Reflections from the Back of the Turtle - Softcover

Reynolds, Fred Gabriel Simeon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1456715879 ISBN 13: 9781456715878

Verlag: AuthorHouse, 2011

Inhaltsangabe

Reflections from the Back of the Turtle von: Fred Gabriel Simeon Reynolds

Über diesen Titel

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Reflections from the Back of the Turtle

By Fred Gabriel Simeon Reynolds

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2011 Fred Gabriel Simeon Reynolds
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4567-1587-8

Contents

Foreword..................................................ixIntroduction..............................................xi1. Truth..................................................12. Jealousy...............................................43. Workaholism............................................74. Anger and Rage.........................................115. Fear and Phobias.......................................146. Love versus Like.......................................177. Worrying...............................................208. Evil and Sinister Evil.................................239. Thoughts to Feelings...................................2610. Eternal Life..........................................2911. Sin and Forgiveness...................................3112. Emptying Oneself......................................3513. Infinite versus Finite................................3814. Giving to God.........................................4215. Grace.................................................4616. Who Am I?.............................................5017. Life and Soul.........................................5418. God's Will............................................5719. Children..............................................6020. Faith.................................................6321. Presence of God.......................................6722. Bad Habits............................................6923. Power.................................................7224. Who is God?...........................................7525. Healing...............................................7826. Complex and Simple....................................8127. Memory................................................8428. Drawn to Power........................................8829. Faith, Hope and Love..................................9230. Death and Salvation...................................9531. Fear of Being Alone...................................9832. Forgiveness...........................................10133. Knots.................................................10434. The Deer Fly..........................................10735. Mater Dolorosa (Mother of Sorrow).....................11036. What if God Were Not Alive?...........................11237. The Abandoned.........................................11338. Freedom...............................................11639. Failure...............................................11940. Love and Gratitude....................................121Conclusion................................................125About the Author..........................................127Prologue..................................................131Bibliography..............................................133

Chapter One

Truth

Perhaps the greatest question ever asked is: "What is truth?" This was Pilate's question to Jesus. "Truth," as defined by systematic theologians, is "fidelity." What this means is that God is eternally faithful to God's people, but God's people are not often faithful to God. This means that truth is not a mathematical equation winding up as a fact, but one of which the answer is always "fidelity." The word fidelity literally means keeping our commitments.

Therefore, God is Truth. God is infinite. That means that God has no limits, no imperfections, but we human beings and all of life on this planet are finite ... capable of lying. Those of us living today have a side of light and a side of darkness within us. The Bible tells us that sin entered Holy Scripture with a lie that the Serpent tells the woman.

"You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil," Genesis 3:4-5.

Now, as I understand it, according to rabbinical teaching, there is "the story of Lilith." She, according to the story, was created without a soul as a mate for Adam. But Adam was dissatisfied, so we have Eve. Lilith, according to the story, was jealous of Eve, who did not keep her commitment to God. Lilith was the temptress of Eve, just to get even. I wonder if any of us have ever done such a thing!

The story of Lilith is one of a person who is cunning, baffling, and, in general, a great con-artist. Eve falls for the lie: "On the day you eat of this fruit, you will be like God," Lilith lied, God does not. God only tells the truth and is always faithful to His people.

The sin committed by the man and woman had to do with power, the greatest high a human being can have. They were going to be more powerful than God; and, Lilith succeeded in helping destroy them. I've heard it said that the one thing an active sinner cannot stand is a saint. What I mean here is that, just as an active, evil person wants a good one to do wrong in order to ruin their lives, Lilith wanted to destroy the man and the woman. Power used wrongly, and jealousy, destroy both those who give power to evil and those who invoke it. Take note!

It does not matter whether there was a serpent or a Lilith. What matters is that there is a spirit of rebelliousness in us people. Instead of rebellion, there is a call to be grateful and to love God back. We do the same thing with people. People should always say, "Thank you" to God for keeping us alive and letting us belong to the family of God, which includes all human beings.

After all, it has been wisely said that an attitude based on gratefulness is much happier than one that is based on ingratitude. This is the summation of the first week of the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

God freely gives us love and this love is what keeps us alive; and, in the struggle of life, we continue until God calls us to be with Him in heaven. We are also under the protection of God, as Psalm 105, 12:15, says: "When they were few in number, of little account, and sojourners in it, wandering from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people, he allowed no one to oppress them; he rebuked kings on their account, saying: "Do not touch my anointed ones, do my prophets no harm!"

God is always faithful to God's people; God never forgets us; we are always in the mind and heart of God, for God always loves each and all of us uniquely, unconditionally and totally. After all, we forget this about God, but God holds us in the palm of his hand.

Chapter Two

Jealousy

Jealousy is the 8th Capital sin in the Eastern Church. It is different, I believe, from envy in that envy, it seems, is the admiration and desire for what another has; whereas, covetness is the actual desire to take it from them. Jealousy has been an overriding theme since the start of time. We have the example from Josephus concerning the atrocities of the Greek rulers over the Jews.

"At the time when Antiochus Epiphanes was disputing the control of Palestine with Ptolemy VI, dissention broke out among the leading Jews who competed for supremacy because no prominent person could bear to be subject to his equals," The Jewish War, chapter one, "Herod's Predecessors," p. 33. According to Josephus: "Antiochus, unable to control his passions and remembering what the siege had cost him, tried to force the Jews to break their ancient law by leaving their babies uncircumcised and sacrificing swine on the altar."

All of this happened because the Jewish people would not unite. Jealousy had ridden wild...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: AuthorHouse
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2011
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1456715879
• ISBN 13: 9781456715878
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 160
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: GPSR Kontakt; gpsr@libri.de; ; Europaallee 1; Bad Hersfeld; 36244; Deutschland