Hey all! Happy Sunday.
I’m in my late 30’s and looking to really give my life over to Christ. About 10 years ago, I went down this road and read the Bible everyday, brought God into my daily life(or at least constantly thought about him), discussed with others, and watched sermons.
It became very overwhelming for me because I would hear different interpretations of the Bible, I learned the sermons I watched weren’t the right ones, etc… basically I feel it came down to outside interference.
Since then, I always thought there was a creator but I questioned a lot of things. Now, I’m trying to dive deep back in the Word and really have a relationship with God.
If you don't have a straight line by which to assess whether or not all other lines are straight, you will never be able to say "This line is straight and that line isn't." This is obvious, I know, but Christians seem to ignore the "straight line" of the Bible and rely instead on those proclaiming themselves teachers of the Bible who they trust to explain what the "straight line" of Christian belief and practice is to them. But how does a Christian assess the truth/accuracy of the claims of these teachers about the contents of the Bible? Maybe the teacher has made a "crooked line" out of God's word, bending and twisting it out of shape. How can you tell this is so except you've
studied God's word carefully for yourself and know it well? Obviously, you can't. So, then, if you want to avoid the "crooked line" teacher,
you have to be a student of God's word yourself, poring over it on your own, with lexicons, commentaries, interlinears, good logic and reasoning skills, sound interpretive hermeneutics and prayerful dependence on the Holy Spirit coming to understand what it says.
Most of God's word is not "up for grabs," its contents taking whatever shape the reader wants to give to it. Instead, most of the Bible is very plain and straightforward, its truth quite accessible even to the non-seminarian, and those who aren't fluent speakers of Koine Greek, or Hebrew, or Aramaic.
What does it mean to "bring God into your life"? You mention thinking about Him, but even demons do that (though, not happily).
Unfortunately, I just feel dread, depression, anxiety, and worry. I think society today is even worse with so many people disagreeing with one another and there is sooo much information, I don’t know what to believe. I’ve been praying hard, begging for God to show me the truth and that I want a relationship. I’ve got nothing.
Well, what do you expect God to do, exactly, in response to your prayer for Truth and a relationship with Him? Are your expectations reasonable? Do they align with what God has offered/promised to us in the Bible regarding interaction with Him?
We live in an instant-everything culture in North America and so many people are becoming increasingly impatient and averse to doing hard work in the attainment of what they want. But the really valuable things in life, the things most precious and enduring, exact a price from us. And the more valuable the thing, the higher the price, usually. So, then, since God's the very Greatest Thing Possible, since He's Lord, King and Creator of the Universe, should you not expect that, to enjoy Him fully, a great deal of investment of your time, energy and your material resources will be required in your pursuit of Him? Do you think knowing and relating with God should come cheap and easy?
Also, God has very clear "protocols of approach." Just as we can't approach our neighbor in any old way we like, treating them casually, disrespecting them, or taking advantage of them with impunity, we most certainly can't treat the Maker of, and Sovereign over, Everything in a light, casual, careless way. He's God and when we fail to approach Him as such, our attempts to connect with Him will always result in silence from Him and distance.
Do you know what the Bible says about who God is and the difference who He is makes to how we approach Him for relationship and fellowship?
People say they hear God guide them and things like that, but I haven’t.
What does the "straight line" of God's word say about how God guides people? Does it say that we all ought to expect to be guided by Him constantly in dramatic, overt, supernatural ways? No, actually the Bible doesn't say this. How does the Bible tell us God directs His children primarily today? An inner voice? No. Strong feelings? No. Strange coincidence? No.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
Psalm 119:105
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.
Psalm 119:130
130 The unfolding of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.
I feel like this is the biggest decision of my life, but I can’t seem to find the truth. What religion is the truth? Am I understanding the Bible correctly? These are the questions I constantly ask myself.
And the only way to begin to answer them confidently is to make yourself a careful, thoughtful student of God's word. There's just no way around the necessary and prolonged consideration of the Bible in knowing and understanding God and His Truth. But there is, today, many more readily available aids to this study than perhaps there has ever been. There are a good number of excellent Bible study software programs you can purchase for your p.c., or use online (some are entirely free), that give you access to Bible lexicons, various commentaries, texts on the ancient cultures of the Bible, systematic theologies and instruction on sound interpretive hermeneutics. You don't have to attend an expensive seminary, or rely entirely on a "Bible expert," in discovering God's life-changing, eternal truth. With the plethora of study materials/helps available to the student of Scripture in North America, ignorance about the Bible is hard for a Christian to justify.
Regarding Bible interpretation, I always get told that I need to pray and ask for God to show me the truth. My question is - if many Christians do this and come up with different interpretations, then how does that make sense?
Well, praying to God for guidance in study of His word is predicated on the condition of the person praying. As I said, we can't approach God in just any way and in any condition we like. If we want God's ear, if we want His Spirit to teach us, we have to be before God in the way He has prescribed to us in His word. Being taught by God isn't accomplished just by asking Him to teach you. He'll very likely convict you before He'll teach you and prompt you to be properly submitted to Him, too. Holiness, love for, and surrender to, God are all necessary to full, unhindered interaction with Him, including His teaching.
Not all interpretations of the contents of the Bible are equal. A good many of them really stink, actually. But you'll only be able to see this as you know God's word well for yourself. Don't let the proliferation of interpretations make you think God's Truth is unknowable. This is a devilish lie that keeps many Christians from trusting in God's word and studying it for themselves. There are millennia-old doctrines and practices of the faith that are rightly considered Christian orthodoxy and to which all who profess to be Christians must hold. These doctrines and practices are not obscure, or arcane, or difficult to see in Scripture. As I said, much of God's Truth is as plain as the nose on your face, which is why this Truth has endured for twenty centuries as the unchanging core of orthodox Christian belief and practice.
How can we believe the Bible? Looking at this from a historical factor, these books were written years later. How do they know EXACTLY what Jesus said? I can’t remember what I ate a week ago…
There are myriad responses to your question here. Among the best, is the book "Evidence That Demands a Verdict," by Josh and Sean MacDowell. I strongly recommend you obtain a copy and read it.
I just really want a relationship with God, know the truth, and live with God forever. I just feel like I’m never going to have it.
Well, what you want should be properly offered to you in Christian discipleship but, these days, there's only "mentoring" that happens, or an endless, scatter-shot collection of Bible studies, if anything happens at all. It's very sad and very frustrating. But God CAN fulfill His promises to you, even when the Church is "dropping the ball" in Christian education as awfully as it presently is in many places.
