My Honest Thoughts on Religion
- Locked due to inactivity on Oct 21, '20 3:54am
Thread Topic: My Honest Thoughts on Religion
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Same here, but WOW!
You'd beat me in writing class every time. -
How do u know God cares for u deeply?
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We know that God cares for us deeply because he tells us that he does through the Bible.
In Romans 5:8 it says "But God shows his love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
If he loves us enough to die for us then he must care pretty strongly.
And John 15:13 says "Greater love has no one then this: to lay down ones life for ones friends."
Once you accept Jesus as your Savior, the Bible tells us that nothing will ever separate us from His love.
And 1 Peter 5:7 says "Casting all your cares upon Him(God) , for He cares for you."
Jesus does care about you, and he died to prove it. But he didn't stay dead, instead God raised him back to life and he is always ready for you to come to him. Not through church or good deeds, but by praying which is simply talking to God. -
hello
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Thank you all so much.
It gives me more to think about.
I realize that I might be trying to decide for God who He can and can't accept, and that's not my place.
I'm still stuck on this one, but I understand a little more, now. -
<3
What exactly do you mean by "who He can and can't accept"? -
I will say this from my own personal experience, and I will support this with biblical text as well (even though I myself, am not a Christian).
“Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12)
Even though you are struggling in your faith, I would turn this scripture. Your relationship with God is just between you and him. No one else. I do agree with what the others have said though. You need to take time to see if Christianity is for you.
I lived my whole life as a Christian, and I even got saved when I was eleven years old. But, because I was the child of a evangelical pastor; I had standards that my parents and the church wanted me to uphold. It was taxing on my mental state, and eventually led to the loss of so many potential friendships I had. But that wasn't the reason for my falling out of Christianity. (Different story for another day). With that being said, I want to come back to the point of the life of a Christian, or any religious walk for that matter. Having a religion goes hand in hand with having faith.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)
Ultimately, with any religious walk faith is a key component. I guess that's why I'm agnostic. Yes, I do believe something is out there. I personally don't know what that is. I don't believe anyone does. My advice to you is, sit down. Study the Bible. Read it. See if this religion is something that you would like to continue in, and if it's not, that is okay.
I do wish you the best of luck in this journey of self discovery. -
@Dulcinea: I feel like I'm not good enough to be a follower of God, and since I don't like doing what I should to be one, it's like I'm telling Him that he can't accept me the way I am. I dismiss the fact that He knows what I'll do in life and has already accounted for it, but I don't feel that I can just do whatever I would like to and act like "God will forgive me."
So, I don't feel He should have to deal with me. -
You think you're not good enough to be a follower of Christ, but Christ never sought out those who were considered to be good.
Jesus ate with Gentiles, who were all looked down upon by Jews.
He talked with the woman at the well, who had already been married four times and had another man at home.
He spent time with tax collectors.
He was there in the middle of demon possessed people and those who had leprosy.
God came for everyone, no matter who they were or thought they were.
Paul himself had persecuted Christians before he had an encounter with God. Paul was the Hebrew of the Hebrews. He knew the law. He was the most legalistic man out there. And yet he chose to ignore all of that and follow God. As a result, Paul ended up in prison quite a bit, but his message for Christ reached so many people and churches. He had a purpose, and that purpose filled him with constant joy despite the fact that he suffered quite a bit. He's the one who said, "To die is gain, to live is Christ."
So really it doesn't matter how you think of yourself now. If you choose to follow God, and make his purposes more important than what you want, he will be there for you. I think I heard a saying. God equips the called, he doesn't call the equipped.
It's not about whether God accepts you or not. He will always love you unconditionally. It's about whether you're going to choose to give your life to him. You'll still mess up, but that's okay. God just cares about your heart and whether you actually are trying or not.
And if you're not trying, then you're not following God. I don't think it means you'll lose your salvation. I think it means you're going to miss out on all that God has for you. And honestly, can you imagine one day standing at the gates of heaven, facing down God, and he asks you why you didn't obey him? And once in heaven, can you imagine living there among other believers who literally died for their faith? Who were tortured for saying they wanted to follow Jesus? And your one excuse was, "Well I didn't feel like I was good enough." -
The truth is, no one is good enough to be a follower of God. We all have sinful natures, even as Christians, but like Stardust said, Jesus didn't come for people who were good, he came for the guilty, the broken, and the lost. He came to save us from the penalty of our sins, but also to enable us to live for God. We can't do it in our own strength but we don't have to.
I think you are right about not doing whatever you feel like thinking that God will just forgive you for it, because sin is still very serious and there are consequences. It's more of a heart issue. There's a difference between trying your best and messing up, versus willfully disobeying. I think what Stardust said is really important how, "It's not about whether God accepts you or not. He will always love you unconditionally.
But it's about whether or not you will choose to give your life to him. You will still mess up, but that's okay. God just cares about your heart and whether you're actually trying or not."
As far as Him not having to deal with you, He wants to deal with you. He wants you to come to him just as you are, with all your questions, with all your struggles, everything. (And to paraphrase a song) He loves you as you are not as you ought to be. He is for you, not against you.
And once you go to him, He will guide you, and help you and stay by your side the whole way.
<3 -
I've thought about it, and I don't think I'm a Christian.
If my parents didn't make me read the Bible and go to church and take Christian classes at a Christian school, I wouldn't do it. I have no desire to do it.
I am sick and tired of hearing them talk about "God this" and "God that".
I don't enjoy the fact that they make me feel like I have to do these rituals they do every year. And even if I don't have to do them, I don't really care to learn about them.
I don't necessarily hate Christians or God, but I personally do not view myself as a Christian because I myself have no desire to do what I should for myself in order to seek God, nor do I want to feel like He's a cure-all as my parents believe.
I'm tired of people putting down those who are "less Christian" because they are like me (have bad habits, like things that my parents believe are morally wrong.)
A lot of things I like, they believe that it's morally wrong, but the way I see it: if it's not physically hurting anyone or against the laws, it's fine and up to the individual.
I don't want to feel pressured to do this anymore.
I am not a Christian. -
But, I would also like to state that saying this doesn't feel any better than saying that I am.
So, just as much as I can't say I'm Christian, I can't say that I'm not.
But I have to be something, and not knowing what I just causing more stress.
I don't feel good deciding that I'm not a Christian and considering abandoning everything I've been taught, but I just can't and don't agree with a lot of what my parents claim it means to be a Christian. And a lot of people tend to agree with them, so they must be right.
I don't know. -
What are some things they say that you disagree with? Maybe we can clarify things.
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I disagree with the following:
-How prayer is always the best and only way to fix physical/emotional/mental pains.
-How it's wrong to interact with boys at my age. (Whether dating or just hanging out. They feel I should never be around one alone.)
-Liking fairies, magic, and fantasy is wrong in the sense that magic takes the place of God.
-Christians shouldn't wear crop tops and ripped jeans.
-Christians shouldn't have piercings (unless it's their ears) or tattoos.
-Any secular game/show/song should be avoided.
-Playing violent games is wrong.
-If God isn't involved in discussion, it shouldn't be spoken.
-It's wrong to want to meet celebrities who aren't Christians.
-Being emo isn't Christian. -
(tbh I'm kinda unsure on this one, how to put it, so please bear with me) Prayer isn't the only way to get a problem fixed. God provides us with the means to fix it sometimes before we even pray about it. But taking that bit of time out of your day where it's just you and God asking him to help you actually means a lot.
1 Peter 5:7 - Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
God tells us to come to him in prayer and tell him what's wrong and wants us to do that. We're God's children, what kind of Father would he be if he didn't let us come to him if we had a problem?
I have absolutely no idea where they got that thing where you can't have boyfriends or guy friends or simply hang out with some boys.
For the magic thing, it's really dependant on the family. My friend, he's not allowed to read or watch Harry Potter because of the magic. My mom wasn't allowed to watch She-Ra because of the magic. Your parents are probably that type that just want to prevent you from thinking that performing magic (not like magic tricks) is ok.
Ok, so ripped jeans is kinda weird. Things like [url=[no urls]?fmt=jpeg&qlt=95,0&resMode=sharp2&op_usm=0.8,1.0,8,0&op_sharpen=1&fit=constrain,1&wid=956&hei=1380]this[/url] or [url=[no urls]]this[/url] should be fine, but things like [url=[no urls]]this[/url] I could see where they're coming from. But I think the ripped jeans thing is kind of excessive.
Now with the crop tops, I can also see where they're coming from. I've been told that I can wear crop tops as long as I'm wearing a tank top underneath.
They're trying to prevent you from sending the wrong impression to other people. Guys might get the wrong idea and try to do things you're not ready for.
This one seems strange.
Ok, so the TV show called Big Bang Theory is a good example. It's a funny show about a bunch of scientists and their friends that don't believe in God, and all that jazz. If we're watching it and there's something on there that my parents aren't sure if we know it's wrong or not, they'll tell us that what they're doing is wrong and explain why, and so on.
But, and this goes with the violent videogames too, garbage in garbage out. If we keep on watching things that have a lot of violence and things like that, we start thinking it's not so bad, it's okay to do that, and then we start doing it ourselves.
That's weird with the celebrities thing, honestly. I don't really know where they got that.
I can't say I even know what being emo is, so I can't say if it is Christian or not.
I hope this helps.
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