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#Post#: 3305--------------------------------------------------
Complete Freedom?
By: Kerry Date: November 22, 2015, 12:27 pm
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Do you want to be free? Most people will answer yes to that
question, but do you really want complete freedom? Really?
If the answer is yes, then you want to be able to sin if you
feel like it. You will not escape the bondage of this world
as long as you want this illusion called "complete freedom."
There is no quicker path to becoming a slave than to crave
complete freedom for self. That's the way the world operates,
folks.
The only way out of the bondage of this world is to imitate
Jesus. He did not want to be "free" to do whatever he pleased.
When he had free will, he was tempted in all things and
consistently chose to do the good, in harmony with the Will of
the Father; and in the end, after consistently rejecting all
temptations, he "gave back" his "free will" to the Father.
He could sin when he had free will. He was tempted in all
things. Yes, he could have sinned. But in the end, after
defeating them all, he was tired of this thing called free will
and gave that ability to choose evil to the Father. It was at
this point, we can say he could not sin. He was born of the
Spirit; and as John tells us, the person born of the Spirit
cannot sin.
Now at first, when the soul first comes to repentance, the soul
says, "I no longer wish to sin." This is an intention of the
soul. The worst thing to do when we say we intend to do
something, most especially if we know it is a good thing, is to
doubt ourselves and change our minds. The soul which has the
seed of immortality implanted knows it wishes not to sin -- but
still faces temptations. All those conflicting intentions need
to be put down. We cannot be double-minded about it. If we
fail, we must also put that down and return to the original
intention, "I wish to turn away from sin." If a demon
whispers, "It's impossible" in our ears, we say, "Oh, go away. I
intend to do as I said and my intention is to avoid sin."
The soul in this situation can be considered female as St.
Catherine of Sienna did. The soul has the temptations of the
flesh to deal with, but vows to be faithful to the "masculine"
ideals of Spirit. This is remarkably like a woman who wants an
ideal marriage and realizes that if she wanders off and commits
adultery with other men, she's wrecking her marriage with her
husband. The soul must learn to take guidance from the Spirit,
that what the soul wants for itself is sometimes the worst
thing.
The "free will" of the "bride" has chosen "love." That is her
choice. She does not want to be "free" to change her mind or to
entertain alternatives. It is what she wants and nothing will
change her mind. If her marriage is to work out properly, she
must be faithful to her vow.
If we harbor thoughts in our minds about sinning, we are
secretly relishing the idea of sinning and considering the
possibility of sinning. It seems to me that some people believe
it's okay to think about sinning as long as you don't actually
go out and sin; but I tell you, one thing leads to another. You
won't go out and sin unless you first harbored the thought of
sinning as a possibility. One key to success is recognizing
when trouble starts and cutting it off before it gains strength.
Thinking about sinning is the first step -- cutting it off
there is the best way of avoiding sin.
I've told this before; but perhaps it's worth saying again.
This is like someone who knows chocolate is a weakness. He
knows he always overindulges so he told himself he'll stop
eating chocolate completely. He goes to the store and sees the
candy aisle. He tells himself he won't buy any, but he'll go
look at it. He enjoys looking at the chocolate. No harm in
that, right?
Then he tells himself it would also be harmless to smell it.
Surely! So he smells it. It does smell good, and he hasn't
eaten a bit of it. He's not overindulging, is he? That was
so harmless, he figures he could buy a box to take home. He can
look at it and smell it there. Again, no harm, right? So
that's what he does.
When he gets home, he tells himself overindulging is the real
problem. Surely it would be okay to eat one piece. Alas,
alack, that's what he tries to do; but before he knows what
happened, he's eaten the whole box. Then he's depressed! He's
failed again!
Yet how easy it would have been for him at first when he saw the
candy aisle to say, "No need to go down that aisle since I'm not
buying any candy." He would have been acting in line with
his intention not to buy any, refusing to be enticed into a
"little harmless" enjoying of it. You can see his original
intention was not firm. He undermined it, changing his mind
step by step.
The soul which wishes to avoid sin does something similar. It
does not feel free to do almost anything even if those things by
themselves are not sins. If doing something puts us in a
situation where we know we will be tempted to sin, we should
avoid it. If we do not, we are still not quite serious enough
about wanting to avoid sin. If we want to feel free to go look
at the chocolate, telling ourselves it's harmless, we should not
be surprised if we wind up at home crying after eating a whole
box of chocolates and telling ourselves we are failures.
I say the best thing he could have done was to say, "I came to
the store to buy other things, and that's what I'm going to do.
I'm not going to waste time in the candy aisle." He could also
devote time and energy to learning how to cook other things so
he enjoys eating healthy things. A great many of life's
failures can be avoided by choosing the good. Waffling between
good and evil almost always leads to trouble. If you know what
is good and what isn't, make the right decision and then act on
it immediately. Don't dawdle. Don't waste time thinking
"delicious thoughts" about the evil alternative. Yes, Eve saw
the forbidden fruit was "good" and "pleasant" in its own way.
She dawdled and wanted to think about it. Was it a
possibility? Yes, it was a possibility for her since she chose
to think about it.
I ask everyone now if their religion is in vain. Are there
things you used to do which now don't even tempt you? If so,
then your religion may not be in vain. You cannot sin in those
things anymore since you've seen something about them and
learned to say "No" to such thoughts. Those thoughts aren't
even taken seriously anymore.
If the soul takes its intention not to sin seriously, it will
face one temptation after another, so such temptations can be
disposed of. The flaws of the soul are dealt with, sometimes
one at a time; and if the soul is serious, it will not sin
knowingly. It can still err by not knowing everything, sinning
through ignorance; but such sins can be turned to advantage
since experience can cure ignorance. The soul which sinned
through ignorance can learn to avoid even those by learning.
While these are sins at one level, at another level they are not
sins.
No soul which wants to retain the freedom to sin can be said to
be on the path to perfection. The purpose of free will was so
we could choose to love and have it be real and mean something.
Once we have chosen that, we are not free to do anything we
please. We would be violating our own free will if we did.
In this matter, men and women are their own worst enemies. They
want to be good people, want to avoid sin, but then they betray
themselves, wanting to feel free to take the opposite view.
You can't have it both ways! Trying to have it both ways will
only produce feelings of failure as it did with the man in the
candy aisle; yet people undermine themselves all the time.
What we call "free will" isn't worth that much, not really,
unless we choose the good and stick to it. What many call "free
will" isn't their true will at all! It's them doing things they
hate and don't really want to do. It's a "false will", not
the actual "true will" of the person. The person wrecking his
own life and the lives around him isn't exercising "free will"
-- that's not the "true will" of that person. He's delusional,
not in his right mind. We are all children of God, and our
"true will" is always right, always loving, always benevolent.
Anything else is the "false will" which wrecks the person and
injures those around him.
It is impossible for two people both acting with their "true
wills" to conflict with each other. This does not mean people
agree about everything. They don't, and it would be a tedious
and boring world if they did. What it means is I arrange the
furniture in my house as I like and you do yours the way you
like. I don't tell you you're wrong and you don't tell me I
am. We grant each other the same "freedom" we want for
ourselves.
Therein lies the Great Commandment, "Do unto others as you would
have them do unto you." True Freedom consists in obeying the
Golden Rule. There is no better way of becoming enslaved than
by craving "freedom" for yourself while trying to deny the same
freedom to others. You are opposing the freedom God gave
others if you try that; and the universe will crush you. The
great sin, against both man and God, is to oppose the God-given
freedom of others. Indeed I think it may be the only sin.
When we see conflicts, we can sure the "false will" is at work
somewhere. I could be trying to boss you around about how to
arrange your furniture or you mine. Someone is not obeying the
Golden Rule. While it is a sin to oppose the "true will" of
others, obviously it's not a sin to refuse to give the "false
will" of others respect.
Some say, "Do what thou wilt is all the Law." This is actually
true, but it's also easily misunderstood. It must be the "real
person" operating, someone who knows he is a child of God and
who is guided by the Divine Nature God gave him. He is doing
what he truly wants, operating on the True Will. He is not
responding to others, returning evil or evil; he is not
influenced by such things. The illusion of this world is that
it's such a dangerous place, being a dog-eat-world, that we
can't be who we really are and really want to be -- we can't be
like little children -- the world would eat us alive. That's
the illusion that tells us we must do evil, we must do some
things we'd rather not do. We wouldn't survive otherwise. This
is how the false will arises; and it would be better to allow
people to nail you to a cross and kill you than to fall into
erroneous thinking and believe you need to resist such evil by
returning evil for evil. Such thinking is betraying self as a
child of God.
Embrace the True Self -- as God made you and intends us all to
be. Then have faith He will take care of you even if someone
nails you to a cross. Do not betray the "inner child." If
you do, it means you aren't trusting God to take care of you if
you do the right thing. Something else is looking more
powerful.
If people want to crucify you, realize that it's that "false
will" at work. They don't know what they're doing. Everything
will work out right in the end if and when they wake up and know
what they're doing.
Psalm 91:11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to
keep thee in all thy ways.
12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy
foot against a stone.
#Post#: 3306--------------------------------------------------
Re: Complete Freedom?
By: Piper Date: November 22, 2015, 2:01 pm
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[font=trebuchet ms]So much to think about, but overall-- yes!
A line from a song that I've always remembered:[/font]
[quote][font=georgia] . . . now I see
that freedom isn't free,
and love's the only true redeemer[/font][/quote]
#Post#: 3308--------------------------------------------------
Re: Complete Freedom?
By: Piper Date: November 22, 2015, 5:20 pm
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[quote]Embrace the True Self -- as God made you and intends us
all to be. Then have faith He will take care of you even if
someone nails you to a cross. Do not betray the "inner
child." If you do, it means you aren't trusting God to take
care of you if you do the right thing. Something else is
looking more powerful. [/quote]
[font=trebuchet ms]I think of a time when a visit from relatives
went so sour, that I literally spent a week on the floor in
misery. I wondered what I could have done or said differently.
I was so sad things turned out as they did, and even tried hard
to set things right, but to this day it doesn't work between us.
I've learned to accept it likely never will. We've little in
common, and they will never like me for who I am. But I am who
I am, I live as I choose, and they don't have to like it, only
respect it.
Even now, my faith takes me places others don't understand, but
I can't betray the path when it's given me such peace and a
whole vast horizon of potential learning. If anyone rejects me
for my choices, they reject my true self. I will trust God to
take care of me, come what may.
Did I ever tell you I used to pretend I was Saint Bernadette
when I was a little girl? I loved her faith and her courage. I
loved that she was blessed to see "that lady", though I really
did not understand then who Mary was, or her vast, infinite and
eternal connection with Jesus. Bernadette only lived 35 years,
a life with much illness, but the Blessed Virgin appeared to
her, identifying herself as "the Immaculate Conception." She
was very close to Mary and is said to have died while praying
the Holy Rosary.
Once, a nun asked Bernadette if she had temptations of pride
because of the visitations. "How can I?" she answered quickly.
"The Blessed Virgin chose me only because I was the most
ignorant."[/font]
[quote]It is impossible for two people both acting with their
"true wills" to conflict with each other. This does not mean
people agree about everything. They don't, and it would be a
tedious and boring world if they did. What it means is I
arrange the furniture in my house as I like and you do yours the
way you like. I don't tell you you're wrong and you don't tell
me I am. We grant each other the same "freedom" we want for
ourselves. [/quote]
[font=trebuchet ms]And the world (and forums) would be a more
peaceful place.[/font]
#Post#: 3311--------------------------------------------------
Re: Complete Freedom?
By: Kerry Date: November 23, 2015, 7:19 am
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[quote author=Piper link=topic=387.msg3306#msg3306
date=1448222464]
[font=trebuchet ms]So much to think about, but overall-- yes!
A line from a song that I've always remembered:[/font][quote]. .
. now I see
that freedom isn't free,
and love's the only true redeemer[/quote]
[/quote]Love is the only way out, I do believe. And it is not
quite enough that Jesus loves us. We must love him and others.
I do believe if we do not see that, perhaps we have not yet
"seen" him. " Lovest thou me?" Jesus asked Peter. Was that out
of selfishness? I say no. Jesus earnestly wanted Peter to
become like him. If we love Jesus and others, we become more
like Jesus; and that is what he wants. [quote author=Piper
link=topic=387.msg3308#msg3308 date=1448234428]
I think of a time when a visit from relatives went so sour, that
I literally spent a week on the floor in misery. I wondered
what I could have done or said differently. I was so sad things
turned out as they did, and even tried hard to set things right,
but to this day it doesn't work between us. I've learned to
accept it likely never will. We've little in common, and they
will never like me for who I am. But I am who I am, I live as I
choose, and they don't have to like it, only respect it.
[/quote]A question. Do they ever actually express anger about
anything? I'm curious about that. If I had to guess, I'd say
I bet not.
I'd guess too it has something to do with how they came up in
the world -- and that may also "trigger" something inside of you
related to how you were brought up. There are some people who
do not safe around anyone else unless that other person is
"unable" to injure them. If they're around capable people,
their wish is to undermine them and diminish them. Then when
they are convinced you are powerless to injure them, they feel
safe enough to show you "love."
There are people on forums like that. I usually don't get
along with them; but I could if I wanted. In fact, I think I
could get them to send me money if I put on a pathetic act and
told wild tales about how desperate I was. If they see me as
"above" them or "equal" to them, their goal is to cut me down;
so all I'd have to do is play along and pretend to be a wounded
or desperate person. Why do I oppose them, sometimes even to
the point of what appears animosity? I don't feel like
conning them; and I don't want to "buy" their "love" by putting
on an act. If I allowed them to diminish me, that only makes
them think their tactic is a good one. It's already succeeded
enough for them in the past, or they wouldn't be doing it.
Odds are their parents taught them this too -- beating them down
mentally and emotionally until the children were so down, the
parents felt it "safe" to show them a little affection. Who
knows where it started? How many generations have done it?
I was at a forum once years ago; and someone said to me, "You
treat everyone else so nice. You seem to like them. Why do you
treat me differently? You don't seem to like me." I wrote
back, "You have never done anything to make me like you." He
was an atheist of the bad sort, and he showed up at a Christian
forum mostly to berate people, to put them down, to criticize
-- and try to get them to lose their tempers so he could say
what bad Christians they were. His game was obvious to me. I
was not going to fall into his traps. I told him the truth
straight up; and I hope it woke him up to something about
himself. He knew very well that most of the Christians
putting on the "loving" act were being fake. The more patient
and "loving" they were, the more he felt free to keep going
after them.
Of course, I didn't go after him at once. I waited until I had
a list of his offenses against other people and not against me.
And when I went after him, a "Christian" urged me to be
moderate. I told him to mind his own business. The irony is
he had never advised the atheist to be moderate, so why tell me
that? I know why -- he enjoyed playing the "patient victim."
Maybe it's how he got affection as a child, or maybe his wife
only "rewarded" him if he agreed to be a victim.
You can count on such victims to be consistently on the "wrong
side" of things. Impressed by power and intimidation, they
usually side with the aggressor in a situation and gleefully
join in when the "gang leader" attacks an innocent person.
I wonder if your relatives might be trying to push you into
victim mode -- so you see one of them as "the dominant" leader
of the pack. If that is part of your history from childhood,
you may think or feel that the way to get along is to see things
from the viewpoint of the aggressor and try to placate them.
I don't think placating some people works. It only reinforces
their negative habit of using aggression to try to wear others
down. That's why I oppose such people vigorously -- I want to
show them it doesn't work all the time -- maybe they wear some
people down, but they can also run into people who can beat them
at their own game if that's the game they want to play. My
goal isn't to play that game; but if it's the game they want to
play, fine. I'll try to show them it's not a fun game. But
doing that with relatives can be awkward. I have done it
though.
Here's something that may astound you. If what I said is true,
they do respect you. They see you as dangerous and powerful
-- thus you pose a threat to them and they believe they need to
diminish you. It's crazy. Yes, it's crazy; but people do act
that like. It's like the man frustrated by his wife because he
feels unloved -- so he beats her until she says, "Yes, honey,
you know I love you." Then they kiss and make up. All make
believe. Fantasy. But it may be "best" they think they can do.
It's perfectly nuts. Anyone should know if you want someone
to love you, you don't abuse them -- you treat them nicely --
and maybe they'll love you and maybe not. But you don't abuse
people thinking that's the way to get love.
[quote]Even now, my faith takes me places others don't
understand, but I can't betray the path when it's given me such
peace and a whole vast horizon of potential learning. If anyone
rejects me for my choices, they reject my true self. I will
trust God to take care of me, come what may. [/quote]I would
say they are also betraying themselves.
I don't think it's possible to go against the God-nature in
another person without doing something to the God-nature in
self. The injury to you however painful it may be is not
permanent. You can get over it. What about them? Can they,
will they, ever get over it?
[quote]Did I ever tell you I used to pretend I was Saint
Bernadette when I was a little girl? I loved her faith and her
courage. I loved that she was blessed to see "that lady",
though I really did not understand then who Mary was, or her
vast, infinite and eternal connection with Jesus. Bernadette
only lived 35 years, a life with much illness, but the Blessed
Virgin appeared to her, identifying herself as "the Immaculate
Conception." She was very close to Mary and is said to have
died while praying the Holy Rosary.
Once, a nun asked Bernadette if she had temptations of pride
because of the visitations. "How can I?" she answered quickly.
"The Blessed Virgin chose me only because I was the most
ignorant."[/quote]
This is credible to me. Pride is behind thinking we know when
we do not. Pride is insane, really -- so unrealistic. It
really is best to know when we do not know for then we might
possibly come to know. If our minds are filled with trash that
isn't true but which pride tells us must be true since pride
also tells us how important it is to be right and the fellow
wrong, odds are the mind is closed.
You can observe pride at work on forums too. If a proud person
feels he might be losing an argument, it upsets him personally.
Why? Who has always been right about everything? I guarantee
you I've changed my mind about many things when I saw I was
wrong. I don't feel inferior for having been wrong or
uninformed, so I don't see others as being inferior if perchance
they happen to be wrong or uninformed. In fact, some of my
best friends have been what other people might call "average" or
"dumb." All I ask is that they don't put on airs and pretend
to be something they aren't.
There is irony in pretending to be cleverer than one really is
since it often makes one dumber. The proud person will be so
stubborn in his opinions, he makes himself dumber over time.
The more truth that is laid before him which he rejects out of
stubborn pride, the more his mind begins to fail. I've seen it
happen. I once told a man to stop arguing with me since he
knew he was wrong and his mind was failing him. People's minds
often do seem to fail them when arguing with me -- when they
know they're wrong and argue anyway? Of course, they're making
themselves dumber. The truly clever person admits when he
knows he's wrong. Who can argue with him after that? And then
he's also right. I wrote something silly once at T2O, and an
atheist caught it. What could I say? I was wrong. I thanked
him for correcting me. Who cares if he was an atheist? He was
right, and I could see it. So why not just say so? That
makes me laugh just thinking about it. I go to a "Christian"
forum and an atheist corrects me. So many Christians have tried
to correct me but failed to convince me; and along comes an
atheist and does it easily. Life can be amusing. Can you
imagine how much sillier I would have been if I decided I
couldn't let an atheist "win" against a Christian, saying,
"You know, gangs are important! Have to defend my gang!"
I think there is a good kind of ignorance as we see with Saint
Bernadette; and then there is the willful ignorance of the proud
and obstinate.
#Post#: 3313--------------------------------------------------
Re: Complete Freedom?
By: Piper Date: November 23, 2015, 1:27 pm
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[font=trebuchet ms]The dynamics between K's sisters and I go all
the way back to when we were teens. And, yes, trust me, they do
express anger. After the mentioned visit, one sister wrote a
letter pages and pages long criticizing me for everything, and I
do mean everything, she could think of. Right down to the way I
breathe, and I'm serious. I went upstairs for a bit to visit
with my little granddaughter, and I was accused of "huffing and
puffing up and down the stairs."
I didn't help enough in the kitchen, I didn't express gratitude
properly for the gifts they gave, I didn't know how to interact
with my own daughter, my grandchildren need "protection" from
me, I was "jealous" because K. spent time with his sister, I
didn't drink wine when everyone else did, on and on and on.
Insane. I don't know why they hate me so much, but I live with
it. Recently, one sister dropped K. as a friend on Facebook,
and she accused him of putting p orn on her page, which, if she
really knew her brother at all and really understood how
desperately -- yes, desperately-- he is struggling right now,
she would see how absolutely ridiculous that accusation was. Her
brother could die, he has such a horrendous amount of infection
in his body, and she thinks he's playing stupid games putting p
orn on her F.B. page? No one gets it. No one. So, he told her,
and said she should have asked him if he even did it, and he
demanded an apology. Ha. Nothing but more anger. Needless to
say, they are, once again, not speaking.
Anyway. People love to play their games.
Don't they?
But, if all the hell of the past few years has taught me
anything, it is that I CAN be strong, and . . . I can stand on
my own two feet.
When people WANT to think ugly, malicious things about you, they
will find a way. Jealousy is a very nasty, dirty thing, and
people think nothing of lying and misrepresenting things to
convince themselves they are right.
[/font]
#Post#: 3314--------------------------------------------------
Re: Complete Freedom?
By: bradley Date: November 23, 2015, 2:02 pm
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If we chose to have our Lord as our master, we cannot be free.
Yet His burdens are light, and the joy that comes with our
servitude can only strengthen our resolve to achieve the closer
union we all desire.
#Post#: 3326--------------------------------------------------
Re: Complete Freedom?
By: Kerry Date: November 25, 2015, 12:40 am
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[quote author=Piper link=topic=387.msg3313#msg3313
date=1448306826]
The dynamics between K's sisters and I go all the way back to
when we were teens. And, yes, trust me, they do express anger.
After the mentioned visit, one sister wrote a letter pages and
pages long criticizing me for everything, and I do mean
everything, she could think of. Right down to the way I
breathe, and I'm serious. I went upstairs for a bit to visit
with my little granddaughter, and I was accused of "huffing and
puffing up and down the stairs."[/quote]This sounds to me as if
they are afraid to express anger so they resort to less direct
methods of dealing with things. Why not discuss these
situations as they arose instead of seething inside about them
and then later pouring things out in a letter?
[quote]I didn't help enough in the kitchen, I didn't express
gratitude properly for the gifts they gave, I didn't know how to
interact with my own daughter, my grandchildren need
"protection" from me, I was "jealous" because K. spent time with
his sister, I didn't drink wine when everyone else did, on and
on and on. Insane. I don't know why they hate me so much, but I
live with it. Recently, one sister dropped K. as a friend on
Facebook, and she accused him of putting p orn on her page,
which, if she really knew her brother at all and really
understood how desperately -- yes, desperately-- he is
struggling right now, she would see how absolutely ridiculous
that accusation was. Her brother could die, he has such a
horrendous amount of infection in his body, and she thinks he's
playing stupid games putting p orn on her F.B. page? No one
gets it. No one. So, he told her, and said she should have asked
him if he even did it, and he demanded an apology. Ha. Nothing
but more anger. Needless to say, they are, once again, not
speaking.
Anyway. People love to play their games.
Don't they?
But, if all the hell of the past few years has taught me
anything, it is that I CAN be strong, and . . . I can stand on
my own two feet.
When people WANT to think ugly, malicious things about you, they
will find a way. Jealousy is a very nasty, dirty thing, and
people think nothing of lying and misrepresenting things to
convince themselves they are right.[/quote]
I'd say none of the criticism was real. If they had really
rational answers that would improve a situation, they would
talked when the situations arose. The fact they didn't tells
me they were afraid to talk when the situations arose. They
waited until they were out of "firing range."
So who did your daughter come to when she runs into problems?
To these "capable and intelligent" relatives who "have all the
answers to life"? It would be very interesting -- but a
complete waste of time and probably more vexation too -- to call
them on the phone, put on an act of being incapable and wanting
their advice and help, and ask them what they can do to help
your daughter. Almost guaranteed, it would be nothing.
Their words don't mean anything; and they're afraid to express
anger directly. They resent something, but almost guaranteed
again is that what is frustrating them has nothing to do with
what the letter was about. It's about something else --
jealousy or something else. Such people often feel inferior,
and that's the real problem -- but they try to feel better about
themselves by cutting down others. They almost never discuss
their real problem.
#Post#: 3327--------------------------------------------------
Re: Complete Freedom?
By: Kerry Date: November 25, 2015, 12:49 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Your daughter might be able to get some money out of the
relatives though. If they feel bad about themselves, it might
make them feel better about themselves if they gave her money.
They could also feel superior to you if they did that. As
crazy as it sounds, people can have such motives. But then
there is hell to pay if you ever take their help or money.
Since their real goal is to tear others down, they use the fact
that they helped you to get even bossier and more demanding.
If you don't go along with them, they'll remind you you owe them
and should feel guilty for not doing everything they say.
#Post#: 3332--------------------------------------------------
Re: Complete Freedom?
By: Piper Date: November 25, 2015, 11:09 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[font=trebuchet ms]Ha. Kerry. They've come between my daughter
and I so many times, always full of "love" for her and open
disdain for me, telling her openly they did not like me "from
day one"---at which time I was the shy 15 year old girlfriend of
their brother. However, for all their great love for my
daughter, they disappear very quickly when she has problems. My
daughter seems to crave their approval, but, yes, when her life
becomes messy, she comes to me. They won't help her. And, she
generally wants to maintain the illusion with them that her life
is under control. Appearances. Pretense.
People are so strange.
Anyway, I'm not sure what to do. I don't want to give her money
to satisfy the bank if they will just be missing payments again
in a couple of months. What's the sense in that?
I don't want to enable them to remain in what is ultimately an
impossible situation.
I've lost enough money because of the nefarious Tree Service.
::)
Time will sort things out. The kids have the ex's homes, as
well, and I could temporarily shelter their dogs. Maybe the two
of them need time to resolve things on their own.
Sorry. If you want to discuss this further, we should do it by
pm or email. Thanks, though. :)[/font]
#Post#: 3333--------------------------------------------------
Re: Complete Freedom?
By: Piper Date: November 25, 2015, 11:22 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=bradley link=topic=387.msg3314#msg3314
date=1448308955]
If we chose to have our Lord as our master, we cannot be free.
Yet His burdens are light, and the joy that comes with our
servitude can only strengthen our resolve to achieve the closer
union we all desire. We often must learn the hard way.
[/quote]
[font=trebuchet ms]Wise words, Brad. Not all, but many of our
burdens, we create by our own poor choices. Refusing good
advice, being impulsive, bad decisions, trying to live a
lifestyle we can't afford . . . spells trouble for many
Americans.[/font]
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