Keeping your faith

[dav4]

Maybe the time calls for a believer to take their eyes off other people who's faith is shaky, and fix them on Jesus, the only One who matters! Maybe it's time believers started learning to lean on Him, trust in Him, and take their eyes off circumstances, people we are not sure of, and words said that don't edify! Maybe the time calls for just believing in Calvary and what was accomplished there; that's where our faith should be based, on the cross, on that which followed His death, His resurrection! God's given His people good, reliable and trustworthy preachers, so if there's some wolves that have entered the church and have many eating out of their hands, turn away from them; flee from them to those whose words and preaching can get you back on track, and keep you on the track. It's not easy for any believer. The key is to keep on going, whatever it takes, never to cease believing. He has promised to never leave us, so let's try our best to never turn away or fall away from Him. We have the Bible, we have good preachers and teachers, and we have Theology Web!!

[princesa]

I understand this completely. I often wonder how my faith would do if I found myself and children fearing for our safety at a shelter. I tend to play out these scenarios sometimes and it leaves me feeling frustrated and ashamed wondering what I can do to grow in my faith. Someone once said faith is like a muscle, you have to use it to see it grow. I don't know that I've been doing that. But faith is supposed to also be a gift from God so could it be that I haven't received it in the same manner as others.

[hedrick]

But the point of the article isn't that hell is a challenge to Christians. It's a challenge I think can be met. But the real purpose of the article is to talk about the difficulty of being someone whose career is based on faith, and who starts to doubt. No matter how persuasive faith is, there are going to be people in that situation. I'm not sure what the answer is, but there are some things we could do about it:

* ask for a bit more maturity in Christian leaders. We have children acting as evangelists. As long as they don't commit their careers to that, it may not be so dangerous, but I still wonder about it. I have the feeling they're just repeating what they have heard without having the maturity I'd expect from an evangelist. People who haven't confronted the difficulties described in the article until a couple of years into their career, maybe we should get them involved in some intermediate position before they become full-time preachers. Certainly the people I know who are going into the ministry have acted as leaders within the congregation for a while before doing that.

* provide better support for pastors. Perhaps someone who suddenly doubts should take a sabbatical of some sort. That may have implications for education, since doing that would be easier if pastors had the skills and experience to do something else. That might help with their ministry as well.

* do these doubts indicate problems in educating pastors? For that matter, are we talking about people who have had a solid education? I'm used to denominations that require several years of seminary, but many do not. They may have someone coming directly out of high school and becoming a pastor because they feel a call.

[Rushing Jaws]

"His main issues were basically how can a good God send people to hell,..."

## *Because* He is good. BTW, what happened to human sinfulness ? People *deserve* damnation; it's not a mistake, but something they bring on themselves by their sins. They sin, because they will to do so; because they are free to sin, and decide to sin.

"...and unanswered (code for "not answered the way I want") prayer? Well, he was Pentecostal, so skipping important stuff like the veracity of the Resurrection claims and going straight for the fluffy emotional stuff is pretty much to be expected. As for "satisfactory answers," I suppose it depends on who you ask. Which answers have you heard, and what about them did you find unsatisfactory?"

## His approach is man-centred. Not Christ-centred. So trouble & confusion & nonsense in the message preached are inevitable. He could not possibly love others more than Jesus did & does - but Jesus warned of Gehenna & damnation, several times. That is "tough love" - not the sham that takes its name yet is often all too sinful bullying, but the genuine article.

[Rushing Jaws]

Yeah, I've had an incredible amount of unanswered prayers to the point where at times I've questioned whether God even cares for me or he has "pet" favorites who apparently he does...

But the foundation for my (unfortunately) incredibly weak faith (I'm not bragging here!) must be in God and more specifically the Christ written of in the Scriptures who died, was buried and raised not only for the world, but for me. Otherwise, my personal experience has been far too ambiguous -- or rather, ambivalent -- to rely on for faith in God.

If all's well, maybe God's favoring me and blessing me for whatever the reason. But what if one day I'm out on the street begging for bread and all my external circumstances are absolutely deplorable? Maybe God doesn't care or even exist. What if the tide turns and the wind blows another way? This is not "faith" at all. Am I still far too easily driven or swayed by my feelings in relation external circumstances and faith in God? Unfortunately, yes. But I don't respect it in myself or others. That is no foundation at all.

## ISTM that faith - especially Biblical faith - is often despite appearances, despite what seems reasonable. God is to be believed in, and trusted, *no matter what*. The problem I sense here is, how does one distinguish this from fanaticism ? Yet God is to be believed with absolute and unwavering & unreserved confidence even so, no matter what.

[Rushing Jaws]

I noticed something in the article. He was basing his faith on God doing what he wanted.

"People are passing away, whenever we pray for them to live. People aren’t getting jobs, whenever we pray for them to have jobs."

“The harder we tried to alleviate suffering within our church, it seemed like the worse things got,” he said. “It didn’t seem like prayer made any difference. It just continually crushed my heart.”

Prayer is not meant for getting our way, leading a Christian life is not about having comfort or even a halfway decent life on this earth. People live as Christians and the most powerful ones often lead wretched lives. The apostles often were put to death in wretched ways and lived off of nothing but others kindness to them.

It's not about our living peacefully and comfortably in this life, its about putting our faith in God in such a high place here that it does not matter what our circumstances, all that matters is that we handle them with grace and with strength in the Lord. That is what Christianity is meant for not the lie that we are to be comfortable happy people for 70 years or so.

## The Puritans would have blessed & thanked God for their adversities, crosses, disappointments, etc. He can't ever have read John Flavel's book "Providence", or Thomas Watson's "All Things for Good". "Prayer is not meant for getting our way" :) - it's meant for God getting His way, in everything. Which sounds terrible LOL, but is not.

[Dee Dee Warren]

Am I the only one who read this that was glad there is a support group for people such as him? Even if it is based upon rejection of God... I don't want any people to remain in ministry only because they are scared as to how they will feed their families if they leave. I am glad there is a placement group for them.

He sounds like he has an addiction to zealousness. It is a type of addictive personality.