How does one goes about willingly believing in Christ and the Spirit&#

[Dak]

I don't have the time to read all the posts that have already been made, so I'm going to reply directly to your original post. Also, my answer is a personal testimony.

I want to know how exactly the Holy Spirit is instrumental to intellectual belief, and I would like to know if the Spirit gives us something other than faith to convince us of Christianity's truth. What does the Bible say on the matter? Natural theology is never going to convince me of anything. God is essentially hidden, so how, other than pragmatical reasons and ignorance, do people come to be Christians?

I myself is an intellectual, and like you, all the reasoning that was given me could not convince me of God, or of his love for me, or of my supposed salvation. For I had "accepted" Christ into my life several times, but I was never sure of it, nor did I really understand it. I needed something more to really believe; I needed evidence; I needed an actual experience.

And that, my friend, is the "something else" that the Holy Spirit gives us other than faith to convince us of Christianity's truth. Evidence. An actual experience.

A great example of this is the story of Saul, who later become the Apostle Paul -- the one who had written much of the New Testament, and who had been greatly instrumental in the spread of the Gospel. Here is an excerpt from the American Tract Society Bible Dictionary:

PAUL

The distinguished "apostle of the Gentiles;" also called SAUL, a Hebrew name. He is first called Paul in Ac 13:12.... He was born at Tarsus in Cilicia, and inherited from his father the privileges of a Roman citizen. His parents belonged to the tribe of Benjamin, and brought up their son as "a Hebrew of the Hebrews," Php 3:5. Tarsus was highly distinguished for learning and culture, and the opportunities for improvement it afforded were no doubt diligently improved by Paul. At a suitable age he was sent to Jerusalem to complete his education in the school of Gamaliel, the most distinguished and right-minded of the Rabbis of that age. It does not appear that he was in Jerusalem during the ministry of Christ....

We next find him at Jerusalem, apparently about thirty years of age, high in the confidence of the leading men of the nation. He had profited by the instructions of Gamaliel, and became learned in the law; yielding himself to the strictest discipline of the sect of the Pharisees, he had become a fierce defender of Judaism and a bitter enemy of Christianity, Ac 8:3 26:9-11. After his miraculous conversion, of which we have three accounts, Ac 9:22,26, Christ was all in all to him. It was Christ who revealed himself to his soul at Damascus, Ac 26:15 1Co 15:8; to Christ he gave his whole heart, and soul, mind, might, and strength; and thenceforth, living or dying, he was "the servant of Jesus Christ." He devoted all the powers of his ardent and energetic mind to the defense and propagation of the gospel of Christ, more particularly among the Gentiles.

My own encounters with God when I was still searching for him were not as dramatic as Paul's, but they had been as real, and also very intense. To make the long story short, God has revealed himself to me, and I fell in love with him. Deeply, and irrevocably. And like Paul, my life has been his ever since.

My advice to you is this: Seek him, as I once sought him. His promise to you is that your searching will not be in vain.

ESV > Matthew >

(7:7) "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

(7:8) For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

[Shaney777]

I want to thank each and every one of you for the caring, kind, and thoughtful replies. I greatly appreciate it. From the bottom of my heart. You all are a terrific community of believers, and I will take every piece of advice as I continue my search for God. I have saved this page for offline viewing, so I will be able to refer to on a regular basis as I struggle for understanding. Thank you all again!

 

With love,

Shane

[larryt]

Hi Shane,

It is interesting that I have been thinking about some things that might be of interest to you.

 

1.  What do you really want from the bottom of your heart?  Do you want to know about God or do you want to know Him personally?  Have a real active relationship with the living God.

 

Before I was "saved", born again, however you want to describe the experience  I came to the conclusion that I wanted to meet God, wanted to know Him for who He is.  Not some figment of my imagination or the imagination of some other man which is the essence of idolitry.  This desire is how the Holy Spirit began in me the work of salvation.  When I came to this conclusion I just cried out to God one night that I wanted to know who He was.  Shortly after I heard someone preach the gospel and it all made sense to me, I believed it and asked God to save me and be the Lord of my life.  That instant I was changed and knew that Jesus had come into my life by the Holy Spirit and was living in me.  He has never left me nor forsaken me.

 

Jer 9:23 ¶ Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise [man] glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty [man] glory in his might, let not the rich [man] glory in his riches:

Jer 9:24 But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I [am] the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these [things] I delight, saith the LORD.

 

Do you want to know God?  Tell Him.

[Pamelasv]

It isn't all intellectual.  God gives things like peace, joy, etc. When people decide to beleive and recieve him in sincerity, they experience an obvious transformation, and others who knew them persoanlly see it in them also.  

Actually, some say, 'If your real, then reveal yourself to me.'  He will do it, too.  It becomes a relationship.

Edited December 23, 2014 by Pamelasv

[OakWood]

Hello everyone,

 

I am looking for advice on something that has plagued my mind for a while.

 

Firstly, you should probably know that I see myself as a soft agnostic: due to the world's brightest disagreeing on crucial aspects of religion and philosophy, I see no way to make a decision on what is true (corresponding to the facts). Because of this conclusion, and my intense fear of hell in the afterlife, I decided that there had to be a way to decide on a worldview without trusting man's opinions. Since I was raised in a Christian home, I've chosen to first investigate the Holy Spirit's role in bringing about belief to individuals. That is why I am posting on this forum. I want to know how exactly the Holy Spirit is instrumental to intellectual belief, and I would like to know if the Spirit gives us something other than faith to convince us of Christianity's truth. What does the Bible say on the matter? Natural theology is never going to convince me of anything. God is essentially hidden, so how, other than pragmatical reasons and ignorance, do people come to be Christians?

 

Shane

 

Many have come to Christianity through rational thinking. Faith came later.

I became a Christian through rationality. The odds against it not being true were too great to ignore. Now of course, I believe through faith alone. If you want some sort of proof. Start with this:

The Bible has had many fulfilled prophecies. Statistically this is impossible if it were not the true were of God.

The history of Israel and of the Jews points to the truth of God.

I suggest you check out this thread for starters:

 

[Guest]

Many have come to Christianity through rational thinking. Faith came later.

I became a Christian through rationality. The odds against it not being true were too great to ignore. Now of course, I believe through faith alone. If you want some sort of proof. Start with this:

The Bible has had many fulfilled prophecies. Statistically this is impossible if it were not the true were of God.

The history of Israel and of the Jews points to the truth of God.

I suggest you check out this thread for starters:

 

 

 

 

That Video Has Been Taken Down (It's For Sale?)

 

Try This One http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-case-for-christ/

[gdemoss]

Shane,

Great question! Let me assure you that you are well on your way to believing. You admit to being agnostic and that gives us a starting point. You are on the fence. What you need to open the door tp faith is the key of willingness.

What does that look like?

When it comes to agnostics and atheists there are several 'kinds'. There are those who won't believe, those that can't believe and those who do believe but cannot fathom a God who cares for or would have them.

Which would you say you are?

[bcbsr]

The point many have made here could be stated in this way - that God's existence is intuitively obvious in light of creation. However one's intuition is a function of one's spirit. You ask about the Holy Spirit. I think in cooperation with the Holy Spirit working in conjunction with one's own spirit, God's existence will become obvious.

It's like if you were on a desert island and you saw footprints in the sand you would infer someone made them even though you hadn't seen the person. Or better yet, if you examined leaves on a tree and found writing on them - information coded into a language form - encompassing volumes of information about the tree. You would naturally infer that someone must have wrote that information. It's intuitively obvious. And yet that is the case - with regards to the DNA code inherent in all life. Yet what is intuitively obvious to some, to others it's not intuitively obvious due to the difference in people's spiritual condition.

However as for forensic evidence validating the claims of Christ, I am ashamed that no one here has yet given the evidence that Christ provided. Namely his resurrection from the dead. When Paul was trying to convince the philosophical Greeks in Athens he said this, among other things, "now he commands all people everywhere to repent.  For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead" Acts 17:31,32

Whenever the gospel is preached in the Bible, the resurrection of Christ is mention as forensic evidence validating the claims of the gospel. What I suggest is you read a gospel, like Luke or John, and see if it's convince to you.

Unlike other religions, the Bible doesn't expect you to believe on a purely irrational basis. But to believe on the basis of sufficient evidence that would be expected by any reasonable person.

[lavey.online]

Since, I am from India, most of my non-Christian friends often ask this question to me, "How you tell, your God Jesus is the ONLY God ? "

 

The answer is clear: "Jesus is the only God, because He only fulfill the laws of all religion, created before Him ( means before Christ).

 

All ancient religions link Buddhism, Hinduism, Jew-ism, etc. tell the only thing ... " Without a proper sacrifice there will be no escape from our sinful doings ... "

 

All Hindu sacred books tell this...

 

Gautama Buddha told about Jesus ... Read this passage ...

 

Near his death (483 B.C.) Buddha (The Enlightened One) told his followers, "Regardless of how many laws you have kept, or even if you pray 5 times a day, you cannot be free from your sin. Even though you burn yourself, even though I become a hermit, or am reborn another 10 times, I also shall not be saved." (Manuscript, Praising Temple, Chiengmai Thailand).

Buddha taught that he was not a "god", but only a man, a truth seeker. But on his death bed Buddha taught that there would be a future Messiah, "Lord of Mercies", who would be able to free men of their sins. Buddha said, "...He is the Lord of Mercies, His name shall be called the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. He is all knowing, all wise. He knows all that is in the human heart. He is Lord of all the angels and of all humans. No one is greater than He." (Sutrapridot 3:107).

Buddha continued to teach of the Lord of Mercies, that "...His side has a wound where he was pierced, and his forehead has many scars. He will carry you to heaven where you will find the triune God. Thus give up following the old way. A spirit from heaven will come and dwell in your heart." (Manuscript, Praising Temple, Chiengmai, Thailand).

Jesus, later, fulfilled all of these prophesies. The awesomeness of the revealed Christ should call all peoples to submit to his rule. He is the only one under heaven through whom we can be saved.

 

As wholly said, Jesus is clearly the ONLY WAY for the salvation of the mankind.

 

Above all, "BELIEVE THE TRUTH !" without questioning ... That's the thing given to all for their salvation. Amen !

[keeganblaik]

I don't personally have the more modern and contemporary view of "cooperative" salvation like many Christians do today.  I kinda see that presupposition in your questioning so I thought I'd say what I just did there firstly.

 

Having said that, nor am I fatalistic and without a sincere faith in God.  I guess the best summary I could give you (in trying not to ramble) would be...

 

people get saved via the word of God.  yes, Jesus saves and one who belongs to Christ starts to understand this more fully over time.  His life and death is what actually saves His people.  But God has always worked through people and through His word.  Pursue God's word.  Pursue His people.  Seek His local church and listen to the teaching of His word.

 

But in the end, God must save you.  The power of salvation belongs to God alone. God must do it.  To be saved, God isn't in heaven waiting for someone to say the right prayer or to have correct faith.  God doesn't "try" to save people.  Christ didn't die in hopes of saving as many people as He could.  

 

All those that belong to God will come to Christ.  Seek the bible and God's people and church so that you might prove yourself to be His own.