Can anyone help me? Please?

Hi sweetie
I'm sorry you feel so scared at the moment. Death is scary, because none of us know what happens really. Only one person has ever come back to tell us what it is, and that was Jesus. So I am inclined to accept His word over that of people who know nothing about it.

I know there are scientific explanations for NDEs.. and to be honest, although I haven't studied it in depth, I think they are probably right. But, that doesn't mean Christians are wrong. The human mind is a very complex thing!

The thing that is important, I think, is to look at Jesus, read the gospels, examine the claims He made, and decide whether you want to follow Him. Because becoming a Christian because you are scared of death is not going to work. It isn't a 'get out of jail free card', it's a living relationship with the creator of the universe... and that is an awesome thing.
He loves you... very, very much

As for science.. I am a science teacher, and I don't find that it is incompatible with Christianity.. in fact, the more I discover about the world and how it works, the more I am in awe of the one who created it all! Science is a tool for finding out how things work, and as such it is very useful, but it doesn't answer the 'why?' questions.

God bless you, I am praying for you, and happy to answer any more questions you have.

lorelai,

I can identify on may different aspects of your situation and sympathize with you. I was actually raised an atheist and know very well what their perspectives and beliefs are. I have also had two NDEs where I could say at least one was a vivid out-of-body situation. I also feared death for many many years during my early childhood (probably up until the mid-teens). Lastly, and most importantly - I am a born again Christian, saved within the last few years.

I can't say with 100% certainty that I know exactly what you are going through - but I can say I know the questions and I know (probably) some of the thoughts racing through your mind. It a time of uncertainty in your life, but it's not unending nor is it unsolvable.

Asking finite questions such as is God real and how does one know there's an afterlife, and can I promise you things about God isn't fair to either side of the religious/atheist discussion. I can say with certainty that I believe God is real, and I believe that there heaven exists and I believe that God can make promises that He will be there for you (and that He already has through the crucifiction). BUT, these are MY beliefs, and are centered around MY faith.

Through conversations I could provide real-world examples and biblical statments that provide a basis for my beliefs as seen through an atheistic perspective; but a few posts on a forum just can't do it all.

I will also say that even though He can take your fears of death away from you in an instant doesn't mean He will. Much of understanding Christianity and God's work (again from my beliefs) is understanding that His timetable is the only one. To expect or ask Him to work in your timeframe is to step off of His path.

So what right? well, let me give you some direction since you already read this far... When you prayed did you feel better? Not right after or for the rest of the day - how did you feel as you were having a conversation with Him? Did you feel alone, or did you feel like He was right there with you - like He had His hand on your shoulder, acknowledging your prayer and just nodding almost as if - I hear you and I'm here for you. If that's the case then you've made a great first step! Keep conversing with Him and you will find that He will speak back to you, not how you want to hear Him, but how you need to hear Him....

pm me if you want to discuss this more. He is there waiting to love and comfort you. This - I believe!

God bless and good luck!

lorelaih said:

A couple of weeks ago an odd sense of death hit me.
I felt scared when I started thinking "wow, Im going to be dead one day".
Now I can't get the thought off of my mind.

I read PMH Atwaters book "Beyond The Light". And it calmed me a bit.
Until I read what the atheists on youtube had to say about NDEs.



Now it's an obsessive fear. I can't go on with life thinking "oh when I die, I'm just going to be gone forever". Id love to become a christian, but only if my mind & heart 100% had faith.

But on the other hand; I don't want to turn to god just because Im scared. Sometimes I wonder if that's why most religious people are...religious. Its like he's Santa Claus or something.

I prayed to God & Jesus the other night, which was probably just wishful thinking. It was a long prayer, asking for forgiveness. I prayed that God would show me the way, & take this fear away.

Now...I'm here. God didn't answer my prayer. Which have made my doubts even worse.

How do you know God is real? How do you know there's really afterlife?

Do you promise me that God is real? Can anyone here help me?

How do you keep your faith strong when the atheists are tearing it down with scientific studies & whatnot?


-------------------

I didn't turn into an atheist because Ive always struggled, nor because this world is full of evil. That happened because we have free will. I turned into one thanks to atheists views, & never having proof. Yet science solves almost every gap..

--------------------

If I offended anyone here, Im really sorry.
Please show me the way, but be honest.

Im a 19 yr old female from the us, btw. & new to this forum.

xoxox
-lorelai-

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Honestly, it's good to contemplate the fleetingness of this present life every once in a while. It's especially healthy if it makes one cognizant of their own sins and need for repentance and that our time is short. However, fear isn't a healthy emotion to fall to. Being fearful is considered a sin. One can think of death and not succumb to rampant emotionalism on the topic. Our modern view of death- pretending it doesn't happen and that we should push away all such thoughts and embrace a pseudo nihilistic view- is what is unhealthy. Christians can appeal to the hope that is in them and that we have a very real need to stay on course.

Here's a great web-site you should check out: Death to the World - The Last True Rebellion


ETA: Today's devotional touches on this topic quite well, I think- http://www.christianforums.com/t7378054/#post52131661

one thing that really helped one of my friends was watching a lot of jesus testimonies on youtube. the more you see incredible stories, the more you believe. a good place to start may be searching for 'jesus apologetics' on youtube. it's a series of 6 short videos where a theologist argues why jesus is real. one of my friends saw this and lots of other testimonies like healings, visions and god showing up to people (again on youtube). this helped him believe more. he started praying/reading the bible a lot and god started speaking to him unbelievably clearly through the bible. now he is a true believer.most of the testomonies are just too true to cast any doubt on...like miraculous healings through prayer. seek with a pure heart and you will find.you just need to make an effort.trust me, for some people it takes time, but god never fails to deliver. i'll be praying for u! god bless!
PS-i believe god has started a work in you, and i believe god will bring his purpose in you to pass.

lorelaih said:

A couple of weeks ago an odd sense of death hit me.
I felt scared when I started thinking "wow, Im going to be dead one day".
Now I can't get the thought off of my mind.

I read PMH Atwaters book "Beyond The Light". And it calmed me a bit.
Until I read what the atheists on youtube had to say about NDEs.



Now it's an obsessive fear. I can't go on with life thinking "oh when I die, I'm just going to be gone forever". Id love to become a christian, but only if my mind & heart 100% had faith.

But on the other hand; I don't want to turn to god just because Im scared. Sometimes I wonder if that's why most religious people are...religious. Its like he's Santa Claus or something.

I prayed to God & Jesus the other night, which was probably just wishful thinking. It was a long prayer, asking for forgiveness. I prayed that God would show me the way, & take this fear away.

Now...I'm here. God didn't answer my prayer. Which have made my doubts even worse.

How do you know God is real? How do you know there's really afterlife?

Do you promise me that God is real? Can anyone here help me?

How do you keep your faith strong when the atheists are tearing it down with scientific studies & whatnot?


-------------------

I didn't turn into an atheist because Ive always struggled, nor because this world is full of evil. That happened because we have free will. I turned into one thanks to atheists views, & never having proof. Yet science solves almost every gap..

--------------------

If I offended anyone here, Im really sorry.
Please show me the way, but be honest.

Im a 19 yr old female from the us, btw. & new to this forum.

xoxox
-lorelai-

Click to expand...

I think God answered your prayer by sending you here. That's how I think I was saved, He sent me here.

While I can't make you believe God is real, and I can't give you Bible verses from every page of the Bible (Hey, I myself was saved just a few days ago!) I can tell you that His love is real. I just got finished reading up on NDE's. They are infact very calming. Just ask and truely believe that Jesus has died to save you from your sins...and truely believe it and live your life that way. Whenever you feel scared or alone, just call out in your mind, and you WILL know, at least after awhile...that He is there...watching over you.

Praying for you ,
Eric

I am praying for you, and I would also like to recommend a book to you called Letters From a Skeptic: A Son Wrestles With his Father's Questions about Christianity by Dr. Gregory Boyd. If nowhere else, you can order it online through Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs & more I think you are on the right track with your prayer and calling out to God Himself. I don't think you would be seeking Him except that He is already seeking you.

Oh, there's a video on my "need help" thread a few threads down...I highly recommend watching it. It's a great way to learn how much He really love's you.

lorelaih said:

A couple of weeks ago an odd sense of death hit me.
I felt scared when I started thinking "wow, Im going to be dead one day".
Now I can't get the thought off of my mind.

* * *

Now it's an obsessive fear. I can't go on with life thinking "oh when I die, I'm just going to be gone forever". Id love to become a christian, but only if my mind & heart 100% had faith.

Click to expand...

Uh, hm. What is your alternative to "not going on with life thinking" this?

I don't believe you have 100% faith in anything. Do you? How could you? Were you deprived of food for a few days, wouldn't these feelings of faith collapse in a mass of nonsense coming out of your starved brain?

I could even point this out: that within 48 hours, you are extremely likely to lose all sorts of perceptions of the world. Now, you'll recover. This sleep phenomenon is actually beneficial. But you're "gone" as far as your brain is concerned. Loss of consciousness is very common to human beings.

I would suggest that the thought of extinction or the futility of a short life in creation, that is not modern by any stretch of the imagination. You want to see how ancient believers handled it? The book "Ecclesiastes" is just such a kind of book on the futility of life in creation.

It's not new. For people to say they have a modern answer, also isn't new. But it also isn't true. There aren't any new answers to this ancient question.

So, you've read some new books. Maybe some old books would make more sense to read. They've survived a lot longer than the chaff on the best-sellers list this year.

lorelaih said:

But on the other hand; I don't want to turn to god just because Im scared. Sometimes I wonder if that's why most religious people are...religious. Its like he's Santa Claus or something.

I prayed to God & Jesus the other night, which was probably just wishful thinking. It was a long prayer, asking for forgiveness. I prayed that God would show me the way, & take this fear away.

Click to expand...

Could be.

lorelaih said:

Now...I'm here. God didn't answer my prayer. Which have made my doubts even worse.

Click to expand...

Mmm, if it were just wishful thinking, then this would be the predicted result, right?

Wouldn't God intentionally turn up the heat until He got the result He wanted -- an honest investigation into what He's done in the Gospel?

That is, if He's interested in you.

lorelaih said:

How do you know God is real? How do you know there's really afterlife?

Click to expand...

Someone died and 3 days later lived to tell about it.

lorelaih said:

Do you promise me that God is real? Can anyone here help me?

Click to expand...

It's odd isn't it, that no one but the one you must rely on, can truly help. We can point Him out. But I think you realize Who that is.

lorelaih said:

How do you keep your faith strong when the atheists are tearing it down with scientific studies & whatnot?

Click to expand...

Science is not reality. Science is reproducibility. We know plenty of reality that's not reproducible. All of history is not science. Does that mean history doesn't exist? It exists.

lorelaih said:

I didn't turn into an atheist because Ive always struggled, nor because this world is full of evil. That happened because we have free will. I turned into one thanks to atheists views, & never having proof. Yet science solves almost every gap..

Click to expand...

Science has solved no gap in philosophy after 500 years of examination. I'm sorry, science solves problems that lend themselves to scientific examination. It has yet to answer one question in philosophy.

This isn't surprising, no. But for some reason the science of our day seeks to become its own religion, to claim to answer the questions it hasn't answered. I'd prefer to just point out any of the philosophical questions of metaphysics, ethics, epistemology, politics, and aesthetics, and ask the "Bueller?" questions. The science answers aren't permanent, either. So ... it doesn't qualify as a religion with some corner on the truth. It has ideas. It can exclude impossible answers. But it has just as much trouble as any religion supplying actual answers.

There are plenty of disciplines that defy science observation. In point of fact, the tenet of many philosophers of your day is that from the time scientists attempted to create a science of ethics, ethics has collapsed into a dark ages. The primary spokesperson for this idea is Alasdair MacIntyre. He provides the evidence in "After Virtue". It's a pretty convincing case that science shall never crack the code on ethics. The disciplines are in conflict.

A couple of weeks ago an odd sense of death hit me.
I felt scared when I started thinking "wow, Im going to be dead one day".
Now I can't get the thought off of my mind.
The though of death passes my mind off and on, and I guess when all my friends are passing on, so I see every day as a bonus, and when we think about life, it’s a bonus, stop thinking about death, and think about LIFE!

I read PMH Atwaters book "Beyond The Light". And it calmed me a bit.
Until I read what the atheists on youtube had to say about NDEs.
Keep away from secular theories, because they will confuse you and cause you doubt.


Now it's an obsessive fear.
Fear comes for the enemy, so think the opposite and that is confidence and bravery. Confidence and bravery forms FAITH!

I can't go on with life thinking "oh when I die, I'm just going to be gone forever". Id love to become a christian, but only if my mind & heart 100% had faith.
Well, being an unbeliever will cause such thinking.

You didn’t say how old you are so, It’s hard to give advice to these thoughts you are having.

But on the other hand; I don't want to turn to god just because Im scared. Sometimes I wonder if that's why most religious people are...religious. Its like he's Santa Claus or something.
My dear sister, I don’t worry about death, because HE saved my life many times, and by doing so, HE is said to me that it wasn’t my time. So, I am hanging on and enjoying life the best way I can, and by hanging onto our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Almighty God, keeps me going and keeps me fighting a good fight of faith.

Now, jump onboard, but only jump onboard for the only reason to change your life and the way you think. While you are pondering, the enemy will put much more doubt and confusion into your brain and heart.

One step at a time, and each step you take will be another step in the right direction.

I prayed to God & Jesus the other night, which was probably just wishful thinking.
Now, it’s obvious our Lord Jesus Christ answered your prayer, because here you are starting a thread, and you are getting the best responses you could ever receive from people who know our Lord Jesus Christ, and are concerned for your well being.

It was a long prayer, asking for forgiveness. I prayed that God would show me the way, & take this fear away.
When we let the world go, and begin to transform and renew our brain and heart, then our fear will disappear, and you will begin to walk in confidence and strength.

Now...I'm here. God didn't answer my prayer. Which have made my doubts even worse.
I am sorry my dear sister, because HE did answer your prayer, because you are talking to us.

How do you know God is real? How do you know there's really afterlife?
My dear sister, I could tell you many stories about our Lord Jesus Christ, I have had many experiences in my 72 years of life.

Do you promise me that God is real? Can anyone here help me?
No, we promise you nothing, but HE promises to love you and to forgive you, and HIS arms are open wide right now to embrace you.

How do you keep your faith strong when the atheists are tearing it down with scientific studies & whatnot?
When you have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, then who can be against us.

My dear sister, the atheists are under the control of the enemy of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we know by faith and by truth why they are doing this, and because of our knowledge and understanding why they are doing this, gives us all the confidence to trust our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jump aboard, and see for yourself.!

no that doesn't mean there isn't enough proof for NDEs. However, if u try to argue against it, there isn't any proof in the world that can silence all the critics. One instant that i remember of someone who experienced an NDE is that after the whole experience, he started praying for and healing people. Besides, during his visit to heaven (as he claimed), he heard quite a few songs praising god there, and used to hum along to its tunes once he came back to earth as well. Within a few months, those songs came out for the first time (this time on earth) and he was amazed to hear those so-called new releases. One of the songs i remember was "hallelujah". some songs are created in heaven and through divine intervention, are brought to the human heart.
If u make an effort, there are so many similar testimonies u can find in books and online.

Just know that the Bible tells us that no one can come to the Father, except throught the son Jesus Christ and no one can come to Jesus unless He draws them.

You are special to Jesus and he is drawing you near him. Your prayers don't have to be long or eloquent - only sincere. The Bible tells us that Jesus will always be with you and when He ascended into Heaven He left the comfortor, which is the Holy Spirit to guide you.

The angels in Heaven are rejoycing - all you need to do to be saved is call upon the name of Jesus - Just ask Jesus into your heart and repent of your sins and ask for the Holy Spirit to guide you - then just say ok God - it's just you and me, put your hand in the hand of Jesus and listen for the leading of the Holy Spirit which will be a check in your spirit if you do anything that is not pleasing to Jesus.

It is a beautiful walk - Jesus loves you and His arms are always open wide - He will never leave you. Just open the Bible and start reading and you will feel the tap in your heart when Jesus is telling you something special.

You don't have to be on your knees with your Bible open to talk to God - just talk to Him, Pray to Him, sing to Him - He is your friend and will never leave your side.

Don't worry about the NDE's - some are sincere and some are not - but we don't know the difference when you are just reading - but just ask Jesus to give you the peace that passes all understanding.

When you are walking with Jesus - death will have not bondage to you - when death comes you will spend eternity with Jesus - there will never be just 'nothing.' - speak life into your walk with Jesus and don't let the enemy bring thoughts of death into your mind - just replace it with thoughts of Jesus, sing a song, read the Bible - you will soon overcome this fear - the enemy is bringing fear to you to discourage you and bring unbelief into your mind. He has no power over you.

Just keep living in the Joy of the Lord and show Jesus you love him each and every day.

lorelaih said:

A couple of weeks ago an odd sense of death hit me.
I felt scared when I started thinking "wow, Im going to be dead one day".
Now I can't get the thought off of my mind.

I read PMH Atwaters book "Beyond The Light". And it calmed me a bit.
Until I read what the atheists on youtube had to say about NDEs.

Click to expand...

NDEs are actually really not very scientific, so I wouldn't count on everything one says after he had one. Our body can make us think things that did actually not really happen when our brain lacks oxygen for example.

lorelaih said:

Now it's an obsessive fear. I can't go on with life thinking "oh when I die, I'm just going to be gone forever". Id love to become a christian, but only if my mind & heart 100% had faith.

But on the other hand; I don't want to turn to god just because Im scared. Sometimes I wonder if that's why most religious people are...religious. Its like he's Santa Claus or something.

Click to expand...

I don't know how everybody else sees it, but I don't think there's a literal heaven and hell with the one people burning in eternity and the other person playing on the clouds with his friends. For me personally (!) heaven is nothing but the unity with god after you die. God loves everybody, there's no doubt about that. But not everybody loves God back and God won't force them to love him. People who love God and accept Jesus into their hearth will eventually become one with God himself. People who don't do that will be forced to live without God for eternity. I think that is pretty equal to just stopping to exist, because I can't imagine God to torture people.

lorelaih said:

I prayed to God & Jesus the other night, which was probably just wishful thinking. It was a long prayer, asking for forgiveness. I prayed that God would show me the way, & take this fear away.

Now...I'm here. God didn't answer my prayer. Which have made my doubts even worse.

Click to expand...

God needs you to have faith in him. Faith is a really important concept here. If God just snapped his finger and solved every problem immediately and revealed himself "in person" every time somebody asks for it, it wouldn't require faith anymore to believe in his existence. God gave us free will and wants us to choose him over evil, temptation, Satan or whatever. I also had trouble believing in God, but eventually I asked him to strengthen my faith and it worked as in I started to see how he works in the cases I just could not understand.

lorelaih said:

How do you know God is real? How do you know there's really afterlife?

Click to expand...

Again for me personally (!): A unity with God can't fully be achieved on earth. Everybody is a sinner. But once god forgives you, you're essentially becoming a part of him. But living according to God's rules and asking him to forgive you your sins on earth draws you so much closer to God and thus letting you have something close to heaven on earth already.

lorelaih said:

Do you promise me that God is real? Can anyone here help me?

Click to expand...

lorelaih said:

How do you keep your faith strong when the atheists are tearing it down with scientific studies & whatnot?

Click to expand...

I'm a Christian and I believe in theistic evolution and even the big bang. For me there's not really a conflict with the existence of God. If you could name a specific thing that contradicts God I think we could help you more specifically.
(Although I have to say that most Christians (at least American Christians) seem to reject science over a literal interpretation of scripture any time, but that's not required. Even the catholic church accepts evolution)

lorelaih said:

I didn't turn into an atheist because Ive always struggled, nor because this world is full of evil. That happened because we have free will. I turned into one thanks to atheists views, & never having proof. Yet science solves almost every gap..

Click to expand...

Science can never answer lots of questions. Most atheist won't actually admit that, of course, but there are things that science can't explain at all. For starters: Why do we exist? What's the reason there is something there at all instead of just nothing?
Or: Why is there a perfect order in our universe? Math and the laws of Physics apply EVERYWHERE in the universe. Technically that would be necessary, but our world works on a rule set that doesn't change.
And finally: What happens to us when we die?

lorelaih said:

P.S: If there is a scientific explanation for NDEs does that mean theyre not reliable as proof?

Click to expand...

At one point in time, there was scientific proof the the world was flat and that the entire universe rotated around earth...

While I don't discredit science for it's benefits to the human race, I also don't rely on it to dictate my belief system. That's what "The Word" is for...

loreliah - it just came to me a good way to help you realize that in Christ you can end all fear of death! See, when you believe in Christ, and you claim Him a your saviour then you will also have died and be risen. You will also have been buried and will be reborn on that day so that you may live a new life where death is not feared. The apostle John discussed this very topic when he was speaking to the Romans about casting off sin and living a life of freedom in Jesus.

Romans 6:1-14
Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ

1What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

5If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

So if you should come to a point where you can find the peace, love, joy, and strength that Christ gives us, and you claim Jesus Christ as your saviour and you choose to be baptised as He was - then you don't need to fear death (or anything else for that matter) any more!

Now - if you are still at the point where the Bible isn't a book you feel comfortable relying upon, then I will give you another reading from a Muslim. In the book "The Prophet" is a Chapter on death:

Then Almitra spoke, saying, "We would ask now of Death."
And he said:
You would know the secret of death.
But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.
If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life.
For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.
In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;
And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring.
Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honor.
Is the sheered not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king?
Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?
For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?
Only when you drink form the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.

Again, the concept is reassured that death is not something to be feared. It was created by the hand of God. And nothing He created should be feared. It is the will of the enemy that creates fear. Be mindful of your feelings - they can put fear where fear doesn't belong.