Christians

I haven't noticed one thread on here based on a Christian's perspective.
If there is already one, feel free to delete this.

There seem to be a lot of atheists on here, but what about us Christians? Surely we aren't the minority??

I hope this thread can have a POSITIVE atmosphere, where other Christians can discuss their faith, how they got where they are today in it, etc.
I also hope people will come here to ask questions. Mind you, this is not a thread for put downs or conversions - from ANYONE!

Let's all try to be respectful, and celebrate the amazing gift we've been given to be able to be here.
Go. :)

If you look not all of us are atheists. I'm an atheist but they're plenty of believers here if you ask and search.

Maybe this shouldn't be reserved for Christians, maybe it could be for people of any faith and how they got to this faith. :think:

I'll tell my story.
I grew up in a Christian family. It was not very strict, and I rarely went to church. As time went on, I drifted farther and farther away from God. I had every reason to turn my back on Him. My parents divorced, my step dad was emotionally abusive, my biological dad quit talking to us because of his alcoholism, and I was suffering from my own, completely separate depression. It got bad. I stopped eating and sleeping. I took every pill I could get, drank everything in sight, and smoked whatever I could. Yeah, I cut too. Even when life was at its best, I was miserable. Depression crippled me.
I attempted suicide twice.
There was no point left, and I told my mom I wanted to go to therapy. It was worth a shot. So after months with a therapist, she told me what I knew already - I had to see a psychiatrist. He gave me the shiny diagnosis of "MAJOR DEPRESSIVE ILLNESS", and placed me in the severe range. I was officially in the 30% of people that NEEDED antidepressants. Trial and error followed. I knew deep in my heart that I would never get a real cure out of the meds. They were just like the pills I took to get high. Frustrated with all my therapy, I decided I had one option left: Faith. I figured, "hey, if I'm going to kill myself, I might as well get in good with God first, just in case there is a heaven."
So I went.
The first few times were dull, but I started to get into it. The services started to seem more and more relevant. Eventually, I started going to the youth group at my church. (The thing you need to know is that this church is not like others. We hang out, goof around, listen to music, dance. There are no pews or dusty hymn books. It's contemporary.) I was determined to get into it. I knew now that I didn't need shrinks and pills. I needed God. See, there was an experiment at church. Try to connect with God every 60 minutes. Know you will fail more than you succeed, but keep trying. It felt real when I did it, and something HAPPENED. I talked to God, and he talked back! God told me to stick with it, and be patient. I listened, and continued going.
Last weekend we had a retreat. After getting to know everyone, I feel SO incredibly LOVED. These people are my surrogate/spiritual family.

The presence of God in my life has made EVERYTHING better. I see beauty, and optimism - like my eyes are really open for the first time. God is with me and guiding me each day now, which makes me feel relieved. There are not enough words to describe how powerful that weekend was. All I can say is that I found God, and since then I am a new person. I am HAPPY about life, and I'm excited. I can't describe it. I hope you would all give God a chance, especially anyone in need of love, or a reason to live. He doesn't need to be forced upon you. All you need is an open mind and an open heart. God is always there, and always wanting you. I understand your skepticism 100% and all I can do is ask you to try faith. What can the hopeless loose?
I tell you my story to show what can really happen, even to non-believers. (Most people in my youth group were atheists at one point or another.)

sunshines:

If you look not all of us are atheists. I'm an atheist but they're plenty of believers here if you ask and search.

Maybe this shouldn't be reserved for Christians, maybe it could be for people of any faith and how they got to this faith. :think:

I never said EVERYONE is an atheist, but I observed a good percentage are. I know there are other Christians on the site. I probably wouldn't have made the thread if I thought I was the only one. lol.

I saw there were threads for Buddhism, Atheists, etc., so I thought it would be appropriate to have one for Christianity.

I'm hoping it'll be a thread for people to bond over a common belief, or learn about it.

^I apologise then. I misinterpreted what you wrote.

So basically God provided salvation for you didn't it?

Yes! I can't stress how un-pushy I want to be though. I just want to make people aware that it's out there. That not all religions and churches are the same, and that no matter how doubtful you are, something might happen for you.

I believe God has a plan for everyone, and each person will find Him in their own time.

Buuttt that's just me.

Even if God isn't out there, the joy that believing in Him has brought to me is worth it.

Hmmm..:think:

What if we never find him?

I believe that religion does have good morals, but the faith concept of God itself just doesn't appeal to me, hence why I'm atheist. The morals have meaning to them though.

Yes. I understand why a lot of people are put off by the idea of God. It's impossible to wrap anyone's mind around it, really. Some supernatural being in the sky, that tells me what I can and can't do? Ridiculous.

I don't think I could ever disown the idea of ANY God though. I just feel like there has to be something bigger out there.

I can easily wrap my mind around the idea of it easily, I just disowned the idea. I used to be a devout Catholic as a child. But that's me personally.

God isn't supposed to tell what to do or not. That's why he gave humans free will, he just put the rules there but gave us the choice to follow them or not. :sihfty

I can't easily wrap my mind around it.
ONE God, creating the entire world seems so... imense. And that He could create each person, and each preson for a reason. And that He loves each and every creation enough to litterally sacrifice his son for us...idk, it's amazing to me. That kind of love.

And I agree with the free will thing. We can completely turn our backs to God, and our lives may end up fine. But I've found that having such a positive presence in my life has made it MORE enjoyable. But again, that's just me.

I'm Christian. :cute:

I don't probably fit into the typical Christian faith though, since alot of my beliefs differ from those. I don't believe in Heaven and Hell, I take the bible metaphorically not literally, and there's a few other things.

But I believe in God.

I used to try to customize my views of Christianity with reincarnation and everything, but it got complicated. Lol. Now I'm just a simple Christian.

And yeah, the bible is SUPPOSED to be taken metaphorically. :)

Yeah, I guess that's what it is. I've just customized my view of christianity. And it's not too complicated for me.

And the bible, well some parts are actually literal, but alot of people take the whole thing literally. And that's fine, if they want to do that. :cute:

As long as we all get along :)
lol

sunshines:

^I apologise then. I misinterpreted what you wrote.

So basically God provided salvation for you didn't He?

Prayer is considered a form of therapy.
Reading psalms got me through a few really rough times this summer. I had to study for school a really old version of the prayers, actually it was the first versified translation from Slavonic. Although I couldn't understand most words [and that added a sort of magic to them], reciting them just brought a lot of peace to me, peace that I needed. I also tried the Prayer of the Heart technique for a while - but let us just say that I'm not up to it yet at least.

I don't think God provided me salvation or that the prospect of Hell rescued me from a life of sin/suicide - I think you need to feel it in yourself that you're doing the right thing and not pretend to be good and loving out of fear. I don't think I'm saved. I think my life, well our life, is a a lot like the Divine Comedy. You need to pass through Hell, then Purgatory and then Heaven to toughen up and just mature and figure things out.

If more information about Christianity isn't added to the first post, I'll have to lock this.

First off, Kenskeet, I have to say reading your story really was pretty awesome.
But it made me think...I'm already a full believer in God, and I don't think I'd ever stop believing that He exists, but...I don't feel the sort of salvation that you do.
I have to admit, when I think of God, it always cheers up my mood in an almost bizarre way, but most of the time I'm pretty pessimistic. Which sort of sucks.
I'm not really sure...when I pray, sometimes I feel like I'm talking to no-one. I don't go to Church (which I feel bad about, since I actually would want to go).

I just want to truly connect with God for once... :(

My faith? That's simple.

God created us to be His companions, loved and loving. Lucifer fell, caused sin through temptation, and Man fell. Since God could not be in the presence of sin, we had to be separated from Him. Because of this, God sent His Son to Earth to live just like any other person (minus the sin and sin nature). He came, was in constant contact with His Father right up until He was on the cross, at which time God had to turn His back on His own Son due to the sin He willingly bore as He died, and then He rose from the dead and returned to Heaven after a period of time.
I believe that a person is not truly saved until they understand what they are being saved from. Salvation is not about feeling good and being happy. Salvation is about understanding that without a Savior and Lord, you will be eternally separated from God and there is nothing you can do to change that. Being separated from God means that, once a person dies or the world is destroyed, they go to Hell-death personified literally. After someone understands salvation and is saved, there are duties they must fulfill. A Christian's life is completely devoted to God, no matter what the consequences are.

That's what I believe. =)

Okay, so i'm a christian, but i'm not like overly religious.
I have problem.
I like this guy, he's really awesome.
A good kisser and all that stuff.
but he's an atheist..
what do i do?