Warning signs from God?

[RogerS]

Oh yeah, with this I agree, but don't you see that is precisely why its so important that when we set out searching for the truth we actually be willing to do the work of considering for ourselves what is true

Yes, I agree it's important to start this search. I've read several books right now. Both by Christians as by people that are against Christianity, or at least the orthodox Christianity. And of course I've read several books in the Bible.

And then we get still a little more older and we realize that life really is entirely about love and family and the simple things after all.

I think that's why Jesus tells us that in order to come to him, we have to come to him as children:
open minded, hearths full of love and with out any preconceived notion that we know better. Sometimes, in order to find real truth, we have to be willing to put aside what we think we already know.

I agree that life is about love, family and the simple things. And that it is good to have few preconceived notions when doing this search. However, practically it's not easy to release all your preconceived notions. And I'm wondering whether it's something we should do at all. Those preconceived notions are existing for a reason. The fact that my history book doesn't mention Jesus as being raised from the dead describes that we at least don't have evidence from a historical point of view that such a thing happened. It describes that most historians in my country don't believe that the Bible can be considered to be history. The fact that pretty much all of the intelligent people I know don't believe in Christianity also might mean something.

I agree that you should let go of false assumptions. But I do think that we can't just ignore the reasons that our belief system currently is the way it is.

Then one night, I had a dream and in this dream was this girl, dressed in sort of a long white dress standing in front of a light so that I could barely see her face. I heard, and assumed it was her, "Jeffrey, can't you see that I love you. Can't you see that I have always loved you?", then the girl stepped aside and the light that was behind her surrounded me. Roger, I can't explain to you that feeling, almost like for an instant I was an infant again back in my Mothers arms. So completely safe, so completely loved, so completely at peace. I knew it was Jesus.

They say that people come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime, and that's true, because shortly after my experience my friend told me that he had to stop working there because it was not what God wanted and like that, she was gone. My life changed forever that night of the dream, but I was still living amongst those who just didn't get it. They thought it was funny. Couldn't believe that me, of all people, could change in that way. They teased me and thought it was fun to tempt me back to the way I was before. Try to get me drunk. Girls throwing themselves at me. It was as if they felt that if they could do it, if they could just get me in the bed, if they could just get the new Christian to renounce his new found faith for just one night with them that it would somehow compensate for all which they hated about themselves. That somehow it would fill that emptiness inside them. That empty place were God should be, but couldn't get in. Those girls didn't want me, they just didn't want themselves. They weren't testing me, they were testing God and I don't think they even knew it - they just couldn't see past the mobile.

Friend, I promise you that folks are going to look at you sideways should you decide to fearlessly pursue the truth.

Thanks for sharing such an incredible story with me. The dream that I shared in my first example also made a big impact on me. The difference is that you immediately knew it was Jesus that was talking to you, and I (although I must admit that my faith in Christianity was probably at the highest point right after that dream) didn't.

Interesting that you came to faith in such a non-Christian environment. How did you come to consider the Christian faith in the first place, thinking about attending church and all that?

I can accept that people in my environment will ridicule me and not understand me once I have faith in Christianity. However, I think now there are 2 sides to my situation. The one side is the side that has these experience (like the 3 examples I mentioned above). The other side is the side that doesn't see the Bible as being coherent with scientific evidence that looks very convincing. Furthermore, after reading about half of the Bible, I haven't had the idea yet that I was reading the Book of Truth (although there are some good lessons that you can learn by reading the Bible, I'm sure of that).

Sometimes, like you, I wonder whether it would be a good idea to go to church. But currently, my faith is more non-Christian than Christian. I'd rather be ridiculed once I really believe in Christianity than at this moment where I still don't know what I believe and am even more at the side of not being a Christian. I guess I can defend my faith if I would ever become a Christian. But now, at this point, it feels too early to make any visible step towards Christianity, except for doing a lot of reading, participating in discussions like the one on this forum and also praying.

I do have a lot of doubts about this though. Like you said, there is always temptation. I'm not even interesting in having one night stands with a girl, but since I'm surrounded by almost only non-Christian girls, it would seem a lot easier to meet a non-Christian girl to have a relationship than a Christian girl. In such a non-Christian relationship, it's expected to have sex. And I know I would feel the desire to have sex once I meet someone special that feels the same way about me. But since I'm having these experiences like the one I mentioned in my example (especially nr 2), I'm not sure whether God would want me to do something like that. I've prayed and asked God whether he can help me with meeting someone that's right for me. But still, I feel extremely uncertain about this topic right now. I have the idea that it would be okay to meet such a non-Christian girl and have sex with her if it's something special. But I don't want to do something stupid that would make God punish me or something like that.