Believing and knowing..

Hi XD, Yes fear is very burdensome. There is no peace where there is fear. Many Christians suffer from fear of losing their salvation or thinking they might not even be saved. A person who isn't really saved could care less about whether they're saved or not, so if it bothers you that's a good sign. I had problems with this myself for years and one day it just hit me...I can either believe God or not. If I trust in the blood of the Savior to pay for my sins then I'm saved. Period. Once I decided to believe that God doesn't take back His gifts or break His promises, I found confidence and peace. Even now, I have to remind myself God will never leave me. It's not an inner feeling or anything like that. It's just simply believing what God said. And also believing that He doesn't lie. Some people want to make salvation a complicated thing. It's so easy even a child can be saved!:thumbs:
Also, part of the reason I had fears was because I was looking at myself too much. IOW, I thought I wasn't good enough, spiritual enough, Godly enough, bla, bla, bla. And I'm not! But Jesus is! God sees me through Him. So now I trust in His goodness, not my own. Wow, what a difference! Freedom, peace and confidence! All the fear is gone! Praise God!

 

I only know because of what the Bible says. The inner assurance comes from knowing that God cannot lie. If God makes a promise, He keeps it.

 

That would be kind of strange, because if God didn't exist, you wouldn't need to be saved. If God didn't exist, neither would you. If you accept the existence of God, then it's just a matter of where or how did God choose to reveal Himself. Is God revealed in the quran? What is the evidence? The God of the Bible has issued a challenge to all other would be gods.

Isaiah 41:21-23
21 Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob.
22 Let them bring them forth, and show us what shall happen: let them show the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come.
23 Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.

God proves His word with fulfilled prophecy. The bible is an amazing inspired book, not the ramblings of religious men.

 

Amy answered your question quite well, xdx. Hang your hat on her answer. Your sudden shift to "what if God doesn't exist" is troublesome -- its evasive. God does exist, His word declares that He exists, and faith comes by the Word of God. You can trust His word. You can believe His word. When you ask Him into your life, He doesn't say 'no'. He comes right on in, and He stays there forever. He will never leave you or forsake you. You should find comfort in these truths, such deep and abiding comfort that your doubts, fears, and confusion are held in check. Think about it. Take some time to carefully study His guarantee that you are saved. Take some time, as well, to study these scriptures:

John 14:6
2 Timothy 1:7
1 Corinthians 14:33
John 4:24
Ephesians 5:17
2 Peter 1:3


:jesus:

 

XD, The Bible says, "the fool in his heart says there is no God." You know better than that. You can't look at creation and say there's no God. God made some really cool stuff. Your fears will go away if you just make a conscious decision to believe. Talk to God about it. He wants you to be totally honest with Him. Tell Him exactly how you feel. He won't get mad. Keep in mind that our walk with God is life long. Some days we move ahead, some days we don't, but on keepin' on. God will reveal Himself more and more as time goes on.
There's also a really good book called "More than a carpenter" by Josh McDowell. It's a short read, but will answer a lot of your questions.

 

If all feeling left and he was in it to serve the Lord instead of himself, he would quit. You remove the feeling and there is nothing left but vain jangling. When I preach I feel the Spirit and when I feel that the Spirit has left me to preach, I bring my talk to a close. A church without "deep feelings" which pass from breast to breast or one to another until we are all of one mind and one accord, is not a church that is in full bloom. IMO

You have an act for asking some very good pointed questions that bring on much discussion and debating. I think you have a "special" gift.

 

Feelings do come and go, that is why you can't use your feelings as a barometer. Who told you that intellectual faith wasn't good? Paul reasoned from the scriptures. Reasoning is a function of your intellect, not your feelings. Your feelings (soul) need to be subject to your reason (spirit). When our feelings don't line up with what we know to be true, then feelings are wrong.

 

xdx, one has to be careful about distinguishing between our two natures. If you get involved in a discussion about it, relying only upon the "natural man," the flesh, the worldly aspect, then I'm afraid you'll get more confused. Far better to have these discussions leaning on and taking place in the spiritual realm. You may want to do a study based upon these critical issues. Do that using your translation of the bible, German or English, and a good concordance. You mentioned once that you have something like e-Sword. I don't think you can do any better than that. It comes with lots of extras that you can download. Take your time with it, try to slow down all these racing thoughts in that very busy brain of yours. Pray about your study before you begin. That's true in all inquiries into the wealth of information at your fingertips, even in reviewing the scripture references I gave you in an earlier post. Please know that lots of us are praying for you. We're hoping that you can go one-on-one with a competent Christian counselor in your home town. :flower:

 

there's the "realm of belief" and the "realm of experience"

you can believe that the heat register is hot -- but you won't know it is hot until you experience that it is hot by touching it.

there must be balance - believe and knowledge - wisdom - understanding etc etc

 

Hi Gekko, I saw your pic on my space. I assume that's you playing guitar. My son plays guitar (electric) also. Bye the way, you're hair is short in that photo so maybe you're not "perverse" all the time. :laugh:

 

Not complicated unless you make it that way. Stop thinking so much. We don't know everything now, that's why it's called faith.
1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
We only need a tiny bit of faith to believe in God. Use that and build on it by reading God's word and obeying it regardless of your feelings. There's a few things you're just going to have to accept. Like you can't know everything. God didn't tell us EVERYTHING. He told us just the amount He wanted us to know and that is plenty. More than I can learn in a lifetime. Focus on what you do know and God will help you learn more each day or week or month or year. I'm still learning. Be faithful to God and He'll reward you for it.

 

alright I red everyones replies phew... boy that took awhile! Anyway Disciple I feel your pain ad far as doubting goes and worrying about me being saved I must say that all throughout Amy has pin pointed every aspect. I just want to add that Thomas doubted God because he did not see him arise from the tomb. Now what did Jesus say to Thomas when he came, did he say Thomas you had great faith in me? No he told him to put his hand in his side where he was pierced through. Evolutionists have the problem of "Unless I see him with my own evolved eye balls and stick my conveniently evolved hand into his side then will I believe!" In order to know that you are saved... FOR SURE you need to STUDY not skim God's word. What does God say about a new christian he says that they desire the sincere milk of HIS Word, read his word, study his word and pray without ceasing! That helped me to see whether I was truly saved or not.

Ho, my Comrades see the signal! waving in the sky, raying:
Reinforcements NOW appearing vitoryis nigh!
Hold the fort for I am comming Jesus signals still
Wave the answer back to heaven :jesus:
By thy Grace we will!

Your Brother in Arms for Christ,
Mark aka Saint #unknown

 

lol. yeah. my hair used to be much shorter than it is now. i guess i've fallen away. lol.

 

Try reading a different translation like the NLT. You can order one from Amazon even from Germany.

 

Man is of two natures:

1) natural, physical, flesh, earthly worldly, AND

2) spiritual.

When one moves into the spiritual realm the fog of difficulty in understanding and applying scripture begins to lift until one day it is no more. You enter into this communication with God in prayer, humbling yourself before him. A quiet time, alone with God, computer turned off, phone off the hook, door closed, on your knees. I've been there many times until the "times of refreshing" come in. Whoa! Just think -- you are in direct communication with God, and, as someone wrote, in the Name of Jesus and the Power of the Holy Spirit. This is not a time to speak. It is a time to listen!

I'm confident that you can achieve that inner piece, xdx. I do believe you need some medical intervention, a medical doctor who is a non-Catholic Christian, as well, one who himself or herself understands the power of prayer in the presence of God. I encourage you to explore the possibilities.

:1_grouphug: