I want to be saved but I don't want anyone to know about it

No, you do not have to share your faith with the world, and God will not force you to share it either. And God will not withhold salvation from you, or even take it back if you do not share the gospel. I am a care giver, and believe it or not, a lot of the older generation believed the same way you did. They felt that their relationship with God was between them, and them alone, and it wasn't anyone elses business.

I will tell you this, though, if God can win your heart, he will win your service. What I mean by that is as your relationship with God grows, you can't help but tell others how awesome God is. when I started getting back into the whole christian thing, after running away from it for 7 years, my desire to serve God grew stronger and stronger. When I had a revelation of how much he loved me, and everything that he did for me in order to have a relationship with us, I wanted to do more for him. I started off with small things like volunteering as a grass cutter at church, but it eventually grew to me joining the ministry. Again, you are not forced to do any of this, but you may want to in the future.

Also, when you do accept him, I want to be the first to say welcome to the family.

Hope this helps, and God Bless!

My sense is that many Christians are hesitant to share the Gospel with strangers. If you are willing to share your faith with family and friends, some of whom might not be Christian, that's good. Perhaps as you do that you'll feel more confident sharing your faith with a stranger, should there be an opportunity for doing that.

I would say it's up to you, Hannah. Your salvation is definitely between you and God (and the same goes for everyone), which is the most important thing about it. I myself am happy to talk about my faith as a Christian with others if the opportunity comes up naturally and I feel guided to share, but I certainly don't thrust it in people's faces and go on about it uninvited. There are forms of Christianity where people are strongly pressured to "witness to" and "save" others, but not all denominations have that emphasis (which is often based more on fear of hell than love of God and of our neighbour, to be honest) and how you live and express your faith is up to you, not for anyone else to judge. But I totally agree with you (having been there myself as a former agnostic) that people who talk about their faith all the time and push it down others' throats often put more people off than they draw in. Your sincere striving to follow Christ and live as He commands us to live will do more than you know to attract others to Him.

God bless.

Hannah♥ said:

I would like to officially ask God to save me.
I guess I'm asking if it is okay for me to ask God to save me
if I am honest with Him about what that means for me.

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My goodness, the Orthodox Catholic Church prays this prayer multiple times each day:
"O Christ our God have mercy on us and save us, Amen."
The close relationship you desire comes with time and repentance, usually...
Ya jes never know...
Predicting God is never highly recommended by anyone...

Arsenios

Acquire your Peace with God and you will not have to share with strangers...
You will not be able to hide it...
And many around you will be saved...

Arsenios

Hannah♥ said:

I remember the first time I heard in church that we are all born with Christ in our hearts. This made so much sense to me because even though I have doubts and I question Him and have even turned away from Him, I have never escaped the feeling of Him in my heart.

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We are not born with Christ in our hearts, but the knowledge of eternity is in our hearts. Christianity is about dying to self as we let Christ live in us. Your desire to make a formal declaration of faith in Christ is commendable. The more we press into Him the more He reveals Himself to us. The new birth brings his desires into your heart. What we want before that time fades away as His desires grow stronger within us. Jesus knows our hearts and works with us where we are now. Be not concerned about sharing your faith, only seek Him and those things will happen naturally.

Hannah♥ said:

This may sound strange, but I have always felt tied to Christ but I've also always been fiercely protective of that. I don't like talking about my faith or my experiences. I don't know why, either.

As I said I have always felt connected to Christ but I have also gone through periods of great confusion, identifying as agnostic and even atheist before. I always come back to God, though. It's not something I blindly believe or follow, it's something I feel inside myself.

I remember the first time I heard in church that we are all born with Christ in our hearts. This made so much sense to me because even though I have doubts and I question Him and have even turned away from Him, I have never escaped the feeling of Him in my heart.

So this is why, time and time again, I find myself back in my Catholic faith, believing. I have been a consistent believer for a few years now and I would like to officially ask God to save me. I'm ready to accept Him without any shred of doubt as my savior who died for my sins so that I can get into the kingdom of Heaven.

I'm just wondering if I'm 'allowed' to do that if I don't plan on spreading Gospel or getting others to follow Christ. I don't feel it's my place to be involved with anybody else's faith, as I have rejected that tactic from other Christians my whole life. I believe God loves everybody and if they are meant to follow Him, they will.

I want to be saved and have a strong relationship with God but I want it to be only between me and Him. I want to tell my boyfriend and my family and my friends, but I don't want to share it with the world. I hope this is making sense. I guess I'm asking if it is okay for me to ask God to save me if I am honest with Him about what that means for me.

I'm ready to buy a new Bible, I'm ready to walk into a bookstore and for it to call to me so I can truly feel I've found the right one. I want to pray everyday, on my knees, for forgiveness, my family, the people of our world, and the things I want for my life. I want to find out what my convictions are and I want to stick by them to make my relationship with God stronger. I want my husband to be the leader of my home. I have a lot of goals in my faith, but sometimes feel I don't have the right because I don't make any effort to bring others closer to Christ.

I really hope this makes sense. I am looking for advice if anybody has some.

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Man decides another man by his physical content. God decides man by his inner being. Relationship with God is only done through Faith and live a God fearing life. Salvation is the free gift from God unto us. Living among both good and evil, we just don't expect to be spiritually perfect or righteous. However, Jesus is the free gift from God Father unto us who took all our iniquities and transgressions onto the cross.

God will one day justify according to our faith in Him. Its okay to confine yourself to Him rather then the whole world. Hence, in catholic faith I heard this term VOCATION. Remember God does things in man in His own way and in His own time.

Hannah♥ said:

so this is why I finally feel ready to say once and for all, 'Okay, I believe in You and I accept that you have saved me.'

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Awesome! DO IT! It will be a decision you will NEVER regret.

Going "All In" as a decision of soul is a very good thing...
Then pay attention...
Life can and probably will get pretty rambunctious!
We like to think that He HAS saved us, and IS saving us, and WILL save us...

Arsenios

Hannah♥ said:

This may sound strange, but I have always felt tied to Christ but I've also always been fiercely protective of that. I don't like talking about my faith or my experiences. I don't know why, either.

As I said I have always felt connected to Christ but I have also gone through periods of great confusion, identifying as agnostic and even atheist before. I always come back to God, though. It's not something I blindly believe or follow, it's something I feel inside myself.

I remember the first time I heard in church that we are all born with Christ in our hearts. This made so much sense to me because even though I have doubts and I question Him and have even turned away from Him, I have never escaped the feeling of Him in my heart.

So this is why, time and time again, I find myself back in my Catholic faith, believing. I have been a consistent believer for a few years now and I would like to officially ask God to save me. I'm ready to accept Him without any shred of doubt as my savior who died for my sins so that I can get into the kingdom of Heaven.

I'm just wondering if I'm 'allowed' to do that if I don't plan on spreading Gospel or getting others to follow Christ. I don't feel it's my place to be involved with anybody else's faith, as I have rejected that tactic from other Christians my whole life. I believe God loves everybody and if they are meant to follow Him, they will.

I want to be saved and have a strong relationship with God but I want it to be only between me and Him. I want to tell my boyfriend and my family and my friends, but I don't want to share it with the world. I hope this is making sense. I guess I'm asking if it is okay for me to ask God to save me if I am honest with Him about what that means for me.

I'm ready to buy a new Bible, I'm ready to walk into a bookstore and for it to call to me so I can truly feel I've found the right one. I want to pray everyday, on my knees, for forgiveness, my family, the people of our world, and the things I want for my life. I want to find out what my convictions are and I want to stick by them to make my relationship with God stronger. I want my husband to be the leader of my home. I have a lot of goals in my faith, but sometimes feel I don't have the right because I don't make any effort to bring others closer to Christ.

I really hope this makes sense. I am looking for advice if anybody has some.

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Lumen gentium

35. Christ, the great Prophet, who proclaimed the Kingdom of His Father both by the testimony of His life and the power of His words, continually fulfills His prophetic office until the complete manifestation of glory. He does this not only through the hierarchy who teach in His name and with His authority, but also through the laity whom He made His witnesses and to whom He gave understanding of the faith (sensu fidei) and an attractiveness in speech(200) so that the power of the Gospel might shine forth in their daily social and family life. They conduct themselves as children of the promise, and thus strong in faith and in hope they make the most of the present,(201) and with patience await the glory that is to come.(202) Let them not, then, hide this hope in the depths of their hearts, but even in the program of their secular life let them express it by a continual conversion and by wrestling "against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness.(203)


Just as the sacraments of the New Law, by which the life and the apostolate of the faithful are nourished, prefigure a new heaven and a new earth,(204) so too the laity go forth as powerful proclaimers of a faith in things to be hoped for,(205) when they courageously join to their profession of faith a life springing from faith. This evangelization, that is, this announcing of Christ by a living testimony as well as by the spoken word, takes on a specific quality and a special force in that it is carried out in the ordinary surroundings of the world.

In connection with the prophetic function is that state of life which is sanctified by a special sacrament obviously of great importance, namely, married and family life. For where Christianity pervades the entire mode of family life, and gradually transforms it, one will find there both the practice and an excellent school of the lay apostolate. In such a home husbands and wives find their proper vocation in being witnesses of the faith and love of Christ to one another and to their children. The Christian family loudly proclaims both the present virtues of the Kingdom of God and the hope of a blessed life to come. Thus by its example and its witness it accuses the world of sin and enlightens those who seek the truth.

Consequently, even when preoccupied with temporal cares, the laity can and must perform a work of great value for the evangelization of the world. For even if some of them have to fulfill their religious duties on their own, when there are no sacred ministers or in times of persecution; and even if many of them devote all their energies to apostolic work; still it remains for each one of them to cooperate in the external spread and the dynamic growth of the Kingdom of Christ in the world. Therefore, let the laity devotedly strive to acquire a more profound grasp of revealed truth, and let them insistently beg of God the gift of wisdom.

I wish I had a nice diagram to be able to explain this, but I believe that obedience to God works basically this way: God has given us commands in the Bible not in order to rob us of joy but to increase it. He created us to flourish under certain parameters, and He has graciously communicated those parameters to us in His Word. Along with that, though, I believe that the more we see and understand the depth of our sin, the more we will see and understand the depth of God's love, grace, and mercy toward us, and we will be compelled to follow and obey Him.

That being said, God does command us in the Bible to share the Gospel with others. You talk about faith as if it's a private thing, but I believe that is a point of view shaped by a very pluralistic, postmodern, individualistic culture. Faith was never meant to be a private matter. On top of that, if you begin to consider the reality of hell, you would think that the only response would be to tell anyone in your life that you can. But more than anything, I think the more your heart is imprinted with how little you deserve salvation and the fact that God has pursued relationship with you in spite of you would give you a joy that would compel you to share with others because you want them to experience that same joy as well. It's no different than you discovering a new place to eat or a new show on Netflix that you think is amazing and telling others in your life about it. It's just that this is a joy that exists on a whole different scale.

I have not been great about telling other people about Jesus in my life, so I'm not trying to put down anyone who hasn't, but I do believe Scripture is clear about this, and I am personally convicted that I need to work on being more obedient in this area. The reality is that you and I are believers today because someone somewhere stepped out in faith to share the Gospel with somebody else. It's up to us to keep it going.

I was going to post scripture verses, but instead I'll just say that when you have what I have then you can't help but to tell somebody. I think the first person who responded to this thread got it right. Just wait until the love of God really gets ahold of you. These fears, hangups, or whatever else they are will dissolve away and you will share what God has done for you.

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Mark 16:15 — "(Jesus) said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."

1 Peter 3:15-16 — "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander."

Matthew 4:19-20 — "'Come, follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will send you out to fish for people.' At once they left their nets and followed Him."

Psalm 96:2-4 — "Sing to the Lord, praise His name, proclaim His salvation day after day. Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; He is to be feared above all gods."

Luke 12:12 — "For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say."

Luke 12:8-9 — “I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges Me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever disowns Me before others will be disowned before the angels of God.

But to be truthful, no, you don't have to share your faith with the world, not even with the ones closest to you. But does God want us to? Yes, yes, yes. What good is a light if it's hidden under a bushel? The Word is a great gift given to you by God to learn to know His voice and know what to do in times of confusion and trouble, especially in these areas. He wants to use you as a tool, beloved. You're His daughter. How could you not share this incredible news with people, especially the ones you love the most? It's so scary to get out there, when at your left side is judgement and at your right, persecution. But hold dearly onto these verses. Take the Bible as a whole, don't cherry pick. He doesn't want you to hide your love for Him.

Theadorus said:

No, you do not have to share your faith with the world, and God will not force you to share it either. And God will not withhold salvation from you, or even take it back if you do not share the gospel. I am a care giver, and believe it or not, a lot of the older generation believed the same way you did. They felt that their relationship with God was between them, and them alone, and it wasn't anyone elses business.

I will tell you this, though, if God can win your heart, he will win your service. What I mean by that is as your relationship with God grows, you can't help but tell others how awesome God is. when I started getting back into the whole christian thing, after running away from it for 7 years, my desire to serve God grew stronger and stronger. When I had a revelation of how much he loved me, and everything that he did for me in order to have a relationship with us, I wanted to do more for him. I started off with small things like volunteering as a grass cutter at church, but it eventually grew to me joining the ministry. Again, you are not forced to do any of this, but you may want to in the future.

Also, when you do accept him, I want to be the first to say welcome to the family.

Hope this helps, and God Bless!

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Ditto. I ran away from God for 4 years after getting saved and became Atheist. Afterwards, I decided to keep my faith to myself, but it wasn't until I started to pray more that God started to call me to something bigger than myself.

Half a year after getting saved, my relationship with God grew so much stronger. I have a desire to lead and to help transform lives because I realize how much God has changed mines.

It was hard at first. I didn't tell people I was a Christian again for a couple months out of the fear that I would be mocked, but I take is as gain when I see the same mockers soften up to the encouraging scripture I give them in times of trouble.