I need help from Christians well-versed in both philosophy and theology!

[com7fy8]

I myself, have devoted much time pondering the idea of ‘God brings me thoughts.’ Even the idea or concept of discernment, is just another way of saying; “God brought me thoughts, causing me to see or understand something I had not seen before.” So, if anyone is going to say that they ‘discern’ something, it is obviously done by ‘thinking.’

@Shaney77

Shaney was asking about thoughts, in communicating with God. But I understand God's communication includes other things, not only creating thinking which He wants us to have.

"And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment." (Philippians 1:9)

Love can have "senses exercised to discern both good and evil." (in Hebrews 5:14) "Senses" are not the same as thoughts. Also, there are thoughts which are not only ideas, but a person's intentions.

And this brings us to a person's character. Our character can have a lot to do with what we can accept for a thought and what we do with it. Also, our nature spiritual can have a lot to do with if we have "senses" of love or not.

So, in order to be able to communicate with God, by means of thinking or intentions or sensing correctly, we first need how He corrects and cures our nature. And this correction of character is a very important part of communicating and sharing with God

Thoughts are not changed. They come to you, and then other thoughts may be added on top of them or around them. Or, you might decide to choose between this idea or that idea, abandoning the prior ideas. But as far as being ‘influenced,’ thoughts come one upon the next, upon the next, etc.. They are not bent, or changed, or pushed out of shape. A word is a word – it does not become a different word. So, they come in a stream, as in ‘stream of consciousness.’

But what is important is which spiritual being has the thoughts flowing through us. Our character has a lot to do with which spiritual being we are tuned to. We need how God has us joined to Jesus and how God more and more fine-tunes us in His love with His flow . . . not only flow of thinking, but also including how we are submissive to Him in the ruling of His peace in our hearts > Colossians 3:15. If we first get with God in prayer in His peace, then is when we can have very reliable communication and His personal guiding > "continually" (Isaiah 58:11). God's personal guiding is communication; I mean how in us He actually moves us the way He wants us to go, and this is in coordination with all which God knows. This can save us from needing a major amount of verbal communication about what is happening around us . . . if God simply in us moves us according to all He knows

So, they are like a stream that proceeds forward, gets interrupted and then diverts off into another channel. And if you remember to think about the thing you were thinking about when the thoughts got diverted, then you are going back and picking up where you left off before you started thinking about something else.

Jesus says the Holy Spirit will bring to our remembrance things which Jesus has said. So, when the Holy Spirit has us remember things which Jesus says, this is communication with God. And if the Holy Spirit is able to have us remember things of God's word, I consider the Holy Spirit also can have us remembering other things which are good and what God wants us to remember.

So, different kinds of remembering can be communication by God.

 

[John 1720]

Hello everyone,
I came here to share a personal predicament and hopefully get some life-changing advice.

Welcome Shaney77!

Basically, I am in a sort of existential crisis. I see myself as a soft agnostic, so I am skeptical of almost everything.
To me, there are two very simple reasons that this is a rational stance:

1. expert disagreement and the
2. sheer complexity of existence.

I want to know the ultimate truth of reality, but I don't see how anyone could possibly ever know such a thing.

​

So did you find any meaning to life as a soft agnostic? Does the prospect that your soul is eternal seem like a real possibility? And if so, where does your eternal destiny lay? Is that your crisis?​

Please keep in mind that it is also rational to believe in God.​

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The main reason this is so pressing is because of the Christian hell threatening me (not to mention "hells" of other religions).

Well yes I believe it is true that hell exists; this according to Jesus as well as all monotheistic religions. We will either spend eternity in deep love with God or in our sins forever gnawing at us but God provides us with a choice and desires us to tell the world that by His love He sent His Son to save us. If we can trust in air-travel, our finances, etc we are without excuse not to seek out God and trust Him.

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  • Jhn 8:12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."
  • Jhn 8:24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.

Jesus was an historical figure and our understanding of Him is either to accept Him as Lord, or reject Him as either a lunatic or liar. Why not simply read His Words and decide for yourself?

Jesus stated that He came to die on a cross and that He would rise again

• Mat 16:21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.
• Mat 26:1 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, that He said to His disciples, "You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified."

There is much reason to believe He did exactly that.

• 1Co 15:1-6 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.

Even the enemies of Christ agree on the crucifixion and the 'rumors' of His resurrection

• Tacitus on Christ - Wikipedia

As far as His resurrection goes - the thousands of believer that came to Christ in Jerusalem would not have done so if they were able to produce a body. Even priests such as Nicodemus and others who were eye witnesses to His crucifixion did.

But yes, even Jesus spoke of hell so I don't understand how a Christian can claim there is no place that exists unless they call Jesus a liar.
Allusions to sin, death and sin's impact on our eternal soul
Jesus Warns of Offenses Mark 9:42-48
(Matt. 18:6–9; Luke 17:1, 2 )

42 “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— 44 where
‘Their worm does not die
And the fire is not quenched.’
45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— 46 where
‘Their worm does not die
And the fire is not quenched.’
47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire— 48 where
‘Their worm does not die
And the fire is not quenched.

Obviously Jesus is not telling us to amputate our appendages but stressing just how bad our sin is with respect to the corruption of our eternal soul. We need to rid ourselves of sin and the curse of sin and there is only one Way to do that.

Psa 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Isa 43:25 “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake;
And I will not remember your sins.
1Jo 2:1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
1Jo 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Luke 16:22-31 A parable of​

22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.​

24 “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’
27 “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ 29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ ”

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Christianity says that if you don't "believe," you perish. How on earth can someone magically choose to believe? Sure, I can go to church, talk with believers, pray, and "live the life," but rather than this bringing about evidence of something real, how is this not merely facilitating psychological manipulated belief? I could do the same with any other religion and end up with some sort of belief in it as well. It'd be due to processes such as wish fulfillment and confirmation bias.

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It's a matter of being joined to Christ. We first believe that He is so He claims to be and did what He claimed to have done, which is atone for our sin. Like a soldier whose friend covered the grenade to save Him it's impossible not to love his sacrifice. He becomes our cherished love and we become His.​

• Jhn 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.

So repenting of our sins and believing and trusting in Him we are in Christ.

• Jhn 4:14 “whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
• Jhn 7:38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."
• Jhn 10:7 Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
• Jhn 10:9​
  
  
  “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. ​
• Jhn 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

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No external "evidence" or type of natural theology should convince anyone of God's existence. These areas are hotly debated by elite philosophers on both sides, and no positive ground is ever made. The world is religiously ambiguous and God is essentially "hidden," per major Christian philosophers.

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It's not intellectualism that makes us Christ's own but love. That is not to say we can have a highly intellectual experience in Him but that the love of God trumps all else. God resists the proud but give grace to the humble. ​

• Mic 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God?

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This leaves us to rely on supernatural occurrences from God. I can safely say that only a supernatural occurrence will convince me of anything. Yet how can I somehow get God to grant me this? Pascal seemed to believe that if a person wasn't moral, God would hide himself from that person. I can't possibly be moral without the Holy Spirit's help (per scripture), and the Holy Spirit won't come until belief is had. There is no way to win!

In the end, I wonder if belief will always elude me. Death is scary when of the knowledge that hell might await.

We all have a choice and ample opportunity. Most of us have been skeptical at one point in our life or another. Ask God to show you He is real. That is called prayer. Like the man who was unsure Jesus could heal his son. Lord I believe but help my unbelief is a valid prayer God will honor.
Praying for truth and light in your life, Pat