Can I Ever Be A Christian?

FOG247 · Apr 17, 2006

i guess all i can say now is put your hope in God, trust in him. he will guide you down the right path as he is doing for me. heres a hint, just pick up a bible and without thinking about it, just urn to a random page and start reading, you will be surprised with what you find.
my prayers are sent oh, and i would enjoy to see you respond and tell us your progress.

digstar · Apr 17, 2006

Thanks for all the responses. In response to your responses...this is what I have to say...

I have been randomly, and I dont know how to explain this, but have begun to understand things about Christianity that I have never before, things are just beginning to make sense to me. And its nothing that anyone has really told me, its just a change in my thinking, and I am considering the fact that this might possibly be God. I dont know how to distinguish if it is or not, because I also have voices in my mind telling me Christianity isnt true, but they are slowly becoming less prominent in my thinking as they once were.

This change has been very slow, but its like a revelation in my way of thinking. Very strange. I also have been talking with 2 PHD Theologists/Bible Teachers, and they have been clearing some things up for me too.

What i really am struggling with right now is doubt, how to deal with doubt, how to realize God's voice and know its him (if it is), and most of all, if I decided to become a Christian, how that would change my life, as in things I would do, all of that, and what not.

I have to admit, I still am a bit skeptic, and have not made a decision or anything, but at this point in my life, I understand more about REAL Christianity, and am thinking more about being a Christian than I ever have at any point in my life, so I dont know, I guess we will just have to see what happens...
Once again, thanks for your posts, much appreciated

TexasGirl06 · Apr 17, 2006

digstar said:
Thanks for all the responses. In response to your responses...this is what I have to say...

I have been randomly, and I dont know how to explain this, but have begun to understand things about Christianity that I have never before, things are just beginning to make sense to me. And its nothing that anyone has really told me, its just a change in my thinking, and I am considering the fact that this might possibly be God. I dont know how to distinguish if it is or not, because I also have voices in my mind telling me Christianity isnt true, but they are slowly becoming less prominent in my thinking as they once were.

This change has been very slow, but its like a revelation in my way of thinking. Very strange. I also have been talking with 2 PHD Theologists/Bible Teachers, and they have been clearing some things up for me too.

What i really am struggling with right now is doubt, how to deal with doubt, how to realize God's voice and know its him (if it is), and most of all, if I decided to become a Christian, how that would change my life, as in things I would do, all of that, and what not.

I have to admit, I still am a bit skeptic, and have not made a decision or anything, but at this point in my life, I understand more about REAL Christianity, and am thinking more about being a Christian than I ever have at any point in my life, so I dont know, I guess we will just have to see what happens...
Once again, thanks for your posts, much appreciated

Hey Digstar !
When you learn about God..... you also learn that there is an evil one that opposes God.
This would be Satan.
When Satan fell from heaven, he took with him (their own free will)...1/3 of the angels in Heaven.
Yes, Satan is an angel.
So, we have Satan and A LOT of other bad angels working against us in this world.

So, I would say that if you are dealing with doubt, and your soul is not yet saved....that Satan and Gang are actively involved.
they want nothing more than to see you stay in your unforgiven sin.

***************
About what will happen if you acept Jesus as your Lord and Savior?
Your heart will slowly change.
You will want to please God.
You will love those who aren't very loveable.
You will forgive those who do not deserve forgiveness.
You will want to study Jesus, and to be like Him !
It's awesome !

I'll pray for you this evening, Digstar.
God loves you so much !
I know He would have me tell you that !

Be Blessed !

FallingWaters · Apr 18, 2006

digstar said:
What i really am struggling with right now is doubt, how to deal with doubt, how to realize God's voice and know its him (if it is), and most of all, if I decided to become a Christian, how that would change my life, as in things I would do, all of that, and what not.

This response is going to be a bit unconventional because it's just what happened to me, and everyone is different, but I used to struggle with doubt, too. In the first year after I was born again, I used to have thoughts come into my mind like, "What if God isn't really there- what if there is no God, and I'm just fooling myself."

Well, what happened to me is this: I read a book about the Shroud of Turin, and how some scientists believe it is the authentic burial shroud of the Lord Jesus Christ, and how the cloth probably became imprinted at the instant that Jesus became alive again and resurrected from the dead. I believe it to be authentic. (Of course there are always skeptics, but I don't read what they write because it just causes me to be plagued with doubt.)

Anyway, after I read about the Shroud, and those doubting thoughts about whether God exists would come to my mind, I would say to myself. Yes, God exists! We have the Shroud of Turin, and that proves that God is real! It wasn't too much longer that those doubting thoughts finally stopped.

Maybe you need something too... some "proof" that God is real.

If you want to know more about the Shroud, I put a couple of good links here.

http://www.shroud.com/
http://www.shroudstory.com/

WickedServant · Apr 19, 2006

digstar said:
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. a)How is that fair that god requires you to believe in him, but never really makes it 100% that he is real. b) 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.

Good questions, digstar.

1) I choose to believe the four written accounts; as to the 'contradicting details' I have seen nothing yet that POV does not easily explain.
2)Everyone I know or have ever met has what you call 'blind faith' in something. For some it is evolution, for some it is democracy, for some it is a god or gods. When a friend of yours tells you a story you have no immediate way of proving true or false, you most likely are inclined to believe it anyways because he/she told you so. You put your faith in that person, right? This happens all the time, we are told things and without evidence just choose to believe or not believe.
3)A lot of the time I don't think prayer 'does' anything. When a person asks God to give them a ferrari or make them rich, it is like a little child asking a parent if he/she can stay up all night, or eat ice cream for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The way I understand God, He is out to make us the best we can be, taking into consideration who we are.
4)You probably won't like this, but okay, God's in control. Of course when He created human beings, He did so giving them free will, the ability to make their own choices. Sky's the limit. I'm sorry about your cousin. My mother died recently; I feel the loss quite deeply.
5)What we believe or don't believe always comes down to our choices. Human beings have spent their entire lives trying to prove/disprove the existence of God. There seems to always be room for doubt or debate on either side. Christianity, simplified, is the belief that Christ was crucified and resurrected Himself 3 days later. Both you and I were not able to physically witness this event nor the lack of it 200 years ago. It then comes to a matter of weighing the evidences for and against, the pros and cons, and what is to be lost, what is to be gained by believing or not believing, and the exercise of free will: choice. Do not presume that Christians have 'blind faith' in God. If new evidence presented itself that asked me to re-evaluate my belief in God, I would. What lead me to believe in God was rational thought, not the lack of it, based on my personal experiences in this world.

I hope some of this has helped. Feel free to msg me if you have more questions.

heron · Apr 20, 2006

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....

I was watching a show on Hawaii last night, and they spoke about the people's devotion to a volcano goddess there. They showed dramatic pictures of sunsets and eruptions and jungles and deserts.

This reminded me how many people through history have been struck with the enormity of the universe, and recognized how small they were within that structure.

Many civilizations have developed theories about God, in many forms that don't coincide with Christianity, but they have recognized something bigger than themselves is out there.

On a day-to-day basis, I find the challenge of faith more about taking in what He offered (scripturally) than believing He exists. One thing built on another. But I still struggle with seeing him as so continually benevolent...many people still do. I feel like I should fix things myself--and that's where Jesus says "oh you of little faith"--I offered you the power to get things done through Me.

And like you said, sometimes answers don't come when we expect them, or they look different than we anticipated. But God definitely intervenes. Sometimes I just have to write down how often He does, so I remember I wasn't always the solution.

.

98cwitr · Apr 20, 2006

Dude, I am in, or was, in the exact same boat you were...and it all bowls down to faith. Is trusting someone not blind faith? Is loving someone not the same? For for our existance on Earth, we put our faith into other people's hands. As humans, we are capable of abstract thought. I do not see God, and I have doubts that there is anything out there every day...it just does not make 'worldly' sense to believe in something that is not tangible (an emotion would also be considered tangable in this case). We all could possible be suffering from a mass delusion of sorts. At this point in my early "awakening," I hardly find any of that to be the case. I used to think that religion was all psychological, just a way to cope with what the world throws at you...a way for us to have hope. These are all DOUBTS, misconceptions of what is true, God is real. Without faith, we cannot conceive this, but with true faith we are truely at peace with not only ourselves but our environment. The only reason you did not find peace is because you did not truely believe. I dont truely believe right now, at this point in my life, but I want to...I have to push all my worldly, humanistic doubts out the window. How's this for a 'what-if': What if you spend your whole life worshipping God, just to die and you just...well...die...no afterlife, just dead. Will you care? NO...you'll be dead. But on my death bed, I want to say: "God, you have been with me every step of the way, and now I know I must be with you." Maybe I will be...maybe Ill just be dead, but after I take my last breath, I will be happy with the life I have lived...and thats what I truely believe life is all about my friend. My you find happiness, contentment, and most of all...peace in your life.

kerrylee · May 18, 2006

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.

Click to expand...

Why do you think these thoughts are in the back of your mind, taunting you?
Have you ever thought that maybe God Himself is tapping you on the shoulder, calling you, wanting to let you know He is really there and wants you to see Him?
That's your proof that He exists, you know!! Do you think that it's just your own thoughts bugging you? Do you ever get the urge to pray? Who do you think put the idea into your mind? God wants to talk to you!!

You dont need someone to prove to you that God exists, He has already done that!God reveals Himself through general revelation- nature, the universe, etc, and through special revelation - His word, the Bible and through the work of Jesus Christ. God is there... we just need to open our hearts and minds and see Him!!

You cannot do anything to make God love you more than He already does, He chose you, died for you and is reaching out His arms to you!! You can feel them there already!!

Why not just ask Jesus to come into your life and see what happens? You've got nothing to lose, but SOOOO much to gain, believe me! People don't experience life changing miracles because they imagine it!

God is real, He is there and He has a plan for YOU. The phone from heaven is ringing...pick it up!! I can hear it from here!!

Listen to Him, He is gonna keep on bugging you until you do!! He is not going to let you go. The fact you have even posted your thoughts here shows that you know it!!

Kerry

a1000smiles · May 25, 2006

find out for yourself... read the Bible... read books to see if Jesus is real. One of the Best books to read is The Case For Christ. Its written by a man who was a journalist for the Chicago Times... he was a skeptic and when his wife became a Christian, he went and intervied 13 of the country/world's best scolars, archeologists, etc... and in the end he realised how much facts there is sapporting Christianity... thats what I show people when I evangalise to them... to kinda keep it fresh. I mean the facts I found out will make you go GAA GAA...lol.. here is some..God Bless u!

Most people blindly accept any kind of explanation proving there isnt an almighty God or that Jesus was just a regular man, no matter how far fetched the theory might be because they cant get themselves to believe the truth. Some things people tend to forget are the prophesies in the old testament there are SPECIFIC prophesies that only the Messiah could fulfill, and for 8 of those to come true in one human being its 1 in a hundred, million, billion. There arent even that many people in the world. Jesus not only fulfilled all 60 major prophesies but also 270 ratifications that conform the major prophesies. People will make excuses to explain that away by saying that the Old testiment was written at the same time as the new one so they can corrolate. But there is no truth to this at all because the Old testiment was written almost a 1000 years or more over a course of 1500-2000 years. Also the latest (closest one to Jesus's birth) copy of the Old testiment was dated 200 years before Jesus' birth. It is exactly like the one we have now, with mistakes so minar that they dont even count. This is due to it being VERY VERY carefully handwritten, but hand written however, but its amazing how carefully they were handwritten. The Bible is the ONLY authentic book in the world which was so carefully handwritten and have more that 20,000 documents that were handwritten. Its the largest oldern document in existance like that, the longest and carefully written. Also the disciples who were huddled together scared in a room scared for their lives when Jesus was killed changed totally after a few days, they were going around preaching in Jerusalem where they could be killed or stopped somehow if people had the evidence to stop them like producing Jesus dead body when they were takin about the resurrection. But they chose to die b4 denying Jesus; nothing like this could have happen if Jesus didnt appear to them.11 of the 12 disciples were brutally killed. Noone would die for a lie, especially if they know its a lie. Its really upsetting that people write such horrible things about Jesus just to turn people away from him. They chose to not believe the truth which is plainly before their eyes and would believe elaborate web of lies.

Can I Ever Be A Christian?

FOG247

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digstar

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TexasGirl06

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FallingWaters

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WickedServant

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heron

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98cwitr

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