Confused about finding faith.

Surely if only God can give faith it is not the person's fault they were not blessed with it.

God has given me faith that I can believe my Horse has blinders.

Never mind.

A lot of people will repent, but not all people will repent.

My God tells me we are pardoned with a decision, is that the same God of the Holy Bible?

I think God gives faith to all men but the amount of faith we each receive from him differs. Some are given more faith than others.

The amount of faith we receive does not affect whether we believe in God or not because we can see here that only a tiny amount of faith is actually required to believe in God.

Luke 17:6
He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.

The problem doesn't lie with whether God gives faith it is what men do with the faith they receive. I think people who believe in the big bang theory have loads of faith perhaps more so than a Christian. You would have to in order to believe something as absurd as that. So God has blessed many non believers with a great amount of faith, it's just that they misplace their faith. Look at all the Muslims, they have misplaced their faith and believe in a made up God who doesn't even exist.

Men can also lose their faith. They give into a doubting mind etc.

I hope this answers your question.

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jpark43 said:

Where does the Scripture say they will surely be punished? We don't know if the unbelievers and sinners go to hell or not. Only God knows.

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jpark43 said:

Here is the reformation I am to bring: God looks at the heart. Nobody knows who goes to hell. The statement, "if you don't accept Jesus, you will go to hell", is written code. The fate of a person should not be written down like this.

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jpark43,

I am very shocked at your answer here. I don't know if your trying to be smart or what but you are totally off mark here.

Surely you know that the whole point of the gospel is to accept Jesus or go to Hell for rejecting him?

John 3:18
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

John 3:36
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."

As you see, a fate of a person is written down like this. This is the whole point of the gospel.

John 14:6
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

oi_antz said:

A lot of people will repent, but not all people will repent.

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oi_antz said:

My God tells me we are pardoned with a decision, is that the same God of the Holy Bible?

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What are you talking about?

Your very welcome.

I'm not even sure if the other posters are Christians!

God bless.

Jo-Jo said:

I have read in the bible and on this forum that God gives faith and it is not something one can acquire any other way. However, if a person does not believe in God the bible teaches they have been given many chances to accept Christ as their saviour and thus deserve to be punished. Surely if only God can give faith it is not the person's fault they were not blessed with it. God chose not to.

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To understand the concept of God giving us faith, a metaphor may be helpful. Consider teachers and education. Certainly teachers give their students education. However, at the same time, the process of education is one that requires initiative and cooperation on the part of both the students and the teachers. So looked at another way, a teacher cannot give education to a student who's actively resists receiving it.

In a similar way, God gives faith to everybody, yet does not give faith to those who deliberately reject it. In other words, God provides the opportunity to receive faith to everybody, and some people accept it while others reject it.

fm107 said:

Surely you know that the whole point of the gospel is to accept Jesus or go to Hell for rejecting him?

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I think the point is accentuated by the fact the Jews did not accept Jesus was Christ, but they did accept the Christ as the son of God. Knowing that you have not been able to believe Jesus is Christ is the thing which puts you through Hell, but I wouldn't like to believe it sends you to Hell for all of eternity.. that's just my thoughts though, we all have to decide how to make the right conclusion..

Jo-Jo said:

I thought God gave belief in God as oppose to giving the faith to believe in God. I don't think that made sense, sorry!

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I think we all have a belief in God, why else would we try to explain the Universe? I think faith is granted when you once in your life come to meet Him.

Jo-Jo said:

I think was confusing 'faith' with the actual belief in God.

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One of the ways to avoid this confusion to remember that the devil and the demons believe in God. In fact, the demons knew that Jesus was the Christ before the people did. Jesus silenced them because He wanted to reveal Himself in His own time. Faith, or real Christian "belief" is indeed a gift from God, but we have to be a willing recipient. I blogged about this last week, actually: What it Means to Believe.

Jo-Jo said:

I have read in the bible and on this forum that God gives faith and it is not something one can acquire any other way. However, if a person does not believe in God the bible teaches they have been given many chances to accept Christ as their saviour and thus deserve to be punished. Surely if only God can give faith it is not the person's fault they were not blessed with it. God chose not to.
I'm a new Christian and this really confuses me. I don't see how the two ideas co-exist. Sorry for my ignorance and thank you for taking the time to read this.

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Question -- does a murderer deserve to have freedom when his will constantly compels him to murder? Wouldn't we imprison him simply because he wants to murder people?

Scripture essentially asserts everyone has a heart that wants to murder -- we just don't always make it obvious. Jesus "shone a light" on our wills when He pointed out, "if you're simply angry with a person, or call him names, you're in danger of judgment". Murder is a heart attitude -- and we're all guilty.

"There is no one righteous; no one. There is no one who seeks God."

We aren't "morally neutral". We're enemies. Enemies of God, all of us. Should a murderer be absolved his murder if he's raised as an enemy of the people he kills? And yet, justice be claimed, we're all personally responsible.

God's done something about that, though. He's accepted the verdict and punishment on Himself, on His Son, so that some enemies would be rescued by Him. It's not God's responsibility to save everyone, either. He owes humans nothing. He gives of Himself for people He saves. But a gift is not a requirement.

What's left? Well, people are judged based on their own conflict with God, with good, and thus being evil, people are punished.

Let's be reminded that no person can sit in God's judgement seat - that is what we do when we misuse judgement. As I understand the purpose of judgement in faith is to evaluate your self for improvement. This is distinct to how religion uses judgement - to evaluate others to fulfil a personal need (usually this will be a power tripper). So what faith does distinctly different from religion is this:

Faith gives you power of free will to live according to your own personal relationship with Christ and the Father.
Religion gives the power to someone else.

It's important to recognise this and be sure we are putting God first and able to take some other person's judgemental tendency with a pinch of salt so we can consider their advice but run it past God in prayer and His Holy Word. Faith is empowering, religion is not because we are powerless to change without Christ, in a nutshell.

So if you find you are one to give advice on righteousness, it is wise to ask God for support and to monitor your attitude so your message is conveyed as a gift of empowerment and not as selfish dominance, also look at Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs to see how the spiritual need is something which fulfils us and can be addictive.

I'm inclined to see the lake of fire as "the second death" - the turmoil of confusion we suffer while we gain firm standing on the path of righteousness. The first death is the spiritual baptism which opens our eyes to the spiritual realm. The second death can last a few days or a lifetime while we purify our minds into a temple of holiness, its up to you how long you persist to know God when that happens, but I can say it feels better after taking a dunk

oi_antz said:

I think the point is accentuated by the fact the Jews did not accept Jesus was Christ, but they did accept the Christ as the son of God. Knowing that you have not been able to believe Jesus is Christ is the thing which puts you through Hell, but I wouldn't like to believe it sends you to Hell for all of eternity.. that's just my thoughts though, we all have to decide how to make the right conclusion..

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There are many things we would not "like" to believe in, but that doesn't make them untrue or unimportant. You have to go by the only standard on which to base any doctrine which is God's word.

Jo-Jo said:

I have read in the bible and on this forum that God gives faith and it is not something one can acquire any other way. However, if a person does not believe in God the bible teaches they have been given many chances to accept Christ as their saviour and thus deserve to be punished. Surely if only God can give faith it is not the person's fault they were not blessed with it. God chose not to.
I'm a new Christian and this really confuses me. I don't see how the two ideas co-exist. Sorry for my ignorance and thank you for taking the time to read this.

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Romans 12:3(NKJV)
3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

God gives each person a measure of faith, enough whereby each one of us is without excuse for not believing in God. It is up to us what we do with the faith we are given. Do we build upon it by believing & trusting God and His Word? Or do we say 'There is no God' and throw it away? Each person is given enough faith to believe and will be held responsible for what they do with it.

Jo-Jo said:

I have read in the bible and on this forum that God gives faith and it is not something one can acquire any other way. However, if a person does not believe in God the bible teaches they have been given many chances to accept Christ as their saviour and thus deserve to be punished. Surely if only God can give faith it is not the person's fault they were not blessed with it. God chose not to.
I'm a new Christian and this really confuses me. I don't see how the two ideas co-exist. Sorry for my ignorance and thank you for taking the time to read this.

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Wow, I can see why you can be confused by reading all the different opinions about Faith. Actually, I will tell you how it works. This is my opinion, but directly related to the Word as it is written.
First, I will put it in simple terms. Faith is simply believing, it is from you that Faith evolves. Not from God the Creator, not from the Lord Jesus. You simply believe in the Lord Jesus and that He is your Savior that has come to be the mediator between you and God. That He has died for you and all our sins who accept Him as our Lord. That is Faith, Faith is Believing. It comes from you only.

By what other forms of Faith is that if you Pray and ask for something not what you want, but what you need such as health (not money, a mate or etc.) that God will surely give it to you if you truly need it.
Faith is believing when you ask for something that you will be given it.
It is not about what God can do for you, but what you can do for God.
God will ask you, "What have you done for me?"

By also accepting God you will not have any lights appear, feel different other than you have accepted Jesus as your Lord. How you live your life from there on tells whom you serve really. That is the key. Once you accept Jesus, then live your life for Jesus. That also means through your Faith (belief in Jesus) that you will defend the Word, Defend Jesus in public (anyone using His name in profanity you should also correct them on it), and live according to the decrees and Laws (both the 10 commandments and what Jesus has said) and that makes you a true Christian, a follow of Jesus. Learn to Love Jesus, belief only goes so far.

Don't let anyone tell you they are holy than you or that they have more Faith than you. Only God can Judge that. However, by your own Judgment you can tell who is acting better (more good) than others by their actions. Even the Pope may not have more Faith than another, for he cannot even move mountains or heal the sick through his own Faith. He struggles just as much as any one else in life. Anyone who disagrees may just want to go ask the Pope himself.

Faith is trust and belief put together. Have faith as it is written means truly believe in a good translation.
There are other times that Faith was used instead of the word Trust in the Bible. For instance, in Ex 21 verse 8 it says, "because he has broken faith with her" in which the term Faith refers to Trust. Almost exactly the same thing in many ways, but it is how it is used in the sentence that changes the entire sentence by the reader who reads it.
Another example is Matthew 6 verse 30 "Oh you of little Faith. So do not worry....", which you can easily put Trust or Belief into the sentence instead of Faith and get the full meaning if it confuses you.
You have to remember, the translator was not always truly accurate as some words in Greek can mean two or more things, but with the same context of meaning. Faith, Trust, Belief are all relative.

If you believe you have Faith, but you must Trust in order to Truly Believe. Does that help? It can go even further to say if you accept Jesus, believe in Jesus (which is usually through acceptance), Trust Jesus, then you have Faith. If you Believe and Trust and you have Faith.
Perhaps putting it in different terms may help someone else as well so I included all of them.