First time in this section

[TheTruthinFiction]

Hello, if you have read much in the section for all members, Questions by Non-Christians you have probably seen my name. My struggle comes from the fact that after 20+ years of refusing to accept Christianity, though I was always a believer, now people, especially here on this forum don't believe me. I have been reported for changing my icon to Christianity, why I would do that, I don't know, if I didn't mean it. Even before when I was asking questions, I never disregarded Christianity, I just asked questions that bothered me.

I was baptised week before last, even though in my mind, I was already a Christian and changed my icon so hopefully others would feel that Christianity is a great religion. Not all of my responses have been negative, really more have been postive than negative but I continue to be reported. Why would a person not believe me? I have nothing to gain by claiming Christianity if it wasn't true. My eye opener was the fact that I came to terms with my own ego that I'm not as strong as God as I seen another friend commit suicide. As hurtful as people have been on here when I was posting as a Non-Christian, nothing has hurt worse than someone questioning me accepting Christianity. Any thoughts on this would help.

Thank You,
Tim

 

[xBladesx]

I believe that you are genuine when you say you accepted the Lord as your personal savior.
Personaly I would like to congradulate you for making this decision and welcome you into the family of God.

Now that youve become a christian it's now time to be a christian.

What makes a christian is not what icons you place around yourself on this forum or how many time you say you've changed etc...

... it's how you live you life before the Lord. Also it doesn't matter what people think of you but what God thinks of you .
(ie: You're special in His eyes, John 3 :16 and that it delights His heart that you've accepted him as your personal savior.)

Remember, as a christian pleasing our Heavenly Father is our top priority.
If you mess up, it's not the end of the world. Go to the Father and make right with Him, say you're sorry and mean it and the Bible says "He is Faithful to forgive us."

As far being hurt is concerned, welcome to real world. I know exactly what it feals like as my own dad in a fit of rage said I was a mistake, but I forgave him as long as it took.

When people see a change in your life in what you do and say, that's when they'll generally start believing you've changed.

In any case don't give up.
Christianity can get hard, trust me , I know.
The secret then is to take all you problems to the Lord and ask Him to help you through it, also to hang in there.

If you have any questions or need someone to talk to please feal free to PM me.

 

[LiberatedChick]

Congratulations on your baptism and accepting Christ.

When I re-accepted Christ (drifted away during my teens) into my life I ended up very hurt by an online "friend". He believes Christianity to be stupid (though I didn't know that at the time) and said I'd disappointed him and hurt him by converting. After a week of hurtful emails from him in which he tried to pick apart my beliefs he stopped talking to me. To this day he refuses to talk to me.

So all I can say really is don't worry about the people that don't believe you. Some people react in strange ways when they hear someone they know has become Christian.

 

[lead bassist]

People are really insignifigant. Doesn't matter if they believe you or not. I'm glad you found the Lord (or He found you, however it worked).

 

[forgivenmuch]

im also Glad that you found jesus. i do not see salvation as a religion. i see it as being saved. there is a different there. however im happy that you are a child of God.
salvation is something only jesus can give. religion is all around us. jesus is true and his word is full of love. never condeming but showing you the right path to go. i hope and pray that you prosper in his love and you grow in strenth. God bless you! welcome to Gods family.

 

[Linux98]

What are you saying that makes them report you?

 

[madison1101]

Praise the Lord for your faith. It doesn't matter what we think of your faith. What matters is that the Lord know your heart and knows if you are sincere.

Instead of worrying about what others think of your walk, take some time to read and know God's Word. Get into a good church that loves the Lord and the people He created.

I have not met the people you are describing.

Hugs,
madison

 

[TheTruthinFiction]

What are you saying that makes them report you?

Nothing out of the way, offered someone advice that was a Non-Christian and was reported that I'm not a Christian, then received requests that I change my icon back to Non-Christian.

Thank you all for your support. This step, becoming baptised was a big step. The story is posted in the Non-Christian section, testimony, hoping that others who have had problems could find help in Christianity by reading it. My biggest problem is that I'm a very passionate person, when I believe something, I let it be known and that seemed to bother some of the Christian members. With one post about hypocrisy, seperatism and so on but it was meant in good intentions to let everyone help others whether Christian or not. It's been an interesting two months on here. Again, Thank you all for the posts and advice.

Tim

 

[TheTruthinFiction]

Praise the Lord for your faith. It doesn't matter what we think of your faith. What matters is that the Lord know your heart and knows if you are sincere.

Instead of worrying about what others think of your walk, take some time to read and know God's Word. Get into a good church that loves the Lord and the people He created.

I have not met the people you are describing.

Hugs,
madison

Thank you Madison, I don't think I was as bothered by the fact that people doubted me, as it was that I am receiving messages to take my Christian icon down. This to me seemed a little on the judging side.

Thank you for the advice, I'm finding Biblegateway.com to be a huge help for me. Everything was going pretty good until someone posted not to accept Jesus into your heart, not to accept him as your personal savior, because the Bible doesn't use those exact words. This bothered me, I don't think anyone has the right to demand others not to do these things that are more or less word usage, much like the different translations of the Bible. To me it didn't matter what words a person used, all that mattered was that they believed in our Lord and understood His sacrifice for us. This was posted in a Non-Christian section by a Christian and the Christian members were arguing more amongst themselves than doing what the section is for, helping Non-Christians see how wonderful it is to be a Christian.

Thank you,
Tim

 

[madison1101]

Thank you Madison, I don't think I was as bothered by the fact that people doubted me, as it was that I am receiving messages to take my Christian icon down. This to me seemed a little on the judging side.

Thank you for the advice, I'm finding Biblegateway.com to be a huge help for me. Everything was going pretty good until someone posted not to accept Jesus into your heart, not to accept him as your personal savior, because the Bible doesn't use those exact words. This bothered me, I don't think anyone has the right to demand others not to do these things that are more or less word usage, much like the different translations of the Bible. To me it didn't matter what words a person used, all that mattered was that they believed in our Lord and understood His sacrifice for us. This was posted in a Non-Christian section by a Christian and the Christian members were arguing more amongst themselves than doing what the section is for, helping Non-Christians see how wonderful it is to be a Christian.

Thank you,
Tim

You are welcome, Tim. My pastor just finished a series of sermons on evangelism called, "Go Fish." One sermon was about how easy it is to give the gospel message just using John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." He summed it up in four simple sentences.

God loved.
God gave.
We believed in.
We have or receive.

If you believed what this verse said, and believe in Christ for eternal life, you have it.

Now, scripture says that we must work out our salvation. That means, we must grow in Him and serve Him.

God bless your journey.

Hugs,
Madison-Trish

 

[HomeBound]

It doesn't matter if people believe you're a Christian.

There is only one that you should care about convincing.
Don't let it get you down.
I've seen posts from self proclaimed "Christians", that in my mind have a lot to learn, mostly about LOVE.

Just keep in mind it's a learning period. God will teach you wonderful things.

And remeber... Jesus was accused unjustly.