Sparkalinda said:
Thanks for the post Whitestone but I have to point out a discrepancy between your interpretation of what I said and what I said.
To quote myself: "I live much like a good Christian does in an effort to make myself and the world a better place"
Now I know the difference could simply be considered semantics but I do not want anyone thinking I am claiming something I am not "living much like" is different than "living as". You use "as" as a preposition creating a direct comparison between Living and Christian. The use of "Much like" as in my claim allows for a difference between a "Christian" and myself. This difference is my lack of belief in his divinity and the area which I am seeking help for.
Where does this belief come from? Revelation, learned behaviour, innate understanding, indoctrination... Someone please explain in terms that a mere mortal and ignorant sole such as mine can understand.
Thanks!
Sparky
Hello Again Sparky
I appologize if I came off abrupt about the good Christian thing, I think it is a pet peeve of mine that some people who claim to be Christian or even good Christians seem to know little about or attempt to follow Jesus's teachings. Once again I am sorry if I seemed abrasive in my last post.
Your question of where does the belief come from is a very good question, because it is diferent for all of us. Here is the abridged version of my testimony.
For a short time I was really not happy with life, and through what I now call Divine intervention I found/felt that it was not my time. This is where I began to believe in a God.
Couple years later I met a girl and fell in love with her, she said she wouldn't marry me if I wasn't a Christian, so begrudginly I let her drag me to church.
About this time it had become apparent to me that I wanted purpose to me life, this was a ingrane part of me so it made me a little more receptive to going to church.
This is where it got strange for me, in my thoughts of if I became a Christian and what would I have to change, I went through a sequence of my personality and behaviors that I thought were good by worldly standards, and thought that if I became a Christian I could maintain these behaviors. Each week my wife (yes that nice girl eventually married me) took me to church and the pastor taught on the issues that I had thought over and thought I could keep as a Christian, he preached about where in the bible it said not to have or continue these behaviors then described in simple terms of how they effected my life. This spooked me because it seemed like the pastor was answering the question I never asked anyone.
I decided to accept Christ and become a Christian, my wife married and then for a year or more I lived like one of the previously mentioned "good" Christians. It finally dawned on me that I knew very little about Christ.
This is when began to read the bible, I finished it after about another year and was quite confused about alot of things, so I decided to read it again. THIS is where I began to understand and that revelation thing happened, it finally made sense. This is where I actually began to follow Christ not just say I was.
I know this is a long explanation but I hope it helps show that it usually is not just one thing that makes someone a believer. One of the best ways I think you can find the answer you are looking for is to pray about it.
If you have more questions please ask,
Whitestone
