Plunging Deeper.

[Running to music]

@Go Hungry

Hi,
I just wanted to gently respond to some of this.

Southern Baptists have their doctrine mapped out in the Baptist Faith & Message-- that can be googled to be looked at in more detail. They most certainly do NOT teach that God hates you for the sin of being born.

The most important way to know & find the Truth of God's Word is by studying it. The Bible teaches that genuine faith is having a Relationship with the living God (who is 3 in 1-- God the Father, Jesus the son, & the Holy Spirit.) It points out the difference between Religion (which is man doing works to earn his own salvation) and Relationship (which is believing in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross to die in our place for our sin, taking on the punishment for sin so that we by faith are made holy & forgiven in God's eyes for eternity. NOT earning our salvation, but receiving it as a gift from God as we place our faith in the work of His Son. Obeying God's Word because we are grateful & love Him in response to what He has done for us.


The Bible says,
God Loves you. John 3:16 (God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son. Anyone who believes in Him will not die but have eternal life)

God has a plan for your life. Jeremiah 29:11-14 (For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord.

Everyone is born with sin in their hearts. Sin is something we do or say or think that does not please God. The Bible says that everyone has sinned. Romans 3:23 (Everyone has sinned. No one measures up to God's glory)

Man is sinful. God created us to talk to Him & live in close relationship with him. But because we disobeyed His rules, our closeness was broken & an invisible wall went up between us & Him. This disobedience is called SIN.

Man is separated from God. Romans 6:23 (When you sin, the pay you get is death. But God gives you the gift of eternal life because of what Christ Jesus our Lord has done) Many people try to please God by doing good things, such as going to church, praying more, & helping others. Doing these things make you a nicer person, but they can't erase your sin or make you part of God's family.

Only Jesus can clean our sinful hearts. We must KNOW Jesus in order to get close to Him. We must let Him clean up our dark & sinful hearts in order to know Him.

He died in our place. Romans 5:8 (But here is how God has shown His love for us. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus came back to life! 1 Corinthians 15:3-6 (What I have received I passed on to you. And it is the most important of all. Here is what it is. Christ died for our sins, just as Scripture said He would. He was buried. He was raised from the dead on the third day, just as Scripture said He would be. He appeared to Peter. Then He appeared to the 12 disciples. After that, He appeared to more than 500 believers at the same time.

Jesus is the only way to God. John 14:6 (Jesus answered, I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me) This shows how God can bring us to Himself by sending Jesus to die on the cross in our place to take the punishment for our sins.

We must receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Only when we have accepted Jesus, God's gift, can we know and experience God's love and plan for our lives. We are saved from an eternity of being separated from God's presence.

We receive Jesus through faith. Ephesians 2:8-9 (God's grace has saved you because of your faith in Christ. Your salvation doesn't come from anything you do. It is God's gift. It is not based on anything you have done. No one can brag about earning it)

Receiving Jesus makes me a child of God. John 1:12 (Some people did accept Him. They believed in His name. He gave them the right to become children of God)

When we receive Jesus, we experience a new birth John 3:3 (Jesus replied, What I am about to tell you is true. No one can see God's kingdom without being born again)

I receive Jesus by inviting Him through the door of my heart. Revelation 3:20 (Jesus speaking, Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If any of you hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in) Receiving Jesus means turning to God and being sorry for our sins. It means trusting Jesus to come into our Hearts & live, to forgive our sins, and make us what He wants us to be---more like Him. Just to agree in our heads that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died for our sins is not enough. Nor is it enough to just have happy and good feelings about Him. We must make a DECISION to receive Jesus by faith. We must CHOOSE to believe, and then show that we believe by obeying Him and living everyday for Him.

Here's how you can know Jesus:
Through prayer (which is talking to God)
There is no magic formula to pray--God is looking at your heart as you talk with Him.

Romans 10:9,13 (If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved...For Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved)

This is an example of how to ask the Lord to be your Savior & turn you life over to Him.
"Lord Jesus, I know I need you. I realize I'm a sinner, and I can't save myself. I need Your forgiveness. I believe that You loved me so much that You died on the cross for my sins and rose from the dead. I repent (turn away) of my sins and put my faith in You as Savior and Lord. Today I surrender my life. Jesus, take control of my life and help me to follow You in obedience. I love you, Jesus. In Jesus' name, Amen."

You now have assurance of:
2 Corinthians 5:17 (Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
2 Peter 1:3 (His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness)
Ephesians 2:10 (For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do)
Romans 8:39 (Nothing can separate us from the love of God)
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (I am indwelt by the Holy Spirit)
Romans 8:1-2 (Therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because Christ Jesus the law of the spirit of life set me free from the law of sin & death) We are FREE.
1 John 1:9 (If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness) We are FORGIVEN.
John 5:24 (I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes in Him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from life to death) We have ETERNAL LIFE.

God reveals to us how to know Him & be with Him forever in his Word. He also reveals to us how special that we are to Him as His creation. I hope that people will respond to His love.

 

[Lady of Longbourn]

They most certainly do NOT teach that God hates you for the sin of being born.

Maybe in this case, it's less about what the doctrine is and what @Go Hungry was brought up to believe.

It is clear in his post that his beliefs are based on how he was raised, clear in the whole of the thread and not that he is angry at Southern Baptists, in fact he only says Southern Baptists once in the whole thread.

I am unclear of your intentions however, @Running to music I do not think this was meant to be what the doctrine is. So let's please keep it on track.

 

[Running to music]

I am unclear of your intentions however, @Running to music I do not think this was meant to be what the doctrine is. So let's please keep it on track.

The only intention is to let God's Word speak for itself.

 

[Lady of Longbourn]

There is a difference between sharing your opinion and shoving down someone's throat.

Locking it until it can be reviewed by other staff.

 

[Nicolette]

Locking it until it can be reviewed by other staff.

@Running to music has been thread banned.

Please resume on topic thank you.

 

[Go Hungry]

Oh dear, I'm sorry. I made a bad mistake. I really should have known better than to post this. I understand that the Christian God is beyond precious to some people, and has been a great comfort to many. I'm really sorry. I should have just avoided that part of the post altogether.

It's just.. please understand that I did all of those things. I did all the dedicating my life to God and surrendering myself and will to him and.. and.. It didn't work. He didn't help me, he didn't protect me; he abandoned me. I did everything I could think of to prove myself worthy of him and.. nothing. Just nothing. No rescue, no hope, nothing but just horror and torment. (I'm trying really hard to keep my inner child from talking because his fury is beyond irrational. I want to say more but I've got to stop before I end up doing something bad.)

I'm sorry, I have to go now. It's just that bible verses are extremely triggering for us. We cannot abide them. We cannot be in their presence. we have to go sleep. We have to go sleep.

Okay, I just saw it's all gone. Alright. Well.. I'm still going to take a nap, but it's okay now. Thanks so much...

 

[The Albatross]

My apologies, I was hesitant to express my personal experience precisely for that reason. But let this moment of validation have meaning for you as/when you need it.

 

[Chava]

I used to feel like I should have the god thing figured out. But I realize my feelings about god can't be changed by reading or learning or preaching because they are a complex matrix of my personality, my brain, my experience, and my early relationships. I worried I'd get drunk if I didn't find "God". But I started to realize that I've always been this way...if there is a God, s/he (it) is too big for my understanding...whatever I can say about God has simply shrunk God to my tiny, limited language. So my not understanding God doesn't mean there isn't something...just that for myself, I am better in touch if I don't try to fit it into a religion at all. I often do things like loving-kindness meditation and "letting go", though not sure it's to what/who.

It's sometimes embarrassing to admit I've been sober over a decade and don't have this really strong God connection, but I share that anyway sometimes because newcomers get scared off by the God thing. There is nothing wrong with trying to repair our spiritual bankruptcy, staying sober, being of service to others or higher principles, and still having doubts or not knowing exactly who/what God is. Newly sober, I had a really great sponsor who kept reminding me of the willingness and open-mindedness stuff. She didn't tell me I had to find God in 3 months or even three years. Maybe sobriety would be easier with clear faith, but I'm just saying our search needs to be authentic, however long it takes. With our sense of safety being disrupted, I think it's fair to take time and keep the search real.

Your insight might not ultimately bring you back to the God of your childhood (or maybe it will, in some other tone)...though maybe with what you know you will have an easier time letting go of old conceptions and allowing space for new ones to enter. ??

 

[Deleted member 1860]

let God's Word speak for itself.

Why would we not just let God speak for himself? Why do we blindly accept what has been filtered down through the bible?

God is love. End of story. Religion oftentimes mucks this up, even the bible.

So Sorry, Go Hungry. I can't imagine how hard it would be to grow up thinking that God hates you! Ok, well I've felt that way at times, but it wasn't because I was taught that. People really do mess up the whole God thing.