Starting a New Walk

[rrich7]

Hello All,

I was raised a non-denominational Christian, & early on in life the fear of a horrible fate was instilled in me; HELL.

I remember as a young child, God was my best friend, maybe in my "innocence" I saw a nature in Him that didn't agree with what my father taught me. I watched him & other Christians behave much like the Pharisees & Saducees. To me to follow in Christs foot steps seemed easy, love God which I did (& do) & love others, even my enemies & I didn't see that. I saw self-uplifting, self-righouteous, out right selfish people that were all about themselves & their works.

But my faith in Gods grace & forgiveness became more difficult as I got older, the doctrine of hell had me extremely fearful & when I went to the Bible for answers on what to do I was confused. I knew I loved God, & I was very aware that my spirit wanted to please Him & often wished I could be rid of my "carnal" nature so I wouldn't have this battle or beat myself to a pulp & feel unworthy when I failed even in asking forgiveness. Then I found myself more worried about the rest of the world than myself, wishing & praying that somehow, someway God could save them all! I even didnt mind being sacrificed if it was enough for everyone else. Then I would quickly remember I am not Christ, my sacrifice could never be enough, but then try to find other ways that the world could be saved.

I asked God again about a week ago, how is it fair? how is it just? That by the sin of one man, all were doomed into a sinful nature. I had recently been reading Jesus' teachings in Matthew & saw where he said, not all men were given the eyes to see or understand & I became even more disturbed! & I asked God, if all weren't blessed to see the truth, how is it their fault if they don't receive it.. if they can't see it to even receive it!!? I felt helpless, I talked to my mother, my boyfriend & best friend (who is also a Christian) & others about God. My boyfriend isn't well studied in the word, so I began to share with him but I wasn't quite sure what to share. He believes in God, but like other friends & family, I didn't know how to make sure that they believed so I could get them in!

I didn't want to be like my dad (who left our family when I was 12) & scare the living day lights out of them with never ending punishment, the wrong doing of their imperfections when even some of the greatest of prophets stumbled in sin.  I decided I was far to confused to go past explaining that God loved them.. & to my best friend, I did confess & discuss my confusion & the utter loathing I felt for myself for any sin I committed.

Days after praying & beginning to more thoroughly study the word & asking the Holy Spirit for guidance & open my "spiritual" eyes to the truth, I stumbled upon this site while looking up a completely different topic.

What is this?! I asked myself. I felt a little less crazy & a little less alone in my confusion of God's nature. I don't have access to different translations of bibles or greek scripts or hebrew scripts or their translations (I'm almost poor :2c: haha), but I had learned that the King James bible was put together by his "translators" & that other books were left out of the bible. At that time nothing had been said about incorrect translations, but at that time it clicked a little more that something wasn't right.

I was amazed that anyone had dared to challenge & question the church & not only that, but did detailed, extensive research on the bibles history & some of its original texts, Christianity's history & the history around the time that the translation errors occurred & for what reasons. I understand that there is probably still more research to be done, but this has caused me to want to dive into my bible & discover the truth with the spirit of God.

I embark on a new journey & begin a new walk.

[WhiteWings]

Days after praying & beginning to more thoroughly study the word & asking the Holy Spirit for guidance & open my "spiritual" eyes to the truth, I stumbled upon this site while looking up a completely different topic.

What is this?! I asked myself. I felt a little less crazy & a little less alone in my confusion of God's nature. I don't have access to different translations of bibles or greek scripts or hebrew scripts or their translations

Most of them are available for free online: http://tentmaker.org/forum/christian-life/list-of-useful-links/msg112440/#msg112440

(I'm almost poor :2c: haha),

But have a rich  :HeartThrob:




:welcome:  :newb:

[rrich7]

Thank YOU!

[ed]

Howdy rr,

This should be a good crowd to kick stuff around with.  Ask those crazy questions and see what comes up.  People love to share the love! 

.

[Lazarus Short]

 :friendstu: Happy to have you here!  :gimmefive: Welcome!  :friendstu:

:dsunny: :dsunny: :dsunny: :dsunny: :dsunny: :dsunny: :dsunny:

[sheila]

yes,she does have a rich heart,WW..full of love for God and her fellow-man.

   rr...your post makes my heart sing a song of joy....welcome!!!!!!