Confused :/

[Miles]

I'm a Christian and I'm also agnostic. Not Agnostic with a capital "A", but agnostic in the sense that I realize the limitations of my perspective as a human being. Where I don't know or can't know in an empirical sense, I have faith. One of my coworkers is an agnostic atheist. We see eye to eye regarding the limits of human knowledge and understanding, but he lacks faith.. and faith is what it ultimately comes down to. Apparently, he wants to have faith. Maybe he will someday.

It's okay to have doubts and earnestly question things. God is patient, and asking questions helps us grow.

 

[Ronit]

What is the difference between an agnostic and a Christian who doubts their faith sometimes? Cause I'm sort of having issues with the devil telling me I can't really be a true Christian because of the fact I get doubts from time to time and that thought scares me to death. (Of course on the other hand like I have come to realize,.. if I wasn't saved then I wouldn't be worried so much.)

Doubts are only normal. As you continue to grow in the Lord and read the Bible, it will lessen. I been through the same thing as You. Keep holding on to Jesus and He'll Never Let You Go.
Best Wishes,
Ronit

 

[Maria Billingsley]

And in what way does that answer my question?

When one doubts our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, then they will fall into apostasy. Everything else is a moot point.

 

[Photini83]

I haven’t read all the replies, but the passage from Mark 9:22-24 comes to mind. Maybe someone already brought it up. God knows we’re weak... if we confess our doubt and seek His mercy, will He deny us? If you don’t know, Rose, ask Him.

 

[April_Rose]

When one doubts our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, then they will fall into apostasy. Everything else is a moot point.

I looked up what apostasy meant and I am nowhere close to rejecting my faith or Christianity.

 

[Maria Billingsley]

I looked up what apostasy meant and I am nowhere close to rejecting my faith or Christianity.

Then do not doubt. Be blessed.

 

[Mark Quayle]

What is the difference between an agnostic and a Christian who doubts their faith sometimes? Cause I'm sort of having issues with the devil telling me I can't really be a true Christian because of the fact I get doubts from time to time and that thought scares me to death. (Of course on the other hand like I have come to realize,.. if I wasn't saved then I wouldn't be worried so much.)

Even your salvation is not about you, nor is your life. All of this existence is about God, and it is him, not the strength of any faith you can gin up, that keeps you. If he planned it, he will complete it.

If I have fooled myself and I am not one of his, he is still to be worshiped and praised and admired.

 

[Mark Quayle]

What is the difference between an agnostic and a Christian who doubts their faith sometimes? Cause I'm sort of having issues with the devil telling me I can't really be a true Christian because of the fact I get doubts from time to time and that thought scares me to death. (Of course on the other hand like I have come to realize,.. if I wasn't saved then I wouldn't be worried so much.)

According to Scripture, lack of obedience is a better reason to doubt, than the apparent strength of your faith. Bad teaching leads you to believe that saving faith is yours, as though your integrity or will power or knowledge and understanding of just what you "accepted" when you were saved, or intensity of emotion or stepping through a doorway into another point of view or epiphany or whatever else come from you is what saves. It does not. God saves, and saving faith is the work of God.

You can all too easily fool yourself; we humans are ignorant, foolish, self-important, unstable, easily distracted, emotional, silly and think what we see is the way things are. There is no reason to trust your decision. Trust God's.

 

[d taylor]

What is the difference between an agnostic and a Christian who doubts their faith sometimes? Cause I'm sort of having issues with the devil telling me I can't really be a true Christian because of the fact I get doubts from time to time and that thought scares me to death. (Of course on the other hand like I have come to realize,.. if I wasn't saved then I wouldn't be worried so much.)

It is more than likely not the devil, the devil is not some being that can be every where at once. He may not even know you exist. Do you know every person on earth, he is much more intelligent and does have the ability to move about quickly (i am sure). But i am guessing he spends his time in the governments of the world and preparing for his final show down.

More than likely it is your own sin nature creating these thoughts.

Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” 14 Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so.

15 And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”

 

[d taylor]

I think the biggest problem for me is that I was forced to learn about evolution in school so even though I really don't believe we evolved from monkeys my mind can't help but wonder what if at times. I mean that doesn't mean that I don't believe that certain parts of evolution can coexist with Christianity,.. but just like every piece of artwork must have an artist,.. everything that we see (and don't see) had to have had a creator. There's no way that everything came from nothing. That doesn't make the slightest bit of sense.

Evolution is just a small part of the science lie, it is much deeper and wider than evolution.

 

[helmut]

I'm talking about the term gnostic theist and agnostic theist, which are based on the root nothing to do with gnosticism, we are talking about how a word is used, not how you demand it be used. Done playing argument from inccorect definition, go play fallicy games elsewhere.

Well, with gnostic you have the same situation. When you look for "gnostic" in Wikipedia, you will be redirected to "gnosticism".

A gnostic theist is a theist who has gnostic ideas, i.e. he is an adherent of (some form of) gnosticism. This is the correct definition.

It's you who plays on words.

 

[loveofourlord]

Well, with gnostic you have the same situation. When you look for "gnostic" in Wikipedia, you will be redirected to "gnosticism".

A gnostic theist is a theist who has gnostic ideas, i.e. he is an adherent of (some form of) gnosticism. This is the correct definition.

It's you who plays on words.

sorry thats not how english works, YOU don't get to decide what version of a word is used, thats playground level logic. Please grow up and act like a grownup. Were trying to have a real conversation not word games.

 

[Sophrosyne]

The problems you are having is similar to what I've gone through in my life. I was saved as a child and backslid a time or two and when I got into high school I backslid and I love biology and bought into evolution hook line and sinker it put huge doubt in my life that was unsurmountable till I finally came out of my almost agnostic identity in that I knew God existed but wasn't really sure who he was and if I really mattered or not to him. Evolution is a huge problem from start to finish it posits that dead matter somehow leaped into live matter (organic) through some mysterious process involving lightning and slime in a sort of semi oven etc. That was a cork on the bottle of confronting evolution once I saw that the "theories" of how life started were pretty vague and relied on a lot of "miracles" to have even a remote chance that opened the door than maybe Evolution was not the "FACT" that was being portrayed by scientists. I then started to listen to arguments against evolution and found that there were a lot of them and the more I read the logic of the arguments the more I found evolution wasn't as cut and dried of factual as it was being presented as. I found the insurmountable complexity of life to be far beyond an endless process of random accidents that start with extremely simple and arrive at incredibly complex organisms.
Evolution relies on miraculous accidents, Christianity relies on miraculously PURPOSEFUL interventions by God.

One other thing I've learned is in the Bible..... my people perish for lack of knowledge.
I can't quote hardly any scriptures by verse but I remember enough of what is in the bible paraphrased by myself that I don't fall prey to doubt that often. If you are doubting anything you need to study until you discover the truth of God that will dispel that doubt. Often people fall away from the faith because either they can't learn or refuse to learn (lazy) some of the same people get suckered by con artists because they either think they are smart or aren't smart enough to think "hey, I don't know much about that" and check into something before "buying".

 

[Sam81]

What is the difference between an agnostic and a Christian who doubts their faith sometimes? Cause I'm sort of having issues with the devil telling me I can't really be a true Christian because of the fact I get doubts from time to time and that thought scares me to death. (Of course on the other hand like I have come to realize,.. if I wasn't saved then I wouldn't be worried so much.)

Faith without doubt is not faith. Doubt is an opportunity to please God. If you knew it to be true 100% then it's not faith. Love and value Jesus and the gospel. That's the key. Those who don't love the truth won't fight doubt so that they might keep it.

 

[helmut]

sorry thats not how english works, YOU don't get to decide what version of a word is used, thats playground level logic. Please grow up and act like a grownup. Were trying to have a real conversation not word games.

It's not my decision. Name (and link or quote) one dictionary that mentions your meaning of English gnostic, AFAIK there is no one.