us and sometimes, he simply takes us away from evil, so that we do not ruin our soul. Cheer up! Those people to whom you have done good will surely think of you with warmth, and the believers will pray for your health.
Answer from Natalia Vnukova[guru]
If you are offered immortality, you will believe in God. ... Tomorrow they will come and say: here, Ksyusha, the medicine, now you will live forever. ... Kind of like God ... Well, now you need it - the Love of God. ... Now you don't depend on anyone. Paradise is an empty word, however, like hell ... So believe in your immortality, because you do not know when your path will end - it means that to some extent you are immortal. ...
Free yourself from illusions ...
Answer from Marina Dyadkova[guru]
Christ said: "I was persecuted and you will be persecuted." Do not expect good where evil reigns.
Answer from Erichesky Pesseg[guru]
Finally, stop believing in him, but believe in yourself, become free and act.
Answer from Alexey Efimov[guru]
What reasons are there not to justify their own failure, and God does not love, and fate is not the same, and the neighbor jinxed. And where did you see the regularity between your life and the type of "God's love", where did you get that there is a relationship in this!
Today we will talk about a problem that affects all Christians. Sometimes you can see this problem in yourself - and, falling into confusion, you will not find any explanation for it.
In such cases, we often resort to unnatural thoughts and actions and quarrel with people and even with God.
As you know, God the Man-lover created people equal. In other words, before God, people are equal, there is no difference between them in their value, that is, there are no overvalued and valueless people. People - different vessels not by nature, but by the degree of capacity and grace. One has one grace, the other has another. This wealth of grace is a gift from God. If God created people the same, then we would all be like pawns in chess. There would be no differences through which the wisdom of God is manifested. As God created people equal, with equal rights before God (God gave the same commandments that all people must keep), so He gives (to all) His anticipatory grace.
First of all, it must be said that there are two ways that God can bestow His grace. At the first, this is done completely for nothing. God's grace comes, enriches and informs man that God exists and that He can live in man. The second gift comes through human struggle and labor. When the first grace descends, it cannot remain permanently in a person. Why? Because man is unable to keep it. The Fathers call this gift "unjust." God endowed us with our human nature without any effort on our part, but He also gave us free will so that we can contribute to this struggle, cooperate with God and participate in His good deeds. God does this so that we enjoy in to a greater extent His blessings and so that receiving God's gift was not passive, but active. Such is His great wisdom... A person cannot receive grace free - completely free - without any effort on his part, and believe that this grace is permanent. In the end, he will be upset, because he will not be able to perceive and preserve it. God will be forced to take her back. The Fathers call this departure of God's grace "forsaken by God." There are two ways to see it in yourself.
The first kind of godforsakenness is the result of our own failures and negligence. St. Diadochus of Photikos says that it comes because of the sins of man, and not caused by God. God rejects a person who is marked by sin and cannot live with him. As soon as He feels this sinfulness, grace is removed from a person.
Why does God take away grace from a person? In order to awaken him, so that he thinks and sees that he cannot live on his own, for if he remains even for a short time on his own, he will come to despair and madness. Thus, through the departure of grace, a person is led to repentance. A terrible drought sets in in his soul and he has nowhere to turn. He turns to the blessings of the world, but nothing satisfies him - and sooner or later he will come to know God.
But there is another kind of removal of grace, when God himself is hidden. He does not reject the person, but hides from him. Today we will talk about this kind of grace withdrawal in order to understand what to do when grace withdraws from us.
Let no one say there is no grace. A person who has come to know God for the first time sees this wealth of grace that has entered his soul. This first grace is a gift of God's favor, not a reward for our efforts. This is a great gift and a person must keep it if he wants to continue. This means that he must be in cooperation with God. The moment he ceases to be a co-worker with God, he will instantly lose him. Therefore, many Christians, who first know God, are inspired, start some kind of spiritual work, begin to praise, pray, read, worship, and do charity. This is the result of their being impressed by the visitation of God, who comes down free. God does this so that we feel the sweetness of His presence, so that when the moment comes to be deprived of it, a person would remember the sweetness of God and become able to work in order to acquire it again.
Fathers usually set an example for the mother and infant... When the baby is playing with the mother’s breast and is not hungry, the mother becomes anxious because the baby has to eat in order to live. Then she hides her breasts and leaves him hungry for a while. The baby starts crying and the mother gives him the breast again so that he can start feeding and growing. God does this when, for whatever reason, a person tramples on God's commandments and moves away from God.
Just as our being is given by God, so this talent, i.e. grace, comes as a gift from God. We must, however, multiply it. One candy that God gives us along the way is not enough, you need to find the source of sweetness. I recently heard that a plant has been discovered that is 300 times sweeter than sugar, but has no calories. God always finds alternative solutions where satiety is created. So it is with God's grace. When something makes us satiated, God reveals something else that is both safer and sweeter. This, however, only happens when a person wants it.
After some time, which depends on God, and not on us, the wealth that is given to us in the form of preparatory grace leaves us. The reason and purpose of this departure is difficult to explain to ordinary common sense. It is necessary for a person to investigate the spiritual life, enter the reality of the spiritual life in order to understand why God left him.
Elder Sophrony (Sakharov) reveals to us the reason for this, saying “about those who passed the preparatory stage, were inspired by what they experienced, and at the same time felt it as a blessing”. Based on his experience, he talks about the upbringing that God applies to an ill-bred and imperfect person. He calls this upbringing God-forsaken. Grace moves away from a person and he immediately realizes how undeserved was the feeling that he still experienced. After the removal of grace, a person may even reach unbelief for a period of time. To the point of lack of faith - certainly. He feels that the earth is leaving from under his feet and begins to live own life, as St. Maxim the Confessor, the life of his own nature. Not seeing anywhere the light that he previously felt, he immediately begins to look at the results and does not look for reasons for the removal of grace. He begins to see reasons where these reasons are absent. What are the implications of this? He feels pain, sorrow, inner emptiness in himself. When he lives with other people, he considers them to be the cause of this emptiness. He accuses them:
I wouldn’t react like that if you didn’t treat me unfairly!
This creates a confrontation. A person believes that the reason is different, because he does not know the true reason. Sometimes the level of inner ignorance in people is such that they reproach God. How many times in our life do we say:
Why does all this happen to me? What did I do that God withdrew and left me?
He doesn't ask:
Where am I going wrong? What is the reason God left me?
Instead, he begins to believe that God is unjust, does not love him, that God is not what is revealed in the Gospel and Scriptures. The paradox is that a person avoids, hides or does not know the true reason for what happened and shifts it to another person, to circumstances, or even to God.
Elder Sophrony continues: "At the beginning of their life [with God], many received abundant grace - to such an extent that they even reached perfect grace."
The person gets the feeling that he is perfect. I remember the time when I consciously cognized God. From an early age I attended church, but consciously came to know God at the age of 16. The next eight years were years of great grace. I reached such a joyful feeling that I said to myself: “here is paradise!”, Not knowing what awaits me, the poor, in the future. While serving in the army, I felt like I was in heaven. And although there were so many temptations in the barracks, I did not give in to them. But as soon as I was demobilized and entered the monastery, I felt that something was leaving me. I got to the point where I said to myself:
Don't believe it. Where is God, about whom we say that He is love, joy, peace and inner rejoicing?
I, of course, complained to my brother with whom we lived together. Spoke:
George, why am I feeling this way now? What is the reason for this?
He didn't know what to say. I jokingly said:
It would be better if God made me a fig tree and not a man!
Do you understand how God-forsakenness comes? When I entered the monastery, I said to myself:
How am I going to enter this hell now?
Opening the doors of the monastery, I asked myself: how will I live here for so long? I was with my spirit guide, and he ultimately strengthened me - I saw my future in a completely different light. But these four years - from 24 to 28 years old - were very painful for me. Two very difficult and two less difficult years. These four years have been the only years of my life, which I thought I was losing them. But in reality this was not the case. These years have prepared me for the future. When I became a confessor, began to serve and got into different situations, trials began to come from outside, not from within.
So, God-forsakenness hides something important in its depth. We cannot say that it is based on our visible sins. There are also secret sins. And Elder Sophrony speaks about them:
“When we reach the pinnacle of grace, bestowed grace, at some point we begin to feel that grace is decreasing, decreasing, decreasing, and in the end we realize that we have nothing. Only when we pray a little, take communion, we feel something in ourselves. But then difficulties begin.
In the beginning, man was given to rejoice in the sweetness of God's presence and see the Garden of Eden, to be a partaker of God's existence, indescribable by human words, and at the same time a participant in heavenly and imperishable consolation. Then the power of this life and the love inspired by the life of God leave him. All that remains is the memory of the past and the feeling of desolation, emptiness, death and loss of grace. We remember how we lived and what we lost, and we see emptiness in ourselves, we see the path to death in ourselves. The believer loses the first and great grace given to him as a gift, because his nature is still not in conformity with the spiritual contemplation opened to him.
The main reason for the loss of grace by a person is that his nature is imageless in relation to God's goodness. They do not answer each other, but a person must become like God so that God can enter into man. The deprivation of grace and the onset of the period of temptation is done according to God's will; it is in harmony with God's economy. Why? For the sake of human nature to be transformed and become consistent with the will of his revived hypostatic principle ”.
Elder Sophrony speaks here of a very deep idea. It is difficult to understand, but we will try to understand it.
We need to be transformed and return to the original state given by God to man. In the beginning, there was no better creation than man. In his fall, he lost that ancient beauty that the fathers speak of. But when the first grace descends, this beauty emerges from its depths. It does not stay long on the surface and therefore a person must make it a permanent state; there must be a transformation. Man himself cannot do this and therefore God is completely a gift to him, letting him know that he is called to live a life more elevated than a life in passions and fall. This is done so that we rebel against the old man, to be reborn new person renewed in Christ; so that God could see him, love him and be constantly with him.
That which is not done immediately, God gives for a while for free, inviting us to work together with Him. If a person is negligent, God hides from him. If a person realizes that this withdrawal is the cause of the inner emptiness that he feels in himself, then he should start crying out, wherever he is: “God, do not leave me, a sinner! Do not leave me, O Lord my God! ”, As they say in the Six Psalms. “Do not move away from me! Do not leave me, but come to the rescue, help me! Do not leave me!" This should be said often. Every hour and every moment when we feel this God-forsakenness, we must turn to God: “Lord, do not reprove me in your anger! Do not leave me! Come and possess me! ” There is no other way. We must pray in this way on the path of acquiring grace, saying at the same time to God: "Forgive me my sins and count me among Your flock, where Your saints and righteous are."
Man must be transformed, make this co-image of our nature, in order to achieve the goal for which he was created. This is the hypostatic principle. In other words, man enters the path of deification, the path of perfection, in order to become God - this is the goal of his original creation by God. The hypostatic beginning is the beginning of the path to God. In paradise, man was not perfect, he was potentially perfect. He was not fallen, but he was not perfect either. However, before him was a convenient and open path: to work together with God and achieve perfection. God-likeness is nothing more than this ancient beauty. This is the hypostatic beginning, the ability of a person to work together with God and achieve God-likeness, transform himself so as to become a worthy child of his Father.
Elder Sophronius continues:
"He must bear this upbringing as a lawful upbringing (punishment) by God and at the same time as upbringing that is given to true sons, His children."
What Does the Scripture Say? If the father regrets the rod, then he does not love his son. If he wants his son to become like him, then he should not deprive him of his upbringing, as, unfortunately, many parents and teachers are doing now. They are not interested in whether their child will succeed in life, as long as he does not worry about anything. Elsewhere in Scripture it is said that one who does not punish his children hates his son and does not love him.
Can you imagine it? In the modern world, in modern era it is inconceivable. If the teacher decides to punish the child stricter, everyone will immediately make a noise: "How can you say strict words to a child?" Even if the parent says something strict to the child, the law of lawless statesmen will take the child's side. The state has arrogated to itself the right to interfere even in the upbringing of children by parents.
Of course, this is so not only because children are unreasonable and do not know how to behave, but also because there are many parents who overstep the boundaries of reason in punishment. By punishment, I do not mean torture, humiliation of personal dignity, but educating a person in the spirit of freedom, as a result of which he can succeed in life. The moment we see that the child does not accept the punishment, we must leave him, as God leaves us. The moment a person ceases to perceive God's upbringing, God leaves him - not temporarily, but permanently. Or at least until the person changes his mind.
Education is given to children in order to convey the secret of the law of adoption. Thus, a person learns to understand what it means to be a son of God. How else would he have understood this?
"Until the grace of the Holy Spirit unites with human nature, a person is unable to comprehend the whole truth and endure wealth God's love”. Sometimes it seems excruciating to us. It's like a visually impaired person: shine sunlight hurts him and he avoids him, while the clear eye rejoices in him. But he does not please the sore eye. What to do? We must dare to follow the path of the Cross, the path of pain and education, otherwise our eyes will remain blind, otherwise we will always be in darkness and we will have no hope of receiving God's grace. This is why today's people cannot stand punishment. Penance is given to someone and he says:
What a heavy penance!
Heavy penance - 15 bows? 33 bows? And what should it be? Don't eat vegetable oil on Wednesday? Then what kind of penance is really hard?
In the past, there were indeed heavy penances. I remember the Monk David. The bishop of Nafpaktos sent him to walk from Nafpaktos to Arta. The car travels this distance in a few hours. Then there were no cars and everyone went on foot. There was great poverty. The Monk David did not have shoes. Once, when he was going to Arta to fulfill some order of the metropolitanate, a Christian took pity on him and bought him shoes. The Monk David took the shoes, not having the blessing of his elder, and returned joyful that they had given him a gift. The elder, however, was stern. To whom? To my son. Not to slaves. We are strict with slaves, we are not interested in whether they will be hurt. But we are interested in the upbringing of our son. Therefore, the elder said to him:
Did you take the shoes without a blessing? Now you will take your boots and carry them back barefoot. Take them back and come back!
Penance ... And he did it with joy, and not with indignation! He flew like on wings. Therefore, he became a reverend. Saints not random people... They did not do the things that we do when we strive to become good people... We must sacrifice ourselves to God, sacrifice the old man, so that God's grace can enter into us and renew us.
Can God bestow upon us the riches of His love, can we endure this heavenly riches if we are weak?
Elder Sophrony says that this wealth must certainly grow and mature when we are subjected to God's upbringing and learn from His perfect will.
In addition to the reason for God's forsakenness inaccessible to us, which is contained in God's providence, refers to the wise plan of God and which we cannot investigate, but simply must show obedience, there are other reasons, as mentioned. Be aware of these reasons.
They are in the person himself. According to Elder Sophronius, the most significant and main reason Godforsakenness - pride as an obvious and erroneous tendency towards self-deification. We have the feeling that we are above everyone and can achieve everything, even our own salvation. I will be saved. I don't need anyone - neither my neighbor, nor the Savior God. In this way, the devil steals from us the feeling that we need God to be saved and deified. Here is what Elder Sophronius says:
"The imperious Spirit of God is so refined, sensitive and noble that it does not endure either pride and vanity, or the unauthorized conversion of a person's mind to himself."
... Not even inner turn of our spirit to please ourselves. In other words, when a person says to himself:
I, you know, good man! I AM good person!
How many Christians tell themselves:
I have not done anything wrong, I am a good person!
And especially when we look in the mirror, then, if God gave us beauty, we say:
That's how handsome I am! It means that I am like that in my soul!
We are hypocritical before others - and, moreover, being Christians, and not like non-Christians, who have reason to feel that way, because they have nothing. And we do not have such a right, for it is assumed that we trust in our Savior, who wants to enter into us and live with us constantly, not missing a single minute. Yes, but when? When we do not force the noble Spirit of God to leave us. Therefore, God's wisdom permits this removal and we cannot examine it; but there are reasons in ourselves that we must study in order to avoid them and strive for the return of the grace of God.
It is not easy. The most difficult thing for a person is to leave himself. Without self-abandonment, God-forsakenness will surely come. The very hour when a person surrenders himself completely into the hands of God and is persevering in this, God will enrich him with the abundance of His love. Then man will understand what glory he has been hiding in himself since the moment of his creation; will understand the brilliance of human nature and being - but only when God enters into it. And if God does not enter a person, it will seem to everyone that this person is very valuable, but this will only be an external ghost, an illusion.
On the other hand, God moves away from a person in order to punish him for sins or spiritual laziness. We all understand this. At the very moment when we sin, God leaves us, does not want to have a connection with us, for we cooperate with the devil.
Elder Sophrony systematically expounds the doctrine of God-forsakenness and confirms it theologically, based on the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Since godforsakenness was part of the path that the Lord walked in order to heal a person, it is natural for each of us to experience it.
I think it became clear that only one thing can exist in a person: either the wealth of God, for which a person must prepare, or the poverty of the devil, which seems to be wealth, but in fact creates a huge void in the mind and heart of a person. At the same time, this same emptiness confuses the entire life of mankind. We free people, Orthodox Christians, and let each of us choose the road on which he wants to go. If we follow the path of the Lord, we will have to go through what we talked about. If we want to follow easy way devil, you will have to endure the inner emptiness, which is unbearable and does not resemble external trials in its pain and difficulty. For a person who has a healthy inner life, external temptations and trials are the steps along which he ascends upward. Internal difficulties generated by a person's negligence create in him tremendous pain, emptiness, despair and ultimately lead him to death - not to bodily death, through which we will all go, but to the death of the soul, to the most painful thing that can happen to a person. if he is inattentive. In this case, he will exist forever in this tunnel of death, where he will not see the light of Christ, which comforts, sanctifies, maintains and perpetuates human nature. The very nature for which Christ was crucified and gave Himself - so that we could live not just here and now, but forever.
