New to christianity from antist I need guidance!

[TJM]

Hello!

My name is Trevor. I was an athiest from a child. I once had died and saw the light. I got a message from an entity I believed was god. He told me the meaning of life. It took years after that till I started to believe there is actually a god. I recently started to look into Christianity. I feel gravitated to this religion.

My father has become ill. He has undergone open heart surgery and pretty much every artery in his heart has been bypassed. He become ill over time after his surgery. He was doing well! Sadly his medical issues made him loose his job. His stress from his physical illness and loosing money and going broke caused him to experience a psychosis. This psychosis lead him to do something very horrible! He has been suffering in jail and by the grace of god he is been given a very understanding outlook by prosecutors.

I myself am full of sin. I believe that after my death, I was allowed (actually asked if I wanted to live or die) and I believe I chose to live and was given this option because now my father, the man who raised me needs my help. His conditions for his release on house arrest requires him to have a caretaker.

I got a job to support my father with money in jail. I just lost my job for medical reasons. I was almost put into a induced coma because of seizures. I was paralyzed and my respiration rate dropped from 12 to 2. It blinked apnea and I was dropping in and out of consciousness. I had very scary things happen to me.

I believe I am being kept alive and my gravitation to being alive and my purpose is to take care of my father. I need to find means of gaining money to afford a lease to own home. It's a major fixer upper. I believe with my father and I brokken relationship since I was 12 can be ressurected by me finding ways to get this home. We can fix it up together (since he is going to be on house arrest. Through mending our home and relationship I think this is why I am here on earth.

I need guidance and help here. I am happy to have found this forum. I am fresh out of the hospital and am looking to better my life and somehow free myself of sin.

Trevor

 

[RC1970]

Trevor, welcome to CF.

 

[TJM]

Thank-you RC1970 I am happy to have found it.

 

[Winken]

Have you confessed Jesus as Savior, as in Romans 10:8-13? Be sure to read that now.

Sounds like a lot of prayer is in order. Take time to pray several times daily.

 

[Anguspure]

Welcome Trevor, Hope you find some good guidance here. Its great that you recognize that you're full of sin, you recognize the truth about all of us.
The NT letter written to the Roman church (the book of Romans) is a great place to start:
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.....But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us......that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be dissapointed.”
and:
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

 

[TJM]

Thank-you so much for your inspiring messages. I have never read the scriptures. I am unfamiliar with these words. Jesus as my Savior I have not confessed. I don't know where to start. There is so much to read and understand.

 

[TJM]

So did god god create this universe and when humans were founded on earth he sent jesus to us to give us this meaning of life so we can understand our human behavior so we don't all go into a downward spiral of sin? By sin does that mean neglecting ourselves and health and others for selfish reasons like drug abuse and stealing to feed those sins?

So by doing right to others and out of love and generosity that brings good energy to us, giving us a happy life and this life being free of sin gives us eerlasting eternal life?

If so what happens to somebody who lives a life of sin? When they die what is the opposite or inability to have non-eternal never lasting life? Do these people not have an after life? When they die do they just loose consciousness? So does this tie into consciousness and that consciousness does pass into a different form of being for those given eternal life and those who are not given eternal life just...vanish?

 

[Anguspure]

Thank-you so much for your inspiring messages. I have never read the scriptures. I am unfamiliar with these words. Jesus as my Savior I have not confessed. I don't know where to start. There is so much to read and understand.

My advice: keep it simple. The start and finish of Christianity is the person of Jesus. There's an old saying about the Bible (Augustine) that its both shallow enough for a child not to drown, yet deep enough for an elephant to swim.
If you keep to the shallows of Jesus Christ for a start off you'll do well and be less likely to get bogged down in a lot of religious drivel. Seek Him and you'll find Him.

 

[TJM]

Thank-you ever s much. The more do it the more I learn it feels like I'm entering a sea of dissociate warmth. It's very numbing yet comfortably. The farther down into this hole of warmth the greater my understanding is. The more numb I get the more at ease I feel. I feel as if I'm in mere existence rather than living in a sea of life and sin. Does it normally feel this way? Is this suppose to be like so?

 

[Winken]

Thank-you so much for your inspiring messages. I have never read the scriptures. I am unfamiliar with these words. Jesus as my Savior I have not confessed. I don't know where to start. There is so much to read and understand.

Where's your Bible? Open it!

Read:

John 14:6
John 3:16-17
John 5:24
Romans 10:8-13
Romans 8:1
Ephesians 2:8-9

Questions? Let me know. Conversation mode is OK. Realize that I'm not always online.

 

[TJM]

Thank-you Winken.

It is great to know I already have a small flock of people coming to me to help. If you are not online I feel assured somebody will be!

I am going to find a bible and open it up tonight! I will read what you have suggested first and see what happens after.

I love the +1 ratings I already got from my first postings here. That sort of is in a way is rewarding too! I hope I can get many more!

 

[Winken]

So did god god create this universe and when humans were founded on earth he sent jesus to us to give us this meaning of life so we can understand our human behavior so we don't all go into a downward spiral of sin? By sin does that mean neglecting ourselves and health and others for selfish reasons like drug abuse and stealing to feed those sins?

So by doing right to others and out of love and generosity that brings good energy to us, giving us a happy life and this life being free of sin gives us everlasting eternal life?

Read Genesis 1
Read Genesis 12:1-6
Read the scriptures I gave you previously.
You are forgiven for sin. It happened at the Cross. If you slip into it again, go to 1 John 1:9.

So by doing right to others and out of love and generosity that brings good energy to us, giving us a happy life and this life being free of sin gives us everlasting eternal life?

That is the GIFT of God.

If so what happens to somebody who lives a life of sin? When they die what is the opposite or inability to have non-eternal never lasting life? Do these people not have an after life? When they die do they just loose consciousness? So does this tie into consciousness and that consciousness does pass into a different form of being for those given eternal life and those who are not given eternal life just...vanish?

If you confess that Jesus is your Savior you are saved, secured. If you do not, you are, in Christian terminology, lost, needing to be found in Him. Those who die without ever confessing Jesus as Savior are lost for eternity, in a not-so-pleasant place called "hell".

 

[gym_class_hero]

God bless you Trevor.

 

[Anguspure]

So did god god create this universe and when humans were founded on earth he sent jesus to us to give us this meaning of life so we can understand our human behavior so we don't all go into a downward spiral of sin?

I'll try and summarize: The book of Genesis describes a created heavens and earth where mankind was placed in a garden to live freely and eternally (Eating of the tree of Life) in relationship with God. The only thing that they could do wrong, that would lead to sin and death, was eat of the fruit of a certain tree that was called the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They ate the fruit and in doing so were booted out of the garden, away from the Tree of life, away from relationship with God.
What Jesus achieved was the reversal of this curse, a return to relationship with God and the promise of eternal life by "eating" of Him, our tree of life.

By sin does that mean neglecting ourselves and health and others for selfish reasons like drug abuse and stealing to feed those sins?

Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Gospel of Mathew 22)
the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Paul's letter to the Galatians 5)

The written Law given to the Jewish people (10 Commandments and the like) shows what sin is. As we can see above the whole of this law is summed up by the command to Love God and Love Man. In so far as we fall short of these commands then we sin.

We should not, however make the mistake of trying to get things right by attempting to follow the law again, rather the way back is through the door of Christ Jesus.

He does tell us to repent (change our mind and actions) but this needs to be done as a reaction to His Love and in His grace, not because we are trying to keep to what Paul the Apostle called the Law of Sin and Death.

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

So by doing right to others and out of love and generosity that brings good energy to us, giving us a happy life and this life being free of sin gives us eerlasting eternal life?

Its more that we do good things out of a Love for our God and our savior because it pleases Him.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. (The Apostle Johns 1 Letter 1 John 4)

There is another aspect that comes with accepting Jesus that you should investigate and that is that he promised all of us who believe His Spirit to empower us, encourage us, counsel us and teach us to do whatever it is that He wants us to do. Check it out at some point in the Gospel of John Chapter 14.

If so what happens to somebody who lives a life of sin? When they die what is the opposite or inability to have non-eternal never lasting life? Do these people not have an after life? When they die do they just loose consciousness? So does this tie into consciousness and that consciousness does pass into a different form of being for those given eternal life and those who are not given eternal life just...vanish?

This is a question of considerable debate so I don't want to sound authoritive here. TBH I don't even like to think about it much, IMO its a horrifying subject.
The Bible promises that the wages of sin is eternal death. I am of the opinion that this is quite literally what it means, eternal death, as would be the result of being separated from the source of all life, that is God. But my view is probably not mainstream and views range all the way from the idea of a very unpleasant eternal life in some sort of hell scenario to the idea that God will in the end get His way and everybody will be saved.

I would say that given, you are already sick of the sin in your life for other reasons, that you suspend judgment on this issue for a start off and focus on the positive that is Christ Jesus and His offer of Love and Life.

 

[gym_class_hero]

heres a good site with Bible teaching on many different topics Trevor..

www.truthforlife.org

 

[Anguspure]

Thank-you ever s much. The more do it the more I learn it feels like I'm entering a sea of dissociate warmth. It's very numbing yet comfortably. The farther down into this hole of warmth the greater my understanding is. The more numb I get the more at ease I feel. I feel as if I'm in mere existence rather than living in a sea of life and sin. Does it normally feel this way? Is this suppose to be like so?

Another man who noticed a similar thing: Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life: C. S. Lewis: 9780156870115: Amazon.com: Books

A young man who wishes to remain a sound Atheist cannot be too careful of his reading. There are traps everywhere . . . God is, if I may say it, very unscrupulous."

This book is not an autobiography. It is not a confession. It is, however, certainly one of the most beautiful and insightful accounts of a person coming to faith. Here, C.S. Lewis takes us from his childhood in Belfast through the loss of his mother, to boarding school and a youthful atheism in England, to the trenches of World War I, and then to Oxford, where he studied, read, and, ultimately, reasoned his way back to God. It is perhaps this aspect of Surprised by Joy that we—believers and nonbelievers—find most compelling and meaningful; Lewis was searching for joy, for an elusive and momentary sensation of glorious yearning, but he found it, and spiritual life, through the use of reason.

In this highly personal, thoughtful, intelligent memoir, Lewis guides us toward joy and toward the surprise that awaits anyone who seeks a life beyond the expected.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Hi; good to see you on the forums; God bless His Word to you and your family.

John's First Epistle has the cleansing from sin as a major theme; so does Hebrews 9.

John 3.16 has a wonderful summary of the Gospel.

 

[TJM]

I have received Christ as my Savior. I've read some of the scripture out of my bible just now and some links to scripture. The internet is a beautiful thing with this because I am not sure where to find these things in the bible.

Ive asked for forgiveness of my sins and to be saved from eternal separation of god.

Thank-you faroukfarouk for your words. Thank-you Anguspure for letting me know I am not alone in my feeling here. I feel powered by these words. feel as if I am gaining some sort of energy by reading these words I am gaining strength

Thank-you gym_class_hero for your offering of this website for beginners as it will help me so much. I am very gracious.

And again Thank-you Winken for your guidance. What you have had me read resonates with me and makes me feel right.

 

[Anguspure]

I have received Christ as my Savior. I've read some of the scripture out of my bible just now and some links to scripture. The internet is a beautiful thing with this because I am not sure where to find these things in the bible.

Ive asked for forgiveness of my sins and to be saved from eternal separation of god.

Thank-you faroukfarouk for your words. Thank-you Anguspure for letting me know I am not alone in my feeling here. I feel powered by these words. feel as if I am gaining some sort of energy by reading these words I am gaining strength

Thank-you gym_class_hero for your offering of this website for beginners as it will help me so much. I am very gracious.

And again Thank-you Winken for your guidance. What you have had me read resonates with me and makes me feel right.

I'll drink to that !!! (only a cup of tea at the moment sorry, dry ship). Looking forward to meeting you one day brother.

BTW “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Gospel of Luke 15)

 

[TJM]

I been listening to a new artist. The irony is that the songs are about being lost and trying to find love. I didn't make the connection till just now. Maybe the salt lamps in my basement and the temperature is just right enough to cause a sort of calm, but since I been reading the bible and pieces of scripture things seem more lively in my house. As if he vibes are going up.