(06-14-2023, 12:30 AM)Ninurta Wrote: There are. There are people who not only never WILL believe, there are people who CAN'T believe. There are others, perhaps like yourself, who only think they neither can nor will believe - but, like you, God ain't done with them yet, and in the end will make it happen for them. The only question is how hard and how long they will resist, "kick against the goad". Eventually, they wear themselves out if they keep at it long enough. it's when they wear themselves out that resistance fails.
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I know a couple of people that agree with you. They said they fought against God tooth and nail, they said they wore themselves out and finally opened their eyes and saw what God was showing them, and they finally were able to stand up and walk.
We have different life experiences. Sometimes those experiences put us in places where it is hard to believe. I went through a time when I too fought against God. I am just glad he did not give up on me.
I also think that many people never get a chance to really know God, because religion can be a huge barrier. Especially if they place their faith and trust in man, instead of God.
(06-14-2023, 01:22 AM)Ninurta Wrote: So anyhow, One Sunday evening I was sitting there, minding my own business, and things got rowdy as they often did at that church. one thing led to another, and directly a young lady stood up in the congregation and started yelling in "tongues". Now that was just a normal Sunday evening, but what happened next was not normal, not by any stretch. I realized that I could UNDERSTAND what she was saying, every word of it. I can even tell you the language she was speaking, but I won't, because this story is already unbelievable as it is. It has not been spoken on Earth for well over 2000 years, and no, it was not one of the languages the Bible was written in.I have never spoken in tongues. I have to admit that I know very little about it, but from what I have learned about it, it is not of God, if no one can translate what is spoken.
Like I said, I understood what she was saying, plain as day, and it chilled me all the way to my core. The words rolling off her tongue should never, EVER, be spoken in God's house... or anywhere else for that matter. Especially if you believe, as I do, that God is everywhere - that kinda makes everywhere "God's house" in my mind.
Shortly after she was done and had sat down, another fella popped up and commenced to "translating" what she had said... but what he said she said was NOT what I heard her say. It was some generalized flowery nonsense that had never tripped off her lips. What she said was very specific, and maybe the most evil things I've ever heard... and that covers a lot of ground!
So I quietly got up, gathered up my wife at that time, and we hauled it right on out of there. Never went back.
Is it possible that the person that made the translation gave the translation he heard, but God had another message for you?
I have read passages in the Bible that I have read numerous times, and suddenly have a meaning come through to me that never presented itself before. God has many ways of speaking to us.