Religion is painful!

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Shirley

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Aug 15, 2011
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I have a problem with religion! Why do so many think their way is the only way? I am speaking of Christians only right now. I tried with all my heart to seek and study. I tried to search out the most correct Christian Religion. I even listened to the Hated Jehovah Witnesses. I wanted to make sure I sought for the most correct interpretation of the God of my Christian Religion. I tried so hard to be perfect in every way. Seems like the more perfect I was trying to be the less loving was I. Seems like when I said forget Religion- the more loving I was! I have for sure not been loved by my most Spiritual leaders because I asked too many questions. I was invited to come here by a very wise woman, but I have to wonder why so many of you are so sure of what you believe??????? I am glad that God never asked me to be a teacher. Seems like the word says you guys will have the strictest judgement. The teachers, preachers and leaders.

I know that I do not know and thus I must walk in the Spirit!!!! My anger towards Religion has been a stumbling block to me. Now I want to say this. I do not care how you believe. God has called me to Love! Thats all I want to know! Oh how I long to be well so I can walk in the Spirit again! My heart bleeds bc of the ways I have failed my Savior! may God forgive me! He alone knows how bad I been hurt! please pray that I will walk in the Spirit no matter how much I am Judged to be wrong.

Feel my tears brothers and Sisters and pray that I will recover to walk in our God.

I asked Jesus to come into my heart as a young girl and he is the compassion in me. Save me Jesus!!! Ive been wandering!


See_ I believe that if the religious had not lied and been cruel, I don't think i would have strayed. How can the leaders who take the peoples money saying "we know the truth, believe only us- don't listen to anyone else! And then you study the Bible and see they lied, but if you show someone then they hate you and you are out of the group for telling the truth! I just want to go with my heart, the part of me in which Jesus lives. I am crying right now so please don't be mean to me! Just post some prayers that I need!

Ok so just forget it! You cant say I love you to your own Brother and Sisters! I feel Spiritually alone and must get over it with God alone

Religious people love their own group! I have not been able to find a group I can belong to but you all should pray for me anyway!
Ask yourself this- Do you love the people who differ in beliefs?

Who really cares about the tears that drip from the eyes!
truth is not very many people care about someone outside of their group!

I just don't fit bc I care about everyone!

Just glad to know that Jesus guides me even when i am wrong.

Looking for love in religion will never happen

No one cares!!!!
Lord help me Jesus, Oh help me Jesus, I need you Jesus!
I weep

When you cry out in the middle of the night God is the only one you have! The religious don't love you, only God does care!
 

StanJ

Lifelong student of God's Word.
May 13, 2014
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Religion is man's attempt to find and please what he thinks is God. Christianity is God reconciling man through His son and enabling us to meet His righteous requirements through His son. The two will never be the same. You obviously know the difference Shirley, and that is the biggest battle.
 

River Jordan

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Jan 30, 2014
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Don't confuse "religion" with "religious people". It sounds to me like Christianity is the right religion for you, since you are so obviously caring, and you just need to find the right group of people to share it with. Keep looking....they're out there.
 
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JesusIsFaithful

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Feb 24, 2015
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Dear sister Shirley,

I, too, did come here, looking for fellowship as well as discipleship, hoping to find believers that speak the same thing and have the same judgment of what is not of Him.

Not too many believers see how keeping a commitment to follow Christ is religious striving. When I was under it, I was trying to do the best I can in keeping that commitment to follow Jesus and failing. I felt like a fraud as my spirit was willing, but my flesh was weak. It was impossible for me to keep my commitment.

Until Jesus open my eyes & ears to the truth in His words; He said "Follow Me" not make a commitment or a promise to follow Me. Imagining us being there when He had said that "Follow Me." This was Him asking us to trust Him to guide us and lead us in the way we ought to go. He wanted us to believe in Him as our Good Shepherd and discipleship is learning of His promises to us for what we are trusting Him for in helping us to follow Him. He had set me free from my commitment to follow Him by resting in Him & all His promises to me in helping me to follow Him. So by the grace of God and by faith in the Son of God as my Saviour, I have been saved and so by that same grace of God and by faith in the Son of God as my Good Shepherd, go I in following Him.

Since the Jews could not save themselves by doing the best they can in keeping the laws of the Old Covenant, neither can we which is why we need God as our Saviour.

And since we could not save ourselves by our efforts, then neither can we follow Him by our efforts. Trust is the basis for all relationships, and that is why little children are free to come to Him because all they can do is trust the Lord at His word.

It is the religious people that have a hard time letting go and let God do His work in them so they can follow Him. They want to show their zeal for God and their love for God but christianity is about learning of His zeal for us and His love for us; and all He wants from us is to believe Him as our Saviour that we are saved, and believe in Him as our Good Shepherd that He will help us to follow Him as His disciple in testifying of Him in seeking His glory; and not a disciple of a church in testifying of a church in seeking the glory of a church.

Thanks to Jesus Christ by believing in Him as our Saviour, we have this reconciled relationship with God; and therefore we can only live this reconciled relationship with God through Jesus Christ in following Him.

If we look to ourselves, we will always fail; but when we place our hope & confidence in Him to finish what He has started in us, then we get to know Him and the power of His resurrection when sin has no more dominion over our lives as we see ourselves following Him by faith & under the grace of God.
 
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pom2014

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Dec 6, 2014
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Shirley just remind yourself you're only commanded to do two things.

Love God.
Love others as you do yourself.

That's it. Pretty simple. Don't stress the dogma, ritual and pomp of men. It's not required by The King.

@arold
A religion is the worship of a deity.
We worship God in Christianity, so it's a religion.

Religion is NOT a bad word.
 

JesusIsFaithful

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Feb 24, 2015
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pom2014 said:
Shirley just remind yourself you're only commanded to do two things.

Love God.
Love others as you do yourself.

That's it. Pretty simple. Don't stress the dogma, ritual and pomp of men. It's not required by The King.

@arold
A religion is the worship of a deity.
We worship God in Christianity, so it's a religion.

Religion is NOT a bad word.
It can be a bad word when religion is about what man can do;; what is in the power & will of man to accomplish.

That is how the world use the word religion. And there is no other way to use that word.

Christianity is a reconciled relationship with God through Jesus Christ as it was established by trusting Jesus as our Saviour and we live it by trusting Jesus as our Good Shepherd which is why it is written simply that the just shall live by faith in the Son of God and all His promises to us for living as His in following Him as His disciple so that our joy may be full in the fellowship with the Father & the Son.
 

Shirley

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Aug 15, 2011
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Ohio USA
God is helping me! To those of you who showed Love and kindness to me I want to say thank-you and report that I am feeling God close to me again!!!! I've strayed and not walked in my Saviors footprints.
To those of you who are praying for me i wish to say a great big thank-you as I know Jesus lives in me, but I been hurting him and I am so sorry for my failure but I know God forgives me and still loves me!!!! God wants to help me!!!!
 
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JesusIsFaithful

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Shirley said:
God is helping me! To those of you who showed Love and kindness to me I want to say thank-you and report that I am feeling God close to me again!!!! I've strayed and not walked in my Saviors footprints.
To those of you who are praying for me i wish to say a great big thank-you as I know Jesus lives in me, but I been hurting him and I am so sorry for my failure but I know God forgives me and still loves me!!!! God wants to help me!!!!
Amen.

Romans 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
 

ATP

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If people are dunking their heads in water and churching it up but not believing in their heart that Jesus is God and their Savior then what you get is....a wet little duck. :rolleyes:
 

Brother James

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Jun 2, 2008
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On my best day I can't be good enough. It's simply not in me. That's why I need a Savior. Unfortunately, every thing men put their hands to they tend to corrupt. That can be especially true when it comes to church and religion. Men will always fail us.

For me personally, I had to come to a place where I had no other place to turn but to God. Some people had told me I could have a "god of my own understanding." I thought that meant I could make up my own god to suit me. I borrowed from the Hindus and the Budhists. I sprinkled a little of Jesus in, as well as some native American spirituality. What I came up with failed me utterly. The God of my understanding all along was Jesus Christ, God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit. That was instilled in me through the faith of first my great-grandmother, then my grandmother, and then my mother. But I ran very hard from Him, all the time telling myself the lie that I was seeking "truth". Really, I was running from God. Thankfully, He reached down and revealed Himself to me at a time and in a place where I was in the greatest need for Him. I don't know how he does it for other people, but that is what He did for me. I do beleive He is the source of faith and beleiving to those who are really seeking Him, but sometimes it is a painful process.

I still cannot be good enough. Some times, the only prayer I can muster is "Lord Jesus, son of God, have mercy on me a sinner", but He hears me. The Lord is gracious, merciful, and compassionate to a humble heart that pleads for mercy. When I'm beaten down the worst is when my pride leaves me and I can be humble. So I thank God for every one of those moments, even though being beaten down isn't any fun. But I do that to myself with pride.

This is just one person's testimony. It might or might not be helpful. But seek Him, and not men or the teachings of men. The Bible is where He has put His truths...
 
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pom2014

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Dec 6, 2014
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It can be bad of course when abused.

Water is bad of you get too much into you.
Fire is bad if let out of control.
Medicine is bad if not taken correctly.

Just because some complete fools treat the worship of God incorrectly does not mean religion is bad.

Baby, bathwater, window. Don't.
 

justaname

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Mar 14, 2011
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1 John 3:23
23 This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.

This is Christianity fundamentals! This is the beginning and the end of it all.
This is our task set before us as individuals and our task set before us as a body a collective. Thank You God, for I, even I can testify to this. Here You have given Your answer in Your Scriptures, and it verifies my testimony, my personal experiences. For as a non-Christian yet seeking You God when I was praying with great fear and trepidation, passion welling in my eyes my heart throbbing with emotion, a chased soul oppressed by the demons of the abyss I cried out to You, “God O’ God what is Your will for my life, Your slave, for I give myself to You wholly, just please disclose to me what it is I am to live for and live by”. And a message from the heavens abounded and shook me to my very core; a voice like many waters said to me, “Trust the Son”. So from that moment forward I pressed on in a faith that is unshakable, holding fast to the Name above all names, who’s very meaning is Salvation, Yeshua, Jesus. Yet still dissatisfied with my walk, and unstable in my ways, I sought You again, seeking to bring You honor and glory, seeking to bring pleasure to my Father and my Savior and I asked, “God O’ God what is Your will for my life, what is it that You want me to do?” And again a voice rings out from heaven and I know it is the same voice that told me to trust Jesus and with a single word You changed my entire life, You changed my entire being, You said to me, “love”.

Searching the Scriptures only confirmed what I heard, and now I am Your slave, a student of Your Scriptures, yoked in Your love, beholden to Your message, captive to Christ, sealed with Your Spirit. Thank You O’ God for answering my prayers and setting me free from the bondage of sin and death. No longer am I a child of wrath, a slave to sin, but I am a saint, one of the holy ones, set apart for Your purpose, subject to You entrusted with Your gospel and the commission to love. Oh what a calling God. How am I live up to such a great task? Yet I am not alone in this mission for the calling You placed upon my life You have tasked to all who are Your disciples, all who bear the name Christian. Fill us Lord with Your Spirit and cause it to rain down upon us from heaven, and move us from our lowly positions of complicacy to one that is set ablaze with zeal and passion so that the world will know that You are living, that You have risen, and that You are God, above all else, the Sovereign of the Universes, throughout all time, beyond any vain thought or imagination, eternal, in Jesus’ name. So be it.

James 1:27
Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Brother James said:
On my best day I can't be good enough. It's simply not in me. That's why I need a Savior. Unfortunately, every thing men put their hands to they tend to corrupt. That can be especially true when it comes to church and religion. Men will always fail us.

For me personally, I had to come to a place where I had no other place to turn but to God. Some people had told me I could have a "god of my own understanding." I thought that meant I could make up my own god to suit me. I borrowed from the Hindus and the Budhists. I sprinkled a little of Jesus in, as well as some native American spirituality. What I came up with failed me utterly. The God of my understanding all along was Jesus Christ, God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit. That was instilled in me through the faith of first my great-grandmother, then my grandmother, and then my mother. But I ran very hard from Him, all the time telling myself the lie that I was seeking "truth". Really, I was running from God. Thankfully, He reached down and revealed Himself to me at a time and in a place where I was in the greatest need for Him. I don't know how he does it for other people, but that is what He did for me. I do beleive He is the source of faith and beleiving to those who are really seeking Him, but sometimes it is a painful process.

I still cannot be good enough. Some times, the only prayer I can muster is "Lord Jesus, son of God, have mercy on me a sinner", but He hears me. The Lord is gracious, merciful, and compassionate to a humble heart that pleads for mercy. When I'm beaten down the worst is when my pride leaves me and I can be humble. So I thank God for every one of those moments, even though being beaten down isn't any fun. But I do that to myself with pride.

This is just one person's testimony. It might or might not be helpful. But seek Him, and not men or the teachings of men. The Bible is where He has put His truths...
Wow how I can relate. I had the same god, and my testimony agrees with yours. It was when I was at my lowest that I was the most humble and God said something like "Ahh there is someone I can use."
 

JesusIsFaithful

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justaname said:
James 1:27
Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
This is what is in the power of any man to do; but I have found that even in this, I need His help to do the right thing since alot of forms of entertainment are of the worldly influence from which I need Him to be on guard against when watching televisions or movies so as to not pollute myself by the world.

And yes, even when doing the right thing of visiting widows and orphans in times of distress. Nowadays one can always find someone; but which one does He want you to do? That is why we are not of the letter but of the Spirit as Jesus Christ as our Good Shepherd can be trusted to lead us to do the right thing. This is why His yoke is easy & His burden is light that little children are free to come to Him for help in following Him and not just to be saved.