How to increase my faith?

[MickinEngland]

I just thought of a 12th - 12 - Some atheists 'hear voices' telling them to heckle Christians.. Sadly I know that's true because a poor woman heckler once posted on a religious board saying "God told me to keep attacking Mick and to never stop".I gently pointed out to her that there's nothing wrong with hearing voices providing you pay no attention to them, and that it certainly isn't God's voice she's hearing.After that she quietened down..

 

[MickinEngland]

(Dukester;36420)
..The weak fall,The strong fall,The ones who believe in God get picked up in his grace when they fall,He will always lend you a hand!...
Yes, Christians take life's knocks just like everyone else, but we know how to good-naturedly roll with the punches..)Also, Atheists and nonchristians are like wagons without springs, they're jolted by every little pebble and bump on the road..

 

[Lunar]

What these people are doing to you is cruel and wrong. But I don't think that the way to get your faith up is by putting them down, either in actuality or in your mind. This is an instance in which you need to strengthen your faith by turning the other cheek. This is an instance where you need to know that your faith can be a source of compassion and kindness, not antagonism.That's my advice, anyways. To walk away knowing that you looked cruelty in the eye and responded with kindness can be a huge source of strength.

 

[waynemlj]

Hi MWM,You asked, "Why do atheists feel compelled to try to disprove the existence of God?"The answer from the Bible is that they hate God. That's because they know that there is a God and feel tremendous guilt for disobeying Him and living their own way . . . a life of sin.The biblical answer to your question, MWM, is very clearly explained in Romans 1:18-32. I'm going to quote the beginning of that section, and you go to your Bible and read the entire quote above, and meditate on it . . . even memorize all of part of it and say it back to God as you're on your way to class or just sitting by yourself or walking down the sidewalk somewhere. Romans 1:18-20, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.So they are without excuse." Continue reading from there.So, you see, what God is saying in His Word here (and in the rest of that chapter)? Atheists are running from the truth, running from God's judgement which they feel and are trying to escape by deliberately forcing themselves to forget about that truth and covering it up with seeking fun in their lives. When you bring up the topic of God in even the slightest phrase, you are reminding them of their guilt, and, so, they hate you for it.That's the answer to your question.waynemlj

 

[kalixx]

(waynemlj;36464)
You asked, "Why do atheists feel compelled to try to disprove the existence of God?"The answer from the Bible is that they hate God. That's because they know that there is a God and feel tremendous guilt for disobeying Him and living their own way . . . a life of sin.waynemlj
This is simply not true and is itself a rather cruel and judgmental statement!I used to feel terrible guilt and an oppressive sense of self-hate all the time when I was a Christian. I was driven nuts by all these Christians telling me how bad they are and how one must be humble and grovelling like a maggot all the time. But both before and after my Christian period, I have felt totally free of such anguish. Now I take responsibility for my own actions and live by the values that meet the demands of my own conscience and the law - and which match pretty well with those of the bible - but I do not need a God and I would not hate him if there is one - I would just have a lot of questions for him!!!The only thing I dislike about faith is when it distorts people's attitudes and corrupts their humanitarian obligations as a member of the human race - and makes them write unfair posts

.

 

[MWM]

I don't agree that they actually hate God.I don't care what they think. Go ahead, don't believe in God, be an atheist, I really don't care. But when an atheist comes all over the place, and then persecutes me for my faith, it tends to get a little annoying. I don't go up to them everyday trying to convert me, so they should do the same.I know all atheists aren't like this, and I respect them for doing this.I don't want to put down atheists, but rather, turn the other cheek.Thanks.

 

[kalixx]

(MickinEngland;36417)
And don't forget Christians must get used to heckling and stuff, just as a dog gets used to the fleas on its back..

I've been heckled for years on boards and forums and it has no effect on me whatever, in fact I even collect their quotes to put into my "Atheist Mentality" articles to give me and my friends a good laugh..

Here are some hilarious examples from an unholy assortment of atheists, nonchristians and phoney christians -Steve H - "Micks a narrow-minded unchristian unqualified know-nothing silly little man and work-shy racist layabout" Cymba - "Micks an unchristian aggressive liar showing no fruits of the spirit"Zeke - "Micks wrong wrong wrong and denies Gods word"Christian Trucker Pat - "Micks proud,arrogant,self-glorifying, uncharitable,offensive,lacking understanding and talking drivel"Linda -"Mick's a silly little Brit"Gloryboundd - "Mick's a senile liar and fool"Elbown - "Mick you put me off Christianity and i'm a Christian"SheriNuwine - "Mick you come across as a pervert,do you like cheeky little minxes who play with dollies?"Sunami - "Mick...the lazy workshy parasite that you are"Papdotcom to me - "You are one crazy s.o.b"Faeshadow to me -"there are no words for the depth of ignorance and depravity that your mindset displays"PeterM quote - "Mick, your posts are so full of BS I await to here you mooing. You are obviously one paranoid individual who has delusions of grandeur, and these are the least of your problems.....You do realise you're a tw*t?" Veritasbellum to me - "..inane drivel, as the majority of your posts are......I pity you but I don't hate you......You put me off Christianity and you are definately a phoney Christian""Toolate quote to me - "Everybody thinks you are an idiot.....atheists don't hate you, just find you laughable........What crimes are you planning now? More race hate?"RomanticHorror to me - "you sick bast**d"CreationFallacy quote to me - "Your posts remind me of local radio stations. Same old boring crap over and over again"ZenAgain to me -"you wander off into drug induced metaphore.......I could tell by your posts that dementia was setting in"PaganSunflower to me -"you have not fooled those on this board with even a shred of intelligence"LanceT quote - "Mick try not to be a pr*ck all your life, eh?"ZaZen quote - "Mick is like horse manure. You either stand in it or are sensible and avoid it."OldyOneCanardly to me - "you are just an ignorant, bigotted, anti- semite with fascist and racist tendencies .....nothing of intelligence to contribute to anything or anybody ...........you big loser in life"Dm2473 quote to me - "The fact that I'm Jewish and you're a Christian has nothing to do with the fact that you are a boorish, small minded, shallow, nincompoop"Junoth quote to me - "What a sick and twisted mind you have! In fact the word "evil" springs to mind when I read your demented claptrap!"Nanacad - Mick is a long time AOL message board w*nker..Donbain - "I've got Mick on filter for one very good reason, his intelligence is too low beneath mine to dignify his lewdness with an answer"Krpzd1 to me - "You really are a prize tit aren't you?" Reverend Eric Potts - "You disgust me Mick"
Mick, It broke my heart to read this, really! As a broken ex-Christian, I really feel for you because I know how much your faith means to you, and how much you had to lean on Christ to get past these terrible examples of the worst of human hard-heartedness. I've been there as well. But the fault is in the stone that these people call a heart, not in you. If only people could SEE how they hurt each other. Sometimes I think if we westerners could starve for a few months, sleep in the mud, and spend time in a refugee camp with no hope of ever getting out, it just might change our priorities a bit - I greatly admire, yes, and envy, your tenacity in your dedication to what you believe in. We are not all as bad as that on the outside of Christianity, honestly.

 

[kalixx]

(MWM;36478)
I don't agree that they actually hate God.I don't care what they think. Go ahead, don't believe in God, be an atheist, I really don't care. But when an atheist comes all over the place, and then persecutes me for my faith, it tends to get a little annoying. I don't go up to them everyday trying to convert me, so they should do the same.I know all atheists aren't like this, and I respect them for doing this.I don't want to put down atheists, but rather, turn the other cheek.Thanks.
Just a small point here, MWM, I think, no matter how hard it is, that you SHOULD care. But that does not mean you need do anything about it because Jesus says about not casting your pearls amongst the pigs ( Mat 7:6 ) - but I think, in your heart you probably do care very much on behalf of those who reject your faith

 

[MickinEngland]

(Lunar;36462)
What these people are doing to you is cruel and wrong. But I don't think that the way to get your faith up is by putting them down..
I never put anybody down, in fact I get on great with most atheists on the boards and its great fun debating and joking with them.Sometimes one will say "Mick i'm an atheist and always will be, but you're the only Christian whose ever made me think of becoming a Christian"So I must be doing something right..

 

[MickinEngland]

(kalixx;36467)
..I was driven nuts by all these Christians telling me how bad they are and how one must be humble and grovelling like a maggot all the time.
Sounds as if they accidentally expressed themselves in a way you couldn't understand..Hey, somebody just posted asking "Does God want us to have low self-esteem?", and below is my answer -In one episode of Star Trek New Generation, the Enterprise discovered a kind, hospitable elderly man and his wife living simple peaceful quiet lives together alone on a pleasant uninhabited planet.However, towards the end of the show, Picard discovered that this modest, unassuming old man was in fact "a being of immense power".Christians can borrow a moral from that, namely that although we're nice friendly modest self-effacing good-natured people, underneath we're "God's elect", creatures of tremendous spiritual power, world-beaters, the most advanced life-forms in the material universe.So how can knowing that possibly make anybody have low self-esteem??"And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other" -Matthew 24:31"However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name" - 1 Peter 4:16"The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds" -2 Cor 10:4"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of selfdiscipline" -2 Tim 1:7"Who is it that beats the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God" -1 John 5:5

 

[Siskim]

Good word Kalixx...We should care. If we don't, who will? We really are tested constantly in life...and by trials. We are also made by trials...and tests...Be assured to the Brother who wrote...that God not only sees you and them, but hears every word, every thought and....every motive, and ...that at the same time satan comes to buffet us and try to steal our faith, we are like Job...in a test. Truly, these kinda things will grow you...and we grow over time and over many experiences. You will not fail or die...but remember the parable of the the dying seed...it springs forth with new life. I die daily, was it Paul who said that? But yet daily Christ becomes more of who I am.I have seen vividly quite a number of times God prove something to me....when I was being tormented by enemies....while I in these times on one hand wanted to just explode and hate these people and give them a few words...I knew with a knowing....that if I held my peace and trusted God, that in the end he would make me stand. Today I remember well David..."Lord prepare me a table in the presence of my enemies." I also remember that if a man's ways please the Lord He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him...I did have to fight to not hate, and fight to find God's love in me for these people....and daily...each time the outcome was that I saw people who hated me change and come back to me in peace and kindness, and a few times I saw people put down....one lady had a nervous break down who tried to wreck my life....I think God knows every man's heart...and because I let him deal instead of dealing myself...he did deal....but never, ever, ever...I hope will I ever...rejoice in seeing another person hurt or judged or fall....This is Not God's Spirit. We do not wish evil even on our enemies...but wish that even if we by meekness and love let the fire fall on them, that the fire will refine them and not destroy them.You are in a place where God has room to work. Don't worry about feeling humiliated, do not feel weak or oppressed....but Know Brother, that the Love in you is wiser and stronger and more valiant than the foolishness these others are showing....don't stand in pride, but stand in full confidence that God is the right hand to those who trust in him, that he will save his people...he will find you standing when the smoke of the battle is over...and as for your enemies...because Christ is in you....what they do or say to you they do or say to him....we are partakers of his sufferring...rejoice if you can be a partaker....Love is the greater power...stand in it with confidence...don't worry about even an army that stands and mocks you...because while they are standing on the approval of man (their buddies)...you are standing on the aprroval of God....and when any one of them would ever find themself in the position of standing alone..eye to eye with you....how then will respond when pure Love is staring them in the eye? And I like to look people right in the eye! I bet they wouldn't be so confident if they stood alone with God...or God in you....Love is confident! The bible says "There is great confidence in the Lord,"....When we through time and many trials come to really see and know how God upholds us...we become less and less moved by the antics of man....think about Jesus....how when they ridiculed him and hit him etc... Was he afraid...was he embarrased...did self pride rise up in him....or was he a weak baby? None of these....Imagine the eye of God toward these people and Realize that Brother...His eye sees through your eyes...because He is in you! The greatest way to conquer an enemy is to become his friend....nobody said we can't be a little sly...(or wise) in our dealings with people who think they have an upper hand but don't know how powerful love is. Love is not weak. It's the weak who are cruel....you are not the weak....so then Brother...do not even consider weakening...and Kalixx....you say you don't know God personally, but yet I can see in you a presence of His True spirit....we don't have the wisdom of God's certain love...without any presence of it in us....I think if you Believe enough to not need a sign, like Thomas did....that ultimately God will reward your belief (faith). It is a perfectly sure thing kalixx, that if you believe with your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and that sin is the reality that separates all of us...and you....from God, and if you from your heart ask Him for this gift of Salvation he will in no wise turn you away or give you a stone if you ask him for bread....Faith means believing him even if we see no sign....I will serve the Lord if I see no miracles....if he puts me to the highest tests...like Job...and allows satan to test me by taking away all that God has given me....If I make my bed in hell, I will still trust him, because he said he would be there with me....have you ever loved a child or a woman so much that your love was sure and solid even if the child or woman didn't instantly return all you were giving? Love the Lord like this....as he says, "with all our heart and mind and soul"....and Brother...I believe the day will come when he will reward your faith....and as he always does....show or give you exceedingly above all you can ask or think....I feel this about you.....don't reason...just believe....It's the tiniest faith that moves mountains, not the greatest knowledge...God "knows" your secret heart and intents...he can read them....who knows...maybe you are undergoing some kind of test of faith....you do have something...I can see it....and feel to say to you....Believe...without any signs being given...choose and trust God based on His Word and not your feelings...be like an immovable soldier...committed to the one we cannot see with mortal eyes...and after we have believed, not before...one day by surprise...God will reveal himself to you in a greater way than you can ask or think...but just look to Him and not to signs...because it never is or was by signs that we've seen him....but by Love.Alot of rambling from the rambler....but this time inspired rambling...about both of you...I can feel as I write God's love for you and "in" you...and did not premeditate all this but felt it as I wrote....walk on, being fully confident that God will...to those who delight themselves in Him...give them the desires of their heart....and He will....watch and see. siskim

 

[waynemlj]

Hi Siskim, What a lovely encouraging message of truth you wrote here! And I have the same good impression about the faith you see in Kalixx. What a nice place of faith fellowship this Board is!waynemlj

 

[MickinEngland]

(kalixx;36524)
...We are not all as bad as that on the outside of Christianity, honestly.
Try telling that to Peter at the pearly gates and see if it cuts any ice with him..

 

[MickinEngland]

(kalixx;36524)
..Sometimes I think if we westerners could starve for a few months, sleep in the mud, and spend time in a refugee camp with no hope of ever getting out, it just might change our priorities a bit - I greatly admire, yes, and envy, your tenacity in your dedication to what you believe in..
6 years ago I was just out of prison, jobless, girlfriendless, near-penniless, homeless and living in a tent in a remote wood shivering and hypothermic with thyroid/pituitary complications, but not for a second was I the least bit dejected because I was laughing at myself the whole time; "Great" I thought, "i've ended up as Bigfoot the Wild Man of the Woods"..

In fact when I was led off to jail with a 3-month sentence I said to my solicitor "It's okay, i'd got nothing planned for the next 3 months anyway!"..

And as I fed breadcrumbs to the pigeons on my cell windowsill I was still laughing - "Marvellous" I thought, "now I'm the Birdman of Alcatraz!"..

You see, I feel this verse very strongly and powerfully and am completely unable to take life seriously..

"What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes"- James 4:14

 

[MickinEngland]

(kalixx;36524)
...As a broken ex-Christian...
Tell us about it mate, what 'broke' you?

 

[Wakka]

It helps to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, and having received a gift or gifts from God.

 

[kalixx]

(MickinEngland;36634)
Try telling that to Peter at the pearly gates and see if it cuts any ice with him..

Hmmm, I guess I have to rely on you putting in a good word for me ray3:

 

[kalixx]

(MickinEngland;36639)
You see, I feel this verse very strongly and powerfully and am completely unable to take life seriously..

"What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes"- James 4:14
Interesting

That is exactly why I do take this life so seriously. I hate the way days slip by and I have done nothing worthwhile with the time.In fact, (without pointing a finger at you) I have often sensed in Christians an overemphasised interest in "what comes next" to the extent that they are just wasting away their time here like reading magazines in the waiting room before seeing the doctor.But the bible tells us not to do that. Paul sensed that people were so expectant of the second coming being imminent that they had stopped bothering with everyday life. Personally, I think a Christian life here is exceedingly important and should be so full of work that one is constantly worn out. ( 2 Thess 3:11-13; 1 Thess 5:14 ). There is surely potential work in everyone we meet. Funny thing is though, so many people dont even accept help or admit to needing it. Strange thing, pride

 

[kalixx]

(MickinEngland;36643)
Tell us about it mate, what 'broke' you?
Can't be a Christian without a Christ. ( Rev 3:20 ) - no-one came in, that's all.

 

[kalixx]

(Siskim;36552)
It is a perfectly sure thing kalixx, that if you believe with your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and that sin is the reality that separates all of us...and you....from God, and if you from your heart ask Him for this gift of Salvation he will in no wise turn you away or give you a stone if you ask him for bread....
Thanks, Siskim, for your wonderfully encouraging writing

! Whilst I agree with you totally that this is what the bible promises, it is not what happened.. Siskim, I would have been deliriously ecstatic to have even just got the stone.......But this is not my thread and I am conscious of taking the discussion off-topic - my apologies to everyone!