Re: Faith and christianity
@kamochek:
So, am I understanding correctly, that you're going to continue hunting for a church that seems like the right one to you, asking people for their various interpretations on how things are done and relying on the answers that you get, rather than regarding the possibility of praying about it and asking God's hand to guide you? Somehow, that doesn't sound right, and would go against Christianity itself.
Paul also taught in Romans 14 that various people would come to worship God in their own way. Some would say grace before meals, and some would eat without ever doing so, though they should at the very least be thankful to God for providing. Some would eat meat, others would not. Some would eat vegetables, others would not. Some might consider one day more sacred than all the others, while everyone else would probably consider all the days equal. Fasting might be considered by one person and ignored by an other, but provided that they worshiped God in their own way and kept his commandments to the best of their abilities through Christ, it shouldn't matter to you or me how they do it. I say again, your focus, my focus, as Christians, our focus is supposed to be on Christ and what God wants us to do.
From everything I've read on this topic, your greatest problem thus far seems to be trusting in God completely. Perhaps your faith is young; I wouldn't know. At any rate, I do understand that what God wants us to do, which is follow like little children, sounds rather simplistic and naive at times, and when I first began praying and going to church and seeking out his will, I couldn't figure out how in the world such a thing would work at all. Almost four months in, I still find it a difficult concept that I wrestle with, but that is what he calls us to do. Jesus never promises that it's going to be easy, or that our lives won't see turmoil and that we won't be afraid. What he does promise is peace and rest for our souls, and that in the end all of the pain, all of the suffering, all of the hardship is worth it.
Let me ask you some simple questions, and while you don't have to answer them here on the forum, I hope you'll be honest if you decide to answer them for yourself. Have you prayed for your parents? Have you asked God to touch their hearts and bring them back to him? Do you have any other family who aren't Christians? Do you pray for them? Who else do you know that you are close to? Do you pray for those people? Perhaps God wants you to. If he can touch hardened criminals, he can get to your father, and that should be of importance to you, because like it or not, he is still your father, and one of the commandments is that we should honor our parents. It doesn't mean we have to agree with them, or l ike everything they do. it does mean that they are your parents though, and that they do deserve at the very least, your respect, and part of that respect involves your prayers for them, both of them, even your father.
I know that right now you are afraid of and resent him because he is not a Christian, yet it is quite possible that God will use you or someone else you pray for as a tool, an instrument that will bring about his salvation. We only see part of the picture; God sees it all. We don't have all of the answers; God does. Do you want clarity? Do you want peace of mind? Do you want comfort? Ask him; he's only a prayer away.
_______________________________________________ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com https://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
