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    Faith Journey
    Faith Journey
    Faith Journey
    Ebook107 pages1 hour

    Faith Journey

    By Kevin Patrick Kenealy

    ()

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    About this ebook

    “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road - (Mark 10:52). The following are true stories that show the power of having faith in our world. They are inspirational, and each touch on lessons from the Bible. The beginning of the book includes faith

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKevin Patrick Kenealy
    Release dateJul 11, 2018
    ISBN9780692155776
    Faith Journey

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      Book preview

      Faith Journey - Kevin Patrick Kenealy

      Kevin Patrick Kenealy

      Faith Journey

      A Guide to Christian Living

      Acknowledgments:

      I would like to thank the following people who have had the most profound influence on me with my faith over all of these years: my pastor and those at St. Paul Lutheran Church, my family, my wife, my friends, my professors at Trinity Christian College, and those that have contributed to this book: Justin Synnestvedt, Karen Bidus, Christina Ebertsch, Brandon Sapho, Jeff Barth, Lawrence Puder, and Jeremy Herring. Most importantly, I would like to give thanks to God, the three in one. Without all of you, I do not know where I would be. 

      Purpose:

      I wanted to write this guide and include the photos that I took in here to praise God’s glory and spread His good Word. The following accounts are either from events I have experienced in my life that have brought me closer to the Lord or are poems I have written while feeling the Holy Spirit. Accounts from other believers are in here as well in order to spread the good Word.

      John 1:1 – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

      Introduction: Testimonials

      The following are faith journey messages from fellow believers, which talks about their relationship with the Lord.

      By Justin Synnestvedt

      Retired Philosophy Professor

      I recently had major, life-threatening heart surgery. I was more fearful of losing my memory than of dying, since the former would end my long career of looking for truth through philosophy, and encouraging others, to ‘think critically.’ But for now, memory seems better than ever, which leads to life choices. Renewed physical energy and an intact brain brings conflicting feelings. One is a sense of urgency to do and learn more, whether it be playing music, or traveling the world, or completing writing projects I’ve sketched out during a long life, in poems, dream journals, travelogues, social commentary, and philosophical problems that have come to mind.

      An opposing feeling is that in the long run, none of these projects is worth worrying about or recording. I’ll soon enough leave it all behind – with death – and move on (with help from above) to a more immediate and practical kind of knowledge (even wisdom), that applies to living spiritually – a life that doesn’t depend on time and space for its truth or value. Moreover, I’m more and more convinced that our egos – especially pride in our own intelligence, which is a big part of my nature – is the biggest obstacle to moral or spiritual growth. So, I have many questions, and few answers!

      Kevin asks ‘How you came to Christ, or your faith journey.’ It wasn’t a ‘Hallelujah, I’m saved!’ experience. In fact, I’m not at all sure of salvation. I was raised in a small, Christian community near Philadelphia that takes the ideas of Emanuel Swedenborg as the center of its church, school and social life. Swedenborg was an 18th century scientist, philosopher, and unorthodox Christian theologian. In fact, he strongly criticized Catholic and Protestant traditions alike, saying both had lost the true understanding of scriptures shown in the early Apostolic age, which were perverted, starting with the first Nicaean Council (325 CE). His main critique was that (despite all official doctrinal claims to the contrary) people are taught to believe, and do believe, there are three distinct divine persons. From that perspective, a second error follows, i.e. that Christ’s death saved everyone who believes, and that any effort on their part to ‘do good’ only gets in the way; it is ‘faith’ that saves. The third error is to make sure a person who dares to question or reason about these matters, will destroy her salvation. So, the mass of people are locked into an empty mouthing of general guilt, but take no real responsibility, for either what they intend, or for their efforts to control their natural selfish condition. This effectively blocks God from bringing about their salvation.

      My most basic belief is that there is a God who is good – indeed, that God is goodness itself. God is not the angry Judge, who must be appeased by his Son’s sacrifice. Everything else I believe follows from this.

      The second idea is that God is loving and wise. The nature of goodness is to love others outside of oneself, and to seek their happiness. Ultimately, this love is the source

      of our life. If we lost all our loves, including love even for ourselves, we would die, emotionally and physically. If we lost God’s love, we would cease to exist. But that can’t happen, because that love is infinite and eternal.

      Along with being loving, God is wise. That is, whatever His love intends to bring about, His wisdom is the way that it can best be accomplished. Divine love can’t function except in the forms that divine wisdom provides. God’s love, working wisely, is what I call Divine Providence. It’s the way the universe ‘works,’ always for the best. From the beginning, to eternity, this providence will continue in its purpose. And its purpose is to lead people to whatever happiness they are willing to receive. 

      People are free, must be free, and are guaranteed freedom, so that providence can work. Providence can’t force, or even lead people to happiness, if they won’t accept it. No one, not even God, can make another person happy. Happiness must be accepted as a person’s own. This is obvious in human relations, and it’s even more true with God, who really wants people to be happy, and has no selfish interests. A person (parent, lover, friend) who tries to force happiness on another – even when she is certain the loved one is heading for unhappiness – can’t make it happen. Every effort to do so only leads to imposing one’s will on the other, which ends up, in effect, trying to substitute the do-gooder’s idea of happiness for the other’s genuine happiness. This amounts to an expression and proof

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