trying to believe

[Holden11]

I have been attending church and have been "pseudo" dating a christian girl for some time now, and am really struggling to find truth in christianity and Jesus. I feel like I need some sort of dramatic event to occur for me to start believing. Yes the bible is convincing in what it says, but the thing is i'm not convinced the bible is real. I need hard evidence or current proof that there is such a thing as a God and that Jesus was his son. Does anybody have any suggestions or thoughts to help? Thanks.

 

[inHisgrip]

I, too waited for some dramatic event to take place to prove God. However, that is not typically the way it goes.
I would suggest lots of prayer, ask the Lord to reveal Himself to you.
Also the Lee Strobel books are apparantly very good
"The Case For Christ"
"The Case For Faith"
"The Case For A Creator"
He was a journalist, and documented his search for the Lord and all the info he came up with.
I will pray for your search, let the Lord lead you.
In Him

 

[Christler]

Welcome to the Forums " I'm known to be long winded, so I'll try to keep this as short as possible.
Jesus said in the book of Matheww chapter 7 verses 7-8 :"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks recieves, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.
This passage of scripture from The Bible can be compared to a map that leads the way to a treasure (a treasure indeed).
There is a real true and Living God, but unless by grace He comes to a non-believer by way of His Spirit; there is something required of that non-believer if he/ or she wants to find God.
They must believe what they can't see.John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
The sad part about it is we can believe what someone will tell us about somebody else without seeing it for ourselves, but when it comes to The Gospel that is able to save our souls we are skeptical to believe.
The Bible ask us to believe first, and because of our belief then we will see.
And I will tell you why that is so. God is not on our level, He is so far above our understanding until we actually need His help to understand just enough about Him to know Him. So heres how it works.
1. We just accept that Jesus is the son of God,and that he died on the cross of calvry in our place for the forgivness of sin.
2. We confess that we are sinners,and that we repent of our sins.
3.We ask Him to come into our lives and save our souls.

Then you may,or may not be able to feel it, but if you pray that same prayer with sincerity,a miraculous thing happens.
The Holy Spirit comes and takes up residence inside of you.
When this happens, there will be an unexplainable sense of Joy, and peace.
And the Holy Spirit will begin to help you to understand some scriptures in The Bible that at first may have seemed difficult to understand, or seemed to be in contridiction.
And The Holy Spirit begins a process of changing the way you live, helping you to break habits that are not good for you,and give you a whole new desire to be Holy, and live a life pleasing to God. ( We need help to do all of these things, because naturally we cannot,and probably would'nt have a desire to.) 1Corinthians 2:14 "But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned(or appraised).
So without the indwelling of the Spirit; we cannot understand the things of God. And the only way we can recieve the Spirit is to first take a leap of faith, and BELIEVE.

 

[Rafael]

Take a look around you or look at your own hand. Do you really think you can trust someone telling you that such design is accidental? The dramatic event is when the blindness is taken away and replaced where you can see the awesome beauty and design in God's creation all around you and even within yourself, as there is only one unique you. The Bible says that we all know that God exists by what we see around us in His creation, but that after years of replacing the truth with lies, such as is taught in our humanistic school system, we forget and never build on or strengthen the truth we may have realized better as innocent children.
Can a man make a single cell of life in anything or can a man control the time and the dimensions as God can? No. Mankind is still trapped in death from the great fall that occured in the garden of Eden where God gave a critical choice to His creation. He knew we would fall and provided us a way back from death through His Son Jesus who bore our guilt and punishment on the cross for whosoever will accept His work there upon it.
I hope you will continue to seek out and find God. Call on His name and He will speak to you with life and in life. Don't expect a mighty rush of wind or drama, but a still small voice, like that one you heard as a child, that confirms the truth in your heart.
Tell God that you are trying to believe. That was part of my first prayer to God - that He would help me see and help my unbelief to go away. When I prayed that prayer, I also told Him that I would read His Word in the Bible, and if there was ever a book like it......well, there just isn't, and the proof is there if you will seek it. Compared to most truth's we accept by manuscript evidence, alone, even the Roman history would be a myth when compared to the Bible's. The Bible is well documented. Here are some links that might help you along.

http://www.carm.org/questions_bible.htm

http://www.carm.org/questions_God.htm

1Ki 19:12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

Romans 1:20 From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.

Mr 9:24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"

 

[WashedClean]

Welcome to the Forums " I'm known to be long winded, so I'll try to keep this as short as possible.
Jesus said in the book of Matheww chapter 7 verses 7-8 :"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks recieves, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.
This passage of scripture from The Bible can be compared to a map that leads the way to a treasure (a treasure indeed).
There is a real true and Living God, but unless by grace He comes to a non-believer by way of His Spirit; there is something required of that non-believer if he/ or she wants to find God.
They must believe what they can't see.John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
The sad part about it is we can believe what someone will tell us about somebody else without seeing it for ourselves, but when it comes to The Gospel that is able to save our souls we are skeptical to believe.
The Bible ask us to believe first, and because of our belief then we will see.
And I will tell you why that is so. God is not on our level, He is so far above our understanding until we actually need His help to understand just enough about Him to know Him. So heres how it works.
1. We just accept that Jesus is the son of God,and that he died on the cross of calvry in our place for the forgivness of sin.
2. We confess that we are sinners,and that we repent of our sins.
3.We ask Him to come into our lives and save our souls.

Then you may,or may not be able to feel it, but if you pray that same prayer with sincerity,a miraculous thing happens.
The Holy Spirit comes and takes up residence inside of you.
When this happens, there will be an unexplainable sense of Joy, and peace.
And the Holy Spirit will begin to help you to understand some scriptures in The Bible that at first may have seemed difficult to understand, or seemed to be in contridiction.
And The Holy Spirit begins a process of changing the way you live, helping you to break habits that are not good for you,and give you a whole new desire to be Holy, and live a life pleasing to God. ( We need help to do all of these things, because naturally we cannot,and probably would'nt have a desire to.) 1Corinthians 2:14 "But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned(or appraised).
So without the indwelling of the Spirit; we cannot understand the things of God. And the only way we can recieve the Spirit is to first take a leap of faith, and BELIEVE.

Excellent, very succinct!

 

[TheMainException]

Keep everything real

 

[nic Mary carvalho]

Hi Holden,

well yes Christianity can look very confusing, especially with morethan 33, 000 different denominations all claiming to be following Christ yet not agreeing with eachother. i think if you read documents of the Early Church Fathers, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and any Catholic literature, it should be alot clearer, if you have any questions of course you could ask me, PM or email!
The Bible itself was put together by the Catholic Church, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit guides the same Church today, so i suggest you look into that!

peace and please pray for me, nic

 

[All4one]

If you are not convinced that the bible is real then my only suggestion is logic. Search yourself and you will find a void space. Look at creation and its beauty and rather then asking is the bible real ask "How could it not be real?" All creation testifies. Has any other religion brought about such a positive change? How is the bible still the #1 seller of all times? How can it change lives without an ultimate power?
This is a tough position. God is truth and if you cannot believe the truth then you cannot believe God. If you cannot believe God how can He lead you into truth? Here is a simple suggestion... Instead of assuming the standpoint of not believing the bible just apply it to life and for a time accept it as true. You will be surprised at what God reveals to us when we accept what He says as true.
In this standpoint it seems to me that if you cannot accept Gods Holy word as true then there is nothing He can tell you that you will accept as true either. Im not ditching you in any way... I have spoke with many people in this same situation. satan peels away the word (which is the purpose of life) so that it means nothing to you thus he means more.
I will pray for you... PM me with anything else you may want to talk about..

In Love,
All4one

 

[Sketcher]

Yes the bible is convincing in what it says, but the thing is i'm not convinced the bible is real. I need hard evidence or current proof that there is such a thing as a God and that Jesus was his son. Does anybody have any suggestions or thoughts to help? Thanks.

Are you willing to come to God on His terms and not yours?

If you are, then seek Him. Pray for Him to reveal Himself to you. If you want to get rid of your sins, He will be happy to show Himself to you and forgive your sins if you ask.

It is very important to seek God on His own terms. People can make up phony tests for God. That's not the way to find Him, as He sees their motivation. If your motives are right, if you really want to find God and follow Him, He'll be faithful to answer.

I know because I did this. I lost a lot of faith and I was going to give God a fair chance before I would look elsewhere. And He did show up.

Faith is also a leap you have to take. You won't make a basket if you never take the shot.

 

[LegomasterJC]

Another topic that might help raise your faith: http://christianforums.com/t856710
Or any topic in the testimonies forum or praise reports...

 

[marc37]

all that "I"can do for you from behind this computer is give you my word that god exists and that christ is his son.but whats my word worth to you,how great is your trust in people?once when you were small you were willing to accept anything that people told you as the truth,but people lie and from lies become lies and this has been so from the first lie that has ever been told,this lie was told by the father of lies,also known as the devil or satan the enemy of god and his children,its intention............

 

[All4one]

Marc... Very wise reply! Let God speak to your heart through these pixels you see on the computer. We speak truth that can only be found from God.

 

[xiod]

Read James 1:5-6 and then try the expiriment.