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My answer to the question, "What does belief in God mean to me?" How about you ?
[FONT=q_serif]To me, belief in God means unconditional love always, inner peace when surrounded by chaos, guidance when lost, hope when in despair, and purpose when floundering. If I had not accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior at the point in my life that I did, I would not have any of those and would have remained broken in spirit.
I was raised a Christian and read a chapter in the Bible every morning for decades. For many of those years however my eyes were merely passing over the wordsi. I fell into a pattern where I was reading without purpose. It saddens me to admit that reading the scriptures had become a “check the box” exercise, something that I did every morning because I had always done it. I had made reading the Bible a rote process, all be it without the learning. Most mornings I could not elaborate what I had read and what it all meant.
Fortunately, after stumbling along for years, and with my life spiraling out of control, I found myself attending a church with a pastor who really “spoke to me.” He preached enthusiastically from the Bible while relating it directly to everything happening in the world. He inspired me.
I began to read the Bible with a renewed sense of purpose. As opposed to reading the next chapter in the morning, I took advantage of every opportunity to read and study the scriptures. In doing so, I found the unconditional love, inner peace, guidance, hope, and purpose that I so desperately needed.
God stopped the downward spiral of my life. Now I read and study the Bible as an essential part of my Faith. For years, I did read it “because I (somewhat) randomly considered myself to be a believer in God.”
I recently heard the Bible described as a “Love Letter from God to His Children.” It took me a very long time, but I consider myself blessed to be able to understand and to concur completely with such a description.
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[FONT=q_serif]To me, belief in God means unconditional love always, inner peace when surrounded by chaos, guidance when lost, hope when in despair, and purpose when floundering. If I had not accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior at the point in my life that I did, I would not have any of those and would have remained broken in spirit.
I was raised a Christian and read a chapter in the Bible every morning for decades. For many of those years however my eyes were merely passing over the wordsi. I fell into a pattern where I was reading without purpose. It saddens me to admit that reading the scriptures had become a “check the box” exercise, something that I did every morning because I had always done it. I had made reading the Bible a rote process, all be it without the learning. Most mornings I could not elaborate what I had read and what it all meant.
Fortunately, after stumbling along for years, and with my life spiraling out of control, I found myself attending a church with a pastor who really “spoke to me.” He preached enthusiastically from the Bible while relating it directly to everything happening in the world. He inspired me.
I began to read the Bible with a renewed sense of purpose. As opposed to reading the next chapter in the morning, I took advantage of every opportunity to read and study the scriptures. In doing so, I found the unconditional love, inner peace, guidance, hope, and purpose that I so desperately needed.
God stopped the downward spiral of my life. Now I read and study the Bible as an essential part of my Faith. For years, I did read it “because I (somewhat) randomly considered myself to be a believer in God.”
I recently heard the Bible described as a “Love Letter from God to His Children.” It took me a very long time, but I consider myself blessed to be able to understand and to concur completely with such a description.
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