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Conference yukon::christian_v7

Title:The CHRISTIAN Notesfile
Notice:Jesus reigns! - Intros: note 4; Praise: note 165
Moderator:ICTHUS::YUILLEON
Created:Tue Feb 16 1993
Last Modified:Fri May 02 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:962
Total number of notes:42902

718.0. "Hope" by USAT05::BENSON (Eternal Weltanschauung) Fri Apr 21 1995 12:00

    
    Hope.  What is it?  We were born again into a "living hope", Paul says.
    Naturally I reflect often on Caroline's death and God's phenomenal
    presence in my life during that initial time of grief.  I try to form
    words and phrases in my mind which can describe my experience
    adequately.  I have not been able to until now.
    
    The feelings and thoughts and spiritual insights revealed to me
    overwhelmingly during Caroline's death, burial and for several months
    afterward were the hope given by the Holy Spirit.  
    
    Hope is a word of nuance which can change slightly in meaning when used
    differently in contexts.  The hope given to me resulted in comfort and
    spiritual peace.  The hope given (and forever imprinted on my soul now,
    though less intensely felt) can be described as an overwhelming
    confidence in God.  Confidence in His sovereignty, in His love for me
    and the world, in His goodness, mercy and justice.  Confidence that I
    am His child (assurance of salvation) and He will never abandon me
    however faithless I might be.  A glimpse of eternity where the
    Christian will cease to sorrow and sin.  It is important to know that
    these insights and feelings came from God.  It was almost effortless on
    my part to receive this gift of grace at that time.  The only effort I
    expended was to cry out to God, pouring out my heart and sorrow and
    doubt, though the doubt was very small.
    
    Let's discuss hope here and see what the Bible has to say about it.  I
    suspect that hope is a fairly neglected word and concept that has a
    very important reality which we often confuse with other things.
    
    jeff
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name		DateLines
718.1ICTHUS::YUILLEHe must increase - I must decreaseFri Apr 21 1995 12:2613
Hi Jeff,

Back in 1991, I gave a sermon on 'Hope'.  It's the only sermon I ever 
entered online (over a month later), and it's available as :

	ICTHUS::SYS$PUBLIC:HOPE.TXT	! Ascii text file
	ICTHUS::SYS$PUBLIC:HOPE.PS	! Postscript document

Anyone is welcome to access these, if they're interested (that's a
prerequisite ;-) 

						God bless
							Andrew
718.2USAT05::BENSONEternal WeltanschauungFri Apr 21 1995 12:2718
    
    Hope is defined in Websters as follows:
    
    hope n. [ME.<OE, hopa, akin to Du.  hoop; see the v.]  1. A feeling
    that what is wanted will happen; desire accompanied by expectation  2.
    The thing that one has a hope for  3. a reason for hope  4. A person or
    thing on which one may base some hope  5. [Archaic] trust; reliance -
    vt. hoped, hoing [ME. hopen < OE. hopian, to expect, look for, akin to
    G. hoffen < ? same IE. base as HOP: orig. sense (?) "to leap up in
    expectation"] 1. to want and expect 2. to want very much - vi.  1. to
    have hope (for) 2. [Archaic] to trust or rely - SYN. see EXPECT - hope
    against hope to continue having hope though it seems baseless - hoper
    n.
    
    If someone has a Bible dictionary handy, would you enter the meanings
    of "hope"?
    
    jeff
718.4COVERT::COVERTJohn R. CovertFri Apr 21 1995 13:537
Q. What is the Christian hope?

A. The Christian hope is to live with confidence in newness and fullness
   of life, and to await the coming of Christ in glory, and the completion
   of God's purpose for the world.

				-- 1979 U.S. Book of Common Prayer
718.5CSC32::J_OPPELTWhatever happened to ADDATA?Fri Apr 21 1995 14:254
    	In the black-and-white movie version of "The Diary of Anne Frank",
    	Mr. Frank's last line as the German soldiers were breaking into
    	their hideout was something like, "Now our thoughts can change 
    	from fear to hope."
718.6quote on HopeTNPUBS::PAINTERPlanet CrayonTue Apr 25 1995 11:5517
    
    Re.0
    
    "Eternal Weltanschauung"???  Shades of Carl Jung!  Jeff, you never 
    fail to surprise me. (;^)
    
    I only visit here on rare occasions these days, however I have a 
    quote on hope that inspires me from time to time.  Not from the Bible
    directly, yet it certainly feels like it was derived from there.
    
    	"Hope is an orientation of the spirit, and orientation of the
    	 heart.  It is not the conviction that something will turn out
    	 well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless
    	 of how it turns out."
    					- Vaclav Havel
    Cindy
718.7USAT05::BENSONEternal WeltanschauungTue Apr 25 1995 12:0810
    
    Hi Cindy!
    
    I appreciate Havel's quote.  In my case it is God's sovereignty which 
    makes it possible for me to be confident and joyful whether something 
    comes out well or comes out badly.  
    
    See ya'.
    
    jeff