Billiards Ball

Regardless of whether your pastor is being accurate, his communication skills are lacking, especially if he says these things from a podium instead of privately to individuals. Maybe check in with them personally to make sure you are understanding correctly. If you are, it's time to get to another church.

Guilt is a nice little tool of the Lord's. If I wasn't saved and cheated on my wife or stole some money, it would be fun for me, because I'm a wretch. But being saved, my heart would be ripped in two! Scrupulosity comes from a rough background. A little guilt/repentance is the only need in most cases. Jesus is kind--it's the devil who makes us think God will judge confession or God will judge us harsher than He will/would. Be sure you've trusted in Christ! Then get a little counseling on the issues that hold you down.

There IS a place where Christians can learn to hear/understand the Spirit's leading, faster. The devil throws a special kind of fear upon us when we plan to evangelize. If you go to a public area where there are lots of people, and ask God 1) for special help in overcoming fear and witnessing and 2) a strong prompting for WHO to share with first/next . . .

Tell them nothing until you have a few more weeks to months reading the Bible and praying. Start with John's gospel. Make sure you trust Christ and become a born again Christian, not just a religious Christian. Tell OTHER people what you've done, witnessing to them the gospel. Your parents sound okay but they are just two people out of millions who need Jesus and salvation.

The unpardonable sin is to reject trusting in Jesus as Savior. Any Christian who disagrees should not Jesus said this is the ONE thing that can cause a soul to be lost. Read John 3 today. Trust Jesus for salvation!

Why block the past when Jesus can heal the past for you today? Sit down and tell God somewhere what you're going through. Telling people is far less effectual. It's like asking me, not Jesus, to heal your parent of a terminal illness.

You need an extended quiet time. Go to a forest, a beach, some place, but DON'T read the Bible--at least before you sit for 30 minutes and listen to and look at creation. Then, open the Bible, reading devotionally, say, the Book of Ruth. Ask God for cleansing tears and healing.

I understand. Thankfully, Jesus promises that if we trust Him for salvation, for each family member or friend lost, we gain more here in this world and far more in the next. Is there a brother in your church who is going through something similar?

Unfortunately, some have dealt with or are dealing with abuse from a Christian. I heartily recommend this book to better understand spiritual abuse, along with narcissist and sociopathic disorders, written from a lay point of view: https://www.amazon.com/Dear-Younger-Me-Victim-Victor/dp/1987560418

Good! You can see the way out now, better, because you are Daughter of a King! This relationship has to return to friends status (friends without ANY "benefits" of any kind!) until or if he repents and becomes a whole person. You need a whole, independent Christian to love.

The beginning for this is with Jesus Christ. You and your spouse need to trust Him for salvation. Second, confess your sin to one another, asking Jesus for the strength to utterly forgive. Third, admit to one another/confess that you did all the things you did because you hated and resented one another. Fourth, vow to be "all in" this time in marriage. That is, to love one another from the heart, unreservedly. A lot can heal VERY SURPRISINGLY FAST in these areas if you do so. And, to strengthen still more, confess to one another areas not included above, like financial deception, insecurities, concerns at work, etc. Be sinners together who are confessional about sin. Then watch as God begins to rebuild your team quickly. But all hinges upon the assurance that you've both sincerely trusted in the horrible death Jesus suffered, and His glorious resurrection, to save your souls.

It's not just mutual feelings or unequal yoking here. If he was a Christian, born again, I'd say, "Bad company corrupts good morals, why date a drinker who goes clubbing and smokes pot?" Even if this fellow was saved, he's need to be more mature to date my daughter...

No problem, your soul has already been sold, in the Garden, to Satan. NOW is your chance to have Jesus redeem it, simply for the asking! Trust Jesus, He died a horrible death by torture on the cross and rose from the dead to pay for our sin, guilt and shame.

Great news! Jesus on the cross and in His resurrection made a way for you to go straight to Him, without people as your intermediaries, and when you trust Jesus for salvation, He forgives ALL your sin, instantly, immediately. Because Jesus resurrected forever He can hear your salvation prayer today. The Bible is filled with murderers and wicked people who committed what some people call "mortal sin" but were likewise, immediately forgiven. Today is the day for your salvation!

The unpardonable sin is not trusting Jesus for salvation. After all, Jesus said there is ONE thing someone can do or not do to go to Hell. EVERY born again Christian has trusted and can never do the unpardonable sin. EVERY unbeliever can have their murders, rapes, thefts, wickedness, covetousness, etc. forgiven, big sin or small, except one--to reject Jesus when His Spirit says, "Trust in me, trust in me now." Make sense to you?

Thank you for your thoughtful note. As the Bible predicts, people have become "righteous" in a new way, without God's guidance or humility, so they reprove others constantly, thinking they're doing God's work.

Either rejoice in the brokenness, since holding treasure in a clay jar that is broken, the treasure spills out to work life in others via the death in you, or step away from ministry, on a temporary or eternal basis.

Without knowing details, spouse first, ministry second. People who've stepped away from a pulpit to strengthen marriage or children reap benefits and biblically, a spouse needs us as a helpmate and very few congregations or even individual congregants need us.

Hi Jason! We trust Jesus for salvation, since on His cross, He took our sin, guilt and shame, all of it, the imperfections we call sin. No one including me, a Christian for many years, can live in a utopia, where only perfect moral people live, without ruining it. I'd hurt your feelings in about ten minutes in Heaven being me. When you trust Jesus Christ today for salvation, you will know that in the future, when the moment comes for judgment, you will be transformed to moral perfection, so you also will be fit for Heaven, saved. And trusting Him for salvation will alleviate much or all of the shame you feel!

I am sincerely sorry for your experience and your pain, but knowing Jesus personally, I would say you've had a lot of church, but not much of a personal relationship with Jesus. Ask Jesus to interact with you personally, trust Him for salvation, and get Christian counseling against anxiety and your feelings of hopelessness.

Peter is "little pebble". Jesus is the rock, clearly THE rock upon which the church is built. Unfortunately, a close reading of Catholic doctrine shows a sort of indulgence is still available, and many pay to have masses said for the dead. It's too late when one has passed to trust Christ for salvation! Don't put it off but trust Jesus today, calling on Him to wash away your sin.

There are two schools of thought among Christians on this topic, called "inclusivist" and "exclusivist". The names mean just what they sound like, inclusivists believe God saves some people who never hear of Jesus Christ in this lifetime, exclusivists say the gospel must be heard (Christ died and rose for your sin, trust Him!) for anyone to be saved today. 1) Both groups are taking their viewpoints from Romans, chapters 1 to 3. They are interpreting the same material differently. 2) Even exclusivists have good opportunities to see God working here--there are many testimonies today of people living in gospel-restricted countries like in the Middle East, people who search for God then have a personal encounter with Jesus Christ, who invites them to trust Him. Personally, I am an inclusivist for a number of reasons, including the fact that both testaments of the Bible are consistent in their teaching, "trust God to be saved for eternity". If someone doesn't hear about Jesus but sincerely seeks God, they will find God and trust Him for their eternal life. Our job, however, is to tell as many as we can about Jesus and have them live in the light of the scriptures.

You are asking two different things with one question: how to receive Jesus as Savior and how to live successfully as a born again Christian. 1) Trust Jesus. Trust in the horrible death He suffered on the cross for our imperfection, our sin, guilt and shame. He died then rose again forever, so you can talk to Him now and He hears. Receive His gift of eternal life. 2) Daily read the scriptures, asking each day for God to show you things to do and see to grow as a Christian, from the Bible. Start with John's gospel, the fourth book of the New Testament. Ask Jesus to guide your reading and understanding, then read one chapter. See what in the chapter is there for you to try to do today, to obey. Keep asking questions. Many at this forum want to help!

Yes to the OP but I'm grateful that predestination in the Bible means that believers are predestined to be transformed by their Father.

I believe the struggle to see God's love lies here: We do dumb things for days to years, wondering for His providence, and then He shines light with perfect timing to rescue our bacon from trouble. His timing is different so we don't get the "touch" daily because we have to learn lessons.