For the Non-Christians, Wanting Faith

[Unofficial Reverand Alex]

Hello, all. I find it very interesting (and inspiring) that there's a section on this forum that gives non-Christians a place to submit prayer requests. I think there's definitely something inside of the non-Christians, that you want to believe but you're not quite sure how, proven by your prayers on this forum.
Something in you wants faith; it's what many of your prayer requests have included. I'm including a few links to help you do that.

The first two are versions of the Skeptic's Prayer:
The Skeptic’s Prayer
A Skeptic's Prayer | Epiphany of the Lord Catholic Church
Put simply, it's a prayer for faith, for some realization that there is a God, for people who aren't sure.

Next is a few great videos, for explaining Christianity in general:

Do please take some time to look through these, if you feel so compelled, and I pray that this helps the Seekers out there.

UPDATE: I'm also including a link to the online version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I hear from a lot of my agnostic friends that the complexities of the Bible can trip them up & confuse them, so I thought including Church teachings that sort through all the complexities in Scripture would be a good resource, for anyone who wants to know Christian teachings but can't keep up with the Bible. The Catechism also has the advantage of footnotes that point out where in the Bible the teachings come from, if a particular teaching is of interest.
Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Diary of St. Faustina is another great resource; it details a Polish nun's discussions with Jesus, and occasionally saints, or even Satan. It's also called Divine Mercy in my Soul, and emphasizes the amazing love Jesus has for every one of His children, and how badly He wants all of us to come to Him. Here's a link for a full PDF of the book, and a link that just has some quote from it.
https://liturgicalyear.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/divine-mercy-in-my-soul.pdf
14 Of The Most Inspiring Quotes from St. Faustina's Diary

I sincerely hope & pray that anything on this post guides someone out there to Christ; since devoting myself to Him & His church, suffering has a meaning, death is not a threat, I'm much more at peace with the world, and much more able to see things I should do that would bring me joy & help out the people I love. If you're reading this post, God's already speaking to you, and when you start opening yourself to His love, amazing things begin happening!

 

[Debp]

May any who read this come to our dear Savior....only believe. God bless!

 

[RyanB92]

Thank you so much for sharing this. Lately I have been feeling the urge to invite Jesus into my life but struggle with finding the faith to do so. I prayed the skeptics prayer last night and it has brought me so much hope of being able to bring Him into my life. I'm very excited to see if he will show himself to me and help me to find the faith to get to know Him and Jesus.

 

[Unofficial Reverand Alex]

Thank you so much for sharing this. Lately I have been feeling the urge to invite Jesus into my life but struggle with finding the faith to do so. I prayed the skeptics prayer last night and it has brought me so much hope of being able to bring Him into my life. I'm very excited to see if he will show himself to me and help me to find the faith to get to know Him and Jesus.

May God bless your quest! He doesn't give us a single longing without a reason.

Please continue posting things you want, things you struggle with, anything where us Internet people can help you out.

May God bless us all!

 

[Corinthi]

Thank you for this, my faith is weak, I have always had to trust and belue e in me and that has failed me.
I know JC is real, real, real, always been j interested in God, good, bad.

Please pray he delivers me put if hell. I know he cares and loves me.

 

[Unofficial Reverand Alex]

Thank you for this, my faith is weak, I have always had to trust and belue e in me and that has failed me.
I know JC is real, real, real, always been j interested in God, good, bad.

Please pray he delivers me put if hell. I know he cares and loves me.

Thank you so much for sharing this. Lately I have been feeling the urge to invite Jesus into my life but struggle with finding the faith to do so. I prayed the skeptics prayer last night and it has brought me so much hope of being able to bring Him into my life. I'm very excited to see if he will show himself to me and help me to find the faith to get to know Him and Jesus.

This may be a blessing for you: Here's an article that describes the incredible mercy of Jesus. It's a very good read, and focuses on 1 particular devotion: The 3:00 Prayer (explained in more detail in the article).

Divine Mercy in Action - 3 O'Clock Prayer

From the article: "The Passion of Jesus teaches us what true mercy is. How can we grow in love of God if we don’t trust Him? And if we don’t understand the depth of His mercy, we may never truly trust Him and therefore never truly love Him. We will be forever standing afar from Jesus, fearful and distrusting. But Jesus understands the reasons why we behave like this. We are viewing Him through our human experience where doubt, fear and an unwillingness to forgive, condition our everyday lives. We refuse to believe that God is as good, as merciful and as loving as He says He is and as He has proven He is. It is for this reason that the 3 O’Clock Holy hour is so important, for it is only through meditation on the Passion of Jesus that we, in our own way, will begin to understand how incomprehensible and infinite His mercy is and also believe that He has forgiven us. Only then can we believe in His Goodness and only then will we feel in our souls His love and mercy for each and every one of us, regardless of our past sins."

I do sincerely hope this helps, and on behalf of all Christians, I'd like to extend out an invitation to come to one of our churches this weekend! Start exploring, seeing what all's out there, praying for guidance, and God willing, you'll find a home in one of these faith communities. Ask questions, ponder answers, and enjoy the process!

May God bless us all, especially those of you brave enough to throw yourself out into the unknowns of our beautiful faith! It can be weird, but trust me, it's worth it!

 

[Unofficial Reverand Alex]

I felt compelled to share an incredible book I found a few months ago, after being referenced in my Philosophy of Religion class. It's called Cold Case Christianity; a cold-case detective (police officer who tries to solve decades-old crimes), self-described as an angry atheist, decides to look at Christianity the same way he looks at his homicide cases. He collects the evidence, examines the eyewitness testimonies (the Gospels), removes personal bias, and details all sorts of steps necessary to examining & determining the authenticity of an event based on ancient eyewitness testimonies -- and finds Christianity so compelling that he converts!

Cold Case Christianity examines a lot of the questions that people raised Christian tend not to have good answers for; How do we know the Gospels are accurate? How do we know Jesus really rose from the dead? Were the Apostles lying?

J. Warner Wallace is the author, and you can find the book for pretty cheap on Amazon. Please do take the time to read it; I think you'll be pleasantly surprised when you realize that faith really does line up with reason!

May God bless us all, through all that we read & all that we are; have peace & pray!

 

[Unofficial Reverand Alex]

This was in my daily e-mail of quotes from the Diary of St. Faustina (Divine Mercy in my Soul). I've also attached a link to a wonderful website devoted to Divine Mercy, where you can learn so much about the infinite, incomprehensible merciful love of God. Please read & let your heart be changed by the loving Savior we're so blessed to call our own.

(Jesus speaks to Saint Maria Faustina)
Today the Lord said to me, "I have opened My Heart as a living fountain of mercy. Let all souls draw life from it. Let them approach this sea of mercy with great trust. Sinners will attain justification, and the just will be confirmed in good. Whoever places his trust in My mercy will be filled with My divine peace at the hour of death".

(Diary 1520)

Home Page

On behalf of all Christians, I'd like to again welcome you into the loving heart of Jesus Christ. May God bless us all with understanding for all our questions; have peace & pray as best as you know how! Know that our prayers are with you as you begin to discover Christ's blessings!

 

[Unofficial Reverand Alex]

The following videos are from real people who explain from their own experience how no one's too far from God's reach; it's incredible, and I want you to experience it in your own life, too. Remember that Saul of Tarsus was "chief among sinners", and God made him the greatest evangelizer in Church history.

Here's the most powerful testimony I've ever heard:

Here's another one that might resonate better with women who think they're too far gone:

 

[Unofficial Reverand Alex]

Hello again! I want to mention another paragraph from Divine Mercy in My Soul (better known as the Diary of St. Faustina). I'm on a daily e-mail with paragraphs from the Diary, and I just got this one; sometimes, I just feel like something I find can help people on this thread, so please pray for good things to come from what I (and everyone!) shares here.

(Jesus speaks to St. Faustina)
"When a soul sees and realises the gravity of it sins, when the whole abyss of the misery into which it immersed itself is displayed before its eyes, let it not despair, but with trust let it throw itself into the arms of My mercy, as a child into the arms of its beloved mother. These souls have a right of priority to My compassionate Heart, they have first access to My mercy".

(Diary 1541)

It's amazing how deep into the Bible that mercy shows itself; even with the "mean" Old Testament God, He continually reveals Himself to His people as a lover, always coming when they call upon Him, bailing them (us) out of all the messes we get ourselves into.

May God bless us all with trust in His mercy!

 

[Unofficial Reverand Alex]

If you're trying to read the Bible & find it confusing (as so many do) (others just say they don't), Bill O'Reilly & Martin DuGard wrote a fantastic book called Killing Jesus. It tells much of the Gospels in an exciting way, describing the historical backdrop of the Roman & Jewish power systems, along with added detail about the scenery. I don't think it should be used as a replacement to the Bible Gospels, but it's certainly a great resource to present the Jesus story in a more exciting & dramatic way, and reading the Gospels after reading Killing Jesus, I understand a lot more about it now.

And if Amazon is your route for buying the book, make sure to use Amazon Smile; it donates money to a charity of your choice, with no extra cost to you.

 

[Unofficial Reverand Alex]

Sometimes beauty is all it takes to bring someone to the faith; How Beauty Led to My Radical Reversion

 

[Dick McCissel]

Jesus is the Light!!