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Am I losing faith?

midix

New Member
Hi all!

At first, English is not my native language, so excuse me for any mistakes.
I am 32 years old; I come from Latvia, it is a small former USSR country.

I have some problems since birth, my illness is called congenital nystagmus, which has brought with it also nearsightedness and bad vision all of my life. I'll never have a driving license. Because of other problems, I also am physically weak, in my 32 I look maybe like a weak 20 years old.

Despite my vision problems, I managed to study and get a master’s degree in programming and now I work as a programmer in a small company, and I enjoy it, programming is a creative process if done right.

My family is Catholic and I was raised the same way. But somewhere deep inside I have a feeling that God is not the way they told me. How God can be so cruel and ask to sacrifice animals an even someone’s son? How God can ask someone to kill other people in His name? How God can frighten His children with hell? But that seems to be what the Bible says. This cruel image of punishing God, who wants me to blindly follow Him without thinking, has made me think that maybe people have misunderstood something. Maybe some texts in Bible are misinterpreted, maybe something is lost in translation, maybe something is even edited to suit someone else’s interests … after all, we have no idea, what exactly did God say, we just have the texts which are being retranslated in many languages, we do not know what is meant to be understood literally and what is just a metaphor, various priests have different explanations for the same topics. And the disagreements among many religions and churches prove that no one knows exactly 100% what God has to say about all of this. Some people say that Catholics are sinners because they pray with repetitive words and worship idols. Some Catholics say that mediation is a sin because it is like trying to get your consciousness opened to mystic forces, which may be evil. Some other Christian priests are on the opposite side, they consider the meditation to be the right way to talk to God instead of repetitive prayers and rituals. Sometimes I think they are right. When praying in our local church, I feel uncomfortable. The words of those ritual prayers seem a bit foreign to me. I know, these words may have had some deep meaning for the person who originally wrote that prayer. But those words do not speak for my current state of mind; they do not say all the things I want to say to God. I feel much closer to God at night in my dreams. I have lucid dreams often, but I do not know if that is a gift or a curse. Someone say that lucid dreams are a sin, the same way as mediation is. I am confused once again. Anyway, when in a lucid dream, I pray: “God, please, give me a sign, what should I do, whom should I trust?” No response yet. But still there is always some feeling of comfort, of warm helping force. Sometimes I say: “God, I give myself completely to you, show me what you want me to see”. And then I start flying in my dream, up to the sky, it feels so easy and calm, sometimes there is a music, and I wake up with a feeling of joy and sadness at the same time… sadness, because I do not understand, what God wanted to say to me. Maybe He says that He forgives me and understands my doubts? Or maybe that is a devil, who tries to deceive me through my dreams? Anyway, even in my nightmares, if I remember God and trust Him, I can escape my nightmares easily. I just have to trust completely and relax, and then some calm force brings me away from my nightmare. And again I feel so close to God at such times, much closer than while praying with the ritual prayers in the church.

The worst discovery for me was at about age 15. I found out that I have no physical attraction to girls, but luckily, I do not have such attraction to boys, too. The problem is that I felt such attraction to much older men. But as I know it is considered a sin, I managed to take control over myself and accept celibacy. Still, every day I look at girls, I look at children and my heart breaks because I think I’ll never be able to be a normal father and a husband. Which girl will want to join my celibacy and raise children with a husband, who looks like a teenager and is not able to trust his own eyes? Anyway, I still have a hope. Maybe someday God will find some way to do a miracle. After all, God does miracles through other people. Maybe He also does miracles using science, but again – some Christians think that the science is a sin. So, it seems whatever I try to do, wherever I go – everywhere there will be people which will say that I am doing it the wrong way. It is so depressing.

I look what happens in the world, how politics, economics and even religion is fighting each other, how the weapons are used to “fight for peace” (what an awful combination – kill someone to make others peaceful…), how people judge each and take sides without listening to all the opinions (is Michael Jackson a bad person or not? I cannot believe he is bad, the last songs are so loving, and some of them sound even like a prayer for humankind), how people are assuming things which they do not know, how the showbusiness is making money popularising our primitive insticnts (sex and fear), and the worst thing is I myself am into all this, too. I cannot escape the world, because the world is also the place where I learn the better sides of it.

It seems, I have lost my faith in God of the Bible. I believe only the words of love and compassion. I learn not to judge anyone; I learn to love everyone and everything and do not assume that anyone is right or wrong just because someone said so. I believe just the good deeds of people, but not the words (it is so sad to not be able to trust people...). I know that I myself am not a good person always. But maybe I am going completely wrong way. I just continue praying: God, please, show me the way. I do not promise I will not fall, but I’ll try to go on, no matter what. There is only one thing I know for sure: while I am going the path of love and compassion, I cannot be wrong, no matter of religion or color of m skin or the place of my birth or the physical and mental defects which God gave me at birth.

Have I lost my faith? Am I on the wrong way? Do not judge, say your opinion, tell, what your heart wants to answer, and I will listen and learn.

Thanks for reading this long text, and I wish you merry Christmas and happy New Year!
May God bless you all!

Martin
 

Me Myself

Back to my username
It seems, I have lost my faith in God of the Bible. I believe only the words of love and compassion. I learn not to judge anyone; I learn to love everyone and everything and do not assume that anyone is right or wrong just because someone said so. I believe just the good deeds of people, but not the words (it is so sad to not be able to trust people...). I know that I myself am not a good person always. But maybe I am going completely wrong way. I just continue praying: God, please, show me the way. I do not promise I will not fall, but I’ll try to go on, no matter what. There is only one thing I know for sure: while I am going the path of love and compassion, I cannot be wrong, no matter of religion or color of m skin or the place of my birth or the physical and mental defects which God gave me at birth.

Have I lost my faith? Am I on the wrong way? Do not judge, say your opinion, tell, what your heart wants to answer, and I will listen and learn.

Thanks for reading this long text, and I wish you merry Christmas and happy New Year!
May God bless you all!

Martin

It´s wonderful fo hear a good sense of what I hear there :)

I would say you are redirecting your faith to something much more powerful than words, spoken or written.

I hope you learn a lot from this site, from life, and wherever it may be from compassion and love.

May God bless you always, and may your path lighten up before you :namaste
 

Breathe

Hostis humani generis
Welcome to RF. :)

It sounds to me like you may have lost your faith in the God of the Bible. But that's okay. Many do. I don't believe in the God of the Bible either. Many who go out of the God of the Bible go on to research other religions, or into spirituality. You can go wherever you want; I won't judge you. :)
 

Renji

Well-Known Member
Welcome to the forum. :)

If you want, you can ask about this on the Catholic DIR, since you are Catholic by the way. I'd be willing to answer. ;) Because your OP is too long! :D
 

9Westy9

Sceptic, Libertarian, Egalitarian
Premium Member
Hi all!

At first, English is not my native language, so excuse me for any mistakes.
I am 32 years old; I come from Latvia, it is a small former USSR country.

Your English is remarkably good :D

I have some problems since birth, my illness is called congenital nystagmus, which has brought with it also nearsightedness and bad vision all of my life. I'll never have a driving license. Because of other problems, I also am physically weak, in my 32 I look maybe like a weak 20 years old.

Sounds bad. I'll probably never have a driving license because the test is rigged plus I have dyspraxia. So I've given up on driving for now.

Despite my vision problems, I managed to study and get a master’s degree in programming and now I work as a programmer in a small company, and I enjoy it, programming is a creative process if done right.

Congratulations!!! I'm currently studying Computer Science so programming is my strong point too :D

My family is Catholic and I was raised the same way. But somewhere deep inside I have a feeling that God is not the way they told me. How God can be so cruel and ask to sacrifice animals an even someone’s son? How God can ask someone to kill other people in His name? How God can frighten His children with hell? But that seems to be what the Bible says. This cruel image of punishing God, who wants me to blindly follow Him without thinking, has made me think that maybe people have misunderstood something. Maybe some texts in Bible are misinterpreted, maybe something is lost in translation, maybe something is even edited to suit someone else’s interests … after all, we have no idea, what exactly did God say, we just have the texts which are being retranslated in many languages, we do not know what is meant to be understood literally and what is just a metaphor, various priests have different explanations for the same topics. And the disagreements among many religions and churches prove that no one knows exactly 100% what God has to say about all of this. Some people say that Catholics are sinners because they pray with repetitive words and worship idols. Some Catholics say that mediation is a sin because it is like trying to get your consciousness opened to mystic forces, which may be evil. Some other Christian priests are on the opposite side, they consider the meditation to be the right way to talk to God instead of repetitive prayers and rituals. Sometimes I think they are right. When praying in our local church, I feel uncomfortable. The words of those ritual prayers seem a bit foreign to me. I know, these words may have had some deep meaning for the person who originally wrote that prayer. But those words do not speak for my current state of mind; they do not say all the things I want to say to God. I feel much closer to God at night in my dreams. I have lucid dreams often, but I do not know if that is a gift or a curse. Someone say that lucid dreams are a sin, the same way as mediation is. I am confused once again. Anyway, when in a lucid dream, I pray: “God, please, give me a sign, what should I do, whom should I trust?” No response yet. But still there is always some feeling of comfort, of warm helping force. Sometimes I say: “God, I give myself completely to you, show me what you want me to see”. And then I start flying in my dream, up to the sky, it feels so easy and calm, sometimes there is a music, and I wake up with a feeling of joy and sadness at the same time… sadness, because I do not understand, what God wanted to say to me. Maybe He says that He forgives me and understands my doubts? Or maybe that is a devil, who tries to deceive me through my dreams? Anyway, even in my nightmares, if I remember God and trust Him, I can escape my nightmares easily. I just have to trust completely and relax, and then some calm force brings me away from my nightmare. And again I feel so close to God at such times, much closer than while praying with the ritual prayers in the church.

Sounds like your problem isn't with God but the humans interpretations of him. If you're starting to feel uncomfortable in church then it's a sign that you don't 'belong' there. You can look around for other churches but if you have a problem with the bible as well then maybe Christianity in general isn't best for you. I too have asked God to prove himself to me. Occasionally I'd see a bible passage that almost made me return like the one on not following fine sounding philosophy. In the end though I decided that if all God could do was turn me to some bible passages then he's clearly not powerful enough or willing enough to save me. I'm now at the point where I'm fairly certain that he doesn't exist. I'm still agnostic however as I don't think all god's can be dis-proven, only some versions of God.

The worst discovery for me was at about age 15. I found out that I have no physical attraction to girls, but luckily, I do not have such attraction to boys, too. The problem is that I felt such attraction to much older men. But as I know it is considered a sin, I managed to take control over myself and accept celibacy. Still, every day I look at girls, I look at children and my heart breaks because I think I’ll never be able to be a normal father and a husband. Which girl will want to join my celibacy and raise children with a husband, who looks like a teenager and is not able to trust his own eyes? Anyway, I still have a hope. Maybe someday God will find some way to do a miracle. After all, God does miracles through other people. Maybe He also does miracles using science, but again – some Christians think that the science is a sin. So, it seems whatever I try to do, wherever I go – everywhere there will be people which will say that I am doing it the wrong way. It is so depressing.

I don't think you need to hide your attraction to other men. No matter what the church says I don't see how any God would even care who you're attracted to. One of my main problems with fundamentalist Christianity is their homophobia. They preach love yet don't show it.

I look what happens in the world, how politics, economics and even religion is fighting each other, how the weapons are used to “fight for peace” (what an awful combination – kill someone to make others peaceful…), how people judge each and take sides without listening to all the opinions (is Michael Jackson a bad person or not? I cannot believe he is bad, the last songs are so loving, and some of them sound even like a prayer for humankind), how people are assuming things which they do not know, how the showbusiness is making money popularising our primitive insticnts (sex and fear), and the worst thing is I myself am into all this, too. I cannot escape the world, because the world is also the place where I learn the better sides of it.

The world is a pretty messed up place unfortunately. At least we have the good characteristics to go with the bad. I agree The media have far too much power and influence nowadays. The only way to get around it is to read what all of the media says on the matter and come to a conclusion that way.

It seems, I have lost my faith in God of the Bible. I believe only the words of love and compassion. I learn not to judge anyone; I learn to love everyone and everything and do not assume that anyone is right or wrong just because someone said so. I believe just the good deeds of people, but not the words (it is so sad to not be able to trust people...). I know that I myself am not a good person always. But maybe I am going completely wrong way. I just continue praying: God, please, show me the way. I do not promise I will not fall, but I’ll try to go on, no matter what. There is only one thing I know for sure: while I am going the path of love and compassion, I cannot be wrong, no matter of religion or color of m skin or the place of my birth or the physical and mental defects which God gave me at birth.

Love and compassion is probably the best way to go. If God is a god of love and compassion then there's no way he could condemn someone like you. Just be yourself and follow your own path.

Have I lost my faith? Am I on the wrong way? Do not judge, say your opinion, tell, what your heart wants to answer, and I will listen and learn.

Thanks for reading this long text, and I wish you merry Christmas and happy New Year!
May God bless you all!

Martin

No, but you're losing your faith. Nothing to fear though, it may be difficult but you'll be happier when you do.

There is no wrong way as long as you follow the road of love and compassion. You're heading in the right direction and I hope your journey continues to take you that way.

If you're looking for a different version of God then you've come to the right place. RF has so many varying faiths and beliefs that I fell you'll find what you're searching for. Keep seeking and following your path. Don't ever let another human tell you you're following the wrong path. Follow your own route wherever that may take you.

God bless, Westy
 
People lose and gain faith all the time.

:) I just take the Bible as it is. A collection of stories which show humankind's best and worst way we treat one another. And that the Bible is only a cultural artifact of a tradition, especially as Christians, centred on Christ's revelation on the nature of a just, yet loving God.
 

Terrywoodenpic

Oldest Heretic
Hi and welcome.

Your view of the world and life is in no way unusual.
I am not saying that others have your self same problems, But....
The question of Faith,
The Unfairness of ones lot in life.
The many horrors of the world
and the narrowness in which our various Church's seem to interpret their Faith.
Can lead to deep individual unhappiness.

It is probably easier to find peace in your own church than in changing to another.
However the Catholic Faith can seem to have a very narrow dogma when considering new or unusual problems. Your experiences with it, will probably depend more on the liberality of your individual priest.

You live in a small country blessed with a wide range of churches, at the same time, like the rest of Europe it has a growing population of atheists.

I would think it would be worth discussing you life and faith with a Lutheran priest, who well might be more sympathetic to your particular views and problems.

All Priest that I have ever met, see all people in their district as their flock, and are ready to help what ever their faith.

This weekend a Conservative MP said our Arch Bishop should not interfere in politics, because. he likened the criminal activities of the rioters with the harmful actions of bankers who risk other peoples money to gain their own rewards.

Any one with ethical values can be easily confuse by politics, business and the requirements of religion. when you add you own personal issues in to the mix, including the received Ideas of your Christian upbringing, and your personal faith. I is not surprising you need some help.

Think of all this as starting a new journey.
 

DreadFish

Cosmic Vagabond
Welcome, midix :)

I also went through an experience similar to yours in that I started feeling that God was not what the church was telling me He was.

My recommendation is this; ask God to lead you to the truth and continue research and study.

On one hand, if it is God you want to know, it's best to go to God to get to know Him, and on the other hand, it helps to get a fuller understanding of just what God can/might be by studying other philosophies and religions.


Dont just take anyone else's word for it, God will guide you to Him if you ask. It may take a while, I was at it for a few years before I started getting on track, but with God as your guide, I am sure that you will find Him.
 

SageTree

Spiritual Friend
Premium Member
Hi all!



  • I believe only the words of love and compassion.
  • I learn not to judge anyone;
  • I learn to love everyone and everything and do not assume that anyone is right or wrong just because someone said so.

Have I lost my faith? Am I on the wrong way? Do not judge, say your opinion, tell, what your heart wants to answer, and I will listen and learn.

Greetings Martin,

To me, what you have listed up there is AWESOME.

To me it doesn't sound like you've 'lost faith', to me it sounds like you've grown to need a larger 'spiritual-vocabulary' to express what you have faith in.

You understand what I mean?

God is bigger/more vast to you than the way the Bible describes it?
Feeling more humanist oriented over God-driven?

Sometimes we just need time away from our birth-religion and time to investigate other Religious/Spiritual Paths.

Religious Forums is a good place to explore, ask questions, see how People of Other Traditions touch their Spirituality,

And ALSO....

It's a chance to see how People Within your Tradition touch Their Spirituality through it, which can be refreshing, invigorating and help you see your birth-religion with fresh eyes, a new approach or understanding.

Glad you are here. Many Blessings,

:namaste
SageTree
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
I used to be a Christian so I sympathise with what your going through. Best advice I can give is to first make a sincere attempt to stay with Christianity until such a time comes, if it does, which you can't stick with it no longer and simply continue on if you feel comfortable enough to do so.

For now, You might want to take a sabbactical away from religion altogether for a bit, reflect, and see how it fares.

Hoping you will resolve your issues. Just do things on your own, and on your own time.

Welcome BTW. I don't think we have many Russians posting here. :O)
 

elmarna

Well-Known Member
While "faith" is trust in your beliefs and service... That is a question only YOU CAN ANSWER!
As for the choices and acountability of your actions - it is best said ; Life is what you make of it. If you hold onto unhappiness, than unhappiness is all you will ever have. If you want to have children you must take the steps to see it happen.
It all comes down to -" who you want to be and what direction will find you satisfiefd with a smile and engage those around you to smile also!"
I will keep you in my prayers.
MY HOPES FOR YOU IS A BETTER and BRIGHTER TOMORROW!
P.M. Me if you would like my friend. I am always willing to listen. It is always in the end what you decide. Do not let what you think others wish to leave you empty without what you need!
 

speedything

New Member
I was born into an atheist household but went to Church of England schools. I have spent many years debating with myself as to what it all means and I have found my answer.

I believe in the Big Bang and I believe in Evolution. I believe that something quite magical and fantastic happened and 14.7 billion years later I was hear to debate what it was. There was a tiny spark that became a cosmos that had at least one planet in it that could contain life. And that spark was very happy with what it had achieved.

That spark, now an awesome universe was proud of what it had become and wanted us to respect it. It wanted us to love it and love every bit of it, and to help it make it better.

How you define that spark is up to you. Just be happy that it made it so.
 

steveeden888

New Member
Hi all!

At first, English is not my native language, so excuse me for any mistakes.
I am 32 years old; I come from Latvia, it is a small former USSR country.

I have some problems since birth, my illness is called congenital nystagmus, which has brought with it also nearsightedness and bad vision all of my life. I'll never have a driving license. Because of other problems, I also am physically weak, in my 32 I look maybe like a weak 20 years old.

Despite my vision problems, I managed to study and get a master’s degree in programming and now I work as a programmer in a small company, and I enjoy it, programming is a creative process if done right.

My family is Catholic and I was raised the same way. But somewhere deep inside I have a feeling that God is not the way they told me. How God can be so cruel and ask to sacrifice animals an even someone’s son? How God can ask someone to kill other people in His name? How God can frighten His children with hell? But that seems to be what the Bible says. This cruel image of punishing God, who wants me to blindly follow Him without thinking, has made me think that maybe people have misunderstood something. Maybe some texts in Bible are misinterpreted, maybe something is lost in translation, maybe something is even edited to suit someone else’s interests … after all, we have no idea, what exactly did God say, we just have the texts which are being retranslated in many languages, we do not know what is meant to be understood literally and what is just a metaphor, various priests have different explanations for the same topics. And the disagreements among many religions and churches prove that no one knows exactly 100% what God has to say about all of this. Some people say that Catholics are sinners because they pray with repetitive words and worship idols. Some Catholics say that mediation is a sin because it is like trying to get your consciousness opened to mystic forces, which may be evil. Some other Christian priests are on the opposite side, they consider the meditation to be the right way to talk to God instead of repetitive prayers and rituals. Sometimes I think they are right. When praying in our local church, I feel uncomfortable. The words of those ritual prayers seem a bit foreign to me. I know, these words may have had some deep meaning for the person who originally wrote that prayer. But those words do not speak for my current state of mind; they do not say all the things I want to say to God. I feel much closer to God at night in my dreams. I have lucid dreams often, but I do not know if that is a gift or a curse. Someone say that lucid dreams are a sin, the same way as mediation is. I am confused once again. Anyway, when in a lucid dream, I pray: “God, please, give me a sign, what should I do, whom should I trust?” No response yet. But still there is always some feeling of comfort, of warm helping force. Sometimes I say: “God, I give myself completely to you, show me what you want me to see”. And then I start flying in my dream, up to the sky, it feels so easy and calm, sometimes there is a music, and I wake up with a feeling of joy and sadness at the same time… sadness, because I do not understand, what God wanted to say to me. Maybe He says that He forgives me and understands my doubts? Or maybe that is a devil, who tries to deceive me through my dreams? Anyway, even in my nightmares, if I remember God and trust Him, I can escape my nightmares easily. I just have to trust completely and relax, and then some calm force brings me away from my nightmare. And again I feel so close to God at such times, much closer than while praying with the ritual prayers in the church.

The worst discovery for me was at about age 15. I found out that I have no physical attraction to girls, but luckily, I do not have such attraction to boys, too. The problem is that I felt such attraction to much older men. But as I know it is considered a sin, I managed to take control over myself and accept celibacy. Still, every day I look at girls, I look at children and my heart breaks because I think I’ll never be able to be a normal father and a husband. Which girl will want to join my celibacy and raise children with a husband, who looks like a teenager and is not able to trust his own eyes? Anyway, I still have a hope. Maybe someday God will find some way to do a miracle. After all, God does miracles through other people. Maybe He also does miracles using science, but again – some Christians think that the science is a sin. So, it seems whatever I try to do, wherever I go – everywhere there will be people which will say that I am doing it the wrong way. It is so depressing.

I look what happens in the world, how politics, economics and even religion is fighting each other, how the weapons are used to “fight for peace” (what an awful combination – kill someone to make others peaceful…), how people judge each and take sides without listening to all the opinions (is Michael Jackson a bad person or not? I cannot believe he is bad, the last songs are so loving, and some of them sound even like a prayer for humankind), how people are assuming things which they do not know, how the showbusiness is making money popularising our primitive insticnts (sex and fear), and the worst thing is I myself am into all this, too. I cannot escape the world, because the world is also the place where I learn the better sides of it.

It seems, I have lost my faith in God of the Bible. I believe only the words of love and compassion. I learn not to judge anyone; I learn to love everyone and everything and do not assume that anyone is right or wrong just because someone said so. I believe just the good deeds of people, but not the words (it is so sad to not be able to trust people...). I know that I myself am not a good person always. But maybe I am going completely wrong way. I just continue praying: God, please, show me the way. I do not promise I will not fall, but I’ll try to go on, no matter what. There is only one thing I know for sure: while I am going the path of love and compassion, I cannot be wrong, no matter of religion or color of m skin or the place of my birth or the physical and mental defects which God gave me at birth.

Have I lost my faith? Am I on the wrong way? Do not judge, say your opinion, tell, what your heart wants to answer, and I will listen and learn.

Thanks for reading this long text, and I wish you merry Christmas and happy New Year!
May God bless you all!

Martin

Martin. I really do not know exactly how to respond. Only to say that I am convinced that you have not lost an ounce of Faith. You would have never reached out like you did if you have. I choose Words carefully, because, I have experienced an eventful life full of prophetic messages and visions that were cosmic, and revelatory in nature, and I do not want to share the uglier side of things I've seen.

The only acceptable emotion is Love. Love needs no buildings. The word 'church' is a mistranslation of the Word 'ecclesia', meaning 'assembly', or 'a gathering'.

Seek the Truth. Live by 'every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God'. Stop torturing yourself. My guess is that you are in excellent shape Spiritually. Lucid dreaming is not a sin. Take the message you are given in those really nice dreams you have. I believe it is a blessing, not a curse.

I have never had a dream so lovely as what you described. Take them as signs of better things to come.

"Hearken to the Word, Understand knowledge, Love Life, and no one can persecute or oppress you other than yourself"

Pay attention to what He said, not what was said about Him. I could write you a book here, but, I won't.

After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they shall prophesy:

Philistines are not an ancient tribe. They are in reference to people who are obstinate, unyielding, and refuse to accept any change in ideology.

Job:35:10: But none saith, Where is God my maker, who gives us songs in the night?

And, musicians are indeed sending messages. Find the Love in the Words and enjoy them. There are not so many these days.

Have the Faith 'of Jesus'. And, Love. And, do the best you can. You are in way better shape than you think.

It is all prophesy Martin. Someday, the Truth will come out concerning the problem you have with the Old Testament. It is not what it appears. You simply do not understand the concepts of 'Siamese Twins', or 'similitudes'. It is complicated, and, not meant for you to worry about. That's my job.

peace and blessings

steve






 

midix

New Member
Thanks for your support and warm welcoming.

I am really excited to see that I am not alone. Many people have gone through similar problems and doubts and have found their way in this world.

One problem is that I have no close friends who would like to talk about such topics. Sometimes I am afraid I might get addicted to Internet because there are so many great people out there :)

I am trying to find that special spark also in the people around me. Sometimes I tell someone a tiny bit of what I think about the world and higher powers in general, and I observe what will be the reaction. If it is negative or the person turns it into a joke, I change the topic. Maybe this person is not ready to talk about such things. It is hard to find people in my city, who have read many books and have something to say about it all. Most of them are struggling to live. The recent economical crisis has done really bad things to people here, we have much less time to read books lately. I feel so lucky I still have a job (although it is hard to find clients here, in Latvia). But there is one positive side, too. People are starting to pay more attention to each other because they find out that money is not the most valuable thing, much can be done without money if only there is a deep desire and time to do it. People are seeing other people who need help, and so we start sharing more.

I somehow agree that Big Bang and Evolution do not contradict the Bible, it may need just some imagination to put it all together. Sometimes I think of God as an almighty programmer :D He created an initial program for the Universe, some kind of a self evolving system, and now He is observing, where our free will take us. I have read also some other books about how the science is trying to explain it all. I liked "The Holographic Universe" by M.Talbot and now I am reading "My big TOE" by Thomas Campbell.

So thanks again for your understanding and I'll be glad to study this forum and find out more about other ways to find God or however people might call that force who has created all that there is).


P.S. There are many Russian people in Latvia, but we have our own language and a strong folk culture. I found a youtube video with an official Latvia representation song:

[youtube]fhaIsQtKl4s[/youtube]

Welcome to Latvia :)
 

rusra02

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Martin,
You are correct in saying "some texts in Bible are misinterpreted." The Bible says it is the God's word, so we should seriously examine it. (2 Timothy 3:16,17) God is not at all like he is portrayed by many religions, who really do not teach the truth. For example, most so-called "Christian" churches hide God's name, removing it from their translations of the Bible, even though God's name appears thousands of times in the Holy Scriptures. If even a person's name has been hidden from us, do you suppose these religions want us to know the truth about the Person who bears that name? We can never learn the truth about God from a religion that is false.
True faith comes from examining the evidence for God's existence and purpose. (Hebrews 11:1,2) That is why we are urged in the Scriptures to "Make sure of all things, hold fast to what is fine." (1 Thessalonians 5:21) It is also necessary for us to find the people who Jesus Christ described in John 4:23,24 as the "true worshipers [who] worship the Father with spirit and truth, for indeed, the Father is looking for suchlike ones to worship him."
 

omega

New Member
People lose and gain faith all the time.

:) I just take the Bible as it is. A collection of stories which show humankind's best and worst way we treat one another. And that the Bible is only a cultural artifact of a tradition, especially as Christians, centred on Christ's revelation on the nature of a just, yet loving God.

You don't take it like it is. You take it as you think it is. It is much more than a collection of stories and is not a Christian artifact.

It does tell us how to treat people but God could haved one that is one sentence---Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and the rest would be superfulous.

If you take the Bible as it is you would see that it tells one how to know God and His son and what His Son was incarnated for.

What have you learned more important than that in your relligion, if you have one.?

kermit
 

InChrist

Free4ever
You may be losing your religion, but it may be because God desires to lead you to know and trust Himself personally instead.
 
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