Hi, I left the Catholic church about a year ago. I left because of bad experiences, mean and ignorant priests, no solutions to my questions or problems, and a never ending feeling of evil around me. I have a lot of backstory as to why I left but I'm not going to explain everything here right now. Maybe some other time. Anyway, after I stopped going to mass I was looking into the ideas and ways of evangelists and lutherans. I've been sticking to my bibles and i've been trying to find the best version to read. I own a king james, an english standard, and a Good News bible (catholic). I'm currently trying to get my hands on a copy of the Halleluyah Scriptures (sorry if i spelled that wrong) and I'm curious to know what you guys recommend I should read.
Congratulations on making your first step to following the Bible alone and in following what all us humans know to be morally good and upright deep down by looking to His Word alone for salvation.
The next step is "Justification" (Seeing you said within this post that you are looking to be "born again"). "Justification" is being saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8). It is a process of salvation that is without works because you will be first seeking forgiveness with the Lord Jesus Christ. "Justification" is a theological term that denotes a process or aspect of salvation that is vitally important to how we get saved initially, and it is how we ultimately remain saved.
"Justification" is admitting that you have sinned against God (Romans 3:23), and that you need a Savior, and that Savior's name is Jesus Christ. "Justification" is believing the gospel for your salvation (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Belief in the gospel is believing that Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried, and rose again three days later on your behalf so as to forgive you of your sins and to give you a new resurrected life in Him. "Justification" is calling upon the name of Jesus Christ and seeking forgiveness of your sins (i.e. to repent) by way of prayer towards Him. There is no special exact words you have to pray. The intent of your heart should be seeking forgiveness with the Lord (See the Parable of the Tax Collector and the Pharisee in Luke 18:9-14). They can be your own words, but if you need guidance on what to say, go to Google and do an image search for the words "sinner's prayer." "Justification" can also involve asking Jesus Christ to come into your life so as to save your life. For John says, "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God..." (John 1:12).
The next step or aspect of salvation after "Justification" that you need to enter into after being saved by God's grace and mercy is called "Sanctification" or "Progressive Sanctification." This is putting away sin out of your life, and in living your life in a way that is pleasing to the Lord by obeying the commands that come from the Lord Jesus Christ, and His followers (within the pages of the New Testament). This would not be obeying the whole of the Old Testament Law of Moses (i.e. the 613 laws given to Israel, which are found primarily in the Old Testament portion of your Bible). For the apostle warned against trying to be saved by the Law of Moses. Yes, certain laws in the Old Law have been repeated or carried over into the New Testament (like the Moral Law, such as: Do not murder, do not steal, do not commit adultery, do not hate, etc.) but there are many aspects of the Old Law that do not apply anymore (like circumcision, the Saturday Sabbath, dietary laws, etc.). If we fall or stumble into a sin on rare occasion, we have God's grace to go back to (i.e. "Justification"). For 1 John 1:9 says if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This would be confessing our sins to Jesus (1 John 2:1), and not to a person. In fact, GOD alone or Jesus (Who is the 2nd person of the Trinity or the Godhead) is the only being or entity that you can pray to. You cannot pray to dead saints because they do not have the exclusive power of God to answer prayer. They are only human and not GOD. We are also to put away all idols out of our lives, as well. So if you have any statues of the saints, or Jesus, destroy them or thrown them out. If you have any pictures of the saints, destroy them. We should not revere false images of Jesus and or the saints. We do not know what Jesus looked like or the saints. Do not pray to Mary or the saints. They cannot help you. Only Jesus (Who is your Savior, and GOD) can help you.
You said:
On to the church part- I'm having trouble figuring out what kind of church I should go to or if any at all. I'm a bit afraid because all i've ever known is Catholicism. I really want to do things right and become born again. For now all i've been doing is reading the word and finding people on youtube to listen to.
While I believe Catholicism is unbiblical, I believe running into the arms of Protestantism with blind abandonment can be equally problematic and or spiritually dangerous. It is true that there are some aspects of the Protestant church that are correct (biblically speaking). They believe correctly that there is a Trinity, that the Lord our God is one God and yet He exists as three persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost (Which is also what the Catholics believe) (See
1 John 5:7 in the KJV
here). Protestants also correctly believe in Sola Scripture (a.k.a. the Bible alone for their faith), and they have a more sound view of the End Times (a.k.a. Eschatology) with believing in a Pre-Trib Rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18), but I believe where the Protestants drop the ball is in Sola Fide (Faith alone). James 2:24 says that we are justified by works and not by faith alone. Yes, we are saved by God's grace through faith in Christ without works (Ephesians 2:8-9); But in Ephesians 2:8-9, Paul is referring to the "Justification Process" in how we first get saved and or how we ultimately can stay saved if we happen to stumble into sin. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10:13). I believe Protestants are wrong because they seek to justify the idea that they can sin and still be saved on some level (even when they may appear to double speak and say that they are for holy living, when they really are not for that. For most Protestant churches teach that you cannot lose your salvation via by sin as Jesus taught. Jesus said if you look upon a woman in lust, your whole body can be cast into hell fire (Matthew 5:28-30). Jesus said if we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven (Matthew 6:15), and many other such grievous sins.
You said:
I've been watching alot of Living Waters with Ray Comfort and other youtube channels like Derek Prince, Fred Tarsitano, Alan Horvath, etc. I used to watch videos from the priest from my (old) diocese "Ascension Presents" with Father Mike Schmitz but I stopped because obviously I don't want to be RC anymore (roman catholic) I don't know if I want to label myself as a certain type of christian or just call myself a christian.
Check everything you hear with the Word of God. For example out of the list of men you have listed: I do not believe Ray Comfort teaches sound biblical advice on salvation because he is for "Faith Alone" and or that future sin is forgiven a believer (See this article
here). This secretly means we can live however we like because we have a belief alone on Jesus. Hebrews 10:26 says if we willfully sin after we receive the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sin. 1 John 1:9 says we have to confess of sin (i.e. confess to Jesus) in order to be forgiven of sin (also compare with 1 John 2:1). Granted, Ray believes we will become changed and we will want to live a holy life, but this is not what the Scriptures teach. We are told in the Bible to.
- Continue in the grace of God (Acts of the Apostles 13:43).
- Continue in the faith (Acts of the Apostles 14:22) (Colossians 1:23).
- Continue in his goodness, otherwise we can be cut off (just like the Jews were cut off) (Romans 11:21-22).
You said:
I want to surround myself with people who are christian and want to help and guide other to christ the right way and find supporters. I have no idea where to go and i'm young so i have time to figure this all out, but I'd rather start now than later because I could get into a car crash and die tomorrow for all i know. I really want to stay away from evil and stay away from sin. The Catholic church is full of stuff like that. (sorry catholics)
Any advice or recommendations is appreciated!
I am glad you have chosen to take the path of following after the truth by God's Word alone. Remember, no matter how impressed you may be by a teacher online or even at a church, remember to test everything they say with the Word of God. There may be things you may like that they say, but there may be other things that do not align with what God's Word actually says. You should even test everything that I say with God's Word. For no person is above what His Word says. Jesus said narrow is the way that leads unto life and FEW be there that find it. The more I have studied God's Word and have walked with the Lord, the more narrow I found that this way is. Nobody truly wants to follow Jesus in what He says. They will find ways to ignore what He teaches. Examples would be like their denying His words in Matthew 5:28-30, Matthew 6:15, Matthew 19:17-19, Matthew 12:37, Matthew 25:31-46, Luke 9:62, Luke 10:25-28, etc. The apostle Paul warns against anyone who denies the words of Jesus; He says they are proud and they know nothing (See 1 Timothy 6:3-4). James says God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).
