Christians, please answer?

Repentance precedes faith.

From what you write it appears repentance is lacking and that would explain why faith is denied.

God gives both repentance and faith.

Christ came to save sinners so if your sin is not real to you then how can He save you? You need to seek Him, and obviously through His Word, the Bible. Read correctly it acts as a mirror to our souls and reflects our sin and lack and shortcomings. Even so it needs God to show you personally of your sin.

Seek Him therefore. If you became aware of the greatness of your sin then you would fly to Him. The difficulties you write of would surely become redundant. Mercifully He will not reveal all our sin to us for that would destroy us but He will show sufficient.

Going to church is not the issue, and these days you would likely be put off from knowling God for yourself by the churches. The vital issue is going to God.

O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.

Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.

Take words to Him. Take His word to Him and have Him show you the truth of it.

Consider also the man who went to Christ seeking deliverance for his son. He had taken him to the disciples who had not been able to help. He came to Jesus Who said to Him -

Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

Faith is hearing God if you hear what God is going to do that is all you need, small as a mustard seed because God cannot fail in what He does.

The man was confessing that. He did believe Christ could do it because that is why he brought his son to Him, but if he did not have the faith he implored Christ to make that good.

You see? He was willing to receive even that from Christ and threw hhimself totally dependent upon Christ.

So Christ did not let him down and delivered his son. Christ will never let down any who totally depends upon Him.

I'll tell you what. Go to a strong revival meeting or crusade and listen inntently to the evangelist. I think you will believe then. Hearing the word gives faith. You can even read the book of John to yourself and that way hear the word. Get a highlighter that doesn't leak thru the pages and highlight the key verses to go over again, then after you read the book of John twice then only read the key verses, and this will help you I believe. Also, meditating on the word helps. Don't be around people who are going to turn you off from the truth. Be around those who believe in Jesus. Do the same for Acts and Romans. If Jesus is knocking at your heart to come in (Rev. 3:20), then time to let him in and then you will be a new creature in Christ and born again (John 1:12-13, II Cor. 5:17).

Got some verses here for you to meditate on and they are most of the key verses in John I think.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2...

Psalm 1:1-3 and Joshua 1:6-9 tells the benefits of meditating on the word. God bless you now.

Keep seeking him with all your heart and you will find him. (See Jer. 29:11-14). That passage was for the Jews of course, but can apply to us also.

I'm Christian and was taught that we have to earn our way into heaven; we are still judged, being Christian is not a "safe" type of deal, but different churches teach different things.

If you want to believe, but can't, then you need to take the time to reflect on your experiences and look into your heart. Whatever you decide is up to you. Personally I think that you should believe only because you want to and your heart tells you to and NOT out of fear, bullying, intimidation, or because you're supposed to.

I don't know if you could skip church and not sin and still get into heaven. I was taught that your entire life is reviewed and everything is taken into consideration. I also wonder that if God is truly forgiving and all loving, then He will also look at the type of person you were (e.g. didn't sin) and not base His decision for allowing you into heaven or not solely on whether or not you believe in him.

Your inner logic will often conflict with your beliefs throughout life, I believe this is normal. Can you feel in your heart that there's more to life than we can understand? Is there a gut feeling that there's more? This is your heart telling you that you believe if you answer yes.

Some times are easier to keep the faith than others, but since you're still holding on I think you believe.

First, going to church does nothing to merit you any worthiness to God. The church is for our sakes, not God's. Second, there's no way you could go without sinning, and since you've already sinned at least once, even if you could, it's too late. Thirdly, true logical thinking would lead you to God, not away, but the problem is not with your head, it's with your heart. You must come to understand the real weight of your sin against God. Most people think only of the wrong things they've done, but not of the right things they didn't do. Plus, since we were created to worship and serve God, every second of our lives before we come into relationship with Him is sin, no matter how many "good deeds" we've done. When we realize that, then we have a true picture of ourselves and our sinfulness. But you need to understand that God has provided a way to be forgiven of your sins, to literally have them washed away by the blood of Christ, and call to Him for forgiveness, and turn over control of your life to Him. To remove your self from the throne of your life, and make Him the king of your life.

Please do not believe that there is a scale of "good deeds, bad deeds" and that if your good outweighs your bad, you'll be saved. God's standard is holy perfection, and the only way to acheive it is through Jesus Christ. Read the bible, and see it for yourself. Don't take my word or anyone else's.

I'll be praying for you.

GOD Bless

Scientific theories postulate that the known universe did in fact have a beginning with what is called as “The Big Bang”.

It makes no logical sense for anyone to assert that "absolutely nothing" could have produced that initiating bang to create the universe.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)

There are many examples showing God's existence, but one has to be able to look and realize its truth. Accept it instead of doubting it, see it instead of shutting your eyes and you will believe that God exists. Consider how the usefulness and attractiveness of things produced by human beings are not accidental qualities when present but are a result of our intelligent nature and our natural delight in order, balance, and beauty. In a similar way, it is unreasonable to conclude that the surpassing usefulness and attractiveness of things throughout nature are accidental qualities but it is rather more reasonable to conclude that they are the result of the existence of a surpassing intelligence which also delights in order, balance, and beauty. Creativity is at the bedrock and pinnacle of the existence of all living and non- living things and it is up to each person to attempt to explain his or her natural reverence for this illustrious state of affairs. The Bible says that God created everything and was quite pleased with his work.

Look around and look at the world. Do you see only the trees but not the interdependent forest? Obviously, God exists, because His creation is not only one thing, but all the instructions for all the physics of the biosphere of the world, the galaxy that the world is in, and the universe that the galaxy is in -- and is the driving force behind it all. The living cells that were designed and created to be self- replicating cells or organisms.

Each system intermingles, is interdependent, with others. The "universe of life" operates according to sophisticated and precise instructions to form trillions of cells to correctly make one life, for example, one human. How do you believe that we have lungs specifically to breathe & eyes specifically to see? The Bible indicates that God is the being who spoke the first words and that God is the source of all life (which would entail all the plans, genes, and the living cells needed to process the plans).

"I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." C.S. Lewis

God Bless

it's not an intellectual problem, it's a heart problem

faith comes by the word of God

18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

Believing in Christ Jesus is a personal choice in which everyone chooses to do themselves from their own freewill. Anyone who places their faith in Christ Jesus and repents from their sins will be forgiven and will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. This is because the person who placed his or her faith in Christ Jesus is using Christ's death as the wage for sin, which is death, instead of his or her own death. As a result the person will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

You don't even have to go to Church. God will judge you, not humans. He will judge you by His standards. If you have done more good than harm in the world, then you are likely to go to Heaven. If on the other hand you have done more harm than good, then you are likely to go to hell. But as I say, God is the judge.

Former Christian here. Yup that's about the gist of it. Can't make yourself believe in that stuff if you have let logic in.

Religion is a drug. Weak people use it like a crutch to deal with life's little poopy piles. Followers use it to keep them in line. But logical people are immune to that particular drug.

Well if you're genuinely considering this then on some level you do in fact believe so I wouldn't worry too much.