A slightly more personal question

[DarkProphet]

This is addressed to anyone who cares to answer.

What brought to your faith?

If it was evidence what kind of evidence was it and why was it so compelling?

If it wasn't evidence then how do you know that your faith is the correct one, or even if a faith is needed?

 

[cutie76]

The Word of God brought me to God.

After realizing who He is and who I am, I had no other choice but to fall into His loving arms. My faith came by the Word of God.

Romans 10:17 says that...
Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

 

[DarkProphet]

Could you clarify what you mean by word of God? And what was so compelling about it?

 

[cutie76]

Sure, I started reading the Bible and read about who God is, His personality and characteristics.

Much of that can be found in Psalms, but really throughout the whole Bible.

God is LOVE. He is patient beyond my comprehension and holds my hand through life. He disciplines me out of his love, because he loves me as a parent loves their child - but more. His love is perfect and unconditional. He never fails, never lies, and He does not force His will on me or anyone else. His commandment are for my protection, because He loves me and I do not find them harsh or burdensome.

A really great passage is Psalm 119.

Isaiah 1 is another passage (especially verse 18) where God wants to take us and restore us to Him.

The Word of God is Christ - He is Alive and so is the Word of God.

The Word of God is SO POWERFUL that it created the whole world!!

 

[childofGod31]

Faith comes from hearing. So first, one needs to hear (something to believe in). I think reading the Bible provides that "hearing". Reading the Bible can touch your heart. Reading can make you believe (when it's your time, because it might take a few years before you start believing...)

(and you can talk to God anytime, whether or not you believe)

Faith just comes. And one day you just know. (Even though logically and scientifically, one cannot be sure if one chose the right faith), but if you can honestly say: I feel SOOO right, and I really really believe this is the correct faith, and this is the purpose of life...then you have arrived. And that's the best anybody can do anyways.

 

[Digit]

This is addressed to anyone who cares to answer.

What brought to your faith?

If it was evidence what kind of evidence was it and why was it so compelling?

If it wasn't evidence then how do you know that your faith is the correct one, or even if a faith is needed?

I will link you to my post here instead of rewriting it.

Digit

 

[ebia]

This is addressed to anyone who cares to answer.

What brought to your faith?

Brought up on the fringes of it, and felt myself drawn into it.

If it was evidence what kind of evidence was it and why was it so compelling?

If it wasn't evidence then how do you know that your faith is the correct one, or even if a faith is needed?

To be honest, I believe and trust in God because I can't manage not to.

 

[DarkProphet]

To be honest, I believe and trust in God because I can't manage not to.

I'm not sure what you mean by "can't manage not to".

 

[ebia]

I'm not sure what you mean by "can't manage not to".

I mean that I could no more choose to not believe in God than I could not believe in the sun. I've tried it, and it didn't work. So the only reasonable choice left was to start trusting him.

 

[talitha]

I mean that I could no more choose to not believe in God than I could not believe in the sun. I've tried it, and it didn't work. So the only reasonable choice left was to start trusting him.

What he said. Sounds much like my own experience.

 

[BigNorsk]

It really works the same for pretty much everyone. They hear from the law how they are sinners and are condemned. The law works on their hearts and they are terrified of their sinfulness. The Gospel offers relief and salvation.

Much of how exactly it works is a hidden thing of God's. But the outward workings are pretty much the same. Though some are told it by another person, some read it and so on. God's Word takes many forms.

Marv

 

[DarkProphet]

It really works the same for pretty much everyone. They hear from the law how they are sinners and are condemned. The law works on their hearts and they are terrified of their sinfulness. The Gospel offers relief and salvation.

You mean they turn to God out of fear?

 

[childofGod31]

I do believe that some poeple come to God out of fear of judgement. Well, what's wrong with that?

Everybody who is born here on earth is a sinner and is condemned. But here comes Jesus and says that you don't have to be condemned, that there is a way out.

So some people gratefully accept this way out (this gesture of grace and mercy of God).

I don't think that people who "come to God out of fear" think God is a monster. I think they are grateful instead. (Those people who think God is a monster will not be able to come to God because they coudn't believe in his love, they couldn't trust him and they couldn't have a relationship with him).

 

[DarkProphet]

I do believe that some poeple come to God out of fear of judgement. Well, what's wrong with that?

The problem is that decisions based on fear are irrational and such a life altering decision like becoming Christian should not be made on such irrational grounds.

 

[MelissaShae]

The problem is that decisions based on fear are irrational and such a life altering decision like becoming Christian should not be made on such irrational grounds.

I don't know anyone who became a Christian on irrational grounds. Yes there is a fear of Hell and eternal damnation and let me tell you it scares me a lot!!! I don't want to go to Hell, I want to be in Heaven serving at the feet of the Lord.

Turning to God in desperate times is what God wants. He wants us to come to Him for everything and especially in desperate times when we need him so much and everything or everyone else has failed, God will provide for us!!

 

[IPbrown]

I was born into a christian family so have always gone to church however I am the type of person who questions everything (I come from a family of debaters!) and I am fascinated by science (hopefully I'll be studying medicine next year). Because of this, I have never willingly accepted faith just because people say it is true and my over-active imagination automatically finds ways around "evidence" for christianity.

Recently, however, I have explored my faith further and deeper. I feel i have to make a slight "leap of faith" first to justify this open-minded exploration - by this I mean I have to stop finding ways around Christian beliefs automatically and allow myself to go the next step - into the faith rather than just skimming the surface.

I am reading the Bible and have found my faith and understanding growing tremendously as I read, I have also read several books about God and the Bible (so that I know what I am reading - how much is pure human observation and how much the direct word of God) and again my faith grows. I find praying also helps me understand and feel faith. Faith is such a personal thing that I think, unless you are lucky enough to have some amazing conversion experience, it is something you have to explore and justify to yourself.

So why drop the initial guard of doubt? I find physics helps to answer this. Physicists believe that there are infinite universes out there yet a finite number of possibilities for each universe. Thus there must be an infinite number of universes where you read this post to the end and an infinite number where you stop reading right now. This idea is logically certain (according to most physicists) yet it is certainly beyond what my brain can comprehend. Our brains are limited in how much they can understand - particularly in terms of infinity - so the difficulty we may experience when trying to understand God's infinite love, existense and presense is fully understandable. Our brains can understand 3 dimensions - and to a small extent 4 (with time as the 4th), however, in space there are things that exist in 11 or more dimensions! that is well beyond our comprehension! So science shows there is much out their we cannot begin to understand. Why give up on faith just because its hard to get our heads around and prove?

I started to think of it like this: if you look out on a dark stary night at one spot in the sky you will be aware of dimmer stars out of the corner of your eye. If you look directly at this dim stars, however, you will not be able to see them. It is easy then to assume that those stars do not exist and you just imagined them. But they do exist, its just that when we focus our eyes on them in the way we normally accept to decide if we are seeing something or not, our eyes cannot see them (because the light is landing on the cones in your eyes rather than rods). Similarly, God may seem to exist to us yet when you focus logic and various other methods of determining if something exists on the matter, God may seem to disappear - but he is still there - it is just our bodies are limited in what they can detect and we need to learn to accept these limitations and see beyond them. This is why I was prepared to drop my doubts to search what my heart (cheesy, sorry) was telling me.

I really believe and God and Jesus and all of that, it makes sense to me and has a huge impact on my life.

Finally, the testimonies of people who have had other-worldly experiences - however dark some of these may be. There are too many healings and ouiji and conversions and out-of-body experiences for me not to believe that there are further dimensions to life than we scientifically understand at present. There is more than what we see and logically understand.

I apologise for this waffle and hope it makes some sense. Evidence and logic only go so far, Darkprophet. Just because you can't explain your faith with as much evidence as would be nice doesn't mean that there is nothing there and faith is meaningless.

Does anyone out there recognise anything of what I have tried to say?

Isla

 

[Deren]

This is addressed to anyone who cares to answer.

What brought to your faith?

God did. In fact, faith is a gift from God that He bestows upon those He chooses to have place faith in Him.

If it wasn't evidence then how do you know that your faith is the correct one, or even if a faith is needed?

As long as faith is in the biblical Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one can come to God the Father except by him, then one knows that their faith is the correct one.

Now, there are all kinds of counterfeits out there who talk the walk, but when it comes down to something I addressed earlier in one of your other posts, namely biblical interpretation and reliability, they fail miserably, and for the same reasons I cited there.

So, once must be discerning about what is going on, and about who is saying what, otherwise, there is the distinct possibility that one could get ahold of a counterfeit Jesus, and get taken for a ride that one may not be able to get off of for a while (if ever).

 

[Stinker]

This is addressed to anyone who cares to answer.

What brought to your faith?

If it was evidence what kind of evidence was it and why was it so compelling?

If it wasn't evidence then how do you know that your faith is the correct one, or even if a faith is needed?

What brought me to faith was reading through the 4 Gospels.

I feel that the religion I came to belief in is the correct one because it is the most logical one and it is based on much, much, history.

 

[DarkProphet]

What brought me to faith was reading through the 4 Gospels.

I feel that the religion I came to belief in is the correct one because it is the most logical one and it is based on much, much, history.

Does this mean you studied other faiths and found them illogical?

 

[Catherineanne]

This is addressed to anyone who cares to answer.

What brought to your faith?

If it was evidence what kind of evidence was it and why was it so compelling?

If it wasn't evidence then how do you know that your faith is the correct one, or even if a faith is needed?

I am not sure this brought me to my faith, because that was already established. But it brought me to acknowlege the faith that I had inside in a more open way, and to call myself a Christian. When I was at University I went to a mission with a Christian friend C and a non Christian friend A.

The preacher said something along the lines of, God is a God of logic and of science and of proof. So you decide, right now, what proof it would take to convince you, because until you do that, how can he reach you?

So I said, I will believe all of this, if A is convinced and decides to go forward. And lo and behold, I looked at her, and she was crying, and we both went up together.

I set the benchmark for my own faith, and God met me where I was. And he has never left me since that day.



However, as I am now very much on the liberal Catholic side of Anglicanism, it is very rare that I will tell this story. I am not much into event Christianity, more journey of faith Christianity.

And I personally do not think anyone is frightened into faith. That kind of faith would have no appeal whatever to me, and is certainly not what Christianity is about. Christ meets us as we are, and accepts us, in order to reconcile mankind to God. Not to scare the living daylights out of us.