Questioning christianity..?

[XaurreauX]

I think it's only fair to warn you that you are showing dangerous signs of rational thinking.

Seriously, it is good that you are questioning. I would suggest reading about the origins of religion. I would recommend The Faith Instinct: How Religion Evolved and Why It Endures by Nicholas Wade (I don't completely agree with him, but he makes excellent points) and anything by Bart D. Ehrman, Professor of Religious Studies at U. of N. Carolina at Chapel Hill. Ehrman has written over 20 books on Christianity including Misquoting Jesus.

[Chicago Bob]

Well, You have certainly proved that you are not a Christian. Have fun.

[Chi girl]

No, I'm not questioning Christianity. If Christ didn't exist, why did most of the apostles die horrible, painful deaths instead of recanting to save themselves? Think about that.

[Jeancommunicates]

Ask today, that the Heavenly Father fill you with the Holy Spirit who will teach you all things concerning Christ Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit that we receive at Salvation and He convicts us of our sins and purifies and refines us.

Jesus showed us instant aging of a material substance when He changed the water into fine, aged wine at the wedding feast. He multiplied the elements in 2 fish and 3 small loves of bread and fed 5000 people. He calmed the stormy sea by speaking to it. He walked on water. He raised a dead man, dead 4 days, back to life. He restored sight to a man born blind. Jesus was crucified, buried and arose from the grave in 3 days and sits at the right hand of power in heaven.

To receive Salvation you must believe that Christ is who He says that He is and that He will do what He says that He will do. Jesus told Doubting Thomas, "Blessed is the man who has not seen, yet he believes." When Jesus showed Thomas His side and feet, Thomas fell to his knees and said, "My Lord and My God." Jesus the Christ so changed this world that man split time BC/AD. Christ is the only one who can change hearts and minds. He can give us favor when we can see no reason why anyone would like us. He can bring us through an entire days journey feeling refreshed and relaxed. He can feed us when there is no food in the house.

Read the Book of John and renew your faith. Pray Jeremiah 33:3 which says, "Call unto Me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not." Start praying and asking God to show you great and mighty thing as He promised in Jeremiah 33:3 if you would call unto Him. I did this for over a month and one morning He showed me a bright, glistening, glowing ball of light that I had never seen. He showed me an angel. I don't know what He will show you, but remind Him of Jeremiah 33:3 and get your faith increased. You are staggering on unbelief.

[Pamela]

From your question it seems to me you might believe in Jesus but you don't know Him.
He is alive and He wants to have a relationship with you and teach you about Himself. He does not leave us to wallow in our own presumptions and guesses about Him - His Holy Spirit in our hearts informs us of who He really is.
Read your bible if you have one - and if you don't - out need to get one. Open your heart to Him and let His heart speak to yours.
Invite Him and listen

[thekeyemaster]

Firstly, what I hear you saying is that you have been taught to believe the things you say you believe. now your wondering if any of it is really true because Christians, as a group have made an awful lot of unsubstantiated claims and it goes against their credibility and that is true.
Was Jesus a psycho? I don't think so. He was philosophically coherent (considerably more so than many of his followers).
Jesus did not invent the idea of God. That concept existed before recorded history because it is found to be intact from the earliest days all over the world.
You should also know that Jesus did not just pop up out of obscurity. The Jews were trying to breed another Moses to free them from the Romans. They would have to have a family line that went back to King David, son of Solomon, son of... well you get the idea. They wanted someone who would grow up to lead an army to take Israel back from Rome or lead them to a new land which would already have people in it so again they needed someone to lead an army. They prefer leaders that can talk to God personally. We don't what his name actually was, Jesus is a name for the so messiah if your name is Steve and you become a Jewish messiah then your name becomes Jesus. Most Christians don't know this. You have to study a little Hebrew to know this. At worst Jesus was like Mahatma Gandhi, a "great soul", that's what Mahatma means in Sanskrit so it's not Gandhi's real first name either. At most Jesus was a direct reflection of whatever God is. So we're saying this is as close to God as one can get and still be a human being. Notice that I'm not quoting a lot of verse here. You can take verses out of context to mean whatever you want them to mean, and you're going to get plenty of that here. You'll also get a lot of "The Bible is nothing but fairy tales". I don't think that's true either but you do have to know that the Bible has been copied and translated over and over and small mistakes can lead to large changes in meaning. Most of the mistakes were errors but some have been added to assist those using it as a guide to prove their point of view. That's why you have to back up and see the story as a whole and not get too tied down to the details. History shows us for example that Jesus could have been born over a period over about 5 years or so because statements in the Bible about who was Emperor and who was King and who was the Roman governor don't line up at any one time. So for any of it to be right some accounts have to be mistaken so it is not the "word of God" that some claim it to be or there would not be such glaring errors in it. John's talk about the word in the book of John actually means something else and is not referring to a book at all. Was Jesus a messiah? You're going to have to decide that for yourself. Just know that there is a whole range between the "you have to believe it our way because we can quote a Bible verse that says so", and Jesus was a nut because he couldn't control what was said about him.

[Dzr]

Everyone has doubts especially when either going through a difficult time or when confronted by others.

I'm hoping that when you came to faith you did so on the back of personal and logical evidence that to your mind and heart were overwhelming at the time. Now those thoughts and feelings have dissipated hence our questions.

Two thing...

1) You need to remind yourself constantly of the faith to which you profess. If you don't, then your faith will grow weak in the face of challenges.

2) You also need to constantly strive to learn new things about your faith, else you will become stale. There's no standing still in this life. You're either growing or shrinking!

In answer to your question here's a few questions that should set you back on the right path...

Do you think a psycho could have said such profound things?
Do you think a psycho would have predicted and go to a painful death just to fool the world?
Do you think a psycho could really convince people he was sent by God to the point they were so convinced they were prepared to die?
Do you think a psycho could rise from the dead and appear to the disciples? Remember the pharisees were worried that Jesus followers might steal the body and make false claims and so Roman guards were placed to secure the tomb?
Do you think a psycho could have totally focused on spreading the good news and healing the sick?
Do you think a psycho could have created the idea of God that not only fit into the scriptures of the priesthood but also has stood the test of time ? (2,000 years and still counting).

Do you think a good hearted man could have deceived so many? (assuming Jesus wasn't God - He either knew He wasn't God, in which case He was not a good man but a deceiver or He did't know He wasn't God, in which case He was deluded but still not a good man.

Logically if we don't want to accept Jesus as being sent by God then we have to believe He was a bad man. Nothing else makes sense. I don't know about you but having read about His life, His work and His death I think I've more chance of mixing water and zinc than reconciling what I know of Jesus to the notino he was a bad man!

[Rob]

You have a valid question. It is hard to understand why the bible says we need to confess with our mouth and in our heart that Jesus is Lord and Saviour. It is easier to do good, really. At least on that note we can have a good understanding, if we lack or have enough, on where we are in terms of gaining favour with "God". If you look at all the world's religion it points to being generally good or do certain tasks to be "blessed", yet the bible says by faith we are saved through Jesus Christ. Pride kills faith, that is why Jesus said this:

Luke 4:18
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

But then again, the bible says there are those who say the follow Jesus, yet in the end they are really looking after their own:

Matthew 7:21-24
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

It is good that you question yourself because from there you can truly know in your heart if you really believe in Jesus Christ.

Romans 10:8-13
8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

[sparki777]

1. Throughout history, when a religious or political leader has been legitimately psychotic, following that person's death, the number of followers drops off dramatically. Psychotic people simply do not create a sustainable ideology.

2. The opposite happened to Christ. The number of His followers increased and has kept increasing since He was crucified and ascended into heaven.

3. Might I add, you wouldn't have such confusion if you actually invested time and effort into reading the Bible, listening to good preaching (which involves actually going to Church), worship and prayer. The "I don't like labels" thing is almost always code for "I can't be bothered with actually practicing my faith in Christ."

[Gary]

Actually, it's common knowledge that a man named Jesus did walk the earth. Now whether you believe he was truly the "messiah" or just a man out to do good is your call ...