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I appreciate your witness very much and you will be missed by me! Sad that you feel you need to leave. I do understand because many of the posters here are quite vitriolic.
I'd be long gone by now if it weren't for the others. Also perhaps because I don't take anyone all that seriously in this forum. Including myself.
"Just call 'em the way I see 'em" for anyone interested to judge as they will. Vitriolic or otherwise, nothing that affects me all that much all considered. I've noticed a certain commonality among those who express frustration to the point of leaving this forum over time. Best to leave it at that I suppose.
i would be sad to see O'Darby stop posting. Their posts and views and insights are a welcome addition to the forum, whatever the topic may be. Many readers appreciate what O'Darby shares and posts. Just know that.
I know I do, but I suspect the scrutiny of O'Darby's thoughts, comments, beliefs and reasons for them causes a bit of heartburn that is not uncommon in this forum. "Disagreement" for some are "attacks" for others, and far as I can tell, there is little that can be done about those sorts of different "sensitivities," but I for one wish no one to leave this forum who has any interest in contributing. No matter my opinion about the contribution.
For those who don't know, the most interesting version of Young Earth Creationism is almost impossible to refute. I forget exactly what it's called, but the notion is that when you pick up a novel you enter into an entire preexisting world - mature cities, adult characters, and all the rest. The Creation, the theory goes, is the same way: God placed humans into a mature world, so there are really two timelines - the billions of years since creation and all the scientific evidence supporting it and the biblical timeline which reflects the perspective of the humans placed into it a relatively short time ago. It's actually a fairly clever and sophisticated theory, much more so than the idea that the entire universe is only 6,500 years old but was created with the misleading appearance of age.
I would not call it clever or sophisticated as it has several obvious problems.
1) where is the evidence for this?
2) why would a god do that?
3) it goes against Ockham's razor.
4) the major flaw, it means Adam and Eve were put in to a world with created humans who were not their descendants, and therefore can not be subject to the original sin curse put on the descendants of Adam and Eve.
This clever and sophisticated theory is just an ad hoc excuse to get around the evidence.
Guided by some force or person, no. But I have realized that when I get an intuitive sense or an unusual impulse I need to pause and try to figure out what my subconscious has picked up on that my conscious mind hasn't brought to my attention. We are bombarded with so many details at any given moment that it's easy to miss both warnings and opportunities.
Guided by some force or person, no. But I have realized that when I get an intuitive sense or an unusual impulse I need to pause and try to figure out what my subconscious has picked up on that my conscious mind hasn't brought to my attention. We are bombarded with so many details at any given moment that it's easy to miss both warnings and opportunities.
This is what I believe.
I am very good at finding missing objects, and my family joked that it was my supernatural power. One of my sons could be losing his mind over not being able to find something, convinced his brother stole it or something, and I could enter the chaos of his room and locate it in under 5 minutes. Nothing supernatural there, I simply stay calm and first look in places it might logically be..."he may have put that in the pocket of one of the six pairs of pants on the floor." And I am able to, when I stay calm and steady, proceed in a methodical manner and notice things. Flinging your possessions about in a fury won't get you results.
I'm also quite good at discerning when someone is lying to me. I won't necessarily know the details but I get an "off" feeling, in person, when someone is not being truthful. I don't put this down to divine guidance or psychic power, just noticing of subtle nonverbal information. I don't analyze the clues, but it adds up to my "off feeling." I generally will say nothing and wait, and the truth will be revealed and I am often confirmed.
Meanwhile, I recall an instance with my ex, where I warned him that a man he was doing construction work with was not going to pay him. Word had come back to me of something he said to someone else, and I also had that "off" feeling...my ex insisted that the guy had said he would get paid, so he would hold him to his word. (Like, how? In the end my ex didn't get paid and there was nothing he could do about it, except talk crap.) In reality, my ex did not want to take responsibility for finding another job, so he'd rather let this happen and then be able to blame someone else for the problems it created. Which is exactly what happened. But that man never let an opportunity for righteous outrage pass him by, even if he was forewarned, he'd rather march right into disaster as long as he could get mad at someone else for it.
To the OP's vacation example... I've had a few bad vacations. A couple times in my youth when I got sick on a vacation, that was not optimal. My ex ruined some trips before I started leaving him out of my plans and later left him altogether. And once I took a friend and by the time we got back we weren't friends anymore, and that was not a good trip, partly because of his behavior and partly because of other things. But it wasn't hard to plan it or get it underway. Thing is, even when things aren't going well, I think of it as an opportunity to learn, an adventure to complete, a future story to tell. And even bad vacations tend to have their good moments.
The puppy thing...part of that was fortuitous coincidence, and part of it was you being good at raising a dog properly. I'm not good at this, any dog I were to get would be a total nuisance to have around because I suck at training them and don't have the time or want to do that work. So I have a cat instead. Not that a cat presents with no effort required but at least they come with the "how to cat" software pretty much pre-installed. No training is really needed. All "here is your sand box" and the cat's like "cool, I'll poop in it thanks." Easy. I'm just realistic about what I want to deal with here. If I'd passed the free puppies, I'd have a moment's heartfelt hope that they all find good homes but I wouldn't stop.
I am very good at finding missing objects, and my family joked that it was my supernatural power. One of my sons could be losing his mind over not being able to find something, convinced his brother stole it or something, and I could enter the chaos of his room and locate it in under 5 minutes. Nothing supernatural there, I simply stay calm and first look in places it might logically be..."he may have put that in the pocket of one of the six pairs of pants on the floor." And I am able to, when I stay calm and steady, proceed in a methodical manner and notice things. Flinging your possessions about in a fury won't get you results.
I'm also quite good at discerning when someone is lying to me. I won't necessarily know the details but I get an "off" feeling, in person, when someone is not being truthful. I don't put this down to divine guidance or psychic power, just noticing of subtle nonverbal information. I don't analyze the clues, but it adds up to my "off feeling." I generally will say nothing and wait, and the truth will be revealed and I am often confirmed.
Meanwhile, I recall an instance with my ex, where I warned him that a man he was doing construction work with was not going to pay him. Word had come back to me of something he said to someone else, and I also had that "off" feeling...my ex insisted that the guy had said he would get paid, so he would hold him to his word. (Like, how? In the end my ex didn't get paid and there was nothing he could do about it, except talk crap.) In reality, my ex did not want to take responsibility for finding another job, so he'd rather let this happen and then be able to blame someone else for the problems it created. Which is exactly what happened. But that man never let an opportunity for righteous outrage pass him by, even if he was forewarned, he'd rather march right into disaster as long as he could get mad at someone else for it.
To the OP's vacation example... I've had a few bad vacations. A couple times in my youth when I got sick on a vacation, that was not optimal. My ex ruined some trips before I started leaving him out of my plans and later left him altogether. And once I took a friend and by the time we got back we weren't friends anymore, and that was not a good trip, partly because of his behavior and partly because of other things. But it wasn't hard to plan it or get it underway. Thing is, even when things aren't going well, I think of it as an opportunity to learn, an adventure to complete, a future story to tell. And even bad vacations tend to have their good moments.
The puppy thing...part of that was fortuitous coincidence, and part of it was you being good at raising a dog properly. I'm not good at this, any dog I were to get would be a total nuisance to have around because I suck at training them and don't have the time or want to do that work. So I have a cat instead. Not that a cat presents with no effort required but at least they come with the "how to cat" software pretty much pre-installed. No training is really needed. All "here is your sand box" and the cat's like "cool, I'll poop in it thanks." Easy. I'm just realistic about what I want to deal with here. If I'd passed the free puppies, I'd have a moment's heartfelt hope that they all find good homes but I wouldn't stop.
My entire family knows I have the uncanny ability to find a parking spot when it seems doing so will be impossible. Not only find one but find one right in front of where we want to go. In front of the entrance to the apartment we're visiting, on a busy city street. In front of the restaurant where it seems all parking spots are taken. One always seems to open up for me, to which I always say "the parking gods are looking favorably upon me again!"
We just adopted a puppy last weekend. We lost our beloved Cleo on New Year's Day and have been reluctant to get another ever since for a variety of reasons. The need to find a hypoallergenic dog being one of them, because our son is badly allergic to dog dander. Finding hypoallergenic dogs is not as easy as adopting or saving a dog from the pound like we did our last one. We hadn't even bothered seriously looking into finding a hypoallergenic dog, but we loved having our dog when she was still with us. For over 16 years. We knew we'd get another sooner or later. In fact we were wanting it to be later. Well later but last weekend we were simply walking along the water in Monterey when we unexpectedly came across a breeder with one last puppy of eight in the litter they were still trying to sell. It was "love at first sight."
$2,400 later, we came home with a hypoallergenic puppy that afternoon and so far Sadie has been a total delight! Has made our home her own as if she had been here from the beginning. My wife is again like a mother with her first new born.
Guided? Yes. Sometimes I feel guided, but I try not to let my imagination get the best of me...
I really can't point to any supernatural guidance in my life.
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I do understand because many of the posters here are quite vitriolic.
