Help me find the way.

[☦Marius☦]

Dear readers,

I hope that this letter will find someone on this planet who can help me. I feel I have lived 100 years and I am only 20 years of age. I worry that if I cannot find the answers I seek I will either lose my mind or end my life. I am not saying that for attention, only to stress the importance I place on this subject.

I am not a Christian. All my life I have only wanted one thing, to be a faithful Christian. I have prayed for faith, belief, and even death just so this fight can be over. I was raised protestant and for years struggled with guilt and addiction that kept me from fully committing myself to Christ and Christianity. When I was a young boy I would sit in my room and pray earnestly for help. But I do not believe I have ever received it. I have a skeptical doubting mind, and all my life it has kept me from the only thing I think can bring me happiness- Christ. Even knowing this I today would call myself an athiest/agnostic because it is easier. All I can do is try day to day to forget about religion and higher truths, but I simply can't. A year ago I discovered Orthodoxy and it gave me a perspective on Christ and his word in a way that for the first time made sense to me. Western logic is so complex to the point where it eliminates itself. I bought hundreds of dollars of books to try to better understand Orthodoxy, the lives of saints, the words of saints, and how Protestantism could be so far off. Yet with all of that there is still one problem: I cannot consistently believe in God. I have prayed in earnest for some shred of belief, I have screamed up at the sky, punched through walls and cried myself to sleep because those prayers are never answered. I can't live as an atheist. If there is no God then I see no point to my life. When I am an atheist all I can do is feel I am missing the truth, and when I try to be a Christian all I can think of is doubt. I'm not sure anyone understands how frustrating it is to have a mind that is like this; to never have peace. All I can do anymore is distract myself by entertainment and I am so depressed some days I just don't see the point of living. Many days I am convinced all religion is just a lie. I read Hitchens, Dawkins and others who make extremely convincing arguments. But they can't silence that voice in the back of my head. They can't destroy what I feel when I hear a Byzantine chant or see Iconography. All I want is to be part of it and believe but I truly believe I lack the ability. Please someone help me.

 

[mukk_in]

Dear readers,

I hope that this letter will find someone on this planet who can help me. I feel I have lived 100 years and I am only 20 years of age. I worry that if I cannot find the answers I seek I will either lose my mind or end my life. I am not saying that for attention, only to stress the importance I place on this subject.

I am not a Christian. All my life I have only wanted one thing, to be a faithful Christian. I have prayed for faith, belief, and even death just so this fight can be over. I was raised protestant and for years struggled with guilt and addiction that kept me from fully committing myself to Christ and Christianity. When I was a young boy I would sit in my room and pray earnestly for help. But I do not believe I have ever received it. I have a skeptical doubting mind, and all my life it has kept me from the only thing I think can bring me happiness- Christ. Even knowing this I today would call myself an athiest/agnostic because it is easier. All I can do is try day to day to forget about religion and higher truths, but I simply can't. A year ago I discovered Orthodoxy and it gave me a perspective on Christ and his word in a way that for the first time made sense to me. Western logic is so complex to the point where it eliminates itself. I bought hundreds of dollars of books to try to better understand Orthodoxy, the lives of saints, the words of saints, and how Protestantism could be so far off. Yet with all of that there is still one problem: I cannot consistently believe in God. I have prayed in earnest for some shred of belief, I have screamed up at the sky, punched through walls and cried myself to sleep because those prayers are never answered. I can't live as an atheist. If there is no God then I see no point to my life. When I am an atheist all I can do is feel I am missing the truth, and when I try to be a Christian all I can think of is doubt. I'm not sure anyone understands how frustrating it is to have a mind that is like this; to never have peace. All I can do anymore is distract myself by entertainment and I am so depressed some days I just don't see the point of living. Many days I am convinced all religion is just a lie. I read Hitchens, Dawkins and others who make extremely convincing arguments. But they can't silence that voice in the back of my head. They can't destroy what I feel when I hear a Byzantine chant or see Iconography. All I want is to be part of it and believe but I truly believe I lack the ability. Please someone help me.

"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9). Repeat that prayer with me son, and you've been saved. Welcome to the family of God. God bless .

 

[vinsight4u]

/nvm

 

[☦Marius☦]

I am not trying to be argumentative with this reply, only voice the doubts that go through my head when I read your replies. I cannot know John the Baptist existed, I cannot know any of the Bible is true. All I can believe without skepticism is what I can see right in front of me. If God created me this way then why would he not give me the evidence necessary to believe. I attended 4 years of college level Bible study courses in High School and attended a Bible institute afterwards only to drop out afterwards. A rainbow had a scientific explanation, varying languages have explanations if you believe in migration of cultures. As for prophecy who is to say. Some people claim the Bible wasn't written until the Babylonian exile and that the Disciples added in fulfillment of prophecies when they wrote the Gospels. Is there anything that can prove the existence of God outside of the Bible that cannot be explained by science? You ask me to believe that he raised from the dead when I question the very existence of God himself which I mentioned in my original post. How could I achieve salvation without belief? I could not. I want the belief. I think it is difficult for those who do believe to understand the mind of one who finds it near impossible if not impossible to believe and how frustrating that is.

 

[Cturtle]

Dear readers,

I hope that this letter will find someone on this planet who can help me. I feel I have lived 100 years and I am only 20 years of age. I worry that if I cannot find the answers I seek I will either lose my mind or end my life. I am not saying that for attention, only to stress the importance I place on this subject.

I am not a Christian. All my life I have only wanted one thing, to be a faithful Christian. I have prayed for faith, belief, and even death just so this fight can be over. I was raised protestant and for years struggled with guilt and addiction that kept me from fully committing myself to Christ and Christianity. When I was a young boy I would sit in my room and pray earnestly for help. But I do not believe I have ever received it. I have a skeptical doubting mind, and all my life it has kept me from the only thing I think can bring me happiness- Christ. Even knowing this I today would call myself an athiest/agnostic because it is easier. All I can do is try day to day to forget about religion and higher truths, but I simply can't. A year ago I discovered Orthodoxy and it gave me a perspective on Christ and his word in a way that for the first time made sense to me. Western logic is so complex to the point where it eliminates itself. I bought hundreds of dollars of books to try to better understand Orthodoxy, the lives of saints, the words of saints, and how Protestantism could be so far off. Yet with all of that there is still one problem: I cannot consistently believe in God. I have prayed in earnest for some shred of belief, I have screamed up at the sky, punched through walls and cried myself to sleep because those prayers are never answered. I can't live as an atheist. If there is no God then I see no point to my life. When I am an atheist all I can do is feel I am missing the truth, and when I try to be a Christian all I can think of is doubt. I'm not sure anyone understands how frustrating it is to have a mind that is like this; to never have peace. All I can do anymore is distract myself by entertainment and I am so depressed some days I just don't see the point of living. Many days I am convinced all religion is just a lie. I read Hitchens, Dawkins and others who make extremely convincing arguments. But they can't silence that voice in the back of my head. They can't destroy what I feel when I hear a Byzantine chant or see Iconography. All I want is to be part of it and believe but I truly believe I lack the ability. Please someone help me.

Father, we bind the strongman from this young man's mind, anything that keeps him from believing, receiving, and accepting You. We thank You for this young man and ask that You supernaturally reach down and wrap Your loving arms around him. Make Yourself so very real to him. Show Him how wonderful and loving and full of grace You are. Surround him with the love, peace and joy that only comes from You. Take away all the doubt and fill him with Your love.
In Jesus name, Amen

Son, how much time do you spend reading and chewing (thinking) on the Word of God (Bible)?

In this life we have to make a choice. We have to choose to believe that God exists and that He is a rewarded or them that seek Him. We cannot put other stuff in our minds and expect to keep from doubting what He has said.

I believe that It is the Holy Spirit that continues to draw you to Himself... causing you to seek afger Him, for He does not desire that you perish. But your going to have to let go of all the other reading materials and make a final decision that nothing is going to move you off the truth of God's Word. Deuteronomy 30:19-20, says that God gives us a choice and hopes that we choose Him, so that we and our seed shall live, and we will have a long life.

The devil is the one whispering the doubts into your ear, and tempting you to seek other things over God. The depression is another spirit that you are allowing to remain in You. We have to make the choice to rejoice in our Savior and be thankful for all the good things that God gives us (for every good thing comes from God) instead of being ungrateful for what we don't have.

As the donut man puts it... your heart is like a donut, there is a hole in the middle of it that only Jesus can fill. As you have seen, with trying to fill it with other things and religions, only makes it sick and desiring of death.

Here is a passage of how God thinks of you....For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.
Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear and heed you. Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. [Deut. 4:29-30.] I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will release you from captivity.........
Jeremiah 29:11‭-‬14 AMPC

God bless You! And we will be praying for you. If you need anything or just want to talk we are only a pm away...

and remember.. God loves you just where you are right know, and anything else is a lie. You don't have to clean up to take a bath, you get clean by washing in the blood, and the water of the Word of God.

Blessings of grace and favor to you in abundance

 

[jckstraw72]

Your story reminds me of Fr. Seraphim Rose. He too sought for truth in his young life and suffered for not knowing it. He too wanted nothing in this life except to know the truth, and then once he found the Orthodox truth, he wanted nothing more than to serve that Truth. You may find his life and writings and inspiring and helpful. You can find them here: Writings of Fr. Seraphim Rose

I would especially suggest "God's Revelation to the Human Heart" and the biography "Fr. Seraphim Rose: His Life and Works."

Don't lose heart! God sees your efforts and He knows best how and when you can receive the truth into your heart. Keep praying and asking Him to make Himself known to you. May He bless you on this path!

 

[Cturtle]

If God created me this way then why would he not give me the evidence necessary to believe.

God didn't create you with doubt. He has given you everything you see to show you himself. Creation is evidence. Yes science confirms it, but God created it to be that way. God created every seed to produce after it's own kind. But in all reality... you have to choose to believe. You have to choose that God's Word is the ultimate truth, and that He does not lie. You may not be able to see John the Baptist, but you have to make the choice to believe that He existed because the Bible says so.

There are many intricate small organs in your body that you cannot see... but you believe they exist don't you? And if you didn't have them... your body would not be able to function right. You cant see your brain but you believe it exists. You accept that because you can see your skull under the skin, and feel it's hardness that it's there. Right? Do you need science to teach/ prove it to you?

Always remember that God created or gave man the wisdom for science and the words of how to explain things. But if science points to anything other than God, they have not gotten their wisdom from God, but from the enemy who is a deceiver and a counterfeiter.

 

[~Anastasia~]

I say this not as an answer, but as the beginning of a conversation.

You mention reading about Orthodoxy, hearing chant, viewing icons. Have you been able to attend a Divine Liturgy? Is there a parish near you?

And jckstraw gives a good answer, I think.


Prayers for you!

Dear readers,

I hope that this letter will find someone on this planet who can help me. I feel I have lived 100 years and I am only 20 years of age. I worry that if I cannot find the answers I seek I will either lose my mind or end my life. I am not saying that for attention, only to stress the importance I place on this subject.

I am not a Christian. All my life I have only wanted one thing, to be a faithful Christian. I have prayed for faith, belief, and even death just so this fight can be over. I was raised protestant and for years struggled with guilt and addiction that kept me from fully committing myself to Christ and Christianity. When I was a young boy I would sit in my room and pray earnestly for help. But I do not believe I have ever received it. I have a skeptical doubting mind, and all my life it has kept me from the only thing I think can bring me happiness- Christ. Even knowing this I today would call myself an athiest/agnostic because it is easier. All I can do is try day to day to forget about religion and higher truths, but I simply can't. A year ago I discovered Orthodoxy and it gave me a perspective on Christ and his word in a way that for the first time made sense to me. Western logic is so complex to the point where it eliminates itself. I bought hundreds of dollars of books to try to better understand Orthodoxy, the lives of saints, the words of saints, and how Protestantism could be so far off. Yet with all of that there is still one problem: I cannot consistently believe in God. I have prayed in earnest for some shred of belief, I have screamed up at the sky, punched through walls and cried myself to sleep because those prayers are never answered. I can't live as an atheist. If there is no God then I see no point to my life. When I am an atheist all I can do is feel I am missing the truth, and when I try to be a Christian all I can think of is doubt. I'm not sure anyone understands how frustrating it is to have a mind that is like this; to never have peace. All I can do anymore is distract myself by entertainment and I am so depressed some days I just don't see the point of living. Many days I am convinced all religion is just a lie. I read Hitchens, Dawkins and others who make extremely convincing arguments. But they can't silence that voice in the back of my head. They can't destroy what I feel when I hear a Byzantine chant or see Iconography. All I want is to be part of it and believe but I truly believe I lack the ability. Please someone help me.

 

[Dave G.]

In your mind You are disproving God through the very science that He created. You are calling out to God through a very proof that he exists when you called out to or through the sky. God is beyond science, languages, far beyond the things you feel prove He doesn't exist. Lets Give Him more credit than that. Yet He is also very personal. You find Him through faith, stop trying to prove He exists and with a little piece of faith come to Him, take that leap.. You don't need much faith but you must have a spec of it to make that choice to begin with. You have nothing to lose, you already have hit bottom.

If you pray just to God in general you aren't really channeling your thoughts or prayer. It takes the second person of the trinity, Jesus Christ. He is who you come to in prayer, often in the exact situation you are in. He is the conduit to the Father and as soon as you take that spec of faith that actually you are displaying to us here today, and pray to Jesus in your broken down state, that you need Him, tell Him what you told us that you feel you can't go on like this, so you are turning to Him. The father will send in the Holy Spirit. Through the spiritual ministering of the Holy Spirit the scriptures come alive. If you need experiential proof, over time it will be provided but not if you never accept Jesus, not if you never turn to him in prayer. Come to Jesus today with just a tiny bit of faith. He knows you are weak in faith ( believing in God happens through faith), and right now that doesn't matter. Many many people have come before you with just that little faith, then made strong over time.

 

[ArmyMatt]

Lord have mercy!

for one, I would not feel so bad as to doubt. the very fact you think something is missing is a good sign. remember there is s blessed doubt that leads to Faith, like St Thomas. what I would do, aside from what jckstraw said, is to check out your closest Orthodox Church for a service. you are not alone in this struggle!

I suggest you read Mountain of Silence. it's a book about a skeptic who comes to the Orthodox Faith.

 

[RC1970]

Dear readers,

I hope that this letter will find someone on this planet who can help me. I feel I have lived 100 years and I am only 20 years of age. I worry that if I cannot find the answers I seek I will either lose my mind or end my life. I am not saying that for attention, only to stress the importance I place on this subject.

I am not a Christian. All my life I have only wanted one thing, to be a faithful Christian. I have prayed for faith, belief, and even death just so this fight can be over. I was raised protestant and for years struggled with guilt and addiction that kept me from fully committing myself to Christ and Christianity. When I was a young boy I would sit in my room and pray earnestly for help. But I do not believe I have ever received it. I have a skeptical doubting mind, and all my life it has kept me from the only thing I think can bring me happiness- Christ. Even knowing this I today would call myself an athiest/agnostic because it is easier. All I can do is try day to day to forget about religion and higher truths, but I simply can't. A year ago I discovered Orthodoxy and it gave me a perspective on Christ and his word in a way that for the first time made sense to me. Western logic is so complex to the point where it eliminates itself. I bought hundreds of dollars of books to try to better understand Orthodoxy, the lives of saints, the words of saints, and how Protestantism could be so far off. Yet with all of that there is still one problem: I cannot consistently believe in God. I have prayed in earnest for some shred of belief, I have screamed up at the sky, punched through walls and cried myself to sleep because those prayers are never answered. I can't live as an atheist. If there is no God then I see no point to my life. When I am an atheist all I can do is feel I am missing the truth, and when I try to be a Christian all I can think of is doubt. I'm not sure anyone understands how frustrating it is to have a mind that is like this; to never have peace. All I can do anymore is distract myself by entertainment and I am so depressed some days I just don't see the point of living. Many days I am convinced all religion is just a lie. I read Hitchens, Dawkins and others who make extremely convincing arguments. But they can't silence that voice in the back of my head. They can't destroy what I feel when I hear a Byzantine chant or see Iconography. All I want is to be part of it and believe but I truly believe I lack the ability. Please someone help me.

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26-33).

Jesus ended His description of the cost of discipleship with a breathtaking statement: "Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:33). “Renouncing” may mean we give up something physically, but more often it means we let go emotionally so that what we possess no longer possesses us. When we become one of His, we cannot continue to belong to this world (1 John 2:15-17).

We cannot earn salvation by lifestyle change or any other good deed (Ephesians 2:8-9). But when we choose to follow Christ, we are releasing control of our lives to Him.

 

[AMM]

First I want to say that I am not an Orthodox Christian, although I am considering converting from confessional Lutheranism. If you are looking for evidence of the resurrection, there is plenty of historical evidence. Here is a presentation that a Lutheran pastor did on the topic - it has been a while since I have watched it, but I believe all Christian brethren will find it valuable (meaning, I don't believe he makes doctrinal statements, but rather deals with history alone). I would recommend watching it, not to prove that Jesus rose from the dead (for certainly, only the Holy Spirit can grant such faith), but to show you that there is historical evidence for the fact.

ArmyMatt and jckstraw both gave good answers, in my opinion.

 

[Petros2015]

You ask me to believe that he raised from the dead when I question the very existence of God himself which I mentioned in my original post. How could I achieve salvation without belief?

Let me put it to you a different way. Suppose that God did become man, and did walk among us and did do miracles and did speak Truth and did not defend Himself.

What do you think would happen?

 

[archer75]

Books are great, but seriously, check out the worship. Not kidding. Take it from another "seeker".

 

[rusmeister]

I wish non-Orthodox members realized that they are posting on the Orthodox congregational forum. I think it's great that non-Orthodox can see posts, but I think a lot of folk don't get that they are not in a general CF forum here.

 

[Dave G.]

I wish non-Orthodox members realized that they are posting on the Orthodox congregational forum. I think it's great that non-Orthodox can see posts, but I think a lot of folk don't get that they are not in a general CF forum here.

Sorry about that, you are correct, I had not noticed the forum ( ha, I was wondering why all the Orthodox answers LOL)!
Well my view stands if even a miss fit here among you. Will be more careful in the future though, I'm new here and haven't fully learned the navigation yet. But learning. Now I wonder how many times I've made that mistake prior to this time !

 

[Alegrias16]

Welcome, aluke164.
I come from a very cerebral Protestant upbringing and very recently became a member of the Orthodox Church. Reading is well and good. But *experiencing* is where it's at. You mention hearing the music and seeing the icons. That's a start. As others have recommended, I encourage you to get yourself to services -- Vespers, Vigil, Divine Liturgy. Don't think about it too much; just go and let the sights, smells, and sounds wash over you. Listen to the prayers and readings. Go regularly if you can.
Wishing you the best!

 

[~Anastasia~]

I wish non-Orthodox members realized that they are posting on the Orthodox congregational forum. I think it's great that non-Orthodox can see posts, but I think a lot of folk don't get that they are not in a general CF forum here.

Sorry about that, you are correct, I had not noticed the forum ( ha, I was wondering why all the Orthodox answers LOL)!
Well my view stands if even a miss fit here among you. Will be more careful in the future though, I'm new here and haven't fully learned the navigation yet. But learning. Now I wonder how many times I've made that mistake prior to this time !

It's an easy mistake to make, especially if you click on "new threads" which could take you anywhere.

It really is a good idea to glance at the top of the page to make sure where you're posting. Some forums have pretty strict guidelines, others less so. (Always spelled out in the Statement of Purpose stickied at the top of each forum.) We tend to be pretty forgiving here, and I didn't want to come down hard on folks because I know everyone is trying to offer help. But technically, any posts that might actually teach contrary to Orthodoxy would be against the rules (and I haven't checked to see if any did).

There are a LOT of forum areas, and it's a steep learning curve at first, but you'll almost certainly find areas you prefer and can know how to post there. But even though I always try to check, I make a mistake from time to time. Fortunately nothing disastrous.

Welcome to TAW, by the way. We do always welcome everyone in fellowship.

 

[Adstar]

Dear readers,



I am not a Christian. All my life I have only wanted one thing, to be a faithful Christian. I have prayed for faith, belief, and even death just so this fight can be over. I was raised protestant and for years struggled with guilt and addiction that kept me from fully committing myself to Christ and Christianity.

Why should guilt and an addiction stop you from believing in the one who grants sinners forgivness for their faults ??? You seem to be a perfect fit for Christianity.. Sinners need Jesus.. You are a sinner right? So you need the atonement of Jesus right? So why would you not cling onto Faith in Jesus when He is the only way you can ever be saved?

When I was a young boy I would sit in my room and pray earnestly for help. But I do not believe I have ever received it.

Help ? With what?

I have a skeptical doubting mind, and all my life it has kept me from the only thing I think can bring me happiness- Christ. Even knowing this I today would call myself an athiest/agnostic because it is easier. All I can do is try day to day to forget about religion and higher truths, but I simply can't. A year ago I discovered Orthodoxy and it gave me a perspective on Christ and his word in a way that for the first time made sense to me. Western logic is so complex to the point where it eliminates itself. I bought hundreds of dollars of books to try to better understand Orthodoxy, the lives of saints, the words of saints, and how Protestantism could be so far off. Yet with all of that there is still one problem: I cannot consistently believe in God. I have prayed in earnest for some shred of belief, I have screamed up at the sky, punched through walls and cried myself to sleep because those prayers are never answered..

What is the type of evidence you are looking for?

I can't live as an atheist. If there is no God then I see no point to my life.

Well i can agree with that point.. If i thought that God did not exist i would end my life within 24 hours.. who wants to live a pointless life in an evil faulty world and then Nothingness ....... pointless.

When I am an atheist all I can do is feel I am missing the truth

Well i can assure you you are correct to have those feeling when you are an atheist looks like the Holy Spirit is working on you my Friend..

and when I try to be a Christian all I can think of is doubt.

Do you have any specific doubts? any examples that i can chew on ?

I'm not sure anyone understands how frustrating it is to have a mind that is like this; to never have peace.

reminds me of a wise old saying::
""Know Jesus , Know Peace.
No Jesus , No Peace."

All I can do anymore is distract myself by entertainment and I am so depressed some days I just don't see the point of living. Many days I am convinced all religion is just a lie. I read Hitchens, Dawkins and others who make extremely convincing arguments. But they can't silence that voice in the back of my head.

Sounds like the Holy Spirit has a hold on you like a Rottweiler and He is not letting you go..

They can't destroy what I feel when I hear a Byzantine chant or see Iconography. All I want is to be part of it and believe but I truly believe I lack the ability. Please someone help me.

Well we do not need any chants or images ... All we need is the message of the Gospels and to believe Jesus and to trust in the Atonement He secured on the cross to save us..

 

[GregConstantine]

You are posting on an Orthodox forum. Please keep that in mind.

Why should guilt and an addiction stop you from believing in the one who grants sinners forgivness for their faults ??? You seem to be a perfect fit for Christianity.. Sinners need Jesus.. You are a sinner right? So you need the atonement of Jesus right? So why would you not cling onto Faith in Jesus when He is the only way you can ever be saved?



Help ? With what?




What is the type of evidence you are looking for?




Well i can agree with that point.. If i thought that God did not exist i would end my life within 24 hours.. who wants to live a pointless life in an evil faulty world and then Nothingness ....... pointless.




Well i can assure you you are correct to have those feeling when you are an atheist looks like the Holy Spirit is working on you my Friend..



Do you have any specific doubts? any examples that i can chew on ?



reminds me of a wise old saying::
""Know Jesus , Know Peace.
No Jesus , No Peace."




Sounds like the Holy Spirit has a hold on you like a Rottweiler and He is not letting you go..




Well we do not need any chants or images ... All we need is the message of the Gospels and to believe Jesus and to trust in the Atonement He secured on the cross to save us..