Why is religion so hard to talk about. I see both sides to the quandary. So many Christians take offense when others question them and get hot and snippy when their answers are doubted.
God gave us free will. It is up to the individual to decide what they believe. As a Christian I do believe it my obligation to talk about my faith when its appropriate. It is the only way to bring others to the Lord. However it does not mean I have to hit people over the head with my bible to make them listen. I will talk about my faith when people bring it up. I can state what I believe and if I get ridicule I can take it. I know how it sounds sometimes to those who do not have that personal relationship with our Lord. Especially women who believe they are not answerable anymore to anyone, especially men. I do not agree with that but its their right to believe it as ifs mine to disagree.
I do not think my body or my life is my own. They belongs to God. I am by nature a rebel. Not a good thing sometimes, I question way too much but thats my personality. I believe in proving all that can be proven, but....I can now accept that which I can not yet prove because of the answers that I have already found.
I enjoy a good debate. I don't have all the answers and I like to hear others opinions and to concider them.
I do believe that the bible is the word of God, I believe in God's ability to protect His word. Is every word true?. I don't know that because I believe that books have been left out. What I do know is that in context, it is true and shows us the way to Christ and salvation. The rest is to teach us life's lessons. To me it is almost a magical book because it does mean different things to different people. That's not contradictory, its how God can help us and answer prayer. Enlighten us.
I believe that we are not meant for this world in the end, God has a higher purpose for those who love Him. I love the world, the natural world and treasure it. However this world will someday change, will pass. We as Christians who have been saved by the blood of Christ will go on to fulfill our destiny. What that is I do not know, just that its good, that there will be a new heaven and new earth. That we Will be with God, have access and friendship with God as man was created to do in the beginning.
I know a lot of people can not understand why terrible things can happen to innocent people and God does not stop that. They forget that this life is not everything. That God does not often intervene. He does not promise us a long and happy life. Sometimes tragedy promotes good, if it happens to a Christian they can be a huge witness to the unsaved and bring people into the knowledge of God, see God's love and support in harsh times . God only promised to help us through difficult times not to stop them from happening. Does he stop bad things, sometimes........I am sure that sometimes He can and does. Mostly though He hopes we can work through things and trust Him. He did not close the mouths of the lions when Christians were thrown in at the Roman games, but He did give them courage to face what was to come in the knowlege that it would last just a short time before they were face to face with God Himself.
I think that if Christians looked more to what Christ would do in situations they might be a bit more popular with the mainstream of people who do not believe. Rather than the holier than thou stance that some take.
The fact is no one is perfect. If we could get to heaven based on our own goodness, our own good works then Christ died in vain, was sacrificed for naught. We do need Christ though, He is the mediator between us imperfect people and God almighty. Without Christs intervention we would never ever be good enough to be with the Creator who can only accept perfection and can not accept sin.
Sin.....just a word for being imperfect people. Sinners. Wrong in thought or deed, just one and we are not perfect. We need Christ.
Jesus came to die. No one took His life. He could have called upon 10,000 angels to save Him but instead he looked upon the sin of the world, every bad and terrible deed and thought ever done. He took that burden on Himself. He who had never sinned and He did it for me. For you..........so that we do not have to pay the consequences for our own mistakes and sin.
That does not mean that once forgiven we have a clean slate and can sin over and over again. No....it means that we must confess and not do it anymore, or at least try. God sees our hearts and intentions. He can help us to change and does.......He works in our lives if we allow it and changes us gradually into something better than we were. Even so we are still human. Still imperfect, still sinners, still making mistakes.
The church has a lot to answer for. In the past and present..........many have been misled. Many turned off of religion, many will not know Christ because of the hypocrisy in the churches. They will answer for that. Even so, each of us is ultimately responsible for our own salvation and finding our way to God because if we do not make the effort, then we are lost.
All we have to do is ask.....if we are honest and willing God will find us. He will send someone who will tell us what we need to know and do.
We need the faith that a child has in its parents. We need to cultivate faith, the ability to believe when something does not make sense. To trust that God can not lie, that God will always show us the right way.
He may not stop trouble from coming into our lives but will help us through it. For the most part our own selfishness brings on the trouble, and our wrong living shapes our future......that can not change. We just might make better choices in the future and that will then change our lives for the better but we will still have consequences to deal with. Salvation is not a free pass out of our problems in this life, just our ticket to the next one. This is not our reality, we are the catapillar, death the crysalis and the butterfly is our eternal life.
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