Trying to be a Christian... any tips?

[HeroicMinute]

I've just started listening to the Hallowed app. The first thing I've come across is a Routines course, which is great for me as I am horrendous time waster, which probably explains why I haven't spiritually evolved.
I was raised loosely Christian and attended the village church as a child. I think I want to replicate this traditional experience, but with some slightly more intellectual content.
I've been thinking about Christianity for a few years, and have tried a few different churches, but nothing's stuck.
My reasons for not sticking at a church:
-I can't handle a church band, it all seems very nice and worshipful but it makes me cringe a bit. I love a choir.
-I am very opposed to modern identity politics and didn't go back when a vicar started talking about structural racism in the church.
-I stopped going to an evangelical church because the curate was sweet and excited about his Christianity but did lengthy sermons suitable for children with no analysis or intellectual stimulation.
-found a curate at another church a bit creepy.
-found the sermon in a big popular church on 8th October to be a bit antisemitic.

You get the picture; I'm a bit of a PITA and I'm obviously putting up barriers. Don't get me wrong; I'm not a particularly intellectual person but I am curious and I sincerely want to be a Christian. I don't yet believe properly, sometimes I do, well I suppose I usually do, but with varying levels of conviction.
Any tips would be very gratefully received.
Thank you in advance.

Yes, but the heart of the matter is the leap of faith you have taken. You have remained thoughtful - not all people who profess to be Christian do. There is a world of difference between your brand of thoughtful faith and the kind of 'my way or the highway' faith that also has representation on this thread. Accusing someone of demonic possession (I am paraphrasing here) because they believe differently to you is arrogant and offensive. I have also been accused of being possessed on this board. It isn't acceptable. Humanity needs fewer zealots.

@pointythings

Accusing someone of demonic possession (I am paraphrasing here) because they believe differently to you is arrogant and offensive. I have also been accused of being possessed on this board.

@pointythings

The flip side is suggesting someone is mentally unstable or inefficient/ somehow lacking. That gets bandied around here too.

A harsh environment tends to bring out the fighting talk unfortunately. And that's when people are likely to get hurt.

I disagree. Ultimately, this discussion is driven by the age old good vs evil. It is a spiritual war and I could see satan’s cage being rattled at one point. It moved away from what was being asked by the OP to a ping pong match. It was an interesting read, in parts. What interested me was one person’s rebuttal of the Truth by claiming their own practises and beliefs were occult, and, being secret and hidden, are not open to scrutiny. Entertaining to me, that they say they know so much about Scripture, yet demonstrate they understand nothing. Interesting too that they appear to be fearful of being open about their adherence to the occult … maybe because they know it will not stand up to scrutiny. Clearly, that is their vulnerability and I can understand the need to be protective.

I disagree with the assertion that mainstream Christianity has a closed mind. What is meant by ‘closed’? Faith and reason are not necessarily mutually exclusive, and many Christians engage deeply with philosophical and ethical questions. As has been demonstrated here, and the many other similar threads, those who do not accept that Jesus is Lord, can be extremely rigid and dogmatic.

Immense damage, throughout history, has been and continues to be driven by occult thinking and (hu)mans’ ego. I know it suits the purposes of those who deny God, to place this at the door of ‘religion’. “Religion” is man-made and is a deceptive tool of the occult. Holy-Spirit-filled, born-again-in-Spirit-and-Truth Christian believers are not religious.

For the reader: A warning for those who will receive it: 2 Cor 11:3 … as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness [ adherence to the occult ], your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ [ Jesus ] .

I can't agree with you because you think there is such a thing as The Truth. There isn't. It's belief. That is a powerful thing, but it isn't The Truth.

Thinking such a thing exists is what keeps us divided. In matters of things beyond the tangible there are not many absolutes. Humanity would be better off if it got better at admitting there is much that is not known and not knowable. Stepping away from absolute positions would help us place the focus more on what we have in common than on what divides us.

It seems to me that to deny any possibility of the existence of The Truth and baldly state that it doesn’t exist is in itself an absolutist position.

One would need to know all there is to know in the universe and to have discovered that The Truth does not exist before one could reasonably state with absolute certainty that The Truth does not exist.

Perhaps a more open-minded, less dogmatic position for those who have never met Him would be agnosticism? 🤔
Just a thought.

Actually that's a fair point. There may be a Truth. But that doesn't mean yours is the one. Nobody, myself included can put forward a compelling case that they are right and everyone else is wrong. In fact nobody can put forward a case that there is a Truth. There might be, there might not be. I am happy with either option. We can't know, we can only believe.

My atheism is a faith position. I believe there is no God. Just as your belief in God and your reading of the Scriptures gives you hope, strength and comfort, so does my belief in the absence of God do for me. Neither position is more valid than the other.

The difference is that I don't go around trying to convert people to atheism., nor do I claim people who believe must be possessed, demonic or plain wrong. I live and let live. I despise atheists who rant about 'sky fairies'. It's disrespectful. Why can we all not just respect each other's beliefs and leave it at that?

You, yourself, have made several comments on this thread about me, for example, obviously having “deep seated trauma” by your own standards why is that acceptable? Everytime I have challenged you on your repeated “requests” to make myself vulnerable you claim you are doing so out of “kindness”. You claim I’m not being kind, yet, when I show genuine concern for people it’s the wrong way to show kindness according to you.

@Kdtym10, I acted upon my impression of you from your posts. Maybe I misread the tone. If I have, then I apologise. As I have mentioned a couple of times I fear much is lost in translation. Each time I attempt to understand where you are coming from you I am left wondering. I'm no closer to knowing you. Maybe that's how you like it as it reflects your occult perspective.

I know you don’t think knowledge is important in faith, but it truly is, people are often vulnerable and people in all faiths will take advantage of that. Knowledge is an armour of sorts to protect yourself from manipulation and exploitation. It also protects you from yourself.

@Kdtym10, not quite true there concerning what I think.

The more knowledge I acquire, I find, the more faith I need. Since I simply get a greater appreciation of just how complex and risky life is. Just how much is not known.

Certainly true when I was undergoing cancer treatment a few years ago now.

Plus you need to have knowledge in order to know that you are basing your hopes in faith.

I'm not sure faith and knowledge are so easily separated from each other.

What I think the interesting question is what we are having faith in? Where is our faith placed?

Just for the record, I neither was nor am distressed, nor am I mentally ill.

I think it is actually manipulative to make such insinuations in the course of a robust debate.

As stated above, I will no longer engage with the poster who made, and continues to make, these remarks.

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
 but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life."
(Proverbs 13:11-13)

I will keep on hoping for a unity forged together in love.

@pointythings well said. I am a Christian but totally agree with your sentiment.

That’s not being a Christian though

One hundred per cent agree with Mischance above

Correct.

Being “kind” isn’t synonymous with following Christ.

Kindness is an aspect of the multi-faceted, nine-fold fruit of the Spirit in a Christian’s life. We who follow Christ are to expect to see kindness grow in us in increasing depth and strength.

It isn’t the Way to be a Christian though - following Christ begins with a simple change of mind from how we previously thought when we didn’t follow Him, whatever that mindset was (whether that’s another religion, worldly pursuits, atheism etc) , and a decision, by the grace of God, to
“…confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead…”
Romans 10

Being “kind” isn’t synonymous with following Christ.

Sadly that is so - the sheer cruelty shown by some Christian religions beggars belief.

Thank you for your comment.
I will receive it as confirmation that I’m on the right track.

God bless you 🙏🏻

As religious people always do ... happy in their certainty thay only they can be right.

I am the grandchild of a man brought up in a Catholic orphanage. Need I say more?

Again, thank you for your comment.

May God bless you abundantly 🙏🏻

What response exactly are you expecting and what does being brought up in an orphanage have to do with it too. I’m not sure if you’re being sarcastic / unkind either as it’s hard to read tone from your text… for me anyway.

The essence of nearly all religions (theist or otherwise) relates to kindness.

Sadly they all acquire the worldly accretions of misogyny, power trips, cruelty, sexual obsession, etc.

I am suggesting that it might be best to concentrate on that kindness - we can all do that - and leave aside the accretions that have caused such sadness to so many - and loss of life - and lives of perpetual pregnancy - and unnecessary guilt ..................

My comment about my grandfather refers to one of those accretions - the man-devised rule of chastity, which anti-nature directive leads to the sort of abuse my grandfather suffered.

Organised religion has a very great deal to answer for.

Well put