broken trust

Trust, Questions and Freedom

I was living life like a trusting child, in somewhat of a carefree way until the years 2020 and 2021 happened when I began noticing contradictions that made me question what I was hearing. You know what I’m talking about, the really obvious type of (let’s just call it what it is) LIES: when actions don’t match the words we hear. When what I observed didn’t support what I was hearing. I didn’t want to accept what I was observing; my trust was broken. This wasn’t just one aspect of my life where my trust was broken, it was in the world, in business, in relationships, and it was all happening at the same time.

When trust was broken in a majority of the areas of life that “supported” me, where did I turn? God. I turned to God even more than I ever have in my life. I prayed, read the bible and studied the bible and it distracted me from the harsh realities I was facing. I’m a curious person and I love to explore, as in travel, but also in exploring thoughts and ideas of others. So I explored. I started seeing that some things I was taught in religion didn’t line up with what I was reading in the Bible. The timing of this was ironic, because this meant another area of “trust” was broken: the religion I was taught growing up. I just wanted the TRUTH to be found SOMEWHERE! This caused me to want to separate from others and look deeper into these findings: What is the Truth? Where can it be found? I trusted God, and I still do. After reading the complete Bible, most of the questions I had were answered, and it made sense of all these nonsensical things happening in my life. I felt compelled to share what I discovered in the bible and I did.

Click here if you want to explore more about the Bible being trustworthy/true.

From the secular aspect of the world and what’s happening today, the Bible gives clarity to this too; it’s all in there. Many things happening in world events right now were foretold in the Bible. If I hadn’t studied the Bible, I wouldn’t be aware of this. Our freedom is under attack, there are those who seek power and dominance and the only way for them to achieve this is through forced control because if given the choice, not everyone will choose to submit. Many people are seeing this and becoming vocal about it, and something that I understand from the Bible comes to mind: God created each of us with a purpose: to fulfill His will. People are using their skills and talents to resist this forced control and I thank God for each and every one of you! May God be with you in this effort.

While freedom remains, to some degree, despite some censorship, all of us have the freedom of choice. Our choice comes with consequences and we individually weigh the choice and consequences when making a decision. I believe “choice” remains because God is the one who gave all people that freedom from the very beginning. I believe we are at a critical moment in time right now and while I currently have the freedom of speech, I want to share some thoughts with you, some things I hope you think about as an individual: don’t automatically believe my words, investigate this, don’t automatically believe what you’ve been taught, investigate it, then arrive at your own conclusion, because not everyone will arrive at the same conclusion and that is the way God allows it: a personal CHOICE! Freedom.

As I mentioned earlier, I found some of the things I was taught growing up that didn’t match up with the Bible and that destroyed my trust in the religion. Why did I choose what I read in the Bible over what I was taught? Because what I found in the Bible was consistent and answered questions I had. My former religion was “Christian” based so the bible was an acceptable means of seeking information and I believe the Bible to be a “God inspired” source for the truth. I chose what I believe is “God inspired” information over the information that was man made religious traditions from my former religion. But this isn’t where I stopped. I had more curiosity, I had friendships throughout my life with people who are Jewish and Muslim, and I would describe them as “good” people, from a secular viewpoint. Although I know that no one can really be labeled “good” other than God, so I use that term only to attempt to describe what most people think of as good: kind people who act in loving ways.

So my “exploring” inclination led me to “take a peak” into both faiths and see what is similar and what is different. I say “take a peak”, because I am not an expert in any religion, I was just curious. After all this broken trust happened in my life, I wanted to see what those faiths were all about and why people believed in them compared to any other belief. I think many people believe what they were taught to believe as they grew up, from those who cared for them. Caring people do have an influence on the lives of others.

The foundation of the beliefs in each faith are:

Jewish faith- source: The Torah: The Torah (law of Moses) includes the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, named: Genesis (written approximately 1446-1406 BC) , Exodus (written approximately 1440 BC), Leviticus (written approximately 1440 BC), Numbers (written approximately 1406 BC) and Deuteronomy (written approximately 1406 BC). But there are also “sacred writings”, the scripture that is part of the historical Jewish belief (The Nevi’Im, and Ketuvim).

Christian faith- source: The Bible: The five books of the Torah are incorporated into what is called the Old Testament of the Bible. The Jewish scripture found in the TaNaKh (link to a summary) are also included in the Old Testament of the Bible. So Jewish faith is the foundation of the Christian Bible and this scripture found in the Bible was written approximately starting in 1446 BC. In addition to these scriptures found in the Old Testament, the Bible adds the New Testament books which include the life of Jesus (the Gospel), teachings, the followers of Jesus and more prophesy in the book of Revelation written in the 1st century, around 90 AD (the prophecies do not contradict the prophets of the Old Testament, but provide more detail and insight regarding the events to take place).

Muslim faith – source: The Quran (a prophetic revelation and doctrine established by Muhammed written in the 7th century/600 AD) and Hadiths which became the basis for the Islamic religion.

I’ll start with belief similarities (from my research) that Christian, Jewish and Muslim people share:

We all believe in the same Creator: “God” “Hashem” “Allah”
We all believe that the way we live our life matters
Jesus lived on earth and taught people
All good things come from God
There is only one God
There is a Messiah who will come (but the roles of the Messiah in the beliefs are different)
There is a Judgement Day when the Messiah returns

But there are differences:

The Trinity: Christians believe in one God, but three persons making up that one God, or the “Godhead” as I’ve heard this referred to: God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit (called “The Trinity”) – this is definitely a challenging concept to comprehend and for me, the clearest way I came up with so far to explain this is to give an example of something material that we know for a concept to hopefully make the understanding clearer. If you’ve seen a 3-in 1 winter coat this is something can function independently yet is part of the (1) coat. For example the first layer may be a light, fleece jacket, the next layer might be a down insulated layer, and the third layer might be a waterproof outer shell. Each jacket on it’s own has a function, but together they are one. If you have trouble visualizing this here’s a video clip of a 3 in one jacket, not exactly the one I described but for concept. (Neither Jewish or Muslims believe in the Trinity) Click here if you want to explore a study on the Trinity belief.
Jesus: Christians believe Jesus is the Son of God (part of the Trinity/Godhead), the Messiah, Jesus was without sin, he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born to a virgin mother (Mary), he came to earth to save people (and if someone does not believe this, they will not be in eternity with God), was crucified, died, was buried and rose from the dead, interacted with people after the resurrection, then ascended into Heaven, but sent the Holy Spirit to be present after he left the earth. Jesus will return to the earth and will be visible to everyone when he returns, arriving in the clouds (the same way he departed when he ascended into the clouds in front of witnesses). Jewish people do not believe Jesus was the Messiah because he didn’t complete all the prophecies/finish what was prophesized when he was on earth. The Jewish people are waiting for the Messiah to arrive. Muslim people believe that Jesus was a prophet and a good person, believe that his mother was a virgin, but do not believe that Jesus died on the cross. The three differing beliefs about Jesus is the greatest difference and a critical one because it has consequences for every person. So which belief is the truth? That is for you to decide, and worth investigating. Click here if you want to explore study information on the Nature of Jesus.
Eternity/the Afterlife: Christians believe the only reason we will be able to enter into eternity or the after life is through Jesus who came to earth for God’s purpose. Jesus’ purpose (God’s will) was to reveal God in human form to people, teach people about the spiritual realm (things unknown to people), fulfill the prophecies about the Messiah, and to most importantly become the sacrifice required to save ALL people. Our “good works” are not enough to be as holy as needed to be in the presence of God. We are not perfect beings, nor will we ever be, but God wants us to be with Him, so he sent Jesus to bridge that gap of our imperfection. From what I’ve found, I don’t think the afterlife is very clear, certain or described in the Jewish faith. What I’ve found in the Muslim faith is that there will be an afterlife. Click here if you want to explore information on the afterlife belief.
The Messiah: Christians believe the Messiah is Jesus and there will be a second coming of the Messiah in the future and judgement follows his return. Jewish people believe the Messiah has not come yet, but will come in the future. Muslims believe that Jesus will return (but don’t believe he died on the cross, instead he was rescued by God and taken up) and when Jesus returns, he will “follow” the Mahdi. Very different beliefs. Click here if you want to understand why Christians believe Jesus is the Messiah.
The Anti-Christ: Christians believe there will be a deception near the end of the world (during a 7 year time period) and the Anti-Christ (along with the help of a false prophet) will deceive many people (even some Christians) and will be able to take control of them, thereby causing those people to lose the opportunity of the afterlife with God, but not only lose that, but suffer the consequences of allowing the deceivers to take control, from submitting to them instead of God and therefore will be sent to eternal hell. The Jewish people don’t acknowledge this. The Muslims believe there will be an Anti-Christ at the end also. Click here if you are curious about the AntiChrist.

For those who believe God exists, but if you are unsure about any further beliefs, it is important to pray directly to God and ask for the truth to be clear to you, ask for wisdom in regard to these various beliefs. I think all who believe in God know that God will respond if we genuinely seek him.

The belief you choose should always be your choice, no one should “force” anything on you, but it is worth your time to research what you believe. It’s never a good situation if you are forced to decide this “on the spot” and you haven’t had time to fully think through this. Take the time this winter to reflect and research.

January 8, 2022January 10, 2022 by annm2705 Categories: American, FAITH, God, Improvement, RELATIONSHIPSTags: Afterlife, Anti-Christ, belief, Bible, broken trust, christian, Eternity, FAITH, freedom, Jesus, Jewish, lies, Messiah, Muslim, prophecy, questions, Quran, Torah, Trinity, Trust Leave a comment

One commonality we share is broken trust at some point in our lives. Now that some of us have more time than we ever had before, our minds are more activated: contemplating: “What is truly going on?” Many of us can’t stay still, if we are not busy doing something, then we are busy thinking something. The novelty and desire for more time has worn off for many people (those not on the “front lines”) during this pandemic. Most people are ready to get back to what was known to be “normal.”

As time goes on, I see a mixture of: those filled with hope, those filled with fear and those who react by avoidance (doing whatever they can to “escape” reality.)

Time is the most valuable resource we have on earth. Time is valuable because we can never “make more of it,” once it’s gone, it’s gone. Realizing this, how we spend our time matters.

Getting back to broken trust, or mistrust, there is a humorous viewpoint of what’s happening now that’s been circulated on social media recently, by an unknown author:

“All. Of. This. 🤣

May this share help straighten out some of the confusion and misinformation out there, thanks to fake-stream media… Here is my understanding of the current findings in a short summary 😊:

1. Basically, you can’t leave the house for any reason, but if you have to, then you can.

2. Masks are useless, but maybe you have to wear one, it can save you, it is useless, but maybe it is mandatory as well.

3. Stores are closed, except those that are open.

4. You should not go to hospitals unless you have to go there. Same applies to doctors, you should only go there in case of emergency, provided you are not too sick.

5. This virus is deadly but still not too scary, except that sometimes it actually leads to a global disaster.

6. Gloves won’t help, but they can still help.

7. Everyone needs to stay HOME, but it’s important to GO OUT.

8. There is no shortage of groceries in the supermarket, but there are many things missing when you go there in the evening, but not in the morning. Sometimes.

9. The virus has no effect on children except those it affects.

10. Animals are not affected, but there is still a cat that tested positive in Belgium in February when no one had been tested, plus a few tigers here and there…

11. You will have many symptoms when you are sick, but you can also get sick without symptoms, have symptoms without being sick, or be contagious without having symptoms. Oh, my..

12. In order not to get sick, you have to eat well and exercise, but eat whatever you have on hand and it’s better not to go out, well, but no…

13. It’s better to get some fresh air, but you get looked at very wrong when you get some fresh air, and most importantly, you don’t go to parks or walk. But don’t sit down, except that you can do that now if you are old, but not for too long or if you are pregnant (but not too old).

14. You can’t go to retirement homes, but you have to take care of the elderly and bring food and medication.

15. If you are sick, you can’t go out, but you can go to the pharmacy.

16. You can get restaurant food delivered to the house, which may have been prepared by people who didn’t wear masks or gloves. But you have to have your groceries decontaminated outside for 3 hours. Pizza too?

17. Every disturbing article or disturbing interview starts with ” I don’t want to trigger panic, but…”

18. You can’t see your older mother or grandmother, but you can take a taxi and meet an older taxi driver.

19. You can walk around with a friend but not with your family if they don’t live under the same roof.

20. You are safe if you maintain the appropriate social distance, but you can’t go out with friends or strangers at the safe social distance.

21. The virus remains active on different surfaces for two hours, no, four, no, six, no, we didn’t say hours, maybe days? But it takes a damp environment. Oh no, not necessarily.

22. The virus stays in the air – well no, or yes, maybe, especially in a closed room, in one hour a sick person can infect ten, so if it falls, all our children were already infected at school before it was closed. But remember, if you stay at the recommended social distance, however in certain circumstances you should maintain a greater distance, which, studies show, the virus can travel further, maybe.

23. We count the number of deaths but we don’t know how many people are infected, as we have only tested, so far, those who were “almost dead” to find out if that’s what they will die of…

24. We have no treatment, except that there may be one that apparently is not dangerous unless you take too much (which is the case with all medications). Orange man bad.

25. We should stay locked up until the virus disappears, but it will only disappear if we achieve collective immunity, so when it circulates… but we must no longer be locked up for that?”

The reality is: this is confusing and people do not know whom to trust.

There is a new documentary (linked here) that went into circulation on Monday, April 13, 2020, which only intensifies the question of who is trustworthy? Whether or not a person watching this believes the content or doesn’t believe it, the obvious message from the documentary is:

use your mind, your critical thinking capabilities, pay attention to how you spend your time and what you “feed” your mind

The truth is there is good and bad in this world. We can’t control that fact, but we have a personal choice in what we choose and how we spend our time: good or bad BUT, WE ARE NOT “HELPLESS”: each of us can make a difference with the time we have been given and what we do with that time.

So who can we trust? GOD.

God is eternal and God protects those who have faith and obey his commands. We are wasting our time if we put our trust in ANYTHING other than God. Why? Because trust in anything else can and will eventually go away, someday. Anything else is temporary and won’t be there for us through eternity.

While some people are good people, none are perfect, so we honestly can’t blindly trust people. But that doesn’t mean we live in fear, it just means that we trust someone proven throughout history to be trustworthy: God.

When we have any kind of fear, realize it’s temporary, ask God to handle it but do the best with what God has given us (don’t give up), but in addition to doing what we can , ask God to send the Holy Spirit to help. In some situations, we are not strong enough on our own, but God is the ultimate “power” source.

I realize this “solution” isn’t going to be meaningful to those who don’t believe, so if this is you: why not take this time to get to know God by praying (talking to him in your own personal thoughts) and reading the Bible (searching for answers to your personal questions)? (Here is a bible resource link, if you don’t have one) God will respond if you truthfully seek Him with your heart. If you are a person that feels you’ve done too much wrong in life for this to work for you; please know the Bible tells us the exact opposite: you will be forgiven by God, when you ask for forgiveness and make every effort to become a better person.

Regarding good and bad people and how do we know who are more (not completely) trustworthy than others? It is only by their actions, not what they say, look for: people who show love, joy, are peaceful, faithful, gentle and exhibit self control. Those are the most trustworthy people.

How do we recognize untrustworthy people? Look for: sexual immorality, impurity, excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures, participate in orgies, those who prioritize anything or anyone as more important than God, those who practice witchcraft, express hate, those who are jealous people, people with uncontrolled tempers, people with selfish ambition, people who are envious of others, people who get drunk, and so forth. Don’t put trust in people who fit this description; these are the least trustworthy people.

The solution to broken trust is making God your priority over EVERYTHING else in life. When we recognize ourselves as “children of God” and not “children of this world,” We can trust Him; He will protect us. (linked to 1 John 5: 18-19)

April 17, 2020April 17, 2020 by annm2705 Categories: california, Careers, Entertainment, entrepreneur, Face Fear, FAITH, FAMILY, Improvement, Love, Make It Count, MUSIC, RELATIONSHIPS, Sex, WellnessTags: broken trust, coronavirus, covid19, FEAR, Hope, Love, Trust, Trust God, uncertainty Leave a comment