I feel confused about Jesus Christ and Christianity

stars1777 said:

I grew up in a Christian family and I have known the Bible. I have seen the Word of God change the hearts of people. Lately, I have been around people who are praising Jesus and following the Bible. I feel angry and frustrated when I see others praising the Lord and I feel a certain way. I don't know why I feel like this and I am starting to believe it is because of the way how I see Jesus and God. Just randomly, I started to hate the character of Jesus Christ and God. I just hated Jesus because of the way how he treats folks in the Bible. I can't just get the idea out of my head of how God's character is like. I don't know if he is angry or if he is loving. I really need to find a way to stop my negative feelings of Christianity. Some have even told me that Christianity probably isn't for me. I just don't know what to do because it keeps affecting my life in a way. How can I make this stop?

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Dear Stars,

You asked, “How can I make this stop?”

If you ask, God will give you the assurance, understanding and knowledge that you need. But there are a few things you may need to understand. I think most Christians, if they admit it, go thru a “crisis of belief” at one time or the other in their walk with the Lord. As Christians we have to understand that there is a battle going on for our minds. Satan is about seeking those whom he may kill and destroy as we are warned in the scriptures. He knows that our finite minds can not fathom the depth of all that God is and does. It is far beyond anything we can fully comprehend. But if we submit our doubts, fears and misunderstanding to God, He will reveal Himself in such a way that we can understand and incorporate His Truth into our lives. We are incapable of understanding God’s ways and thought thru human reasoning therefore we must depend on divine revelation.

When we are fully submitted to God’s way Satan has no power over us. But when we walk in our own understanding we are susceptible to oppression from Satan. Satan cannot possess us, because when we are born again into God’s family by repenting and accepting Jesus as our Savior, we belong to God, but Satan can oppress us, when we leave ourselves open to his work.

Christians must submit (Romans 12:1) themselves to the renewing of their minds (Romans 12:2), put on their armor (Ephesians 6:11-18) and keep their five spiritual weapons ready and in use. Incidentally those five God given weapons are prayer, worship, Bible study, I depend on the older, more accurate, translations, partaking of the Lord’ Supper in the fullness of all it is intended and fasting. According to II Timothy 2:15, we are to study to show ourselves approved as workman for the Kingdom, diligently seeking the Truth and applying it accurately. In God’s strength Christians can walk the Christian walk, following the steps of Jesus in God’s strength. It is not something we can do in our own power. We choose, God provides.

You seem to doubt that Christianity may be for you. I raised my children as Christians but after the age of accountability they had to decide for themselves and make their choice. Then they had to make the daily choice to live by their decision. According to II Peter 3:9, God wants that no one should perish and that all come to Him (I Timothy 2:4). It is clearly, according to God’s own word in the Bible, that it is God’s desire for you to come under His saving grace and find salvation thru Jesus Christ work on the cross. But only you can decide. There were two thieves on the crosses beside Jesus. One chose to follow Him and Jesus said, “today you will be with me in paradise.” You choose your eternal destiny and how you will walk on this earth. You choose this day whom you will serve (Joshua 24:15).

Only you can decide if Christianity is for you. Only you can decide to walk daily in the way of the Lord or not. I am praying for you to find the answers you need to “make it stop” and live in Truth. Your parents gave you roots and then wings. God bless you.

stars1777 said:

Isn't that sin? Sorry for the dumb question

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Have the responses been helpful?
There are no dumb questions only curiosity. When Jesus lost his patience and became angry is was not a sin. We have a right to get angry, the question is do we sin when we are angry. Do we do hurtful things? Jesus often would question what the Pharisees were doing so he would get them to realize they were sinning. This article helps with understanding the difference between righteous anger and selfish anger. I hope you find it helpful. Will continue to be praying for clarity for you with you relationship with God. Hugs

stars1777 said:

Isn't that sin? Sorry for the dumb question

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No! Jesus was both God and Man. He could not sin. If Jesus was a sinner the God the Father would not have accepted His death on the cross as payment for our sin.

John

stars1777 said:

Lately, I have been around people who are praising Jesus and following the Bible. I feel angry and frustrated when I see others praising the Lord and I feel a certain way. I don't know why I feel like this and I am starting to believe it is because of the way how I see Jesus and God.

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I'm going out on a limb here: Are you sure it's not in regards how others see him and not how you see him? Do you feel angry and frustrated by the way others praise him? Thus it's other peoples' actions that are making you angry? For example: could it be that the people you're around behave hypocritically? Perhaps they respond in a way that deep down you find blasphemous and insulting to God? But because they 'represent' God, you're get a distorted view of Him?

I have found that sometimes when we, as humans, get angry and frustrated we take our anger and frustration out on the wrong person or thing, or in this instance, the wrong entity.

You mentioned that you didn't like how Jesus treated Peter? I'm going to assume this might be when Jesus said, "Get behind me Satan?" (Matthew 16:23) If this isn't the situation, please direct me to the correct passage. But I will speak on the aforementioned phrase: Christ used pretty much the same wording in Matthew 4:10 when he was being tempted of the devil in the wilderness. This incident shows that although Satan had eventually left him at that time, Satan was still present at other times, trying to tempt him. Hebrews 4:15

Christ wasn't speaking to Peter, per se, but Satan. Satan was just using Peter as an instrument. This remark is on the heels of Christ telling his disciples that he must suffer, die, and be raised again. Peter's response was "This shall never happen to you". And he had a tendency of saying things, not actually knowing what he was saying: Luke 9:33

Which has now provoked an interesting question in my mind: "This" -- suffering and death -- shall never happen to you? Or the resurrection, shall never happen to you? Or all three? All three of these things needed to be fulfilled for the salvation of mankind, which Satan doesn't want salvation for man. It would be preferable to Satan if Christ has suffered and died, but not if he rose again, because humanity is SAVED by his life. (Romans 5:10; 1 Corinthians 15:17) So, "This" the resurrection? "shall never happen to you".

Such a statement would be enough to get a sharp rebuke from Christ, because of the great necessity in which it was required of him to not only suffer and die, but to rise again.

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In regards to the woman who was called a dog (Matthew 15:26) 'Dog' was a common term for strangers, gentiles, heathen etc. "But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs."

Ellicott's Commentary:

"The answer has, even taking this into account, a somewhat harsh sound, but it did not go beyond the language with which the woman must have been familiar, and it was probably but a common proverb, like our "Charity begins at home," indicating the line of demarcation which gave a priority to the claims of the family of Israel to those of strangers. We may well believe that there was no intentional scorn in it, though it emphasized an actual distinction."

While the interaction may sound offensive to us, it's likely that such phrasing was common and even idiomatic. Jews really did not associate with Gentiles: however we have examples of Christ doing associated with Gentiles, such as with the woman at the well--and his disciples marveled that he talked to her. (John 4)

Christ, as a Jew, was not above helping Gentiles. See, Matthew 8:5-13

But, the message which Christ was given from God he was to give to Israel first. If you have children, you're going to take care of your children, not the neighbor kids. You have something special for your children, a good dinner with yummy dessert and you're going to serve your children first. If there are leftovers and the friends come over, then you might tell the neighbor kids to help themselves to the cake or pie, because your children have already eaten.

This is the same analogy that Christ and the woman employ, but with a common, cultural reference to dogs instead of neighbor kids. Also Christ didn't deny her, he was merely saying, that it would be inappropriate for him to give her what was meant for his children before his children had a chance to receive it. With or without her humble response, he would have fulfilled her request. We can know this because he fulfilled the request of the Roman Soldier whose servant was sick.

As for the Pharisees. . .yeah they were annoying. Lol. I have gone on too long already and I could probably go on longer over the self-righteousness and hypocritical-ness of the Pharisees.

Don't give up on Christianity or listen to people who say 'It's not for you'. That's Satan trying to pull as many people away from Christ as possible because he does not want humanity saved.

Build your own relationship with Jesus Christ, and remember that relationships take time. You won't know everything about God or understand everything about God, but through time, God reveals himself more and more. My father is 40+ years baptized and in the church and he's still learning about God. God is infinite.

How do you build a relationship with God?

- Prayer
Prayer is you talking to God. Some people say they don't know how to pray. Prayer is just talking; talk normally. Address him as 'Dear Heavenly Father' and then say whatever it is you need or want to say or ask whatever it is you want to ask. (Matthew 7:7)

- Read
Read the bible to understand God's word and what He has said.

- Study
Study what you have read so that it actually sinks in. It's all too common to read something but not retain it.

The last two can be difficult for people who are not studious or academically inclined. Figure out your capabilities. Some people have trouble reading and retaining, so they listen to Bible audio instead if that's you're best learning method . Though I recommend listening and reading along whenever possible.

- Don't be afraid to mark up a bible with notes or underlines or stars etc. If something jumps out at you while you're reading, underline it. You can always go back and study it later.

- Figure out how much you can read or listen to before burn-out. If you can only manage a small amount that's okay! It can feel overwhelming to read the entire bible, but once you get through it once, it gets easier and easier and easier. If it take you a year, or two or three to read the whole bible, that's okay.

- Take your time. There's no rush to learn everything at once. God understands that we have our limits for academia and that real-life eats up our time, too. So if that means allotting one chapter a day that's fine. If it means breaking up a chapter over multiple days, that's fine. If it means taking only 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or an hour a day that's fine. God is pleased with everyone who applies themselves to the best of their ability, no matter how small or great that ability is.

You learn more if you learn it at your own pace, little-by-little, than by cramming anyway.



Anyway, I hope you don't give up on Christianity. Try to cross-examine yourself to see if the anger and frustration is really with God, or with something else. There are many Christians (unfortunately) who can misrepresent Christ and sour the name of Christianity.

Ask questions. If something bothers you or seems contrary to the love-of-God ask about it.

God is love, but it also says God is a man of war. (Exodus 15:3) Not because God wants to war, but because He has to. Some people have a hard time reconciling this, but I don't really see the contrariness of it. God goes to war to protect his children from evil. It's a necessary action.

2 Peter 3:9; Ezekiel 33:11; 1 Timothy 2:4; Isaiah 55:7

Earnest and genuine repentance gets an instant pardon, regardless of what we've done. We may deserve the death penalty, but if we cry out for forgiveness and turn from our ways, we have our pardon and thus life. God wants everyone to live. But those who refuse to repent are sowing the seeds of their own destruction. Evil cannot exist. And God wars only against evil.