Left with questions

[darwindiva]

I was a devout christian for most of my life. I became an athiest at 25 after many personal tragedies and searching for my own personal truth. I'm very happy has an athiest and don't ever want to go back to religion. However, now that i'm an athiest I look back on many of the things that I believed as a christian with confusion. I do not come here to insult anyone or upset anyone. I'm just curious about how the mind works and why people believe what we believe beyond my own personal experience. I'll start with my questions:

Why are certain scriptures supposedly to be taken figuratively and others meant to be taken literally?

If the old testament is supposed to be the old law and Jesus's words are supposed to be the new law, then why is homosexuality and masturbation (issues in the old testament) such a huge issue if Jesus himself never mentioned it?

If god can do absolutely everything then why blood sacrifice? He supposedly can do ANYTHING...why did he chose such a violent way to "save" us? Before you say that he required a blood sacrifice, remember that he made it that way. He could have used any way and he chose that one. Why? What about blood was it that god required to save us?

Why does god not prove his existence now that we can document it? He requires faith, I understand that about the christian religion. However, if god truly wants us to believe in him, why wouldn't he pursue us in a way that is tangible?

Most people of other religions believe their own personal truths to be the one truth, having been taught it from birth. They're following the god that they've been taught to believe in and believing in another god would be against what they believe in. Are they wrong? They're only doing what most religious people do; carrying on their family belief.

I have many many more questions. I would love to talk to someone who has an open mind. I have absolutely nothing against christians, just wondering about what makes the gears of christianity turn. Message me for my yahoo ID to talk more.

 

[Jordache]

1. The protestant bible is an amazing piece of literature made up of 66 cannonized books of several different genresz. Genres are one of the main reasons we don't take everything literally. Today we write in many genres and they are not all meant to be taken literally. The bible is full of literal historical accounts, prophecy which uses metaphors and other figurative devices, poetry, and letters. Just like today we don't interpret a history book the way we would interpret Robert Frost, we cannot interpret the bible through one lense.
Another but to consider that context is key. You can accurately read something with a literal interpretation ad get it completely wrong. Certain parts of the bible were also written to certain audiences with very specific cultures. If we interpret literally through our cultural lense, we will likely interpret incorrectly. In Africa culture it is not uncommon for women to go topless. In their culture that is normal and not considered immodest or even nudity. But if that some women was to do the same here in the US, it'd be a different story. Context changes the meaning.

2. Just because there is a new law, does not mean the Old Testament is obsolete. I'm not an OT/NT scholar by any means, but a common misconception is that Jesus completely did away with the law. He did not. He fulfilled the law. Many of those OT commands are still very important. In fact, when Jesus was crucified the OT food laws were still important. The laws mattered for health reasons... But in context many of those laws are obsolete now. However, there are laws that are still important. The 10 commandments are still very important.
Homosexuality it explicitly spoken of in the NT. Paul speaks clearly about it. As for masturbation, it is not directly referred to. However, Jesus does speak of lust and other sexual sin which some may apply to masturbation also.

3. I can't really say. God certainly made the choice for how the plan of salvation was supposed to work. I cannot know how He determined this in His infinite wisdom. But I do know that once a foundation was set, there had to be a perfect lamb sacrifice to accomplish forgiveness of sins and salvation once and for all. I can't really answer that question the way you want me to. One things for sure: it was an ultimate display of love.

4. In every make a wish or genie movie written there is usually one wish you cannot make. You can't make someone love you. Love in its purest form is voluntary and sacrificial just like the love demonstrates on the cross. You cannot make someone love you. You can only make them a slave. Love means a choice is made. So God chose to make Himself tangible by sending Jesus. Before Jesus we could not "touch" God. A high priest had to sacrifice for the worlds sins. One man got to do our sacrifice or us because God was too holy for us to be in His presence. But Jesus came so that he could be our high priest. Jesus brought God to us. God gave us Jesus so that by His blood we could be reconciled (become clean enough when viewed through Jesus sacrificial blood).
God is just as real and present today as He was back then. We now have the Holy Spirit who can be tangible. Yes, there is a sense in which God is not standing right next to you in human form and he doesn't do your express bidding in your timing, but His presence is very real. In a sense, God is here and not at the same time. His kingdom is both now and not yet. At times it's is very easy to sense Him. Other times its hard, but I would never say I serve an intangible God.

5. Many religions are cultural. Even Christianity, misunderstood, becomes a culture. This is why gallop polls always says that so many people on the US are
Christians. This isn't because they serve the One True God. This is because they were born in a family that may go to church, even regularly, but they go because everyone goes. They use God and Jesus when he's convenient. They have a specific jargon because they've been raised saying "God Bless you" to every person in the line at the grocery store. But they do not know God. They know church. Their religion is tradition not a relationship with a Holy God. Going to church and saying the right words doesn't make you a Christian anymore than going into a barn and mooing makes you a cow. So, you are correct that this is how many religious people are. But they are wrong. It doesn't make them evil people. It doesn't make them bad. They could be very nice people, but nice doesn't earn your way to heaven. Nice still gets you a ticket to hell if you haven't submitted your life to Jesus.

I don't have yahoo but I'd love to chat with you. You can PM me.

 

[Rock022]

If the old testament is supposed to be the old law and Jesus's words are supposed to be the new law, then why is homosexuality and masturbation (issues in the old testament) such a huge issue if Jesus himself never mentioned it?

If god can do absolutely everything then why blood sacrifice? He supposedly can do ANYTHING...why did he chose such a violent way to "save" us? Before you say that he required a blood sacrifice, remember that he made it that way. He could have used any way and he chose that one. Why? What about blood was it that god required to save us?

Those are all good questions, but you must take it easy or you will end up blind, or with a head ache. I can answer but a few right now.

I will use an analogy (I think thats what this is called)

Imagine God is pure light. If you look directly in to His light as if you looked at the sun you will see everything else dark and you can loose your sight fast. For us to look at the sun we need a special lens, we call this the bible. But if you do not know how to use this lens then what is the use, we need a teacher and we call this pastors or preachers. Like all teachers some are good others not so good.

Now to your second question
Jesus does not need to mention it because it is clear for those who listen: Procreate.
Man by himself does not make sense, woman by herself does not make sense, put them together and you can see God intended for us procreate. Homosexuality does not procreate life, if this was his intent you would not be here.

Self pleasure is a form of only pleasing me and me only, it is not shared, therefore it is not Love. When you love it is all about pleasing the other.

Third question:
In past times many animals where considerate sacred, killing this animals was a form of telling God that He is the only one, and those animals had no power over them. But it was not just a simple kill, there was detailed form of doing so. As we study the scriptures we can see Jesus taking the form of those animal sacrifices. And cleansed our sins, having no more need for animal sacrifices.

Obviously this will bring up a whole new set of questions, but I hope I was of some help.

 

[kenisyes]

I'll try to give you slightly different answers to your questions.

1. Scripture is like any letter. Your friends sometimes speak figuratively, don't they? The trick is to know them well enough, so you can tell which is which. It's pretty clear that you did not know Him that well.

2. Jesus words are not law, they are spirit and life. Homosexuality and maybe masturbation are things you avoid because the spirit of real life is stronger. Even the OT is not laws on you, they are laws of the universe that, if you understand and work with, you will be blessed. Churches make laws out of it, because that's easier to explain to a child.

3. If you see how horrible sin looks to God, it makes you want to die that you are doing it. God let His Son die instead. Now we can die to our sins and still be alive to receive the blessings the sins were blocking. We win/He wins.

4. a. If God did anything to force you to love Him (like proving Himself) then what He has for you would not be unconditional love. He wants to love you whether you love Him back or not. b. Love is inherently not tangible, but is the source of everything tangible.

5. Just because most people do something doesn't make it right.

6. There are many followers of Jesus who know God, worship Him, and do not participate in organized Christianity. I'm not sure that athiest and Christian are opposites. Atheists deny God; Christians believe in God, and a whole lot more, some of which is not Godly. I don't consider myself a Christian, but a follower of Jesus Christ. I find Him in life, not in religion. Like you say, all of life is an experiment. I choose to experiment to find out what God is going to do next. Are you sure it's the gears of Christianity you wish to investigate? There's a lot of monkey wrenches in those gears.

I think the experiment you are walking out is the doorway to many experiments. You are asking the right questions. I would be happy to e-mail you if you wish to talk privately. You can pm me by clicking on my name and following the links.

 

[darwindiva]

Thank you guys so much for your thought provoking answers. I have to go to work right now but I will be back to hopefully ask some more questions. Feel free to ask me any questions as well.

 

[GOD_IS_LOVE]

I will answer your question about the need for blood sacrifice.
As we all know, our universe is governed by certain laws: such as the law of gravity and others. It is the same with the kingdom of God. One of its laws is that the penalty for sin is death, in other words, anyone who sins should die, because God's kingdom is one of purity and holiness. Holiness and sin cannot dwell together. When mankind committed sin - rebellion against God and His explicit command - it deserved to die, and we are not talking only about death on this earth, but eternal death, which is eternal separation from God. In His desire to save humanity, God could only do it by placing the guilt we should bear on somebody else, because this is what the law requires: death as a payment for sin. That's why Jesus became our Saviour, because He paid the price that by all means had to be paid, so that we would be able to be released from the punishment.
Now, to ask if God couldn't have just removed or disregarded this law that requires death in exchange for sin, would be like asking if God could just remove the law of gravity. Probably he could, but the result would be total chaos and destruction.

 

[flight316]

I find your situation to be very serious. I see that you were once a christian. It is better to to have never known Jesus than to have known Him and turn back. ( this was the first thing that came to mind, that's why I submitted it ) . The Truth shall set you free. May you find the Truth.

 

[Trax]

I was a devout christian for most of my life. I became an athiest at 25 after many personal tragedies and searching for my own personal truth. I'm very happy has an athiest and don't ever want to go back to religion. However, now that i'm an athiest I look back on many of the things that I believed as a christian with confusion. I do not come here to insult anyone or upset anyone. I'm just curious about how the mind works and why people believe what we believe beyond my own personal experience. I'll start with my questions:

I doubt you knew God. To know a relative, and then years later, say, well...he/she never really
existed. Really? The response people would have in this behavior is, that person is crazy.
But, people claim to do the same thing with God. However, they aren't crazy, they just never
knew Him. What they did was "practice" a religion and later, decided to try something different.
Lip service to God because the practice required it. And now, in atheism, the same lip service
that fits into your practice.

The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. You don't believe God exists, let alone, something to
fear. How do you expect to get this wisdom? But this wisdom is what you are seeking. You got
a problem on your hands. Education will not provide it. It comes from God alone, on His terms.

You claim to never want to go back to religion, but here you are. You'll never have an open mind
until you know God on a personal level. A person will think he/she has an open mind, but there is that
vast amount of wisdom, that only comes from God, that the person lacks and doesn't know. If one
could pull back the veil and see truth of themself and of God, that person would exclaim, "I've been
a fool!" But they can't pull the veil aside and get that wisdom on their own. The process of
"I tried this and I tried that..." is just picking a favorite card out of the deck. And when they
tire of that card, they pick another one. Its the same deck, and same destination. They
go through life never grasping its "relationship".

 

[Stuey]

Hey, thanks for your post. I will attempt to answer here, note that many Christian's opinions on here are diverse, and you will get very different answers.

I was a devout christian for most of my life. I became an athiest at 25 after many personal tragedies and searching for my own personal truth. I'm very happy has an athiest and don't ever want to go back to religion. However, now that i'm an athiest I look back on many of the things that I believed as a christian with confusion. I do not come here to insult anyone or upset anyone. I'm just curious about how the mind works and why people believe what we believe beyond my own personal experience. I'll start with my questions:



Why are certain scriptures supposedly to be taken figuratively and others meant to be taken literally?

The bible is composed of different parts of literature, apocalyptic literature, poems, history etc. It doesn't make much sense to take a poem literally, it is more meant to convey emotion. Not a complete answer but lets call it poetic

If the old testament is supposed to be the old law and Jesus's words are supposed to be the new law, then why is homosexuality and masturbation (issues in the old testament) such a huge issue if Jesus himself never mentioned it?

Sexual sin is always a controversial one. Especially since most people struggle with this.

Part of the reason I think as to why these two in particular are big issues are that people don't want them to be sins. It would be much easier if masturbation wasn't a problem, would make it easier for the guys (forget the damage it causes for the moment), in regards to homosexuality - I Think also that people don't want them to be a sin.

There is a big push by typically extreme left wingers for equality in marriage etc. - Without a belief in God there is no reason for this to be evil, thus they then wish to dictate to church's what is and isn't wrong and what they can or can't teach.

Within the church itself you have liberal elements of it which seek to conform with what society says. And you have parts of it which believe the bible is true and believe what it says.

The bible is pretty clear on sexual sin... But it would be easier for the church if it wasn't.

I think unfortunately some in the Christian right have taken homosexuality on as a flagship issue, this saddens me, if you don't believe in God there is no reason that homosexuality is wrong, (apart from an innate moral sense) yet some people will hate on those in particular types of sin.

While we need to be firm on this issue, it is sinful, rebellious against God. There are far more important things for us to be talking about in my opinion.




If god can do absolutely everything then why blood sacrifice? He supposedly can do ANYTHING...why did he chose such a violent way to "save" us? Before you say that he required a blood sacrifice, remember that he made it that way. He could have used any way and he chose that one. Why? What about blood was it that god required to save us?

Good question again,

I think I'd start by saying that God can't do everything - He cannot lie, he cannot sin, for example. So why he needed to save us in such a gruesome manner is a matter of his character.

God cannot do anything unjust - Men have rebelled against him, therefore there must be a punishment. But the punishment needs to fit the crime. Death was needed - but the death of an animal cannot pay (hebrews 10 I think has a good passage on this) for human rebellion. So either we needed to be punished, or God needed to punish someone willing. The only human willing, and sinless and therefore not deserving of the same punishment, was God in the flesh.

That could be a bit muddled but I feel it should help.




Why does god not prove his existence now that we can document it? He requires faith, I understand that about the christian religion. However, if god truly wants us to believe in him, why wouldn't he pursue us in a way that is tangible?

Another good question. I don't feel I can give you the best answer to this one so I will leave that to others I will leave a few thoughts though.

I would suggest that his existence has been documented, it is in the New Testament (and the documents we have of this are hundreds and hundreds from the 2nd and third centuries, pretty darned good documentation for its time.

I think he does pursue us in a way that is tangible - The entire bible shows God coming to humans and trying to get them to love him, and our response.

One thing he doesn't do though, is force us to believe in him, he wants us to come to him willingly.

Most people of other religions believe their own personal truths to be the one truth, having been taught it from birth. They're following the god that they've been taught to believe in and believing in another god would be against what they believe in. Are they wrong? They're only doing what most religious people do; carrying on their family belief.

This I think is an unfortunate byproduct of postmodernism.

I do believe in Empirical truth, God is real, Jesus died on the cross. These are empirical facts, no amount of shifting perception can change them.

So... short answer, Yes they are wrong. The bible does do a fair bit of commenting on false religion.... they set up idols and worship them, with one piece of wood they cook their food and eat, with another they set up their God and worship them.

I have many many more questions. I would love to talk to someone who has an open mind. I have absolutely nothing against christians, just wondering about what makes the gears of christianity turn. Message me for my yahoo ID to talk more.

I don't have yahoo that I use, if you have skype you may pm me for it though.

God bless and may God save you and you find him.

 

[psychomom]

darwindiva...I'm sorry about the personal tragedies.

I hope you don't mind, but since you're here, asking these questions, I'm going to pray for you.
Personally, I believe there is a God (one God, one faith...)
and I know you've heard about Him.
But I'm asking Him to reveal Himself to you.
Because it's not about a system, or a religion, it's about a Person.
And that Person (Jesus) loves you more than you can possibly imagine.

Faith in the God of the Bible is a gift of His great grace.
I believe He is giving you grace, even as we speak.
I believe He is calling to you, drawing you to Himself.
I hope you're not offended, and you certainly don't have to agree with me.
But I am praying for you.

love,
ellie

 

[Rock022]

I doubt you knew God. To know a relative, and then years later, say, well...he/she never really
existed. Really? The response people would have in this behavior is, that person is crazy.
But, people claim to do the same thing with God. However, they aren't crazy, they just never
knew Him. What they did was "practice" a religion and later, decided to try something different.
Lip service to God because the practice required it. And now, in atheism, the same lip service
that fits into your practice.

The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. You don't believe God exists, let alone, something to
fear. How do you expect to get this wisdom? But this wisdom is what you are seeking. You got
a problem on your hands. Education will not provide it. It comes from God alone, on His terms.

You claim to never want to go back to religion, but here you are. You'll never have an open mind
until you know God on a personal level. A person will think he/she has an open mind, but there is that
vast amount of wisdom, that only comes from God, that the person lacks and doesn't know. If one
could pull back the veil and see truth of themself and of God, that person would exclaim, "I've been
a fool!" But they can't pull the veil aside and get that wisdom on their own. The process of
"I tried this and I tried that..." is just picking a favorite card out of the deck. And when they
tire of that card, they pick another one. Its the same deck, and same destination. They
go through life never grasping its "relationship".

Out of the twelve disciples of Jesus being ind hands reach from God.

One Doubted
One Denied
One Betrayed

Why could't this person have lost her faith with all the blasphemy going on in the world?

 

[Trax]

Out of the twelve disciples of Jesus being ind hands reach from God.

One Doubted
One Denied
One Betrayed

Why could't this person have lost her faith with all the blasphemy going on in the world?

But they didn't say, "Jesus doesn't exists." Going from believing in God to not believing in God
is a big step. The disciples never stopped believing Jesus was real. I find it hard for anyone to really
get saved, and see the change in their life and then get to the point of not even believing in God at
all.

 

[Rock022]

My opinion would be that they did stop believing of something at some point even having Him there. She can not physically see him, it is a whole different issue at hand. Non the less she is searching for answers, that is something we can help with. Maybe the Lord is still in her but she can not see it. I will keep you in my prayers, and keep asking the Lord to guide you in the right path. Also I will keep trying to find a more reasonable answer for you that might help you break this barrier.

 

[exbi-savedbygrace]

To trax read 1 John 2:19

 

[Trax]

My opinion would be that they did stop believing of something at some point even having Him there.

They simply did not go from "Jesus is a real person" to "Jesus was just a figment of my imagination."
If belief in God to not believing in God was a short duration trip, then I have to say, that person never
believed from the beginning. If it was a long term act, I have to wonder, why did God let this person
get this far gone? His ways and thoughts are higher than our ways and thoughts, but when you get
to the point of not believing in God at all, you are in a very difficult place to leave.

 

[Rock022]

They simply did not go from "Jesus is a real person" to "Jesus was just a figment of my imagination."
If belief in God to not believing in God was a short duration trip, then I have to say, that person never
believed from the beginning. If it was a long term act, I have to wonder, why did God let this person
get this far gone? His ways and thoughts are higher than our ways and thoughts, but when you get
to the point of not believing in God at all, you are in a very difficult place to leave.

So powerful the story of the lost sheep. He will leave his flock to get the lost one while the others are safe in the barn.

 

[shawntc]

Hello darwinidiva, I hope you're still checking out this site. I don't know how my answers will compare to the others, I may be able to add some information to theirs.

Why are certain scriptures supposedly to be taken figuratively and others meant to be taken literally?

It comes down to the intent of the author. I can't add more than that.

If the old testament is supposed to be the old law and Jesus's words are supposed to be the new law, then why is homosexuality and masturbation (issues in the old testament) such a huge issue if Jesus himself never mentioned it?

Jesus may not have mentioned them, but that doesn't mean they're unimportant. Jesus started the New Covenant (New Law, as you call it), but God didn't talk solely through Jesus. God also spoke through the apostles, including Paul. Let's look at the topics themselves.

If god can do absolutely everything then why blood sacrifice? He supposedly can do ANYTHING...why did he chose such a violent way to "save" us? Before you say that he required a blood sacrifice, remember that he made it that way. He could have used any way and he chose that one. Why? What about blood was it that god required to save us?

I would suggest that part of the reason was to show just how hideous and deadly sin is. Sin separates us from God. Sin and perfect holiness cannot exist in the same place. Blood symbolizes the life of an organism, and by requiring blood sacrifice God showed that through sin, we lose our life spiritually, that is to say, we die spiritually. Jesus's death, which covered all of man's sin, is particularly grotesque. The beatings and wounds he received before being put on the cross shows just how disgusting and shameful sin really is.

Why does god not prove his existence now that we can document it? He requires faith, I understand that about the christian religion. However, if god truly wants us to believe in him, why wouldn't he pursue us in a way that is tangible?

As I said earlier, God (who is perfectly holy) cannot and will not be in the same place as sin. In addition, there's no guarantee that just because someone sees God they will come to faith. There are those who are so skeptical that they'll try to explain it away. In addition, we need to remember that God doesn't just want us to say "I believe God exists," he wants us to love him. Sure he could visually reveal himself to us, but that doesn't guarantee people will love him. If anything, it will scare them and they'll become Christians out of fear, not love. That's why Jesus didn't point his finger at the sun and throw it around the sky to prove himself to be God incarnate.

And while he may not have revealed himself tangibly, he has in other ways. I'd encourage you to look up Christian apologetics. Apologetics is the defense of the faith using reason. In my readings I've found there are many ways we can see it's reasonable to believe in God. Apologetics315 is a good website. Look up terms like cosmological argument, teleological argument, and moral arguments. There's also the resurrection of Jesus, which has yet to be proven false, and indeed the New Testament is one of the best preserved ancient documents there are.

I probably didn't answer that very clearly. Feel free to give follow-up questions.

Most people of other religions believe their own personal truths to be the one truth, having been taught it from birth. They're following the god that they've been taught to believe in and believing in another god would be against what they believe in. Are they wrong? They're only doing what most religious people do; carrying on their family belief.

Yes, unfortunately they are wrong.

I think there's a bit of error in your reasoning here. Not every Christian (or Muslim, or Buddhist, or Shinto, etc.) has been taught from birth what to believe. I was raised in a household with no religion, and was myself an atheist until I was 16. Are there Christians in my family? Yes, but in more recent generations of my family it's less prominent. Although there's a Christian influence in my family, it's not necessarily a family belief anymore.

Now, is Christianity a personal truth, but nothing more? I'd disagree. The Bible - and most significantly, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the core of Christian faith - has very good reason to call itself the absolute truth. In terms of archaeology and history, the Bible has not shown itself wrong and is in fact used by historians. We have thousands and thousands of ancient copies of the Bible, either fragments or entire parts, and it's been preserved with 95% accuracy. Most of that 5% inaccuracy? Spelling errors and other writer mishaps that are easily pointed out. The Bible is hardly hokey-pokey (I feel so old for saying that). I could go on, but when you consider the evidence, Jesus's words of "I am the truth" is surprisingly credible.

 

[darwindiva]

I doubt you knew God. To know a relative, and then years later, say, well...he/she never really
existed. Really? The response people would have in this behavior is, that person is crazy.
But, people claim to do the same thing with God. However, they aren't crazy, they just never
knew Him. What they did was "practice" a religion and later, decided to try something different.
Lip service to God because the practice required it. And now, in atheism, the same lip service
that fits into your practice.

The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. You don't believe God exists, let alone, something to
fear. How do you expect to get this wisdom? But this wisdom is what you are seeking. You got
a problem on your hands. Education will not provide it. It comes from God alone, on His terms.

You claim to never want to go back to religion, but here you are. You'll never have an open mind
until you know God on a personal level. A person will think he/she has an open mind, but there is that
vast amount of wisdom, that only comes from God, that the person lacks and doesn't know. If one
could pull back the veil and see truth of themself and of God, that person would exclaim, "I've been
a fool!" But they can't pull the veil aside and get that wisdom on their own. The process of
"I tried this and I tried that..." is just picking a favorite card out of the deck. And when they
tire of that card, they pick another one. Its the same deck, and same destination. They
go through life never grasping its "relationship".

This is the attitude that I didn't want to run into here. Whether I "knew" god is irrelevant to what i'm saying. I'm looking at religion from a philosophical view point now. I'm fascinated by the psychology of religion. That being said, yes, I am a true athiest. I believe that my personal experience in life has brought me here and I would not go back to being religious. I assure you that I do have an open mind even without "knowing god on a personal level." My mind is plenty open. I have found my own personal place in life where I belong and it is different than yours. We as people have to remember that just because we believe something so fervently does not mean everyone feels the same way. I have the utmost respect for all religions because it's a beautiful thing to find what you think is the truth. My best friend is a devout christian and a wonderful woman. I would never try to sway her away from her religion and she would never try to sway me from my unbelief. We have complete respect for each other. We understand that our experiences have led us to different places but that we share a love for the journey of life. Stand back and think about the way you talk to people. Before you slander someone's character, consider where they've been to get them to where they are. Their truth is not your truth and that is to be respected.

 

[darwindiva]

darwindiva...I'm sorry about the personal tragedies.

I hope you don't mind, but since you're here, asking these questions, I'm going to pray for you.
Personally, I believe there is a God (one God, one faith...)
and I know you've heard about Him.
But I'm asking Him to reveal Himself to you.
Because it's not about a system, or a religion, it's about a Person.
And that Person (Jesus) loves you more than you can possibly imagine.

Faith in the God of the Bible is a gift of His great grace.
I believe He is giving you grace, even as we speak.
I believe He is calling to you, drawing you to Himself.
I hope you're not offended, and you certainly don't have to agree with me.
But I am praying for you.

love,
ellie

Not offended at all! That was lovely Thank you.

 

[darwindiva]

But they didn't say, "Jesus doesn't exists." Going from believing in God to not believing in God
is a big step. The disciples never stopped believing Jesus was real. I find it hard for anyone to really
get saved, and see the change in their life and then get to the point of not even believing in God at
all.

Going from completely believing in jesus to not believing at all was not an overnight thing. I spend many nights crying out to him for help. I never planned to end up a non believer and i'm sure if you had told me that I would be one day when I was a believer, I would have been too shocked for words. It happened over a long period of time for many reasons. I can see how you would think I was flippant because believing in god one minute and not the next would be pretty ridiculous. I assure you that isn't what happened with me.