LPTSTR

Well my problem is that I only acknowledge the fact that my life is not pleasing unto Him, but I dont care enough to do anything about it. So my part of drawing near wont happen. Sometimes I do that. But it's like by not doing something sinful because I feel that Lord does not want me to do that. But that's all, I am not that kind of person who would care enough of word to do something good that I wouldnt do otherwise. All the encouragement that I can give and that I have given is "If God haven't answered none of my prayers in years, then what makes you think that your prayers will be answered any more?". And then people in Revelation 3:20 slam the door shut. You mean just accept things the way they are and do nothing? I can do that. Yes.

Hi! I dont know what should I do. I feel indifferent about the gospel - nothing motivates me. I live the life that is wrong in the eyes of the Lord, but I am not moved by the fact that I go hell for that either. I have discovered that I am lost interest in things of God completely. Maybe even that I was seeking His hand instead of His face at first point. I have tried reading or listening the word of God, but it doesnt ignite me. It's like I dont feel the calling of God or something. One thing is lack of experience - in Acts 4:20 Paul said he speaks of experience. I dont have such. I have had few dreams that could be from God, but at the end they have left me indifferent. I have not had any supernatural experience when I am awake. Also not receiving prayer answers doesnt contribute to my faith either. Of course one could tell me not to expect prayer answers then my relationship is not ok with God, but I have never ever received anything, even on the moments when I believed. Since Jesus listed signs that follow the believers and Acts showed examples of these signs and Paul himself did miracles too, I have asked God to give me something that would make my faith firm, but that hasnt happened either. I kinda believe that He exists, but I dont do anything that someone who believes in Him would do. It's like I am not 100% convinced. I have read the Bible, and I can logically reason that apostles would not have received the courage to speak up and be tortured and abused for Christ's sake but that knowing really doesnt convince me. I am not giving guarantee that seeing sign or miracle would help either, I only thing/hope that would help me to believe, but if it also doesnt then there really isnt anything new that Jesus could show me to convince me fully that He exists. I believe enough to pray to Him, but not enough to share to non-christians about my faith. Then I am stopped by thought that since I havent seen or heard anything myself, what if He actually doesnt exist and I have made myself fool in vain? And when I believe enough to pray I dont believe that I ever get answer, because all answers have been so far no or later at best. I feel down and ignored for not receiving any answer but from the other hand I am not 100% sure that getting my prayers answered would help either. It could be very well that God will answer my prayer in very supernatural way but it would only convince me that He exist, and not make me be interested in Him or want Him.

Ok, but what shall we do then? Shall we do steps 1-5 I described above or not? It is not clear from replies so far.

Hi! I have question about this verse. How should it be applied in real life? Does this mean that: 1) If such person comes to church we should not even say hello to him? 2) We should not talk to him? 3) If such person is our family member we should literally avoid eating with him even if such person is our own child? 4) If such person is our family member we should cut him off entirely, and not even respond his phone calls/letters/messages? 5) No one in the church/family is allowed to speak such person? I saw a article that jehovah's witnesses are that extreme that they completely split up with and shun that family member, that parents literally abandon their kids, husband their wives and so on. Church completely ignores them and shuns them. It it well known to me that JWs interpret Bible their own way. But I was unable to find out what would be the correct interpretation of this (and other similar (2th3:14)) verse. To what extent do we as normal Christians have to go with it?

Hi, I have not been here for a while. So I start reading it and replying as I can. I have already seen many good and useful responses. As I my self am not from christian family, even if I dont agree with everything I will still learn about how christians think when I read these posts. I dont really agree. First, because bible doesnt rule our evolution. Evolution can just be in a different form than Darwin teached. It could be very well combined with creation: God created initial starting point and then from there on they evolved on. It's just one thought. Dont take it as truth. Actually evolution even proves the Bible. God said to snake (satan) that from now on he has to crawl on his belly, and findings have actually found that for reason that science cant explain snakes really did rather devolve than evolve. Scientists have found that snakes had legs in past but now they crawl on belly as God said in the bible. Second, if your hard science isnt biology or geography or such then no one really cares what you think of evolution. For example, I managed to do BA in computer science and MA in software engineering and on one never ever asked me what I think of evolution. In my 5 year period in university, I have never had to discuss on topics where science is opposed to bible, because no one really cared about these topics.

I have reached to this conclusion by talking to different people at churches. And during the conversation I have studies this. Some of you tend to say that getting to heaven wouldnt depend on degree anyway as if I had offended some human right (right to be stupid) lol. Of course getting to heaven doesnt depend on that. Although I would point few things out: If you are capable of becoming engineer but are happy with being cashier then you are not bringing glory to God because you are too lazy to use the potential that God has given you. And you would excuse that by saying that you get to heaven anyway. The other thing is that it gives kinda low reputation to church if only 1 or 2 people out of 100 have some university degree. For those who demand research, here is some research: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/04/the-most-and-least-educated-u-s-religious-groups/ Just out of curiosity. It leaves more the impression that the academic quality of home schooling might have been already lower than of public schooling and that may have caused additional difficulties and then the hostility was used as excuse to get rid of it. Of course the bible and science conflict each other. The way to deal with it would be to simply tell your kids that this is what bible teaches and this is what world teaches. So that when they go out of home school they would at least know what to write. But I agree with you that it is difficult topic. You even made me think how I would explain these teachings to my kids if I would have them in future. I am not entirely sure of that. First I dont know how you could prepare for eternal life? You dont know exactly what's happening there, all you know is that little as Bible tells us. Second getting to heaven depends more on relationship with Jesus than on your preparation. Third in heaven you would have entire eternity to learn to know God. I am not saying that this should not be done in this life already but just stating that when you already have entire eternity to study God while having opportunity to ask Him stuff personally, then few years that you would save by skipping college wouldn't make big difference at the end. Because here in this life we cant ask Him directly and secondly we have so many other things to do that you wouldn't study 24/7 anyway. So probably spending one week in heaven could already teach you the amount that you would be able to learn with that extra time that you would gain by skipping college. True. But leaves 2 impressions. First those who were educated rejected Jesus, so lets stay uneducated just in case. Second lets stay lesser educated that God could use us better. First, it depends on calling of God. If God calls you, educated people can join Him too, and if God doesnt call you then not being educated doesnt help to get that call either. I have seen many who have less amount of education but still have not received or accepted the call.

You haven't noticed that with Christians/at church? What do you personally think/expect/guess?

Hi! Do I just have false impression or am I right? To me personally it looks like the percentage of people with at least bachelors degree in sciences is much lower among christians than in non-christians. By sciences I mean physics, chemistry, computers (and related), maths, engineering, etc. I have noticed from 100 christians (who are at student age) I know from my hometown churches there is roughly 3 - 4 people who have bachelors or higher in sciences. However it seems that when I would take randomly 100 students from university then the percentage of of sciences would be much higher. The Christans (not that much but still) seem to end their education with high school or when they go to university/college they would study something soft such as arts, languages, psychology, hairdressing, class teacher (for basic school/kindergarten), etc. I dont come from Christian family/background so I thought I would ask here if it only looks so or if it's really so. And if it is so then what could be behind it?

That was my point! The post I quoted left impression that God has obligation to answer everything which is not so and I pointed it out. As for reading the word, you are right, however even this doesnt guarantee that you get your prayers answered. It only gives you guarantee that you know what not to pray for. What I pray for seems to be the will of God at least but even this doesnt always guarantee the prayer answer. For example, prayer that some non-believer would become to Christ is in the will of God, but not all non-believer for whom we pray become Christian during their life time. So to sum up, nothing is guaranteed, no matter how good or bad or average christian you are. An on the other times some non-bleliever might ask God for something just for fun to see if prayers work and if miracles are real and they get immediately what they ask for.

But what would happen if I would say a prayer but not really hope it to be answered? Could you point me out the bible verses that support statements 1-3 (marked in black)? If God had obligation to prove Himself trough answered prayer then I would already have tons of blessings. But now my case is that I have done all that you asked me to do in your response but still got none of my prayers answered and then after 3.5 years not receiving any prayer answer at all I started to doubt and not trust God. So the not trusting God is basically this: "If God haven't answered me so far how can I know(trust) that He answers this time?". And that has led me away from the narrow path to wide path. Given that this is what has happened, how do you explain that God has obligation(2) to prove(3) Himself and answer(4) prayers? I have even asked to see Him on angels either in dream or with eye but that also havent happened. Although this is not the reason I started to doubt if these prayers were answered I simply wouldnt be able to doubt anymore because what has already been seen cannot be unseen.

You mean like if I am not able to trust Him in everything I should at first trust Him what I can trust Him and then grow with little baby steps? But what if God completely ignores all my prayer requests because I dont have full trust/commitment? And then I would again be like nothing works and be back in ditch.

Hello. As some of you know I have posted few posts in prayer request forum where I blame God and ask Him to leave me alone for real. This time I have not came here to blame God but to seek help. One prophetically said me that I was praying to God to help me out of ditch but not giving my heart to God. I am in point in my life where I wish I could trust God enough to give my life completely over to Him, but I am not able to do that because I am afraid that when I do this I would only get an other disappointment, an other unanswered prayer. I am afraid that I put in huge amount effort and time to give myself to God (not even sure how to exactly do that) and after that still be empty and not have any real change in me. I would like to know what should I do when I am not able to trust God enough to give my life completely over to God? How do I get out? What do I have to do? I find it very difficult to believe in the verses of bible because I have not seen them to be true in my life. Few friend told me (prophetically) that there's gonna be a great change in my life soon. But I already have in advance the attitude that it's not gonna happen because I dont have enough trust in God to repent and thus none of good what God had promised will come to pass. What should I do in my situation? I know I should give my life fully to God, but what about areas where I am not able to trust Him? Please give me some advise on what and how I should deal with my inability to trust him.

Have been doing this in past. Didnt work. Because I have trusted him and then found that this trust didnt hold. Well I dont really expect Him to help me more because of that. But rather showing Him that if He dont care about me, He also should expect to care about Him. Why would I care about someone to whom I dont even matter? Ok, I am also willing to let Him show that but He has now shown that so far. But this is what you say and what bible says, I have not seen this. Then please dont waste my time by calling me lazy. You are of devil. You are doing anything but giving useful answers. You are like clouds with out rain. You write long texts that dont really answer anything. You think that you are useful with your garbage replies. Right now you may be spiritually closer to God and serve Him more than I do. And you are trying to lord over me. You think you are more important than you really are. Lie! Just read the post I am quoting to you right now, and you get 2nd proof to what I said. So God cant defend Him himself that you need to defend Him? Or could it be that you are actually defending your view of God rather than God? Thank you, that was actually useful. HELL! What is interesting here is that when He answers our prayers however He wants and whenever He wants there is nothing wrong with that when in old testament someone does something wrong He would punish that person immediately? Isnt that power abuse? Just because we can't do anything against Him He treats us like a trash. He expects us to to exactly what He tells us exactly when He tells us and if we dont he would punish us but if He ignores our prayers He doesnt even apologize. He is like a dictator who does what ever he wants in his country and who will never be sued to court. But how/what can I myself do anything here? If I have prayed about it and it still is that way, what should I do? How can God count it as a sin if I have asked to have more faith but He haven't answered this yet? As far as I know faith is not something I as a human can increase with my own strength.

What do you wish to say with that? I am not trying to say that I have no sin. And I even confess these in a sense that yes, I have done these things and I know they are wrong. Could you bring some example that I may understand better what you mean by terrible. You are right about it. Sometimes I wish it would be so. This text reminded me that when I first came to faith. I mean the times when I truly expected good out of God and had hope in Him. Then some of Christians whom I first met during my Christian "career" told me that God has something special for me. And different people who did not discuss it with each other said that. And during that time I was happy and hoped that it would be something nice and shiny. I imagined that maybe it means that God would make me as a light for others. But now I wish that people would have prophesied that I am gonna be like any other good Christian. Definitely those times have been part of my life where I have done this. Not perfect way but according to my knowledge - praying, putting on te armor of God, commanding evil to leave from me and so on. But He has still let me down. Could you be more specific please? I am not making up any extra sins to look worse than I am, I am just confessing these things so that you know the fact and can take this into account. What do you mean by either here? Just dont get that sentence. What do you mean by that? But where is that love? There have been times where I have trusted him but that is past. Before we can discuss it you need to define what is need and what is want. Of course there and things that obviously are wants. But is desire to have experience with Him that I may be sure that He is real need or want? Answering to myself it might even be want. But what about desire to have have wife who loves and cares, is that need or want (Here I truly have no idea)? Or what about desire to have at least one really good chrisstian friend whom I can see from face to face? According to my understanding, God created human to be social being. So according to that logic I would classify wife and to have at least one christian friend whom I can trust as a need but I would like to see your opinion here even if I disagree. Well here I cant argue with that before I know what you define as need. For example you could say that having relationship with Him is the only need because even if we die due to lack of things we need to live we would still be with Him at the end. In this case that need right now in my life is not answered. However if you are more materialistic, you may say that need is only to have food and place to live. In that case I cant complain. But psychologist would probably say that having good Christian friend or wife who loves you is also need. In this case I would say that these needs are unmet. I partially disagree. I agree that I havent allowed Him to take full controll. But the reason is a bit different. The thing is that I have not allowed him to use myself to reach non-believers. The reason at first was fear. Fear that when I talk at home and to friends and then nothing special/supernatural happens in my life/with me then they would make fun of me. Later that fear justified itself because nothing really happened. So then I had another reason that I myself wasnt sure anymore wether or not I am doing right ting at all. I mean I had so many unanswered prayers that I started to doubt if God exists at all. And of course in case he doesnt exist, byt reaching to non-believers, if I would proclaim God who does not exist at all I would lite to them and give them false hope and so on. And now the latest reason for not allowing Him to controll me is bitterness. I have had few very good opportunities to tell about God to those who are far from Him. But in my anger and disappointment I dismissed these opportunities and told God that I am no going to talk about Him to anybody before He haven't answered my prayers and I dont care if they would go to hell because I didnt tell them or not. So yes now it is finally what you described. But can you explain me, how can I trust him if life shows that He cant be trusted? I mean if I dont have strength to believe and if I dont have hope anymore then where should I take this trust? I am almost sure that this question would get answered like: "Just do it" with out explaining how..... How do you define lazy? In my about 3.5 years Christian career I have read Bible trough entirely 2 times, and I have read trough entire new testament about 5 times. I have listened entire bible from cover to cover which was about 700 hours of audio, I have read study guides for hours, I have watched service for 30 hours. When I still believed I prayed like 10 - 20 times a day, I have taken part in small groups, I have looked up what certain words/phrases/verses mean in Bible, there have been sundays where I visit 3-4 different churches in same day to hear more the word of God. Is that lazy? If so maybe you could be so nice and tell me what I should do? Ok, I understand but before I can obey I still need to be convinced myself that the command is from and and not from my own mind, and that there is God at all because if I am not fully sure then to whom shall I obey? I could easily obey to wrong god. These are your words. I like the idea, and I like the personality and behavior of Christians (except maybe you because you have really taken the role of accuser than a role of Christian (at least according to my opinion)). I like the idea of doing good to all, specially those who are not deserving. I like the idea of forgiving others the wrong they do and not not paying back evil with evil. What do you mean by experience? Feelings? Didnt have any special feeling after I first did my salvation prayer. And it looks like you are someone who does not want to answer... Why? You dont have answers? Because answering would make you admit something about your faith that you dont want to admit? I have even word for you: Mt 25:42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink [...] .

But how can I find strength and trust to believe? I had trust in Him but it did not justify itself. Would it work if I don't really care but just admit what I have done and say I am sorry? If it wouldn't then what would be the point? That advise might even have chance to work but right now I am not willing to repent my sens because I have no guarantee that it would change anything. Btw I forgot to mention that sometimes I also say out loud "Hail Satan!" when I am alone and that makes me happy and sometimes fills with energy...

What should I do if that is the case? There are many different things over the years, not got answered. I dont see it that way. None of the promises in the Bible have fulfilled in my life. Nope, just got interest in spiritual world and from there I got to God, and then even acknowledged that I am sinner and asked for forgivenes and accepted Chist. I have not had any prayer answers sofar. Also for being sincere, what if I am not capable of being enough sincere for Him? Went to church, read the Bib,e prayed for myself and others, donated my money to church, donated my time to church... did that for years. But that I have to believe because you and other christians and bible say so. I dont have any experience that confirms it. My experience rather shows the opposite. No prayer answrs, no experiences with Him, no spiritual gifts ever received. Nothing. All I have is that theory in bible that does not have other support than other chistians who say that it is true. @ayin jade God would care anyways + u would have less people to argue with. Sounds like valid idea if God cared enough of me to listen to me and loved me. But how could I find motivation now that I dont even have hope for that to happen? I mean would these words/prayers still have chance to work if dont even hope to get these answered but do these anyway to just see if anything happens but with out actually feeling that I should do that? I dont believe in things like answered prayers anymore. They dont exist for me. If you get your prayers answered maybe you are just better christian. Maybe he just loves you more. Maybe I am just not enough good. Doesn't matter what te exact reason is, the fact is that I don't get and I wont get my prayers answered, and talking to someone would only waste their time and my time. But if that is true then why is my life as it is? Is God not powerful to answer prayers despite of devil? And if devil has so much power that he can block all good things that come from God completely then it looks like God is not able to overpower devil and then maybe it's more effective to worship the lord Lucifer instead? What should I do if I am willing to believe in a sense that I wish God were real in my life, but I just dont have strength to believe anymore. I mean it's kinda like someone who got cheated too many times and then he would have difficulties with trusting other people. I have similar case with God. I am not capable to trust him anymore. But what if I ask for forgiveness in advance? Would that work? Just asking it out of curiosity. Right now I wouldnt commit suicide, because before I do I want to make sure that I am no longer saved during the time I do that. I have thought about it and then reached to conclusion that what if God takes it as a stupid thing done in desparate situation and for give me that? Then I might have to spend my eternyty with Him (God) which is not my interest right now. However I have to admit that I have already prayed God to send angel of death to my life or to take my self away from here many times. And as it have not been answered either I have tried to invite/summon death and hades by telling them that wait them. But what if there is no God at all and this verse is just added to keep people from leaving so that church would generate more money and more people? That woud be good suggestion if God's love and care for me were real. Then I would definitly do that. But how can I trust someone who has never answered me? I also have not heard his voice audibly or see him with my eyes or seen him in dreams or seen any supernatural spiritual gifts with my own eye? How can I trust Him if he is just a theory in bible? How guarantee I have that this trust does not put me to shame? Right now I have not dared to share that I believe to my family or my friends in these years and now I am happay that I havent because otherwise I would have to explain them why I believe in God whom I have not experienced. And if then it would turn out that God either dont exist or exists but has no feelings for me then I would be in shame that I have followed for years someone who doesnt want to have anything to do with me. I have put this on like millions of times wen I still believed that there are such things as prayer answers, but here is where I am now. Doesnt sound like too powerful equipment. Well, they cant seal something that I willingly give to them. I was so disappointed that about month ago I renounced Jesus. Then I thought that I would like to see if I have better luck with demonic realm but thought I cant invite them while I still have Holy Spirit in me so I cast Him out also. This night my dorm mate had one night stand so I thought it would be fun to scare them with demonic hauntings and tried to open a portal to hell to their room and invited in zozo and hades and told tem to cause hauntings but nothing happened. But not gonna give up yet because I didnt perform any real ritual anyway, just did that in my mind and by whispering words so it would be too soon to give up on that already. I accidentally even cut my finger with paper some time ago, seeing it as opportunity (altough came by accident) and tried to squeeze some dros of blood out of it to officially invite Lucifer to my life but blood didnt want to come out.

Hi! What should I do if my love for Jesus cooled down already months ago 2 or 3 weeks ago it ended completely and I have no intention to repent of it? I dont feel any calling from got (to repent or to turn to Him), I have prayed, but nothing. When I sin I dont feel guilt. I have no motivation to go back to God. Sometimes I wish He would be part of my life but then He doesnt answer me. I have experienced so many disappointments that I am not capable of expecting anything good out of Him or prayer answers even if I sometimes want to hope well of Him. I asked 2 people to pray for me with short time interval. They did it fervently. They prayed that God would reveal Him and His love for me and blah blah blah, but after that I was as cold as before. When I go to small group or youth night I get bored because I feel that I have to waste my time on listening lies. Because I have been Christian for years now and I know that God's love and care and prayer answers are only nice theory in Bible but I have never experienced or felt that in any way. I have had one sided love with Jesus - I have loved Him all these years with out getting any love back in return, and that has now ended. What should I do now? Btw there is no point in praying for me because I can tell it from years of experience that God doe not answer these. I have wasted my time and you would waste yours also. By the way, it it true that those who commit suicide will go to hell or can this sin also be forgiven as any other sin?

Invite her to ur church. Show her from bible why her views are wrong. See what happens. We know from OT that taking wives from other religion can cause husband to fall. Specially if that other religion is more rewarding or more pleasing. For example in OT there are some religions that involve having sex during the rituals which attracted many people from God of Israel to that god because of peoples lust after sex. The same way is with spiritual stuff. I dont know what JW is exactly but being justified by works for example could be more rewarding than being justified by grace because if you are justified by works you would have something to boast about. Now that you are warned its up to you if you listen or ignore it. The consequences of ignoring this warning may affect your eternal life. So you need to know exactly what is the difference. And not be deceived. Dont accept any new info from her. Just show her whats wrong in JW and see how she reacts. Ask God to open her eyes for truth. If she refuses then refuse her also. I know it feels bad to be alone but but better be alone your earthly life which is around 80 years for male than eternity in hell with her. In earth there would be no communication at all with other people. It is place for punishment. Therefore even if she is next to you, you wont be getting any joy or relief from that. In fact it would probably make your suffering worse if you sit next to your loved one and not being able to even talk to her.

Please pray for me because I feel lonely. I have no skills of making new friendships. Everyone else around me knows how to find friends but I always fail. And it makes me feel sad. When there's events such as youth nights or get acquainted party for my faculty I always walk away empty handed.

Well I have to say that the day after I posted this request I just got peace about it. On the day I posted this request I was crazy about it, I was completely hopeless, and and I was feeling that that it's gonna be so forever. I am not sure how to interpret this peace... That's probably an other thing. That's so true what You said. I need to change more in that than I could with my own strength.

Thanks for advise. I dont know how good friends shall I be. For me, I can talk to them after service/youth night but they dont invite me to have fun with them or to other events they're taking place. Nor do I invite them. Many I have known about year or more but still it does not happen. Not sure what to make of it. Shall it happen while we are still just friends or shall I wait til it's time to get her to be girlfriend? For now 90% of my conversations with them is "Hi, how are you" and then answering to that question with few sentences and sometimes talk about today's service. I am not sure what girls like to talk about... Other thing is that I am kinda afraid to ask them out because I dont want to look like someone who is desperately looking to date someone. I am not sure if I am right or wrong with it... I am not exactly sure when it is right time for it. Should I already be spending time with her or is it fine to invite her cafee just with intention to get to know her better? To me asking girl out looks already like asking her to date me and that's what holds me back. Other thing is that I am kinda afraid to be ashamed by her rejection. Well I have not asked anybody to date with me yet so I dont actually know how stupid/silly feeling it would be but it doesnt seem good.

Hello. I have not hat much luck with people. I dont have anyone with whom I could spend my time. I have longed for 5 years to have friends with whom I could spend my time. At first I was alone because I was different from others. In high school my classmates used to get drunk on they're free time but I didnt do that so I suffered loneliness. When I when to university I started to have conversations with course mates but none of them really became a friend who would invite me over for some fun. On my 2nd year I became a Christian. I know people from local churches. I talk to them and I attend home groups but that's really just once a week so It's not quite much. I have not found friends with whom I would go and hang out on city. I see how others post photos on facebook how they have one hanging out. But no one have asked me to join. It looks to me that they have they're own gang and they are not interested in inviting new people. It hurts to watch and makes me even feel more lonely. In 2 last years I have have one more big problem. I long to find a girlfriend but I cannot seem to find one. I know most of girls around my age in local churches. Most of them already have boyfriend. Those who dont have one yet dont seem to be interested in me or it could be that I have not just spoken right words to them. I want to be loved and cared and I want someone whom I could love just as Christ loved His church. I am kinda depressed now. I dont know where to find one, what to do about it or what to tell to girls who I like and are single. For now I dont even have a friend who is girl, not even talking about girlfriend. I just have that feeling that that I am gonna be single forever and I wont I would have to spend all the beautiful summers that God has blessed me with alone, having no one (except Jesus of course) with me. This is just burning like a fire in me and I cant see water anywhere in my sight. I am looking for suggestions/prayers/everything that could help.