DarkSoul, I can identify with your confusion about God, Jesus, hell, believing, etc.
Many years ago when I was a young man I found myself asking many of the same questions you are asking today. I did not understand how Jesus dying on the cross saved anyone from hell. I wasn't even sure if the bible was true or if God was real. I wanted to know the truth of it all, and I wanted to know that when I died I would NOT spend eternity in hell if there was a hell. I realized that the bible just might be true and if it is then I wanted to know how to believe it or how to “solve the puzzle of faith,” as you put it, so that I would not end up in hell.
After several years of asking questions, reading books about God, Jesus, and the bible, and listening to preachers I found myself still as confused as when I started my search for the truth about the matter.
I came to the conclusion that there was NO way anyone could ever know that he/she had done whatever God expected of them so that He, God, would give them eternal life. I thought that I would have to die before I would know where I would spend eternity, and that thought scared the hell out of me.
DarkSoul, I can say today, some 40 years later, that I did find the answer. I did find the truth about God, the Bible, and Jesus. I did find the solution to that “puzzle of faith.” (By the way, I have never heard of it described that way, but I like that and just might use that sometime.)
That puzzle was solved for me in a way that I never expected. It was not solved for me in a dream, not in a vision, not through some man's reasoning, or logic, not through the wisdom of man, etc., etc.
Actually, some other posters have made reference to the method I found to solve the puzzle.
I'm not educated in bible studies, not a minister, not involved in any kind of Christian ministry other than just sharing my Christian “experience” with others.
DarkSoul, God is a spirit, and the spirit of an unbeliever is in a state of darkness; a state of spiritual blindness which means that we cannot understand spiritual matters. In other words we are blind to the truth about God. That is the reason you cannot understand the purpose for God sending Jesus into the world to die on that cross, and the reason you cannot find the kind of faith that God requires of us that will guarantee we have eternal life with Him. That was the reason I struggled for many years trying to understand it all, but could not find any evidence that convinced me that it was real.
But God wants to bring us out of that state of spiritual blindness so we can see & understand the reason He sent Jesus into the world, and He provided a way for that to happen. He has given all the evidence we need, but again our problem is that we can't see that evidence.
You could talk to and ask every Christian in the world about how to solve that “faith puzzle,” and you will probably get some scripture quoted to you which would be pointing you in the right direction. The evidence we need IS found in scripture, but again, we can't see that evidence with out blind spiritual eyes.
I hope you are now asking yourself “how did this guy find the evidence if he was blind and could not see it? That doesn't make sense!” Well, let me explain that.
God wants us to find Him; to find the truth about Him; to find the “faith” we need to “believe” in Him so that He can give us eternal life with Him. He, God, really isn't hiding from us, and we CAN find Him if we will seek for Him as though finding Him means more to us than anything else in life. The place to find the evidence of the truth about God is in the Bible. Please don't turn me off now; please stay with me; I have been where you are and I know right now I'm not making sense to you, because it didn't make sense to me either. But, the faith puzzle does have a solution; I was just like you are now; I thought there was no way to know how to have faith in Jesus, but there is, and I can show you. It won't cost you anything; I'm not trying to sell anything; I just want you to see the same thing I saw. I want you to find the same answer to the “faith puzzle” that I found, and when you find it your eyes will be opened so that you can see the truth about God.
I have suggested to people that they will find the truth about God & Jesus if they would read the Gospel of John because that is the place I found the truth I needed that convinced me to believe in Jesus. Some of them have told me that they have read the Gospel of John, the Book of John, many times, but nothing happened to them; that they did not find anything there that convinced them that any of it was true; that their lives were not changed by reading the Gospel of John in the way my life was changed.
Now I'm ready to get to the heart of the matter of how to find the solution to that “faith puzzle.” (Again, I like that) You probably don't want any scriptures quoted, but I must use at least one, so please don't turn me off. In Jeremiah 29:13 God says that anyone can find Him if that person will seek Him with all their heart. He, God is saying that we can find the truth about Him & can know Him if we will seek that truth as though finding it is more important than anything else in our lives. That was what happened to me and I didn't know much about scripture; certainly had never heard of Jeremiah 29:13.
You might be thinking “How can I seek God when I don't know if He is real? How do I know Jesus is real? How do I believe in Jesus if He is real?” Those are the questions I asked.
Well, I have a suggestion. This was what I did. I wasn't sure God was real, wasn't sure the bible was the truth, and didn't understand what “believe in Jesus” meant even if He was real. But, after many years of talking to people, reading books about God/Jesus, listing to preachers, etc. and still thinking I would NEVER know how to find faith in Jesus, one night, when I went to bed, I was confused, afraid, and desperate, so out of a sense of hopelessness I looked up at the ceiling and said the following prayer to a God I wasn't even sure existed, “God, will you show me the truth about believing in Jesus?” I slept better that night than I had slept in a long time. The next day I did something I had never done at home, I found a bible, opened it to the Gospel of John and started reading verse 1. Now, I had read in that book at church when I was a kid, but I really didn't care about God at that time in my life, and it meant nothing to me then. But, this time, God saw that I was desperately seeking to know the truth about Him and that I desperately wanted to “believe” or to find the kind of faith that He required. Again, I wasn't even sure that God existed or that the bible was true, but I was ready to accept whatever I found there that night as I read in the Gospel of John if it convinced me that it was the truth. God saw that I was seeking Him with all my heart and He did exactly what He said He would do in Jeremiah 29:13. God allowed me to see the truth. Remember, God is a spirit and we are spiritually blind, but God's Spirit, the Holy Spirit will give us spiritual light so we can see spiritual truth when we seek God in the right way.(Jeremiah 29:13) AND that is what He did for me as I read the Gospel of John. I began to see & to understand the truth about God, and about who Jesus is and the reason He came into the world. I found the truth there that I thought I could never know. By the time I read through chapter 6 the Holy Spirit had completely convinced me that the bible is the absolute truth, that God is real, and that Jesus will do exactly what He say He will do. John 6:37 was one of the verses that especially spoke to me. God gave me the answer to the “faith puzzle” because He totally convinced me that Jesus did everything He, God, required for me to have eternal life with Him. I found the evidence I was looking for, but that evidence was not what I had expected to find. Actually, I had no idea of what I would find as I began to read in the bible that night; I just wanted to find something that would help me believe God. That evidence was the Holy Spirit; He made it real; He removed the blindness from my spiritually blinded eyes so that I could see God and see truth.
Now, you might be thinking “This guy is nuts. I've heard that Holy Ghost stuff before. That's all a bunch of nonsense. Well, I will admit that I have heard stuff about the Holy Ghost that is not biblical. I've heard stuff about God & about Jesus that is not true. I have learned that sometimes we need to check things others say about God, about the bible, about Jesus, and about Christianity in scripture to see if they are truth, because many times they are not. I don't know how I would have reacted to a story like this 40 years ago when I was struggling to find God; I might have been inclined to brush it off as something that would to happen to me. I just know that the solution to that “faith puzzle” is the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. I hope you will not take my story as one that does not apply to your situation.
If you are still reading, I am asking that you do not give up trying to find your answer to the “faith puzzle.” You can find the answer. You can KNOW God!
I don't know your heart or your mind, but if you are not sure God is real, would you be willing to do the following?
Tell God that you want to know the truth about Him. That you are willing to accept whatever He reveals to you from His Word, and that you are going to search His word for that truth. Ask God to show you how to have faith in Jesus. Then get a good bible translation. you might ask someone about that. Just be careful because I've heard that there are some translations that have changed the truth. I still like the KJV because I was totally ignorant about the bible and the KJV was the bible I was reading when God showed me the very truth I needed to believe. Next, I suggest that you read the Gospel of John expecting to find the truth there as you read it. Also, read Romans. If you don't find anything there that changes your mind about the truth of God & Jesus, then re-read those books. You might also read Galatians and Corinthians; read the entire New Testament. The important thing is that you really want to find the truth; that you really mean business with God about knowing Him. Read & re-read over and over until God's Spirit begins to show you the truth. He will do that for you when He sees that you earnestly seek to know Him. Remember Jeremiah 29:13. If you will do this, God will open your eyes to the truth, and you can know how to have faith, because God will give you the faith you need. That is another scripture by the way in Ephesians.
Well, I sat at my computer for about 2 hours writing this response to your post. I could have been doing other things, but I want to help you find your answer. I hope you don't dismiss my response thinking I'm some sort of religious nut who thinks he knows everything about God. Actually, I used to think Christians were a bunch of hypocrites who thought they were better that the rest of us, then I realized that I was the hypocrite.
Regards,
John