Should one look everywhere, or just within Christianity?

I strongly recommend the study of world religions. You can be informed about other cultures, and be personally enriched by studying them, and still wind up being completely at home in one religion.

But no one can tell you what to study, because only you know what is interesting to you.

Mountain_Girl406 said:

Bit of background, I was raised Catholic but began doubting when I was about 7...around the same time I began doubting in Santa Claus. Since then, and that was a long time ago...I have studied, prayes, read the Bible, etc..and at best am still agnostic.
So my question is do I keep looking for God, or anything supernatural, for that matter, solely withinthe limits of Christianity, branch out and include study and worship of a non Christian nature, such as paganism, or just hold at agnostic. Thoughts?

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God is looking for you. In prayer, meet Him. Shake hands with Him. Thank Him that He loves you. Read the first several verses of Genesis 1, John 1, Hebrews 1, 1 John 1....
Read Romans 10:8-13.

Mountain_Girl406 said:

Bit of background, I was raised Catholic but began doubting when I was about 7...around the same time I began doubting in Santa Claus. Since then, and that was a long time ago...I have studied, prayes, read the Bible, etc..and at best am still agnostic.
So my question is do I keep looking for God, or anything supernatural, for that matter, solely withinthe limits of Christianity, branch out and include study and worship of a non Christian nature, such as paganism, or just hold at agnostic. Thoughts?

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It depends upon what your searching for. If you're just idly curious about what's out there, then investigating various religions might satisfy your curiosity. But if you want to find God, I think you've already discovered where He may be found. God is not a Roman Catholic, or a Presbyterian, or Lutheran, or Baptist. None of these denominations will necessarily lead you to Him. Some may even obscure Him. If you want to know about God, then the Bible is the place to go. But if you want to know God personally, as your Heavenly Father, then you'll have to act on the knowledge of Him given to you in the Bible.

Selah.

Mountain_Girl406 said:

So my question is do I keep looking for God, or anything supernatural, for that matter, solely withinthe limits of Christianity, branch out and include study and worship of a non Christian nature, such as paganism, or just hold at agnostic.

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I don't think holding at agnostic is a good thing. Musician Keith Green's testimony is similar to my own. He said that when he first set out looking for God, Christianity was at the very bottom of his list. He had seen the hypocrisy in the church, and thought the religion was too theologically restrictive. But he found that God has ways of getting us to the bottoms of our lists. Back then, the eastern religions were making their Western debut in a big way, and New Age was coming of age. But as Green studied he kept noticing that all the other religious masters pointed to Jesus as a great leader, while Jesus only pointed to Himself. This got him wondering, and he began to study the claims of Christ.

I was raised RC, and when of age wanted nothing to do with it. I went to atheism for a brief period, but then reality hit, and I realized I needed God badly. I started out in the eastern religions, which I was greatly attracted to, but when I was introduced to the Bible I quickly found it was not just another religious book. It was authoritative. It took me a long time - I'm a hard case - but finally I realized there is no other way than Jesus. Period. Not church, not denomination, not religion. Jesus.

I don't know what it will take for you to reach that point. Maybe checking out the alternatives would be good for you. But there is great danger as well, for many have been seduced. The best thing is to "study the scriptures daily to see if these things are so", as the noble Bereans did in Acts 17.11. It's better to learn the easy way than the hard and costly way.

Do so prayerfully, with an open heart. God does not want religion, He wants sincere relationship. He will meet you where you are, because He is love. But we have to present ourselves to Him honestly for Him to have leave to work. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Mountain_Girl406 said:

I think that gets to the issue...I have been searching for God, i.e. God as believed by Christians. Since my search so far hasn't been successful, is it time to also consider the possibility of other gods, or a god of a completely different nature (like the universe as god as, opposed to an individual god).

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Well, what does a successful search look like to you? What do you think knowing God should be like?

Selah.

I think a lot of people "want" God to be a certain way in order for them to accept him and when they don't find God the way they want him they reject God altogether. I too was saved as a child and in my teens I abandoned God as I found my idea of God was unable to stand the tests in my life. It was in my mid 30s that I finally decided to put to rest the idea of there being God or not any gods at all worth considering. I spent years reading the Bible and thinking about things that drew me away from God in the universe and science and even pondered what a "perfect" God would be like if there were one and glossed over different religions rejecting most of them because of logical reasons I considered their "gods" too imperfect and also at times cruel in nature either making themselves hard to know, or demanding impossible works in order to achieve a better place in the next life. So I went back to the bible and read it through almost cover to cover skipping psalms and proverbs. The first time through I got to know of God some better but it just raised more difficulties and doubts and made me more curious about God but I didn't find any comfort in my knowledge of God. It was about the third time through the Bible I changed my way of thinking... instead of reading it from my point of view I decided to put myself in God's position in every situation and what I would do and compare it to what God did throughout the Bible. I had previously had difficulty with God being cruel until I was put in his place with all the rebellion and sin involved I found myself wanting to wipe out mankind and people about 10 times more often than God did. I found God extremely patient and forgiving and me impatient and unforgiving.
I then asked myself this question: Why doesn't God come to earth and walk among us so we can get to know who he is.. and this lead me to confront the deity of Jesus head on something that perplexed me for almost a year once I collided with the idea. It was when I finally was able to accept Jesus as God and uncomfortably realizing that the trinity was the only way God could be truly explained (known) throughout the Bible that things changed.
I looked at myself and realized I had not the love to live unselfishly, serve uncomplainingly, and suffer beyond imagination like Jesus did for me.
Jesus could have been more like me and then I wouldn't have been saved, so I guess I was glad God is who God is and not who I wanted him to be.

Simply put the higher standard you put on God, the more other religions fail to meet those standards and the more Jesus shines above them all.

paul1149 said:

I don't think holding at agnostic is a good thing. Musician Keith Green's testimony is similar to my own. He said that when he first set out looking for God, Christianity was at the very bottom of his list. He had seen the hypocrisy in the church, and thought the religion was too theologically restrictive. But he found that God has ways of getting us to the bottoms of our lists. Back then, the eastern religions were making their Western debut in a big way, and New Age was coming of age. But as Green studied he kept noticing that all the other religious masters pointed to Jesus as a great leader, while Jesus only pointed to Himself. This got him wondering, and he began to study the claims of Christ.

I was raised RC, and when of age wanted nothing to do with it. I went to atheism for a brief period, but then reality hit, and I realized I needed God badly. I started out in the eastern religions, which I was greatly attracted to, but when I was introduced to the Bible I quickly found it was not just another religious book. It was authoritative. It took me a long time - I'm a hard case - but finally I realized there is no other way than Jesus. Period. Not church, not denomination, not religion. Jesus.

I don't know what it will take for you to reach that point. Maybe checking out the alternatives would be good for you. But there is great danger as well, for many have been seduced. The best thing is to "study the scriptures daily to see if these things are so", as the noble Bereans did in Acts 17.11. It's better to learn the easy way than the hard and costly way.

Do so prayerfully, with an open heart. God does not want religion, He wants sincere relationship. He will meet you where you are, because He is love. But we have to present ourselves to Him honestly for Him to have leave to work. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

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Profound. Inspired. Inspirational. Spot on.

Sophrosyne said:

I think a lot of people "want" God to be a certain way in order for them to accept him and when they don't find God the way they want him they reject God altogether. I too was saved as a child and in my teens I abandoned God as I found my idea of God was unable to stand the tests in my life. It was in my mid 30s that I finally decided to put to rest the idea of there being God or not any gods at all worth considering. I spent years reading the Bible and thinking about things that drew me away from God in the universe and science and even pondered what a "perfect" God would be like if there were one and glossed over different religions rejecting most of them because of logical reasons I considered their "gods" too imperfect and also at times cruel in nature either making themselves hard to know, or demanding impossible works in order to achieve a better place in the next life. So I went back to the bible and read it through almost cover to cover skipping psalms and proverbs. The first time through I got to know of God some better but it just raised more difficulties and doubts and made me more curious about God but I didn't find any comfort in my knowledge of God. It was about the third time through the Bible I changed my way of thinking... instead of reading it from my point of view I decided to put myself in God's position in every situation and what I would do and compare it to what God did throughout the Bible. I had previously had difficulty with God being cruel until I was put in his place with all the rebellion and sin involved I found myself wanting to wipe out mankind and people about 10 times more often than God did. I found God extremely patient and forgiving and me impatient and unforgiving.
I then asked myself this question: Why doesn't God come to earth and walk among us so we can get to know who he is.. and this lead me to confront the deity of Jesus head on something that perplexed me for almost a year once I collided with the idea. It was when I finally was able to accept Jesus as God and uncomfortably realizing that the trinity was the only way God could be truly explained (known) throughout the Bible that things changed.
I looked at myself and realized I had not the love to live unselfishly, serve uncomplainingly, and suffer beyond imagination like Jesus did for me.
Jesus could have been more like me and then I wouldn't have been saved, so I guess I was glad God is who God is and not who I wanted him to be.

Simply put the higher standard you put on God, the more other religions fail to meet those standards and the more Jesus shines above them all.

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Splendid!

Mountain_Girl406 said:

I think that gets to the issue...I have been searching for God, i.e. God as believed by Christians. Since my search so far hasn't been successful, is it time to also consider the possibility of other gods, or a god of a completely different nature (like the universe as god as, opposed to an individual god).

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No. Romans 10:8-13 plus nothing is the open door to eternal security. Service (sharing your free gift of salvation with others) follows.

Mountain_Girl406 said:

I've gone down that path for 40+ years and haven't met Him yet. I've got my hand out.
But I feel like I've spent a long time looking for lost keys in the living room, and am wondering if it's time to check the rest of the house

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I like your analogy.

I am a Christian, but at earlier points in my Christian life, when I was seeking out how to find and experience the Divine Presence, I found some helpful insights in Paganism (in one way) and
in Buddhism and Hinduism (in another way). It turns out that the Christian practice of contemplative prayer contains many of those same insights, but it helped me to hear the voices of those other philosophies. It's possible that you may similarly find wisdom in some of the voices of other faiths, especially in some of their customs of prayer and meditation.

One thing to keep in mind is that there is a wide variety of ways that different Christians experience the Divine: liturgical worship, revival meetings, silence, fasting, preaching, praise bands, Bach, meditation, spoken prayers, ministering to neighbors in need, walking through the woods, and I know I've left out some. Most churches specialize in two or three of these; few (none?) incorporate all of them in their regular worship, so it's easy to be a Christian for years and not experience all the possibilities. If you do explore other faiths, and find insights into the Divine there, look back at Christianity; the same insights and practices may well be found within the wide Christian community.

I wish you blessings in your search. God is sometimes very difficult to find.

Mountain_Girl406 said:

I've gone down that path for 40+ years and haven't met Him yet. I've got my hand out.
But I feel like I've spent a long time looking for lost keys in the living room, and am wondering if it's time to check the rest of the house

Click to expand...

If the keys are actually in the living room, checking the rest of the house will just make the search go longer. But when I'm searching for the keys I will search all over, if only to rule out other places. But I also search my memory for when I know I last had the keys and everywhere I went from then until I knew they were lost. Often just sitting and remembering allows me to figure out exactly where they are. Searching can make me frantic.

If God is real it's not so much your searching that is important but your remembering God in your earlier life. How did we misplace God? If the life of the Trinity was within us since our baptism, what are we doing that we cannot see or feel or know that now? The advantage is your keys do not want to be found, being just inanimate objects. God desires you, to be known by you and loved by you. Not violently, forcefully, loudly, but respectfully, gently, patiently, persistently. You might even give up the search for a while and see if God was there all along. Like the keys I looked for that were actually in my pocket.

Mountain_Girl406 said:

My only standard for God is that I'd like Him to be real. If He is, and shows me, then I'm willing to take Him the way he is.

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I have asked the same before and found myself getting no answer because regardless of answers I had already decided I wanted God my way, not his way and until I realized that God could totally ignore me and be justified in doing so and I struggled for 10 years and God sent people across my path to encourage me towards him little by little as I could accept him.
In other words if your demands are high for God to prove himself, look to be disappointed because he desires faith from you and if there was absolutely no doubt for you to have concerning him then there would be no faith in him and that isn't pleasing to God. If you read the New Testament when people demanded miracles and there were many miracles and even those who knew the Bible rejected him until you are ready for who God really is you may not find him I fear.