Bible Study I am horrifed. I fear most are going to hell.

[imokay2121]

I should ask God this but i want your opinion, how does one follow Jesus? I do not even hear his voice. I fear I am on my way to hell.

 

[Razeontherock]

How do we KNOW we are saved without a shadow of a doubt?

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Luke 13:23-24 and 28, “Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able ... There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.”


I fear hell more than anything else, and I fear that only a few will make it to heaven and avoid hell

This is an absolutely essential world view to awaken to. IMHO, ymmv, etc.

By the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil.

And

The fear of the Lord is the BEGINNING of wisdom.

Gotta start somewhere, and that's a time-tested solid rock upon which to ... be on (hence my username, considering that I'm Ray)

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God

 

[Razeontherock]

Also, I have been recently taught that if you truly follow Jesus, your friends and family will leave you

This has been my experience, and I grew up in "a good Christian home." (Of fake churchianity)

That's not very comforting but notice I deleted other words in your post that I couldn't agree to; that omission should be comforting, so please look back at your post here to see what I don't think are real fears.

 

[Razeontherock]

I should ask God this but i want your opinion, how does one follow Jesus? I do not even hear his voice. I fear I am on my way to hell.

This very question is one of two main things in my mind when I was a very small child:

if any man would come after me let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. (Jesus talking, obviously)

His words are truth, and they are life!

The other main thing in my mind as a very small child that ultimately led to me turning to the Lord much later was: how can Good Friday possibly be considered "good?!"

This seems appropriate right now ...

 

[imokay2121]

Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow him? How do I do that? I need your opinion, but ultimately I need to hear from Jesus. I have prayed on this and as of right now I heard nothing.

Also it does not help the fact that I am in college right now.

 

[HeIsRisen2018]

This has been my experience, and I grew up in "a good Christian home." (Of fake churchianity)

That's not very comforting but notice I deleted other words in your post that I couldn't agree to; that omission should be comforting, so please look back at your post here to see what I don't think are real fears.

There was a really famous quote once (which I believe might have been Shakespeare?) but the only thing to fear is fear itself! And with Jesus and His promise of eternal life there should be absolutely nothing to fear for me. Unfortunately, that's not always true for me but I should probably try better to remember that. And I personally never had any problems with friends and family leaving me. They're all very supportive about it, but that may have to do with the fact that we're all Christians. We don't have any unbelievers in the family as far as I know.

 

[HeIsRisen2018]

Never mind, it was Franklin Roosevelt that said that.

 

[Razeontherock]

Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow him? How do I do that? I need your opinion, but ultimately I need to hear from Jesus. I have prayed on this and as of right now I heard nothing.

Also it does not help the fact that I am in college right now.

Haha, College is not at all a helpful environment for getting your convictions straight! Simultaneously 18 is a really good age for doing so. By this we can conclude that the enemy is working overtime.

Deny yourself take up your cross and follow me is something that as a small child I recognized I had NO idea what it meant. Same with "believe," as Jesus uses the word.

Keeping my mind open to those facts ultimately led to me being given the gift of Faith. Doesn't that make a lot of sense? Although I must tell you I never recognized it, and had to sit through a LOT of teaching on the subject before the notion dawned on me.

So what I'm telling you is that your heart and mind are in an extraordinarily good place right now! How long our Lord will keep you right there I of course have no idea. (Unless He were to specifically tell me) Neither can I tell you what your next step is to be.

What I CAN tell you is He is good, and His reputation as a Good Shepherd is entirely deserved! (Although much of what that means is lost on us, not being from a shepherding culture.)

As He has led me since 1981, I have NEVER heard His voice, in audible fashion. How He leads me might be impossible for me to explain to you, and as you come to recognize His leading in your own life if you were to try to explain how to me I might find it foreign.

What I CAN tell you is get the Word (meaning the Bible) IN you! Don't bother to wrestle with understanding everything you read, just get it IN you first. He knows what to do with it once it's in you, and it comes ALIVE!!

It is literally HE (in us) who does God's will, despite the fact of being hindered by ... us.

That is as rock-solid as it gets, Brother! I'm keeping it simple here because I have no idea what you know, other than your posts in this one thread. So: read John. From there read straight to the end of the Bible. After that it probably makes sense to dwell in the Epistles for a while, beginning to pray and meditate on it. At that time you could also begin to avail yourself of study aids which are plentiful online:

Biblegateway.org has some good ones. They also have some good modern translations which might help you right away. GW (God's Word) is esteemed highly by scholars. I also like MSG (The Message) for Paul's writings but it's TERRIBLE for the Gospels.

Blueletterbible.com also has good study aids, but not as many good modern translations.

Don't get hung up on which version to read, they all have their strengths and weaknesses, and they all largely convey the same point.

Also know that my first words to you referred to what you already wrote as being an absolutely essential world view to awaken to.