Doubt

[Blackness]

Can anyone help me, I am having theses doubtful feelings about God's existance, I want to believe and accept, but I am full of doubt.

 

[Anti Existance]

ill send you a pm =D

 

[Buttermilk]

Thread closed for review

 

[tapero]

Thread is now reopened. Moved from General Struggles.

 

[beth34]

Can anyone help me, I am having theses doubtful feelings about God's existance, I want to believe and accept, but I am full of doubt.

Hi,

I was just wondering what makes you doubt God's existance the most? Is it because you can't see him or you think there's no proof of him? I was saved when I was 15 years old and I've never doubted his existance. Even though I can't see him, I know he's there. There have been times in my life that I didn't think I was going to make it through, but having God to talk too, to pray too, gave me such peace and comfort. I lost my Dad 3 years ago to cancer, and was at his bedside when he took his last breath. He was alert till the very end and was able to kiss me, my sister, and my mom goodbye before passing away. When he took that last breath a coolness came across the room and I knew that his spirit, his soul, had left his body to go be with his Lord Jesus Christ. All that was left was an empty shell. Even though it was one of the saddest days of my life, I also rejoiced, because I was so glad he was in a better place. I experienced God through that experience more than any other time in my life. Please don't doubt God's existance. Pray about it. Do you have any friends or relatives that are saved that you could talk to? I will be praying for you. Take care.

 

[looksgood]

No need for doubt with so many witnesses that surround you. Look at the sky and the moon. Who put them there? Look at the clock and watch the second hand move, how does time work? Answer: God.

Many lies abound today and are strongly taught by the world. Many deceptions abound because the world has denied God. Remember Noah? The whole world refused God and taught against Him bringing many false ideas with them. Yet the truth was God is there and the world was judged.

Why did God not do miricles then and shout in a loud thunder? People ignore what they do not understand or they try to make God like them. Instead God chose a man to speak as He does today. Knowing that those who want the truth will listen and those who want a lie ignore.

 

[UnitynLove]

Just think about all those times you could have lost you mind, all those times when you had nothing but you asked God and he gave it to you, what about all those times you could have failed at something but God brought you through. Just look back at your life and you will see God was always there.

 

[Rafael]

Life itself is proof of God. He literally surrounds us with awesome beauty and design. He speaks to us with the greatest language there will ever be and the most complex - life. It is a gift we learn from even if we deny the Creator of it, as His blessing comes down on the good and the bad just like rain. Doubts are natural to the old nature we all inherit from Adam - to sin and die, but through the new life Jesus gives us as born again believers, we have the Spirit of God that imparts life to our spirits so we can overcome those doubts and fears. Afterall, do we really know much abut anything pertaining to life? If we were really all that smart, as we would like to think, wouldn't we be giving life and designing our own universes? We have no such power other than in our imaginations. God invites us into His family where someday, we will know as we are known about such things. Until then, we have faith in God - that He will do as He says concerning His love for us through His Son, Jesus. He created us for the great and eternal purpose of love, and He is the very essence of that great giving love we will never stop learning about.

 

[Bespin]

Dear ILoveIsrael:

• Can anyone help me, I am having theses doubtful feelings about God's existance, I want to believe and accept, but I am full of doubt.

We all have our struggles with doubt, but what I feel we should make clear is that Christianity is predominately a religion based on faith. That isn't to say that we don't have reasons for what we believe, but what it does mean is that we believe God's promises and take them on faith. We believe in God's existence, in His nature, and in His plans for our lives on faith and on no other basis.

It is human nature to demand evidence before we commit to any belief, any activity, or anything else like that. But God doesn't work like what we do: He tells us to believe in Him and then He'll show that He is faithful and that His promises will be seen in our lives. I believe that mature Christians in particular will testify to this fact: the evidence of God is experienced as we grow closer to Him. The Bible tells us that as we draw near to God that He will draw near to us.

It is difficult to explain coherently, but as we grow in our knowledge and relationship with God through Jesus, we begin to see His promises and the work of His Spirit occur in our lives. I have heard time and time again of stories in which people's lives have been miraclously transformed when they have placed their faith in Christ. I have seen this occur in my own life.

As I have matured in my faith, I am starting to see people in a different light and I often will go out of my way to address the needs of other people above my own; I have seen my anger improve, my patience and so on increase as has my compassion, etc. ... I can't really explain in words the change that I have experienced, but I can feel it and I just know it has happened and even my mother acknowledges this. Even now, I have been changing in the way that I deal with people and I just can't help but think and trust that this is just the beginning where God is setting me up for what He has planned for me.

God understands your doubts, and He wants you to come ... just as you are. Many people are under the false impression that they have to fix their lives up and get rid of their doubt before they approach God, but the Bible makes it clear that this is not the case. God invites you to come as you are now: with all your problems, with all your doubts, with all your pains and hurts, and He'll help you. Cast them on Him and He'll take them from you and replace them with the peace that transcends all human understanding (Philippians 4:7).


Ask God for and believe that God will give you the faith, that feeling deep down inside that you know that you know, that God exists and that He loves you. It's okay to admit to God that you are doubting and ask Him to remove them. Now, this may not happen immediately, but God who is faithful and good will take them away according to His purpose. You may want to pray out loud to God something to the effect of:

LORD Jesus, I acknowledge that I'm weak in faith and that I'm full of doubts ... I don't want to be though. I want to believe in you and I want to follow you and be your disciple. I ask acknowledging my weakness that you'll help me to believe because I can't do it on my own. Please take away my doubts and by your grace renew my mind. I'm believing for and am receiving that faith that I'll always know that you exist, even in the hard times and when the feelings go. I'm trusting that you'll help me to just know that I know that you are there. In your mighty name, I receive these things, Amen.​

I know how hard it can be to believe when all your reasoning tells you that it is hopeless and that God isn't there, but I ask that you just trust that God is always there and that you'll believe God's promises on faith.

Now, what is faith? Some people are quite mocking in their attacks on faith when they say, "Now you just have faith!" It is as though they are saying, "Faith is weak."

But I'm telling you on the authority of the Bible that this is not so. St Paul tells us that faith is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot see (Hebrews 11:1, NLT). Faith is strong stuff that even though everything you may think or feel goes against it, you just still believe that God exists, that He is faithful and good to those who love Him. Pray that God will take away your doubt and keep thinking and saying it outloud that you believe He will, even when you get that feeling in your stomach that He won't. It is all about thinking right and believing God and I believe that soon enough, your doubts will be removed by God's grace such that one day you'll just wake up and you'll know that you know that God is there. Just as Jesus helped to remove John's doubts (Matthew 11:1-6) and those doubts of Thomas' (John 20:24-29), so He'll also help you too!

I will pray for you, friend.

 

[Blackness]

Well I guess I can also say its what people think God wants, I DO NOT LIKE THE IDEA THAT NON CHRISTIANS GO TO HELL. Loving God? Eternal punishment? How can any sin be so serious, or simply how people THINK AND BELIEVE, deserve eternal hell. Could it be possible when you die, you see Jesus, then you can accept him or not? Im sick of all this fire and brimstone stuff, come to think of it, HUMANS are the ones condemning others. Me and my step dad have religious talks all the time. he is very open minded, I just wish I could be like that, with out all this worry. Here is what I follow: 12 Commandments, Jesus (savior). and some OT stuff, anything that supports the idea of a loving God. I dont know where this doubt comes from. I just dont want all this hell and condemning preaching. This hell fear worssend at this website I visited, these near death exps. that people had, I read some hellish ones...thats my main problem FEAR. I usually only say the Lord's Prayer which we were told to say by Jesus.

 

[heymikey80]

Well I guess I can also say its what people think God wants, I DO NOT LIKE THE IDEA THAT NON CHRISTIANS GO TO HELL.

I don't think anyone in their right minds really likes to punish people, God least of all. Ezekiel 18 and 33 point this out.

Loving God? Eternal punishment? How can any sin be so serious, or simply how people THINK AND BELIEVE, deserve eternal hell.

I'm not sure that does justice to the way we human beings really are inside. We're constantly minimizing the sinfulness we have, saying, "Well it didn't hurt people that much", "I'm only hurting myself", and things like that. The anger we hold just for the way things work down here, all these things reflect a small view of the whole corruption of our world. We don't really know how corrupt our world is. Our limited view prevents us from making a full judgement.

And so we don't like the idea.

And it strikes too close to home, too. Hey, that's someone just like us in another body. We revolt at the idea that we could be as bad as to deserve such extreme punishment.

Is it that bad? I can only say what God says -- it's that bad.

Could it be possible when you die, you see Jesus, then you can accept him or not?

It could be. There are no references to this kind of thing. In other words, if God does want something like this, He's not telling.

C.S.Lewis' "The Great Divorce" is a story about just this kind of thing, btw.

Im sick of all this fire and brimstone stuff, come to think of it, HUMANS are the ones condemning others.

And that's strange. While there are reasons for people in the church judging more disturbing sins, as well as preaching what God has said about all kinds of corruption, sin and criminality, there're a couple of facts that should cause us not to be strongly judgmental. First, Christ hasn't returned. Judgment is committed to His hands. And second, "are we any better? No." Rom 3:9. So we'd better have the intention Paul had for any listing of sins -- to point out a way of Rescue in Christ.

Me and my step dad have religious talks all the time. he is very open minded, I just wish I could be like that, with out all this worry. Here is what I follow: 12 Commandments, Jesus (savior). and some OT stuff, anything that supports the idea of a loving God. I dont know where this doubt comes from. I just dont want all this hell and condemning preaching. This hell fear worssend at this website I visited, these near death exps. that people had, I read some hellish ones...thats my main problem FEAR. I usually only say the Lord's Prayer which we were told to say by Jesus.

Good, I hope that continues. It would probably be a good idea to read Jesus on the subject of morality, though. Matthew 5 has a number of points that just chill your spine.

CS Lewis' "Mere Christianity" is another good one.

Essentially, the issue isn't merely seen as God condemning people for no reason, but the issue needs to be seen in terms of God's ability to see and judge completely, eternally, rightly the lives of men. Beyond that, most people recognize the two basic realities of human moral life: the first, that we know right from wrong. The second, that we have chosen the wrong at some point, and that exposes us to judgment for doing wrong.

 

[Zeena]

Can anyone help me, I am having theses doubtful feelings about God's existance, I want to believe and accept, but I am full of doubt.

Jesus believes and does not doubt!

Is He your Life?
Are you reckoning yourself dead to sin and alive to God through Him?

If you continue to place your hope on yourself for Salvation prepare to be disappointed! And I pray God is Faithful to witness this truth!

[And He is! Praise God!]

 

[SolomonVII]

Doubt


Can anyone help me, I am having theses doubtful feelings about God's existance, I want to believe and accept, but I am full of doubt.

There was the question in Scripture posed to Jesus of how to increase faith.
His answer was something to the effect that we must acknowledge that we are but unworthy servants and it is our place to do as we are commanded, regardless of our lack of faith.

But even if you no longer have faith in God, do you not at least have faith in what He commands? Is your regret of lacking faiith in God not based in a fear of the possiblity that the real and apparent wisdom and the beauty of God's Scripture and Commandments just may have no ultimate basis in the reality of God?

Rest assured though, that we become closest to God when we go about doing his works anways. The reality of God becomes apparent as we work at his commandments and thereby become co-creators of the world that He has deemed to be "very good indeed".

For indeed only God is good.


Luke
Chapter 17.... 5 And the apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith." 6 The Lord replied, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to (this) mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you. 7 2 "Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, 'Come here immediately and take your place at table'? 8 Would he not rather say to him, 'Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You may eat and drink when I am finished'? 9 Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded? 10 So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.'"

 

[Bespin]

Dear ILoveIsrael:

• Im sick of all this fire and brimstone stuff, come to think of it, HUMANS are the ones condemning others. ... Here is what I follow: 12 Commandments, Jesus (savior). and some OT stuff, anything that supports the idea of a loving God.

As true as it is that God is a loving God, it is also true that He is a God who loves justice and we shouldn't shy away from this fact. I've been working on an essay just for fun I guess which I've titled How Can A Loving God Send People To Hell? which answers your question and shows how an eternal hell is consistent with a God of love. While I haven't finished it yet, I'm probably about 50% through it with adjustments still to make in the future, I'd like to post a bit from it which tells us why God sends people to hell:

The first thing that we must examine is why, according to the Bible, people are sent to hell in the first place. The Bible tells us that “the soul that sins shall surely die” (Ezekiel 18:4) and that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Now, wages are something that you are paid for work rendered. That is, you earn your wages. What St. Paul is essentially saying here is that because we have all repeatedly sinned against and offended a holy God, we have all earned the penalty of death, which is eternal torment and punishment in a place called hell.

Now you may think, Whoa, I’m actually quite a good person! I’m not even sure that I’m a sinner! Well, St. John tells us that “if we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth” (1 John 1:8-9). St. Paul also addresses this issue when he quoted Scripture which said that “No one is good – not even one … All have turned away from God; all have gone wrong. No one does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10-12). In today’s relative-based society, it is easy to point to figures of evil, such as Stalin and Hitler, and say that they are definitely sinners who absolutely deserve death for their crimes, but when it comes to our own personal sins, we can down-size or downplay them relative to such people.

To show that you are a sinner, God provided the Old Testament Law and the Ten Commandments such that we could see just how far we fall short of God’s glorious standard. It is our “mirror” and “teacher” to show us just how sinful we are and how deserving of God’s wrath we in reality are and just how much we need God’s grace. Consider the following questions: Have you ever used the LORD’s name in vain? Have you ever committed murder? What about adultery? You may think, “No,” but remember that Jesus tells us that even if we are angry with our brother (or sister) that we have committed murder against them in our heart (Matthew 5:22) and that if we look or think with lust about someone that we have committed adultery with him or her in our heart (Matthew 5:28). These are only three out of the Ten Commandments! We can keep on going into lying, stealing, and so on.

When we compare our lifestyle and our actions against the Ten Commandments, we can see just how far we fall of God’s glorious standard as Paul echoed when he wrote that “for all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (see Romans 3:23).
​

Further more, when we sin, we are in fact telling God through our actions that we want life without Him and that we want to decide truth and morality for ourselves, independent of Him. So, logically, when you choose to live life without the life giving source (God), then the natural alternative is death. I hope you're still with me on this... So it is with eternal life, when we want to live our eternal lives without or independent of the eternal life giving source, then the only natural alternative is eternal death (because the soul is immortal).

So, when we are sent to hell for our unbelief in Christ, we are in fact, getting exactly what we asked for: life without God.

• I dont know where this doubt comes from.

Probably from Satan.

• I just dont want all this hell and condemning preaching.

While I prefer to concentrate on the sacrifice of Jesus and His love for us, I don't believe that we can shy away from the blunt truth that all mankind is on the highway to hell because of their sins. This is just how serious our situation is and because God loved us so much He didn't want or plan for mankind to spend eternity separated from Him in hell, so He was willing to give up His own Son so that we could be forgiven while He was forsaken and condemned.

To truly appreciate the Good News of Jesus Christ we must understand and acknowledge the bad news of humanity. Since Adam and Eve's fall from grace in the Garden of Eden, mankind's image has been tainted and we naturally have a tendency to sin and rebell against God. In fact, because sin has permiated all humanity, we are all under the penalty of eternal death.

It should be noted that it is not anything that God does that sends us to hell. We are the ones who have sinned and offended a holy and just God and we are the ones who must receive justice for our many sins. But God took this justice upon His Son in our place, so that we may not be condemned but have eternal life through our faith in Christ Jesus. Those who believe in Jesus hand their sins over to Him and because His blood was shed on the cross, they are forgiven. Those, however, who do not accept Christ are still holding onto their sins and God will judge them on that basis.

• I usually only say the Lord's Prayer which we were told to say by Jesus.

Just as a note, what we generally term "the Lord's prayer" was an example of how we should pray, not what we should pray. It was an outline on how to pray effectively, if you will.

 

[Blackness]

I follow His Commandments (I try), and I accept Jesus, and pray. Thats all I really need to do as a Christian. Im not a strict conservative.

 

[BelindaP]

Then, you need not fear hell.

However, hell is not the way that many Christians depict it. It is eternal death. I believe that at the final judgment, those who are not saved are cast into the lake of fire to be destroyed, not tortured forever.

Some will burn longer than others before being extinguished.

The near death experiences in which people experienced hell are a wake up call to those people. God gives them an opportunity to experience hell briefly so that they don't have to experience it before the second death.

 

[Bespin]

BelindaP:

• However, hell is not the way that many Christians depict it. It is eternal death. I believe that at the final judgment, those who are not saved are cast into the lake of fire to be destroyed, not tortured forever.

Actually, why not let God speak about hell from His Word, the Bible? What does it have to say on the issue? Well, in Jude 1:7 we read that hell is a place of eternal fire. In Luke 16:19-31 when Jesus talked about the rich man and Lazarus, it seems like it is an eternal scenario, and not temporary where people are destroyed.

Why do you think that you know more about hell than God Himself who is telling and warning you about it? Your teachings are false and un-Biblical.

All humans have immortal souls and this cannot change because we are made in the image of God. By immortal, I mean "cannot be destroyed." They will last forever. In this alone your belief breaks down.

 

[SolomonVII]

I follow His Commandments (I try), and I accept Jesus, and pray. Thats all I really need to do as a Christian. Im not a strict conservative.

Jesus gave a very hard answer when it came to increasing faith, didn't he?
He as much as stated that we are unprofitable servants, and what we are doing is no more than what we obliged to do.
There was no talk at all that our following of the commandments, or accepting Jesus, or prayer, or any other possible obligation that we owe to our Creator will be rewarded with greater faith that we seek ie a seat at the table of the Most High.

At this point, it is worthwhile to remember that the soul has a dark side as well.

"The Lord gives and the Lord takes away....." goes the familiar verse.

And it is not even always the case that we will even overcome the hours of greatest darkness in our lives. What the Lord takes away can be absolutely devastating.

When we look back though, and come to the realization that our darkest hours, and the times of greatest stuggles, were also the times of greatest reward and greatest growth, then we can really complete the above verse with a heartfelt "Blessed be the Lord".

The scourge of God be the greatest blessing of all for it steers us away from what is unproductive and frivilous. Hence, parodoxically, it can be precisely at this point of our greatest suffering, and when our faith has abondoned us completely, that God is nearest.

 

[Blackness]

BelindaP:

• However, hell is not the way that many Christians depict it. It is eternal death. I believe that at the final judgment, those who are not saved are cast into the lake of fire to be destroyed, not tortured forever.

Actually, why not let God speak about hell from His Word, the Bible? What does it have to say on the issue? Well, in Jude 1:7 we read that hell is a place of eternal fire. In Luke 16:19-31 when Jesus talked about the rich man and Lazarus, it seems like it is an eternal scenario, and not temporary where people are destroyed.

Why do you think that you know more about hell than God Himself who is telling and warning you about it? Your teachings are false and un-Biblical.

All humans have immortal souls and this cannot change because we are made in the image of God. By immortal, I mean "cannot be destroyed." They will last forever. In this alone your belief breaks down.

I dont understand how hell could be a physical place if infact our bodies are left on Earth when we die.

 

[Zeena]

We recieve NEW bodies!

Ones that cannot die, for they do not have sin in them!