Struggling with christian faith

gideon123

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"Well, I thought I gave a good reply that most would not give. "

be at peace. I was not criticizing your post. No competition is necessary. Let us pray that the OP finds the Light. Thank you for your contribution!
 
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Hi all. I have just turned 58 years old & have been a Christian for most of my life. 2 years ago my son started university, & he had also been raised a Christian. About 6 months ago, he told me that he no longer believed that jesus was the jewish messiah or god, & that he was converting to Judaism. I didn't even realise that you could convert to Judaism (I thought you had to be born a jew). Thinking that my son must be mistaken in his belief, & believing I could change his mind, I asked my son if we could do some bible study together every week, where he could explain his belief, & I could through the scriptures prove that jesus WAS indeed the messiah, & son of god.

Well things haven't gone as planned, because instead of my being able to prove my point, I have not really been able to fault my sons logic & belief in the reading & understanding of the scriptures, in both the old & new testament. I guess that deep down I always had my doubts about many things in the new testament scripture, but always dismissed my own doubts as negativity creeping in through satans work.

I now am doubting Jesus as the messiah, & beginning to think that the jews have been right all along. I have talked to my own church pastor about some of the issues with the reading of the bible, however he cannot give any satisfactory answers, whereas if I talk to my sons Rabbi, it all suddenly makes sense. I just feel stuck at the moment, not knowing which way to turn. Do I continue as a Christian, where I have felt safe all my life, but now doubt its validity, or do I follow my son & convert to Judaism?
Your profile says you are only 28.
 
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Earth18

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I think if we are all honest, most of us who have grown up in a Christian home have had a crisis of faith. For me I had to find out who God was on my own. Just being told there was/IS a Jesus was not enough. I quickly learned as a young adult that there definitely was a God by a miracle that science could never explain away. Next, I needed to know why it was Christianity, specifically Jesus over any other religion. I think some meditating and asking God to show you who He is would be the best step. He is the one who knows you better than you know yourself and can speak to you in your understanding. You're not the first person to have their child come home from college and say the no longer believe in Christianity.

Although I have believed for a long time now I still wanted to build more on a solid foundation and it is something I still do all the time. One thing that touched me was a devotion that said of all the religions out there only in Christianity did God come down to us and seek us out. Other religions the human is chasing this unattainable God performing good deeds. Of course, part of our religion is the OT. Another thing that helped was the first book by the late Nabeel Qureshi, Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus. This book touched in so many ways. I also like turning to the Jews for Jesus for answers. They have amazing insight.

Maybe tell your son he has challenged you to look deeper into your religion and you will get back to him later after some mediation. My prayers are with you.
 
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Vicomte13

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Hi all. I have just turned 58 years old & have been a Christian for most of my life. 2 years ago my son started university, & he had also been raised a Christian. About 6 months ago, he told me that he no longer believed that jesus was the jewish messiah or god, & that he was converting to Judaism. I didn't even realise that you could convert to Judaism (I thought you had to be born a jew). Thinking that my son must be mistaken in his belief, & believing I could change his mind, I asked my son if we could do some bible study together every week, where he could explain his belief, & I could through the scriptures prove that jesus WAS indeed the messiah, & son of god.

Well things haven't gone as planned, because instead of my being able to prove my point, I have not really been able to fault my sons logic & belief in the reading & understanding of the scriptures, in both the old & new testament. I guess that deep down I always had my doubts about many things in the new testament scripture, but always dismissed my own doubts as negativity creeping in through satans work.

I now am doubting Jesus as the messiah, & beginning to think that the jews have been right all along. I have talked to my own church pastor about some of the issues with the reading of the bible, however he cannot give any satisfactory answers, whereas if I talk to my sons Rabbi, it all suddenly makes sense. I just feel stuck at the moment, not knowing which way to turn. Do I continue as a Christian, where I have felt safe all my life, but now doubt its validity, or do I follow my son & convert to Judaism?
The Bible alone will not get you there. God left other signs that are miracles provi NG the divine nature of Jesus. There is the Shroud of Turin and it’s companion Oviedo Cloth. There is the Lanciano Eucharistic miracle. There are the many incorrupt bodies of saints who died long ago, including the body of Bernadette Soubirous, who say Mary at Lourdes. And there are the healing miracles at Lourdes, each documented by medical science. There are no Jewish miracles you can hold and study in the lab. So, God left concrete proof of Jesus’ divinity. Proof which has been forensically studied, and which is indeed scientifically inexplicable. The book, the Bible can tell the story, but it cannot prove the case. The miracles God left surrounding Jesus, and nobody else, prove the case.
 
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corinth77777

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Hi all. I have just turned 58 years old & have been a Christian for most of my life. 2 years ago my son started university, & he had also been raised a Christian. About 6 months ago, he told me that he no longer believed that jesus was the jewish messiah or god, & that he was converting to Judaism. I didn't even realise that you could convert to Judaism (I thought you had to be born a jew). Thinking that my son must be mistaken in his belief, & believing I could change his mind, I asked my son if we could do some bible study together every week, where he could explain his belief, & I could through the scriptures prove that jesus WAS indeed the messiah, & son of god.

Well things haven't gone as planned, because instead of my being able to prove my point, I have not really been able to fault my sons logic & belief in the reading & understanding of the scriptures, in both the old & new testament. I guess that deep down I always had my doubts about many things in the new testament scripture, but always dismissed my own doubts as negativity creeping in through satans work.

I now am doubting Jesus as the messiah, & beginning to think that the jews have been right all along. I have talked to my own church pastor about some of the issues with the reading of the bible, however he cannot give any satisfactory answers, whereas if I talk to my sons Rabbi, it all suddenly makes sense. I just feel stuck at the moment, not knowing which way to turn. Do I continue as a Christian, where I have felt safe all my life, but now doubt its validity, or do I follow my son & convert to Judaism?
If you are really a Christian, you would have no doubt about Jesus being Lord. At least that's my thoughts. Why? Because when He becomes Lord of your life,.you experience Life from above. Have you trusted Him for your self? This is not meant for you to answer here....but to yourself........
 
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Swan7

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Haven't ANYONE read that a man said to Jesus "I believe, help my unbelief!"????

In Christ there is NOTHING too hard for Him! Stop discouraging people and start ENCOURAGING people in His Name! Pray for those like this and your enemies! What happened to humbling oneself?? A lot of these posts are not helping, but destroying! Let God do what He will do in this person's life, it's up to that person whether or not he comes to belief in Jesus Christ.
We sow the seed (and it better be of good seed!) and God does the watering - but we have to allow God to do that. Remember to get out of His way so He can do His work.

Honestly we are FAR too quick to judge someone when we don't know anything about that person's life. Recognize where a person is (discernment from the Holy Spirit) before even beginning to start "ministering" to them.

Verse of the Day: 1 John 4:15 "Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God - God remains in him and he in God."

Thank you Lord, Jesus!
 
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mindlight

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Hi all. I have just turned 58 years old & have been a Christian for most of my life. 2 years ago my son started university, & he had also been raised a Christian. About 6 months ago, he told me that he no longer believed that jesus was the jewish messiah or god, & that he was converting to Judaism. I didn't even realise that you could convert to Judaism (I thought you had to be born a jew). Thinking that my son must be mistaken in his belief, & believing I could change his mind, I asked my son if we could do some bible study together every week, where he could explain his belief, & I could through the scriptures prove that jesus WAS indeed the messiah, & son of god.

Well things haven't gone as planned, because instead of my being able to prove my point, I have not really been able to fault my sons logic & belief in the reading & understanding of the scriptures, in both the old & new testament. I guess that deep down I always had my doubts about many things in the new testament scripture, but always dismissed my own doubts as negativity creeping in through satans work.

I now am doubting Jesus as the messiah, & beginning to think that the jews have been right all along. I have talked to my own church pastor about some of the issues with the reading of the bible, however he cannot give any satisfactory answers, whereas if I talk to my sons Rabbi, it all suddenly makes sense. I just feel stuck at the moment, not knowing which way to turn. Do I continue as a Christian, where I have felt safe all my life, but now doubt its validity, or do I follow my son & convert to Judaism?

You have not responded to any help given. But it seems ludicrous to leave the idea that converting to Judaism is a rational choice just lying there unexamined. Personally I like Jews think God has a place for them and Israel in His plan but think they are deeply deceived.

Jews have a very strong sense of their own self importance in my experience. But Judaism was always meant to be a light to the gentiles. Despite your sons conversion and your doubts the overall balance of conversions is towards Christianity and away from Judaism. Rabbis are so well versed in NT theology and the arguments of Christian missionaries cause they have to be. Judaism has a limited global appeal and it is Christians that have truly been bringing God and indeed the Jewish scriptures to the gentiles. Jesus is the key to understanding how Jewish pride got converted into a Christian sacrificial love that has won and is winning disciples from every nation.

Second a Christian will show you that Jesus fulfilled loads of prophecies from the OT. The Rabbi will then quoting from the least Jesus friendly texts he has attempt to show you how the original prophecy never pointed to the kind of fulfilment at all and that by conclusion Jesus does not fulfill the prophecy properly interpreted. Also the Jews favour the more political prophecies that Jesus will fulfill in his second Coming. But controversies like this do have answers even if sometimes you have to use the Septuagint or DSS to show how Jewish revisionism has distorted their reading of Jesus and of the original texts.
 
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ROBERT SHIPLEY

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Hi Grant, I would advise that you keep keeping on with Jesus. You are pretty new in your walk in Christ. There is a wealth of information out there that would help you know for sure that Jesus (Yeshua) is the promised Messiah.
Look up the old testament scriptures that speak of the Messiah and compare them to the life of Christ.
Check out books by Josh McDowell, William Laine Craig, Craig Blomberg. They can really help!

I came across this from Jews for Jesus:

What proof do you have that Jesus is the Messiah? • Jews for Jesus
 
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hedrick

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a caution to Readers about this thread.

The OP never replied to anyone. In addition, as others pointed out, he says that he is 58 in the msg, but his profile says 28 years old.

these days, you just cannot tell who comes on this Forum, or what the real purpose is. it is probably not worth wasting your time and effort on more replies. There are too many inconsistencies.
This was not his first posting, and he has responded to other postings since. It's easy to lose track of a discussion if you didn't check the right box.
 
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dcalling

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Hi all. I have just turned 58 years old & have been a Christian for most of my life. 2 years ago my son started university, & he had also been raised a Christian. About 6 months ago, he told me that he no longer believed that jesus was the jewish messiah or god, & that he was converting to Judaism. I didn't even realise that you could convert to Judaism (I thought you had to be born a jew). Thinking that my son must be mistaken in his belief, & believing I could change his mind, I asked my son if we could do some bible study together every week, where he could explain his belief, & I could through the scriptures prove that jesus WAS indeed the messiah, & son of god.

Well things haven't gone as planned, because instead of my being able to prove my point, I have not really been able to fault my sons logic & belief in the reading & understanding of the scriptures, in both the old & new testament. I guess that deep down I always had my doubts about many things in the new testament scripture, but always dismissed my own doubts as negativity creeping in through satans work.

I now am doubting Jesus as the messiah, & beginning to think that the jews have been right all along. I have talked to my own church pastor about some of the issues with the reading of the bible, however he cannot give any satisfactory answers, whereas if I talk to my sons Rabbi, it all suddenly makes sense. I just feel stuck at the moment, not knowing which way to turn. Do I continue as a Christian, where I have felt safe all my life, but now doubt its validity, or do I follow my son & convert to Judaism?

I was rasied atheist, and come to Jesus from a total non-Christian point of view. Initially when I heard my Christian friends talk to me about how Jesus was prophesied in OT etc, I feel those were far stretches as well. In fact even after I believed that there must be a God and Christianity is likely the way to go, I had to look through Islam (in detail) and Judism (not so much detail) and decide my way.

Anyway the primary reason I think Christianity is the way, is due to the simple fact that we are obviousely all sinners and there is no way we can save ourselves, not by following the laws, i.e. that Jesus stated simply as "Love God with all and love your neighbor as yourself", which is also in OT, none can do that. And also that if you hate your brother, you have committed murder, and if you look at women lustly, that is adultry. None can avoid. The law fails us (or make us stumble) and we can only be saved by Grace. "But he was pained because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; the chastisement of our welfare was upon him, and with his wound we were healed." Isaiah 53:5
 
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Andrew77

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Hi all. I have just turned 58 years old & have been a Christian for most of my life. 2 years ago my son started university, & he had also been raised a Christian. About 6 months ago, he told me that he no longer believed that jesus was the jewish messiah or god, & that he was converting to Judaism. I didn't even realise that you could convert to Judaism (I thought you had to be born a jew). Thinking that my son must be mistaken in his belief, & believing I could change his mind, I asked my son if we could do some bible study together every week, where he could explain his belief, & I could through the scriptures prove that jesus WAS indeed the messiah, & son of god.

Well things haven't gone as planned, because instead of my being able to prove my point, I have not really been able to fault my sons logic & belief in the reading & understanding of the scriptures, in both the old & new testament. I guess that deep down I always had my doubts about many things in the new testament scripture, but always dismissed my own doubts as negativity creeping in through satans work.

I now am doubting Jesus as the messiah, & beginning to think that the jews have been right all along. I have talked to my own church pastor about some of the issues with the reading of the bible, however he cannot give any satisfactory answers, whereas if I talk to my sons Rabbi, it all suddenly makes sense. I just feel stuck at the moment, not knowing which way to turn. Do I continue as a Christian, where I have felt safe all my life, but now doubt its validity, or do I follow my son & convert to Judaism?

Well yeah. I agree with the others. I would assume you still trust the Lord G-d of Heaven.... right? So what I would do, is keep praying that G-d will show you the truth, either way. Let him answer the question.

Keep reading your Bible. Do your daily reading, or weekly... whatever you do for devotionals, and just pray "Lord teach me whatever you wish". G-d will not turn anyone down who wants wisdom.

Just do that. The answer may not come for a year even, but G-d will always answer a prayer for wisdom. You trust him, so keep trusting him.
 
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WilliamBo

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Gedday Grant,
Grant you and your son have been seduced away from Grace back to the Law. This was what Paul was battling against and was the reason for many of his letters of encouragement to stay with Jesus/Grace.
You are going back to something that can never take away sins.
You are going back to the yoke of bondage that neither we nor our fathers were able to bear.
You are leaving behind the one sacrifice for sins forever which has redeemed you, justified you before God.
You are setting aside the grace of God and trying to establish your own righteousness based upon your efforts to keep laws.
You are being entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
Don't do it brother!

This is exactly what is happening. Please don't let your son convince you otherwise. The Jews do not have it right. There is power in the name of Jesus. He is King of Kings, Lord of Lords.

There is no other.
 
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A lesson that I learned too late is this: a healthy faith journey has bumps in the road and changes of perspective. Sometimes that means losing some of the certainty that gave me comfort, but also kept me rooted in one place with even more blind spots than I have today. I look at it this way: our minds can't comprehend God as He actually is, so I don't think He is angered by my struggles to understand - no matter how far off my current perspectives were, are, or will be next year.
 
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2PhiloVoid

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Hi all. I have just turned 58 years old & have been a Christian for most of my life. 2 years ago my son started university, & he had also been raised a Christian. About 6 months ago, he told me that he no longer believed that jesus was the jewish messiah or god, & that he was converting to Judaism. I didn't even realise that you could convert to Judaism (I thought you had to be born a jew). Thinking that my son must be mistaken in his belief, & believing I could change his mind, I asked my son if we could do some bible study together every week, where he could explain his belief, & I could through the scriptures prove that jesus WAS indeed the messiah, & son of god.

Well things haven't gone as planned, because instead of my being able to prove my point, I have not really been able to fault my sons logic & belief in the reading & understanding of the scriptures, in both the old & new testament. I guess that deep down I always had my doubts about many things in the new testament scripture, but always dismissed my own doubts as negativity creeping in through satans work.

I now am doubting Jesus as the messiah, & beginning to think that the jews have been right all along. I have talked to my own church pastor about some of the issues with the reading of the bible, however he cannot give any satisfactory answers, whereas if I talk to my sons Rabbi, it all suddenly makes sense. I just feel stuck at the moment, not knowing which way to turn. Do I continue as a Christian, where I have felt safe all my life, but now doubt its validity, or do I follow my son & convert to Judaism?

No, it's more like they've always been half right & half wrong, which has been their typical, God evaluated pattern ... :rolleyes: But, you'd have to read the entire Old Testament in full, very carefully, to see this.
 
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ladodgers6

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Hi all. I have just turned 58 years old & have been a Christian for most of my life. 2 years ago my son started university, & he had also been raised a Christian. About 6 months ago, he told me that he no longer believed that jesus was the jewish messiah or god, & that he was converting to Judaism. I didn't even realise that you could convert to Judaism (I thought you had to be born a jew). Thinking that my son must be mistaken in his belief, & believing I could change his mind, I asked my son if we could do some bible study together every week, where he could explain his belief, & I could through the scriptures prove that jesus WAS indeed the messiah, & son of god.

Well things haven't gone as planned, because instead of my being able to prove my point, I have not really been able to fault my sons logic & belief in the reading & understanding of the scriptures, in both the old & new testament. I guess that deep down I always had my doubts about many things in the new testament scripture, but always dismissed my own doubts as negativity creeping in through satans work.

I now am doubting Jesus as the messiah, & beginning to think that the jews have been right all along. I have talked to my own church pastor about some of the issues with the reading of the bible, however he cannot give any satisfactory answers, whereas if I talk to my sons Rabbi, it all suddenly makes sense. I just feel stuck at the moment, not knowing which way to turn. Do I continue as a Christian, where I have felt safe all my life, but now doubt its validity, or do I follow my son & convert to Judaism?

Thanks so much for sharing your story, I really appreciate it. I am glad that I read your post. Jesus is the Messiah and it can be easily proven. Often times we are not equipped to answer questions. So I have a gift for you. I have a Reformation CD with ranging radio discussions from Jesus the Messiah to DNA proving God exists. I can email, mail, whatever you wish. I also have a couple of websites to help with this matter. Please take advantage and research this matter for yourself. Once you get a grip on it. Then you can present it to your son and that Rabbi. On the CD it also mention a prominent Rabbi who after analyzing the evidence, concluded that Jesus the Son of God did exist in human form.

So look over the overwhelming evidence first before to make any conclusions.

Whitehorseinn.org

Corechristianity.org

Monergism.com

Please reach out if you need help.

God bless!

In Christ!
 
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ראשי - דרק פרינס ישראל

Derek Prince Ministries : Israel

Derek Prince was a Cambridge philosophy professor who encountered God's Spirit and was led to read the Bible, understand it and break family tradition and not join the officers in WW2 but served as a nurse.

Derek has amazing teachings on the exchange on the cross and the fulfilment of Bible prophecy in Jesus life and death and resurrection. On Jesus' blood...
 
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