It is safe to say that there are many problems with the “Christians” in this world.  There are many views on this subject and for the longest time I just told myself that as long as they are Christian than they are ok with me, but there are some problems there.  There are many Christian denominations now and ultimately I understand this, because there is so much to Christianity that people will have different views on some things.  So what really matters?  Well, salvation is really all that matters, except for the fact that some denominations are getting so “religious” that they are drifting away from Jesus’ teaching.  This leads to many problems, especially since I know many people personally that are not Christians because they grew up in an extremely “religious” Christian denominational church.  I will not point out specific denominations, but I am against forcing people to do religious things to the extent that they drift away from God.  God is in no way boring and when churches make him boring something is wrong.

I have many thoughts on this subject.  I try to live my life by the Bible, without finding loopholes.  If the Bible tells me something is wrong, I look in to it and if I conclude that it is Biblically wrong, then I try to stop doing it.  I want to try my best to live by God’s standards not my own and not society’s.  That being said, I don’t spend my time doing religious things, because it wastes valuable time that I could be spending writing about things that help other people spiritually or I could be witnessing to people instead.  Donald Miller has a great quote about this.

“I believe that the greatest trick of the devil is not to get us into some sort of evil, but rather have us wasting time.  This is why the devil trys so hard to get Christians to be religious.  If he can sink a man’s mind into habit, he will prevent his heart from engaging in God.”

Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz)

I don’t waste my time being “religious”, but I do follow the Bible.  I study the Bible frequently and I love reading it.  I try my best to live by the spirit of the law and not the letter of the law, but I think many people have got themselves into the other ditch too.  It is true that we should live by the spirit according to Jesus, but what does that really mean?  It is just as bad in God’s eyes to murder now that we are under the spirit as it was when we lived by the law?  Living by the spirit is simply referring to the condition of your heart.  In other words, you shouldn’t not kill somebody because God’s law told you not to, you shouldn’t kill people because you spiritually don’t want to.

Living under the spirit is no reason to omit the Bible.  If you truly live by the spirit, you would want to please God by obeying His Word.  So when somebody shows you a verse in the Bible that contradicts what you do, you can’t use living under the spirit as an excuse to keep doing it.  If you truly believe something is ok, it may be, but listen to your heart and God’s Spirit about it, don’t block them out.

Back to the “religious” crowd.  I am not attacking, I am just worried.  It worries me because it seems like one of the biggest reasons for people to leave Christianity is because they grew up under strict rules and no fun, as opposed to growing up knowing the love of God and having fun.  The love of God is an amazing thing and if more people could experience it, I think more people would be open to Christianity.  Obviously most people are open to Christianity since well over 90% of this country is Christian, but how many of those people know what they could be experiencing with the true love of God and His Spirit?  We are always going to have a war on God going on outside of Christianity, but why are we having such a civil war?

There is so many ditches that Christians can fall into when it comes to their faith and their lifestyle.  Anything from the religious crowd to the crowd that trys to become so spiritual that they create their own religion.  Another problem that people seem to have with the “Modern Christian” title becoming more popular is an ego issue.  Even since I have been a Christian, I have had people talk down to me as if they are a better Christian than I am.  This really seems to come heavily from the Bible college crowd.  I am not against Christian colleges, in fact I hope to be going to one in the Fall, but it seems like many of the Bible college kids get an enormous ego once they begin to learn about the Bible and then they feel like they know more than everyone about the subject.

Statistically the Christian college crowd seem to be the worst about feeling superior to other Christians.  They are almost all great people,  but somehow many have an egotistical mindset.  Many people don’t realize that when they condemn other people for being consumed with sin, they are often being consumed with sin from an alternative perspective.  When somebody is consumed with pornography, they obviously have an addiction to a sin (lust).  Alternatively, when somebody is consumed with their ego and constantly condemn people for things like this, they have an addiction to a different sin (pride).  These are exactly the same in God’s eyes.  If somebody needs help breaking an addiction, we should help them to our best ability and we should let them know what the Bible says about it, but making them feel terrible and judging them will not help in any way.

This entire blog may seem like I am judging and pointing fingers, but really I just want people to think about what they are doing.  I know I am not perfect and I have just as many flaws as anyone, but I just want to put that thought in peoples mind.  I don’t mean to judge, I just want people to think about what they are doing.

This is the last blog of a series. Also check out The Need to Believe, What I Believe and Why, The Facts Behind Beliefs and Know Where You Stand.

I really just want to sum up the body of this series, because I may have fallen off topic a few times. This entire series is obviously just my opinion and beliefs. If you disagree with anything, I think that’s great, you should send me a message and we can talk about it. Now to sum up the series.

From the start I have really just been trying to push my points. I personally think it is very important for everyone to believe in something. I am a Christian and I would love for everybody to be Christians, but I don’t expect that to happen by reading a blog and getting told to be Christian. The only way for people to truly believe something is for them to figure it out on their own. I am just stating that what you believe in should be deeply studied.

Many people think that the 70, 80 or 90 years they are going to live on this Earth is a very long time. What if it isn’t? Study for yourself. No matter what you believe, you have to know that there is a chance that there is an afterlife and it may be a lot longer than this life. With that in mind, it should be enough to fuel you to study for yourself. Dr. House from the television show House always says that he chooses to believe that “this (this life)” isn’t just a test. With our small perspective of the universe, that makes sense, but what if there is a much bigger picture and this life isn’t as long as it seems in comparison to the whole plan?

Think about what you believe. Is there purpose? Is there a reason? Do you believe in God or do you not believe in God? Either way, do you have at least some actual facts to back up what you believe? This question isn’t just for what other people think of you, in fact, this is entirely for your own eternal destiny. What happens after death? What will happen to you specifically? If this concerns you in the least, I strongly urge you to study and believe.

I am not trying to tell everyone to be Christians; however, I feel that if many people study deep enough, they will find it to be true. There is a famous quote about this:

“Little research inclines a man toward Atheism, but deep research inclines a man toward God.”

Of course, this quote reads “toward God” not necessarily “toward Christianity”, but I do believe deep research inclines many toward Christianity. People will still believe what they want to believe, but if you go into studies with an open mind, I believe Christianity will be there.

In summary: study for yourself, see where the facts remain, have an open mind. If anybody wants to discuss any of this, please send me a message on the contact page, or email me at ahidingplace@gmail.com. Thank you for reading my series. The next series will be dedicated to the study or different world religions. The study will include Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Evolution, The Religion of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism and more. It will also include my thoughts on Catholicism and a few other “Christian” beliefs. Thanks for reading!

This is the 4th blog of a series. Also check out The Need to Believe, What I Believe and Why and The Facts Behind Beliefs.

I have decided to bring this series to an end in one or two more blogs. I will then start another series on individual religions, because there are too many religions and this series would get very long. This blog is the next step to the series. I stated that I think everyone should believe first, then I told you what I believe and went into further detail on choosing your beliefs wisely. Now I will write a little about my opinions on sticking to your beliefs.

First off, most people have values and morals. There is no requirement telling people to stick with them, it is merely an issue of integrity, discipline and confidence…mostly other people’s confidence in you. If you truly believe something, surely you want to stick to it to your full ability otherwise, you would have no reason to believe anything. I know that is not where the problem lies. Usually the problem is not that people don’t want to stick to what they believe, it is that they have a hard time doing so.

There isn’t a way for me to explain how to stick to what you believe, because obviously I have the same problem quite frequently. I do however think that people should know where they stand on core subjects and issues. A few of the main issues would be: politics, alcohol, drugs, homosexuality, marriage, abortion and explicit language, to name a few. The important thing is to not just believe something based on your feelings and thoughts alone. There is a reason for the things in God’s plan and we may not see them from our own perspective. This is where many religions have spawned from Christianity, because people implement their own thought over God’s Word. Once again, these are my Christian opinions, I don’t expect everyone to totally agree with me.

Politics is an area that many people choose to ignore, though politics are a very important part of our life. I know the cliché thoughts like: “all politicians are crooks”, “you should never discuss religion and politics”, and “I have God so I don’t need government”. All of these are great ways to keep from having to face politics, but maybe it would be a good idea to face them sometimes. Times such as voting for The President and voting on issues are great ways to speak what you believe, because you can’t really complain if you had the choice to vote and you didn’t. The main reason that politics are so corrupt is because the people with good moral values stop voting and try to stay away from politics entirely. It will just get more and more corrupt at this rate. It’s always best to do your own research. When the next presidential election comes around, research the candidates heavily to make the best choice. Research does not mean to watch the news! First off, the media is very liberal so they are biased and I hear too many people talk about not liking a candidate due to some gossip they have heard. This is still only my opinion, but I am just tired of people giving up on very important issues because they have a bad taste in their mouth. Politics are important to keep up with, but it isn’t the only core issue.

The other main issues is where it really starts to get controversial. These are the other issues I have mentioned such as alcohol, drugs, homosexuality, marriage, abortion and explicit language. It really is good to know where you stand on all of these issues, this will really help you to keep your integrity. Most of these issues can be very black and white, although society has tried to eliminate black and white with a crowd of gray. Yes, I am talking about absolutes here. Absolutes are very real if you believe in The Holy Bible, It is very clear on right and wrong, whether people choose to believe It is or not. I know that some parts can speak differently to different people, but let’s not completely stray from the original author’s intent (that’s right, the different authors from The Bible knew what they were writing and it wasn’t always to be taken however you want to). Aside from Christians, I think absolutes are important for everyone; people should know what they believe.

As far as the other issues, well, it’s really up to you to decide. This is where reasoning can take over. Be careful not to reason something that you know is wrong into the right category just because you really want to do it. Alcohol is a great example. I don’t have a problem with moderate drinking, but because I believe in The Bible, I think it is wrong to be drunk. An example of reasoning in this situation would be for me to tell myself that since it isn’t wrong to drink one or two, a few more won’t really matter too much. The same goes for drugs. I hear all the time that weed doesn’t impair your actions as bad as alcohol…that is reasoning! Weed is illegal, the end, we don’t really need to talk about what it is and isn’t since it’s illegal. People miss important factors like that when they start reasoning. I know this because I have reasoned many things right and I still have to stop myself from time to time.

I’m not really going to go deep into what I believe and think about the rest of the values, because this blog was primarily written to suggest that you know where you stand on core values. I will say that I try to never use explicit language, because it is offensive to many people, it makes people come off as unintelligent and it’s against The Bible. I believe marriage should be between a man and a woman, because that is very Biblical. I believe homosexuality is a choice, because they have proven it is a choice and Biblically, homosexuality is wrong. The last main issue I will go into is abortion.

Some people believe abortion is wrong, many don’t. People will say that it’s the mother’s baby so she should have the choice to keep it or abort it. That’s strange to me, because apparently she looses that choice instantly when the baby is born. This interests me because, babies aren’t that different when they are in the womb and when they are born. There are four major differences.

1. Size
2. Dependency
3. Environment
4. Level of Development

That’s it! Those are the only differences between a baby in the womb and a newborn baby. I will go into the four differences briefly.

Size: The baby in the womb is obviously smaller. Does this mean that because somebody is smaller than somebody else, they don’t deserve to live? I don’t think it does. I know adults that are 6′6 and I know adults that are 4′0. I personally believe that they would both deserve to live.

Dependency: A baby in the womb is dependent on the mother, just like a diabetic is dependent on insulin. People in ICU are dependent on life support. Should we just let all of them die? Would that be ok? Should that be legal like abortion?

Environment: A baby in the womb is obviously in a different environment. Since when has that been an excuse for murder. This is similar to a newborn baby in an incubator. It’s in a different environment, is that grounds for murder?

Level of Development: A baby develops as the nine month cycle continues, but it is still less developed than a newborn baby. There are diseases and conditions that stunt people’s mental and physical growth, but it would be wrong to kill them wouldn’t it?

A main question about abortion always arises: When does life begin? As I stated with the last four differences between a baby in the womb and a newborn baby, I believe that since the baby is starting to form and would potentially be a baby when the sperm and egg combine…I think it’s murder from day 1. The blood vessels start to form between days 17 through 21 of the pregnancy. Even if you only believe the life is in the blood, after day 17 would be murder. If you believe the life begins when the heart starts beating, after day 21 would be murder. I think that after day 21 (3 weeks), most people could agree it’s murder. I believe it’s murder no matter when a person aborts, but you have the freedom to decide what you believe.

Most of the information on the four differences between a baby in the womb and a newborn baby came from a sermon on abortion by David Pate of Christian Ministries Church. I have tried a provide you with some information on abortion, for a great blog dedicated to the subject check this out. Please ask any questions you may have and go do the research for yourself to determine what you believe and why. In conclusion, I just think people should know what they believe about main issues. Thanks for reading!

Continue this series: The Final Point.

This is the 3rd blog of a series. Also check out The Need to Believe and What I Believe and Why.

Moving on in this series…as I have stated before, what you believe should definitely not only be true to you because somebody told you to believe it, but I can also say that there should be some factual truth in it too. Believing requires faith, but it also requires common sense. I don’t mean to sound harsh when I say that too many people have no common sense when it comes to their beliefs. They have always believed it so it is hard to convince them otherwise. The question is: where from and why did their belief or your belief originate?

A belief system based on a person’s subjective testimony is very hard to explain to somebody of a different belief. For example: many Mormons will talk to you about Mormonism, but when you bring up the many specific flaws about what they believe, they will cop out by simply saying: I prayed about Mormonism and God told me it is right. That works in their head, but it holds no water in real life. The phrase they usually use is: I prayed about it and I received a burning in my bosom (stating that Mormonism is true). I don’t mean to pick on Mormonism, it is just an example, but I would be careful about what I place my eternal destiny in and I wouldn’t base it on a burning in my bosom.

I pray all day long and I am in continuous communication with God, but my relationship with Him is not the only reason I am a Christian. I prayed a lot before I became a Christian and I can honestly say I don’t believe that every voice I have heard when I prayed was God. How do you know if it is God? How do you know it isn’t Satan? Satan doesn’t want everyone to be Satanists, he just wants you to not believe in God. So for Satan, he is all about Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses and the other world religions. Back to the first question, how do you know if it is God? That was one of the questions that bothered me when I didn’t really know what to believe. I would always think to myself: the majority of the world is of the Christian Faith. What if they are right and I am going to Hell?

So from there as I told you in my last blog, I began my search for what to believe. I chose my belief for myself based on history and facts before I started trying to come up with my own way of believing based on my opinions. When I studied enough to find so much truth and evidence in Christianity, I then found out how to determine who was speaking to me when I prayed. I now believe The Holy Bible is God’s Word. I can honestly say that I believe this based on evidence, not 100% proof, but very strong factual evidence. Now that I know what God’s Word is, I know that He is very clear to make sure that any voices I hear line up with Scripture. That is how you know who is speaking to you. If I hear a voice in my head that tells me to divorce my wife, leave my family and murder somebody, well, I can be pretty sure that is not God speaking, because it goes against God’s Word and God is never-changing.

Mostly I was using me as an example; I am definitely not telling you what to believe. I just wanted to show you that I had a question (How do I know who is speaking to me when I pray?), so I began to search for the facts that led me to the belief system that gives me my answers. It always amazes me that people are so careful with things in their life, but they are not even willing to search for an educated reason to believe what they believe.

I get emotional when I start talking about this subject, so this blog may seem like I am rambling, but I really just want to get my point across. What is my point? This is my point:

1. Believe something
2. Know what you believe
3. Know why you believe what you believe
4. Research to find facts that lead you to believe what you believe

This specific blog was mostly about #4. Research to find facts that lead you to believe what you believe. You shouldn’t be looking for complete proof, but you can make a very educated decision. Don’t just accept what you parents or friends tell you. This is the most important decision of you life, be wise about it. Study, see what makes sense to you. As I stated before, Christianity has never been proved wrong (like many other religions) and I have seen too much evidence to not believe in God. I have also seen too much evidence and it makes so much sense to me that Jesus is the Son of God. This is what I have chosen to believe. I would be more than happy to talk to you about this and I plan to go into further detail about other world religions including evolution (yes, I believe evolution is a religion). I am also more than willing to hear what you have to say about this. I hope nobody is offended by this post and if they are, I want to talk to you about it. I didn’t intend to offend anybody, I just want to get my point across. Thanks for reading and look for the next blog in this series soon!

Continue this series:  Know Where You Stand.

This is the 2nd blog of a series.  For the first blog: The Need to Believe.

Like I said in my first blog of this series, it is important to not only know what you believe but also to know why. As a Christian, I could tell people all day long that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and He is the only way to salvation, but why should they believe me from merely my opinion? Is there 100% proof? No, because faith is a requirement of belief, but when you do research you will start to see what the facts that we do know point to. So what exactly do I believe?

• I believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to Heaven.
• I believe in The Trinity (Father, Son and Spirit) as one Being.
• I believe that The Holy Bible is the Authoritative Word of God.
• I believe all other world religions are false

That is what I believe. There are many reasons I believe these things and none of these reasons involve me believing because somebody told me to. I think it is great that parents want their kids to go to church and I take my daughter to church, but when parents don’t let their kids question what they believe it can be very destructive to their child’s faith and entire belief system. So if you did grow up in church and know nothing else, I strongly urge you to start by figuring out why you believe what you believe. I, on the other hand, didn’t grow up in church, so I was very curious about most all religions.

To give some background on myself…I didn’t set foot in a church for the first time until I was 14 years old. My dad was a Christian and my mom didn’t really look too much into religion at all. Either way, we were not active in church. Before I ever went to church for the first time, I got into some other religious activity including Wicka, witchcraft and Satanism. As you can probably imagine, I was quite confused spiritually. Most of my practice in these religions was very uneducated and ill-informed. Really I think I just liked the thought of scaring people.

Later on in the years I ran into a much better crowd and began thinking that maybe religion wasn’t only for scaring people. Yes, they were Christians, but don’t think I just fell right in and worshiped beside them. Eventually I decided that I wanted the same joy and happiness they had. I became a Christian, but still didn’t fully know what it meant. That was when I started to go to church. As the years went by, I really didn’t hear much of what the Pastors taught at the various churches I attended. I still went primarily for the girls, even though I was now a Christian. So finally after years of immaturity, I finally made the decision to believe something for a reason, instead of because others were doing it or it was the cool thing to do! Most of all, I didn’t want to believe something because somebody told me to believe it.

The journey begins. I started reading, researching and listening to teaching cds…I haven’t stopped since. I made the decision that Christianity is the right belief for me and I came to this conclusion for many reasons. As I began to study The Bible, I started to realize how supernatural it really was. 1500 years of writers and information. 3 languages. 60 books and they all line up. Of course people will tell you that The Bible has contradictions, but those people are never willing to show them to you. I know of no contradictions found in The Holy Bible. The few lines of Scripture that some people claim are contradictions simply go into further detail from one book to the next, it’s not a contradiction; however, I am willing to hear opinions on this. If you think that there are contradictions, please comment about it.

After figuring out mind-blowing information about The Bible, I was excited. It is good to know that my life has a purpose and that I can have a personal relationship with God. I know that if I can, you can. When I began to study all of the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled while he was on the Earth, I was amazing. Of course, I went into all of this study with an open mind. People with closed minds instantly find flaw even if it’s not there. Some people say that Jesus studied the prophecies and then fulfilled them. Ok, I would understand that if all of the prophecies he fulfilled were in his control, but how can you plan the way people kill you? On top of everything I have stated about Christianity, there is always the fact that Christianity has never been proved wrong. It hasn’t been proved right (if we proved it right, our faith would be useless), but it has never been proved wrong. This is very different from every other world religion I can think about. For example: Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnesses have been proved to be a fraud on several occasions (which we will discuss later).

As I study further in depth, I am simply amazed. I will post full blogs discussing many different aspects, perspectives and points of Christianity, as well as many other religions and my thoughts on evolution. There is way too much information for me to list here. I just wanted to let you know what I believe in this blog and maybe start to get a few comments on what you believe and your thoughts. More to come soon in this series. Thanks for reading.

Continue this series:  The Facts Behind Beliefs.