Don’t write God off!
You simply must stop and think about your theology, your reason for believing what you do. You can’t inherit your belief. You are not a Christian because your parents are and you can not be an atheist because your professors or parents are. God expects you to work out your own salvation (with fear and trembling) and will hold you accountable for your lack of reason. You will either hear “Well done good and faithful servant, enter into the kingdom” or “Depart from me I never knew you.” I don’t want to say you can go to hell by accident, but you can by apathy. Even if you think you have a healthy spiritual life a review can never be wrong. For instance, the different denominations hold fast certain beliefs that are contrary to each other, are you just going along with a denomination without deliberating the differences?
When I was a baby Christian I went to a Baptist church that believed Christians replace Israel. Twenty years later I am positive that is not the case. I am responsible for the pursuit of that truth. God is not going to accept “they told me what to believe”. It’s the old “If they told you to jump off a bridge, would you?” It’s just harder to perceive because it is a spiritual bridge. I truly believe the spiritual is ninety percent of reality and only ten percent of life is what we experience through our senses. If you never think in spiritual terms perhaps you are leaving out the richest parts of what we call living.
I think Satan has us all running around busy busy so we don’t stop and meditate on spiritual matters. The Bible compares the Holy Spirit to the wind, it comes and goes and you rarely pay it attention. You must decide to pursue truth. Once you do that the Holy Spirit helps you. It’s really an amazing experience! You will be pondering a spiritual truth and its different angles and answers will just turn up on every side, compliments of the Holy Spirit.
After you experience this repeatedly your faith grows and you go to the next level. “From faith to faith” is how the Bible puts it. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God”. So, if you are dissing the Bible because someone you respect does, you are making a mistake. That person will not be there or be an excuse when God wants to talk to you about your maturity, or lack thereof. It’s every man for himself, no excuses at the judgment. Thankfully, once you become a Christian, (not a quick profession of faith) a true Christian, you won’t be judged in that way. A true believer enters in and is rewarded according to his works in this life. Eternity is a long time to live with the reflection and consequence of what we did, or did not do.
Prophecy alone is a good reason to be inquisitive of spiritual things. God has told us what is about to happen! The hour is late and you need to be about that ninety percent! God only has one book but it can never be fully comprehended by one person, in one life. I can’t prove that but my experience is that it deepens as your understanding and relationship with the Holy Spirit grow. “Line by line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little”. We piece the truth together as God leads us individually. That is why we should not judge each other, as Christians, we are all on our own learning curve. I am certain God is very interested, even vested in our spiritual maturity. He may have a path for you that you won’t find if you don’t think about spiritual things. That’s not me saying there is only one path for each of us but I think there is probably a good path, a better path, and the best path. God alone knows all of that and will discuss it with you at some point. “Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord”. If that is the case than ignoring God and Christianity and the Holy Spirit is really a dangerous way to live. If you live like that you really are missing out and unfortunately will be stuck with the results for eternity. What we do in this life matters. What we do because we are in relationship to God seriously, eternally matters!
People are always telling new Christians to start with the book of John, the gospel of John. I think it is productive to read a red letter bible where Christs quotes are written in red: read those. Make an attempt to believe them unequivocally. This is important because the world will tell you a life hearing from God is impossible and crazy. A foundation in Christ’s words is hard to shake when trouble comes. “There are no atheists in foxholes” comes to mind. Where does your mind go when you have true turbulence in life? I can tell you personally the difference between trouble with and without Christ and it is an amazing comfort to know the God who created the universe is intimately involved in your life. When I am in conflict with another human, He is there. Do you know there are spiritual rules of engagement regarding conflicts? You probably know the golden rule “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Beyond that though the Bible tells you how to deal with hurtful people and what to do if they will not hear you. When you use God’s prescribed method of engagement with others you can honestly live with knowing you did the best you could and leave the consequences with Him.
I apologize if this is too much a lecture, I am trying to stir you to be inquisitive. There is no other book or religion that claims to be God speaking and telling us the future. Why wouldn’t you investigate it for yourself? It can be hard to understand at points but if you press in you will find what you need.
I will admit I read it through when I was not a Christian and I couldn’t understand or accept a few things, but now I get it. It takes the Holy Spirit’s help to comprehend it fully and lead you to what you need. I would love to go into the things I didn’t like but that is a whole article unto itself. I recommend forgiving those pieces until you grow and then readdress them later, with added wisdom. There will be plenty to investigate that isn’t controversial. I hope it strikes you deeply like it did me. I kept thinking “How did I not know this? This is the most important thing I’ve ever heard!” I thought I was a Christian but quickly realized I was not. I am very concerned that there may be millions like me, like that. It adds up to going to hell by default, by accident. I have written other articles that explain the cosmic battle of good and evil, I hope you will read those too.
God bless you on your adventure into the Word of God!(
