do you ever question ya faith?

today i find my self doing that very thing.i seldem go to church but i belived in god.and talked to him oftne but with things going on lately in my life and in the world in generel .the stuff you see in the news etc etc. i wonder sometimes

raggie,
Faith must have the proper object. It would do no good to have faith in stone on a hill, and that it would keep you from evil.

A belief in God is also not adequate, in and of itself. In fact the demons believe, but they are still damned.

Church is also not meaningful unless it has the correct base.

God wants the best for all mankind. He loves us. He loves us so much that He wants us to be His children for all eternity.
He has decreed that there is only one way to Him, and that is through His Son, Jesus. There is no other way to God except through Christ.

A faith in anyone or anything except Christ needs to be questioned so that a person can have the correct faith, and again, that is Christ as the Object of his faith.
John 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Jerry

FWIW, raggie, I've never faced so many problems that may only get worse. Still, others are worse off and I'm grateful for what I have.

Ask me in a year, but I feel there's a reason for our lives, that it's not just chance, and that we're supposed to be good to each other.

raggie, JerryM continues to espouse his opinion as fact. Think about it, if God loves us, it doesn't have to be through a 2nd or 3rd party. I hope Jerry is right, that there is a God that loves us all, but he contradicts himself - most of the world is NOT Christian.

The Bible is an imperfect, flawed, political, human invention and has NOTHING to do with faith. I'll bet God has issues with people who insist that THEIR method of faith is the only true one.

We should all think for ourselves and do what we feel is right - we just may be right in spite of what anyone else says.

Nope never, do I understand everything? have all the answers? Nope never did. I will not waver or question what God is up to. I suggest John 10:10 to help discern where stuff is coming from.
my 2 cents
Topper /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

jayflash,

Proverbs 14:12 ¶There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Doesn't that apply to you?? Your way is logical to you, but it is the way of death, or we might say damnation.

As for your advice to raggie,
Luke 6:39 And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?

Jerry

i think i need to start attending church .kinda wish i could go when i was the only one there me and the lord

raggie33,
You dont have to go to a church to be closer to the Lord. Sometimes I feel closer to him in many different places besides church. All you have to do is pray sincerly.
Jeff
Edit: I should have been more clear. I should have stated that I can feel just as close to the Lord in different places.

raggie33, if you have the chance, check out Matthew 6:5-6:6, where Jesus says the best way to pray is right in our own rooms, with the door closed, away from the bustling crowd! The churches (at least in those days) were taken over by hornblowers who loved the attention and admiration people gave them as devout believers.

I thought the question was do you ever question your faith?
if you have no faith why post?? Raggie33 I think you might
shop around a bit as Church goes there are alot to choose from I wish you the best and I will pray for you. I love the Lord and that might be stupid to some but it should not make them mad. If they do not believe why do they get so dang mad?
Topper /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[ QUOTE ]
raggie33 said:
today i find my self doing that very thing.i seldem go to church but i belived in god.and talked to him oftne but with things going on lately in my life and in the world in generel .the stuff you see in the news etc etc. i wonder sometimes

[/ QUOTE ]

raggie-

Jesus questioned. Buddha questioned. Mohammed questioned. The American founding fathers questioned. Why shouldn't you?

Questioning is healthy and you should do it often.

"god works in mysterious ways"

A young couple are very much in love with their whole lives ahead of them. The man likes to hunt and makes the stupid mistake of leaving a loaded rifle on his work bench. His wife brings him lunch, moves the rifle on the bench and it discharges, killing her. The man never forgives himself for this but finds the strength to continue with his life. Later, he marrys another woman and they have twin boys. His second wife, my mother, seems to think that my twin and I are "special" gifts from God. There are others who would certainly disagree. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

At one point in the past, there were family and friends along with my dad, who likely could see no reason or possible good that could come from such a tragedy. I must state that I'm not sorry that it happened.

JerryM has his answers. If you look hard enough and give it time, you will likely find your answers as well. They may not be the ones you wanted but they will be yours. It doesn't hurt to take a look at your questions either.

Do I ever question my faith? No, not really. My faith begins where my current understandings leave off. I do question my understandings. Often.

thank you all for the wise words.my aunts passing took a toll on me.i was emailing her the last couple of days telling her how specail she was .im not sure she ever recived em.i cant call long distance from here

While most local churches have fallen by the wayside in preaching and practicing the faith, there is still no substitute for a good local church.

The local church is where Christians gather, worship, help one-another, learn, and pool resources to do things not possible individually, such as support missionaries.

The Bible commands the Christian to assemble and that assembly is to be a local church.
It is my view, based on personal observation, that most who denigrate the local church are those who will not submit to the leadership which Christ established. They want no accountability.

Anyone who feels closer to Christ anyplace outside the church is in the wrong church. That is not to say that one cannot be close to the Lord in other locations. Sure he can, but the local church is the location that Christ chose to give godly men to teach, preach, and to help the flock.

The Holy Spirit gives gifts to each believer, and they are varied. That demonstrates that no one is all things or has all wisdom. Each is necessary to the proper functining of the body. Paul likens it to a human body with Christ as the head, and the rest of us as parts which cause the body to function as the Head directs.

Jerry

JerryM,
You are right about the church. That is why we changed churches about a year ago. I had attended the same church for all of my life and knew something was wrong years ago. It took my wife and I a long time and many, many prayers to come to the decision to switch churches. Our new new church is full of wonderful christian, God fearing people and it is a joy to go there. We are so much happier.
I should have been more clear in my original post. I have felt just as close to God outside the church as I have sometimes felt in church. Nothing wrong with getting happy in the Lord driving in your car, playing with your kids, etc...
But you are 100% right about the church and its roll in Christianity.
Jeff

Whomever you believe in for a higher power, it's a fact that we've been given a fabulous instrument - a brain - and you'd think that we were given this for a reason.

One of the purposes for this instrument is to enable us to make an appropriate choice for ourselves regarding worship. We have the ability to compare and contrast, to examine the teachings of many leaders and to choose what fits us best, not what someone else tells you is best. Jerry may have a strong conviction in his faith, but look to other parts of the worls and you will find others who have grown up in other faiths and are equally as convinced that theirs is the only way. I din't have to tell anybody where these kinds of disagreements can lead; just pick up a newspaper.

Look for something that makes sense to you, where the membership practices the principles that they preach. And watch out for those that make demands of you that you must worship their way or else. Remember, at the end, they're not the judges.

Raggie -

I'm sorry to hear you going through this right now. It is difficult for sure, but something very good can come of it.

"do you ever question ya faith?"

No. Not now that I have some. It wasn't always this way. Like when I went to church, for example. The questioning of THAT faith brought me to where I am today, and I couldn't be happier about it. I personally find what Jerry says below to be the path to destruction.

[ QUOTE ]
JerryM said:
raggie,A faith in anyone or anything except Christ needs to be questioned...

[/ QUOTE ]

In MY book, to have a healthy faith, EVERYTHING must be questioned. Without questioning our faith, we are no better than the animals that slither and swim and crawl (I'm sure we'll get the correct quote soon). I have a dog who is unquestionably faithful to me. I choose to be better than my dog (and it ain't easy - he's a great dog).

I'll betcha a donut that there's something in the bible that will prove that I'm wrong and the bible is right. Standing by.

My point: Getting rattled about "faith" is all part of the fun of being human. You'll figure it out. Certainly you should never worry about questioning any part of it. That's the only way to make it stronger.

I think most every devoted Christian questions his faith at one time or another. It is a sign of maturity. However, we must continue to grow in our faith.
regarding faith see Hebrews 11:1-3. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we underst and that the world was framed by the word of God and those things which are seen were not formed of those things which do appear.

Raggie, as JerryM said, there is more to being saved than believing in God. The devil believes in God. You must believe in Christ as your intermediary and through his blood your sins are forgiven.

As far as church, chose carefully. guard your heart and read the Word. make sure it is preached. sure there is a lot wrong with the church, but that doesn't mean it's not indespensible. A single coal quickly cools . . .

You MUST, you MUST, you MUST...or E - L - S - E. The BOOGIE MAN will get you. BOOOHHWwaaaaaaaa. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/evilgrin07.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nana.gif

Jeff,
Sorry for the misunderstanding. Yes we can feel close to God in many places, and all through the day and each day of the week.
It is difficult to find a true Bible believing and Bible practicing church. There are a few out there, but I have found it much more difficult today than 20 years ago.

Have a good week-end.

Jerry