I don't think that we need to differentiate between delusion, belief or fact to realize that what the mind proposes it also accepts and passes on to the body in the form of symptoms. We can pick any of the three to examine to help us figure out the what and why of our experience, depending on whether we consider what is happening bad or good. I've found that journaling helps me sort things out the best.
My fundamental position is that pain/discomfort is bad and we're required to stop it, even if you might feel better emotionally at the time. Hope that makes some sense, I'm getting confused the more I think about it.

LoL. It made perfect sense Tommy!! *smiles*

Jesus in Matthew 6 offers these admonishments on this topic:

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
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Above is how Jesus taught prayer which modern Christianity has distilled down into a single acronym: ACTS which is:

A - Adoration
C - Confession
T - Thansgiving
S - Supplication

So there we do not see any room for asking God for a bunch of stuff other than his glorification and that his kingdom be manifest.

This is the model which the Lords Prayer follows and is according to the Bible the proper form which supercedes both the Pharasitical and Pagan forms.

God does not make deals as witnessed in Luke 22:41-42; even with Jesus "thy will be done not mine".

In Romans 12.9-21 we see an enumeration of the "Marks of a True Christian" which is the result of the process of Theosis.

According to the Bible man's purpose is to glorify God and not to negotiate deals through prayer. What we can do is study the word of God. As Paul puts it in Ephesians 6:10-18 to 'put on the full armor of God' and by this he means to shuck off the blind emotionalism and study the Word.

Faith does not mean that you can ask God for stuff and make a deal and then he provides it. This is a heresy called the 'name it and claim it gospel'. The book of Romans proves to be profitable study and is the high water mark of the Septuagint. It's worth the read if one is to be a Christian.

Knowing and practicing the teachings of Christ result in Theosis which will manifest the fruits of the spirit in the life of the believer.

Anyways that is just a quick primer and certainly not all encompassing that would be beyond the scope afforded me in this forum. I must also state: I am not a Christian.

Hope that helps.

You know what? I didn't even read all that wrote for I know what air it was written in and I refuse to go there. I did not say I followed the teachings of anybody. I simply stated a belief in God. When I went to where I went mentally and emotionally, deals became part of the equation. I must be judged for that, but not by you!!

Oh and incidentally asking God for stuff and making deals with him is actually falls into two heresies: 1) name it and claim it gospel and 2) prosperity gospel; both are quick ways to shut yourself off from the Christian God according to the bible.

God says simply let your yes be yes and no be no as regards oaths not 'conditional' oaths such as you do this God and I will do this...

This is enumerated in Matthew 5:33-37.

Cheers!

That's not to say I won't go back and read it all later. I do like to learn.

The air it was written in is actually pure theology with no ideas of my own interpolated into either the meaning or wording of the text. If you choose to ignore the Bible that is for you to decide.

Remember that Philippians 2:12b-13 says "work out your salvation with fear and trembling."

Cheers.

I did not state a belief in the bible!!

So you do not believe Jesus is Lord?

Sorry Sir. Thanks!! Cheers!! I am a bit antsy this morn it would seem. I truly wanted feedback, not on the theology part of it or even my perceived wrongdoing, but on what people thought about the actual idea of it. A lot of people can't wrap their minds around that though and that's understandable. I can barely.

LoL. You got me. Yes I do, but maybe not in a sense of the rest of the
Christian world. Remember.........I am a unique person, as we all are, and have very different beliefs than most. I believe in God and I believe there was once a man names Jesus that walked the earth and loved a woman named Mary and he was great!! He was Lord!!

One cannot invent their own personal Jesus, the Christian world suffers from this ailment and has resulted in epic comedy of 33,000+ denominations all damning one another to hell over disagreements on even the simplest of doctrines. If you believe in Jesus then his teachings are there in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) for all to read. Theosis simply means putting the teachings of Jesus into practice and experiencing the circumcision of the heart as he puts it. Interestingly enough modern Christianity has sanitized Jesus as he was very shocking in his time and said "I do not come in peace but with a sword". Remember he entered into the Temple to find money-changers and corruption so he took up a cord of whips and trashed the place while whipping the pharisees. He declared war on Judaism and declared himself a prophet, he never really did EXACTLY say he was God but is considered to have been fully man and fully God (hypostatic union) as is described in the Apostles Creed. In his time to say you were a son of God merely meant in Jewish tradition that one was a prophet. Inevitably Jesus was crucified for breaking Jewish Law of which there are 613 thereof. It is said to break one of the Laws in the Torah is to be guilty of breaking them ALL. Christian revisionists who wrote the synoptic Gospels interpolated text into those writings so that Jesus appeard to satisfy the so called 400 prophesies in the so called Old Testament (rightly called Tanakh) in order to establish him as Messiah. However the Jews had a completely different concept of what Messiah would do and not least of which was to rescue them from under Roman rule. Jesus instead said his kingdom was in heaven and not earth and balked at doing this. (not that he could) It is important to understand the Tanakh well since Jesus was considered a Rabbi and was well familiar with it being that he was in fact a Jew. Jesus is not the first person during that time period to make the claim for Messiah either as there were many and all duly met the same demise for their transgressions of the Law. It is somewhat of a slap in the face to Judaism to believe that through Jesus God decided to make a new covenant which remarkably resembled nothing extant in Jewish tradition. Then there is the problem of Trinity which remarkably comes up out of the blue whereas it was not mentioned anywhere in the Tanakh. The common argument is the notation in the book of Genesis calling God "Elohim" which is a plurality basically meaning us. And in fact when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge "they" say "look man has become like us knowing both good and evil". Anyways as usual I digress. I saw the term theology in the title and thought it was interesting. I'm not here to lambast anyone nor prostelytize my own beliefs.

And again: I am not a Christian.

One thing which may interest you is to research the Nag Hammadi library which are a series of scrolls supposedly offering other accounts of Jesus' teachings and actions. These are considered gnostic texts and are more in the vein of a 'personal Jesus' not a rigid anthropomorphism of his deity.

Just say you have a big cock and be done with

my staff is not for discussion amongst the mortals.