New Member Who Doesn't Know How To Believe.

Hi jae,

Welcome to the forums. One of the reasons that we find that many, many young people abandon their early childhood established faith beliefs is this idea that we have to 'prove' everything to believe it. The Scriptures are pretty clear that what God asks of us is faith without such concrete proof.

Now, that is not to say that our faith is baseless, but that it's proof lies in our ability or desire to believe that the Scriptures are what God has told us that they are. I'm also one who appreciates solid 'proof' in a lot of things that people try to show me or teach me, but my faith in God came about through what I believe is solid proof, because I believe the Scriptures are what God has told me that they are.

The Scriptures are God breathed. They are the writings of men as they were led along by the Holy Spirit of God. However, let me tell you how I came to faith in the Lord Jesus as Savior and God as the authority and creator of this realm in which we live. I'll try not to be too windy, but it is a life long account.

I was raised in the fellowship of the believers. My Grandfather was a faithful pastor all of his adult life. However, my parents, while they went to worship pretty much every Sunday, didn't really live a life of faith in God. I grew up with that kind of practice. 'Church' was just where you were supposed to be on Sunday morning and maybe also Wednesday night. It was friendly place where people could talk and share their life, but I don't recall any of the fellowships that I went to, as a child, as being particularly 'sold out' to Jesus. So, that's the kind of 'faith' that I grew up with. I was baptized, of course. With a Grandfather as a pastor, it's kind of a big deal for all the children and grandchildren to be baptized.

Then when I left home, my attendance became pretty sporadic. I got caught up in 'doing' life and worship and fellowship with believers became a fairly rare event in my life. I'd go to a fellowship for a couple of months and then I'd stop and a couple of years later I might find another fellowship to attend for a couple of months, etc. These returns to a fellowship group often coincided with hard times in my life. I've been married four times and had some bad goes from time to time, quite a lot of drug and alcohol use, and I'd often find myself seeking out a fellowship as some sort of placebo for my pain.

However, my testimony is that I wasn't born again until I was about 40 years old. The fellowship that my wife and I had decided to attend, because we were sending our son to their preschool, was a baptist fellowship of believers and the pastor, shortly after we began going, was doing a weeks long study on the prophecies of Jesus in the Scriptures. Now, I'd heard all the children's stories about Jesus being born of a virgin and so forth and I'd sung the Hallelujah Chorus and knew all about his being King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but somehow I don't believe I had put much effort in understanding what those words actually meant to me.

Anyway, the pastor spent three or four weeks covering some of the lesser known prophecies of Jesus. I found that I couldn't just shrug off these seemingly amazing prophecies that foretold with pretty good accuracy the things foretold about Jesus. Specifically, the prophecy in Isaiah that Jesus read in the temple. How in the world did a man living several hundred years before Jesus ever set foot in that temple write those words that exactly fit 'who' Jesus was? With an accuracy that Jesus even used to 'prove' himself to the Jews in his day. Jesus read that passage and clearly told them that the things he had just read were being fulfilled before their very eyes! How did that man 700 years before know to write those words?

So, that bit of curiosity caused me to begin looking deeper into the other prophecies and I very soon, a matter of weeks, found myself on my knees before the Lord in my bedroom asking God for the forgiveness afforded me through His Son and asking God to give me an unquenchable thirst to know Him. However, I believe one of the differences was that I was now ready to believe and accept that the Scriptures were exactly what God has told us that they are. Many people, when faced with the prophecies found in the Scriptures, adopt the position that they were likely added by other writers after the events took place. I did wholeheartedly reject that theory. I knew in my heart that Isaiah wrote those prophetic words. I also began experiencing the unquenchable thirst that I had asked God for. For about 3 years I just couldn't put the Scriptures down. I wanted to read them and study them and know them and I also studied many writings concerning the prophetic writings.

I knew in my heart that David likewise wrote prophecies hundreds of years before their fulfillment. Some of his prophetic writings are likewise as 'impossible' for a man to know as Isaiah's writings. David wrote a beautiful portrayal of the days of Jesus' crucifixion that cannot be denied, are amazingly accurate to how things turned out to be. Then I came across Daniel chapter 9. Here Daniel writes of a passage of time that was counted in weeks of years and he even writes that at some point during this passage of time the Messiah would come. Amazingly, that prophecy has worked out to the very week that Jesus rode into Jerusalem and was crucified, which is exactly what the prophecy proclaims. That Messiah would come but then be cut off.

Through all of this my faith and trust in Jesus and God and God's Spirit and word grew deeper and stronger. Until today, I am a man who believes every word found in the Scriptures. I believe the Scriptures despite what science or man may tell me is the truth.

That's how I came to faith in Jesus.

God bless,
In Christ, ted

Jaecubed said:

I don't want to be duped (be gullible) into believe something without researching it and coming up with my own conclusion.

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Good attitude. Humans like to base their beliefs on their own opinions and if enough opinions agree you end up with a denomination or at the very least a church. That is why there are so many differing ways out there. The biggest stumbling block is that most humans make God over into their own image, seeing things from a human/worldly perspective. This is not possible with Jesus and His Kingdom as they represent the opposite in nature to the traditional ways of man. So you are left to decide, does this teaching follow the counter-culture of the Kingdom or does is resemble all the traditional ways of man? Will your view of Jesus and His Kingdom make you an outcast on the narrow path as He said it would, or will you find a way to fit in with the rest on the wide path? The choice is yours but the world will pressure you to side with them, and follow the old fallacy that there is safety and wisdom in numbers.. The world after all represents the ideals of the Adversary.

Perhaps you need to decide whether you want to find a denomination within an institutionalised religion or simply follow what Jesus taught in scriptures. He is supposed to be the focal point after all and it would follow that His Gospel and Kingdom would be primary over religion and how to form one..

Jaecubed said:

Hello All,

I just wanted to introduce myself and the reason for becoming a new member. I'm 47, married (24 years), I have (3) kids ages 23, 21 and 17 and I go by the name Jae.

I usually love to ramble when I have a question but I'm going to try to keep this short for everyone's benefit and in hopes that more people will read a shorter intro and possibly give some advice.

So recently I've done the following:
* Truthful inner reflection, which was interesting and a bit sad.
* Questioning all my beliefs up to this point in life. I've always believed what science has told us. Big Bang Theory, Human Evolution so on and so on. I've always been flip flop about the creation of it all. Part of me thought the Big Bang Theory could be true but I also thought it could be possible that a God did create all this. But who created God? and who created that God and so on. This gives you a bit of insight into how my mind works. (It was just to overwhelming to comprehend) I will say at this time that I believe a God did create all of this. I don't believe this all just happened by accident.
* Watching YouTube videos about God/Jesus/Bible and anything related that I have questions about. I've also been listening to PodCasts and radio programs taking in their lessons.
* Bought my first NLT Bible which I'm excited to read. (I've only gotten into Genesis at this point as I just started reading it). But I'm looking forward to reading it and trying to dig deeper into what it says by researching it online (as best I can).

Here is the problem. I feel I have this wall up that won't let me believe what I'm watching/listening to or reading. I've always needed to be proven things are real. I don't want to be duped (be gullible) into believe something without researching it and coming up with my own conclusion. I will say this wall I'm talking about feels real and I believe it has been up my entire life when it comes to love/compassion/feelings (this was what my inner reflection realized about myself.) It literally feels like a wall around my heart. Hope that doesn't sound weird but it does feel physical/real.

So I guess I just don't know how to believe or when I will believe or if I will ever believe. I'm hopeful that I will just wake up one day and it will be gone and all this will be easy for me to accept.

Am I wrong in not accepting Jesus if I first don't know the facts or the story's behind Jesus? It feels fake if I say I believe when I don't know what I'm believing in. Do I believe Jesus died for our Sins? How do I know if I don't learn about it first? I don't want to be phony about it but should I just say I accept Jesus now and continue with my learning? I don't believe I can say that if I don't believe it. As you can see I'm really confused/struggling with this.

I guess for the time being I will continue to research/learn what I can about Jesus and see what comes of it. I will say I'm hopeful only because I do feel a desire/want to do this. IF I can break that wall down I really believe it will feel amazing. (I'm hopeful that is the case).

Anyways I'm sure this won't be my last post as I'm sure I will have many more questions. I hope I find this forum helpful and I'm able to find some comradery with others.

If you made it this far thanks for reading and I hope I hear from some of you... so much for keeping it short.

After proof reading this I sure seem to have a lot of "hope". LOL

Take care!

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It all starts ... and ends with Jesus.

Take a look at His character ... and see if it is one which you find note-worthy. Take a look at the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John ... and determine for yourself whether you think someone of Jesus' character could set the standard for human conduct in the world. That's what His disciples did, who were grown men with families (in many cases).

I'd follow Jesus for His character alone.

At such point as you have made a determination as to Jesus' worthiness ... then investigate the details of His appearance in the world ... and see if it makes sense to you that a higher intelligence might try to guide humanity into a greater morality and moral capacity using His example and even sacrifice.

Welcome! It's wonderful reading the Bible. Blessings on you!