Quote:

...for the emotions of those whose belief systems might be shaken, ... What if their emotional and mental illness stemmed from belief in a false God and the Holy Spirit was drawing them and trying to love them into the Truth and peace and power and strength of mind that comes through the renewal of the Holy Spirit?



That's exactly where my thoughts went. What if their faith wasn't filling a need, an understanding? What if the stirring within them, the doubts, the questions, the lowness (if that's a word), etc. is the Holy Spirit working in them?

I feel led to repeat this scripture:
Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching.... Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." [John 8:31-32] No need to translate...a simple test built in.

It is a wonderful thing knowing that we don't have to earn our way.

I have a confession to make. This discussion has helped me in so many ways. Based on a close relative's belief sharing around 10 years ago, I started questioning my own. Over the years, I have done some reading (certainly not to the extent of NL), but enough. I started with Ron L. Hubbard's Dianetics. That scared me. But, I didn't stop. I read anything else that caught my fancy, that I thought would help me find my answer. I read enough to start believing that I had God in me - not that he lived within my heart, but that I had powers of God built into my brain. Essentially, my brain was my God part. The more I learned and heard, the more I questioned and doubted Christian teaching. I've questioned even more, since watching the PBS, Discovery Channel, Fox specials about who Jesus was, where the Bible came from, who put it together, what parts were left out and for what reasons. All the while, I was still getting my regular doses of my favorite ministers on INSP. It's been tough. I've hopscotched from doubt to doubt, from question to question, from belief to belief, from being fed-up to hopeless to happy, back to hopeless to fed-up, again. I came to a point of being mad at what I was expected to know and live by, and having to stick with it. At the same time, I was pissed because I might be living under the wrong belief system, no matter where my believing decided to settle. I even took on 2 ways of acting (no explanation necessary). Today, I feel something of that innocent faith that I had as a child growing in me again. I think I knew as a child what the truth was. I'll be glad to be back at that point. I still don't care for organized religion. I have reasons why, but I won't go into them.
Thank you all for participating in this thread. I really mean that!