Can I Ever Be A Christian?

[digstar]

I have to vent out some of my thoughts somewhere, and i can promise you this post will be almost just a collection of thoughts, but i HAVE to tell someone what i am thinking/going through right now.

I have lead a very hard spiritual life the past 4 years. I am 18 years old, and I go to a Christian high school, but I have gone from being an Atheist to an Agnostic to a Deist and back to an agnostic over my 4 years of my high school. It is very hard for me to have such a different idea of beliefs in a school that 99% of the people "claim" to be christians. I have been touched by some of the things that have happened at my school though. I see many hypocritical people drinking/doing drugs, having sex, talking down to people that claim to be christians, and i see a few people that really act like they believe it, and it has left me in a total state of confusion. I depsise the contradictions b/w the different groups of "christians" and it has caused me to want to have nothing to do with it.
But a few times during our chapels that we have once a week i have seen people that come to complete peace with themselves and thrie lives, and it does seem like their is something more at work then what is obvious to the naked eye, and at points like that i realize, atleast these people believe in something, while i sit hear not sure of anything, and it makes me sick. I want to know the truth about life, meaning of life, everything, but even when i have looked to christianity, i have found no peace. I almost have come to believe that all religion is man made just to deal with the harder parts of life.
It bothers me so much that so many people in my school believe that christianity is true and can believe in it, and that i cant, not because i dont want, but because when i think about it rationally, it doesnt seem true, and that i dont feel like I could lead that life the way i should. These are a few of the things that bother me. 1) The stories of Jesus in the bible were written by man. All the accounts of his life have contradiciting details. How can one base his life on a groups of stories, of "gospels", that may or may not be exactly true. 2) God is never going to show his physical self to anyone, and i understand why he wouldnt/cant, but I dont see how anyone can have such a blind faith in something they will never see. Some say, oh he talks to me, and maybe he does, but its nothing u can record, nothing physcailly, nothing proof worthy. 3) Prayer. I can just not get past this. I dont think prayer does anything. I have prayed before, and i recieved no answer, and no way of knowing wether or not god would answer. 4) If you ask a christian if god is in control of everything they will say yes. so god was incontrol of my cousin getting run over and killed when she was 2? (yes that really happened)? They say well he had a purpous, but that might have been the work of satan? But i thought u said god was in control? I CAN NOT believe that god is in control. People blame things on god when great stiff happens, but when bad stuff happens, they balme humans and satan. God is either in chagre of EVERYTHING, or NOTHING!!! 5) The main reason christianty seems fake to me is this. I have had many christians tell me that, "Nothing i can say will make you beleive christianity, its takes FAITH in god." Two things bother me about this. 1)How is that fair that god requires you to believe in him, but never really makes it 100% that he is real. 2) How can anyone have such a faith in a god that they can not see, that they cannot hear? I dont understand how people can believe in god and KNOW that jesus was his son and that he really did die for thier sins. People can think that, and people can be almost positive that was really waht happened, but there is no proof, and how can anyone CHANGE THEIR LIFE and do what god says if they arent positive of anything he stands for? that sounds like blind faith, and that is not enough for me.
I am not hostile towards christanity, but it has been my judgement that past 4 years that it is not true, but if it is true, then i need to change, but it seems to me that there is no way for me to know if its true. This tortures me daily. All i want to know is the truth, but everytime i consider christianity might be true, i see all these other skeptics and people who have good points proving christanity being false and it just makes me more skeptical.
I dont know exactly what i want to hear from anyone regarding this post, i just wanted to type it out and tell someone cause even though i live a non-christian life, christianity is always in the back my mind, taunting me, making me think that if i am wrong, and it is true, that i am making a huge mistake.

 

[CardinalBaseball]

Those skeptics can't prove Christianity false. If you keep thinking about it "rationally" then you won't get anywhere and won't find the answers you're looking for.

 

[Deb7777]

Hi Digstar, post anytime! Being A Christian is a very fulfilling life. Many people learn the hard way through their choses that they are not really happy and satisfy because after awhile a non-christian way of living that would involve breaking the commandments to cater to me,myself and I is not very life-giving and fulfilling being create in the image and likeness of a God who is Love. So if your not loving like God, expect unrest that trys to fill it with everything but true Love. Jesus is the way to a truly fulfilling life which must be one of Love if you will have peace, God bless.

 

[Nancy_Bella777]

I have to vent out some of my thoughts somewhere, and i can promise you this post will be almost just a collection of thoughts, but i HAVE to tell someone what i am thinking/going through right now.

I have lead a very hard spiritual life the past 4 years. I am 18 years old, and I go to a Christian high school, but I have gone from being an Atheist to an Agnostic to a Deist and back to an agnostic over my 4 years of my high school. It is very hard for me to have such a different idea of beliefs in a school that 99% of the people "claim" to be christians. I have been touched by some of the things that have happened at my school though. I see many hypocritical people drinking/doing drugs, having sex, talking down to people that claim to be christians, and i see a few people that really act like they believe it, and it has left me in a total state of confusion. I depsise the contradictions b/w the different groups of "christians" and it has caused me to want to have nothing to do with it.
But a few times during our chapels that we have once a week i have seen people that come to complete peace with themselves and thrie lives, and it does seem like their is something more at work then what is obvious to the naked eye, and at points like that i realize, atleast these people believe in something, while i sit hear not sure of anything, and it makes me sick. I want to know the truth about life, meaning of life, everything, but even when i have looked to christianity, i have found no peace. I almost have come to believe that all religion is man made just to deal with the harder parts of life.
It bothers me so much that so many people in my school believe that christianity is true and can believe in it, and that i cant, not because i dont want, but because when i think about it rationally, it doesnt seem true, and that i dont feel like I could lead that life the way i should. These are a few of the things that bother me. 1) The stories of Jesus in the bible were written by man. All the accounts of his life have contradiciting details. How can one base his life on a groups of stories, of "gospels", that may or may not be exactly true. 2) God is never going to show his physical self to anyone, and i understand why he wouldnt/cant, but I dont see how anyone can have such a blind faith in something they will never see. Some say, oh he talks to me, and maybe he does, but its nothing u can record, nothing physcailly, nothing proof worthy. 3) Prayer. I can just not get past this. I dont think prayer does anything. I have prayed before, and i recieved no answer, and no way of knowing wether or not god would answer. 4) If you ask a christian if god is in control of everything they will say yes. so god was incontrol of my cousin getting run over and killed when she was 2? (yes that really happened)? They say well he had a purpous, but that might have been the work of satan? But i thought u said god was in control? I CAN NOT believe that god is in control. People blame things on god when great stiff happens, but when bad stuff happens, they balme humans and satan. God is either in chagre of EVERYTHING, or NOTHING!!! 5) The main reason christianty seems fake to me is this. I have had many christians tell me that, "Nothing i can say will make you beleive christianity, its takes FAITH in god." Two things bother me about this. 1)How is that fair that god requires you to believe in him, but never really makes it 100% that he is real. 2) How can anyone have such a faith in a god that they can not see, that they cannot hear? I dont understand how people can believe in god and KNOW that jesus was his son and that he really did die for thier sins. People can think that, and people can be almost positive that was really waht happened, but there is no proof, and how can anyone CHANGE THEIR LIFE and do what god says if they arent positive of anything he stands for? that sounds like blind faith, and that is not enough for me.
I am not hostile towards christanity, but it has been my judgement that past 4 years that it is not true, but if it is true, then i need to change, but it seems to me that there is no way for me to know if its true. This tortures me daily. All i want to know is the truth, but everytime i consider christianity might be true, i see all these other skeptics and people who have good points proving christanity being false and it just makes me more skeptical.
I dont know exactly what i want to hear from anyone regarding this post, i just wanted to type it out and tell someone cause even though i live a non-christian life, christianity is always in the back my mind, taunting me, making me think that if i am wrong, and it is true, that i am making a huge mistake.

I understand where you're coming from...I was you one year ago...I was a Wiccan for many years...Then nothing...Not sure of anything...I felt that there had to be more...That you just can't die and get thrown in a hole...If you do what's the point???I've seen the dark side...I've seen things literally walk through my house...I've seen my son point in the corner and scream and something gonna get him and I see nothing...Is there nothing there???Is he crazy???Have I not seen things walk through my house that aren't of this world???As true as I'm talking to you it happened...I too have struggled with the things that God has done...Taken our grandmother a month before we come home (we were oversees in the military)...Take a friend of mine that was an athiest in the middle of the night at the age of 23...Murder an uncle...Take a baby that was a month away from being due to my cousin...The Lord says that Satan can't harm one hair on your head without my approval...Satan just doesn't roam around doing whatever he wants to if he did it would be a much darker place then it is now...It happens for a reason...Why you ask...To test faith to make those stronger...Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it's not there...Look at the bigger picture...Not just how much you loved that cousin that got taken...That child is with the Lord he called her home...It was her time...Your days are numbered we see she is 23 the Lord sees she has 10 years left until she comes home...I believe you have been terribly hurt in your life...And God requires a much more intimate relationship with you then you want...You don't want this to not be true and you put all this effort and all this tears and pain and nothing...It's true...If you're feeling torn between the two it's true...The Bible says that if you're not living for God then you're living for the ruler of this world that's Satan...The Bible is not written by man it was assembled by man...The Bible was written on the utternace of the Holy Spirit...You're being called by God to come back to him...He has created you...The Bible says He knows the very number of hairs on your head...that if you put all the good thoughts that the Lord has had about you it will out number the grains of sand on this earth...He created you to be with him but you have to choose him...You wouldn't want to MAKE your friends be your friends to want them to choose you...Same principal...When I first became a Christian I researched everything from Judaism to Mormons to everything...Christianity has one way because there's Jesus the Jewish people are the Lords chosen people (it's like your home town) He came as a Jew and the people that follow him are Christ followers (Christians)...The facts are you don't know how many days or seconds you have left in your life...He'll prove to you that he's real...If you pray and cry out to him talk to him like a friend tell him you want to know he's real...He'll show himself to you in ways that can only be God...It says that he will only give you so many opportunities to follow him before he shuts the door...Don't let this go by...Get it right with God and all the other answers will fall into place...Good luck and God bless...

 

[bethdinsmore]

So many well-thought out questions. For starters, I'd like to give part of my CF profile, to show how God revealed Himself to me. Then I will try to come back in a later post and respond to some of your questions. Please pm me if you wish.
aloha in Jesus

Personal Testimony - How I became a Christian:
Raised in a liberal denomination, I became an atheist. Later I became demon oppressed as a result of playing the Ouija board. I was terrified for a couple of years. When demonic things happened, I would pray (some atheist, eh?) and things would stop temporarily. Then I read the Late Great Planet Earth. The 100% fulfilled past prophecies convinced me there had to be a God - the God of the Bible. I then trusted in Christ alone to be my sinbearer and to get me to Heaven one day.
For those who haven't yet trusted Christ as their Savior, you might like to read "How to be saved" in my website.

 

[Diamonds2004]

I have been unsure of faith. When I started going into the history and especially looking at the photos of the actual places in the Bible, it solifies it because it shows the Bible is based in reality and has both a supernatural and physical base.

It shows people who were there and saw God works and
Look up photos of Bible places and I think you may be pleasently surprised. Google it. It's that easy!

I have seen occasions in my own life of supernatural working that literally no human being could have orchestrated, like a woman I saw have the pain her back healed. She had to take 600 mg of ibupreofen to keep the pain down. That dose is something you can only get from a doctor. She took many of these pills a day. The pain was always intense. She had to straighten her spine through surgery in previous years and they had to remove the discs that cushion the vertebrae bones to do it. That means the bones rub together incessantly. She for weeks asked God to take the pain away. finally God said for her to not take her pills on day and she thought that such an idea was plain ridiculous, but she decided to do it. She did and the next day there was no pain. This happened during a gathering of poeple that I was with and she spontaneously came up to the stage, no announcement that this was happening. She just wanted to proclaim God's healing of her back and working. Yeah, God, as in Jehovah, is real, He is true.

 

[Sketcher]

Have you ever read any works by Lee Strobel, Josh McDowell, Norm Geisler, or C.S. Lewis?

These authors are Christian thinking men, those of them that are still alive. Under honest scrutiny, Christianity not only makes sense but it takes more faith not to believe in Jesus than it does to believe in Him. "The Case for Christ" and "The Case for Faith" may be the right titles to get you started. And C.S. Lewis's thoughts on faith in "Mere Christianity" will hopefully show you that faith is a very rational descision.

 

[matthewgoh]

Believe in Christ by faith - that's how you are saved. Then you have to completely trust in God. Your prayer is answered if your faith is strong enough, it just needs time to take effect. Patience plays important part. God will show his presence to you if you don't give up. That's how he works, if you truly want to find him.

The problem is people give up to easily. Once prayer is not answered at the time they want, they start to turn away from him, and start to look for evidence of his existence, i.e. the hardest (may be impossible) way to find God.

If you want to find him, humble your heart, accept Jesus as your saviour, tell God you want to have a relationship with him, tell God you want to have the salvation made possible by Christ. This way, you will be saved and you will find him.

Just my thought. God bless.

 

[GreenPartyVoter]

I have to vent out some of my thoughts somewhere, and i can promise you this post will be almost just a collection of thoughts, but i HAVE to tell someone what i am thinking/going through right now.

I have lead a very hard spiritual life the past 4 years. I am 18 years old, and I go to a Christian high school, but I have gone from being an Atheist to an Agnostic to a Deist and back to an agnostic over my 4 years of my high school. It is very hard for me to have such a different idea of beliefs in a school that 99% of the people "claim" to be christians. I have been touched by some of the things that have happened at my school though. I see many hypocritical people drinking/doing drugs, having sex, talking down to people that claim to be christians, and i see a few people that really act like they believe it, and it has left me in a total state of confusion. I depsise the contradictions b/w the different groups of "christians" and it has caused me to want to have nothing to do with it.
But a few times during our chapels that we have once a week i have seen people that come to complete peace with themselves and thrie lives, and it does seem like their is something more at work then what is obvious to the naked eye, and at points like that i realize, atleast these people believe in something, while i sit hear not sure of anything, and it makes me sick. I want to know the truth about life, meaning of life, everything, but even when i have looked to christianity, i have found no peace. I almost have come to believe that all religion is man made just to deal with the harder parts of life.
It bothers me so much that so many people in my school believe that christianity is true and can believe in it, and that i cant, not because i dont want, but because when i think about it rationally, it doesnt seem true, and that i dont feel like I could lead that life the way i should. These are a few of the things that bother me. 1) The stories of Jesus in the bible were written by man. All the accounts of his life have contradiciting details. How can one base his life on a groups of stories, of "gospels", that may or may not be exactly true. 2) God is never going to show his physical self to anyone, and i understand why he wouldnt/cant, but I dont see how anyone can have such a blind faith in something they will never see. Some say, oh he talks to me, and maybe he does, but its nothing u can record, nothing physcailly, nothing proof worthy. 3) Prayer. I can just not get past this. I dont think prayer does anything. I have prayed before, and i recieved no answer, and no way of knowing wether or not god would answer. 4) If you ask a christian if god is in control of everything they will say yes. so god was incontrol of my cousin getting run over and killed when she was 2? (yes that really happened)? They say well he had a purpous, but that might have been the work of satan? But i thought u said god was in control? I CAN NOT believe that god is in control. People blame things on god when great stiff happens, but when bad stuff happens, they balme humans and satan. God is either in chagre of EVERYTHING, or NOTHING!!! 5) The main reason christianty seems fake to me is this. I have had many christians tell me that, "Nothing i can say will make you beleive christianity, its takes FAITH in god." Two things bother me about this. 1)How is that fair that god requires you to believe in him, but never really makes it 100% that he is real. 2) How can anyone have such a faith in a god that they can not see, that they cannot hear? I dont understand how people can believe in god and KNOW that jesus was his son and that he really did die for thier sins. People can think that, and people can be almost positive that was really waht happened, but there is no proof, and how can anyone CHANGE THEIR LIFE and do what god says if they arent positive of anything he stands for? that sounds like blind faith, and that is not enough for me.
I am not hostile towards christanity, but it has been my judgement that past 4 years that it is not true, but if it is true, then i need to change, but it seems to me that there is no way for me to know if its true. This tortures me daily. All i want to know is the truth, but everytime i consider christianity might be true, i see all these other skeptics and people who have good points proving christanity being false and it just makes me more skeptical.
I dont know exactly what i want to hear from anyone regarding this post, i just wanted to type it out and tell someone cause even though i live a non-christian life, christianity is always in the back my mind, taunting me, making me think that if i am wrong, and it is true, that i am making a huge mistake.

Of course you can be a Christian and still be a deep thinker. There are many here who will tell you that relavatism is a bad thing, but I will say that for many of us it seems to be just what we are looking for.

Have you visited the Liberal Christians Forum? If you aren't sure if you belong there, here is a general synopsis of what many of us believe.

 

[Breaking Babylon]

The natural man, and the natural mind, won't accept the truth of Christ. It's written in the Bible. I used to believe myself that Christianity and every other religion was a manmade crutch for people who couldn't cope with the world. Now I find that I'm crippled without God, and am thankful that I don't have a 'religion' - but I have a relationship with the Creator of all things.

There's a verse, he who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be abased [or risen in rank and esteem].

When I humbled myself to God, acknowledged Him, let Him know that there was no possible way that I could continue to do this all alone, I got an answer from Him. That answer led me to the altar where I accepted Him into my heart.

I stress again, that the natural mind won't accept God or His Word. Only when you humble yourself to what He has to say, acknowledge Him with your natural mind and ask him to renew your mind, heart, and soul will it be done. You won't find Him any other way.

And it's easier than you might think.

"For we live by faith, not by sight." "Blessed is he who has not seen yet believes." "For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." You won't find it any other way.

And let me tell you something else...

Every Saint has a past. Every sinner has a future. Anyone can call upon God and become a child of His Kingdom.

 

[Anti Existance]

Wether you believe it or not, reading this man's near death experience may give you some support.

http://www.near-death.com/rosenblit.html

I feel that there is a lot to learn for you from that link because it relates in so many ways. I have been an atheist for quite a while, God didn't seem real for me, i never had a minutes moment of peace with every thing that was going on spiritually, because so many questions had to be answered.

I am here to tell you that all the answers to your questions are 'there' like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, that can be put together and make your doubts dissapear, which i don't say to make you a christian, but what i say to make you come at peace with yourselfs.

You see God doesn't deny us atheism, it can actually be a 'good' period where you start asking yourself questions, when these horrible life questions are answered, you will find that atheism destroys itself, allowing you to move on in a period of faith.

I have something that you might need, when i was severely depressed and suicidal and lost my faith, because i saw absolutely zero future,no meaning,and was in the darkest moment of my life. This book called

"the cycle of the soul"

Restored my faith, answered a heap load of all those horrible life questions , and learned me that no matter how deep a soul has fallen, there is always a way out.

http://home.quicknet.nl/qn/prive/kes/cycle.pdf

Even i who do not like reading at all managed to get thru it. But more importantly i hope that if it helps you like it helped me, you might give it to someone who needs it too one day.

 

[b4uris]

Have you ever read any works by Lee Strobel, Josh McDowell, Norm Geisler, or C.S. Lewis?

I've only read excerpts form C.S. Lewis, and he seems quite reasonable. From what I've heard from Christians and non-Christians alike, Lee Strobel's "Cases" series is filled with logical fallacies and inconsistencies.

 

[heron]

Digstar, thanks for your openness. You know what it's like to set yourself for criticism up in a Christian circle! Very brave.

Remember that there are people immersed in Christian culture, who forget that they have to live out the life and relationship with God. It gets comfortable being around people with similar values...makes conversations simpler. But if they're fickle about it, then they water down the faith and just snap back with shallow, thoughtless answers.

I've known a few people who had similar experiences to yours in Christian school. It's not for everyone. There's an inevitable competition that no one can win, when too many Christians are lumped into close quarters. And the homogenous mix makes people feel as though their faith is not special. Spiritual direction come from teachers and peers, rather than the Spirit. It can squeeze the ownership out of your faith.

A few parents send their kids to Christian schools out of fear--fear that the kids will totally lose touch with God if they're in another setting. Warped motivations can include respectability, the school's high reputation, adult peer pressure, social problems in other schools, trying to "lock in" salvation, handing the teaching of faith over to others, safety...all kinds of reasons.

I'm not against Christian schools by any means. But when Christians mix into society, some seem to be better able to hold up their identities. Some don't.

There are cliques that start as early as preschool, isolating all the way into high school. You have seen the problems. There are problems, not just your imagination. People are people, wherever they are. Christianity doesn't give people a licence to be right.

"He'll prove to you that he's real...If you pray and cry out to him talk to him like a friend tell him you want to know he's real...He'll show himself to you in ways that can only be God..."

That is the first place to start. If you're going to pray about anything, pray about something that means something to you.

Pray also for justice in your school, for conviction in the hearts of people who trample others. Pray that their love becomes genuine. Even if you don't believe in prayer or look for answers, feel that in your heart. Be the person you wish they would try to be.
​

 

[11MAN]

I have to vent out some of my thoughts somewhere, and i can promise you this post will be almost just a collection of thoughts, but i HAVE to tell someone what i am thinking/going through right now.

I have lead a very hard spiritual life the past 4 years. I am 18 years old, and I go to a Christian high school, but I have gone from being an Atheist to an Agnostic to a Deist and back to an agnostic over my 4 years of my high school. It is very hard for me to have such a different idea of beliefs in a school that 99% of the people "claim" to be christians. I have been touched by some of the things that have happened at my school though. I see many hypocritical people drinking/doing drugs, having sex, talking down to people that claim to be christians, and i see a few people that really act like they believe it, and it has left me in a total state of confusion. I depsise the contradictions b/w the different groups of "christians" and it has caused me to want to have nothing to do with it.
But a few times during our chapels that we have once a week i have seen people that come to complete peace with themselves and thrie lives, and it does seem like their is something more at work then what is obvious to the naked eye, and at points like that i realize, atleast these people believe in something, while i sit hear not sure of anything, and it makes me sick. I want to know the truth about life, meaning of life, everything, but even when i have looked to christianity, i have found no peace. I almost have come to believe that all religion is man made just to deal with the harder parts of life.
It bothers me so much that so many people in my school believe that christianity is true and can believe in it, and that i cant, not because i dont want, but because when i think about it rationally, it doesnt seem true, and that i dont feel like I could lead that life the way i should. These are a few of the things that bother me. 1) The stories of Jesus in the bible were written by man. All the accounts of his life have contradiciting details. How can one base his life on a groups of stories, of "gospels", that may or may not be exactly true. 2) God is never going to show his physical self to anyone, and i understand why he wouldnt/cant, but I dont see how anyone can have such a blind faith in something they will never see. Some say, oh he talks to me, and maybe he does, but its nothing u can record, nothing physcailly, nothing proof worthy. 3) Prayer. I can just not get past this. I dont think prayer does anything. I have prayed before, and i recieved no answer, and no way of knowing wether or not god would answer. 4) If you ask a christian if god is in control of everything they will say yes. so god was incontrol of my cousin getting run over and killed when she was 2? (yes that really happened)? They say well he had a purpous, but that might have been the work of satan? But i thought u said god was in control? I CAN NOT believe that god is in control. People blame things on god when great stiff happens, but when bad stuff happens, they balme humans and satan. God is either in chagre of EVERYTHING, or NOTHING!!! 5) The main reason christianty seems fake to me is this. I have had many christians tell me that, "Nothing i can say will make you beleive christianity, its takes FAITH in god." Two things bother me about this. 1)How is that fair that god requires you to believe in him, but never really makes it 100% that he is real. 2) How can anyone have such a faith in a god that they can not see, that they cannot hear? I dont understand how people can believe in god and KNOW that jesus was his son and that he really did die for thier sins. People can think that, and people can be almost positive that was really waht happened, but there is no proof, and how can anyone CHANGE THEIR LIFE and do what god says if they arent positive of anything he stands for? that sounds like blind faith, and that is not enough for me.
I am not hostile towards christanity, but it has been my judgement that past 4 years that it is not true, but if it is true, then i need to change, but it seems to me that there is no way for me to know if its true. This tortures me daily. All i want to know is the truth, but everytime i consider christianity might be true, i see all these other skeptics and people who have good points proving christanity being false and it just makes me more skeptical.
I dont know exactly what i want to hear from anyone regarding this post, i just wanted to type it out and tell someone cause even though i live a non-christian life, christianity is always in the back my mind, taunting me, making me think that if i am wrong, and it is true, that i am making a huge mistake.

Hi Digstar,
I understand your reasoning on questioning the Existence of Jesus Christ and God and all that goes with it.
You mentioned in your message that when
good things happen Christians say it is from God and when Bad things happen this is from the devil. Many Christians speak things not according to the word of God in fact, the Bible reveals that God created evil. This does not mean that He himself is evil. God is Holy and there is no darkness in him. We cannot come to God in our fallen state(but through JC). God's majesty is so great that His presence causes demons to tremble and run. God cannot dwell with darkness, our sin separates us from God. Every soul born is born under sin, the wages of sin are death and spiritual separation for eternity from God. Jesus Christ came to save the world, but because the world is in darkness it doesn't want to come to the light. Our sin causes condemnation. Why do the Russian and Chinese and American governements all work like drones in an effort to build weapons what is the cause or motivation of this insane practice, they want power, they want to reign, they want to be God. Their are blinded by Satan, who has been given power to destroy those who do not come to worship the true God. In regards to hypocrite christians, yes there are many, Jesus, Peter, James and other disciples all prophesied of these last day characteristics. I was a drug using, alcoholic, homosexual before I was saved. I hated myself, blamed God for everything and hated society. One night a none believing friend looked at me straight in the eyes and said, "you are going to be punished." He said this for no reason, but I felt a strong conviction and dreadful fear of God. I went home and this masssive storm rolled in from the west, I feared God so greatly that I didn't stop praying for 10 days. After which I was lying on my bed and felt the Holy Spirit, come upon me and set me free of all my addictions. The fear of the Lord is the being of wisdom. I pray that God will show his dread to you, so that you too may see the peace and love and eternal life he has for you on the other side of your understanding.
If you seek God with all your heart and mind he will answer you.

 

[Sketcher]

I've only read excerpts form C.S. Lewis, and he seems quite reasonable. From what I've heard from Christians and non-Christians alike, Lee Strobel's "Cases" series is filled with logical fallacies and inconsistencies.

Don't knock Strobel until you read him - or actually, his interviews with Christian professors. I personally like "Case for Christ" better than "Case for Faith," though I will not knock the latter's value. Haven't read "Case for Creation" yet. I'm actually surprised that Christians have knocked Strobel.

 

[heron]

I'm actually surprised that Christians have knocked Strobel.

I just heard someone say in an interview, "even God reads Strobel."

11Man, thanks for telling us your story. That took guts. The nonbeliever's words were funny--not from your viewpoint of course. I've found that friends' destructive actions annoy me more on a personal level than spiritual. Friends are simply irritating to be around when they are drunk, high, or obsessively "right" in their decisions. (Yeah, I get snotty "right" too. Fer shur.)

People tend to be self-centered and careless, thoughtless when they are under an influence. You try to talk to them, and they ramble off track. The conversations are a waste of time.

Under influences, people destroy their friends' property and laugh about it, and don't offer to repair. They live in some fuzzy untouchable zone.

I don't know how you behaved when you were using, and it's not for me to judge, but whether your friend had a startling prophetic word or not, he probably spoke from pain, watching you slip into the haze.

It's a practical shift that you'll find really improves your life over time. Watch your old drinking buddies lose their licences and jobs and aspirations over the years. Life looks grim when the law steps in. Drinking also stunts areas of the brain related to social growth and maturity, so relationships get weird.

It's sad when people consider friends' advice just controlling or condescending, because they hurt their friends too. Glad you were humble and thoughtful enough to listen and act on it.

Ooh, I'm way off track. Sorry, Digstar of the OP.

 

[TexasGirl06]

Hey Digstar....

Don't look around you to see if God is real or not.

Take all of your doubts and questions to Him. Talk to Him. He will hear you. You may not know if you are being answered right away, but I can assure you that if you are genuinely seeking to know the Truth, He will respond to you.

Unfortunately, the title "christian" is used by many people these days. Many are "baby christians" and haven't yet grown in their walk with the Lord. Their behaviors/choices reflect this.
Some are not Christians at all....but they know some things that are in the Bible. They even attend church.
There are also folks who are seeking and walking with the Lord daily. Yup, they still sin, but they pick themselves up, acknowledge their sin, and continue to walk with Jesus.

So....if you are in an environment with young (spiritually) christians, and you are unsure of what Truth is, it can certainly be confusing.

Hang in there. Be encouraged. The fact that you wrote your thoughts down on this Forum...is very encouraging to me.

I will pray for you.

God loved you so much, Digstar....that He sent His Son Jesus....to die for you on the cross that day. It was your sin (and mine) that put him there. And He did it, because it is the only way that you can be with The Father in Heaven when you die.

Be Blessed,

 

[Morning_Star]

Hey I understand what you mean....
There are alot of christians who do bad stuff, but to be honest I wouldn't worry too much about that. No one is perfect wer'e all human and sometimes people who are shipped of to a christian college are just there cause there parents want them to be. What defines us as christians is a belief in Jesus, and before all the rules and regulations and comparing people and worrying what others are doing, its about knowing in your own heart that you love god. This can be hard to do if you don't have a belief in God. When I was athiest I had so many questions and doubts, and when I became agnostic I became more curious about life after death but never really thought God was there, untill I was in college and out of the blue when I was meant to be going clubbing God showed up and I was truly amazed.

If ever you wanna chat or hear about my testimony pm me

 

[inHisgripkim]

I have to vent out some of my thoughts somewhere, and i can promise you this post will be almost just a collection of thoughts, but i HAVE to tell someone what i am thinking/going through right now.

I have lead a very hard spiritual life the past 4 years. I am 18 years old, and I go to a Christian high school, but I have gone from being an Atheist to an Agnostic to a Deist and back to an agnostic over my 4 years of my high school. It is very hard for me to have such a different idea of beliefs in a school that 99% of the people "claim" to be christians. I have been touched by some of the things that have happened at my school though. I see many hypocritical people drinking/doing drugs, having sex, talking down to people that claim to be christians, and i see a few people that really act like they believe it, and it has left me in a total state of confusion. I depsise the contradictions b/w the different groups of "christians" and it has caused me to want to have nothing to do with it.
But a few times during our chapels that we have once a week i have seen people that come to complete peace with themselves and thrie lives, and it does seem like their is something more at work then what is obvious to the naked eye, and at points like that i realize, atleast these people believe in something, while i sit hear not sure of anything, and it makes me sick. I want to know the truth about life, meaning of life, everything, but even when i have looked to christianity, i have found no peace. I almost have come to believe that all religion is man made just to deal with the harder parts of life.
It bothers me so much that so many people in my school believe that christianity is true and can believe in it, and that i cant, not because i dont want, but because when i think about it rationally, it doesnt seem true, and that i dont feel like I could lead that life the way i should. These are a few of the things that bother me. 1) The stories of Jesus in the bible were written by man. All the accounts of his life have contradiciting details. How can one base his life on a groups of stories, of "gospels", that may or may not be exactly true. 2) God is never going to show his physical self to anyone, and i understand why he wouldnt/cant, but I dont see how anyone can have such a blind faith in something they will never see. Some say, oh he talks to me, and maybe he does, but its nothing u can record, nothing physcailly, nothing proof worthy. 3) Prayer. I can just not get past this. I dont think prayer does anything. I have prayed before, and i recieved no answer, and no way of knowing wether or not god would answer. 4) If you ask a christian if god is in control of everything they will say yes. so god was incontrol of my cousin getting run over and killed when she was 2? (yes that really happened)? They say well he had a purpous, but that might have been the work of satan? But i thought u said god was in control? I CAN NOT believe that god is in control. People blame things on god when great stiff happens, but when bad stuff happens, they balme humans and satan. God is either in chagre of EVERYTHING, or NOTHING!!! 5) The main reason christianty seems fake to me is this. I have had many christians tell me that, "Nothing i can say will make you beleive christianity, its takes FAITH in god." Two things bother me about this. 1)How is that fair that god requires you to believe in him, but never really makes it 100% that he is real. 2) How can anyone have such a faith in a god that they can not see, that they cannot hear? I dont understand how people can believe in god and KNOW that jesus was his son and that he really did die for thier sins. People can think that, and people can be almost positive that was really waht happened, but there is no proof, and how can anyone CHANGE THEIR LIFE and do what god says if they arent positive of anything he stands for? that sounds like blind faith, and that is not enough for me.
I am not hostile towards christanity, but it has been my judgement that past 4 years that it is not true, but if it is true, then i need to change, but it seems to me that there is no way for me to know if its true. This tortures me daily. All i want to know is the truth, but everytime i consider christianity might be true, i see all these other skeptics and people who have good points proving christanity being false and it just makes me more skeptical.
I dont know exactly what i want to hear from anyone regarding this post, i just wanted to type it out and tell someone cause even though i live a non-christian life, christianity is always in the back my mind, taunting me, making me think that if i am wrong, and it is true, that i am making a huge mistake.

There are practicing Christians and there are Christians who do not practice. Most practicing Christians walk the walk and talk the talk. They seek the Lord with all their hearts and souls and mind. As with any group of any kind, you have good and bad. Not all doctors are nice people. Not all lawyers are honest and nice people. Not all ministers are nice and honest people. Good and bad where ever you go.

If you go to church you will find there are devoted Christians who love the Lord. They are truly christ-cetered people who actively seek Him in every aspect of their life. Don't let one rotten apple keep you from eating apples. Good apples are good for you.

Keep seeking and ask God to show you truth and a sign. He gave three Sparrows when I asked Him to give me a sign. The thing is you have to be looking for Him to get those signs. You have to be open to them.

In the meantime, we will pray for those Christians who are backsliding or who have fallen off the path.

May God make His path clear for you. And may your eyes be open to see it. In Jesus I pray. Amen

 

[FallingWaters]

These are a few of the things that bother me... that sounds like blind faith, and that is not enough for me. I am not hostile towards christanity... but it seems to me that there is no way for me to know if its true. This tortures me daily. All i want to know is the truth, but everytime i consider christianity might be true, i see all these other skeptics and people who have good points proving christanity being false and it just makes me more skeptical.

I dont know exactly what i want to hear from anyone regarding this post, i just wanted to type it out and tell someone cause even though i live a non-christian life, christianity is always in the back my mind, taunting me, making me think that if i am wrong, and it is true, that i am making a huge mistake.

I have struggled this way, too. For a long time my faith was just blind faith. I believed because I WANTED to believe, but the more I listened to certain teachers on the radio, and read certain books, I saw more and more that intelligent respectable people have figured out logical reasons to base their beliefs on the Bible, and it's not just blind faith.

One person that comes to mind is Hank Hanegraaff- he's on the radio.
http://www.equip.org/

You have to choose who you're going to believe. People who don't believe in God, don't WANT to believe in God, and they have found a way to justify their position. God is good and real and faithful That is the Truth.

R. C. Sproul is my favorite theologian. He has a book called Reason to Believe : A Response to Common Objections to Christianity (Paperback) It might even be available at a library near you. There will always be skeptics, but don't listen to them. God is real and He will hold you accountable one day. Listen to those who love God and His word. You won't be sorry.

Another book I love thast is easy to understand and full of good information is this:
Why I Believe (Paperback)
by D. James Kennedy
If you ever doubted the Word of God was true, read this.

Hang in there. Jesus really was God. He really did rise from the dead. He really does love you, and know you personally.