Greetings from the rolling hills of England!

[Declan Graves]

Greetings everybody,

It's lovely to meet you.

My name is Declan. I was an atheist for most of my life (until late 2018). God gave me a sign when I needed it the most and I haven't looked back since then. I have recognised that it is much harder being a Christian than originally thought - both personally and socially. As a young Christian, 17 years old, it's hard not to be submerged in the sinful cultures of college and angsty friendships. I have lost many friends due to my faith, but I'm willing to put God above all, even if it leads to me being lonely from time to time.

I quite enjoy politics. Although, living in the United Kingdom, I think I've heard about enough politics to last me many life times... Brexit this, National Health Service that. These are very divisive times, which is why it is critical to look up to the Lord for guidance. I also enjoy reading and discussing philosophy. I have one dog, Milo; very grey and old. He's lovely though. I also have a rather young black and white cat called Pixie. I love her to pieces. She's gotten me through some rather tough times. Very therapeutic.

Right now I'm just re-doing my GCSEs in college, but this September I am hoping to study politics, religious studies and law.

I hope I can engage meaningfully here and form some lasting bonds with you all!

 

[bèlla]

Welcome to CF Declan! I hope your time is edifying.

You may enjoy connecting with your peers in the Teen and College forums. Or delving into Politics instead.

~Bella

 

[Chesterton]

Welcome, Declan!

 

[SkyWriting]

My name is Declan. I was an atheist for most of my life (until late 2018). God gave me a sign when I needed it the most and I haven't looked back since then. I have recognised that it is much harder being a Christian than originally thought - both personally and socially. As a young Christian, 17 years old, it's hard not to be submerged in the sinful cultures of college and angsty friendships. I have lost many friends due to my faith, but I'm willing to put God above all, even if it leads to me being lonely from time to time.

Consider that Jesus made some enemies, but he attracted a lot of people to make up for the ones that He repelled. So perhaps your demeanor is not what you want it to be?

 

[maintenance man]

Welcome to the forums! Thanks for sharing your story. I'm glad you found us.

 

[Aussie Pete]

Greetings everybody,

It's lovely to meet you.

My name is Declan. I was an atheist for most of my life (until late 2018). God gave me a sign when I needed it the most and I haven't looked back since then. I have recognised that it is much harder being a Christian than originally thought - both personally and socially. As a young Christian, 17 years old, it's hard not to be submerged in the sinful cultures of college and angsty friendships. I have lost many friends due to my faith, but I'm willing to put God above all, even if it leads to me being lonely from time to time.

I quite enjoy politics. Although, living in the United Kingdom, I think I've heard about enough politics to last me many life times... Brexit this, National Health Service that. These are very divisive times, which is why it is critical to look up to the Lord for guidance. I also enjoy reading and discussing philosophy. I have one dog, Milo; very grey and old. He's lovely though. I also have a rather young black and white cat called Pixie. I love her to pieces. She's gotten me through some rather tough times. Very therapeutic.

Right now I'm just re-doing my GCSEs in college, but this September I am hoping to study politics, religious studies and law.

I hope I can engage meaningfully here and form some lasting bonds with you all!

Welcome Declan. I lived near the Cotswalds for a time and it was the best year of my childhood. I went back briefly in 2016; it's still a beautiful place.

You will find that the Christian life is not just difficult, it is impossible - for us. But we do not have to try to be Christian. We have the Lord Jesus to be our life, if we will allow Him to. We do pay a price for making a stand for Christ, but it is more than worth it. What the world calls friendship is shallow and selfish. Lord Jesus has befriended you. You can choose to make Him your friend. A friend of the Creator of the universe? Yes. It is almost too good to believe, but it is true.

 

[Unofficial Reverand Alex]

These are very divisive times, which is why it is critical to look up to the Lord for guidance

The same is true in America, and from what I can glean from the international media, most of the world is in divisive times. We need a unifier like an always-present, all-loving God to get us through.

What's a GCSE?

And loneliness can certainly come with the territory; some great Christians (such as Anthony of the Desert & St. Benedict) were very committed to removing all obstacles to God. Personally, I've been blessed with friends of differing religious beliefs (mainly atheists, agnostics, and Protestant Christians) who still respect mine, so I really haven't had to worry about losing friends to my faith. However, when it comes to dating I've preemptively turned down many opportunities with girls who aren't strong Catholic Christians, because as badly as I want a girlfriend, I know my faith is worth infinitely more. Glad to hear that you're doing the Christian thing well. And if you need a little bit of encouragement from St. James...

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers & sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance." --James 1
​

I accidentally memorized those verses, as I wrote them on the front of my thing that holds my papers for college. I had to keep reading that verse as I was beginning to become religious in my first semester, while God was leading me through a dramatic major change.

And finally, thanks for sharing your nice story, and we could really use a strong peaceful Christian to help us along on these forums! May God continue to bless us all!

 

[Anhelyna]

GCSE - General Certificate of Education

Exams done while at Secondary School

 

[mnorian]

Greetings everybody,

It's lovely to meet you.

My name is Declan. I was an atheist for most of my life (until late 2018). God gave me a sign when I needed it the most and I haven't looked back since then. I have recognised that it is much harder being a Christian than originally thought - both personally and socially. As a young Christian, 17 years old, it's hard not to be submerged in the sinful cultures of college and angsty friendships. I have lost many friends due to my faith, but I'm willing to put God above all, even if it leads to me being lonely from time to time.

I quite enjoy politics. Although, living in the United Kingdom, I think I've heard about enough politics to last me many life times... Brexit this, National Health Service that. These are very divisive times, which is why it is critical to look up to the Lord for guidance. I also enjoy reading and discussing philosophy. I have one dog, Milo; very grey and old. He's lovely though. I also have a rather young black and white cat called Pixie. I love her to pieces. She's gotten me through some rather tough times. Very therapeutic.

Right now I'm just re-doing my GCSEs in college, but this September I am hoping to study politics, religious studies and law.

I hope I can engage meaningfully here and form some lasting bonds with you all!

Hi Declan;
welcome to CF; May the Lord Jesus guide you here as well as in the world; and may you find friends and what ever you need from the Lord here.

I do have a question for you; do you like music--Praise & Worship music?

Well we have a new forum here at CF just for P&W music and at the top is a directory of other Christian music threads around CF; come and take a look!

Praise and Worship Music

To The

 

[Monksailor]

Welcome Declan, To the site and to the family of God. I am an atheist turned agnostic turned Christian. I was a babe in Christ back in the mid 70's, born again in '75. In my opinion, this is a much better site than that one out of London, WOR__Y. I was a regular for a few months there 5-10 yrs ago. The mods were very, very lenient and biased towards a certain group pushing particular a agenda, trolling, and just stonewalling and "team-tag" harassing people over this issue. If you are familiar with that site, rest assured this site is much more fair and unbiased as far as its mods go. As always, there will those agenda pushers but learn well and utilize this site's operating and "how to behave" and "reporting" procedures and you will do well here, I hope.

As a brother please allow me to share something it took me several years in church family to painfully realize. Maybe you are already aware but just in case. This could save you much disillusionment and discouragement as you grow in the Lord. Christians are NOT perfect and may never be till they are in heaven. When we are born again we are babes needing to grow and develop into emulating the qualities and behavior of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. All Christians are on this quest and as far as I understand God's Word we will never "arrive" at perfection till we are in heaven. That being said, as much as it is desired, needed, and designed to be by our Creator the fact is that practically NO community or even Christian community, virtual or real can deemed a safe haven. We mostly all strive to make it such but the ONLY ONE who you can trust to NEVER leave or forsake you is the Lord, the triune God. Base your security and countenance upon that fact and learn and remember what God says about the condition of the human heart and having trust in man. The ego flaunting/social pecking order, politics, ethnocentrism, and other social behaviors found outside the church and frowned upon by God in His Word are also sadly found in Christian community, but hopefully at a lesser extent, but rest assured they are there and as we are counseled in God's Word, one needs to guard their heart wherever they are.

I am wordy. I apologize. The number of posts/comments I have made would be about 100 times more if mine were the size of the average but I make fewer by number but do try to put more of myself and light unto our Lord in what I do post.

Again, WELCOME, may the Lord bless your time here.

PS: I love many British (BBC) and just UK and beyond productions including MI-5, Shetland, DCI Banks, Father Brown, Hinterland, Miss Fisher's Mysteries, and more.

 

[Red Gold]

Hello Declan!

Welcome!

 

[Deade]

Hello Declan,
welcome to CF.

I hope you'll enjoy your stay here.

 

[coffee]

Hello Declan! I'm another almost-adult from the Dark Satanic Mills of England haha. Hope you have a good time here! May I ask whereabouts in the UK?

 

[Anhelyna]

Waddya mean << Dark Satanic Mills of England >>

You really should come up to Civilisation

 

[coffee]

Waddya mean << Dark Satanic Mills of England >>

You really should come up to Civilisation

 

[Anhelyna]

Oh - hush - I was brought up with that.

You would do far better up here in a civilised country