Questioning The Bible, HELP ME PLEASE?

[FearNot7]

You know... I'm trying to do the right thing, and what the Bible says to do.... that's spreading His word.

I try so hard to do whatever I can to prove God's real, which I think, there is proof.

Though the thing that's hard about all this is that when I talk to Atheists on another forum, they manage to get my mind saying "Maybe God's not real..." but in my heart, no matter how much sense they make sometimes, my heart is still telling me "Johanna... you know He's real."

So I feel like I might not be strong enough to be telling people about God, because I let their "good points" get to my head, though in my heart, I feel Him there. It's not just in the mind, it's a physical feeling in my heart that stays their no matter what. It's not a bad feeling either, like pain, but it's very good... hard to explain.

So should I keep trying to get them to understand God more and do what the Bible says? Or should I just let it go?

They posted this link to a website on the forum...
www.godisimaginary.com
which scared me pretty bad because of the things that make sense to me.

I told that how the Bible mentions the earth being round, and hanging on nothing, before anyone could have ever known that... but they shot both down. I KNOW there has to be some kind of proof. I even asked them how they think everything became so perfect, but then they reply with "Well if God created the earth, who created God?"
I've also asked them how they think we got the year 2007 instead of the year when people BEFORE Jesus was born. It can't be by coincidence that Jesus was born 2007 years ago.
They think the year is just a year they came up with because no one knew how old the earth was.

Does anyone have any proof at all that I might not know about?

I think my main reason for this is because I need some words of encouragement that the Bible is true.

My sister also said that in the Bible, it says something like matter can't be destroyed, only changed, or something like that. And she said she doesn't think they would've known that back then in the Bible days.

I didn't mean to make this so long. But it was a lot of thoughts I had stored up that I couldn't get out. I could say SO, SO much more, but it would be too much.

I just want to know more about the Bible, to understand it more.

I would REALLY appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks for your time.

 

[Steve Petersen]

Faith, by definition is irrational.

You are exhibiting the classic struggle between head and heart, between Athens and Jerusalem if you will.

The question for you is, which do you want in control?

 

[JTLauder]

Hi Johanna,

Everyone struggles with doubts, and sometimes it can be all too easy to get overwhelmed with the enormity of trying to understand God and the Bible. Just accept that there are some things that are finite minds may never grasp and don't let it discourage you, but see it as opportunities with a desire to seek out God more.

As you spend more time with God and the Bible, you will learn more about him and his word, and that will help strengthen your faith and your trust in both him and his word. It just comes with time and experience. And with that, comes the confidence and knowledge in both what the Bible says and how to defend it.

Perhaps apologetics is not your thing. Every child of God should be able to know what and why they believe and to defend one's beliefs, but not everyone may have the temperament or the skills for intense theological debates. That's OK.

We are all called to be witnesses to the world, but first and foremost, that means that our lives reflect our beliefs. Focus more on your personal growth as a Christian so that your personal life is a mirror of how Christ calls us to live. That will speak louder and more convincingly than anything you say.

 

[jak]

I think you are horrified at the very idea of questioning your faith. Don't be. A faith that does not stand up to being questioned is not worth having.

I questioned my faith and it helped me to understand what was the basic of Christianity,wnat i wanted to hold on to and what i didn't mind letting go.

Being a Christian is following God, who is Creator and over all things, yet is completely and totally loving, and asks me to live a life of love for others. This love is best expressed in the person and work of Christ for all people who tend to mess up their lives and that includes me.

That much is basic, with a little more; that I will hold onto.

I'm willing to let go other things. i will concede that the church has made umpteen mistakes, still makes them; I will concede that i don't know how God created, whether we evolved or not. I just believe he created. I will concede there are a lot of things in the Bible i don't understand, but I believe that it is God's message for the world, and will keep trying to understand it, but I will not interpret everything, specially the difficult passges literally and rigidily. I will concede that the Bible is not a science text-book, and finding prrof texts for the earyth being round or flat is to twist the verses out of their context. i will concede that the Bible has been read in a pro-slavery way, and a sexist way (still is) but I think that is an example of rigidily and literally interpreting difficult passages that we should have been more sensitive and careful about. I will concede that the Bible records that God had commanded some people to be killed; but I think we are judging the issue by our culture's interpretation of life and death, which may not be valid across cultures and time, and with God.

Hope looking at it like that helps.

 

[childofGod31]

(Imagine that you can't tell the difference between fake money and real money). If somebody gave you fake money, would you know it? Or would you believe it to be real money? You would believe it to be real, because it looked so real, right?

The same way with the Bible. If you don't know the
Bible really good (if you haven't studied it for years), some arguments will look "real" to you. (even though they are "fakes". But you can't know that if you don't know the Bible well. So I wouldn't go "into battle" without preparation first. Or if you do read negative stuff, you have to make time to study the Bible to counteract the negative comments with positive, to find out why those things are not true.

Faith comes from hearing. The more you study, the more faith you have. The less doubts.

COL 2:4 "I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments".

It's very easy to make a good argument against something, if you know what to do. So don't let their good arguments worry you. If they contradict the Bible, then there IS an explanation and a way to counteract them, it's just a matter of finding that answer, it takes diligence.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

You know... I'm trying to do the right thing, and what the Bible says to do.... that's spreading His word.

I try so hard to do whatever I can to prove God's real, which I think, there is proof.

Though the thing that's hard about all this is that when I talk to Atheists on another forum, they manage to get my mind saying "Maybe God's not real..." but in my heart, no matter how much sense they make sometimes, my heart is still telling me "Johanna... you know He's real."

So I feel like I might not be strong enough to be telling people about God, because I let their "good points" get to my head, though in my heart, I feel Him there. It's not just in the mind, it's a physical feeling in my heart that stays their no matter what. It's not a bad feeling either, like pain, but it's very good... hard to explain.

So should I keep trying to get them to understand God more and do what the Bible says? Or should I just let it go?

They posted this link to a website on the forum...
www.godisimaginary.com
which scared me pretty bad because of the things that make sense to me.

I told that how the Bible mentions the earth being round, and hanging on nothing, before anyone could have ever known that... but they shot both down. I KNOW there has to be some kind of proof. I even asked them how they think everything became so perfect, but then they reply with "Well if God created the earth, who created God?"
I've also asked them how they think we got the year 2007 instead of the year when people BEFORE Jesus was born. It can't be by coincidence that Jesus was born 2007 years ago.
They think the year is just a year they came up with because no one knew how old the earth was.

Does anyone have any proof at all that I might not know about?

I think my main reason for this is because I need some words of encouragement that the Bible is true.

My sister also said that in the Bible, it says something like matter can't be destroyed, only changed, or something like that. And she said she doesn't think they would've known that back then in the Bible days.

I didn't mean to make this so long. But it was a lot of thoughts I had stored up that I couldn't get out. I could say SO, SO much more, but it would be too much.

I just want to know more about the Bible, to understand it more.

I would REALLY appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks for your time.

When God begins to reveal his truth to a person they are anxious to share it with others, and to feel validated through their acceptance of it as well. More often than not this is 'casting pearls before swine', resulting in the rejection of what you excitedly present as wonderful new truth. What is actually happening is that God is separating you from the world. It is up to you to either 'come out of her' or stay in. My advice: Come out!

 

[Tyndale]

You know... I'm trying to do the right thing, and what the Bible says to do.... that's spreading His word.

I try so hard to do whatever I can to prove God's real, which I think, there is proof.

Though the thing that's hard about all this is that when I talk to Atheists on another forum, they manage to get my mind saying "Maybe God's not real..." but in my heart, no matter how much sense they make sometimes, my heart is still telling me "Johanna... you know He's real."

2 tim 2 v 16 "But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness."

v 23 "But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes."

 

[faithfulmark]

Belief in a God is an obstacle to knowing god.

Remember that.

Anyways, let me give you some guidance.

It is great you are focusing your mind on the creator, but you need to do more than focus. You need to cleanse your self. Your subconscious is what is telling you "God is not real!" So you need to work on yourself first. Get that negative programming out of your head. This can be done through visualizations, meditation, or hypnosis. Careful with hypnosis though, consult an expert. I suggest day dreaming. Give all your focus at times to one thing. Let that one thing be the one and only God. Picture yourself in heaven, and imagine what it will be like. Daydreaming is an excellent tool for subconscious work. As for the atheists, people see what they want to see. Wether it be God, or no God. Your belief is what is real. Make your belief a good one.

 

[dentonz]

You know... I'm trying to do the right thing, and what the Bible says to do.... that's spreading His word.

I try so hard to do whatever I can to prove God's real, which I think, there is proof.

Though the thing that's hard about all this is that when I talk to Atheists on another forum, they manage to get my mind saying "Maybe God's not real..." but in my heart, no matter how much sense they make sometimes, my heart is still telling me "Johanna... you know He's real."

So I feel like I might not be strong enough to be telling people about God, because I let their "good points" get to my head, though in my heart, I feel Him there. It's not just in the mind, it's a physical feeling in my heart that stays their no matter what. It's not a bad feeling either, like pain, but it's very good... hard to explain.

So should I keep trying to get them to understand God more and do what the Bible says? Or should I just let it go?

They posted this link to a website on the forum...
www.godisimaginary.com
which scared me pretty bad because of the things that make sense to me.

I told that how the Bible mentions the earth being round, and hanging on nothing, before anyone could have ever known that... but they shot both down. I KNOW there has to be some kind of proof. I even asked them how they think everything became so perfect, but then they reply with "Well if God created the earth, who created God?"
I've also asked them how they think we got the year 2007 instead of the year when people BEFORE Jesus was born. It can't be by coincidence that Jesus was born 2007 years ago.
They think the year is just a year they came up with because no one knew how old the earth was.

Does anyone have any proof at all that I might not know about?

I think my main reason for this is because I need some words of encouragement that the Bible is true.

My sister also said that in the Bible, it says something like matter can't be destroyed, only changed, or something like that. And she said she doesn't think they would've known that back then in the Bible days.

I didn't mean to make this so long. But it was a lot of thoughts I had stored up that I couldn't get out. I could say SO, SO much more, but it would be too much.

I just want to know more about the Bible, to understand it more.

I would REALLY appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks for your time.

I would say don't worry about proving God to unbelievers. We are called to preach the Gospel of Christ without apology. If they receive the Word of God, than praise God; however, if they don't receive it, move on. Remember that when we plant a seed, we are very rarely the ones to water it and watch it grow. We plant, someone else water, but God is the on who gives the increase. We can not prove anything that is spiritual to the natural mind. Only the Holy Spirit can reveal himself.

Most importantly, if God has revealed himself to you, then no man can tell you otherwise.

Jesus is more real to me than the very breath I breathe.
May he open our eyes to the glory of his presence. Continue to seek him and a relationship with him and he will give you the wisdom needed for any circumstance.

Be Blessed!!
Denton

 

[FearNot7]

Well, first of all, thank you for your replies. I'm still looking forward to more. They really are helpful and make a lot more sense and have better points than the Atheists did/do.

Second... I typed that sometime in the middle of the night I think, so I realized I made a few or more mistakes with spelling and stuff like that.

 

[aspartamefree]

Fearnot7,

Dare I say....fear not!

Firstly, you must remember that the only way for someone to become a Christian is for the Holy Spirit to dwell in them. (my summary of 1 Corinthians 2:6-16)That happens when God sends His Spirit to them, ie when they are converted. So its not suprising that people argue with you....they don't have the Spirit. (To illustrate, remember what you thought about the gospel before you became a Christian, if you can remember that. It sounds so silly and stupid. Then, a day later, it all makes sense. That's the Holy Spirit doing His work in you.)
Secondly, athiests posting on the net tend to be more sophisticated than your garden variety pagan. Most people (indeed, the vast majority) simply haven't given God a thought, let alone constructed serious arguements about why He should or should not exist. Thus, when you are talking to people you meet in the street, you will not come up against many of these arguements. Having said that, you may not be any more successful in having a meaningful conversation with friends and family. They may just ignore you.

Thirdly, I can guarentee you that nothing that will ever get posted in any forum anywhere on the internet will ever be original. People have been thinking up reasons to reject Jesus since before He was born. Any since about 34 AD they have all been the same, just with different hats on. Try lurking on message boards where people raise these objections, and then researching them on the net. For every difficult question, you will find ten good answers (and about 100 bad ones!)

But finally, remember who God is. Remember that sometimes things don't make sense. That's OK. I don't need to know how my car works to drive it. I don't need to know how the internet works to post this reply, and I don't need to know how substitutionary atonement works to be saved by it. What I do need to know is who died for me, and what he wants me to do.

Hope that's helpful.
Aspartamefree.

 

[njcl]

You know... I'm trying to do the right thing, and what the Bible says to do.... that's spreading His word.

I try so hard to do whatever I can to prove God's real, which I think, there is proof.

Though the thing that's hard about all this is that when I talk to Atheists on another forum, they manage to get my mind saying "Maybe God's not real..." but in my heart, no matter how much sense they make sometimes, my heart is still telling me "Johanna... you know He's real."

So I feel like I might not be strong enough to be telling people about God, because I let their "good points" get to my head, though in my heart, I feel Him there. It's not just in the mind, it's a physical feeling in my heart that stays their no matter what. It's not a bad feeling either, like pain, but it's very good... hard to explain.

So should I keep trying to get them to understand God more and do what the Bible says? Or should I just let it go?

They posted this link to a website on the forum...
www.godisimaginary.com
which scared me pretty bad because of the things that make sense to me.

I told that how the Bible mentions the earth being round, and hanging on nothing, before anyone could have ever known that... but they shot both down. I KNOW there has to be some kind of proof. I even asked them how they think everything became so perfect, but then they reply with "Well if God created the earth, who created God?"
I've also asked them how they think we got the year 2007 instead of the year when people BEFORE Jesus was born. It can't be by coincidence that Jesus was born 2007 years ago.
They think the year is just a year they came up with because no one knew how old the earth was.

Does anyone have any proof at all that I might not know about?

I think my main reason for this is because I need some words of encouragement that the Bible is true.

My sister also said that in the Bible, it says something like matter can't be destroyed, only changed, or something like that. And she said she doesn't think they would've known that back then in the Bible days.

I didn't mean to make this so long. But it was a lot of thoughts I had stored up that I couldn't get out. I could say SO, SO much more, but it would be too much.

I just want to know more about the Bible, to understand it more.

I would REALLY appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks for your time.

GOD is real,FACT,to believe and understand needs a childs view upon it not a intelligent scientists approach

who made god,similar to where does space end,theres a brick wall so whats behind the wall?such thoughts will send you to the mental hospital,we are not capable nor fitted out to interprete such questions

lol at your sisters comment,GOD made flesh and matter and can destroy both with consumate ease

its ok doubting,were imperfect so need total proof of our faith,stick with it sister and THE CHRIST will reward you with indesputable proof........

 

[Chazper]

You know... I'm trying to do the right thing, and what the Bible says to do.... that's spreading His word.

I try so hard to do whatever I can to prove God's real, which I think, there is proof.

Though the thing that's hard about all this is that when I talk to Atheists on another forum, they manage to get my mind saying "Maybe God's not real..." but in my heart, no matter how much sense they make sometimes, my heart is still telling me "Johanna... you know He's real." .................................

I just want to know more about the Bible, to understand it more.

I would REALLY appreciate your thoughts.

Thanks for your time.

I have talked to Atheist especially those who think they are logical, yet their reasoning does not disprove the existence of God. Here's a recent conversation with them:

Atheists trying to disprove the existence of God, caught with their own foolish reasonings.

First argument: Order was created without Intelligence.
Counter argument: The Contest.
No more comments from them. To God be the Glory.
​

I recommend that you take a quick look at this site to learn the in and out of the Bible (Truth Caster). You will listen to the only sensible preacher in this time i.m.o., that no other religious preacher or people (atheist etc.) have ever won in a debate.

 

[daniel777]

atheiets can seem intimedating by yelling out a series of words, but try to pay attention to what they are actually saying. Focus more on the assumptions they are making in their arguments. And whatever is said, remember TRUTH IS NOT DEPENDENT ON OPINION truth

 

[daniel777]

is what defines opinion. in other words most of these athiests have already made the decision to shut their eyes and stick their head in the dirt.

If you are swayed, be by their arguments alone the "truth" in them (well thats an oxymoron truth and atheists ha ha ha ha . . . ) But again this is probably just a test.

 

[markbelieves]

FearNot,

I am quite a bit older than you and I still struggle occasionally with thoughts of "what if..." Then all of the wonders of Gods creation remind me of his presence and I am back. Also, when I pray and read the Word I feel much closer to God and this helps to calm any doubts.

My biggest suggestion to you right now is this, focus on your own beliefs for now and stay away from debates with atheists or other doubters. That isn't healthy for you right now.

Grace and Peace,

Mark