How can i join a church if i can not answer these questions?

[CRfan]

I just liked your first statement. How you explained hell and heaven , we shouldn't be worried about those things yet.We should work on our relationship with God and bettering ourselves.

Bible-centered and ceremonial these too things seem to dry to me i think people translate it differently and I don’t like when people just quote things from the bible. None of my friends go to church’s. I used to go to church ,but looking back I don’t like what they where teaching us

I feel the trying to get us to speak in tongues when we are 6 years old in a separate room is borderline cultish... and the baptism with the holy spirit to me is just for show. The way I see it the trinity is just our way of understanding something as complex as God. Seeing people fall down is all **. This is what angers me about religion I don’t believe in holy artifacts or anyone is more important on this earth then anyone else the pope who ever..

Another thing extremely orthodox churches especially when looking at the Old testament our life is a lot different now. I think its okay to drink but with in reason, also how is masturbation and sex a sin? Too be honest there would be more deaths in the world if people didn’t relive them selves. I understand that its lust and it serves on in now way ,but to be honest? Show me a man who never thinks about a women ,because if this is a sin every time a man thinks about something sexual is this not against the fruits of spirit so has he not sinned?

One last thing I will forever believe in God and I will acknowledge there is a right and wrong or a Good and Evil. I believe there was a man named Jesus however what is getting me is this Sins with God and Jesus being the only way for salvation. I do not believe in Satan I believe in God. I think all men have Good and Evil in them and that we use Satan as a representation of that desire and want and urge for things that are not of the fruit of the spirit. I don’t think there is some spiritual war going on… Like God would loose or something we are basing it on human conditional experiences again. So many questions…

You have brought up a lot of issues in a couple of postings, so I will try to get to a number of them.
It sounds like you went to a charismatic or Pentecostal church before. Some of us believe the gifts are not for today like they were before the Bible was complete. Those who do believe that they are still for today should follow the orderliness of the Bible. Making kids try to speak in tongues is not Biblical. Speaking in tongues was for a sign for believers...not like a game for people to try to do it on their own.

Centering teaching on the Bible is correct since it is God's Word to us, but ceremony doesn't save anybody. Many of us are not Catholics, and we believe the Bible teaches that all true Christians are equal before God and have access to God through Jesus without a priest.

The Bible does not forbid drinking alcohol, but it does say not to get drunk. Many of us do not drink both for the sake of not becoming alcoholics ourselves, and also because we don't want those who use to be alcoholics to stumble and fall into that again. Love is what keeps some abstaining.

Sex between a husband and wife is good, and that is what it was created for. Lusting after someone who is not your spouse is against the Law of God. Jesus said to the effect that looking after a woman to lust after her (meaning not your spouse) is the same as committing adultery with her in your heart.

There is definitely a spiritual battle going on, but as someone who does not know the Lord you cannot see it. There is a real Satan (an angel who wanted power and was kicked out of Heaven taking a third of the other angels).
God will not lose the battle, and all those He saves will not lose their salvation. He will keep them to the end. Those who do not believe will be punished in Hell with Satan and his angels.

Punishment in Hell is for those who never trust Jesus...who never believe and trust in His taking punishment for sin on the cross and who do not believe He rose from the dead...and I mean they do not have saving faith in Him that is a commitment. Lots of people may say they believe, but their lives show otherwise. They have not repented from their sin. A person has to see their sin as sin before they will see their need of a Savior. If you have disobeyed one of God's commands, you are guilty of them all.

Christians are not better people to do with anything they have done. God is the One Who saves and forgives and offers life and peace with Him. Until we believed, we were also at war with God. We were enslaved to sin. As Christians, we still struggle with sin because of our fleshly bodies. The difference is God sees Christ's perfection in us, and the Spirit is working in our hearts to make us more like Jesus.

I suppose this may all seem foreign to you. Sin separates us from God. God is holy, and He must punish sin. God made a way for those who would believe to be rescued from sin and eternal death and punishment. He demonstrated love to those who were His enemies in dying and taking the punishment we deserved for our sins. God is the One Who convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment. People can't make you believe.
Going to church is mostly for Christians, but also good for those who are curious and want to hear the truth. It doesn't matter if your friends go, because you are responsible before God for yourself only and not to them.

2 Corinthians 4:3,4 say,
"And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."

The "god" of this world is the devil. All who do not believe are serving him. They cannot help but serve him, unless God opens their eyes.
Life on earth is temporary, and sin's pleasures are shallow and also temporary. There is always punishment for sin. You can even see some of the consequences here on earth. Sexual sin causes transmitted diseases and damaged relationships both now and in the future. Those are just the earthly consequences, and not the much more painful one to come.

Those who fall into and struggle with sin as believers know that they are disobeying God. They want to and try to fight, and there can be victory. There is still a battle, but Christians have peace with God through Christ. God will keep chastening and teaching them what is right, and they will be sorry and fight to do what God wants which is also what we want. We are no longer slaves to sin, but that doesn't mean we won't be battling the earthly fleshly desires until we are delivered when we die and go to Heaven and get a new body that is not corrupted.

I hope that you will go to a healthy church that teaches the truth, try reading the Bible, and if you feel something tugging at you to seek God follow it. Don't follow the impulse to shuffle this off and keep things status quo. If God is calling you, then follow Him. Take a step of faith. You will never see freedom unless you do.

 

[lostnotfallen]

Well i guess i have problems then because no one i know except for like 3 people in my life follow those rules...

I generally don't like being at work at all i want to come home drink party and sleep with women. What else am i supposed to do i work out like a mad man and i have more energy then everyone i know.

My friends that do follow Seem Sheltered boring or really annoying and extremly judgmental! Which puts me in arguments.

Where i come from its okay to sleep with women i dont see me finding anyone worth dating seriously and i dont know anyone that wouldnt have sex b4 marrarige.

basically what im telling u is i fall all the time so im completly in sin i thank God all the time , but often do i fall. Almost all women i see [wash my mouth][wash my mouth][wash my mouth][wash my mouth][wash my mouth] so how can i not judge them? Ive seen women do horrible things and i dont even like my own mother. I almost completly hate them. However i have scene a few good women. The majority just seem weak and hopless. I almost dont see how i will not go to hell then...

 

[Bible2]

lostnotfallen posted in message #22 of this thread:

Where i come from its okay to sleep with women i dont see me
finding anyone worth dating seriously and i dont know anyone that
wouldnt have sex b4 marrarige.

Greetings.

Sex before marriage falls under the sin of fornication. If one cannot
contain oneself from committing fornication, one can pray for a wife:
"if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than
to burn" (1 Corinthians 7:9). If one prays, Jesus can work a miracle
and bring a woman into one's life whom one will want to marry:
"Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall
receive" (John 16:24). "Ye have not, because ye ask not" (James 4:2).

lostnotfallen:
basically what im telling u is i fall all the time so im completly in sin

Everyone sins every day; that's why we need to pray "forgive us our
sins" (Luke 11:4) every day. But this doesn't mean that we don't
keep on trying not to sin, "For if we sin wilfully after that we have
received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more
sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and
fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries" (Hebrews
10:26-27). Instead, we keep on trying not to sin, and if we do
commit a sin when tempted we immediately repent from it and
confess it to God and ask him to forgive us: "If we confess our sins,
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). We also need to ask that God
deliver us out of temptations: "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the
godly out of temptations" (2 Peter 2:9). We also need to ask that
God help us to choose to take the way of escape that he provides
from every temptation: "There hath no temptation taken you but
such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer
you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the
temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear
it" (1 Corinthians 10:13).

We also need to get water-immersion baptized in order to crucify
our sin nature and set us free from bondage to sin: "Know ye not,
that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized
into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into
death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory
of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if
we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall
be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old
man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed
from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall
also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead
dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he
died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto
God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin,
but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:3-11).

We also need to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit (who is
usually received through the laying on of hands), so that we might
employ his power to overcome temptation: "For if ye live after the
flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds
of the body, ye shall live" (Romans 8:13). "This I say then, Walk in
the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16).
"Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? ... And when
Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them;
and they spake with tongues, and prophesied" (Acts 19:2,6). "When
they were come down, [they] prayed for them, that they might
receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of
them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then
laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost"
(Acts 8:15-17). "I indeed have baptized you with water: but he shall
baptize you with the Holy Ghost" (Mark 1:8).

We also need to learn the Bible and remember what is says, as this
will help us to overcome temptation: "Thy word have I hid in mine
heart, that I might not sin against thee" (Psalms 119:11). The Bible
spiritually is a living, active thing, which has the power to enter our
hearts, cleanse us, and make us perfect: "For the word of God is
quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and
marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart"
(Hebrews 4:12); "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me,
and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked wayin me,
and lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalms 139:23-24). "Now ye
are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you" (John
15:3); "That he might sanctify and cleanse [the church] with the
washing of water by the word" (Ephesians 5:26). "From a child thou
hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise
unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is
given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God
may be perfect" (2 Timothy 3:15-17). "Having therefore these
promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness
of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God"
(2 Corinthians 7:1).

 

[Albion]

Well i guess i have problems then because no one i know except for like 3 people in my life follow those rules...

I generally don't like being at work at all i want to come home drink party and sleep with women. What else am i supposed to do i work out like a mad man and i have more energy then everyone i know.

My friends that do follow Seem Sheltered boring or really annoying and extremly judgmental! Which puts me in arguments.

Where i come from its okay to sleep with women i dont see me finding anyone worth dating seriously and i dont know anyone that wouldnt have sex b4 marrarige.

basically what im telling u is i fall all the time so im completly in sin i thank God all the time , but often do i fall. Almost all women i see [wash my mouth][wash my mouth][wash my mouth][wash my mouth][wash my mouth] so how can i not judge them? Ive seen women do horrible things and i dont even like my own mother. I almost completly hate them. However i have scene a few good women. The majority just seem weak and hopless. I almost dont see how i will not go to hell then...

Well, it looks like the answer to your inquiry has to be something along these lines--

When you decide that the lifestyle you've described is so wrong that you're determined to do your best to avoid it...when you repent of your sins, that is, God will forgive you, and you will want to join a church. For the time being, and while your perspective seems more to be "where I come from...what else am I supposed to do?" or "other people are as bad as I am" you are still trying to argue with God that he's asking too much, won't resond fairly, etc. You say you fall, but then you justify it by shfting the responsibility to others, either by saying other people are as bad or that God isn't fair to you.

When and if you are moved by the Gospel, the 'problems' surrounding God's eternal judgment, and so on, will make more sense to you.

If you cannot see the Gospel as speaking about YOU, and if it is not YOUR guide, trusted by YOU to be right, naturally it isn't going to be made credible to you through having us arm-twist you into accepting it against your better judgment.

 

[solarwave]

-Too what purpose does hell serve God?

Hell is for those who have sinned and not accepted forgiveness. God doesn't wish anyone to go to hell and really one excludes themself from heaven rather than God send someone to hell.

-What is heaven if my loved ones and family is not there?

How do you know they wont be there? Relationship with God and many other who will become your loved ones. Its a tough and sad reality.

-Why shall i strive to join any religion if i only feel its too be good and because i fear in something so stupid as hell?

Well that shouldn't be your reason to join a religion. Christianity offers eternal life, freedom from sin, purpose, a fulfilled life and real relationship with the Almighty God.

-WHY DO RELIGIONS SEGREGATE??? Catholics,Christians , Jews ( The chosen people)

Catholics are a branch of Christianity, and the Jews are those who believe in the same God as Christianity but don't accept Jesus as Lord.

-On that note they do not believe in Christ yet they are Gods chosen?

The Jews were Gods people but now all people are.

-Even if i believe yet i treat others terribly why do i deserve salvation?

You don't, you deserve hell and so do I and all people. Christianity isn't about being a good person and working your way to heaven. Good works will never get you to heaven. You go to heaven by following Jesus and having faith in Him and asking for forgiveness. Being a good person is generally a result of this.

-We keep faith when we are in fear of our lives yet we keep doing bad things we can not accept the fact of an unconditional loving God that is why we believe GOD must have rules he must!

What??