The God I Know And His Relationship With Me

[Guest Girl Emily]

I was raised in a Christian home. My family going to church every Sunday and sometimes more. I attended Sunday school and learned the stories of the Bible. From third grade on every summer I spent a week at church camp. It was about sixth grade that I accepted Christ as my personal Savior and was baptized. It was an emotional decision limited by my Sunday school theology and the God it presented.

At 25 I started college and attended one sponsored by an evangelical congregation. I had to attend a year of Bible study from a historical academic perspective. The university goal was to prepare pastor's and lay persons for a lifetime of service and spreading the word. It is at this point in my life that I learned how to read the Bible and put all its parts in a complete picture of God, at least more complete than I had from Sunday school.

As part of my old testament class I spent 14 days in Israel so we could put the Bible in a geographical context. To see how He brought together at the cross road's of the known world a message of His existence and His plan for reconciliation.

In God's plan he used the Mosaic laws for two main purposes. First to seperate their culture from those that surrounded them on all sides. Secondly it was to teach the idea of sin and convict everyone of their need for His grace. In old testament times forgiveness was dispensed through animal sacrifice. For about a thousand year's the Israelites prospered and then fell away as their relationship with God grew and waned as generations passed.

Then the Roman empire spread across three continents joining people with roads and language. The stage was set for the birth of His Son. On His mother's side He decended from murders, adulterors, prostitutes, and worst of all a foreigner.

The Son grew up under the Mosaic law and because of His divinity he lived the perfect life not once did He sin against the Father. He suffered allof our human temptations this is seen in Mathew description of His ministry.

So, what did Jesus teach about His Father. There are only two commandments now. To love God with all your heart, mind and soul. Second, to love your neighbor as yourself. Paul preaches in Hebrews that if one is to live under some of the law they are responsible for keeping all of the law. But with acceptance of Christ we are freed from all the laws.

IMHO under the new covenant there is absolutely no sin in crossdressing or transgenderism in themselves. That said everything must be monitored so that it does not lead to sin. God knew what He was making as He stiched us together before we were born.how cruel would He be if it were a sin to be true to yourself? We all feel or felt the seperation from our earthly parents because we are hiding the truth. GOD doesn't want that kind of separation from you.

I hope this post brings some clarity to the God that is described in the Bible. His love for us His children. And our obligations under the new covenant to accept His Son as our personal Savior restoring our relationship with the Father.

God bless you all

[Guest KellyKat]

The only thing I might add are that God created us in his image. A spiritual image not one of flesh and bone. He gave us a soul to raise us above the birds and the beasts. This outer shell we wear doesn't bring us closer to grace. It is imperfect. The only way to grace is thru Christ, period. God did make us perfect thru our imperfections. It is by our faith in Christ, that we face these imperfections of body and soul and strive to better ourselves. How cruel would it be for us if a limit were put on God's love? That we couldn't find grace because we corrected a hairlip or any other physical trait that brought pain into our lives.

We 'become' perfect thru these trails as we become closer to Christ. God doesn't limit his love to ones that are born perfect - because none are. We are flawed creatures, whether it be on the inside or the out.

I believe that the greatest gift that was given us was free will. We are all in some sort of of internal strife. It makes us who we are. What eases that strife for one might only bring more pain to another. The only choice that God asks of us is to love him and walk with Christ willingly. Everthing else is moot.

Luv KK