Why do Christians struggle with personal problems?

[ALIgator]

Well, no one ever said Christians are perfect. We are human just like anyone else. We are tempted to sin just like anyone else, and sometimes we give into it because we are human and aren't strong enough to resist the temptation. Really the only difference between Christians and non-Christians is that we have admitted our sinful nature and imperfections to God and accepted that we can be forgiven because of Jesus dying for us.

 

[Rafael]

The sin problem is always with us until we are out of this flesh and back in our eternal bodies that Jesus said He went to prepare which we are told are "mansions" compared to the temporary tents we now inhabit.
As the others have said, we grow towards the time where we have the fruit of the Spirit, and the one you may be speaking of is "self control". Notice what Paul said of our condition again, and youare right to think that it is not a liscence to sin.

Ga 5:17 The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict.

Eventually, we should be living by the Spirit and not the flesh, but that never means we have reached perfection or are incapable of sin. The flesh, as long as we are in these bodies, has a strong influence on how we think and live. You are right in thinking it strange that we are not more united in strength, but the devil has fooled many and will continue to do so - thinking that one can live a life of sin and still get into heaven. It just is not true. A person has to turn from sin and live by the Spirit inorder to live. To live by the flesh is death.

Romans 11:12 So, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation whatsoever to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.
13 For if you keep on following it, you will perish. But if through the power of the Holy Spirit you turn from it and its evil deeds, you will live.
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
:

 

[Harlan Norris]

Our Christian beliefs are a matter of faith.Our willingness to do as our faith directs, depends on our level of faith. As Christians we are to give up the world. This is very difficult since we live in the same world that everyone else does. Our willingness to go to God with our problems, instead of trying to solve them on our own, is a matter of faith.

 

[-Frank-]

I apologize if this will come across as a provocation; such is not my intention.

As an outsider, seeing the personal troubles Christians have (esp. regarding sexuality, relationships) and talk about, I cannot but be surprised and confused how come such things trouble them.

I don't understand how people, who have been raised in Christian homes, who regularly attend church, who know the Bible well, and most of all, who claim to have a personal relationship with God -- I don't understand how these people can have the troubles that are considered to be the domain of the faithless and godless.


Why?

Not all who claim Christ's name are Christians. Christians have problems because they are alive. In this world there will be problems. The difference with Christians is the way they handle the problems. Do the problems affect their faith? It shouldn't. If it does, that person's salvation may be a circumstantial commitment. I'd be careful of 'Christians' who obsess over worldly problems.

[BIG POINT]Christians do not come to Christ for a better life, but for righteousness in the sight of God.[/BIG POINT]

The "abundant life" is not the "more money, thicker carpet, BIGGER CAR" doctrine that is so prevalent in televangelism today. The abundant life is looking to what really matters (Christ) and hardly noticing the other things that could get in the way.

 

[-Frank-]

The answer the OP and the OP only, part of the answer is in the fact that we all fall short of the Glory of God, even *after* we become Christians. We are all sinners. And we continue to fall short because we are human, but in repentance we are forgiven. And we all continue to struggle with our earthly things because of this.

Not so. God reprimanded three of Jobs friends who propogated this teaching (bad things happen when and because you sin. This is wrong, generically speaking). Bad things happen because we live in a fallen creation). Paul got bitten by a snake. That'll put a damper on anybody's day. But such is life; Paul just shook it off. It is not the problems that determine spirituality, but the reaction to those problems.

 

[ChristianDude777]

Hold on. When hard times come, when trouble comes -- it is in how you approach them that you either sin or not!

If you become ill or lose your job -- and give in to despair, you are certainly not doing as God ordained.

Hi Lion,

I missed this part of your post. My apologies.

You're right. Giving into this dispair isn't what God would want.

If you have been lied to an you lash out at the person who lied to you, then you are not doing as God ordained.
Etc.

I think trouble and sin have everything to do with eachother. It is after all in trial, that one's faith and obedience shows most.

Trouble and sin are related in this way. I understand what it is that you were asking now.

Not everyone falls when these troubles approach. Many time, Christians are taken to the point where they have to choose to remain faithful or give up. But that's where God's grace and the power of the Holy Spirit come in.

The more we come to know God the more trust we have in Him. That big trial I mentioned that I recently went through did me a world of good. I was able to see first-hand how God can take care of the darkest problems with nothing more than a word.

It took me seven months but God kept me firmly in His hands. I got scared at times, I got worried. I got frustrated.....but God never let go of me.

God bless..

Tim L.

 

[NothingButTheBlood]

Not all who claim Christ's name are Christians. Christians have problems because they are alive. In this world there will be problems. The difference with Christians is the way they handle the problems. Do the problems affect their faith? It shouldn't. If it does, that person's salvation may be a circumstantial commitment. I'd be careful of 'Christians' who obsess over worldly problems.

[BIG POINT]Christians do not come to Christ for a better life, but for righteousness in the sight of God.[/BIG POINT]

The "abundant life" is not the "more money, thicker carpet, BIGGER CAR" doctrine that is so prevalent in televangelism today. The abundant life is looking to what really matters (Christ) and hardly noticing the other things that could get in the way.

AMEN!!!!

 

[jasperbound]

It is not the problems that determine spirituality, but the reaction to those problems.

Indeed! I know that when I react badly to a problem, it is usually because of doubt or because of my own weakness. After all, Christianity isn't a one time switch. It's a gradual transformation. If I persevere against sin and hold onto my faith, I'm positive sin will not have as much of a hold on me. And I think that's why some Christians seem so sinful. Their faith becomes lukewarm.

 

[Hospes]

Lion,

It makes me sad to admit that many who claim to pursue Jesus Christ above all else, live lives that are indistinguishable from those that do not. I do not know what to write to explain the contridiction in what they claim and how they act.

There is some truth in that those of us following Christ do fail at times to do it well, but I think that does not explain the glaring contridiction you have pointed out.

I do know that it is not a fault on God's part. I know of people that have mistakenly rejected Jesus Christ because of what you have observed. Maybe that is why it saddens me so much.

 

[cyberfugue]

I apologize if this will come across as a provocation; such is not my intention.
As an outsider, seeing the personal troubles Christians have (esp. regarding sexuality, relationships) and talk about, I cannot but be surprised and confused how come such things trouble them.
I don't understand how people, who have been raised in Christian homes, who regularly attend church, who know the Bible well, and most of all, who claim to have a personal relationship with God -- I don't understand how these people can have the troubles that are considered to be the domain of the faithless and godless.
Why?

Simple answer - because we're human.

Even Christ struggled with these things, because he was as fully human as he was fully God. But He overcame all problems and all sin for us.

 

[DIVA_for_Christ]

Hello LittleLion,

In order to get through, you have to go first go through. As Christians, we are supposed to be like Christ in character especially in those hard times. Christ suffered and so will we. Therefore we need to embrace the fellowship of suffering with Christ and allow God to purify us. This does not give us an excuse to do wrong, but it's an opportunity to have the Holy Spirit reveal to us what needs to cleansed and purged from our lives.

Also, once we get through, we can be the light in a dark world. There is power in a testimony. As Christians, if we didn't have any negative experiences that we overcame how could we truthfully say that God delievered us. In order to show and teach others how to trust in God we need to have our own experience with Him first.

 

[WhiteLily1]

There is nothing in the bible that says we will be free of any problems. Actually it says the opposite. We live in a fallen world. What would we have to look forward to if all were perfect here? In what way would we lean on Jesus?

 

[jnhofzinser]

Do the problems affect their faith? It shouldn't. If it does, that person's salvation may be a circumstantial commitment. I'd be careful of 'Christians' who obsess over worldly problems.

I pray that God will mercifully preserve Frank from the kinds of problems that will make him re-think this claim.

The basic difficulty with Christianity is that faith is not genetic, but sin is. The business of "working out salvation in fear an trembling" is considerably more work than many so-called Christians sign up for.

 

[ALIOSIAS]

While some Christians attend church, attend bible studies, go on church picnics etc. doesn't mean that they have renewed their mind with the Word of God.

Jesus didn't promise us a bed of roses - he did promise that we would have tribulations. However, some Christians generate their own tribulations.

 

[Nightfire]

I am just confused. I mean, Christians have so many blessings, so much back-up from their communities, they have fellow believers to turn to. They have an intimate relationship with God whom they know they can turn to. And they have been raised to do so. Yet, they turn to sin.

This is the power and mystery of sin: that although one might have everything he needs, a relationship with God and the support of friends and family, the temptation to sin is always as close as doubting these things. Adam and Eve had paradise, and all it took was a seed of doubt, believing a lie about God, and suddenly simple desire became sin.

Why would anybody give in to temptation? Why would anybody disobey God if they know Him and experience his love? It sounds impossible, but the evidence is: people do. Only God is sinless. Only His approval counts as the absence of sin, and therefore "the righteous live by faith".

 

[Windmill]

Theres also the saying, the grass is greener on the other side. Disobeying mum and staying up until 12 on the computer sounds appealing, even though in reality its just going to lead to me being tired we're sinfull creatures who think sin looks fun and sometimes even good, and we give in. That is not an excuse, just the reason.

 

[LittleLion]

This is the power and mystery of sin: that although one might have everything he needs, a relationship with God and the support of friends and family, the temptation to sin is always as close as doubting these things. Adam and Eve had paradise, and all it took was a seed of doubt, believing a lie about God, and suddenly simple desire became sin.

Let's leave Adam and Eva out of this. Suffice to say that pre-Fall situation is not comparable to the post-Fall.

Why would anybody give in to temptation? Why would anybody disobey God if they know Him and experience his love? It sounds impossible, but the evidence is: people do.

Why?

Why do they do it?

To say "Because they are sinful" is circular.

Why are they sinful?

 

[Nightfire]

Let's leave Adam and Eva out of this. Suffice to say that pre-Fall situation is not comparable to the post-Fall.

Only if you think God recreated people after the fall. It's relevant, or the story would not be told at all.

Why?

Why do they do it?

To say "Because they are sinful" is circular.

Why are they sinful?

To put your own desires above God is sinful. That is why doing that is sinful. Sin or evil isn't some objective entity, some hormone or defect that "makes" someone sinful. The Rabbi's used to say that men are born with an "impulse" that is necessary for us to be who we are, but that allows us to be tempted away from God. It could be described as an inbuilt awareness that we are not God (which is of course true, and there's nothing wrong with not being God - that's the nature of being a creation), but that once God is put out of your mind, or disobeyed in some form, this feeling compels us to fill a "God-shaped" hole. Then we fall about like a loose cannon.

And there is no rational reason to be this way. But there's no compelling reason to be rational, if you rejected the Reason for reason, so to speak. Once God is taken out of the equation, the world becomes our reason for doing things, our idol. And for a world who doesn't believe in God, it's perfectly rational to act as if there is no God.

 

[LittleLion]

Only if you think God recreated people after the fall.

Adam and Eva lived in Paradise. After that, no human has been born in Paradise or lived there.
After the expulsion, all humans were born into a sinful world that is ignorant of God. Adam and Eva were not born into a sinful world that is ignorant of God.
Their situations and ours are not comparable.
Unless you accept that it is original innocence that makes us all comparable.

To put your own desires above God is sinful. That is why doing that is sinful. Sin or evil isn't some objective entity, some hormone or defect that "makes" someone sinful. The Rabbi's used to say that men are born with an "impulse" that is necessary for us to be who we are, but that allows us to be tempted away from God. It could be described as an inbuilt awareness that we are not God (which is of course true, and there's nothing wrong with not being God - that's the nature of being a creation), but that once God is put out of your mind, or disobeyed in some form, this feeling compels us to fill a "God-shaped" hole. Then we fall about like a loose cannon.

And there is no rational reason to be this way. But there's no compelling reason to be rational, if you rejected the Reason for reason, so to speak. Once God is taken out of the equation, the world becomes our reason for doing things, our idol. And for a world who doesn't believe in God, it's perfectly rational to act as if there is no God.

It is very simple. Humans are born innocent. Innocence is a corruptible state.
It is because innocence is a corruptible state that sin happens.

 

[-Frank-]

Adam and Eva lived in Paradise.

Eva? Excuse me?

After that, no human has been born in Paradise or lived there.
After the expulsion, all humans were born into a sinful world that is ignorant of God. Adam and Eva were not born into a sinful world that is ignorant of God.

What? No. You can't find evidence of a single so-called primitive civilization that was atheistic.

Their situations and ours are not comparable.
Unless you accept that it is original innocence that makes us all comparable.

No. They were originally innocent. We are not. I'll illustrate in a moment.

It is very simple. Humans are born innocent. Innocence is a corruptible state.
It is because innocence is a corruptible state that sin happens.

No again. Humans are not born innocent. If you believe that humans are born innocent (and therefore 'learn' sin), then who was the clown that taught my 4 year old nephew to lie, to be selfish, to steal? He knew how. It was deep within his nature. He needs to be taught daily to share, to tell the truth.