Christians - what exactly do you believe?

[beansmum]

I am a Christian but have been struggling with my faith recently, mainly because the Christians I know think sooooooooo differently to me. Somebody please explain things in a way that makes some sense to me!

I suppose I'm confused about all the usual things; sex, the Bible, other faiths etc.

savedbygrace - I've done an alpha course, is that similar?

I have had a few thoughts, I'm trying to work out what I believe and this is how far I have got...

1. for me, the life and teachings of Jesus have helped me find a way to God. I recognise that other people have different ways to God and their ways are as true for them as mine is for me.

1. I'm not sure what Jesus's death has to teach us, I'm becoming less and less convinced by the idea of his death cancelling out our sins in some way. For me it seems more like God's forgiveness was always and always will be there for us, Jesus's death demonstrates this/acts it out in some way so we have no doubt that God forgives us and we don't have to be trapped in a cycle of sin? does that even make sense? not really...

1. I definitely feel closer to God when I question things and try to understand than I do when things are just black and white, true or false.

1. I realise that being a follower of Jesus is costly, and will mean giving up some things and changing my view of other things.

1. The question of hell is still bothering me. To me the Christian life is about learning to live the way God wants me to now and letting Him rescue me from the mess I make of things, not about trying to save myself from hell. I don't see what purpose hell serves.

1. I believe that the Bible contains truth but is not always literal. I also think that some parts of it are simply not God's word at all. Which part is which is the tricky bit.

I'm sure most of you will disagree with all of the above but I feel like a huge weight has been lifted. God is definitely leading me to find a new way of thinking and I feel slightly less stressed. slightly.

beansmum, can I make a wild suggestion - try investigating the Orthodox church. I'm not suggesting that you should convert to it or anything, but they have a certain way of approaching some of these questions which might be helpful to you, particularly your view of the crucifixion.

Congratulations Beansmum, and welcome to a much bigger world of faith!

It can seem a bit complicated out here, without a clear set of answers to work from, but it gives you space to be true to yourself and develop your relationship with God. If you ever start to feel you are losing your way, just centre yourself on the basic Christian beliefs - if you keep those in sight, you won't go far wrong.

Now you need to keep working on the relationship, and thinking (and praying) through what it all means for you. There's always people on here you can discuss things with (even if they disagree with you, talking through things can help clarify them), and you may find there are books about some of the issues you're still working out. But the best thing, if you can find it, is a group of RL Christians you can talk to about it all - I know you've decided to stay in your current church for now, but you could maybe see if there are other churches which have a course, or a group for new Christians, which would fill this gap for you. That really is the ideal way to bounce your ideas around, and to hear theirs.

I've changed my mind about staying in my current church. Today I got really quite annoyed with a friend who wont let her dd read/watch Harry Potter because it is about witches and therefore evil, but lets her read cosmopolitan which is all about sex and how to be good in bed, her dd is 13. I am going slightly mad here, why can't people use their brains!

I'm now super organised with a schedule of visits to all the local churches starting next week. I'm would start this week but I'm on coffee and creche duty.

How can I find out a bit about the church without going with a big list of questions for the minister? Or could I go with a few questions? would that be weird?

Well done for making a decision - it is so hard to leave a church, and a brave thing to actually do so. I totally agree with you about the Harry Potter/Cosmo thing.

Lots of churches have websites, so you may get an idea of the kind of place ahead of time. If they have sermons online, you will also be able to get an inside into their churchmanship.

I don't think it'd be wierd to go with a few questions. Very sensible, in fact, given the issues here.

(Completely about the Harry Potter/Cosmo thing. How odd is that?)

Your current church really come across as people who don't even try to think through faith for themselves. Cosmo OK, Harry Potter not - how much thinking went into that decision, compared with how much "following stuff I've heard of and don't understand"?

I think you'd be very wise to go along with a few questions for the minister - his/her reaction to the first one or two should give you some idea whether there's any chance. If you tell them you've been going to a church for a couple of years but are having a problem with their views on some issues, such as the position of scripture, women's ministry and sex outside of marriage, they'll probably give you a quick rundown of how they approach those kinds of questions, and they'll understand why you want to get answers. From that, plus the general feel of the place, you should be able to narrow it down.

You can also look out for certain words in the way they describe themselves - either on a website, or a pew sheet - your current church would probably use words like "conservative" and "biblical", but you might feel more at home with "liberal" or "inclusive"!

In reply to the question why was it a sacrifice?

God and Jesus are one, always were, always will be. When Jesus died on the cross He, being sinless, was able to take on the sin of whoever asked Him to. God is not able to look on sin and for the first time ever (and only time) they were cut off from one another. This was important because it was in carrying that sin and being cut off from His Father that Jesus was able to enter Hell and take back the keys to open the way for us to enter Heaven.

WRT seperation from God. In our earthly form that means nothing to us, but when we die we will know what it means to not be with Him. To be away from Him there is nothing good or nice, to be with Him there will be nothing bad, no pain, no tears.

Someone once told the story of a feast, the best feast you can imagine and more. But no one can bend their arms and their arms are longer. In Hell everyone is throwing food around trying to reach their own mouth, but in Heaven they are feeding the person next to them.

(I might post some more as I get further through the thread )

I just thought...

None of us are good enough, even Christians. God gave us a way to come to Him by giving our sins to Jesus, who took them to Hell for us. All sin must go to Hell, it's just a matter of who takes them there. If Jesus took your sin to Hell with Him then God counts you as sinless and you can join Him in Heaven.

I had more on that but OH just came in and asked me to go to the shop so I lost my train.

I don't believe that BC Jews (lit Before Christ) were sent to Hell, because God called them His chosen people. He gave them a way to live and they did. I believe that they probably were unable to go to Heaven before Jesus made the way, but then with God there isn't time in the same way so they probably weren't waiting outside the gates for thousands of years.

I don't believe that babies don't go to Heaven, because:

14 But Jesus said, ?Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.?

They're not old enough to make a decision for themselves. This is the comfort I take from giving my baby to Jesus.

I don't believe that those in remote tribes who have never heard of Jesus will go to Hell. Anthropologists will tell you that in every culture in every corner of the world people search for God, I believe that those remote peoples who have lived a good life will be spared.

The Bible hasn't been diluted through the years because new translations aren't coming from previous translations, they come from the original texts. Also just because there are variations from one version to another doesn't mean that we don't know what the original says because a. we have copies of the originals and b. there are enough translations to compare and contrast to find what is and isn't accurate.

Some people for you to have a look at that might help.

Lee Strobel I've just read his book called The Case for Easter. I don't think he was a Christian when he started writing it, just a journalist, but what he heard turned his life around. He interviewed some fairly clever people about the crucifixion from their professional perspective. It's quite amazing to read in detail what a person would have gone through when they were crucified. He says in one video on his website that he was talking to Mel Gibson about his R rating and said "Well, you could have toned it down" he replied "Mate, I did tone it down!"

Ian McCormack died after being stung by FIVE box jellyfish, the most deadly jellyfish in the world. He spent time talking to God before waking during his postmortem. He wasn't a Christian before, but he gave his life to God in the ambulance. He later found out his mother had been woken in the night and told to pray for him. I have heard his testimony in person and can tell you it is very moving and I think you will find it helpful to answer some questions.

Those are the two I can think of off the top of my head, there are many more amazing Christians who can answer your questions really well.

Someone said that their LO had asked the quesetion (can't find it now) has anyone else been raised from the dead. For a start Jesus raised Lazarus and Jairus's daughter. I know of modern resurections too, like Ian McCormack. The difference is though that people who Jesus raises from the dead will die again, Jesus is the only one who has been raised and will never die again.

Sorry, I've realised I posted loads yesterday