Is this going to be destructive?

JohnB445

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This is the year I really came to believe in the Bible, and Jesus.

I didn't need full evidence, just reading the bible and looking through how accurate and phenomenal the prophecies were was enough to convince me this was real, and that there was no way this was predicted by man. I believe the Bible is the word of God.

But after that, I have been venturing out and seeing what other religions believed and seeing how they are flawed. Or looking for debates and challenges of people who criticize the Christian belief. There were a few instances I started questioning things which I had to really study in depth to help strengthen my faith. But for the most part, my faith has strengthened over time and made me more knowledgeable.

Even though I feel I experienced the supernatural, for example, the feeling of the Holy Spirit. I want to make absolutely sure that I'm in the right place which I believe I am. But if I'm constantly looking for more, does that ruin the faith because I'm supposed to trust?
 

Presbyterian Continuist

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This is the year I really came to believe in the Bible, and Jesus.

I didn't need full evidence, just reading the bible and looking through how accurate and phenomenal the prophecies were was enough to convince me this was real, and that there was no way this was predicted by man. I believe the Bible is the word of God.

But after that, I have been venturing out and seeing what other religions believed and seeing how they are flawed. Or looking for debates and challenges of people who criticize the Christian belief. There were a few instances I started questioning things which I had to really study in depth to help strengthen my faith. But for the most part, my faith has strengthened over time and made me more knowledgeable.

Even though I feel I experienced the supernatural, for example, the feeling of the Holy Spirit. I want to make absolutely sure that I'm in the right place which I believe I am. But if I'm constantly looking for more, does that ruin the faith because I'm supposed to trust?
The Bible is God's communication with us, and show Who He is and who we are. We build our spiritual lives on the foundation of the Bible. The Holy Spirit is always working in us to enhance our experience with God and our faith in Christ. Trust is part of that faith. It is trusting that what God has said in the Bible is absolutely true, even though it is not a comprehensive manual about every aspect of life, and though we don't understand parts of it.

A good prayer when reading through a difficult passage is: "Lord, what do you want to say to me from this passage?" It might amaze you what comes back to you. After over 50 years of reading and studying the Bible, every time I read it, something new comes out of it for me. The Bible looks fairly simple on the surface, but when you delve deeper into it you find that it is the Word of the infinite God, and although some understanding can be gained by natural man, for the person filled with the Holy Spirit, it is a bottomless well of blessing.
 
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Bible Highlighter

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This is the year I really came to believe in the Bible, and Jesus.

I didn't need full evidence, just reading the bible and looking through how accurate and phenomenal the prophecies were was enough to convince me this was real, and that there was no way this was predicted by man. I believe the Bible is the word of God.

But after that, I have been venturing out and seeing what other religions believed and seeing how they are flawed. Or looking for debates and challenges of people who criticize the Christian belief. There were a few instances I started questioning things which I had to really study in depth to help strengthen my faith. But for the most part, my faith has strengthened over time and made me more knowledgeable.

Even though I feel I experienced the supernatural, for example, the feeling of the Holy Spirit. I want to make absolutely sure that I'm in the right place which I believe I am. But if I'm constantly looking for more, does that ruin the faith because I'm supposed to trust?

Here are some evidences that support God's Word in being divine in origin and being unlike any other book in human history. No other religion or book can touch the Holy Bible.

You can check out my discovery of evidences in my Blogger Article here:

http://lovebranch.blogspot.com/2017/02/evidences-for-word-of-god.html
 
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Llleopard

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I like what you said about how your questioning makes you stronger and more knowledgeable. That doesn't sound as if it's a bad thing! You can spend your whole life reading the bible-God will reveal more as you grow, even in things you thought you understood before. As long as you don't get distracted reading books ABOUT the bible rather than the word of God itself, I think it's good to have questions and study to allow God to answer them.
 
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HTacianas

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This is the year I really came to believe in the Bible, and Jesus.

I didn't need full evidence, just reading the bible and looking through how accurate and phenomenal the prophecies were was enough to convince me this was real, and that there was no way this was predicted by man. I believe the Bible is the word of God.

But after that, I have been venturing out and seeing what other religions believed and seeing how they are flawed. Or looking for debates and challenges of people who criticize the Christian belief. There were a few instances I started questioning things which I had to really study in depth to help strengthen my faith. But for the most part, my faith has strengthened over time and made me more knowledgeable.

Even though I feel I experienced the supernatural, for example, the feeling of the Holy Spirit. I want to make absolutely sure that I'm in the right place which I believe I am. But if I'm constantly looking for more, does that ruin the faith because I'm supposed to trust?

I'm not sure how many "holy books" I have read over the past 20 or so years, or how many religions I have studied. Hinduism is perhaps my favorite for its similarities in writings to Jewish scripture.

I've never found any other with the fullness of christianity. I remember a lot of protestant commentaries saying that all other religions were demonic, but I never got that idea from any modern religion. They all strike me as legitimate forms of worship, though imperfect.

I don't think you're going to cause any harm to yourself by studying any of them.
 
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Petros2015

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But if I'm constantly looking for more

I would say just be careful of what you are constantly looking for more of

after that, I have been venturing out and seeing what other religions believed and seeing how they are flawed. Or looking for debates and challenges of people who criticize the Christian belief.

Seeing what other religions believe and being aware of the differences is a good thing, I think. Doing it to identify flaws or for debates and challenges, I don't know. I think you should be prepared to give an account of your faith and explore it deeply, but understand that there are SO MANY variations of doctrine and belief even within the body that calls itself Christian.

I had a Buddhist friend (still do) and I learned a lot about the similarities, but also the differences. I think it left me richer for it.
 
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GandalfTheWise

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This is the year I really came to believe in the Bible, and Jesus.

I didn't need full evidence, just reading the bible and looking through how accurate and phenomenal the prophecies were was enough to convince me this was real, and that there was no way this was predicted by man. I believe the Bible is the word of God.

But after that, I have been venturing out and seeing what other religions believed and seeing how they are flawed. Or looking for debates and challenges of people who criticize the Christian belief. There were a few instances I started questioning things which I had to really study in depth to help strengthen my faith. But for the most part, my faith has strengthened over time and made me more knowledgeable.

Even though I feel I experienced the supernatural, for example, the feeling of the Holy Spirit. I want to make absolutely sure that I'm in the right place which I believe I am. But if I'm constantly looking for more, does that ruin the faith because I'm supposed to trust?

The main core of Christianity is knowing God Himself, not knowing a ton of facts about God and having the right opinions on various matters. Our trust and confidence (i.e. faith) in God ultimately comes from what He does in our life and in those around us.

When our faith is based primarily on having intellectual answers and knowledge to questions about God, we are more likely to be tossed for a loop by unexpected questions or events in life. For example, I've run into a few Christians who are firmly convinced that the Bible teaches that the earth is flat. At first I thought they were trolls, but now I'm fairly certain that they are Christians. I have a PhD in the hard sciences so I tried to enlighten them as to the earth being a globe, but made no headway. I think at one point they started to think I was not a Christian because in their eyes I didn't believe the Bible. Then I realized that this was not a matter of examining the evidence for them, but it was a critical matter of faith to them. To disbelieve that the earth was flat was tantamount to throwing out the Bible and everything else they believed. I now understand that when dealing with people whose faith rests on *what they believe about God*, one must first get them to see the difference between having trust and confidence in God Himself and having trust and confidence in a particular series of facts and opinions.

I've been a Christian over 40 years now. My observation is that most of us start out trying to build our faith by eliminating doubts and giving ourselves more reasons to believe. Many of us start by defining our belief in terms of being sure of *what* we believe rather than *Who* we have trust and confidence in. I've spent decades reading and studying and have a much clearer understanding of Christianity than I did. However, much of that understanding has flowed from knowing God better than I did. As I've seen His hand in my life and those around me, my trust and confidence has grown.

I'm by no means saying not to study and learn. I've got a couple of bookshelves full of books surrounding me right now and a number of boxes with books I don't want to part with. I read the Bible in Greek (NT and Septuagint). I've lost count of the number of books I've read and studied over the years. However, I've learned it is a far different thing to worry about forming the correct opinions about God than to spend time getting to know Him and consistently walking with Him.
 
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