Yes it was in gentle humour, chilli to me was that you add a certain spice to your replies and posts and thats a good thing, sometimes its very healthy to be challenged, gets the brain juices going. You have an approach that is good to have and you arent afraid to ask questions or make statements, sure we learn to taper those but Id rather you be this way than hidden and closeted with your thoughts. You know what I mean? 8) I take a lot of interest reading what you have to write and as I said enjoy the challenge. Be so boring if we all agreed on “absolutely” everything. And we are friends so we can rile each other a little wink (we are friends arent we? huh?huh? P )

No worries. I apologise if it came across in a way I didnt mean it to sound at all. oops

Hmm there are heaps of things I want to say but chances are they won’t be warmly appreciated 😆 so in the spirit of learning when to shut up I will limit myself to one aspect of what you said Craig.

I think lack of support from a Christian support network is probably a big one, including alienation from the church. It’s almost impossible to be a Christian by yourself and when you try you miss out on so much of the joy of being apart of a fellowship of people who mutually encourage one another in Christ.

I tried to be a Christian by myself once after I got sick of my church, had a tantrum and decided chruch sucked 🙄 it lasted about two months. I found that when I was not involved with other peoples Christian lives and journeys and didn’t express my faith in terms of ‘us’ but insted figured it all applied to ‘me’ an egocentrism began to encroach upon my life. My faith revolved around God and I insted of God and the whole picture that makes up humanity. Sure there was a ‘personal relationship’ of sorts but not a healthy one, frustration incurred because when you put so much emotional energy into a trancendant God who doesn’t talk with words thats likely to happen! The Christian life is not meant to be lived sitting around pondering about the Christian life, God commands us to do! To get out there and be apart of things.

When people are born again they become (hopefully at least some of the time) dim reflections of Christ himself the bible indeed says that Christ lives in you. I find that we come to know God better by spending time with people who have also dedicated their lives to him. We see the power of God in the peace protests, the love of God in the mother who cares for her children, the compassion of God in specialised ministries and so on. The encouragement you can recieve from other Christians and that you get from giving in the name of a Christ is a big step in a mature relationship with him. We are a body, a family, a church and a fellowship. One of the gretest gifts God gives us is each other.

It stands to reason then that when one is cut off from that environment one of the key sources of motivation to keep seeking God and building on that relationship the relationship can fade somewhat. Not that God Himself fades but our perceptions of connection to Him do.

have a deep personal level with God in my early life as if I really needed God so much but now… I’m ok, I don’t need God as much.

We all need God all the time to the same degree. The newborn baby needs God no less than the dying man. If Christ is the way, the truth and the light, the link to heaven then we all need Him constantly. Sure over time we may feel we are big enough and strong enough to need God less because we are ‘in control’ of our own lives but who are we kidding! We are talking about the God who sent the ten plauges, who parted the red sae, who made Himself human and died on a cross. We are nothing compared to that God! We cretainly do not have more control over events than he does.

this is interesting…….you know….back in my early life I became a christian, not because of the church i went to (Anglican High Church)….but because i felt i needed God in my life. I continued to go to that church for some time but the only thing that sustained me was my personal relationship with God. There was actually very little else to help prop me up like good preaching and teaching and a vibrant faith community. I often look back and am grateful for those days……they instill something in me that i think a lot of people miss out on today because we have so many mega-churches, good preachers , conferences, DVD’s demographic groups etc etc.

I think there is and always will be a need for some structure and to connect like minded people. If we dont believe that we would close down F2B. In some ways i guess we are providing what might be missing for some of us in local congregations. Does ‘fellowship’ and learning always have to be face to face. Traditionally it was because that was all that was available….this not the case any more.

I go to a connect group…..which is a small home group. I think I like that level of interaction the most.

maybe it has something to do with personality. So I guess we could say that there are benefits in every form of connection then.

1. personal with god

2. small group – able to feel connected and supported

3. the large church or organisation like F2B where you feel like you belong to something bigger and more can be achieved and accomplished with the larger group

4. Forum – where people can share freely and honestly and even remain anonymous.