Prayers of reconciliation
Prayers of reconciliation, second meeting
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Angels of the realm of glory, you tell us the wonders of God's creation.
THE SECOND MEETING
Two weeks after the first meeting we had another meeting, I was hoping that by now my friends Mark and Gino would bring good news, and that they would be more helpful by accepting my way of thinking, but it was not going to be my way. In fact I wanted to submit my prayer above, but I didn’t have the chance, therefore I still don’t know whether they will approve it or not, but anyhow let us go back to the meeting.
They came together with another friend called John, but as soon as they saw me they grew serious and they didn’t seem to be their usual self, as they are usually happy when we meet together, so, I guessed that I had given them a burden which at the present time seemed to upset them a bit.
So I asked them; what’s the matter my friends? Why aren’t your usual self happy? You seem very grave to me is there anything that is upsetting you my friends?
No, nothing is upsetting us accept the news that we are bringing you, (they said) which is not exactly what you would like to hear, you see we have been talking to a few people about what you would like to do, we did not tell them about your supernatural encounter, as we agreed with you that we should not talk about it with outsiders, so, we talked only about what you have intention to do, like reviewing the Bible or something of that sort, the outcome of these talks left us concerned as there is no way to know what people think, so now we are even more concerned than when we started asking those questions, so, we are here to show you what we mean.
Mark, Gino and their Friend John seemed a bit upset about what they were still going to say to me, so, I tried to put them at ease.
Well, (I said) I thought that this outcome was likely to happen, because people usually don’t like to think for themselves difficult matters and religion is perhaps the most difficult of them all, so people keep doing and believing what they have been thought to do and believe, as this is for them the easy way out, but really I believe that for sure there is another unexplored way and I would like to find it out.
Tell me a bit more about this exploration of yours: Did most people give you negative comments about what I would like to do? Or, did they also have some positive comments? If they did both what percentage were they?
Well, they seem to be about half of them, so 50% could be the right figure. But this is not all, because some of them that didn’t like your idea come on very strong, so we thought that it would be good for you to hear this first hand from our fried John, as John is one of them and really what he has been saying make sense to us.
Now if you agree we may hear what John has to say?
OK I said let John speak.
And this is what John said.
John’s speech
Dear friends you know already why I am here.
As you all know I have been following up a few religions for a while, just to find out whether to be religious is the right thing to do, and if it were the way to go, which one of these existing religions could be the right one for me?
As you all know in this part of the world most religions are Christian in origin and they have sprung from the Bible in one way or another.
After having studied them I came to the conclusion that they are more or less the same, so, I dare say that perhaps the best thing for anybody is to stay with the religion your parents have thought you, but really it is up to you what you want to do.
Now, let me come to today task; Mark and Gino here have come to me and told me about what Fran (me) wants to do and as a believer I am concerned about it, so I am here to talk about these concerns of mine, in order to help you to make the right decision.
Recently in a religious group we had a discussion on Revelation, a few members were not happy about these great tribulations and other things expressed in Revelation, so they were looking for another way out that would be less demanding on humanity.
To cut a long story short one of the members who was there pointed out that we could do nothing about it, as the Bible itself says that it can’t be changed; so he took the Bible and read the very end of Revelation which says this and I quote:
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John took his Bible and read.
REVELATION
EPILOGUE
22-16- I Jesus, have sent my angel to make these revelations to you for the sake of the churches. I am of David’s line, the root of David and the bright star of the morning.
17- The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come’. Let everyone who listens answer, ‘Come’. Then let all who are thirsty come: all who want it may have the water of life, and have it free.
18- This is my solemn warning to all who hear the prophecies in this book: if anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him every plague mentioned in the book;
19- if anyone cuts anything out of the prophecies in this book, God will cut off his share of the tree of life and of the holy city, which are described in the book.
20- The one who guaranties these revelations repeats his promise: I shall indeed be with you soon. Amen; come, Lord Jesus.
21- May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all. Amen.
(End of quote from Bible)
This is how, The Jerusalem Bible, ends.
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Now, let me go back to the meeting with Mark, Gino and John:
When John closed the Bible and said:
Now you can see for yourself why I was much concerned and wanted to let you know how I see these religious things.
Therefore, know that I have said what I wanted to say I feel better already, because the decision is yours if you want to go ahead and do what you want to do, or hear and heed the warning and stop just like everybody else has stopped for about 2000 years.
My answer to John:
I know, ‘I said to John’, your warning from the Bible sounds threatening indeed, so, I will take it into consideration and thanks for the advice you gave me.
It looks like now that before I do anything I will have to learn a lot more about this warning you gave me and I will not rush into anything: but anyhow let me talk it over with Mark and Gino here to see what they think about it.
Then I turned to Gino and Mark and asked them: What do you think about this Bible warning? I would like to hear your opinion on this subject now.
Mark’s reply:
Well, what John has brought up sounds very serious to me, and I dare say that perhaps you Fran have to moderate most of your ideology, so that it does not change anything that is said in the Bible, in a way that it contests the Bible scriptures; look Fran a lot of generations have gone past and they all have accepted the bible just the way it is, so I don’t know why you see it in a different way.
I would like to suggest that we study first the Bible a bit longer before you do anything about it; what do you say to my request? Would you agree to study the Bible with us for a while yet before you make any decision?
We all said yes to Mark’s questions saying, we agree with you that we need to study more before we do anything.
Then I added, but I would like to know also what Gino personally thinks about John’s warning and everything else? So, Gino tell us what you think about this present discussion? I am sure that you have your own way of seeing these religious things.
Gino’s reply:
Well, I agree with Mark that we should really study the situation before we do anything; I want also to say that I was partly surprised about the way of John’s interpretation of the Bible, I think that there may be another meaning to this sinister warning. What makes me think this is the way which Jesus’ angel tells the writer what to write; and it is also the way it is said, I have always believed that Jesus was a very amicable person: but here his message through the angel sounds very harsh and he issues threatening warnings, he seems completely changed; So I say that there are several meanings in those writings, and I would say that we should investigate and proceed with caution.
Me to Gino- Gino! What do you mean by proceed with caution?
Gino to me- What else can you do? You can’t rush things in a situation like this. You may have to read the Bible once or twice more from the beginning until the very end; or at least all the new Testament to find the meaning of what has been said, and then and only then, you may be in a position to decide what to do.
Mark said- Fran, I believe Gino is right and we should not rush things, take your time man! There is plenty of time to do what you want to do.
Then if it is God’s will that you have to write these religious writings, God will make sure that you will find enough time and also the right way how to do it?
Now, since we have already spent a great deal of time on this religious task, I suggest that we adjourn the meeting for another time. So, let us enjoy ourselves the usual way before we have to depart our own way, okay?
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This is how our second meeting ended:
Today I am still wondering which way to go, so, to anyone who reads these writings I would appreciate very much if you comment on them.
Especially comments about how the Bible ends, since this could help me decide which way I should proceed?
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Prayers of Reconciliation
Prayers of Reconciliation, second meeting
IS TO BE CONTINUED:
Next time with, Reconciliation Chapter 2
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