You seem to have forgotten things I said to you earlier and elsewhere.
Are you looking for reasons to believe, or reasons not to believe?
Do you spend any time in prayer? I highly recommend it
Hello Scarlett It is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God which brings a total spiritual change in people's lives. It is true that many do not want to seek Jesus... preconceived ideas about religion in general, and Christianity in particular, and even about God, not knowing Him personally, are primary reasons for this, and Scripture tells us too, that the natural man (one without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God) is hostile toward God. I spent a few years before becoming a member here speaking to all manner of non-believers online on two different sites, and boy oh boy, I found out really quick the lengths and depths of that hostility. My own stubbornness toward God and aversion to anything Biblical before I became a believer also help me understand how true it is that believing in God and accepting the gospel as truth were not something the "natural man" normally aspires to, and it may well have been impossible for me to achieve on my own without God moving powerfully and profoundly in my life.
People do seek truth in their lives, though, and peace is highly valued, especially inner peace. The question of whether or not there is a God should be of utmost importance in anyone's search for truth. Jesus said that no one comes to the Father except through/by Him.
Consider what C. S. Lewis had to say on the matter:
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him [that is, Christ]: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse…. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
Some non-believers have that attitude about Jesus, that He was a good man and a good teacher and said some lovely things. And off they go searching for truth elsewhere. They may find people and practices that temporarily help in their struggles and challenges; if you were to closely question many of these people about their beliefs regarding God, religion, and Christianity, you would probably find that a great many of them really are hostile in their minds towards such things, believing religion to be a tool to control people, blaming Christianity for many if not all the ills of the world (instead of human nature), and believing the Biblical God to be a heartless monster. Some consider themselves to be spiritual while others reject anything that smacks of spirituality. Many will simply say God does not exist, and that those who believe in Him do so because we were told to, being unable to think for ourselves, that Christians are brainwashed and believe in fairy tales, have an imaginary friend, etc etc. That the Bible God is based on the primitive superstitions of iron age knuckle dragging cave dwelling goat herders, while they consider themselves to be too smart and too sophisticated and more logical and more rational and too intelligent for such (pride), clinging to modern science for answers, the claims of which they accept on faith while pooh poohing faith. Some will even say that it is impossible to know whether God exists or not, whereas God promises to reveal Himself to those who diligently and sincerely seek Him. Each must make their own choice, and as far as I am concerned, it is the most important decision one can make in their life.
Are you looking for reasons to believe, or reasons not to believe?
Do you spend any time in prayer? I highly recommend it
Hello Scarlett
It is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God which brings a total spiritual change in people's lives. It is true that many do not want to seek Jesus... preconceived ideas about religion in general, and Christianity in particular, and even about God, not knowing Him personally, are primary reasons for this, and Scripture tells us too, that the natural man (one without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God) is hostile toward God. I spent a few years before becoming a member here speaking to all manner of non-believers online on two different sites, and boy oh boy, I found out really quick the lengths and depths of that hostility. My own stubbornness toward God and aversion to anything Biblical before I became a believer also help me understand how true it is that believing in God and accepting the gospel as truth were not something the "natural man" normally aspires to, and it may well have been impossible for me to achieve on my own without God moving powerfully and profoundly in my life.People do seek truth in their lives, though, and peace is highly valued, especially inner peace. The question of whether or not there is a God should be of utmost importance in anyone's search for truth. Jesus said that no one comes to the Father except through/by Him.
Consider what C. S. Lewis had to say on the matter:
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him [that is, Christ]: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse…. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
Some non-believers have that attitude about Jesus, that He was a good man and a good teacher and said some lovely things. And off they go searching for truth elsewhere. They may find people and practices that temporarily help in their struggles and challenges; if you were to closely question many of these people about their beliefs regarding God, religion, and Christianity, you would probably find that a great many of them really are hostile in their minds towards such things, believing religion to be a tool to control people, blaming Christianity for many if not all the ills of the world (instead of human nature), and believing the Biblical God to be a heartless monster. Some consider themselves to be spiritual while others reject anything that smacks of spirituality. Many will simply say God does not exist, and that those who believe in Him do so because we were told to, being unable to think for ourselves, that Christians are brainwashed and believe in fairy tales, have an imaginary friend, etc etc. That the Bible God is based on the primitive superstitions of iron age knuckle dragging cave dwelling goat herders, while they consider themselves to be too smart and too sophisticated and more logical and more rational and too intelligent for such (pride), clinging to modern science for answers, the claims of which they accept on faith while pooh poohing faith. Some will even say that it is impossible to know whether God exists or not, whereas God promises to reveal Himself to those who diligently and sincerely seek Him. Each must make their own choice, and as far as I am concerned, it is the most important decision one can make in their life.
-
1
- Show all
