Why Belief?

This is a huge problem in the church today. I do not think the church was intended to be like that. This is probably more true to what Jesus wanted:

quote:

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Acts 2
The Fellowship of the Believers
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
4 3Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.
44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.
46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

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I am going to read into this, I am sorry if I am wrong.
Since the bible tells us that God writes his laws in the hearts of everyone since Jesus, the place you were at when you were a believer, you knew it was wrong, and it wasn't God. You probably felt pressure, and were possibly being taught wrong. You knew this in your heart, and since you were/currently looking for God, you could not find him. All you saw was a bunch of BS.Please clarify if I am wrong. I only sense this, because I kind of went throught the same thing. I am not judging you, but sense a purity of heart from you, a genuine person, even though we debate a lot.
I think you see more God in animals, than people, and it is when you spend your time with the animals, that you are talking to God.

That was beautiful brother!
I felt the Holy Spirit as I read your testimony.
Mine is similar to yours.That very presence of the Holy Spirit is so awesome. It is my prayer to share that with people. It is truth and love in the purest form. It is God's word piercing your heart like a flaming arrow.But I guess everyone must travel their own road to get there.

I read the bible for many years. To me it was a good book of morals, and principals. If we had all followed it, we might actually get along. That is all it was until I had an encounter of the Holy Spirit which Jesus promised us in Acts. It was only then that I could see how the bible is the word of God. God speaks to you in your heart at that moment.It's like someone turned on a big switch, and there was tremendous light. The darkness had no choice but to scatter from my life(IMO there was no darkness in my life at that point). The trees were greener, the air was fresher, the world was a place that God created for us. I could see light, truth, love, and darkness. I have tremendous discernment of it all now. It happened in an instant. If I wasn't a Christian, I would say it is the moment I became crazy. How do we get there?

Thank you for your sincere reply. Well Jesus died for our sins, so we don't have to bear the pain or suffering.Plus you may or may not have been sinning according to the bible. God knows your heart, and if you felt that God wasn't there in the church or the people within, then why would God be upset with you?I don't think that you have to change who you really are deep inside to believe in God. You are who you are, the way God created you. Our church teaches that, and that God wants to use your talents as the way he made you, for the benifit of others around you.I agree with you on the Catholic church, but that is not to say that there aren't people who know God, and loving people that believe in that religion. Some of my family are in that group, and they are some of the most loving people I know. It is very traditional to say the least, and some people are comfortable with tradition. Or your perception of who and what God is. You decided to follow your heart, we all know God in our hearts.My problem with the church today is saying that a person like will not go to heaven because you don't accept Jesus as your saviour. I think thats judging. Who are we to judge what you've been through in your life. Have you had a fair chance to really know Jesus? By what you tell me you went through, I would think not. It parallels what I went through to a degree, and what Phatboy went through to a degree. And along the way, I never felt I would go to hell, because I didn't believe. But we will find out one way or another.Do you ask for forgiveness? Even if you feel like you do nothing wrong?
Do you forgive the people that abused you as a child?
I am sorry for your pain.

That is so huge what you did. I don't think many people can say, or do what you just shared. I see people week after week, looking for healing in church. Some of them actually get it, but others may need more.We all have some kind of pain in our lives, and to get over it the way you did is outstanding. I too got over a lot of my pain by my own works, and constantly questioning myself how I got to be who I was. I did most of that before I felt I knew God. I have recieved further healing from knowing God, but I still have strongholds in me, that I am working on. I don't know if I will ever totally be free of all that caused pain in my life, but I guess its the effort that counts sometimes. Plus I do not want to be guilty of inducing pain in others lives as well. Thats tough to do, as we hurt people sometimes, and we don't even realize that we do. Becoming sensitive to peoples spirits has helped me with seeing that.So you have been healed to a great degree by your own works, and you are extremely smart, and have a rational understanding of the world. Why would you ever need God? Why would you ever want to have a relationship with him? How would you ever find him?I wonder if you ask yourself, why was I brought into this life, and have to go through what I went through? Why was I brought into existance? What is my purpose? Why do I even ask myself these questions?

What sucks is that you got this message from a church, and yet is not what the bible teachs us. That we should not judge, unless we care to be judges the same way.If Jesus said that homosexuality is a sin, and you read that, its up to you and no-one else to decide if it is a sin or not. It's also in your heart if you thinnk your going to hell or not, no one single person on this earth can tell you otherwise.How can we believe what Jesus said, unless we find out who he is? On a relative scale line, Christians are worse than others, because most of them go around professing to be all holy holy.2: Our interaction with homosexuals should be just as it is with anyone else. I think if Jesus was here right now, that he probably would be hanging with them anyway, and still be smashing tables in the temple. Doesn't matter were your from, we should not condemn period. It's our job to love. I agree with you hole heartedly.

Whats not funny is that you schraf, and crashfrog,,,,wait myself too seem to have blamed it all on human behavior, that there is no God.We went to a place where we were supposed to find God, and he wasn't there.So where is he?
And what are we doing about it?

And the answer is 42.
It's not the answer, its the question that you seek, wich would be what is 6x9 or something like that.Ever read that book?

Thanks for clearing that up. I agree with you completely. So does the Pastor of the church I finally found worthy of my attendance. He blames leadership in all the churches for all those things that have been happening. He also puts himself on the chopping block first. A very realistic, and refreshing thing to hear. He is open to all critisim, and considers himself no more important than the person holding the door when you enter in. We also feel that the kingdom of God is not in the church but outside the church.As for you not believing in God, that's fine. I didn't really for 38 years, then I found him. I lived and enjoyed my life to that point, and I continue to do so to a slightly greater level. I've been tweaked a little, and some of the confusion I had about life now makes sense.