can I become a christian?

[loki2004]

What I mean to say is that I would like to be a Christian, but my brain gets in my way. I struggle with the idea of God being all powerful, but not over-powering Satan and thus destroying the evils and trials we face. Why does God throw people into an eternal lake of fire instead of forgiving us? I personally would never do that to anybody. Have any of you ever seen anybody like me turn to God?
Thank you,
Loki

 

[OrthodoxyUSA]

Hey Loki....

We all have a "first step" in our Christian Faith.... and Yes you can become a Christian...

You will have lots of questions.... and some answers wont come easy.... may I be your guide.....

Try this for starters.... http://www.oca.org/pages/orth_chri/Orthodox-Faith/index.htm

Do you attend church anywhere now?

Lot's of great info on that web site.... PM me when you wish....

Forgive me...

 

[CPman2004]

What I mean to say is that I would like to be a Christian, but my brain gets in my way. I struggle with the idea of God being all powerful, but not over-powering Satan and thus destroying the evils and trials we face. Why does God throw people into an eternal lake of fire instead of forgiving us? I personally would never do that to anybody. Have any of you ever seen anybody like me turn to God?
Thank you,
Loki

Yes it is true that some things are very hard to comprehend even for fellow christians. However, it is very logical to have faith in God if you research it. A good book I think you migh enjoy is The Case For Faith by Lee Strobel. It addresses many of the objections people use in order not to believe. There is even an whole chapter devoted to the objection of "I still have doubts, so I can't be a Christian."

 

[ps139]

God has forgiven all of us. Now will we accept or reject his gift of grace? If we reject him - we are separating ourselves from him - and thats what hell is. He does not wish hell on anyone. He desires all to be saved. We must lay down our pride and say YES to God.

 

[oworm]

Heres an even better book. it explains everything you need to know about the Christian faith. How to become a Chrisitian, how to live the Christian life etc. It has every answer to every question you need to know about God and man and its called THE BIBLE believe it or not!! Start in Johns Gospel and read through it slowly and prayerfully. Just ask God in your own words to open up his word to you. Heres a link to the best and most reliable source you will nee as you get started.
http://bible.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/bible?passage=JOHN+1&language=english&version=ESV

 

[Monica02]

What I mean to say is that I would like to be a Christian, but my brain gets in my way. I struggle with the idea of God being all powerful, but not over-powering Satan and thus destroying the evils and trials we face. Why does God throw people into an eternal lake of fire instead of forgiving us? I personally would never do that to anybody. Have any of you ever seen anybody like me turn to God?
Thank you,
Loki

God does forgive us and he does overpower Satan. He loves us and he wants us to love him. Our love for Him can best be excercised if we CHOOSE him over evil.

 

[Rafael]

Once you understand the necessity for justice in the world and for the existence of evil as a dark contrast to the light of God, it gets easier to see His plan and that it indeed is more than fair towards us, His creation.
Making a universe and creating a people for fellowship is all imaginary things for us, while it is the very thing that God has done, and He has good reason for His ways which are higher than ours. He has said in His Word that He is love, and without God, love could not exist. Unfortunately, for love to exist, there had to be a choice given, and the perfect opposite of God is the evil and rebellion that He allowed to flourish in His angel Lucifer, the most beautiful of His angels. Lucifer wanted to be God and managed to cause a war in heaven, actually turning a third of God's angels against Him. If got Lucifer banished from heaven, and he is now called the devil or satan, who is the father of all evil and lies. It is satan, the devil, that is that contrast to the light of God who was placed in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. God told them that they would die if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan deceived Eve, she ate, they died, and God promised to redeem them and to destroy the devil someday and his works. The story goes on with the whole generations of peoples born from Adam and Eve and God's promises to man, all the way to the book of Revelations where we are shown the end of days. Truly, the BIble is the most interesting and wonderful book that there is, and God has guaranteed it as His word to mankind which if you read, you may know and feel inside is the truth being presented to you.
In the middle of the Bible, starting in the New Testament, there is God's promise to redeem or buy back mankind from death, and this is through His Son, Jesus, who came as God in the flesh and died, taking the punishment and death of man's sins upon Himself for us. He was raised to new life as the firstborn among many brethren who would follow after Him. For any man that wants to get into the Kingdom of God, they must be "born again", which means to be born spiritually and reconnected to God.
As you grow and study, you will find that God is more than logical, and that He has displayed Himself to us in every breathe of life we take - each sight, each gift of a new day of life. After a while, you will gather the evidence that more than refutes the proud imaginations of man that can do none of the things God has done in giving life or designing such intricate and beautiful systems within this universe.
If I can ever help or point you to some facts, let me know and I'll be glad to try and help you.

Ro 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

 

[The Midge]

What I mean to say is that I would like to be a Christian, but my brain gets in my way.

It is all the better for the Christian Faith if one is able to keep their brains intact and use them. "Love the Lord with... all your mind" said our founder.

I struggle with the idea of God being all powerful, but not over-powering Satan and thus destroying the evils and trials we face.

God will do that. The only thing is that when God does that every thing that is evil will be gone. Including the evil within us. There is a lot of good in the world and us which is why God want to save us. There will be a time, but not yet, so even though the end of suffering and evil is postponed it is an act of grace for there is more time for saving of what is good.

Why does God throw people into an eternal lake of fire instead of forgiving us?

Firstly God does forgive those who are repentent. Deciding to turn away from evil is part of the process. Come the time when God does away with evil there will be the consequences for us. Evil or things that are tainted with evil can not remain in the manifested presence of God. The cross deals with the problem by putting us right in God's sight. It is called justification and santification in technical terms if you want to look them up in a theological dictionary.

Another point to consider is the Imagery of the lake of fire. Hell and torment is the result of the consequences of our sin not a punishment dished out by God per se but the result of the evil we do.

I personally would never do that to anybody.

I can't see your icons just now so don't know what your age and status might be- but anyone who has raised children knows that there has to be boundaries and consequences for crossing them. If there are not you are not loving your children properly for they will reap the consequences sometime in the future.

God warns us what the consequences of our disobedience will be if we contunue. You would not want God to lie about that only to find we were all going to be let off anyway would you?

Have any of you ever seen anybody like me turn to God?
QUOTE] Well, there is myself for example
There came a point when I suddenly realised how evil I was when compared to the Holy God. If that happens to you and you want to turn around then you are on the way to becoming a Christian.

The way to accepting Christianity is to realise how much we need to be morally cleaned up. I would suggest you examine yourself honestly and see if you are really as good as you might like your friends and aquaitancies to believe. I believe that to see ourselves in the light of turth emited by a perfect God is to see why all the unpeasant sounding stuff is necessary in the case of creatures who have exercised free will in the wrong way are concerned. The moral ood of having that free will outweighs the consequences of the abuse of the free will.

 

[GodOwnsMe]

well, I'd say Yes, keep prayin bout it n stuff =) one thought:
I dunno what this all means, but I mean, Jesus didn't die for fun, I mean, God wants ppl w/ Him so bad He even made His own son die, tht's how much He wants to forgive...funno tho why He doesn't forgive ppl who don't accept it & turn around to Him, or doesn't want to forgive em, or can't,
ppl say it's cause He's holy, n totally fair, tht sin n Him just don't fit together....
about the trials:
also just some thoughts, don't fullly understand the whole thing.
some things have to do w/ the first sin commited, sort of a punishment...
some trials even make us realizes things, get strong...
for the rest I don't know.... some things also have to do w/ our free will,
in some cases God does take trials away & help..
but one day He'll take it all away

 

[crossrunner]

It is all the better for the Christian Faith if one is able to keep their brains intact and use them. "Love the Lord with... all your mind" said our founder.

God will do that. The only thing is that when God does that every thing that is evil will be gone. Including the evil within us. There is a lot of good in the world and us which is why God want to save us. There will be a time, but not yet, so even though the end of suffering and evil is postponed it is an act of grace for there is more time for saving of what is good.

Firstly God does forgive those who are repentent. Deciding to turn away from evil is part of the process. Come the time when God does away with evil there will be the consequences for us. Evil or things that are tainted with evil can not remain in the manifested presence of God. The cross deals with the problem by putting us right in God's sight. It is called justification and santification in technical terms if you want to look them up in a theological dictionary.

Another point to consider is the Imagery of the lake of fire. Hell and torment is the result of the consequences of our sin not a punishment dished out by God per se but the result of the evil we do.

I can't see your icons just now so don't know what your age and status might be- but anyone who has raised children knows that there has to be boundaries and consequences for crossing them. If there are not you are not loving your children properly for they will reap the consequences sometime in the future.

God warns us what the consequences of our disobedience will be if we contunue. You would not want God to lie about that only to find we were all going to be let off anyway would you?

Have any of you ever seen anybody like me turn to God?
QUOTE] Well, there is myself for example
There came a point when I suddenly realised how evil I was when compared to the Holy God. If that happens to you and you want to turn around then you are on the way to becoming a Christian.

The way to accepting Christianity is to realise how much we need to be morally cleaned up. I would suggest you examine yourself honestly and see if you are really as good as you might like your friends and aquaitancies to believe. I believe that to see ourselves in the light of turth emited by a perfect God is to see why all the unpeasant sounding stuff is necessary in the case of creatures who have exercised free will in the wrong way are concerned. The moral ood of having that free will outweighs the consequences of the abuse of the free will.

Great post!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Underdog77]

I struggle with the idea of God being all powerful, but not over-powering Satan and thus destroying the evils and trials we face.

God will bound Satan and all his followers so that mankind will be tempted no more. This will happen during the 1000 year reign of Christ that will take place after the the 7 years of tribulation (that will take place sometime after the Rapture).

Anyways, during this thousand year reign Christ will rule and the devil and demons will not be around to tempt man. I think one reason God has planned this to show us that we cannot totally blame the evil powers for our sin. Today we can say "Ahh, the devil made me do it" or "Satan was tempting me too much". During the 1000 year reign any sin that occurs is that persons own fault and he can blame no one else. But yes, God is more powerful than Satan and will show the world when the time comes.

Why does God throw people into an eternal lake of fire instead of forgiving us?

God is just and I'm sure you've probably heard that before. God has set laws and rules from the begining of time. These laws have been broken starting with Adam and then all throughout history man has broken these laws over and over again.

When it is said that God is just, it means that God not only has set these laws but will carry them out and follow through with the consequences, ultimately seperating the law breakers from Himself. This only makes sense. If a judge was to face a person today who murdered, raped, stole, or whatever we would naturally expect him to sentence that person to some sort of judgement. If a murderer was let go just because the judge said he could go free, we would be bewildered and we would not label that judge as "just".

The same with God. He must condemn sinners (all sinners) or His honesty and justness are non-existent. But He knew this law breaking was going to happen and set up a plan for it: in other words, Jesus Christ. In short, simple language Jesus paid the penalty fines and served our 'sentence' for us, all we have do is accept Christ as our Savior.

So we don't have to go to hell but we are faced with that choice. God has made it clear to us that we can chose to be with Him or we can chose to be in Hell. Unfortunately most chose Hell.

 

[OrthodoxyUSA]

God will bound Satan and all his followers so that mankind will be tempted no more. This will happen during the 1000 year reign of Christ that will take place after the the 7 years of tribulation (that will take place sometime after the Rapture).

Anyways, during this thousand year reign Christ will rule and the devil and demons will not be around to tempt man. I think one reason God has planned this to show us that we cannot totally blame the evil powers for our sin. Today we can say "Ahh, the devil made me do it" or "Satan was tempting me too much". During the 1000 year reign any sin that occurs is that persons own fault and he can blame no one else. But yes, God is more powerful than Satan and will show the world when the time comes.

God is just and I'm sure you've probably heard that before. God has set laws and rules from the begining of time. These laws have been broken starting with Adam and then all throughout history man has broken these laws over and over again.

When it is said that God is just, it means that God not only has set these laws but will carry them out and follow through with the consequences, ultimately seperating the law breakers from Himself. This only makes sense. If a judge was to face a person today who murdered, raped, stole, or whatever we would naturally expect him to sentence that person to some sort of judgement. If a murderer was let go just because the judge said he could go free, we would be bewildered and we would not label that judge as "just".

The same with God. He must condemn sinners (all sinners) or His honesty and justness are non-existent. But He knew this law breaking was going to happen and set up a plan for it: in other words, Jesus Christ. In short, simple language Jesus paid the penalty fines and served our 'sentence' for us, all we have do is accept Christ as our Savior.

So we don't have to go to hell but we are faced with that choice. God has made it clear to us that we can chose to be with Him or we can chose to be in Hell. Unfortunately most chose Hell.

Sorry to say, but most of this is totally off base from the Orthodox perspective... these are the types of things we come up with when we read the Bible without looking at what the church says about the subject....

Forgive me...

 

[All4one]

Loki, trust in the Lord... God forgives you as much as you allow Him but how can He forgive those who wont listen or choose Him? He breaks us, offers things to us, blesses us when we dont deserve it and still many run away!
Hell was created for satan and His angels. Many have just chosen to go that route.

In Christs Love,
All4one

 

[helmikaarina]

Hello Loki and welcome. If you are open to God and pray for him to come into your life he'll come and give faith to you. Read the Bible, beginning from NT and Gospels. Pray that God reveals his word to you. Go to church and ask your questions there, try to find someone to mentor you. And pray. Did I say it already. Doesn't matter. It's important because it's how you get aquainted with God. Tell him everything and listen to him quietly. You may not hear what he is saying to you with your ears but listen to him with your heart. He is looking for you, waiting for you, loving you already. Read the Bible and see what happened to Paul, who first was persecuting followers of Christ... Or Peter who denied Jesus three times... Yes, you can become a Christian.

 

[moosiz]

I am one of u, lol. Sounds weird. I was exactly like u. How can good overcome evil when the world stands as it is? But then it struck me. We are all given a choice to follow God. At one moment in our lives, this seems one of your moments, we all get a chance to either reject or accept the notion of 'God'. The question isnt 'why does a loving god send people to hell?' but more 'why do people reject his offer of heaven'. If u read the Bible, God wants people to return to him. He longs for his children to come to him in comfort. The beautiful thing about pain and suffering is that we often stand alone and broken during these times, with no one else to turn to other than god. It seems contradicting to find God in such dark places but thats when he needs to reveal himself desperately to you.

I've had questions, without answers
I've known sorrow, I've known pain
But theres one thing that I cling to,
You are faithful, Jesus your true
When hope has gone, I'll call u saviour
When pain surrounds, I'll call u healer
When silence falls, you'll be the song in my heart
I will praise you
Jesus, praise you
When the tears fall still I will sing to you...

If u look at the world wars, the most amazing display of friendship and relationship was built in such a tough time between soldiers. in the same way, through a dark world, its easy to draw to the light
x

 

[Serapha]

What I mean to say is that I would like to be a Christian, but my brain gets in my way. I struggle with the idea of God being all powerful, but not over-powering Satan and thus destroying the evils and trials we face. Why does God throw people into an eternal lake of fire instead of forgiving us? I personally would never do that to anybody. Have any of you ever seen anybody like me turn to God?
Thank you,
Loki

Hi there!



Welcome to the forums...


I smiled when I read that "my brain gets in my way"... because becoming a Christian IS an act of faith.

I struggle with the idea of God being all powerful, but not over-powering Satan and thus destroying the evils and trials we face.

But I've read the end of the book, and God wins.

Why does God throw people into an eternal lake of fire instead of forgiving us?

In the afterlife, we will all live eternally and we will all be judged and given our rewards. For those who have chosen to accept and follow Christ, the afterlife will be an eternity in the presence of God. For those who chose to reject the way of salvation through Christ, they will have an eternal death in hell, and yes, the Bible does describe hell with flames. Our afterlife is a "just reward" for our decision.... it isn't relative to God forgiving each person, because I believe God does forgive and forget those that reject His will... that would be the love of God. But the "just reward" of judgment will still stand. It's a choice, and those that chose the wrong way will reap their reward just as those that chose the right way will reap their reward (being in the presence of God)

I personally would never do that to anybody. Have any of you ever seen anybody like me turn to God?

None of us are worthy of the grace and mercy of God. That's the wonderful part.... the grace and the mercy.... that we get what we don't deserve.


I would invite you to seek the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior as "today is the day of salvation"... All you need to know is that you are a sinner, that the result of that sin will be eternal death without God, and that if you seek forgiveness of your sins, that God is faithful and just to forgive you your sins... and your sins will be as far as the East is from the West, never to be remembered by God again. And you will have a mediator to the Father forever.

Let me say again as I did in the beginning of this statement...

Hi there!



Welcome to the forums...


I smiled when I read that "my brain gets in my way"... because becoming a Christian IS an act of faith.

I encourage you to take that step of faith today.


~serapha~

 

[joebobned]

God does not want to throw any of us into an eternal lake of fire.

He loves each of us more than we are ever capable of loving each other--and through the principle of repentance we can one day live with him.

 

[OrthodoxyUSA]

God does not want to throw any of us into an eternal lake of fire.

He loves each of us more than we are ever capable of loving each other--and through the principle of repentance we can one day live with him.

agreed!

Forgive me...

 

[loki2004]

Thanks everybody,
for taking the time to respond to my questions!

 

[Rafael]

Joh 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: