Fear of Repentance and Believing

God bless you.

faceofbear said:

Please pray for me. I have intuitively felt that God exists for sometime, and was even religious for a number of years. However, many things drove me away. My life has bettered since leaving religion, truthfully. However, I have this tugging in my soul trying to yank be back to faith. But... I am terrified of repentance and servitude. I also have trouble in believing in the Bible, fundamentally. That is, I dissent with so much of it. Regardless, though, I feel truth is found within it.

Please pray for my soul.

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Bless yer heart, praying for you....

May God bless you with His Presence and peace in His Merciful Love

Father, I pray in Jesus name that you would bring hope to this individual's life. I pray these things in Jesus name Amen!

Also taking these needs before God in prayer on the 1:15PM bbnradio.org Family Altar program.

I want to be a... Man of God!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYNkGKNH2hE

praying for you, friend, in the precious name of Jesus.

James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

God bless you

faceofbear said:

Please pray for me. I have intuitively felt that God exists for sometime, and was even religious for a number of years. However, many things drove me away. My life has bettered since leaving religion, truthfully. However, I have this tugging in my soul trying to yank be back to faith. But... I am terrified of repentance and servitude. I also have trouble in believing in the Bible, fundamentally. That is, I dissent with so much of it. Regardless, though, I feel truth is found within it.

Please pray for my soul.

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And the Prodigal son returns. What does the man do to his long lost son who has left and acted wickedly? He clothes him in his finest cloak. He loves him.

I was once the same. I actually felt the same way about the bible. I was also terrified of repentance and servitude. Because I did not know what it meant.

Let me enlighten you on these fears. First.... the dark will always hide from the light. Men do wicked things in the dark and do not want it to come to light. They are naturally afraid. It's ok. God promised many years ago that he would lay the law on the hearts of men rather than in a book. And he would remember their sins no more. Sin is a tricky thing. We all do it. I still do a lot of things which are sinful and evil. I am sorrowful because of it.... not for it.... but through it. Sin is an individual issue. All people sin in different ways. But we ALL.... want to run from god because of it. Don't. God has blotted out your sin from his eyes. He's told us so. Have faith. God is good. Don't spend your life running from a crime for which you will never be convicted. Turn to god. And see what he has to say. He will lay it on your heart. And it will be a lifelong process and experience which will shape you.

On the second fear of servitude. Here is what I say..... Many men are scared of the idea of being a servant of god because of what it means.... to them. The word servitude means something entirely different to men.... than it does god. Men's idea of servitude can be as dramatic as slavery. They think they must give up independence and whip themselves to do gods work lol. This is simply not true. Gods heart... and mans heart... are not the same. God's idea of servitude is righteous. It is a loving relationship. You are a man. You will NEVER be god. But serving god.... will NEVER mean the same thing as serving a man. It cannot. It will not. Have faith that god is good. Write that... on your heart... and forget your fears because they are a waste of time. Stop thinking about what you must do... and how you must change to be a Christian. ALL you have to do.... is love god. Let him in your heart. Have faith. Believe.... and god will change you from the inside out. You are a man. YOU WILL NEVER BE GOOD ENOUGH TO BE GOD LOL. Stop trying. Let god come into your heart and let him guide you. And if you go the wrong way.... if you screw up... god will still be god. And he told us.... he will blot out our sin from his eyes. Have faith.

As far as the bible... my personal advice is to forget everything you think you know about god from other people and read it for yourself. I think you'll find a lot of things which aren't in tune with what many Christians say to include issues like homosexuality. I was always told that god called it an abomination. Well... that's not true. The one thing that consistently irritated god was the worship of false idols. False gods.... God said men would cut down a tree. With part of it he would light a fire and cook his food. He would build his house. And with the last part he would carve a figure of a manmade god and cry before it. He would tear his clothes and wail before a piece of wood lol. The passage where god supposedly called homosexuality an abomination was about Israel turning away from him. They set up a temple of male prostitutes and it was an abomination. Period. So... reading the bible from cover to cover... and seeing what usually irritated god... I personally heard something entirely different than I've heard from Christians my whole life. I heard that Israel once again turning to worship wood and stone was an abomination. I'm not saying homosexuality is or is not a sin. That's above my pay grade. I'm just a man. But.... I know what god told me. I know he said that he would write the law on my heart and remember my sin no more. And in my heart... I cannot say I look down on homosexuals. I see them as the same lost puppies we all are just in a different way. So.... there. There is one example of how you might take the bible a lot different if you heard/read it for yourself.

Google "Free Audio Bible Modern Language." you'll find a dozen links to download one. And for the love of god get one with modern terms because the the's and thou's will confuse you to death and make it unreadable. After reading it.... I think you'll have a different view. Especially when you realize there are points where MAN is talking.... and there are points where GOD is talking. They are two different things and should be weighed accordingly.