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oi_antz

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Hi Chrissy, welcome to CF :) I'm a bit late because I've been busy with work lately but I feel to contribute my thoughts to your search for truth. Specifically I see what you are identifying is divisions in the church. Dogmatic division. Division by belief. I have seen your response to the less loving pitch of the gospel. There is a verse about this:

1 Corinthians 3 said:
10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. 14 If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.

Does this make sense to you? I know that reading the bible can be hard if you don't have much experience to contextualize it. This is Paul writing to the Corinthian church about another preacher called "Apollos". Some of the church members had been getting confused and were arguing about whether Paul or Apollos were telling the true message. Paul eloquently advised them in that verse to be careful whose teaching we should adopt, because the quality of wisdom is not the same from one person to another. In fact Paul went on to speak about that in verse 18:

1 Corinthians 3 said:
Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise.

That blatant "smack the fear of hell into them" gospel is exactly what Jesus taught us not to do. He said this:

Matthew 7:15 said:
Matthew 10:16
“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

Some teachers aren't very shrewd. So just be careful not to let your experience with bad teachers to tarnish your relationship with God.

1. Why are gay people not accepted in most religions? I'm not gay but I have a lot of friends that are. Why are they told that they are sinners and horrible people and unworthy because they love someone who is the same sex. If god created man in the image of himself then surely he made gay people too.
That's just the way the world is. Gays are picked on because they are a minority. In context of the sin, I think there are more harmful types of sin such as lying, stealing, abuse etc, but it is still an activity that God in His holiness finds disgusting. God is not the only one who finds it disgusting either. But there are churches around that don't try and force people to live in God's way, instead they are happy to love their neighbour as their own. Further to this, there are individuals in each church and their personal opinions will vary a lot. So don't get discouraged due to some bad eggs, get out and experience all the churces in your area, you may even find one that you feel really comfortable with.
2. Why do new born babies and innocent children die when they haven't even had chance to sin?

What FundiMentalist said
3. Why if god created the world did he create Africa and Ethiopia the way it is?
Is that a fact?
Why is that part of the world so badly designed that it can't sustain life and so many people and children are dying from starvation! No child deserves that!
I agree. The world needs a universal governance that can distribute resources as needed. Too much food is wasted in our current civilization, the present system is downright evil. And I still can't buy tree-ripened fruit at the shops!
4. I believe in evolution and that is one thing that I can't not believe and I guess that's the one thing that is stopping me believing in god. I can believe that god created everything but I can't ignore that there were dinosaurs roaming the earth before Adam and eve and of course the prehistoric people that evolved from apes. They have skeletons of dinosaurs and of homoerrectus and so on. How can I fit that in with believing in god? Is there a way I can believe both?
Beliefs are just that, they are beliefs. What matters is the result of that belief. So for scientists studying evolution, their reward is a greater understanding of biology. For Christians believing in the literal creation, their reward is faith in a God that can just do it in no time at all.
This is exactly why I don't submit to god because i could never follow a religion that has these beliefs!
Guess what, you don't need to "follow a religion" that has beliefs you find unacceptable. All you need to do is strike a deal with Jesus that you will obey Him. He will teach you and guide you, to eventually be with Him forever and ever!
Some babies are still born they had no chance to sin! Children are children and yes they can sin but come on you can't honestly believe a child or anyone for that matter deserves to die for a sin can you? People like that don't really exist do they?
There are some people who do believe that, they are referred to as pharisee's. Originally the pharisee's were Jews, but they have taken over Christianity too.

pharisee - definition of pharisee by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.
2. A self-righteous person; a hypocrite.

Jesus said this:
Matthew 7:1. Judge not, that ye be not judged.
Matthew 12:36 But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”


Thank you very much for replying! As I said I don't know anything about religion or god or jesus. All the things I've heard about religion was from my dad who was brought up catholic and hated how he was treated in that faith and turned his back on it as soon as he could. I'm not blaming god for anything I'm simply asking questions in order to learn. I understand that if god exists then he has a plan and we can't even begin to understand it until we get to heaven. I can accept that and do.
Wrong. There is a plan and Jesus made it plain and clear:

Hebrews 9:27 people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment
Matthew 25:32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

What is this kingdom?

Revelation 21
A New Heaven and a New Earth

21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”[a] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars —they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

I don't feel sorry for the babies that die because I know they go to a better place and it's the family thats left behind I feel for. I jjust can't be a part of a religion that judges people for being gay or any other thing they consider a sin. If its just the act of sex before marriage is a sin then that I can accept but not that people love someone of the same sex.
The issue isn't love, it is sexual immorality. A person can love a child without having sex with it.
I'm getting married in 4 days and we want children and I'd love to bring them up in a faith but I also want to teach them that its ok to be who they are even if they happen to be gay, that it's wrong to judge someone else and to accept people for who they are!
Congratulations! How exciting! It is very responsible of you to want the best for your children. I think you would make a fine Christian, keep an open mind and keep reading and thinking about it. Once you've read the bible and understand what it means to be Christ's disciple, you can dedicate your life to Jesus by baptism. Now, I'm not judging you, I'm just saying that there will be something in the bible that will convict you. If you can overcome your pride that you love that sin, and accept instead that God hates that sin, you can give your life to Jesus and He will guide you and He will give you fruit from the tree of life. This is His promise to us:
John 4 said:
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Revelation 2:7 said:
“Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious I will give fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God.
That is eternal life. That is what you need to seek, don't chase after a religion, chase after Jesus' righteousness!
 
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FundiMentalist

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Anglican.

And relevant to this thread, the Anglican Communion has been grappled with for recent decades what homosexuality means within Christianity and Scripture and its interpretation.

Earlier I had mentioned the Episcopal church. That's the church within the church of the Anglican Communion friendly toward LGBT.

And it's not just the Anglican Communion working through this. You'll now days find many Evangelical scholars, theologians, pastors, and believers friendly toward LGBT.

In fact you might want to watch this video on Don’t Blame the Bible for Your Bad Views on Homosexuality.
 
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InThePinc

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Hi Chrissy, welcome to CF :) I'm a bit late because I've been busy with work lately but I feel to contribute my thoughts to your search for truth. Specifically I see what you are identifying is divisions in the church. Dogmatic division. Division by belief. I have seen your response to the less loving pitch of the gospel. There is a verse about this:



Does this make sense to you? I know that reading the bible can be hard if you don't have much experience to contextualize it. This is Paul writing to the Corinthian church about another preacher called "Apollos". Some of the church members had been getting confused and were arguing about whether Paul or Apollos were telling the true message. Paul eloquently advised them in that verse to be careful whose teaching we should adopt, because the quality of wisdom is not the same from one person to another. In fact Paul went on to speak about that in verse 18:



That blatant "smack the fear of hell into them" gospel is exactly what Jesus taught us not to do. He said this:



Some teachers aren't very shrewd. So just be careful not to let your experience with bad teachers to tarnish your relationship with God.


That's just the way the world is. Gays are picked on because they are a minority. In context of the sin, I think there are more harmful types of sin such as lying, stealing, abuse etc, but it is still an activity that God in His holiness finds disgusting. God is not the only one who finds it disgusting either. But there are churches around that don't try and force people to live in God's way, instead they are happy to love their neighbour as their own. Further to this, there are individuals in each church and their personal opinions will vary a lot. So don't get discouraged due to some bad eggs, get out and experience all the churces in your area, you may even find one that you feel really comfortable with.


What FundiMentalist said

Is that a fact?

I agree. The world needs a universal governance that can distribute resources as needed. Too much food is wasted in our current civilization, the present system is downright evil. And I still can't buy tree-ripened fruit at the shops!

Beliefs are just that, they are beliefs. What matters is the result of that belief. So for scientists studying evolution, their reward is a greater understanding of biology. For Christians believing in the literal creation, their reward is faith in a God that can just do it in no time at all.

Guess what, you don't need to "follow a religion" that has beliefs you find unacceptable. All you need to do is strike a deal with Jesus that you will obey Him. He will teach you and guide you, to eventually be with Him forever and ever!

There are some people who do believe that, they are referred to as pharisee's. Originally the pharisee's were Jews, but they have taken over Christianity too.

pharisee - definition of pharisee by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.
2. A self-righteous person; a hypocrite.

Jesus said this:
Matthew 7:1. Judge not, that ye be not judged.
Matthew 12:36 But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”



Wrong. There is a plan and Jesus made it plain and clear:

Hebrews 9:27 people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment
Matthew 25:32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

What is this kingdom?

Revelation 21
A New Heaven and a New Earth

21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”[a] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars —they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”


The issue isn't love, it is sexual immorality. A person can love a child without having sex with it.

Congratulations! How exciting! It is very responsible of you to want the best for your children. I think you would make a fine Christian, keep an open mind and keep reading and thinking about it. Once you've read the bible and understand what it means to be Christ's disciple, you can dedicate your life to Jesus by baptism. Now, I'm not judging you, I'm just saying that there will be something in the bible that will convict you. If you can overcome your pride that you love that sin, and accept instead that God hates that sin, you can give your life to Jesus and He will guide you and He will give you fruit from the tree of life. This is His promise to us:


That is eternal life. That is what you need to seek, don't chase after a religion, chase after Jesus' righteousness!


Wow thank you very much! I'm a complete beginner in this and I have a lot of questions and probably a lot of stupid ones. I feel I want direction in my life. I have chronic depression and have for years. I want to have something in my life that will motivate to get out and face the world and to be a good person.

I have already been married and divorced. There are real reasons fir that if you want me to go into it I will.

I've been horrible, nasty, deceitful. I've told lies, I've have had sex before marriage, I've drunk alcohol under age and taken drugs. I was a horrible teenager! Very rebellious. Will I be forgiven by Jesus and god for these things or am I going to hell?
 
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InThePinc

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Thank you very much! What are the opinions on divorce? At 21 I was a full time carer to my husband who had a brain injury. He'd fallen off a 25ft wall onto his head and shoulders and had to have part of his frontal lobes removed. As a result he became a different person and was very violent. I divorced him in 2007. Not long before I met my current partner.
 
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FundiMentalist

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Thank you very much! What are the opinions on divorce? At 21 I was a full time carer to my husband who had a brain injury. He'd fallen off a 25ft wall onto his head and shoulders and had to have part of his frontal lobes removed. As a result he became a different person and was very violent. I divorced him in 2007. Not long before I met my current partner.

What are your thoughts on divorce? And not just in the abstract, but here in this particular situation?

Are you looking for validation of something you've done you regret?

Or confirmation of self-shame to further needlessly beat yourself up?

There's much good that you can do with your choices going forward. Much healing you can bring.

What do you want to do from where you area?
 
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bling

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Wow thank you very much! I'm a complete beginner in this and I have a lot of questions and probably a lot of stupid ones. I feel I want direction in my life. I have chronic depression and have for years. I want to have something in my life that will motivate to get out and face the world and to be a good person.

I have already been married and divorced. There are real reasons fir that if you want me to go into it I will.

I've been horrible, nasty, deceitful. I've told lies, I've have had sex before marriage, I've drunk alcohol under age and taken drugs. I was a horrible teenager! Very rebellious. Will I be forgiven by Jesus and god for these things or am I going to hell?
I have read all the posts and really appreciate you hanging in there through some unloving comments by some that call themselves “Christians”.

I have lengthy explanations to everyone of your OP questions and would be happy to present them, but like most agnostics the real “questions” are much more personal and are cries for help.

I hope and pray you are seeing a doctor and are on medication for depression.

As for the way you were and what all you have done, that is the past. You may see your past as truly tragic above forgiveness, but I have taught the Bible in prison and all I can say: “Is that it?”

All that “bad” stuff just becomes part of your witness (that is what the Apostle Paul did with it [Paul called Himself the “chief of sinners” and he was bad!]).

You really need Christ himself to come up alongside you, listen to you, hug you, work with you, guide you one step at a time and really Love you unconditionally and unselfishly (not expecting anything from you, but to allow Him to Love you). That is the way it is to be working today, with truly Christ like people allowing Christ to live through them to serve you (I’ve got the feeling you have not met a true Christ like person). Sometimes you have to look among the really needy people to find a person unselfishly serving others (not looking for the praise of men, or to “payback” anything or earn some position). They seem to be few and far between in the West, but there are some around.

Briefly as far as your question about Homosexuals: I have friends that are homosexual and are far stronger than I am about controlling their behavior, so I have learned from them. When we do discuss whether homosexuality is a sin, we just sit down together and study scripture, but we also study other “bigger” concerns. Remember they are not going to be judged on what I think, but God can hold it against me what I think. The questions we consider early on are: “If it is wrong am I willing to stop? If I am willing to stop, how do you change? Do I want to be different then the way I am now? Do I see a benefit to being different? What have others done?
 
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GrayAngel

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Thank you very much for replying! As I said I don't know anything about religion or god or jesus. All the things I've heard about religion was from my dad who was brought up catholic and hated how he was treated in that faith and turned his back on it as soon as he could. I'm not blaming god for anything I'm simply asking questions in order to learn. I understand that if god exists then he has a plan and we can't even begin to understand it until we get to heaven. I can accept that and do. I don't feel sorry for the babies that die because I know they go to a better place and it's the family thats left behind I feel for. I jjust can't be a part of a religion that judges people for being gay or any other thing they consider a sin. If its just the act of sex before marriage is a sin then that I can accept but not that people love someone of the same sex. I'm getting married in 4 days and we want children and I'd love to bring them up in a faith but I also want to teach them that its ok to be who they are even if they happen to be gay, that it's wrong to judge someone else and to accept people for who they are!

Isn't it possible for someone to accept that they are gay and yet refuse to live it out? I accept that I'm a sinner, but I don't use that as an excuse to do whatever I please.

Some people are born with a genetic predisposition for becoming alcoholics, but people who acknowledge this inborn weakness of theirs can counter that by choosing not to drink.

It's also suspected that there's a "cheating gene" that gives men an urge to sleep with multiple women. But I don't know many people who would tell them to embrace who they are and sleep with however many women they like.

These weaknesses don't make them horrible people. It's not their fault that they're born these ways, but acknowledgement and acceptance of who they are can lead to control. This is what I expect of homosexual Christians. As for non-Christian homosexuals, they're not Christian, so it's unreasonable to hold them to Christian standards.

Wow thank you very much! I'm a complete beginner in this and I have a lot of questions and probably a lot of stupid ones. I feel I want direction in my life. I have chronic depression and have for years. I want to have something in my life that will motivate to get out and face the world and to be a good person.

I believe it was Socrates who said that the wisest man in the world is the one who knows that he knows nothing. Ignorance is not something to be ashamed of. But I admire your pursuit for answers.

One of the major points of Christianity, however, is that no one is a good. All are inferior to God, and nearly all of the problems in the world, and in our own personal lives, are self-inflicted. This is why we need Christ to save us.

Now, people are not completely evil. We have some good in us. But everyone who holds themselves up to God's standards can see how inferior we are. Fortunately, God does not love us because of the good in us. He loves hearts that are humble towards Him.

I have already been married and divorced. There are real reasons fir that if you want me to go into it I will.

I've been horrible, nasty, deceitful. I've told lies, I've have had sex before marriage, I've drunk alcohol under age and taken drugs. I was a horrible teenager! Very rebellious. Will I be forgiven by Jesus and god for these things or am I going to hell?

Apart from Jesus, none of us can enter Heaven. None of us are perfect, and we cannot earn a perfect reward. But Jesus' sacrifice is powerful enough to cover any sin.

Read some of the stories of the heroes in the Bible. They did some very evil things, including murder, but God forgave them and used their lives anyway. Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament, was a persecuter of Christians before conversion, and he called himself the "Chief of Sinners." I doubt you've done anything worse than what Paul did.

Thank you very much! What are the opinions on divorce? At 21 I was a full time carer to my husband who had a brain injury. He'd fallen off a 25ft wall onto his head and shoulders and had to have part of his frontal lobes removed. As a result he became a different person and was very violent. I divorced him in 2007. Not long before I met my current partner.

According to the Bible, divorce is very frowned upon. There are, however, circumstances in which it is reasonable to divorce. God's standards for marriage is that it will last for a lifetime, and He uses the institution of marriage as an analogy to His relationship with His people. He doesn't leave us when we offend Him, but He sticks with us forever.

Unfortunately, however, people are...well, people. We're imperfect, so a union is only as strong as the two people are determined to make it.

I would say that in the case of abuse, divorce is certainly reasonable, especially if you have children to protect. In your case, I can't really say. If he mistreated you, then you were right to leave him.

Remarriage, however, is where the controversy really begins. According to the Bible, neither party is supposed to remarry after they have divorced, but they are supposed to remain single. If, however, they have already remarried, then that second marriage is not negated. Instead, they should honor that marriage.

I'm not sure why the divorced were told not to remarry. Perhaps it was to leave open the possibility that the two can be reconciled. The main thing to remember is that marriage should be protected very strongly. It's one thing to divorce because of abuse, but it's something else entirely to divorce because you don't feel in love anymore.
 
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oi_antz

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Wow thank you very much! I'm a complete beginner in this and I have a lot of questions and probably a lot of stupid ones. I feel I want direction in my life. I have chronic depression and have for years. I want to have something in my life that will motivate to get out and face the world and to be a good person.

I have already been married and divorced. There are real reasons fir that if you want me to go into it I will.

I've been horrible, nasty, deceitful. I've told lies, I've have had sex before marriage, I've drunk alcohol under age and taken drugs. I was a horrible teenager! Very rebellious. Will I be forgiven by Jesus and god for these things or am I going to hell?
I can't tell you if you will go to hell or not, it's not my decision. What I can tell you is the purpose of Christianity is to give us a new start and to teach us how to overcome sin. That was one of the first lessons in the bible after Adam and Eve were sent out of the garden:

Genesis 4:7 You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

So Christianity is a journey with God to become a saint instead of a sinner, and it is a never-ending battle against sin because we have a tempter and we have a flesh nature. The flesh nature is decaying but the spiritual nature is growing. When we give our life to Jesus He gives us The Holy Spirit who teaches us everything that Jesus wants us to know. You can ask Jesus for that gift right now and just trust your instinct, He will probably tell you to read the bible because God speaks through the bible.

Anyway, to cut to the chase, I believe Jesus is very pragmatic in His exercise of justice and mercy. Take a look at the story of an adulterer:

John 8:3
3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”
[...]
7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

And what happened?

9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

11 “No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

There are three important things here:
  1. Jesus has the power to forgive sin.
  2. Jesus ordered her to leave her life of sin.
  3. Had Jesus not shown mercy, she might have been stoned.

So if you want forgiveness for your sin, you need to surrender to Jesus and leave your life of sin. You'll not be able to forget the sins you have committed, and others might not either, but you will have the almighty assurance that all is well between yourself and God because when you belong to Him He will train you. You will know that when you sin you are grieving The Holy Spirit who lives within you, you won't be able to ignore that and you will have to make a resolution to behave better. Jesus is the perfect King for that reason: His wisdom is unbeatable, He is patient, and His love for us goes beyond words and all the way to the cross.

I would like to pray with you now and I hope you will agree with what I say, even if you don't have the faith to believe in God, that you will agree in essence that if Jesus lives then He should hear this prayer for your sake. Here goes:

Dear God almighty, creator of everything and the giver of life, we thank you that you have brought Chrissy toward the light. We pray for her marriage that your blessing will be upon this couple and their pact of holy matrimony will be honorable for all time. We ask you to guide Chrissy toward the truth and we ask for your Spirit to be with her as she journeys toward the path of straight and narrow, give her discernment to know when someone might be misleading her. We ask that you will bring people across her path that will demonstrate your nature to her, we ask for you to become real to her and claim her as your child. We ask for your protection upon her, to keep her safe as she navigates the narrow path that leads to life, have your hand upon her and guide her thoughts in ways of righteousness. Jesus, we know how much you love us, with love we can never match, and we ask that you will make yourself known to Chrissy that she may know that she can love you too. Dear God in the highest we pray to you most earnestly to save Chrissy from her sinful past and restore her to the glory you planned for us from the very beginning. We thank you for the right to address you in Jesus' name, we know it is a serious matter to do so. Praise be to you forever, amen.

God will hear that prayer and if your heart is ready then He may visit you. Make sure you aren't holding on to your atheist identity too hard or you will push Him away and it will be even harder to bring yourself into repentance. That would be heart breaking.

All the best with your wedding, I hope it is truly memorable :)
 
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oi_antz

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Hi Chrissy, this came through in my email daily devotion:

May 8, 2012
"I--yes, I alone--will blot out your sins for my own sake and will never think of them again.
Isaiah 43:25, NLT
How tempting it is to remind someone of a past offense! But when God forgives our sins he totally forgets them.
We never have to fear that he will remind us of them later. Because God forgives our sin, we need to forgive others.
 
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InThePinc

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I have let go of my athiest beliefs. I no longer have doubts after talking to you that god exists. Last night I prayed and asked Jesus to come into my life and heart and for his love, acceptance and forgiveness and also for strength and guidance. I was expecting a sign or a feeling but there was nothing.
 
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drich0150

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I have let go of my athiest beliefs. I no longer have doubts after talking to you that god exists. Last night I prayed and asked Jesus to come into my life and heart and for his love, acceptance and forgiveness and also for strength and guidance. I was expecting a sign or a feeling but there was nothing.

Do you think you need a "sign or feeling?"
 
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Publius

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I have let go of my athiest beliefs. I no longer have doubts after talking to you that god exists. Last night I prayed and asked Jesus to come into my life and heart and for his love, acceptance and forgiveness and also for strength and guidance. I was expecting a sign or a feeling but there was nothing.

Did you repent?
 
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