C-19 & an Encouragement Thread

[NUance]

1 hour ago, Landlord said:

But you just said heaven has no evil.

 

Is that what I said?  

 

 

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So did God allow evil one time to create his adversary or do we always have the ability and choice and temptation of choosing evil, even when we're in heaven?  

 

I don't know.  I'll let you know if and when I get there.  That is, unless there's a great chasm between us.  

[Landlord]

4 hours ago, NUance said:

Earth would have been like heaven.  No death, no disease, no crime, no evil.  

 

[NUance]

4 minutes ago, Landlord said:

You said:  "Earth would have been like heaven.  No death, no disease, no crime, no evil.  "

 

Okay, I see what you mean now. 

 

I don't think there was sin or evil in the world before Adam and Eve chose to introduce sin in the world through the serpent's influence.   I say "I don't think so" because the bible doesn't expressly say there was no sin or evil.  Instead, it says, "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good."  This is probably a good assumption.  But you asked about heaven, not earth. 

 

I guess I've always just assumed there is no sin or evil in heaven.   I think this too is a pretty good assumption on my part.  I don't think God tolerates sin.  But I'm not sure the bible expressly tells us that there is no sin or evil in heaven.         

 

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This path you've taken us down is off topic, and your annoying style of posting is getting under my skin, so I'm not going to go down this rabbit hole any further.  Go ahead and have the last word.  

[Ulty]

18 minutes ago, NUance said:

I don't think there was sin or evil in the world before Adam and Eve chose to introduce sin in the world through the serpent's influence. 

It sounds like you take the bible literally?

[TGHusker]

Here are some encouraging things that are happening in  Tulsa - good ways of being a good neighbor at a time like this

 

https://www.tulsapeople.com/the-voice/good-deeds-and-random-acts-of-kindness-during-covid/collection_3cf90590-6939-11ea-b96c-6f1a6ea61e1c.html#14

 

[TGHusker]

A good article/co-ed about developing 'rituals' to help one through difficult times.

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-rituals-and-focus-can-turn-isolation-into-a-time-for-growth-11586445045

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Life-enhancing rituals allow me to find and create joy.

 

[TGHusker]

I changed the title of the thread to the encouragement thread to avoid the endless debates about religion.

 

So I was wondering, how are some of you being creative to encourage and to be encouraged? How are you spending time with family while being apart?

 

For us, we have one son and his family here in Tulsa and another son and his family in NC.  So skype has taken on new importance. Never figured we'd need it much with our local son and family.

So we miss holding our 2 year old grand daughter here in town (Ok we miss our son and his wife too). My wife was babysitting her one day a week previously.   So we are trying to find creative ways to interact with the 2 year old.  This is our hide and seek game:

 

 

So we skype our son, wife and grand daughter. We decided to

play skype hide and seek with her:

Our son held his phone while she went to ‘hide’.  In the middle of

the yard was this chair – with feet and legs hanging way beyond the

chair. We pretended not to ‘see’ her as our son walked by. We just

laughed our heads off seeing that.   We eventually made it back to

that chair as son walked around the yard and us yelling "where are you'  and  surprised her

when we ‘found’ her.

For the older (5 and 10) grandkids in NC we play card games over skype - they have the

same deck and we see what they lay down and visa versa. 

 

 

 

[DevoHusker]

That's awesome TGH...

 

We wave and talk to our 18 month old granddaughter through the picture window...we social distance in the driveway with the 3 older ones

[TGHusker]

 

Church's helping people pay off their medical debt during these hard times is very encouraging to see.

 

Partnering with  RIP Medical Debt, the churches are able to enlarge their giving by 100x.  Neat concept.  Medical collectors are willing to settle for 1 penny on the dollar of medical expenses that will not be paid. 

https://ripmedicaldebt.org/

 

https://www.christianpost.com/news/kansas-megachurch-helps-to-relieve-47m-in-medical-debt-faring-well-amid-covid-19-shutdown.html

 

https://www.christianpost.com/news/chicago-churches-erase-over-5-million-in-medical-debt-for-nearly-6000-illinois-families.html

 

https://www.christianpost.com/news/church-erases-43-million-medical-debt-missouri-families.html

 

https://www.christianpost.com/news/ohio-megachurch-helps-pay-465-million-in-medical-debt-highest-amount-ever-paid-off.html

 

 

[TGHusker]

Some more feel good stories in this link.   People encouraging people in the midst of this pandemic.

 

https://apnews.com/eea98fa7db1d615ee08c6ec39e43d9da

[Guy Chamberlin]

As an agnostic I've always felt closest to whatever I call God in nature.

 

We are having a beautiful spring here, and it's kinda profound. There are still cars on the road, but fewer of them. There are actually more people out on residential sidewalks than ever: whole families forced to stay at home together are out walking the dogs. And the dogs couldn't be happier. Boredom has spurred some really funny and creative online sharing. We've been playing games with our kids again. The biggest surge of activities in our community has been gardening and baking.  Toilet paper is plentiful, but there's been a run on yeast and flour.  

 

Without the sound of the cars, you hear more birds. The businesses that are open -- a surprising number of them -- are putting out We Are Open signs and finding creative ways to stay in business. People are going out of their way to support them. I live in nice town in a wealthy county. I know we are lucky. But in a strange way, this Shelter-In-Place world is more peaceful, appreciative, and supportive than the life we were sleepwalking through. 

 

It's also laid bare the social inequity in the country. I don't harbor illusions of solving it, but I like addressing the greed and privilege that typically hides behind Business as Usual.

 

In other words, I want to get back to normal, but I don't want the same normal at all. This is extremely spiritual to me, and doesn't fall neatly into the Faithless vs the Faithful categories.  

[TGHusker]

3 hours ago, Guy Chamberlin said:

As an agnostic I've always felt closest to whatever I call God in nature.

 

We are having a beautiful spring here, and it's kinda profound. There are still cars on the road, but fewer of them. There are actually more people out on residential sidewalks than ever: whole families forced to stay at home together are out walking the dogs. And the dogs couldn't be happier. Boredom has spurred some really funny and creative online sharing. We've been playing games with our kids again. The biggest surge of activities in our community has been gardening and baking.  Toilet paper is plentiful, but there's been a run on yeast and flour.  

 

Without the sound of the cars, you hear more birds. The businesses that are open -- a surprising number of them -- are putting out We Are Open signs and finding creative ways to stay in business. People are going out of their way to support them. I live in nice town in a wealthy county. I know we are lucky. But in a strange way, this Shelter-In-Place world is more peaceful, appreciative, and supportive than the life we were sleepwalking through. 

 

It's also laid bare the social inequity in the country. I don't harbor illusions of solving it, but I like addressing the greed and privilege that typically hides behind Business as Usual.

 

In other words, I want to get back to normal, but I don't want the same normal at all. This is extremely spiritual to me, and doesn't fall neatly into the Faithless vs the Faithful categories.  

Great post.  I too feel close to God in nature - I think it testifies of God.  Bing alone on top of Mt Evans (higher than Pike's Peak)  in Colo one morning was a very special moment for me some years ago.   There have been some interesting stories about how the 'earth' has been given a rest.  People in India can see the Himalayan mts for the first time in decades, those who study earth quakes an hear (record)  more faint earthquakes they weren't able to hear previously due to all of the human chatter.  Animals coming out of hiding all over the place.  It is kind of like a Biblical Year of Jubilee for nature.  It will be interesting to see if it has an affect on climate warming.

 

I agree with you - hopefully we'll have a new normal. 

 

For me, it following the Biblical admonishment "To Be Still and Know that I am God".  Stop the anxious running around. Rest and Trust. Find inner spiritual strength, build and rebuild relationships. Now is the time when so much of the external 'stuff'  that we over hype can be put aside for the more important things. 

[Guy Chamberlin]

While I'm feeling more spiritual and closer to God than ever, another part of my brain realizes the Earth probably needs a few billion less humans in order to survive. Viral pandemics and mass starvations have handled this in past epochs, presumably by God's design. 

 

Maybe I shouldn't put that in The Encouragement Thread. 

[TGHusker]

18 hours ago, Guy Chamberlin said:

While I'm feeling more spiritual and closer to God than ever, another part of my brain realizes the Earth probably needs a few billion less humans in order to survive. Viral pandemics and mass starvations have handled this in past epochs, presumably by God's design. 

 

Maybe I shouldn't put that in The Encouragement Thread. 

I really feel encourage now

[TGHusker]

While we hide in our houses the earth is going through a year of jubilee - rest and restoration:

 

https://apnews.com/726ff63bb43bdca65e41625b1e223040