Stephen's Spiritual Journey
This contains only my most recent entries. The text area only shows the teasers. To see the full posting click on the titles at the left.
In a sense, this whole website is about my spiritual journey. Writing the many articles has helped me to think out so many things that I would not otherwise of given much thought. If you have any desire to learn more about my spiritual journey, click on the [Chrono View] menu link at the top of this website. That will give a list of all my blog entries on this website starting at the beginning of this website.
| Title | Post date | Body |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome to My Online Abode | 09/06/2006... |
Updated 2018: This website is a chronical view of my thoughts and ideas and about life, God, religion, character and the like. (To see all the articles in chronological order, click here.) Over many years I have been thinking and journaling and then putting my thoughts on this website, I have been transitioning from the idea that "God is in total control" to where I am now. |
| Chose Your Path | 09/06/2006... |
I think of the past few posts that I have written here. The thought came to me that, among other things, is that I’ve been a little bit gripey about some things. It doesn’t take much effort to gripe about something, especially about someone else. But the griping about others is really an exercise of (inappropriate) pride. We all have challenges to face, and it is more beneficial to everyone to think about solutions, rather than gripes. |
| Questioning the Bible | 05/20/2010... |
Over the years I have noticed that many people are very explosive (get very angry very quickly) over anyone questioning that Bible as being "the Word God". I've wondered, why do they get angry. If the Bible was indeed true, then why would they get angry over it. People generally get angry when they are covering up a lie and it is about to be exposed. Why would anyone get angry over something that is supposedly true? |
| Inspiration of the Bible | 06/04/2010... |
Scholars of today put such extreme inportance upon the Bible being the inspired Word of God. Many scholars quote 1 Tim 3:16. This thought just came to me. If it was indeed true that all the Bible was written by the Holy Spirity through men AND if it was important for us to know that, would not each author have included that fact within the context of his writing? If the Bible were of such extreme importance, would not each author have stressed the importance of the readers knowing that their writing was being written by the Holy Spirit? |
| Faith Can Move Mountains | 07/20/2010... |
When I was much younger I would read the verse that said, "... Faith can move mountains..." and I thought that if I could just "muster up enough faith" then I could say, "Mountain, go into the sea." Of course, I could never muster up enough faith to make anything happen. |
| What Do You Mean by God? | 08/31/2012... |
Edit Dec 12, 2018. My thoughts, ideas, and beliefs about God have evolved substantially since I wrote this article. If you want to know more about that, go here: "What is God? What do I mean when I say God?" Now, to continue with this article: |
| Using Your Faith | 09/01/2012... |
True Faith can be Illustrated using a diving board analogy
1. The object of our faith is connected to the end goal..... 2. |
| What is God: What do I mean when I say God? | 01/09/2016... |
What is God? |
| What do I know? | 05/27/2018... |
In my life there have been times when I so wanted others to agree with me or to acknowlege that I was right or that I had the answers.
However, the further along I get in this journey of life I get, the more I realize how little I do know. And it is becoming less important to me that everyone (or anyone) agrees with me, or thinks that I am right. It is also less important to me that I know that I am right. I just try to do the best I can and try to do the right thing, with the facts and situations in life as I see them from my limited perspective. |
| Living a Life of Wonder | 06/22/2018... |
Is This Life Horrible or Wonderful?
In this life, what you look for is what you will find.
If you are looking for what is miserable and awful,
that is what you will find, a world that is miserable and awful,
filled with every dreaded thing
If you look for what is wonderful and awe-inspiring,
that is what you will find, a world that is wonderful and awe-inspiring,
filled with all the delights and wonders of this.
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| Wanting to be Known and Accepted | 07/18/2018... |
For a long time I have been wanting people to know who I was, what I thought about, and what I believed, and to fully accept me within that context. I've wanted people in my life to really listen to me, want to deeply know me, and to fully accept me for who I am. I have wanted to be validated by other people. I've wanted that from one of my relatives for a long time. In fact, that would be great if I received that from most of my close family. However, that hasn't happened. I remember part of what my counselor told me, that of not traumatizing other people by what I would say or do. |
| A Great Encouragement at the UU Church | 08/06/2018... |
For many years I have felt like I've been muzzled in church. I did not feel the freedom to speak of what I was really thinking, feeling, and believing. I did not feel that it was acceptable (by the church staff and members) to just be real.
I have been searching for many years for a church where I could be real, where I could be accepted for who I am, and where I could openly express my thoughts and ideas and questions about religion and life. At times I have been so discouraged, thinking that I was alone, so different and so strange.
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| A Meaningful Conversation in my shop | 09/07/2018... |
One thing that I love about my being a self employed tradesman is that I can talk to my clients about meaningful and authentic topics. However, I do choose carefully who I will begin an authentic conversation with.
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| Giving My Wife the Best | 10/11/2018... |
This article was prompted by my wife recently going back to work. With that came a need for a second car, which we just acquired. That second car is ten years old, but it is much newer than our year 2000 car. Now, who would get the "new" car. Of course, that selfish little kid who lives inside of me said, "Me! My car!" But I quickly put that little bugger back to sleep (although it never really sleeps. But I don't need to listen to it.) So, as I checked over and cleaned the car to give it to her, the beginnings of this article began to form in my mind.
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| Living A Life of Service | 10/11/2018... |
When I'm serving others, then I'm using all the stuff around me and thereby connecting with those things, and the environment, in a much deeper and richer way than just sitting around and looking at stuff, and being served.
Doing one's best and giving the best service is a rich and exciting way to live. That means never being satisfied with just doing stuff the same old way, just enough to get by. Giving one's best is living our best life now. It means that our mind is ever active, looking how to do things better and better.
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| How to Journal | 10/11/2018... |
I have been journaling for about 25 years now. |
| Back to the UU Church, A Meaningful Discussion | 11/04/2018... |
This morning Emmy and I went to the Unitarian Universalist Church in Corvallis again. Emmy likes to get there early before anybody else does so that she connect with the environment before people get there. Once we arrived at church she sat down at the sofa and table and begin folding bulletins as she normally does. I went into the fellowship hall and set up the tables and chairs that people use doing the snack break.
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| Listened to the Woman at the Park | 11/17/2018... |
This morning I decided to take our dog Teddy for a walk. As I went downtown and walked past the fountain at the park I saw a woman sitting at a picnic table writing some notes. Since I was walking in her direction anyway I walked over to her and made a comment, "Looks like you are writing."
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| Our Path to the Unitarian Universalist Church | 12/18/2018... |
For years I have been searching, thinking, and writing of the many aspects of faith, life, and our place here on this earth. |
| Not Normal | 12/19/2018... |
I feel like I am a damaged mixed up sojourner who is just struggling to make it through this life. I have been through so much that has caused me to be "different" than the normal that so many people seem to live in. Yet, I have no desire to be that kind of normal. Even though it is painful to be alone (yet I'm not truly alone) and to be different, to not have people understand, I like who I am and where I am in life. I would not change who I am for anything. |
| Not About The Church Hierarchy | 01/14/2019... |
Eric Mazur
Jordan Peterson
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