Jesus and the cross are extremely confusing and we are abandoned

[DarkSoul999]

To summarize, Jesus was born as a human baby because he wanted to be born as one then grew up to teach wisdom and perform thousands of life changing miracles far beyond anything we could conceive of today. Then he finished it all off by taking on the combined misery and horror of the world for the salvation of sinners.

Immediately following his resurrection, his apostles dedicated their lives to spreading the message of what happened and what it means. Meanwhile, absolutely everything remained the same. Then they died and basically everything remained as awful as before. Sure there are still people spreading the message just like the apostles but there really isn't anything else going on. We are completely alone in this world and entirely left to our own devices. There are NO MIRACLES and I wouldn't even say that goodness holds much of any power whatsoever on this planet. Just think about how much effort, brilliance, talent, energy, and straight up luck it takes to heal people and rebuild your community. Now think about how incredibly easy it is for evil to get what it wants. Sure your spiritual fruits will earn you brownie points in heaven but you are still a small, insignificant, nothing of a person on this planet. You and I will never accomplish much of anything and God seems to refuse to empower us. He has zero interest in watching us defeat evil. In fact, you can find countless examples of Christians and other righteous people being totally crushed under-heel and the wicked taking total control for the vast majority of a nation's history.

So my question is: why would Jesus come into the world as he did and die as he did and then....completely abandon everyone?! I am not suggesting that he shoot down lightning bolts to blast the wicked I am suggestion that he EMPOWER the believers...but obviously he doesn't feel like doing that. Yes I realize that most of you don't feel alone or weak because you think the Holy Spirit is talking to you. That is wonderful. I feel happy for you. Beyond that there is no concrete evidence that God is even slightly interested in your time on Earth. He might be profoundly interested in where you spend eternity but this life is a completely disgusting waste of time. There is no hope that regular people will ever fight evil and win. In fact you will continuously cower before its might until you are lucky enough to breathe your last. It might seem like the good guys sometimes win but that victory is very very fleeting and the darkness swallows up what little progress they might have made.

I get the impression that most Christians are so focused on spiritual ideas and feelings that they never stop to contemplate just how utterly useless we all are when it comes to making a tangible positive impact on this planet.

Realistically speaking you will barely be able to take care of your own life and your family. Meanwhile, some psycho will gun down or bomb a hundred people effectively annihilating a thousand generations in an instant. Even the smallest mistake in life can have cataclysmic consequences and there is no possible way that you can avoid making them. Life is a joke and there are no miracles. What exactly was the point of Jesus showing up? Is life like some reality TV show where you have to solve the puzzle of faith so you get a reward (heaven) at the end of it? Is our moment to moment existence just a silly game to him?

I find that to be incredibly strange. Why would he suffer the horrors of the cross just to play some silly game with our pathetic souls? This seems purely contradictory as I'm sure you would agree...

 

[“Paisios”]

I’m sorry you see only the darkness. I will pray for you. I have seen miracles, and heard of others much later than Biblical times. I have encountered God in a personal way, and it saved my life here and now, and changed it 35 years ago, and continuing to this day. Yes there is evil in this world; yes there is pain; yes there is suffering; but in the face of it all, I have found hope. My prayer is that you also find it. May God Bless you.

 

[2PhiloVoid]

To summarize, Jesus was born as a human baby because he wanted to be born as one then grew up to teach wisdom and perform thousands of life changing miracles far beyond anything we could conceive of today. Then he finished it all off by taking on the combined misery and horror of the world for the salvation of sinners.

Immediately following his resurrection, his apostles dedicated their lives to spreading the message of what happened and what it means. Meanwhile, absolutely everything remained the same. Then they died and basically everything remained as awful as before. Sure there are still people spreading the message just like the apostles but there really isn't anything else going on. We are completely alone in this world and entirely left to our own devices. There are NO MIRACLES and I wouldn't even say that goodness holds much of any power whatsoever on this planet. Just think about how much effort, brilliance, talent, energy, and straight up luck it takes to heal people and rebuild your community. Now think about how incredibly easy it is for evil to get what it wants. Sure your spiritual fruits will earn you brownie points in heaven but you are still a small, insignificant, nothing of a person on this planet. You and I will never accomplish much of anything and God seems to refuse to empower us. He has zero interest in watching us defeat evil. In fact, you can find countless examples of Christians and other righteous people being totally crushed under-heel and the wicked taking total control for the vast majority of a nation's history.

So my question is: why would Jesus come into the world as he did and die as he did and then....completely abandon everyone?! I am not suggesting that he shoot down lightning bolts to blast the wicked I am suggestion that he EMPOWER the believers...but obviously he doesn't feel like doing that. Yes I realize that most of you don't feel alone or weak because you think the Holy Spirit is talking to you. That is wonderful. I feel happy for you. Beyond that there is no concrete evidence that God is even slightly interested in your time on Earth. He might be profoundly interested in where you spend eternity but this life is a completely disgusting waste of time. There is no hope that regular people will ever fight evil and win. In fact you will continuously cower before its might until you are lucky enough to breathe your last. It might seem like the good guys sometimes win but that victory is very very fleeting and the darkness swallows up what little progress they might have made.

I get the impression that most Christians are so focused on spiritual ideas and feelings that they never stop to contemplate just how utterly useless we all are when it comes to making a tangible positive impact on this planet.

Realistically speaking you will barely be able to take care of your own life and your family. Meanwhile, some psycho will gun down or bomb a hundred people effectively annihilating a thousand generations in an instant. Even the smallest mistake in life can have cataclysmic consequences and there is no possible way that you can avoid making them. Life is a joke and there are no miracles. What exactly was the point of Jesus showing up? Is life like some reality TV show where you have to solve the puzzle of faith so you get a reward (heaven) at the end of it? Is our moment to moment existence just a silly game to him?

I find that to be incredibly strange. Why would he suffer the horrors of the cross just to play some silly game with our pathetic souls? This seems purely contradictory as I'm sure you would agree...

I understand you're existential angst, DarkSoul999. Much of what you've said is correct. But where in the New Testament does Jesus or His Apostles say that we will (let alone should be) empowered to contravene in toto the work of Satan. Even in the book of Revelation, what do we see happening to "the saints" most of the time? From my understanding of Scripture, Jesus didn't come to affect a social revolution. Rather, He came to open the Way to the Father above for those who dare to listen.

Peace,
2PhiloVoid

 

[Grace2022]

You have misunderstood so much. I suggest you read the Bible again! Also join a housegroup to discuss properly about christianity.

When Jesus died for us his disciples ran and hid. Because they were normal simple humans. Then the Holy Spirit came upon them and that's when they sprang into action. They then became extraordinary and spread the good news. They each paid with their lives in terrible ways. Also lots of people saw the risen Lord. Jesus Christ and Father God and the Holy Spirit are real. They are right here with us. If you are willing to hear and see.
You need to go educate yourself about Jesus and pray to Him for mercy and salvation. Try watching the film The Shack, or read the book. It answers the big questions.

We most certainly are not alone and evil does not get away with anything. Every single act good or evil will be judged and accounted for by Christ himself soon enough.

 

[DarkSoul999]

I understand you're existential angst, DarkSoul999. Much of what you've said is correct. But where in the New Testament does Jesus or His Apostles say that we will (let alone should be) empowered to contravene in toto the work of Satan. Even in the book of Revelation, what do we see happening to "the saints" most of the time? From my understanding of Scripture, Jesus didn't come to affect a social revolution. Rather, He came to open the Way to the Father above for those who dare to listen.

Peace,
2PhiloVoid

So we're just supposed to sit around talking about spiritual stuff and then die?

Honestly this spiritual talk means nothing to me if I can't stop a baby from dying a slow horrible death.

 

[DarkSoul999]

You have misunderstood so much. I suggest you read the Bible again! Also join a housegroup to discuss properly about christianity.

When Jesus died for us his disciples ran and hid. Because they were normal simple humans. Then the Holy Spirit came upon them and that's when they sprang into action. They then became extraordinary and spread the good news. They each paid with their lives in terrible ways. Also lots of people saw the risen Lord. Jesus Christ and Father God and the Holy Spirit are real. They are right here with us. If you are willing to hear and see.
You need to go educate yourself about Jesus and pray to Him for mercy and salvation. Try watching the film The Shack, or read the book. It answers the big questions.

We most certainly are not alone and evil does not get away with anything. Every single act good or evil will be judged and accounted for by Christ himself soon enough.

I don't understand why you believe that God is here with us. He was here with us for about 30 years and now he is detached and back up in the nebulous cloud.

I can't find any evidence that God is impacting lives in a tangible way. None. I have never found any

 

[Basil the Great]

I would not say that there are no miracles, but unlike many here, I acknowledge that they are very rare. It would appear that God has placed us in a world of pain and suffering, trials and tribulations. All one has to do is too look at the absolute horrors of WW II to realize that God allows many terrible things to happen in this world. So what is the purpose of this life? I recall the story of a retired cop who became a Catholic priest. They interviewed him on television. He stated that the purpose of this life is to determine what happens to us in the next life. I believe that he pretty much summed it up. There are many things that we cannot control, but we do have a choice as to how we will react to evil and to the trials of this world. We are all called upon to Love God and to love our neighbor, regardless of what happens to us or to our loved ones.

 

[2PhiloVoid]

So we're just supposed to sit around talking about spiritual stuff and then die?

Good comment.

Well....no. We're supposed to encourage and support each other while traveling the "Narrow Road" together, the narrow road that Jesus said is tough to walk on. We're still moving. We're still doing something positive in the world. It's just that we need to be sober as to what our individual lives 'mean' in the midst of the overall historical dynamic that God allows and works through. Jesus said it would be very difficult. Should we throw our hands in the air because that is exactly what we find the world to be--a troublesome place for those who decide to follow Christ as best they can?

 

[DarkSoul999]

I would not say that there are no miracles, but unlike many here, I acknowledge that they are very rare. It would appear that God has placed us in a world of pain and suffering, trials and tribulations. All one has to do is too look at the absolute horrors of WW II to realize that God allows many terrible things to happen in this world. So what is the purpose of this life? I recall the story of a retired cop who became a Catholic priest. They interviewed him on television. He stated that the purpose of this life is to determine what happens to us in the next life.

So life is indeed a very dark and brutal reality TV show? Or should I say Thunder-Dome? We're just supposed to shred any ounce of affection and longing and just focus on winning heaven points? uhhhhh I'll do it but don't expect me to be happy about it...

I believe that he pretty much summed it up. There are many things that we cannot control, but we do have a choice as to how we will react to evil and to the trials of this world. We are all called upon to Love God and to love our neighbor, regardless of what happens to us or to our loved ones.

I don't understand what you mean by "react". There are only three choices when faced with evil: join the evil, furiously fight it, or be apathetic. What does it mean to Love? Just walk around and keep taking it until you croak? I cannot love someone with all my soul and at the same time tolerate miserable failure. Nope! Not possible. If Love means mushy feelings and fulfilling the bare minimum responsibilities and tasks then where is the glory of God?

 

[Basil the Great]

Love means helping others, especially the less fortunate and those that are not our loved ones. It is not just walking around and taking life's troubles until we die. No, real love is helping out at a food pantry or homeless shelter or volunteering at a local hospital and giving what money we can to help the poor and those suffering from earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and drought. Love is not just mushy feelings, it is what we do that really proves our love.

Is life a very dark and brutal reality tv show? Sometimes life can be very dark and very brutal This is certainly true for those that suffer extraordinary hardships. However, life can also be wonderful. Things like the birth of a child or finding the love of one's life or finding real peace within from knowing that God is real and that we will live again in the next life, all help to make this life a worthwhile place. Do we try and live a good life just to win points in Heaven? No, though admittedly that is obviously a factor. We try and live a good life because it is the right thing to do, it is what God wants us to do and even if one does not believe in God, we are all part of the same human family and helping others does a little something to improve the world as a whole.

As to evil, we certainly do not want to join it. We want to resist it as best we can by the forces of love and forgiveness, whenever such is a reasonable solution. Sometimes, in the worst cases, it may take violence to fight evil, but that should be an absolute last resort. Too many Christians accept war too quickly as a solution. A prime example is the Iraq War. The U.S. was not directly threatened and yet we invaded Iraq and a majority of U.S. Christians supported the war. How very sad...

 

[AlexDTX]

Meanwhile, absolutely everything remained the same.

Everything changed! Study world history. The barbarity of the word was mitigated by the Gospel.

He did not abandon anyone. He sent his Holy Spirit into the hearts of those who believed him. The Holy Spirit, in all practical matters, is Jesus. The power of God is still working through believers all over the world.

It seems to me that you do not have the new birth, which is the Gospel.

Of course there is still evil in the world, and it will continue until Jesus returns. Even then, after peace has been on Earth for a thousand years, Satan, who was bound will be released and vast multitudes will follow him - briefly, since Jesus will stop it immediately.

Anyone in their sunset years will tell you that life is very brief. What seems like a long time is only a moment compared to the everlasting life we that trust in Christ have now. That is, even though our bodies will die, we still live, and will have new bodies later that will never die.

Goodness is greater than evil because God is good. Even if all of the universe was evil, goodness is still greater because God is greater than the universe. The evil of today is only smudges and smears on the glorious creation of our Lord.

 

[Silmarien]

So my question is: why would Jesus come into the world as he did and die as he did and then....completely abandon everyone?! I am not suggesting that he shoot down lightning bolts to blast the wicked I am suggestion that he EMPOWER the believers...but obviously he doesn't feel like doing that.

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. certainly seemed empowered, as did Dietrich Bonhoeffer and many others who did find the strength to fight to make the world a little bit better.

That said, I suspect that the purpose of this world is largely purgative. I don't expect perfection.

 

[Johnny4ChristJesus]

To summarize, Jesus was born as a human baby because he wanted to be born as one then grew up to teach wisdom and perform thousands of life changing miracles far beyond anything we could conceive of today. Then he finished it all off by taking on the combined misery and horror of the world for the salvation of sinners.

Immediately following his resurrection, his apostles dedicated their lives to spreading the message of what happened and what it means. Meanwhile, absolutely everything remained the same. Then they died and basically everything remained as awful as before. Sure there are still people spreading the message just like the apostles but there really isn't anything else going on. We are completely alone in this world and entirely left to our own devices. There are NO MIRACLES and I wouldn't even say that goodness holds much of any power whatsoever on this planet. Just think about how much effort, brilliance, talent, energy, and straight up luck it takes to heal people and rebuild your community. Now think about how incredibly easy it is for evil to get what it wants. Sure your spiritual fruits will earn you brownie points in heaven but you are still a small, insignificant, nothing of a person on this planet. You and I will never accomplish much of anything and God seems to refuse to empower us. He has zero interest in watching us defeat evil. In fact, you can find countless examples of Christians and other righteous people being totally crushed under-heel and the wicked taking total control for the vast majority of a nation's history.

So my question is: why would Jesus come into the world as he did and die as he did and then....completely abandon everyone?! I am not suggesting that he shoot down lightning bolts to blast the wicked I am suggestion that he EMPOWER the believers...but obviously he doesn't feel like doing that. Yes I realize that most of you don't feel alone or weak because you think the Holy Spirit is talking to you. That is wonderful. I feel happy for you. Beyond that there is no concrete evidence that God is even slightly interested in your time on Earth. He might be profoundly interested in where you spend eternity but this life is a completely disgusting waste of time. There is no hope that regular people will ever fight evil and win. In fact you will continuously cower before its might until you are lucky enough to breathe your last. It might seem like the good guys sometimes win but that victory is very very fleeting and the darkness swallows up what little progress they might have made.

I get the impression that most Christians are so focused on spiritual ideas and feelings that they never stop to contemplate just how utterly useless we all are when it comes to making a tangible positive impact on this planet.

Realistically speaking you will barely be able to take care of your own life and your family. Meanwhile, some psycho will gun down or bomb a hundred people effectively annihilating a thousand generations in an instant. Even the smallest mistake in life can have cataclysmic consequences and there is no possible way that you can avoid making them. Life is a joke and there are no miracles. What exactly was the point of Jesus showing up? Is life like some reality TV show where you have to solve the puzzle of faith so you get a reward (heaven) at the end of it? Is our moment to moment existence just a silly game to him?

I find that to be incredibly strange. Why would he suffer the horrors of the cross just to play some silly game with our pathetic souls? This seems purely contradictory as I'm sure you would agree...

Did you ever see the story about Billy Graham and the one who initially was a bigger draw than him? That person turned away from God when he started focusing on the darkness in the world and not the promise.

Imagine if Jesus had done that? He came to give us life and look what we did to Him. He had every right to say we weren't worth it. He even said He could have been rescued. Instead, He chose to endure torturous murder for us. Then, look at Paul. Jesus told Ananias that He was going to show Paul how much he must suffer for His Name. No matter what Paul went through, he never questioned God. And, Paul and Luke account a lot of torturous living Paul had to endure. Why? Because he was doing what God called him to do. Yet, Paul never focused on the darkness that he had to endure. As a result, that guy sang when in a prison in chains after a good whipping.

Why do you think many people today have so little faith relative to those we read of in the Bible? Is it because faith doesn't cost most of us anything, the way it used to? Or is it because of the way faith is "sold" and the lack of seeing those false promises fulfilled? Jesus questioned if He would find faith when He returns. People still see miracles today. I've been blessed to lay hands on sick people and watched them get healed before my eyes in stores like walmart. That doesn't happen because of me, I guarantee that. It happens because of what Jesus Christ did. But, many in the church are taught as I was taught for a long time that those kinds of things don't happen today. Our lack of "defending the faith" has led to a multitude of messages about what true faith looks like today. It is sad.

I look at what Jesus described about the time of His return and I look at the book of Revelation. It certainly seems like things get worse, not better, as the world progresses toward its God-ordained end. 2 Pet 3:5-7 compares the flood to the coming fire. Revelation talks about a new heaven and a new earth where there is no more sin, no more sorrow, no more suffering, no more death, no more tears. We can either look forward to the fulfillment of that promise or we can bury ourselves in what we don't see now.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

So we're just supposed to sit around talking about spiritual stuff and then die?

Honestly this spiritual talk means nothing to me if I can't stop a baby from dying a slow horrible death.

The pain is real.
The anguish shared by multitudes.
The death is brought by the enemy through those you were told to trust.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

What does it mean to Love?

Few know.
It is a choice of the will, NOT an emotion nor mushy feelings nor feelings at all.

 

[drjean]

To summarize, Jesus was born as a human baby because he wanted to be born as one then grew up to teach wisdom and perform thousands of life changing miracles far beyond anything we could conceive of today. Then he finished it all off by taking on the combined misery and horror of the world for the salvation of sinners.

Immediately following his resurrection, his apostles dedicated their lives to spreading the message of what happened and what it means.

---

So my question is: why would Jesus come into the world as he did and die as he did and then....completely abandon everyone?!
---
Is our moment to moment existence just a silly game to him?
---
I find that to be incredibly strange. Why would he suffer the horrors of the cross just to play some silly game with our pathetic souls? This seems purely contradictory as I'm sure you would agree...

I have removed some of your OP for clarification on my reply...hope that's okay.

To be more clear, The Son of God came down and was born as a human (yet not of a human father, but of God the Father) so He could live sinless and be the ultimate sinless sacrifice for all human-kind. There is a price to pay for sin, which we all inherited through the sin from the garden of Eden.

Everything changed the day Jesus resurrected. Man was no longer left in his sin, awaiting a Savior, but now after accepting Jesus' payment on the cross, man not only had forgiveness of sin but the indwelling of the Holy Spirit for empowerment. There is much for to live!

God is not playing any games. Other entities do play games but I won't go into that here.
Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice so that everyone who believes can gain eternal life when this 'miserable' life is over. No games: either you accept or you don't. God doesn't make anyone go to heaven who doesn't want to go!

HOWEVER with Jesus, with the Holy Spirit in your heart and God the Father to go to, we can live wonderful lives through the peace that passes all understanding. We are able to learn to be content no matter what goes on in the world, what occurs in our lives, because only Jesus matters! We can have assurance of life with God in heaven once we are gone from here.

I understand your despair though. God's Word tells us that you, as a natural man, cannot understand these things, that you can't receive them till you receive Jesus because they are spiritually discerned. I didn't understand either, before accepting Christ.

So therein lies your problem, but also your solution! Stick with just Whom Jesus truly IS and once you realize this Truth, and accept His payment on the cross, and His love (and the Father's love) for you THEN the Holy Spirit will guide you into All Truth, and give you blessings for life to be enjoyed. You can ask God all these questions, and listen for the answer.

It's not enough to just believe that Jesus came and died---the devil also believes... accept Him and ask Him to show you about all those things you have questions.


PS I live with daily miracles. There are no lucky events, no coincidences, it's all God. And yes, he blesses non believers too at times---waiting for them to realize He is there.

 

[DarkSoul999]

Everything changed! Study world history. The barbarity of the word was mitigated by the Gospel.

I don't understand what you are looking at that lead you to this conclusion. People were incredibly cruel in the last century. The cycle will likely repeat itself very soon. Regular people just mostly floated through life as they usually do.

He did not abandon anyone. He sent his Holy Spirit into the hearts of those who believed him. The Holy Spirit, in all practical matters, is Jesus. The power of God is still working through believers all over the world.

It seems to me that you do not have the new birth, which is the Gospel.

No kidding! I don't ever get to have a "new birth". I am worthless and should have never been born at all.

Of course there is still evil in the world, and it will continue until Jesus returns. Even then, after peace has been on Earth for a thousand years, Satan, who was bound will be released and vast multitudes will follow him - briefly, since Jesus will stop it immediately.

Anyone in their sunset years will tell you that life is very brief. What seems like a long time is only a moment compared to the everlasting life we that trust in Christ have now. That is, even though our bodies will die, we still live, and will have new bodies later that will never die.

Goodness is greater than evil because God is good. Even if all of the universe was evil, goodness is still greater because God is greater than the universe. The evil of today is only smudges and smears on the glorious creation of our Lord.

Of course he is powerful. God will be fine. Many of us will not.

 

[DarkSoul999]

Love means helping others, especially the less fortunate and those that are not our loved ones. It is not just walking around and taking life's troubles until we die. No, real love is helping out at a food pantry or homeless shelter or volunteering at a local hospital and giving what money we can to help the poor and those suffering from earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and drought. Love is not just mushy feelings, it is what we do that really proves our love.

When we feed the homeless we keep them alive for one more day but they will still be poor tomorrow. We don't solve the problem. We don't do anything of lasting value. A small number of people make large strides towards bettering the world but it all pales in comparison to the weight of human sin.

Why is love so weak?

Is life a very dark and brutal reality tv show? Sometimes life can be very dark and very brutal This is certainly true for those that suffer extraordinary hardships. However, life can also be wonderful. Things like the birth of a child or finding the love of one's life or finding real peace within from knowing that God is real and that we will live again in the next life, all help to make this life a worthwhile place. Do we try and live a good life just to win points in Heaven? No, though admittedly that is obviously a factor. We try and live a good life because it is the right thing to do, it is what God wants us to do and even if one does not believe in God, we are all part of the same human family and helping others does a little something to improve the world as a whole.

Some people might get to experience these things. I only get to witness the dark side. I get to see that child born with horrible genetic malformations. I get to see another one fighting for life after being savagely beaten by their own parent. I get to be tormented by unending enigmas and memories of ever little error I've ever made. There is also an overwhelming sense that no matter what I'm going to see nothing but an eternal furnace after death and there is probably no way to figure out the great puzzle before it is too late. I get to watch all my pathetic efforts to help people became pointless and invalidated as their lives continue to fall apart. Why?!

As to evil, we certainly do not want to join it. We want to resist it as best we can by the forces of love and forgiveness, whenever such is a reasonable solution. Sometimes, in the worst cases, it may take violence to fight evil, but that should be an absolute last resort. Too many Christians accept war too quickly as a solution. A prime example is the Iraq War. The U.S. was not directly threatened and yet we invaded Iraq and a majority of U.S. Christians supported the war. How very sad...

I don't believe in people...not at all. I'd rather see machines rule the world at this point.

 

[AlexDTX]

I don't understand what you are looking at that lead you to this conclusion. People were incredibly cruel in the last century. The cycle will likely repeat itself very soon. Regular people just mostly floated through life as they usually do.

Yes there is still cruelty, but the human sacrifice, rape and pillaging before Christ was rampant. Does that happen today? Probably in some places, but the press makes it seem like it is constant and everywhere, which is not true.

No kidding! I don't ever get to have a "new birth". I am worthless and should have never been born at all.

Au contrair! You are extremely valuable to God. You were made in his image and Christ died so you could know him. However, you do not know him because you have not had the new birth. Christ never abandoned us. Au contrair again. He is intimately involved with all who accept his Spirit into their hearts. His Spirit is not a feeling, although we can feel his presence. His Spirit is not a doctrine of beliefs. His Spirit is His very person that comes into one's heart when one asks Him into your heart fully believing in what Jesus did. You know the doctrine, but you do not know the God of the doctrine, hence your feeling alone and abandoned.

Rom 10:8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Rom 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Rom 10:11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

 

[Kenny'sID]

So my question is: why would Jesus come into the world as he did and die as he did and then....completely abandon everyone?!

I disagree with some of what you say, like there is no way to be sure there are no miracles, but doesn't matter, you still make a viable point, and to me the answer is simple.

He came to earth, proved who he was, gave us the plan and the rules, then left to see how we act...to see if we pass the test that gets us life ever lasting or not.

Look at it like school..definitely a school of hard knocks though.