questions

[Guest]

Thanks to all who responded. It is late so I will read them in detail in the morning.

I am not a Christian, but have been searching for God for about a year. But I am not able to just toss out logic, science, anthropology, ect . The bible well, has some strange stuff. I can only say that I have felt I am being drawn, led, and want what I see in Christians. But I cannot make sense of the Bible, and have not been received well in asking, as if they feel I am out to try to say they are wrong. When what I want is to understand, have what they have.

I was asked who Jesus is to me. I cannot answer that question because I don't know. The Bible says He is God's son, but how can I know for sure?

I have been told have faith. But coming from a background of never having had anyone to trust, this does not come easily for me.

I feel like I am being pulled in half. Part of me wants to go forward at a church, accept Jesus, be baptized, while another part of me says no, they aren't real and will hurt you.

I love thinking that Jesus would love me, but as I said, trust is difficult for me, and to trust in what I cannot see or touch, is hard.

Then the churches I tried have all these demands. They have a class and you have to agree and sign a paper saying you will fulfill all these demands. I get overwhelmed, like, this is too new, please don't toss me into the deep end of the pool.

I cannot live up to their expectations. I listen to sermons on line, but it just isn't much. I want to be there in person. But I cannot be perfect. They make demands, and it scares me because I will fail.

I will read the replies in detail tomorrow. thank you for answering.

Praying!

[Botz]

Thanks to all who responded. It is late so I will read them in detail in the morning.

I am not a Christian, but have been searching for God for about a year. But I am not able to just toss out logic, science, anthropology, ect . The bible well, has some strange stuff. I can only say that I have felt I am being drawn, led, and want what I see in Christians. But I cannot make sense of the Bible, and have not been received well in asking, as if they feel I am out to try to say they are wrong. When what I want is to understand, have what they have.

I was asked who Jesus is to me. I cannot answer that question because I don't know. The Bible says He is God's son, but how can I know for sure?

I have been told have faith. But coming from a background of never having had anyone to trust, this does not come easily for me.

I feel like I am being pulled in half. Part of me wants to go forward at a church, accept Jesus, be baptized, while another part of me says no, they aren't real and will hurt you.

I love thinking that Jesus would love me, but as I said, trust is difficult for me, and to trust in what I cannot see or touch, is hard.

Then the churches I tried have all these demands. They have a class and you have to agree and sign a paper saying you will fulfill all these demands. I get overwhelmed, like, this is too new, please don't toss me into the deep end of the pool.

I cannot live up to their expectations. I listen to sermons on line, but it just isn't enough. I want to be there in person. But I cannot be perfect. They make demands, and it scares me because I will fail.

I will read the replies in detail tomorrow. thank you for answering.

eta - I think I read it in Hebrews, how if a person accepts Jesus, then fails, how much worse it will be for them. That scares me because I couldn't break a promise to God.

Lol you sound just like me....I asked loads of questions (still do) and tried to get honest answers...although to be fair some of my questions were more to do with testing the attitude to those I approached, and sometimes being a bit of a smart-ass...nevertheless there came a time when all of my questions were answered in one go, as I reached out to G-d and believed on Jesus, and knew what it was like to be cleansed and forgiven, and to know the presence of a G-d who accepted and loved me.

Now when I say all my questions were answered....what I mean is that they became the side-show to the main event...now I have a different perspective, and trust G-ds point of view, even though I still can't work out some things intellectually or intuitively...but I have the peace of G-d in my heart, knowing that He understands all my thoughts and my individuality, and my desire to find out things and understand matters.

May you come to know Jesus soon, and experience what you have seen in others for yourself...and enjoy the rest of your life with all the ups and downs, hardships and happiness, secure in the knowledge of His love for you. In Messiah. Botz

Romans 6:20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. 22But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

[ayin jade]

I am not a Christian, but have been searching for God for about a year.

Thats great that you are searching.

Matthew 7

7 Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you.

8 For each one who asks receives; and he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened.

Jeremiah 29

13 And you shall seek Me and find Me , when you search for Me with all your heart.

But I am not able to just toss out logic, science, anthropology, ect .

Before I believed in Jesus, I got a degree in anthropology. Even then, the stuff they were teaching me didnt make sense. Too many inconsistencies with the things they taught.

The bible well, has some strange stuff. I can only say that I have felt I am being drawn, led, and want what I see in Christians. But I cannot make sense of the Bible, and have not been received well in asking, as if they feel I am out to try to say they are wrong. When what I want is to understand, have what they have.

I was asked who Jesus is to me. I cannot answer that question because I don't know. The Bible says He is God's son, but how can I know for sure?

I have been told have faith. But coming from a background of never having had anyone to trust, this does not come easily for me.

You dont have to understand everything in the bible in order to be saved. Understanding His word takes a lifetime. We can try and answer your questions, and its good you are searching. In the end though it will come down to faith. The Holy Spirit is drawing you.

I feel like I am being pulled in half. Part of me wants to go forward at a church, accept Jesus, be baptized, while another part of me says no, they aren't real and will hurt you.

How can they hurt you if they are not real as part of you thinks? Seems a bit of a contradiction there.

I love thinking that Jesus would love me, but as I said, trust is difficult for me, and to trust in what I cannot see or touch, is hard.

We are human and find it hard to believe that anyone can love us as He does. Yet He does love you. Enough to give up His life to redeem you.

Perhaps you would like to read some of our testimonies? The link to mine is in my signature line.

Then the churches I tried have all these demands. They have a class and you have to agree and sign a paper saying you will fulfill all these demands. I get overwhelmed, like, this is too new, please don't toss me into the deep end of the pool.

Ignore their demands. His church isnt made up of classes and papers you have to sign. Thats just to become a member in some denominations. Ignore that. If you are in the US, look for a Calvary Chapel. They are a laid back good group of churches. No pressure from them to join or sign papers etc.

I cannot live up to their expectations. I listen to sermons on line, but it just isn't enough. I want to be there in person. But I cannot be perfect. They make demands, and it scares me because I will fail.

Dont worry about their expectations. Its God's expectations that you should concern yourself with.

If we had to be perfect to be in church or be saved, well I certainly would be hell bound. I am far from perfect. I fall a lot. Yet I am saved by His grace and mercy. Im saved in spite of myself. When I sin, when I fall short of perfection (which really happens far too often, several times a day), Im still covered by Jesus. He has paid for my sins past present and future.

1 John 2

1 My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

2 And He is the propitiation concerning our sins, and not concerning ours only, but also concerning the sins of all the world.

eta - I think I read it in Hebrews, how if a person accepts Jesus, then fails, how much worse it will be for them. That scares me because I couldn't break a promise to God.

The bible tells us this:

Ephesians 1

13 in whom also you, hearing the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation, in whom also believing, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,

14 who is the earnest of our inheritance, to the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

This means that when you believe, you are sealed by the Holy Spirit. You belong to Him, and nothing can take you away from Him.

John 10

27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

28 And I give to them eternal life, and they shall never ever perish, and not anyone shall pluck them out of My hand.

29 My Father who gave them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand.

Praying for you to come to know Him and to be saved.

[mjrhealth]

Hi SDGS, would love to answer all your questions, but I am quiet unable. You see, I have being a christian for quiet a while, and have being asking God a lot of questions about His nature so I can know Him better, yet I still have no answrs, but that has not stopped me loving Him, As you can see, christians are a funny bunch, they love quoting scripture after scripture like it is some sort of magical cure to all your questions, then the say you have to be born again to understand the bible yet they do not understand it themselves. So ill get yelled at for saying what I am saying, but you see, i do not answer to men I answer to God, and if I cannot give you a answer that I know to be true then I cannot answer you. The fact is, I do not know anyone who truly knows the heart of God, excpet Jesus of coures, and If I could but answer just one of your questions withour having to resort to quoting bible text then I would. But this I do know to be true. Chrsit died for the sins of all mankind, not just the religious or the perfect, and God is certainly not going to be mad at you for asking questions," Jesus Himself is even quoted to say" ask and you shall be given seek and you shall find". so maybe its time to try out Jesus instead of the wisdom of man. And I pray you do find the answer for I too have asked the same questions.

In His Love

[Guest HIS girl]

Your OP is exciting in the sense that you are asking questions and like the idea of Jesus loving you

With regard to finding a good church - that is good advice but can be difficult when you have no idea what a "good church" looks like...a good church is one that will teach what the Bible states and welcomes ALL peoples - is not swayed by financial and social status and is not a "good works based" church. (meaning they encourage many socail community activites and will tolerate non observance toward Biblical obedience)...<<< this falls flat with God...being obedient to God shows our love for Him - and being truly compassionate toward others it what He looks at - the true motivation for what we do.

God works with each of us differently because we have unique ways distinct from each other but His precepts remain the same. He never changes - that is one thing that we can rely on - His faithfulness even when we are unfaithful...God desires a TRUE repentant heart from us though.

Hope this helps

[Fez]

I am not a Christian, but have been searching for God for about a year. But I am not able to just toss out logic, science, anthropology, ect . The bible well, has some strange stuff. I can only say that I have felt I am being drawn, led, and want what I see in Christians. But I cannot make sense of the Bible, and have not been received well in asking, as if they feel I am out to try to say they are wrong. When what I want is to understand, have what they have.

The bible well, has some strange stuff.

You got that right! I does seem to at first. it did for me as well.

If you are genuinely seeking Jesus, trying to understand the bible won't do it for you.

You have to approach the bible in complete faith, and you can only do that through complete acceptance of Jesus.

Have you tried talking to Him about it? There is nothing to stop you (in fact you should), praying to Him to open the doors for you, and invite Him into your life.

There is no big deal as to how you can do this. He knows your heart, and if you genuinely want to know Him, just find a quiet place, sit in a comfortable chair, or anywhere you feel "right", and start talking to Him. Just start off by saying something like "Jesus I am confused and can You please direct me to the answers", and go on from there. He will be listening.

[Littlelambseativy]

Hi SDGS, You have asked so many questions. What I would like you to do is take one question at a time, get your answer and not move to another until you are satisfied that you understand the answer to your question. That sounds quite convoluted.

Rather than start with the Old Testament start with the New Testament. Read it and ask your questions.

You talk about going to church and ministers not answering you. Find a Bible teaching church. There is nothing that says you must join a church find one where you are welcome, and people are fireindly.

As for taking communion, I would not do that until you understand what it is. Jesus did say about the bread take eat this is my body broken for you and drink the wine this my blood shed for you but He said it symbolically do it in remembrance of what He did for us. When we take communion the bread is but bread it is not body of Christ it is not His flesh it is bread a symbol of His flesh just as the wine or in most or all churches grape juice. It remains grape juice. It does not become His blood it is a symbol and a symbolic act of rememblering that His body was broken - His flesh was torn by the whipping and lashing that He received and He did it so that we would be able to ask Him to heal our bodies. The wine or grape juice is a symblol of the blood that He shed to cover the sins of one that believes in Him and that He died for their sins so that we will not endure eternal torment but go to be with Him when He comes for us.

The act of salvation is so simple. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. He loves you so that He has brought you here to this forum so that your quesions can be answered by flawed people, people who love Jesus and have accepted the free gift of salvation. We do not need to do anything for that gift otherwise it is not a gift - it is free. We do things for Him only because we love Him and for what He did for us not becaus of any requirement.

As for the Bible having strange stuff, as was mentioned, before you begin to read the Bible and I would recommend the New Testament first, the Bible was written by men who wrote what they saw in the only way that they could with the knowledge of the time. Back 40 years do you think that we could have understood the Kindle or laptops or lasers or heart transplants or surgery to remove a gallbladder through a 2" opening even space travel as we understand it?

Think then of someone writing 2500 years ago about what is happening or about to happen. How imaturely do we write about flying saucers even today? Do not be stumped by the little things do not let them get in the way of your salvation. That is critical some of the things we do not understand even now but we trust that God has be acurate up to this point and believe that the rest is too. Faith is believing in what you can not see or understand. I do not know how a computer works but I have faith that it does.

Just ask Him to " Open my eyes that I may see and understand your Holy Word," and always ask in Jesus name,

because everything comes through Him.

[Guest SDGS]

Thank you for your responses. I need time to go through the verses and such. I seem to have the most trouble with "being perfect". I was told that because I am divorced, my presence causes the others to sin. But the way I see it, because my husband left and I had no idea he was going to do that, maybe God made it happen. Because my husband is an atheist. Had he not left, I would never have started searching for God. Maybe I am grasping at straws on that.

What I struggle with, to even attend a church, is that I smoke. I have had people move away from me. I read christian blogs, but I have no way to know who to believe. One man wrote this:

God will not dwell in an unclean temple.

Can you just visualize a so called christian person (he or she) that smokes & if the Holy-Ghost is in that person smoking, the Holy-Ghost is suffering the stink with, coughing - gagging - choking, grasping for a breath of clean air & saying I got to get out of this unclean person.

I stand in line at the bank & people with smoke stink in their hair, clothes etc & just about puts my lights out. Just think what it does to The Holy-Ghost !

---Lawrence on 2/25/10

It tore my heart to read that, added to my experiences. I have to be honest and admit that I just really don't want to stop, if I even could. And to hear that God won't like me because I am dirty, is it true?

I fear, if I take that step, accept Jesus, be baptized, but never stop smoking, then I have made God dirty.

I have gone back and forth like this for a year. Maybe I am looking for reasons not to do this, but then I feel like, if that is true, why am I not able to just let it go? Because I have tried to let it go, walk away, forget about it, and have never been able to do so. I feel even more drawn.

[nebula]

Thank you for your responses. I need time to go through the verses and such. I seem to have the most trouble with "being perfect". I was told that because I am divorced, my presence causes the others to sin. But the way I see it, because my husband left and I had no idea he was going to do that, maybe God made it happen. Because my husband is an atheist. Had he not left, I would never have started searching for God. Maybe I am grasping at straws on that.

What I struggle with, to even attend a church, is that I smoke. I have had people move away from me. I read christian blogs, but I have no way to know who to believe. One man wrote this:

God will not dwell in an unclean temple.

Can you just visualize a so called christian person (he or she) that smokes & if the Holy-Ghost is in that person smoking, the Holy-Ghost is suffering the stink with, coughing - gagging - choking, grasping for a breath of clean air & saying I got to get out of this unclean person.

I stand in line at the bank & people with smoke stink in their hair, clothes etc & just about puts my lights out. Just think what it does to The Holy-Ghost !

---Lawrence on 2/25/10

It tore my heart to read that, added to my experiences. I have to be honest and admit that I just really don't want to stop, if I even could. And to hear that God won't like me because I am dirty, is it true?

I fear, if I take that step, accept Jesus, be baptized, but never stop smoking, then I have made God dirty.

I have gone back and forth like this for a year. Maybe I am looking for reasons not to do this, but then I feel like, if that is true, why am I not able to just let it go? Because I have tried to let it go, walk away, forget about it, and have never been able to do so. I feel even more drawn.

I'm sorry you were hit with legalism at these churches. The Gospel is about grace. That doesn't give a license for sin, it does account for our weaknesses and failures and generally getting hit with life and not knowing how to deal with it.

As for the blog that man wrote, its' funny how Christians will attack smoking but will not address being overweight - as if that is honoring the "temple"!

However, it is true that the stench is everywhere like he said. When I with a smoker, I try not to make a fuss about it knowing the bondage (addiction) the person is under beyond politely (hopefully) expressing that my lungs are sensitive to the fumes.

As far as God's acceptance, it never says you have to quit your addictions to come to Him! That would be like saying you need to get cleaned up before taking a bath!

Come to Him as you are.

As for smoking, the best line I heard was, "Smoking won't keep you out of Heaven. However, it might get you there sooner!"

One day the Lord may deal with you concerning this, but when the time comes He will give you the grace to overcome. Do not fear this. I've heard a few testimonies of those who instantly lost all their desire for smoking.

Just come to Him, and trust that He will be in charge of cleaning up and cleaning out your life, and that the cleaning will be full of grace not oppression. If you are willing to surrender your life to Him, willing to let Him make you clean, He has the power to make the experience a joy rather than a pain.

"A bruised reed He will not break."

[Littlelambseativy]

I am sorry to hear that someone saw your addiction but failed to look at himself and did not stop to look at his own sins. That is one thing that we even as born again christians have to do and that is ask God to forgive us our sins everyday. We all have sins that shame Jesus it is just that some in order to make themselves look better than you point out your flaws but not their own.

Do not let that turn you away.

As for your divorce, your husband left you. And as Jesus said,'Let him without sin cast the first stone." You could not cause anyone to sin unless they desired to do so. That was wrong.

We must each account for our owns sins. Come to Jesus, ask Him to forgive you, and do not worry about what man may say read the Bible and worry about what Jesus will say. He loves you - He just wants to love you and wants you to love Him.

You are loved SDGS.