I have these issues:
Lack of faith
doubt
masturbation (I've been at it awhile. I've tried to turn away and want to but I feel sometimes like it is something that takes me something away from boredom)
Cigarette addiction (Not a huge drive to smoke but like the above, it seems to serve as an extremely temporary distraction from my day to day life)
Looking at porn
Looking at girls with desire
fear of going to hell, what other people think of me, going insane
frustration
schizophrenia
depression
apathy
lack of motivation
worry
sleeplessness
paranoia
anger
rebellion towards God. I suppose there has been a showing of rebellion in my actions (the above) but I think it hasn't taken my spirit over completely
vainity
selfishness
loving things in the world, or, feeling like life is empty without me loving it.
Hypocrisy
Envy
Cursing
Bitterness
Not loving myself
Not having my mind set on Christ, things above.
Confusion.
Double mindedness
Hatred
Laziness
Not loving God with all my heart, strength, mind, soul
Uncertainty of what God wants of me or what his plan for my life is

So, this is a lot of what I'm going through. I think a lot has to do with my brain disorder (or whatever it is): schizophrenia, so if you pray for just one thing, may this be it. Thank you, and God bless you.

Robert

I forgot pride
instability
Thinking higher of myself then I should
Not judging myself
Not loving Jesus more than family, or denying myself and taking up my cross daily
Self-pity
Cowardice
Doing things that do not come from faith (feeling like God is calling me to fast and not doing that, as an example)
Looking at evil things on TV
And, reading philosophy which is about selfishness. (Sometimes when I doubt(ed) I read it... what it says about religion, and also because I feel as though there may be stuff in there that can help me with my situation or life or fears or lack of knowledge.)

THIS ALL COMES UNDER ONE HEADING

you are selfish

ask God for an opportunity to give

to focus on someone else

How did you come to that conclusion? and what do you mean by selfish?

wow, that is a lot. i, at one time, was going through a lot as well, not as much, but still a lot. God helped me through it, and i'm a lot better for it. putting all of this out in the open is a good start. prayer, another good start. if you want help on the lack of faith, the solution is simple, but not neccisarily easy: take a leap of faith. pray and pray until you feel God is telling you something, then go after it, and leave no chance for a second chance. Jump in, and don't let anything change your mind. and hatred and lust? well those are very difficult. i'd suggest embracing love in its fullest, give love where people do not, under any circumstances, deserve it. start with words, then move on to actions, then move on to thought. for the scitzophrenia, are you seing a doctor? taking medication? how severe is it? regardless of those answers, i'll be praying for it as hard as i can. as for pride, do something humiliating, i know it'll be embarrising, but if you really want this to stop, you've got to be willing to do something that hurts. as for depression, my best suggestion is to hope, hope more than you've ever hoped in your life. hope for all of this to end, look forward to the day that you will be free from this pain you're going through. as for the rest, my honestly best answer is to read the Bible. and i know, it sounds cliche, but think about it, not reading the Bible is like going into battle without your sword, your destined to lose.

Robert i just prayed for you

You do have a lot goin on. You must feel very overwhelmed. Are you on any medication for your schizophrenia?? Have you thought about seeing a couselor??

__________________

Thanks for the prayer, I'm not on meds, mainly due to the side effects. I was doing therapy but it was a bit pricey and far from my place, thinking of doing that in the future though.

Hi, Dont give yourself a hard time Robert. Are you on a good medication, it sounds like you may need to calm down abit. I too suffer witht the same illness,and its very easy to feel this way. Its your illness, and its not your fault. Our brains overload at times, and we give ourselves a hard time. Make sure are on a good medication Robert, as this will help you feel abit better and more in control. Its part of the illness to feel anxiety and worried about how we act etc. If you learn to take things slowly and just say to relax abit. Take Care Mandy.

Lord,

right now I just love him up to you in your name, Jesus! I bind and rebuke all things that are not f you, Lord! In the name of Jesus these things must go, we bind and rebuke in the name of Jesus, Amen!

Robert,

Have you tried fasting? That's how those things come out through prayer and fasting! Well be in my prayers

__________________
Until i get to the finish line, and receive the prize, and that prize is Heaven. I can knock on my friend's door to his mansion and tell him thank you ministering to me. Amen and Amen.

Praying for all your needs.
In Jesus, God bless
pickles

__________________
It is in our weakness that God's power is made perfect!

Thanks all.

Robert, I took your list, and picked out the ones that apply to me, added reasons for the ones I can.



Lack of faith (can't decide fully god vs no god, actually set my profile setting to "christian" so i wouldn't get bothered, and people wouldn't ask me questions all the time)
doubt (mostly caused by the evolution vs creation debate, if evolution is the case, then christianity loses all validity because of the fall of man)
masturbation (ive cut the frequency on this one down tremendously from what it was, still no where near conquered)
frustration (mostly caused by the first two)
apathy (i look up questions and try to increase my understanding, but overall I can't really say I care)
lack of motivation (i've got this everywhere, i should be filling out my eagle scout project form right not, but I'm proscrastinating that one, because i just don't care, i want to be done, and not do the work to get done)
worry (generally about the wrong things too, worldy things, like politics and other topics that don't matter in the end)
selfishness (this one especially with food)
gluttony (felt i should add this after selfishness)
Envy (i mostly just wish I had the faith in god that it seems so many others have, some jealousy of that stems out.)
Hypocrisy (oh yes, definitely have this)
Cursing (used to be a sailor, hence the avatar of a pirate, i've cut down on this one dramatically but its still a problem, generally if i dont say it, i think it)
Bitterness (yep, kinda like that song i heard once, "im an ***hole")
Not loving myself (yeah, got this one, mostly caused by one and two, and then the frustration)
Not having my mind set on Christ, things above. (following christ is definitely a backburner issue with me, even though I listen to online sermons quite often, it's mostly in the hopes that i can brainwash myself into fully believing)
Confusion. (see the above)
Hatred (yep, definitely havn't forgiven those that have tresspassed upon me, bad deal too, i read that your prayers wont be answered if you have unrepented sins, and so forth, dont know the validity of that)
Laziness (yeah, im laying in bed typing this, the epitamy of lazyness)
Not loving God with all my heart, strength, mind, soul (yep, got this one for sure, i sure dont have this because of my doubts)
Uncertainty of what God wants of me or what his plan for my life is (yep, havnt really been focusing on this one, but ive got it)


My biggest issues, are that I have huge doubts, some days my faith in there being a god could be as low as 10%, sometimes up to 50%. Generaly it's not 50 percent unless im listening to a good sermon. Right in there with you on some issues.

I've had some online christian friends ask me, "what do you think about this portion of the bible", sometimes I will read it and respond, most of hte time i just say, "dude, im still trying to figure out gensis 1".


I also fear that if I continue to make little to no progress in my understanding of things, that I may lose concern, and just drop it all together.


I've watched/read/listened to so many arguments/videos/debates/audiotracks of the evolution vs. creation debate, I can say I am thoroughly confused.

During one of the debates I watched, with christopher hitchens and al sharpton, I saw someone ask mr. hitchens, "Hey, mr hitchens, im an atheist that defends christianity, and im writing a book about why it should be defended, and i just have to ask, 'why take away something that means so much to so many people?'" So if nothing else, atleast I can be that guy.

I think prayer is more of a placebo effect. I've been praying for three things everynight for several months now, "God, I ask that you help me understand what is true and what is false, I ask that you help to build my faith, and please forgive me for my sins, but you don't have to, I understand." Sometimes I ask for one or two other things. Typically involving a friend of mine who is strugging with a lot of the questions I have too.

I apologize for the less than respectable grammar/spelling, typically i do better than this, see apathy and lack of motivation.

What will we do with a lost and dazed sailor? Peace.

__________________
Mark 13:20
If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them.

Proverbs 16:4
The LORD works out everything to its proper end—even the wicked for a day of disaster.

John 15:16
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.

Jimmy,
Hey, I enjoyed reading your post. Some of what you wrote describes me pretty well. Especially the doubting if what the bible says is true, and that making me more likely to make bad choices, or not trying to fight what I think is or most likely is wrong. I think that the universe being created is more plausible than it exploding out of nothing. I sort of feel like I need to do more research into what the bible says but I have a lack of motivation, I just don't feel up to it.

BTW in terms of doubt, this I think is what the bible says. When Jesus was talking to his apostles about why they couldn't cast out a certain demon, he says, "it is because you did not believe, but this kind comes out only by prayer and fasting." I think he was talking about unbelief when he said, "This kind comes out only by prayer and fasting."

The theory of the big bang, states that all the matter in the universe started in a tiny super-duper-condensed push-pin tip sized area. Tiny. Dense. Super.

This does not mean that, "oh well big bang=no god". Infact, I think the big bang theory kinda helps out the "god argument". Why did it expand? Atheists will argue, "something that dense, has to be instable." Okay, I don't necesarily disagree with that. So how did it get super-dense to begin with? They often will stumble around this one.

The laws of conservation of energy and matter state:

Energy can not be created nor destroyed, or created, but rather converted.

An example of this, would be electricity going into a blow dryer, which comes out as wind/heat/noise energies. The electricty came from a coal-fired plant, which the coal is condensed dead plant matter, which got its original energy from the sun. The sun, goes through fusion/fission, don't remember which, where two helium atoms combine to be one hydrogen, which creates a heck of a lot of energy.


Matter can neither be created nor destroyed, only change state, and change its element. Burn a log, and it doesn't magically disappear, the stored energy becomes heat and light energy. The log itself, will turn to ash. What is lost, is then put in the air. Which will settle, and eventually become soil.



So this atleast leaves open the window for a diestic view of god, which basically is "there is a god, but he doesnt care, and is more like a clock maker, makes the clock, watches it tik tok tik tok tik tok."


Evolution vs. Creation, is where in my opinion, it all is at for christianity. If the theory of evolution is 100% correct, then i would say one could argue that genesis 1, is an allagory, or completely falsified. Although, it isn't impossible, because in my opinion, adam and eve, were probably dark skinned, and from ethiopia, seeing as thats where the earliest human remains are.

I also am not so sure that neanderthal man, wasn't human. Evolutionary biologists argue that.




"But they have so much more hair!" They didn't exactly have ELECTRIC SHAVERS! I think bob marley is an imposter. I think this guy above, was the real bob marley.


Here's some links, to pages I found helpful in understanding, but for some reason theres a huge stormfront of doubt hanging over me. Something just seems relatively impossible about both. I could argue for both sides of evolution from what I know, but these pages present a bias against evolution, and I will provide pages with a bias for evolution, so you can compare and contrast.

What does the Bible say about Creation vs. evolution?

What are some flaws in the theory of evolution?

What is theistic evolution?

How does creationism vs. evolution impact how a person views the world?

Is the similarity in human/chimp DNA evidence for evolution?

How do beliefs about creation impact the rest of theology?

What is the theory of punctuated equilibrium?

What is Irreducible Complexity?

Heres a link to page 2, they have 7 pages or so on the topic of evolution. Search GotQuestions.org

Searching around AiG isn't a bad idea at all, but I think they make less scientific arguments than gotquestions.org, just opinion, not necesarily fact. I havn't explored AiG as much as gotquestions. Answers in Genesis - Creation, Evolution, Christian Apologetics

The Institute for Creation Research is definately interesting. The Institute for Creation Research

However, I don't think the eath is 6,000 years old.

__________________
Mark 13:20
If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them.

Proverbs 16:4
The LORD works out everything to its proper end—even the wicked for a day of disaster.

John 15:16
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.

Almost forgot to include the evolution-biased links.

Understanding Evolution Berkely of California.


Human Genome Shows Proof of Recent Evolution, Survey Finds

Watched this one the other night. YouTube - Ken Miller on Intelligent Design

Early Theories of Evolution: Evidence of Evolution

Beliefs about origins, including the theory of evolution and creation science


This one is more balanced, but its a good read. WikiAnswers - What absolute proof is there for the theory of evolution

__________________
Mark 13:20
If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them.

Proverbs 16:4
The LORD works out everything to its proper end—even the wicked for a day of disaster.

John 15:16
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.

Robert, I am praying for you also , but I also know the Christ can set you free from all this ,He died for us and he loves us , He wants us to give our lives to him 100% and let him work on us .. we just have to ask forgiveness for what is wrong and He will forgive us and make us all new again .. Lay all those things on him.. let him take it . He set me free from many of those things .. Just keep praying and reading the bible ..It will happen .. God Bess you .

An update: I feel suddenly way better.
"Just keep praying and reading the bible ..It will happen"
I have read some of the bible, been praying too. You think that if one reads the bible and pray deliverance will definitely come as an absolute certainty?

Jimmydiggs, I think that is off topic, if you want to discuss cosmology and evolution we can do that privately or on another thread.

My apologies. Kind of got caught up in a train of thought.

__________________
Mark 13:20
If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them.

Proverbs 16:4
The LORD works out everything to its proper end—even the wicked for a day of disaster.

John 15:16
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.