Brand New, Kind of Lost

DancingDuck117 said:

Hi all ,

So I am new to both this forum as well as Christianity in general.

I was born in a non-religious household. As I grew up, I started searching for my own personal beliefs and faith because I never felt comfortable believing that there is no higher power.

For the longest time I considered myself an agnostic. Recently I've decided to really start exploring my faith and beliefs and work on building a personal relationship with God. I am in my first few months at medical school and know I will need this relationship to help me get past this challenging experience.

I came across this forum and I was hoping it would be a good resource for me to find encouragement, guidance, and support. I don't know a ton about Christianity, let alone the denominations, so it's a bit challenging to find a place to fit in.

So anything you want to share would be greatly appreciated!!!

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Welcome to the forum and glad you are on your way to finding the answers you seek about God and finding Faith in God. I know many just think the other person will find a quick way by just telling them to read certain books of the Bible or gives them a verse or two, but in general most people need more than that to go on.

I like to tell new Christians and those struggling to start with the Old Testament from page one and start to read the entire Bible, but I also tell them the most important parts of the Bible that give more focus on God and the Son Jesus is both the first 5 books of the Old Testament and in the New Testament reading Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Revelations since John wrote Revelations as well. This avoids some confusion in that Paul's letters in Corinthians since they were only letters to other people and were put into one book by the Catholics later on.

The process goes like this. We learn about God and who He is, we Believe in God, we then Trust God and have Faith in that we believe and trust God, then go forward and find answers to our questions through the Bible and through Prayer. Then we know the meaning of life, which is solely to get to know God and Love God.

There is something that is important to remember, God lets everyone choose their own path, choose how they live and those choices are what makes up each one of us. God is the Father that wants us all to come to Him, but will not force anyone to do so, since God wants volunteers and not slaves. God has angels for that, but mankind is even more important than angels to God since we are volunteers.

The point being that God brought His Son Jesus into the world was only to bring mankind back to God. God promised never to destroy mankind again after the Flood, so it was only then to bring Jesus into the world to show God's Love for mankind and give mankind a 3rd chance. Adam and Eve were the first, they screwed up, the world was cruel and evil when Noah was around and God destroyed the world only to save one man and his family who had a good heart, thus Jesus was the third attempt to bring people back to God and let them know God is still with us. So through Jesus our Savior who died on the cross, who shed His blood for us, that we may have Forgiveness through Prayer and find salvation through the Lord Jesus, but we must not still forget God the Creator our Father in Heaven.

Just a short review of the process, why God has gone through so much for us and why we are given freedom of choice. That in the end, God is looking for those strong few volunteers who will follow Him and Love Him freely. That God the Creator and Jesus the Son is welcoming us with open arms. That God wants only those who Love Him to be with Him since we would not let strangers into our homes to live with us, so He will not let strangers into His home to live with Him. So growing to know God and Love God through the Word (Bible) and through Prayer is the key.

It is important that our actions as well in our daily lives show we are believers and followers of the Lord Jesus in Heaven. That we will do things for Him as we would do for any other loved one and more. That we must also understand why God lets things happen in our lives and in other peoples lives, for we made our choices and they made theirs and the results of which the outcome is from their own choosing of how they lived. That when we are persecuted by evil people, that God did not make that happen, but did not stop it either for it was the other persons choice to do such things which they will also be Judged upon. That our actions we take during those times also who we really are. (However we do have the right to defend ourselves, which even God defends Himself as our mentor.)

I hope these things help in some way to understand God, why things are the way they are on this world and why we are given freedom of choice, but those choices are what makes the difference in our lives.
Knowing and living by the Truth is everything. God Bless you and never give up. You are on the right track. =)

Hello DancingDuck117 ,
I'm Christine 21 yrs old studying in a pharmacy school, I'm new here too
we could help each other out
I'm looking forward

DancingDuck117 said:

Hi all ,

Recently I've decided to really start exploring my faith and beliefs and work on building a personal relationship with God. I am in my first few months at medical school and know I will need this relationship to help me get past this challenging experience.


So anything you want to share would be greatly appreciated!!!

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Anything? OK.
'Your' faith, your beliefs, and your personal relationship with God are only made possible by His work of saving you on a bloody cross 2000 years ago. This means that the relationship established will be on His terms not ours. He may see it fitting in helping you through medical school but on the other hand He may have other plans.

It's not all about gore and goo of blood on a cross, the point is that Jesus lives forever, even today! And we can all have a relationship with Him by accepting The Holy Spirit in our lives. Jesus is the person who speaks to us when we read The Bible. As you know, when you read The Bible there is a message from God and there is a measure of doubt in that message (depending what the message means to you, it could be 0.001% to 99.999% doubt), but the truth is always there. When we truly ask Jesus into our lives we are giving our hearts to worship Him, and that means to listen what He says when we read. I think sin is just the simple act of lying about what Jesus says, you sound happy enough already so I guess there's not a lot of sin to repent from in your life Keep reading regularly so you can get to know Jesus as best you can

Welcome, great to have you both here. As a new Christian it is important to get regular feeding on God's Word but also to be keeping company with His people. Fellowship is so important and hence this forum is a great place to be. But you do need to find people local to you too so if there is a church you can go to, that is a good start. Or ask God to bring people into your life that He wants you to be spending time with. Together we help grow each other's faith and strengthen one another during the tough times. Having someone who's faith is older/more advanced that yours will help you also.

Although it is not possible for every Christian on Earth to be rich millionaires and quit their jobs otherwise there would be a huge global economic disaster .:*:. God does want us to work hard and earn enough money to survive .:*:. Wealth as I see it as a Christian is God wanting us to share that wealth to the poor and desperate in African and Asian countries and other countries around the world .:*:. I am sending a small credit card donation to Benny Hinn's Ministry online to support abandoned children who need homes .:*:. I believe if you give no matter how big or small the amount of money, God would reward us for our repeated efforts.:*:. Faith awakens from inside every person who accepts Jesus for correcting mistakes and removing fear and depression .:*:. We can become financially and emotionally bankrupt without our spiritual partner Jesus the son of God.:*:. Sin is a powerful opposite of love of Christ and it is that kind of opposition in life that non-Christians would seek hungrily and find that love of Christ through faith hidden in every person born on Earth.:*:. Release the faith Lord in every human being so that sin cannot destroy us and the planet we live on so soon .:*:. We pray and wait for your return for your city kingdom on a new Earth so that no one would suffer sin anymore .:*:.

Welcome DancingDuck! The best advice I can give is this: Find a little time each day to read the Bible, but don't try to do it on your own. A great place to start is to find a daily devotional. It can be as little as 10 minutes per day, and gives you a little bit of scripture as well as some down-to-earth comments about it. I can give you some examples if you're interested. You are in a very busy part of life, so it's important to take a short break from the madness and just get away. Best of luck with Med School!

Prayer is paramount to having a relationship with the Lord. It's not a "gimme, gimme, gimme" thing either, but rather a dialogue where you both speak to Him and listen for Him to speak to you. Kind of like any other successful relationship. So take time each day to spend praying. Also as others have said spend time reading your Bible. Every day. Just a couple of chapters a day. Finally spend time with other believers. I'm not so much into the whole denominational bit but some people area. I just want them to be believers.

Welcome grow "by relying on this unearned favor in which we stand" Romans 5:2

Sorry oi but there is no 'relationship' with God until one first goes through the Blood sacrifice, for apart from the shedding of Blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
We can't just barge into God's presence apart from being cleansed in the Blood and robed in His Righteousness...not ours.

DancingDuck117 said:

What exactly do you mean by this?

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I won't speak for crossnote, but here's my take: The sacrificed blood was that of Jesus when He died on the cross. Prior to that, sinners would try to appease God by sacrificing animals. But then Jesus became the final, sufficient sacrifice that paid the price for the sins of humanity. There is one catch though. You have to believe in God and accept the grace and mercy that was made available by Jesus' death. Once you do that, you enter into a relationship which slowly draws us away from our fallen, evil side, and brings us more into harmony with the values of God. In other words, Jesus' death is sufficient to pay for the sins of non-believers, but it does not cover them because they do not believe and accept this gift.

We aren't judged and condemned by every deed that we do, nor do we gain righteousness by our own acts. Instead, our job is just to nurture and grow our relationship with God. Though sin will still be a challenge, good actions (often called fruit) will sort of come automatically. Once Christians understand this, there is usually a profound sense of freedom and hope.

Vertigo said it well. I was also trying to communicate a danger I often see in that the phrase 'personal relationship with God' (which is absolutely true) becomes divorced from the acknowledgment that that personal relationship was opened up (made possible) through Christ's death and resurrection.
Even as Christians it is important to keep the Gospel truths burning in our hearts for they establish the true ongoing motives for doing and saying what we do including carrying on our 'personal relationship' with Jesus.

DancingDuck117 said:

Hi all ,

So I am new to both this forum as well as Christianity in general.

I was born in a non-religious household. As I grew up, I started searching for my own personal beliefs and faith because I never felt comfortable believing that there is no higher power.

For the longest time I considered myself an agnostic. Recently I've decided to really start exploring my faith and beliefs and work on building a personal relationship with God. I am in my first few months at medical school and know I will need this relationship to help me get past this challenging experience.

I came across this forum and I was hoping it would be a good resource for me to find encouragement, guidance, and support. I don't know a ton about Christianity, let alone the denominations, so it's a bit challenging to find a place to fit in.

So anything you want to share would be greatly appreciated!!!

Click to expand...

Just focus on seeking God Himself. God speaks through everything and from any place. Just listen.

God is not just something good to have in case of difficulties. God is a Being who wants to be loved for Himself and who wants to fellowship with us and who wants to be special and important to us. God is not a vending machine for requests. So focus on finding out His HEART, instead of His hand and what He can give you.

As to HOW to find Him? You know all those movies where they say: you will find what you need.... just look into your heart.... you have what it takes.... This is our path as well.

It can be frustrating: to not know the exact steps to take. But basically it's based on trusting God to lead you and to give you what you need. The condition is: you have to have a strong desire to find Him. If you do, then you will find Him. You have to be willing to invest your time in finding Him. You have to be willing to treat this search as something that is most important in your life.

Just sit there and think of Him. Think of life. Think of whatever you feel like thinking of. And see where your heart will take you. Did any thought come into your head as to what you want to see or read? Then do it. And so on... Only don't let this daily life distract you. ALWAYS make time to sit and think of Him and of your life and choices and life beyond... Make it like a date that you always keep... If you do the things I said (and whatever you think you should) I believe that you will start to grow in your closeness to God and in your knowledge of Him.

It's not about us knowing the right path to take. It's about Him leading us to it, behind the scenes... It's about us trusting Him to lead us even though we don't know which road to take.

Fantastic to hear you have found the path of straight and narrow, it's a life-long journey with Jesus, we are able (and entitled by free will) to stray off the path and into sin and while this is happening you are walking in the opposite direction to God. As crossnote said "there is no relationship with Jesus until you accept the blood sacrifice" - I think what is meant is that we need to perform the symbolic rituals as commanded by Jesus:

John 3:3
In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."

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You must acknowledge your susceptibility to sin and vow to repent from sin as Jesus guides you through life. (I think you've already done this), and don't forget the sinners prayer - Jesus can only come into our lives by invitation, so if you haven't prayed and asked for Him to save you, you need to do this before you fall victim to temptation.

Water baptism is a symbolic display of your decision to lay down your life of sin and follow Jesus.

The emblems of Christ's atonement (bread and wine) are a symbolic gesture of our devotion and love for The Lord. As often as it is practiced (daily, weekly, monthly, whenever), we are to remember our precious saviour.

Luke 22
14When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. 15And he said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God."

17After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you. 18For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."

19And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."

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Prayer and reading The Bible: as stated earlier, we come to know the nature of God by reading His Word, and we get to speak directly with God through prayer.

Sounds like it is all going well for you, I recommend discussing the emblems and baptism with your favourite church.

Matthew 13
18"Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. 22The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. 23But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."

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Be aware of your mind "the evil one" mentioned above really doesn't like losing a snack and he could put up a fight

DancingDuck117 said:

I was actually baptized when I was baby even though I grew up non religious. I'm actually not sure why my parents baptized me. Do I need to do it again?

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There are two main theories on baptism: infant baptism and believer's baptism. Infant baptism has been around (a lot) longer than believer's baptism. In that theory, baptism removes original sin, so people are baptized as soon as possible (i.e. when they are born). Believer's baptism states that baptism is only a symbolic gesture, although commanded by Christ. So, you should only be baptized if you understand the doctrines of Christianity and why you are being baptized.