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Jdl
Member



Joined: 2009/9/21
Posts: 66


 doubt

Hi everyone...I need some help...prayers...I've fallen into some serious doubt about God and Christ...I'm scared that the early church scribes may have tampered with the manuscripts about the deity of Jesus...I've fallen into immorality and I feel like I have nowhere to turn...I can't go to God through Jesus becuz if He is there, He'll probably tell me "don't come to me with your doubts...come only when you are certain that I exist"...I would like to believe, but I'm scared it'll only be a superstitious belief...has anyone gone through similar experiences?...Any words of encouragement?...my mind is a mess and I can't enjoy life like this


_________________
James

 2009/9/21 11:39Profile
roaringlamb
Member



Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 1519
Santa Cruz California

 Re: doubt

Brother? Sister?

May I only point you to the wise words of one who was in a dire situation too-
“I believe; help my unbelief!”(Mark 9:24 ESV)

Remember dear friend that Peter renounced Christ, and His own closest friends fled from Him and did not believe that He was who He said He was.

Perhaps you could read Luke 24 and see how these disciples did not believe either.

I also think that if there is the slightest desire to go to Christ, it is Him who is drawing you and He is not a trickster who would draw you and then slam the door in your face.

Meditate upon this verse and may the Holy Spirit open your eyes to see Christ in a new way-
"God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us"(Romans 5:8 ESV)

I will be praying for you, and please know I have been there too, as has many a saint. You're not the only one who struggled with this even if it feels that way.

EDIT:If you can, I would highly recommend you listen to this wonderful series, it has helped me greatly.
[url=http://theprodigalgod.com/resources.html]The Prodigal God[/url]


_________________
patrick heaviside

 2009/9/21 15:45Profile
Leo_Grace
Member



Joined: 2009/6/14
Posts: 703


 Re: doubt

Dear Jdl,

It seems that you are filled with suspicions regarding the accuracy of the Bible. You have to realize that ultimately, Christianity is based on faith, because you will need to truly believe in things "yet unseen". But when it comes to the Bible, there is a lot of evidence available that validate its authenticity. I have some links below that you might want to check out:

[url=http://www.clarifyingchristianity.com/b_proof.shtml]http://www.clarifyingchristianity.com/b_proof.shtml[/url]

[url=http://www.forerunner.com/forerunner/X0027_Scientific.html]http://www.forerunner.com/forerunner/X0027_Scientific.html[/url]

Maybe others could point you to other resources that could help.

 2009/9/21 21:10Profile
twayneb
Member



Joined: 2009/4/5
Posts: 2256
Joplin, Missouri

 Re: doubt

I am glad Leo pointed you to the sites that can help settle some of the questions about the accuracy and dependability of the Bible. I was drawn to comment on another part of your post.

Quote:
I've fallen into immorality and I feel like I have nowhere to turn...I can't go to God through Jesus becuz if He is there, He'll probably tell me "don't come to me with your doubts...come only when you are certain that I exist"...I would like to believe, but I'm scared it'll only be a superstitious belief...has anyone gone through similar experiences?...Any words of encouragement?...my mind is a mess and I can't enjoy life like this



From what you said, I take it that you have at one time surrendered yourself to Jesus as savior and Lord? Paul the Apostle said something about your situation.

1Ti 1:18-19
(18) This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;
(19) Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:

When we put away a good conscience, when we harden ourselves and walk off into sin of any sort, it shipwrecks our faith. It brings us to a place where we no longer have any confidence in God and are constantly under condemnation from the enemy. Satan temps us, ensnares us, and then blames and condemns us and makes us feel worthless in ourselves, and totally unworthy of God's love, forgiveness, and acceptance.

It sounds to me like you are under just such a load of condemnation, guilt, and the accompanying doubt and uncertainty. Jesus NEVER said, "fix your faith problem and then come to me!" He has a greater desire to restore you to Himself than you have to be restored. I want to encourage you to go directly to Him, doubts and all. Yes, many of us have been through similar experiences. I know what it is like to be under such condemnation that I wondered if God would still be willing to forgive me. I found that now only was He willing, but He was faithful and He was just to forgive and to cleanse and to restore.

Even though there are doubts, I don't think your belief is superstitious or you would not have written this post. I want to encourage you to visit the links that Leo posted, but also to be honest with God (He knows your heart anyway, better than you do). Pour out your heart to Him and trust Him to forgive and replace the condemnation with peace, joy, and confidence. You may need to repent of some things. You may need to turn your back on some things. One thing I do know, He WILL forgive and restore. 1 John 1:9. I am praying for you that God will reveal Himself to you in a powerful way. Thank you for allowing other believers like us to help you.


_________________
Travis

 2009/9/21 21:45Profile
Jdl
Member



Joined: 2009/9/21
Posts: 66


 Re: doubt

Hi everyone...I'm a brother, by the way...it was nice to see your responses...At one time I did indeed surrender my life to Jesus, and lived a reformed life, but I had always had an underlying sense of uneasiness regarding my salvation...I don't know if I was ever truly convicted of sin, and I still had issues with some aspects of God's character...perhaps it was only an outward change and not of the heart...but only recently have I actually been plagued by doubts of His actual existence/diety...it makes me think that whatever I had before was void, since at this moment in time I am not trusting in Christ as the son of God...All I have is a big "I don't know anymore"...which absolutely terrifies me because I don't wanna be labeled an agnostic...

Thanks for the sites, they do help...I've been reading a lot of apologetic stuff, but sometimes they make things worse because they bring up objections that I never knew about before...and thus my mind latches on to the objections, which in turn fuel the doubt even more...I don't know exactly what to do...keep reading these things until one day it clicks that I am fully convinced that Christ was the son of God? It doesn't seem like it'll happen, and that frightens me...


_________________
James

 2009/9/23 11:42Profile
Leo_Grace
Member



Joined: 2009/6/14
Posts: 703


 Re:

Christianity is not a matter of reason and logic. All Christians are "crazy" in the eyes of the world because they believe totally in things "yet unseen". You must choose to believe, not demand that God prove himself to you while you yet do not believe - He will not. He will prove himself to you AFTER you have believed.

 2009/9/23 11:55Profile
MaryJane
Member



Joined: 2006/7/31
Posts: 3057


 Re:

Leo wrote: You must choose to believe, not demand that God prove himself to you while you yet do not believe - He will not. He will prove himself to you AFTER you have believed.

_________

Leo, I agree completely with what you shared here. I will add that God does not have to save us, He does not owe us anything, in fact the opposite is true. We owe Him everything, absolutely everything. The very reason anyone of us is even here now is because God provides you with the air your breathing. He causes the sun to come up each day and the stars to come out at night. God saves us because of who He is not because we have ever done anything good or righteous worth being saved. God is merciful and loves us but He does not owe us anything. He sent His son to die for us, those who live their life rejecting the Lord Jesus gift of life are without excuse.

God Bless
maryjane

 2009/9/23 12:26Profile
Compton
Member



Joined: 2005/2/24
Posts: 2732


 Re:

I'm always just a little wary of (edit: well-intentioned) Christians asserting that faith in God is not rational or logical, and does not need to be. Actually, the more we accept the reality of this world as presented by the bible, the more rational and logical we become. Denying reality is the very definition of irrational.

From passages like Psalm 14:1 and Romans 1:18-26 we see that Christian faith and agreement with scriptural precepts is the most rational and logical position a healthy mind and heart can take.

In contrast, the self-authorized "logic" that raises doubts in us is based on heart precepts that we've accepted from the world. This is corruption. Unless we are drawing a strange comfort from our noncommittal fog, we should be willing to state this as corruption in the very same black and white terms the bible uses, as demonstrated by the passages above.

For example, children are taught in grade school that similarities and between different animals are evidence of evolutionary relationships. Yet the bible clearly states what should be obvious to the uncorrupted mind; that similarities among animals are evidence of design relationship, not evolutionary relationship.

My point in saying all of this, is to be careful to not chase after answers for every little doubt you have, and thereby expecting corruption to answer corruption. In my experience, all of the many doubts we often have are really expressions of one or two faulty precepts we need to address.

The healthy mind and heart begins with a very childlike precept: This is God's universe, and we are allowed to live in it by his uncovenanted grace; not the other way around! If we start with that precept in our hearts, we'll be relieved to find out how easily many of our "profound questions" is really just irrational corrupt thinking.

Perhaps this is why Jesus was saying, "unless you become as a little child..." When we were much younger, we hadn't become fully indoctrinated by the world's faulty precepts, corrupted by their sense of entitlements, and puffed up with institutionalized scholastic rebellion.

(Psalm 131)

Blessings,

MC


_________________
Mike Compton

 2009/9/23 12:36Profile
Jdl
Member



Joined: 2009/9/21
Posts: 66


 Re: doubt

Is believing really a choice? Some say it is, some say it isn't...I'm confused on the matter...I would absolutely love to believe! But for some reason, it feels like I can't with all these doubts...I heard someone say faith has to be grounded on assurance/certainty of the facts...almost like it leaves no room for doubt...
R.C. Sproul makes a distinction between child-like faith and child-ish faith...At this point I fear that any faith I have will only be a wishful thinking, pretend, child-ish faith...a faith that won't save...I mean, how can I have saving faith if I doubt the object Himself of that faith? Jesus, the son of God, is the one who saves...how can I expect to be saved if I am struggling to believe in His diety? This is awful!


_________________
James

 2009/9/23 14:47Profile
Leo_Grace
Member



Joined: 2009/6/14
Posts: 703


 Re:

Compton said:

Quote:
I'm always just a little wary of (edit: well-intentioned) Christians asserting that faith in God is not rational or logical, and does not need to be. Actually, [b]the more we accept the reality of this world as presented by the bible[/b], the more rational and logical we become. Denying reality is the very definition of irrational.


This is very true, Compton. But this will be apparent to you only AFTER you believe because otherwise, the Bible will seem like nonsense to you. THEN you will know the wisdom of choosing God. THEN you will understand how wonderfully His grace works. But those who do not believe in God cannot see all of this. For unbelievers, our faith looks foolish.

 2009/9/23 14:59Profile





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