Has Your life been better since becoming a Christian?

[Jesus Admirer]

One thing that most certainly changed was my attitude toward God. I have prayed since, and my prayers have been answered. But I don't want to give the impression that I have jumped from glory to glory. I suffered through some real tough emotional times since I have been a Christian, but the Lord has brought me througg them all, and made me a better and stronger person.

Edited February 13, 2007 by Jesus Admirer

[Openly Curious]

Yes, we should all pray about things but we should also pray and say if it be the Lord's will we shall do this or that as the Lord may not be willing in the things we want to do and we should not boast but understand that it is only if the Lord's will we shall do this or that. Most people make plans of their own and do not include the will of the Lord into the equation and when things don't work our as they planned well they give up. So we must be careful of such boasting in this life as the book of James 4:13-17

gives an example of this as the people had said that they would go into such and such a city for a while and make a bunch of money and get gain but they left God out of the equation and wasn't preparing for eternity in the process as none of us knows what will be on tomorrow and that life is but a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away.

So we ought to say if the Lord will we shall live and do this or that and not rejoice in our own plans that we make and are anticipating to happen because that is our own boasting and not the Lord's will and all rejoicing in this manner is evil as we have no promise that we will continue to live in this life to see those things come to pass so our focus and plans should include the Lord's will and plans for eternity and as long as He gives us the breath we so freely breath in and out then we may do this or that if the Lord will it to be so.

OC

[child_of_iam]

I will not say yes, I will not say no but I will say, "When I gave my life to Jesus, I became the Devils enemy" I will also say "There's not a day that goes by that I regret following my Lord, my Savior, the the Lord Jesus Christ the One and Only" "I am a child of the I AM"

child of iam

[stevehut]

I became a Christian at age 28, after a lifetime of going to church and acting holy.

Steve

[emeraldgirl]

Butero, I really appreciate your kind tone and all the thoughts you have put into answering me.

Death is just a reality of life. We are all born into this world knowing that one day we will die. It could happen very early on, as in the case of a miscarriage, or it could occur after living to be a very old man or woman. Either way, our days are numbered. Nobody is given a promise of how long this life will be. At the same time, I believe God has a purpose for every person.

This is true. And in the practical sense, I do see it like this. We all have a lifespan. My daughter's was just extremely short. By the way westerners count life, she lived to be zero. Nothing minutes old. It's the concept of intentional purpose that I don't think I believe anymore. If God set the biological facts of conception in motion, there is no need for explaination as to why my daughter lived to be nothing minutes old. In fact, a lot of horrors make more sense that way: the baby born addicted to crack, the child of a rape, children born to unfit parents, the child conceived thought scientific means that God didn't design (IMO). If conception and life are just the biological effect of the way God designed it to be, there is no need to explain why God allows these horrors while he supposedly rescues others.

The question I would ask is, what is the real advantage to living to be old, as opposed to dying very young? I have thought about how it seems easier to deal with the death of an elderly person, thinking they lived a long life, than to deal with someone who dies very young. Yes, they get to experience joys that come from living, but they also have to deal with pain. On the other hand, in the case of your child, they went immediately into the presence of the Lord. It is true that knowing this doesn't take away your grief, but it should help you to realize that your child is happy. God wasn't mean to that baby. I believe he loves your child, and for some reason, allowed him or her to come to live with him after a very short existence.

Because this life is all that I know about. I hope there is a wonderful heaven where at least my daughter is and maybe I will be, too, but I have no reason to believe it beyond just plain hope that it is so. I cannot know my daughter is happy; I can only know that her body is in the tiniest casket you ever saw, with a big marble rock above it to tell the world that she was real. What point is there in a life that never extends beyond the womb? Even if there is a heaven - it's not like God needed her to inhabit a body for 9 months so she could get to heaven, right? From the perspective of a mother, we suppose having children means raising them. I doubt anyone who is not deranged sets out to have children with no expectation of raising them into adulthood. What I'm saying is no one of sound mind goes, "Well and if they die young, so much the better; they'll be in heaven." (I remember seeing a woman interviewed on TV once, who had smothered her infant. This was her continual fantasy, saying to herself, "I should free this child to be raised by Jesus, instead of with me.") I mean I understand from an idealistic way, saying, "Well, it's a comfort to think she's in a better place." But it still comes back to the same question, if you presuppose that God has intentional reasons for every child's conception.

I want you to know that I am very sorry for your loss. I pray that God will take the hurt away and bring healing to you. At the same time however, to simply say that God failed you and therefore you are turning your back on him is not a very rational way to handle your grief.

Thank you...but it's not that simple. It's not "God failed me and therefore I turn my back on him." It's been seeing that the things I believed don't hold water and so it seems healthier to believe in things that make sense. The beliefs that go with the Christian faith did complicate my grieving a lot. It is simpler - even if it sounds more cynical - just to say biology sometimes fails and that is what happened. It has nothing to do with God or his plans or his intentions or mercies or punishments. It just is.

There is something I wanted to ask you. Sometime back you said that you believed god to be some type of energy, and that he was love. You said that you felt his presence once, and that it filled you with love. As I told you, I have experienced the same thing on a few occassions. In another place you said you believe god created everything and then took a hands off approach to it, allowing good and evil alike to take place. Sometimes things would just go wrong, as was the case when you gave birth. What I was wondering is, why would a god that takes a hands off approach to mankind, and allows evil to occur, choose to one day visit you? Wouldn't that go against the idea he simply created everything and then left it to it's own devises?

I don't see it as he chose to visit me. I think that Divine Love (or whatever) is available to all people, and that is why people of many different faiths (or no particular faith) have claimed to have accessed it. When I have experienced this, I was aiming for it; I was aiming for a communion with "God" - not necessarily within the mental framework of Christianity, just the "energy" of Goodness and Love. (This happened to me a few different times; it wasn't one time.) I don't believe that God turned his back on creation after he created it, but that he set many things in motion and the rest is up to us. It is up to us if we want to connect to the Divine.

Blessings to you, Butero. One of my Resolutions is to spend less time in this sort of venue, so that's why I'm tapering off, but your post deserved the courtesy of response and if you have more to ask, I will try to respond soon.

[Guest]

[Guest lnj]

This is a practical question. If you have been a non-Christian for part of your mature life and a Christian for part of it, is your life better in physical ways? Is it worse in physical ways?

Please include how long you were a non-Christian and how long you've been a Christian. Explain your answer. Thanks.

Instant answer - yes BUT.... it has been a hard road. Jesus never said it would be easy..we walk through the fire..with Him .. but not around the fire. LNJ

[Floatingaxe]

Not quite fitting the topic, but - I rejected Christianity about 15 months ago because my life was considerably WORSE, owing to the immensely psychological trauma of the threats of Hell, attempting to suppress sexual desires and feelings, and the alienation from my friends and family.

You may have rejected Christianity, but did you ever know Jesus? Jesus comes in and changes your heart. Sounds to me like you've never had a genuine meeting with the Saviour. I would encourage you to repent and ask God to forgive you through Jesus' sacrifice for you. Ask Jesus to come and live His life in you. He will! He will revolutionize your life so completely, you will never look back again.

Often when we come to Christ there is immediate opposition--that is the devil trying to snatch you back. He gets mad when he loses folk. Don't pay him any mind! It's more important that you please the One who loves you than appeasing the one who hates you.

[EricH]

Not quite fitting the topic, but - I rejected Christianity about 15 months ago because my life was considerably WORSE, owing to the immensely psychological trauma of the threats of Hell, attempting to suppress sexual desires and feelings, and the alienation from my friends and family.

I will change your status to "non-believer" to reflect your status

[Guest]

is the only possible answer that I was not a true Christian? Never TRULY asked for Jesus to lead my life? Ask any members of my old church, you will see the opposite is true.

No one here who loves Jesus cares what other people think of your Christianity!

All of the Christians here are rooting for you and for your relationship to God!

You see, we are head-over-heals in love with our Father In Heaven and with The Lord Jesus Christ and with The Holy Ghost. We want you to have the hope and the joy we have while you are still alive!

If you are indeed a Christian, you are at War with your flesh and with a world that hates God!

Like me, you need fellowship and, like me, you need brothers and sisters who will guard your back and who will bow down with you before The Throne.

You very well could be a brother-in-Christ!

When you attended Church, did you have a few fellow Christians who prayed with you and for you when you were under spiritual attack?

Worthy has a prayer line you can go to and post a prayer request for your spiritual needs as well as for your emotional and physical needs. Just click on "Prayer" at the top of the page.

You can ask for prayer on this thread.

It may take courage to humble yourself to ask!

I think in military terms (USN Veteran), so I think of prayer requests as calling in God's Artillery on my position as I'm being swarmed by the enemy!

The Question........

"..... What think ye of Christ?....." (Matthew 22:42)

Then The Next Question, Born Of The Spirit?

John 3:3-6

"Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

"Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?"

"Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."