your beliefs then and now

[Ghostdog]

how has your christian beliefs changed over the years?

for me i got saved in a pentecostal church that taught act 2:38 was the only way to heaven, women wore jean skirts and never cut their hair, tongues was proof that your had the holy ghost. it wasnt until i started coming here that i saw that not everything i was taught was not set in stone. just because someone believes differently doesnt mean that their not saved, fire and brimstone preaching isnt needed every sunday.

[Michael37]

4 minutes ago, Ghostdog said:

how has your christian beliefs changed over the years?

for me i got saved in a pentecostal church that taught act 2:38 was the only way to heaven, women wore jean skirts and never cut their hair, tongues was proof that your had the holy ghost. it wasnt until i started coming here that i saw that not everything i was taught was not set in stone. just because someone believes differently doesnt mean that their not saved, fire and brimstone preaching isnt needed every sunday.

I've got more of a desire to do God's Will than I had in my youth.

[Neighbor]

6 hours ago, Ghostdog said:

how has your christian beliefs changed over the years?

 

Little has changed. I was in awe of God when He turned me about while I still knew nothing of Him some half century ago. I am still in awe to this day, only with high mileage on the odometer. I am still riding the tailgate on the vehicle I have been riding, seeing where I have been  more so than where I will be going today. The trail  behind however is way longer than it used to be.

Been an adventure, even in the harsh times. God is awesome!

 

[AnOrangeCat]

I was raised Pentecostal, pre-trib rapture, and eternal conscious torment. I was also terrified of the rapture because of insecurity over my salvation. If I heard thunder in the night it worried me to the point that I felt a need to get up and check to see if anyone I saw as a mature Christian was missing. I also felt like God was just waiting to expose all the sins and personal failings of my teenage years. I'm more secure in my salvation now so I don't worry about those things. Due to reading and comprehending the Bible now combined with God pulling through for me in a massive way in a prolonged trial by fire I don't feel like He's waiting to expose or punish me.

So far as Hell goes I find myself leaning more toward annihilation, but I've reached the conclusion that neither it nor the rapture are super important to my theology or my daily walk with God. I see the cases made for many (but not all) other viewpoints on this topic and just accept them as things we can't claim 100% certainty about until God reveals them to us.

[FJK]

I don't think my beliefs have changed, I've just developed a deeper understanding of them and how to bring them more fully into use in my life.

[TheBlade]

Mine has not changed...yeah thinking back nothing. I think its natural to believe as we get older we get wiser and smarter and were better now then before yet I wonder how many are farther off the path then when they started. \

Now we get older but that does not mean we have grown in the spirit at all. We were babies in Christ and some still are they still drink milk. Some started to eat meat but posts here and all over prove some go back to milk for they "feel" its safer. So your belief...it can be you that is off not them.

[Alive]

In the fundamentals…no. However, I am learning all the time.

Its a good question. The truth is, I have willingly left behind a great many things and hold dearly to a handful of things I am certain the Lord taught me. That is where I live.

I would say, other than two specific areas of doctrine, what has changed most is an appreciation of the breadth and depth of His Grace.

[Marathoner]

Understanding.

In the beginning when the Lord called me to Him out of the blue, I had no clue. I couldn't comprehend most of what I heard and didn't understand what the Son of God required of me. 

Understanding began when I arrived at where the Lord sent me. I was baptized in water and spent close to 4 years learning about the scriptures from my old friend. I lived with him and his family during that time. I became part of the fellowship he was a part of. It was all about brothers and sisters in Christ and His Body which He joined me to.

My first lesson regarding what the Lord required of me came when He declared that my time with the fellowship had come to an end. The day before some of the elders decided to cast me out, the Lord spoke and told me to prepare to leave swiftly. They were going to cast me out and I would be waiting for their arrival at the door. All I had to do was obey His voice and all would be well. 

20 years of deprivation and homelessness followed. I wandered this country from shelter to shelter and job to job; I lost myself and came close to death many times. I had no idea where my seemingly aimless path was leading until I found myself standing on the side of a road, staring at the ridgeline of a mountain range I witnessed in a vision not long after the Lord snatched me from this world.

That was where I finally came to comprehend what the Lord God required of me: everything. No home... no family... no property, and no possessions beyond what I could carry with me. It was never a question of beliefs or churches, as I was a stranger to both. It was always a matter of understanding what the Lord requires. This understanding continues to grow and will for as long as I'm in this world.