Hello all, new to the forum and apologies if this belongs elsewhere - please move or delete it, if so. I've been earnestly seeking God for the last four years, and don't know where to turn at this point.
It finally sounds like you are ready to seek out who God is. (on his terms)
Usually when we seek God we have an idea of what we are looking for. and because finite people can not have a accurate understanding of an infinite God whatever you are looking for will ultimately be wrong. To say you do not know, says you are finally ready.
I was not raised in the church, but have attended multiple churches since college and I'm striving to find something that points to God.
like what.
I know that I'm a skeptical person at heart, and I want to believe, but I don't know how. I can't find anything to believe in the "proof" that people try to show me.
the proof comes from God in the way of the holy Spirit. Meaning only God can show you. the problem is if you do not know scripture you can not discern the works of God from the works of man without a personal disaster or impossible trial.
Sometime our hearts are just so hard towards God anything but God allowing something bad to happen is the only way we will be able to know him. So you need to be open to let God do whatever it takes to openly speak to you.
A Lot of time 'we' need to be taken past the point where there is no help or hope for anyone to save us. So that when salvation comes we know it can only come to one source. When we give thanks and use the experience from that trial we will see where God is and where he is not in our lives.
Think of peter being called out to walk on water with Jesus.. He was asked to follow him into an impossible situation so he went.. then he realized how impossible it was knowing at this point only God could keep him from drowning which he did take on some water... Then God/Jesus pulled him free solidifying who Jesus was to Peter.
Now replace water with a lost job, cancer, a sudden disability etc... Does God always pull everyone all the way back? no, but that is what makes it a real trial.. the idea of not having a full recovery is the same as peter beginning to doubt and to take on water.
Worship is most of the music I listen to, I read and listen to the Bible every day, I have tried to research the scientific evidence for God, the archaeological evidence for Jesus, the theological evidence of the Bible, I have tried weekly Bible studies and other groups, I attend church regularly, but I feel nothing.
because study is not a feeling, God is not a feeling. You are looking for the pop christian God. This guy is great he does stuff inexchange for good deeds, he makes people feel great about themselves when they do good deeds and he is often compared to the grandpa who spoils his grandchildren.. (Dear God i will never do another bad thing if you ABC.. Dear God I will go on this mission trip if you make so in so marry me... Dear god.. )The only problem with him is this is not the God of the bible.
Like it or not the God of the bible wants slaves. He is not looking to be your personal genie or birthday clown who does tricks and magic to show you he is there with you.
"Come to me you who are weak and heavily laden for my yoke... (yoke is a devise that bound slaves and or beasts of burden to a plow or wagon.) For my yoke is easy, and my load is light.
Does this sound like a grandpa looking to spoil you? or does this sound like a master looking for slaves to serve him by advertising easy work?
If you are looking for pop christianity God, and the God of the bible is a slave owner.. then why would the slave owner show himself to you as a old grandpa only to turn you out to the fields as a beast of burden? In turn.. if you are looking for grandpa would you even notice the slave owner if he spoke to you?
Do you see what I am saying? God will not support or give life to the false gods we create even if they are based on the bible. Not if we are truly looking for the real God.
I have never felt God's presence in my life.
If you don't know who God is... how in the world can you then possible say you never felt him in your life? besides that what does God 'feel like' (book chapter and verse please.)
In the bible when people meet up with God it is always terror. is this what you mean?
Look at how they/Pharisees treated Jesus Christ himself. If Jesus made them feel like he was God do you think they would have argued and fought with him at every turn, do you think they would have him beaten and killed?
Or do you mean the holy Spirit? Look at Paul did he ever report some sort of life long euphoric feeling? Clearly he was one of the most Spirit indwelt people as he wrote 2/3s of the NT.
He even wrote what it was like to be indwelt by the holy Spirit in the way of Spiritual fruit:
But the fruit that the Spirit produces in a person’s life is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these kinds of things. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their sinful self. They have given up their old selfish feelings and the evil things they wanted to do. which later yield gifts/ablities given to us by God to help us in our work.. but this super christian thing some of us can do.. that is between them and God. As we are all not the same and will not manifest God the same way in our lives or worship.
Now does this mean you can't be "drunk in the Spirit?" no as that is identified as a spiritual experience, but it is not a permanent thing. It's not even offered to everyone.
I have never found a reason to believe. I have come far from where I started, but it feels like I've been stuck in the same place for the last eighteen months or so. I've met with three ministers and still meet with a minister friend of mine every week, and though I love him, he admits freely that he has no answers for me in my lack of belief.
I was an atheist for a long time. but I wanted to know the God of the bible truth and not the religious truth. for many religion is enough and there is enough God to sustain those who primarily support each other.
For those of us who want to know and see the real God for those of us who are the doubting thomas' there is a provision, but we got to meet God on his terms and we have to study enough to recognise the God of the bile and not the pop christian version. Then we need to turn it all over. Ask him to take you health wealth way of life or even you life if need be. then as far as you can discriminate let God (via your knowledge of the bible lead you.) Do things you see need to be done. if you feel for a cause or group or know of someone who needs help help. This will take you well out past your comfort zone. it is past the everyday stuff do we ever find ourselves in God country.
I've been told by some that I need to stop trying so hard, and let it come to me, but I don't fully understand that.
Luke 11 tells us to ask seek and knock. To knock is to repeat the asking and seeking till God answers you.
So no don't stop. Those who stop get consumed by the community which for some is all they are looking for. If you want that face to face with the Holy spirit, then keep knocking like Jesus says to.
Stop reading the Bible? Stop attending church?
I would keep going
I don't understand how that is supposed to help. I've been told that this is God testing me, or preparing me, or that this will make me value my faith when it does come, but I don't understand that, either, especially when I feel so close to just throwing the towel in and calling it a day.
Are you familiar with the wise and foolish builders?
The house is your faith. now you can do/build the exact same things as someone else in your church. you can attend all the same classes do the same works go to church every sunday and wednesdays and even take the extra courses.. This is all your house. The only difference is that the foundation of your neighbor maybes built on the God of the bible. The deity looking for slaves the Son who came and died for our sins the holy Spirit that offers fruit rather than intoxicating feelings.
And all of your house was built on the pop christian version of God. gG-popop.. who trades good deed for tricking them into marriage.
Now does this mean the faith built on sand is bad or is unsaved? not according to the parable. it just means all of your work is destroyed when tested. Meaning there is very little to no ability to host God in your life in your heart/home. This translates to a lack of direct knowledge of God.. meaning in your life there will be no proof. The Holy Spirit will not be able to directly plug into to your spiritual life if your "faith/house" (where he is suppsed to live) collapses when ever the trails the father sends because you are not building on who God really is.
Why does God do this? So we do not chase after and worship false Gods so we do not have an unreal or unholy relationship with God. To seperate those who can live by faith alone from those who need direct contact with God.
I am a direct contact person my self and can not live off faith. thankfully God has turned my life completely over and put me to work for him in ways I would have never selected for myself and at the end am much happier for it!
I'm trying so hard not to give up and to keep striving, keep searching, keep reading, but it's so hard. I've been going to church for five years but I still can't call myself a Christian.
What I learned through a humbling lesson.. If you call yourself a christian then you are doing it all wrong. Only Christ decides who is and who is not saved. a Christian describes a soul saved by Christ. We do not decide that in mat 7:1 “Not everyone who calls me Lord will enter God’s kingdom. The only people who will enter are those who do what my Father in heaven wants. 22 On that last Day many will call me Lord. They will say, ‘Lord, Lord, by the power of your name we spoke for God. And by your name we forced out demons and did many miracles.’ 23 Then I will tell those people clearly, ‘Get away from me, you people who do wrong. I never knew you.’
Look at the list of the things these guys did for Jesus.. If any christian today could legitly do 'many miracles and force out demons' we would make them the new pope.
But here Jesus says he never knew him.. Think about that.. these gys obviously thought they where saved and that they where not only members of the church but very high in the leadership according to their works... and yet Jesus said they were never 'christian.'
From this example I try and not presume my status before God.
So rather than I am a christian I am a follower of Christ.
I attend church events and outreach, but I'm still "other" because I don't believe. People tell me that I should just call myself Christian and get baptized, but I can't honestly say that I believe in God and that Jesus died for my sins.
for some belief is little more than checking boxes on a list. Don;t get baptised till you can understand what it is to love your Lord God with all of your heart mind Spirit and strength.
I'm in this limbo that I can't overcome on my own, and I can't see a reason why a God that wants me to believe in Him won't give me the ability to believe.
because slaves do not have the right to demand.. Meaning you want to believe in your God. so you want him to give you signs that your idea of God is real so you can fill in the rest of the blanks with what you want to believe...
What if... God again is a master looking for slaves. who by all accounts in modern terms is a racist, bigot and misogynist? do you seek proof of this God?
If God is truly sought does it matter who society says he is? or will you seek the God of the bible no matter what he has been painted to look like?
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When I talk to non-Christians, they ask why I'm stilll looking. If there was a God, wouldn't He have shown Himself to me?[/quote] I speak to alot of those guys as well.. and the answer I give is who are you/ or who do you think you are that the master and commander of creation owes you anything outside of the specific invitation he gave you to meet him on his terms...
Another way to put it is if someone at your church handed you an personal invitation from the president or queen or some world leader you like, that said meet him/her, at ABC on 123...
Would you expect that world leader to then compromise when you said, instead of the white house at 3:30 on the 27th of october I will meet you Mr president at the dennys at the corner of 5th and main in my home town, and btw bring something that makes me "feel your political power."
Trump, the queen, even obama (not doing anything) would tell you to pound sand...
So why oh why would a DEITY Infanitly more important than any world leader whom ever lived owe you a personal meet and greet on your terms, one that made him change the core of his being so that you could relate to him more? especially when he Gave you an invite on his terms?
what more does he owe?
