Christianity is offensive. I'm not talking about its practice and the hypocrisy of professing Christians (though those are significant); I'm talking about the basic tenets of the faith itself. Sin and hell are offensive. The idea that a man should die horribly for people who don't deserve it is offensive. The notion that we're bad enough to deserve that kind of punishment is offensive. Being told that people who've committed unspeakable atrocities can still go to heaven is offensive.
I want to ask you not to dismiss Christianity right off the bat, though, even if everything in you screams that it's wrong. I have my reasons for believing, but you shouldn't just take my or anyone else's word for it. More than anything, I hope you'll do something that most of us find very hard: Go to the source, God Himself. Just ask Him if He's real, if Jesus and the Bible are real, if Christianity is true or not. If He's not there, then all you'll have lost is the breath it took to speak the words. But you will be taking the risk of getting an answer, and I know how frightening that can be because I've been making myself do it for years, and it still scares me. Ultimately, I only want to believe all this if it's true. If God gets back to you and says I'm dead wrong in all I believe, let me know. In the meantime, I offer the following thought, both as a caution and an opportunity:
We will never find Truth, whatever it turns out to be, unless we're willing to let it change us.
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6 comments:
Missed you Holly, its good to read you back again.
Please post some more stories, I really enjoy them lots.
I`ve been away for a time, but now I`ll be reading more of you, if you write.
Marquioni
But how do I know which of the numerous christian religions, which all claim to be the real and only true faith, I should go to? Should I make some sort of historical/ rational/ analisis of each doctrine, investigating and talking to priests? Or just leave it to faith and heart alone, and sit in front of each different church and wait till my heart gets tugged by the local priest who holds the truth? Or Perhaps go to the church my family goes to, or even pick one at random? Or maybe I should just find the one thing that is common to all christian religion, which is God and Jesus, and just live my faith my own way. But then that would make me a religious outcast, and even send me to hell according to come christian faiths.
Which option do you recommend Holly?
Marquioni
Dear Marquioni, Maybe it's because I've had similar struggles, but I see God at work in your questions. I'm confident that He sees you and will answer you, and I pray that it will be soon. Do you want to talk some more? Would you be willing to leave an email address where I can write you? In the meantime, here's some encouragement (I used to hate these verses, but now I know they're true): "Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks recieves, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened." - Matthew 7:7-8
Don't give up, Marquioni.
If you need to ask, go outside and watch the sun rise.
Every morning (even when the weather is bad) I go outside at dawn and watch. I sing a little song, and say a prayer of gratitude: Thank you for this day, the eyes to enjoy the sun rise, the ears to hear the birds, my family, friends, neighbors, and those who have offended me (since I do learn from those who offend me). I ask for God to bless my family, friends, and neighbors (sometimes the latter very loud as he sometimes gets his paper at that time and I've been "caught"). Oh yeah, and me, too. I ask Him to bless me and fill me with His graces.
This makes every single day a joy, as I focus on all the wonderful gifts He has bestowed upon me.
I am here, I saw the sun rise, so there is God. Right in my heart.
You just need to switch the focus from looking for an answer (or The Answer) to going with the flow and greeting every day as the gift it is.
As for heaven and hell, I believe we make our own. God wants us to live and enjoy life, not to live in fear of His wrath. Make your own heaven!
That's a real gift. Experiencing God has always been harder for me.
Yea!! You're back. And just out of curiosity, have you contacted the non Nigel?
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