Here's the First Video On My First 30 days of Prayer - 160k+ views - ruclips.net/video/92sIpbb9Wl0/видео.html Thank you for so many thoughtful and supportive comments ! would really like to read all your personal stories to help me better understand my own If you want to keep up to date with the journey I'll be posting about it in my free weekly Newsletter lifegamedesign.gumroad.com/
Im very happy to see that youre actively searching for the truth. May God bless you, truly. I hope and pray that you will find God and with him the truth.
Thanks for sharing! This is one of the best, most authentic videos on this topic I've seen. Allow me to suggest checking out the book "Confessions" by Augustine. The Confessions is probably the most famous autobiographical account of a non-Christian converting to Christianity. Augustine was not an atheist--properly speaking, there was really no such thing as atheism as we understand it in the Fifth Century. But he was a convert to Christianity. Importantly, Augustine's Confessions are at the same time 1) devotional (the whole book is written as a prayer), 2) narrative/autobiographical, and 3) philosophical and theologically reflective. Augustine seamlessly weaves together mystical reflections, a narrative of his own journey, and some of the most profound philosophical explorations of what it means to believe in and trust God. I think this book may speak to your questions in an unusual, moving, and illuminating way.
I would argue that the three main Abraham and religions do not stem from the same God. Judaism and Christianity I’m sure you’ve heard it said that the old testament is really just the New Testament concealed and the New Testament is really just the old testament revealed. That’s how I look at it anyways, but Islam is literally a bastardized version of both and if you look into how Islam started, or read the accounts of Muhammad’s life, you will see the truth. In my opinion anyway, I hope you have a blessed day.
Here's something that might help with the struggle of why God and Jesus didn't write anything but rather influenced the Apostles and early followers of God to write. Let's say that Jesus wrote the Gospels Himself. If I told you this, and it were a fact. You still wouldn't know yourself if I am telling you the truth. But, this doesn't mean that it is false. When you said that you were growing closer to God and further from religion, there is only one faith that's purpose is to grow closer to God. That is Christianity. For example, Jesus wasn't only sent to die for our sins, but also to spread love in other ways and show how much God loves us and wants us. I used to be a skeptic, myself. And when I tell you this, I understand you might be hesitant to trust what I am saying. But, I struggle with intrusive thoughts. And it got so bad that I basically had a panic attack during work. But, I did have an encounter with God. The first year and a half of my walk with God I was always fixated on myself and thinking I had to be perfect. I thought that I had to always think right and condemn myself if I ever had a bad thought. But, one night I was listening to a song that someone made after he had a dream about the angels singing around God's throne. He sang this in front of people and they started crying and some even fainted or convulsed violently. This is the process you see in the Gospels where Jesus would drive out demons. So, what does this have to do with me? Well, I decided to focus completely on God. I sang along with the song and only focused on Him and not myself. This next part is not placebo and I know for a fact. The intrusive thoughts stopped, I fell to my knees and worshiped God. I was crying and my whole body was tingly. I thought at first it was just from how excited I was, but I looked at my hands and there was zero circulation. My fingers actually curled inward. It felt like there was a strong presence inside of my head. I closed my eyes and kept worshiping God. I opened my eyes again because it felt like my head was vibrating or pulsing, and sure enough, my head was actually shaking back and forth. To top it all off, the intrusive thoughts were still nowhere. This is the kind of God that is also drawing you. This God wants a relationship with you. That's what prayer is mainly for. Like I said, I know you might be skeptical because you didn't see this happen to me. And I understand, I really do. But, you need to trust. Dive deep, learn what God wants from you, and let Him do His work. John 6:44 "Nobody can come to me unless the Father who sent Me draws him". This is what's happening, Michael. You cannot rationalize God nor come to Him on your own. Through prayer and submission, let Him draw you. God bless you, brother. (ALSO, don't try to force a miracle or encounter with God to happen. He doesn't do the same thing with all people. But, that doesn't mean He won't at some point.)
Man, I'm actually challenged as a Christian myself to become more consistent with praying, because if an atheist can commit to praying for 60 days, how much more should I be committed to devoting time to the God I actually profess to love and worship. Convicting!
I'm glad ! I didn't really understand it at the start but my Christian girlfriend said I had helped her grow deeper in her faith. I hope you find answers to your prayers 🙏
@@LifeGameDesignthat is one of my favorite things as a Christian. Started looking more into my faith around this spring as a buddy of mine was starting his journey into the Church. He is a naturally inquisitive guy, and asked me a lot of questions, questions I often had trouble answering. This prompted me to ask my deacon, and got me growing in my own faith as a result.
Ive been slacking. The Gospels give me chills but my friend said i should read the old testament to truly understand which i get but its a slog. I feel closer to god hearing other people's testimony more than trying to continue
0:53 I went through this process. I was an atheist for 24 years, finished my science masters, and finally admitted to myself I just couldn't logically make a case for Atheism without some intelligent design behind the things I'd learned. I went on and studied Buddhism (for 3 years), Hinduism (for 1 year, but did not practice this one), Islam (studied for 2 years but did not practice [however spoke with Muslims and spoke with Imam, attended and observed prayer etc]), Judaism (studied for 1 year but did not practice), Christianity (including Catholicism and Protestantism, which I studied for 2 years before ultimately practicing Protestantism). I want to make it clear that when studying, I studied under people who held higher ranks in those religions because I wanted to be correctly guided and knew that if I found 'contradictions' etc, I could be missing out on information that actually bolsters that information if I am led by my own understanding. Ultimately I found that: - Buddhism's anatta doctrine only holds due to self-perception. There is no objectivity surrounding it except for the subjective experience/illusion, which I already personally hold in contempt (I believe a person's subjective experience should not dictate an objective measure or claim to reality). I also found that many of my questions and skepticisms towards Buddhism were answered in ways that abandoned or twisted core theology to meet with modern science, and I didn't like that. - Hinduism believes the Earth is on 4 elephants standing on a turtle. When you ask what that turtle is standing on, it is standing on another turtle, standing on another turtle, etc. This infinite turtle phenomena exists because an object that must be created needs to have an explanation that either comes from something that is purely creator or exists outside of the physical realm, else the solution points to something in the physical realm. And because Hinduism does not answer its worldview theory on how the world is held up using something that is pure creator, it falls to the falacy of thing being created holding up thing being created holding up thing being created, which does not adequatly answer the theory of 'creator'. A lot of Hinduism theory including the Gods rely on contingent truths instead of necessary truths, similar to other smaller religions, so I personally couldn't identify with the truth it offers. - The Abrahamic religions all kind of fell into a cluster for me, because there was a truth I could identify in all of them. The idea that there is an eternal God, who exists outside of the frame of linear time, who is a necessary creator and so by these two definitions can have made a 'beginning of the universe' that exists in a linear timeframe (of which this creator also made). Think of it as a long piece of paper with a timeline drawn on it- everything that is created in this linear timeframe exists somewhere on this incredibly long timeline. But because it is on this 2D sheet, it can only see in 1D (forward, backward and where it is), and physically cannot see off the page. Meanwhile, its creator who exists in 3D can see all of this 2D page at once and yet is not in it. It can, however, seeing all of time all at once, interact with the people in this sheet by drawing on the paper using a pen where they are, and thus also where they are in time. Since God exists everywhere all at once, knows the future and past, and interacts in a spiritual way outside yet also inside of our current 3D realm with us, I felt there was some plausibility to this. However: - Judaism believes in the Torah and the Old Testament. And yet during the Old Testament, it was prophesized that a Messiah would come before the destruction of the Second Temple, and fulfill certain requirements. Jesus came and did that, all before the destruction of the second temple (which occurred in 70AD). Yet people of Judaism do not believe Jesus was their Messiah, which leads to a fallacy, because they believe they are still waiting for the Messiah and yet one of the conditions of the Messiah coming is already met and cannot be taken back. Since it's fallacious, I don't believe it. - Islam believes the word of God (Allah), the Quran, is an uncreated attribute of Allah. And yet there are multiple versions of the Quran. The Quran being the uncreated word of God comes with MANY of its own issues that some decent research will very easily uncover, and makes a case thus for the spiritually inspired word of God instead of as an uncreated atrribute. For example, if the Quran is an uncreated attribute of Allah, it cannot be changed, and Muslims claimed that there is only 1 version of the Quran. And yet, there are at least 9 different versions. These aren't versions with scribal errors, these are ones with completely different meanings. The Quran is so different in Morrocco for example, that if a Sunni Muslim preached what they were taught, they may be indicted or executed because of how different the Quran and Hadiths are. Because the Quran has been changed, it is thus not an uncreated attribute of Allah, which in itself proves Islam to be fallacious. This makes the case that spiritually inspired literature, like the Old and New Testaments, are more plausible than a book written/given directly by God subject to human change. There is also the fact that the Quran promises to support the teachings of the Torah and the Gospels, and yet it does not, so Muslims will tell you that the bible is false and corrupted despite being used as an accurate historic primary source for many things, and despite the God in the bible having no contradictions to self until the Quran is introduced. For example, Christians believe in the New and Old Testament. Judaism only believes in the Old Testament, and yet the bible does not need to claim the Old Testament is corrupted in order to prove Christianity is correct, since it doesn't have contradictions with the Old Testament, despite the Old Testament being the main book for another religion. The Quran needs to claim the previous 2 books are BOTH false, despite them being bolstered by 2 seperate religions. Even Judaism could claim the bible is contradictory etc, but for the most part it doesn't and instead claims the bible is not corrupted, but used the Old Testament too heavily to make itself seem reputable. On top of this, the Quran offers theological promises or truths I find questionable. The Quran believes once you get to heaven, you will be able to have vineyards and maidens of like-age (the same age). {Surah 78:31-40] This used to be interpreted as young maidens (who do not have periods), but because this is controversial in todays time, it is currently like-age. But even so, the idea of things of the physical realm such as vineyards, or the idea that God will let us satisfy our fleshly desires which we are free from in the spiritual realm, seemed wrong. If God made s*x for our flesh for the purpose to procreate, and warned us against lust, then why in heaven, where do not have our mortal flesh, would God promise us a place where we can satisfy our s*xual desires? There are many many fallacies in the Quran or just bizarre and non-sensical things, such as the way Jesus avoided his death. Even historians and Jews believe Jesus was crucified, but they believe he was crucified for trying to start an unsuccessful uprising and did not resurrect. Yet Islam believes Jesus rose through the roof and never died despite living a perfect life so that humanity wouldn't be saved. Then what was the purpose of him living a perfect life? And why is Muhumed revered more than Jesus, despite Jesus actually sitting at Allah's side in heaven? Jesus is raised up above creation to Allah [Surah 4:158] and yet Muslims will deny Jesus' divinity and revere Muhumed more. Furthermore, Muhumed lays claims to events that happened 400 years before his 'encounter with God.' Who would I believe about the account of events: Someone who was there and witnessed said event and literally died for it (all the disciples met grusome ends for believing Jesus is God), or someone who came 400 years after the fact? I have many gripes with Islam because in my search for the truth, it just... there really is so much with the Quran that doesn't make sense. - Christianity. Ultimately, all the contradictions that occur in other religions almost have a "which is why" in Christianity. "Judaism believes a Messiah would come before the destruction of the second temple, which is why Jesus was born and crucified." "Hinduism believes in created objects infinitely holding up the universe which upon inspection doesn't work, which is why Christianity holds to a creator that exists outside of the linear time frame who can act as creator with intelligent design." etc etc. In fact, researching other religions further bolstered the case for Christianity for me, because it introduced fallacies or schools of thought I was not aware of that actually pointed towards Christ being real. There are also a lot of things about Christianity I found to support it, but that will make this comment 4x as long, so I'll leave it done here. God bless. EDIT 2: I tried to edit this comment to thank people and provide some links to grow in Wisdom, but RUclips is returning an erorr saying my comment is too long. I will provide a reply around 50 replies below including an edit on some suggestions how to increase religious Wisdom for people who are already Christian. Unfortunately when making suggestions, people had disagreements. Fairly so- perhaps it was ignorant of me to not put a foot note that you should never agree with EVERYTHING a channel says, and should still regard any content you watch with discretion. But that and future edits are below. EDIT 3: My comment 50 replies below has a summary replying to some contradictions, but this comment has too much engagement and I am not online enough to reply anymore. God bless all of you.
@@celinefuchs4095 no worries. I do want to strongly mention, that this is a VERY BOILED DOWN with very few examples summary of my journey, but that journey took years. And that was my truth journey. I recommend for other people to do the same- instead of just looking at my journey, I hope others will go and search for the truth themselves too.
I recommend "The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel, who was an atheist journalist befoee he investigated the evidence for Christianity. There's a lot of information about the reliability of the text of the Bible, among other things. I think you might be able to relate to him. I will be praying for you!
As an former atheist I'm so happy, that you're on this journey of filling this emptiness inside. Just keep searching for Him, and He will reveal the truth to you. I've had 1:1 experience with God, that is hard to logically explain, but that changed both me and my life forever. After experiencing Him and His love for me I've felt the need to start to pray daily, month after I started to feel the need to read the Bible, New Testament. I know the difference between following religion and following God. Christ also spoke about it, and called out religious leaders for being blind, because they've focus more on the Law, not on Love. God just wants us to know Him, believe in Him, and what He did for us, and to learn by knowing Him and having a relationship with Him how to really love eachother. Christ change us inside out, religion tries to change us the other way around. That's why God has power to fill this void. Religion doesn't. Just keep searching with your heart, not with your logical mind. He will come. Amen.
so imma just say it. Christianity uniquely centers salvation on grace, which is unheard of in any other faith. and this is what sets it apart. salvation is not based on human effort or law-keeping, but solely on faith in Christ’s finished work.
100% agree. That's what seals the deal for me. I know that I can't save myself. I can't do enough good to outweigh the bad when even one small act of evil condemns me. I need Jesus.
@@96Logan nope. Not religious. I don't know what happen but given that there is no evidence for anything to happen I would guess that nothing will happen.
I grew up in a toxic religious home and was taught all kinds of lies and a big one was that I wasn’t allowed to question God and his existence but when I turned 18 I started to question everything and my search for God had started, I became a Christian when I was 20 and realized asking questions was the best thing I could do God isn’t a helpless being that shatters with a couple questions He wants to be searched out with passion and asking the right questions so all that to say keep searching and he will reveal himself to you!
Toxic religious Christians do more of a disservice to Christ than athiests do. They push believers and potential believers away from the Lord. I'm so glad you escaped that. God bless.
Being in a toxic religious family is hard, but I want to correct you with something, He already have his hands out everywhere in the world, what I mean is He is there with you or everyone everyday, you don’t need to search for God, you just need to seek him, which is probably what you meant, but the truth is Jesus is always there knocking at the door of your heart, you just have to make the choice of accepting him. And you made the right choice.
To comment on the other reply (though I also want to address you, John,) it's true that God finds you, not the other way around. That being said, that doesn't mean you shouldn't seek God. Christ tells us that those who seek will find. We should actively strive to be ever closer to God, but trust Him for the path we need to take to do so. Even after we accept His salvation, which is forever, we should strive to seek Him. I'd accepted Him into my heart years ago, but now I feel closer to Him than ever before, because I've finally understood what it means to give Him my all, without ever holding back. Now, instead of having my faith in the background, I have it in front, considering God in all that I do and constantly searching out His will through prayer, studying Scripture, and holding faith in Him that He holds my path and will give me the answers. I'm glad to hear that you've found Him, and happy to have you as a Christian brother. Praise the Lord for His infinite mercy, wisdom, and grace!
@@jamesbarringer2737 I mostly agree with you, but be careful with conflating Hinduism and Christianity. Hinduism concerns multiple gods, and while they are manifestations of one God, they are still treated as multiple people that aren't always in perfect unison. Additionally, it's heavily centered around reincarnation, a very unbiblical concept already, but even more so due to that reincarnation being based around merit more than faith. Plenty of religions have elements that, on a surface glance, seem similar to Christianity, but are distorted in some way. Israel was God's chosen people, so they received the truth. They were not just some backwater vassal, but had a long history with periods of both grandeur and decline, as detailed in the Old Testament. After Christ died and gave His commission, the truth was spread more widely, (which was the point of the commandment,) but there is still only one truth, and the Bible makes that very clear.
' “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.' - Matthew 7:7 'and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ' - John 8:32 You are doing great! You are searching for truth with an open and sincere heart. Keep going! and don't stop praying. I will pray for you!
@@LifeGameDesign Jesus said " I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me". John 14:6, keep searching brother I was once an atheist in search of absolute truth, everything Ied me to the bible and then eventually to Jesus, may he bless you abundantly
@@LifeGameDesign“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
@@LifeGameDesign “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.” Jeremiah 29:11-14 KJV
@@matthewgostomski4619 I'm very proud that for my first video that's gained a lot of traction, that it's attacting extremely kind and respectful people ! ❤️ Tells me a lot of what the values of Christianity brings. I'm ashamed to say you would not see this normally in atheist focused videos. Reminds me of the power in loving my neighbor as myself
This reminded me of a sermon that I watched from Tim Keller. He said "Smart people know that culture is falling apart. And they know that they can't get the genie back in the bottle because we have no basis for moral values anymore. But they don't want to go back to religion because they know that religion produces tribalism and haughtyness but they don't see the difference between religion and the gospel. And we need to show them the difference."
@@LifeGameDesign of course. Every world religion is always some variation of the idea that we have to do certain things, be a good person, follow these certain rules etc in order to get to God/higher power/enlightenment. It can also cause people to became arrogant and think that they are better than others around them . The gospel which is a Greek word meaning good news, is that we can all be redeemed through the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross, return to the God that created us and live forever in a new creation that has no pain or evil. And this gift is grace. And it is a free gift. All we have to do is believe that Jesus is who He says He is and believe that He was raised from the dead and accept that gift. Acknowledging how broken we are and yet how much undeserved grace we have should humble you. Arrogant Christian should be an oxymoron. That just means that they don't truly understand grace. Ephesians 2 verses 8-9 explain this well. It says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift from God-- not by works, so that no one can boast." This entire faith is based on the resurrection of Christ. And I would highly encourage you to do some research on the historical evidence for the resurrection. Because if Jesus did not really rise from the dead, than it's all a sham and we are wasting our time. But because He was raised, it is true whether we want to accept it or not. If you research you will find that all of the possible explanations other than He actually rose from the dead fall apart. I hope this finds you well, I prayed a lot while writing it haha.
And when I said it is the truth whether you accept it or not I wasn't meaning you specifically I am just meaning in general there are people all the time who chose not to accept something even though it is true.
@@LifeGameDesignmore people need to show “themselves” if we want to grow or find the truth. I applaud your sincerity and honesty. Keep seeking my brother. 🙏🏻
@LifeGameDesign The comment above describes the gospel really well, but it's also something that must be experienced as well as understood. I am so excited for you as I watched this video because you are so close to what you are searching for. You have already taken the first steps towards receiving the gospel - 1, You've acknowledged that you were empty- there was an unmet longing; an emptiness & meaninglessness that you had lived in and also, in a way, caused in your own heart, by rejecting God for so long. 2. You acknowledged that in prayer you received a peace (grace!) that you could not achieve without God (in meditation for example). 3. You acknowledged that Someone has given you good relationships and people in your life that you didn't deserve. The best thing any of us can do is keep praying and remember that our Heavenly Father is far better, kinder, and more loving than we have ever imagined or feared Him to be. 🙏
I see why you feel closer to God and farther from religion. That’s because Christianity is all about a relationship with Jesus Christ and the grace and love God shows us. It’s so cool to hear about your experiences in seeking God and finding relationship through both logical and faith-based practices! Keep pressing on and know it’s worth a man’s while to search for God
Wow man. I’m a Christian and I’ve never heard somebody describe faith in this way before. I actually just told my roommates about what you read in that book by C.S. Lewis concerning human needs and the fact that since our soul is hungry there must be something otherworldly to satisfy it. You my brother, whether you see it or not right now, are being used by God to spread His love in a way that highlights his complete brilliance. Thank you for this new insight!
@@zayspeed2519 thank you!! Whether god is behind this traction is something that I've pondered since releasing this on a whim. If it is, I think it's really cool
One of the most powerful arguments for Christianity over other religions, is its historical accuracy, logical consistency, and evidence. I recommend you look into the historical method and how the books of the Bible are in line with it.
The Bible is a historical text but is not always historical many parts of the Bible have 0 supporting evidences either from text from the same time or from some type of scientific proof
I can agree to that, I often hear the argument, even in this video, that why would Christianity be the right religion out of so many others. It's because it is based on a variable claim, did Jesus rise from the dead or not. It's like looking at a large tub of yellow balls, there is a ball that's not plastic but gold. Just because they all similar doesn't mean that one isn't true.
While Christianity may have historical elements and internal logical consistency, these factors do not uniquely support its claims over other religions. Its supernatural claims, like those of other belief systems, remain unverified by historical or scientific evidence. The historical method, when applied rigorously, often challenges rather than confirms the accuracy of many biblical narratives.
Historically there was no global flood. Failed. Genesis 1 and 2 don't have the same creation order. They are contradictory. Consistency failed. Evidence? None. Failed.
Someone recommended "Case for Christ", I would add "God's Crime Scene" and "Cold Case Christianity" both are similar and explain Christianity in a very fact-based manner that helped me better understand/see God in the world and science. As a scientist, it was a breath of fresh air to see facts laid out because it reaffirmed my faith.
Thank you so much for bringing us along on your journey! It takes a lot of courage to invite strangers along as you explore ideas that are so personal to your life. When I was a newer Christian, I remember being incredibly frustrated by the fact that the Bible was written by humans rather than being directly written by God or Jesus. There was a period of time where I refused to read particular Psalms because they were likely written by David, a man who used his power as king to rape/sexually assault/abuse (people differ on how to exactly define what happened, but it was clearly a severe abuse of power) a woman, and then he had her husband killed to cover it up because she became pregnant. Most of the New Testament was written by Paul, a man who wreaked havoc on the early church out of self-righteousness and hatred prior to his conversion. These are two of the Biblical authors with shockingly abhorrent aspects to their lives, but, being human, all of the authors and editors doubtless had something uncomfortable about them. It's the nature of humanity, and that was incredibly frustrating to me. If God is so powerful, why not write it himself? Avoid all the problems? But then, as you read the Bible, as you let yourself follow the narrative on it's terms, you realize that God's intention all along has been to work WITH humans. He never intended our relationship with him to be that of an all-powerful and distant king barking orders to a silent and obedient vassal. The relationship he wanted was co-rulership with humans, to walk and talk with them, working together to bring goodness to the world. He wanted an actual loving and growing relationship. God's insistence on working with and through humans continues despite humanity's massive issues. You'll see him work with Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Judah, Aaron, Miriam, the judges, David, Solomon, the kings, and countless others- all people with very blatant and difficult personal issues. He continuously shows mercy to Israel, his chosen people, even after they begin doing terrible things like child sacrifice. Jesus had former traitors (tax collectors) and would-be insurrectionists (zealots) among his closest followers. And again, Paul was one of the church's greatest enemies and then he became the author of the bulk of the New Testament, and a central figure for most of Acts. Personally, it's incredibly confrontational. I've been a Christian for over a decade now- I work in ministry- and I still find myself occasionally offended by the people God offers love and grace to (which is everybody). It shows me that I have a judgmental threshold for "how far gone" I believe a person can be before they ought to be rejected. God doesn't have this threshold, and I have to talk to him and wrestle and ask myself if I'm okay with that, if I can accept the grace he has for others. And further, it forces me to take a hard look at myself and ask why I think I'm more deserving than others. Do I really believe I wouldn't have done exactly the same had I been born in such-and-such context? Can I reasonably credit my "goodness" to myself, or to God, who allowed me to exist in the context that I do? Am I really so good, if I'm being completely honest? Again, it's very confrontational, in so many ways. I think the authorship of the Bible works in a similar way. Had all the Psalms been personally written by God, I would not have experienced the multiple-year journey of walking with him, fighting with him, yelling at him, crying to him as I pored through the Bible, trying to understand if he actually loved women or not. I would not have come to the conclusion that God deeply loves women, that God repeatedly allows entire nations to fall directly because of the abuse of women. I would not have realized that David can be both a horribly messed-up person, and simultaneously someone who desired to write beautiful praises and laments to God, someone who repented, someone who is loved, and yet, someone who was still held accountable for his actions. Like me. As I grow older, I've realized that the Bible is the start of a conversation with God. If it had been directly written by him, and there was proof that there was no tampering or mistranslation or misunderstanding from any human standpoint, there would be no reasonable room for me to argue and fight and talk with him about it. It would be the end of the conversation. I wouldn't grow and change. I wouldn't have a relationship with him. Since it is written by humans, it gives me room to express myself in light of the words that I am reading. It gives me assurance that I am allowed to have a voice in all this, too. There's a lot more to it than that, but I've already written you a novel of a comment! Sorry about that. I'll close it out now. All that to say, I definitely relate to the struggles with Biblical authorship. If you decide to read through the Bible, I highly encourage you to take any and all of the questions and issues you have and use them as conversation starters with him during prayer. I'd write them down too, so you can keep track of your thought processes and his replies. Like any conversation with any friend, for it to go well, you have to be open to whatever it is he's going to say and however he chooses to say it. For some resources on reading the Bible well on it's own cultural terms, you could check out "The BibleProject" and watch their "How To Read The Bible" series. It's a good starting place! Praying for you as you continue this journey! Thank you again for sharing!
This "novel" is a gem. I wouldn't be surprised, if you wrote it with tears in your eyes. (I am hiding mine ). Thank you very much. I am going to close the day with this comment on a high note. God bless you sister. Looking forward to meet you in heaven, and exchange the wonderful things we found in God's Word and His guidance in our life, and maybe, just maybe, some gems of faith, which we shared only with the closest of our friends here on earth.
I was in the same boat, wondering what the purpose of life was and why I felt this void, ultimately I had my own encounter with Jesus. It is supernatural by nature, but you know and sense the peace in your core. Believing and surrendering to Jesus changed me supernaturally. You’re on the right path, keep going. If Jesus is truth like he claims to be, I pray you will have an encounter with him. All the love, God bless you!
Wow, one of the biggest things is that somehow, every christian story heard has a person with a void in their chest that is filled with peace. The fact that I experienced this, you did, others did, and now this youtuber did is big evidence for me. if it really doesn't exist, why can we feel its effects in reality? God is amazing!
I genuienly don't understand. How did you have an encounter with Jesus ? Every christian says that but I see literally nothing. How do you know for sure this isn't just your brain that want to reassure himself ? We can't even truly know the nature of reality itself. The purpose of life just is to reproduce like all animals, why would it be different for us ?
I recommend checking out Nabeel Qureshi’s works, either books or talks, he was a convert to Christianity from Islam, and his research dealt a lot with the historical aspect of both religions. I love that you are seeking out stories from converts to and from Christianity, that has been something I’ve tried to do and hope to continue doing as well in my faith journey. While I still have questions sometimes, I will say, throughout my questions Jesus continues to be the one answering them. ❤
Hello. This might nog count for much but who knows maybe it'll help. I'm 14 years old and I was a "Christian" I did what I wanted how I wanted when I wanted. The end result of that was an addiction, self loathing, and suicidal thoughts, but then about 1 week ago something incredible happened when. What I saw and understood can hardly be described by words, especially written ones. To summarize my addiction is gone I'm filled with joy each and everyday and I love myself and those around me. It took me ten years to return back to the way I started after getting saved. God is real and he has more love for you than there is on earth.
My experience is exact opposite. When I was religious I was addicted, suicidal and just depressed. Once I left it I became happier, I do not crave the things I was addicted to and finally I am not suicidal. I am so thankful for the youtubers who shared their story
So awesome to hear about your journey so far! To add onto your endless list of recommendations--Gavin Ortlund, Jimmy Akin, Tim Keller, and of course C.S. Lewis are all fantastic, well-spoken, and from all over the Orthodox Christian spectrum. I will most definitely be praying for you! "I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ" -Phil. 3:8
You asked "What should I trust from the bible, if anything at all?" and the answer I would give is this - Trust the interpretations that lead to a deepening experience in your practice with prayer and don't trust, or set aside, interpretations that don't lead to deepening experience. When practice is right, suffering will decrease, so use that as your guide. Don't let little intellectual details such as "6 days" distract you from the real work of prayer, surrender, forgiveness, and letting go. You got this!
Honestly, get in touch with Ruslan who reacted to your video. I’m sure he’d love to help you and talk to you. I can already guess most of his responses to you, you can trust him, and he’ll go about it with love and truth. I’ll keep praying for you
I love your story. This a beautiful testimony of faith. I pray you find truth, peace and joy on your journey. - As someone who grew up in the church, left and then returned 10 years later, I know what it feels like to both leave and return to Christianity. Although it wasn’t easy, I wouldn’t change my path because my faith isn’t just founded on obedience to the church but in true recognition and acceptance of Jesus as my loving savior. ❤ It’s hard to explain God’s ways because they are beyond our comprehension. All I know is, a step in faith towards God is a step in the right direction. - I just subscribed! Can’t wait to hear more!
OMG. I agree with every single word. I could've written the same comment and also subscribed. I'd like to add that, in those 10 year apart from Him, my heart wanted to reject Him, wanted that He didn't exist, but He kept revealing Himself to me and I only yielded myself to Him when the void inside me had consumed me greatly. Finally making peace with Him was the start of a challenging but fulfilling life.
I fully appreciate what you’re doing , and that you’re doing it so openly, and so well. Thank you so much for sharing such a personal thing - I’m sure it will be used for so much good.
Just wanted to share some light. Faith is not belief without reason. Faith is belief with reason to believe. For most people, those reasons are very simple and should not be valid, but for some those reasons are well thought out, existential, and/or evidential. You don’t have to trick yourself into believing. Just dedicate yourself to the things that you can know with some certainty and continue to learn more and test the things you learn. At a point, you will meet Christ, and then you will know without a doubt.
You're on your journey, this is all part of it. Dealing with difficult issues found in the Bible doesn't mean it's not true. May God be with you. I'll pray for you brother.☦️ Nothing has real meaning without God. Christ is the way the truth and the life.
I was Christian and then became an agnostic. Then after 13 years God showed me through science that he is the God of the Bible who made the universe. Look how science confirms more the biblical explanations then any other book. Just the last four days are equal to the theory of evolution and how life evolved. Also many other things which become so real and that made me looking for Jesus. Not as religion but as an relationship.
If you refer to the last 4 days of genesis, claiming that it equals to the theory of evolution is a very courageous interpretation, it makes some dubious mistakes, like birds being created before land animals. Everything also came from a mono cellular ancestor (According to modern science), while in the bible it says "let birds fly above the earth", seemingly creating fully evolved birds that can fly, not a mono cellular organisms. The creation of the humans also displays no mention of an evolutionary process, humans directly came to exist in the image of god. And the process that is described when the humans are created has no similarity to evolution. So no, science pretty much contradiscts the bible whenever it tries to explain the creation of any element of our world or any natural phenomena. Please share any other parts of the bible you believe to be scientifically accurate so we can discuss further.
@@degle1923 first of all. It is still a big question mark where birds come from (and the ancestors are not Dinos) because scientists don't know where birds have their feathers. The complexity of Feathers and scales are so different that it takes too many evolutionary steps that it could be alone from evolution. Therefore science don't still know where and when birds were coming into existence. But that evolutionary steps are from water to plants to water animals /birds to land animals to humans. I see a lot of parallels to the normal evolutionary theory. So don't know why you can't accept these parts and that no other religious book come as near as the Bible. Also the Bible explains where information in DNA or natural laws come from. Through the words of God.
@@jhadow1869 The ancestors of birds are very much believed to be dinosaurs/reptiles, many of the popular carnivoure dinos like the t-rex are believed to have been covered in feathers. About the order of living organism creation now, so vegetation was created first on day 3, considering that the sun was made the next day this is very strange, god made plants to feed on sunlight but created the sun after? Anyway, next come the water and flying animals on day 5 i believe. While the first organism probably formed in water, the evolution from that organism to a bird was millions of years, and they happen on the same day. Also consider that land animals should be somewhere in the middle of these two in the evolution timeline, yet they happen on the next day. Now the land animals and humans on day 6. Again, from the first land animal to the first human like mammal, probably not yet in the image of god, there is again a huge ammount of time, again strange to be on the same day. So yeah i am a bit skeptical with the biblical creation process to say the least and don't consider it to go alomg well with evolution. Probably why the church was very much avainst the theory when Darwin first proposed it. Also I didn't get the DNA part, i m not sure where the bible talks about DNA.
@@degle1923 If God can create the universe he doesn't necessarily need to follow your logical order of operations. A lot of people argue, "How did he make day and night before he made the stars (suns)?! Haha GOTCHA!" But if you read the Bible you'll see God IS Light, and in Heaven there will be no need for stars and moons because HE will be the Light. Jesus is already the light inside all mankind. Which is in my opinion confirmed by the study at Northwestern university which found that theres a chemical reaction which causes a flash of light when the sperm meets the egg. People will write these things off as coincidence, but do you think ancient people knew this to be true 4000 years ago? Absolutely no way. Unlike Islam where they make claims like embryos are skeletons first and then covered by skin; verifiably false. All this to say basically; God created Adam in the form of an adult, he didn't have to be born by a woman, he didn't have to wait and grow up and age, God made him instantly how old he looked and everything. So if the universe looks 14B years old, that doesn't really matter. Carbon dating is an assumption, super flawed at that. They dated freshly formed rocks from volcanic eruptions and they were dated to hundreds of thousands of years old, but they were decades old. There's prophecy in the Bible that has been proven right over the centuries, I don't believe any have been proved wrong, and some future ones that sound like today's technology. I'd suggest looking into specifically end times prophecies. Euphrates river drying up. The moon appearing to rust. Jacobs star just returned, which signals the end is near. Israel is surrounded by Armies of its enemies. Read Ezekiel 38 and 39, Revelation 20, and Daniel 9 (27 says there will be a time when Israel signs a peace treaty with the anti-christ) I could go on and on, but yeah, there's no convincing me otherwise. Jesus is real, he is God, he proved it, his disciples died for no normal motives, they died trying to save peoples souls because of what they saw. Sadly people want a time machine to see it too. Theres plenty of evidence, how much do you want to ignore? Example: The purest sulfur everywhere in the world (except 2 locations) is about 30-40% pure. Guess where its 98% pure? Sodom and Gomorrah. "Oh well?" Yeah.. for the message of the cross is folly to those who are perishing. Exactly..
Really quickly I just wanted to express how awesome it is that you are looking at both sides of Christianity and Atheism and even different religions all together. Although what you said about the Bible being written by a lot of different people is true, but it’s interesting that even though it was different people it still all connects and has the same story throughout the Old and New Testament, even being written by different people it has a flow of thought, and throughout is just looking for a perfect king and savior which in the New Testament is revealed to be Jesus Christ. Thanks for taking us on this journey with you, I hope you will continue posting your journey and hopefully inspire other people to look into all of these things for themselves especially if there losing hope in this life.
Love your videos on this and perspective. As a youth pastor, I myself also am not a fan of religion in all of its senses. I deconstructed my faith and then came back to it in my college years. Because I found that most of the problems I had with it were from people representing spirituality and belief and not from the belief itself. Now I’m dedicated to representing God for who he is not who I want him to be. And I also seek to listen to people that disagree with me daily to improve my perspective. But I want you to know that many scholars do not believe that Genesis 1 is literal, but a poem conveying larger messages over a literal timeline. This is a genuine argument as many scriptures are written in this way and genre is extremely important. Genesis 1 is beautiful because its primary message isn’t about the days, it’s that what God created was made to be good! Everything he created was good. And he created humans in a unique way. Those are the big take-aways from that passage. Also if God was real, wouldn’t he find a way to portray himself through his scriptures? Even amongst people getting in the way. I think your critique is extremely sound by the way. But it is through reading the Bible for what it is and not the bias it was taught to me in (and reading other holy books) that I found truth that resonated with me the deepest. I encourage you to give them a real shot. Even if they are not true, what harm can come of reading them. Perhaps the people who wrote them wanted more good from it than you are assuming. And reading scripture from anyone seeking God can provide insight and wisdom.
I was born into a Christian family and have had experiences since I was young that I couldn’t explain naturally. I’ve follow in faith to the best of my ability since childhood. I’ve recently found so many more answers coming from Orthodox Christianity, on how to experience God and make more sense of what can’t be explained with logic. I will pray for you, that you find truth and peace in your journey
Hey there! I highly recommend listening to the Bible in a Year podcast by Father Mike Schmitz. He reads it excellently, but then he offers his interpretation at the end of each episode so you're not simply swimming in this complicated book alone with so many questions. It's on most platforms but I find Spotify is best due to it keeping track of where you left off so well. When I was diagnosed with leukemia in November of 2022, after 20 years of atheism/agnosticism, I knew it was time to turn to God. This podcast helped me so much while I was in the hospital. I hope it helps you, too.
1:18 I could sit here and tell you which texts I believe in, and play apologetics, but the best thing is to ask God Himself what He would have you do. Ask Him to help you find it.
You can choose to allow your experiences to act as a study guide for the future or you can allow them to “imprint” and become who you think you are. Our identities if not directed towards a true, permanent and unchanging source will inevitably be blown away like dust in the wind. Identities built on looks,wealth,occupation or material goods will all fail under the right pressure. Insatiable desire only leads to emotional vacancy, Attachment to trauma allows the pain of yesterday to rob you of today’s happiness. Christ is my Foundation. I may not do everything right, however I know that if my identity is within him and built upon him I will not be carried away by smooth talking individuals tickling my ears to rationalize “my” latest desire. A sheep cannot be its own shepherd. In a world where opinions of right and wrong are ever changing shouldn’t we seek who is real and concrete? Forgive yourself and others too because otherwise it’s just a self imposed prison of worry and spite, why allow the evil others submit too be something that influences you as well? Why allow the emptiness of this world rob you of The real and lasting joy of a life fulfilled by and for Jesus Christ?
It started several weeks beforehand late at night when I was overthinking everything,my purpose/the meaning of life. I was unemployed teetering on the edge of addiction and suicide trying to push away thoughts of parenthood and while in this stupor I felt I had an epiphany , it sounds simple at second thought but as I was so egotistical it astounded me. Ego=imprinted environment. From that point forward I felt I had found a piece of the truth but didn’t know what puzzle it belonged too, as the weeks went by I found my answer. Now at this time my addiction had peaked however it didn’t stop me from “building” a philosophy that I thought would change the course of not only my life but the lives of those around me who I incessantly repeated this message to… much to their dismay. I still hadn’t realized the significance of it all but had a good grasp on what it could mean. This is a much cleaner example of what I ended up telling people How can we change the perception of who we actually are away from what our environment convinces us to become. After all if we truly are the sum total of our experiences what happens when trauma interjects? Won’t our solution be in error? If all our “coping skills” are attached to normalized corruption won’t we then normalize that corruption upon others? How can we expect to prevent the spread of evil if we incorporate it into our identity? In summary if we shape ourselves in a world of corruption won’t we too be corrupt? I was telling this to many members of my family in a manic way that only someone who forgets what he’s doing every 5 minutes can do. I had the message however I hadn’t taken it to heart. If I had I wouldn’t have attempted suicide shortly after by laying on train tracks, by gods grace however I changed my mind and walked away, not knowing what would come next I allowed the police my family had called to take me to the nearest hospital in order to be checked into the psych ward. While waiting in the the holding area before full admission I noticed a man in the next room crying and felt an undeniable urge to speak with him. Now I knew of Jesus at that point and to be honest had a messiah complex myself however I think that was really the last shred of ego I had struggling to come under submission of god. Anyhow I believe it gave me the confidence I needed to share the message I thought I had formulated. Now this man had been through unspeakable pain by those who were most responsible for protecting him at a very young age, he however did not lose his faith which amazes me to this day, especially considering part of his trauma that had occurred had been caused by a member of the church. He did not lose his childlike faith like many of us would have. After our talking of identity and discussion around traumas and how the people that hurt him most likely had the same normalized to them otherwise how could they normalize it upon another. I saw that He was carrying a catholic Lenten companion and I can’t remember if I asked to read his favorite part or if he showed me but that’s beside the point , what he admired most in that book many I believe would overlook or take for granted, a story of a family just out in town getting ice cream enjoying the day together. Well after this story we kept reading and it’s as if a light bulb went off for for both of us when we reached a paraphrase of Matthew 18:3 where Jesus speaks about becoming as a child otherwise we can’t enter the kingdom of heaven. In that moment there was an extreme feeling of the presence of god because what had started as mystery weeks before had culminated in that verse connecting it all together. I had finally found where the puzzle piece belonged. Death to our old self and resurrection in the image of Christ is the answer.
I would highly recommend the RUclips channel Testify. He breaks down a lot of hard theological questions into simpler terms, shows evidence for Christianity, and shows logical inconsistencies with other major religions claims
So intelligent and well articulated. Saying you can’t trick yourself into either is so incredibly true. Faith is a gift! We can’t pretend to have something we have not been given. I pray that the gift of salvation is yours, soon ❤️❤️
Super encouraged to see your journey. :) You're open, asking for guidance, and you're hungry for the truth. I fully believe that indeed, if you seek Him, you will find Him. Might be a long journey, but God will not abandon you. Keep seeking! I was once in a similar position to where you are, faced with the weight of comparing countless religions, having to disprove every possible cult in order to sift my way to the truth. I was trying to be as objective as possible, setting aside my biases in the process, and I won't lie-- it was truly exhausting. In fact, the deeper I got, and the more knowledge I gained, the more confused I felt. It seemed there would never be an end to the counter-counter-arguments to refute the counter-arguments... I eventually also had to admit that I was not going to be able to logically prove/disprove or "solve" religion. There was no "silver bullet argument" that would magically resolve all the fog-- merely a thousand smaller arguments that each point a certain way-- But who can keep that many thoughts in their head to evaluate the big picture? So eventually I got fed up, and much like you, I just tried to reach out to God. I did all I could to seek him humbly, asking that if He were real, he would show up for me and give me something I could hold onto-- So I would have some point in my own life where I would be able to point back to and say "even though the evidence always seems to be shifting, I know that in THIS moment, God showed up for me, so I can hold onto that faith." ...And thankfully, God honored my surrender, and he did indeed show up for me. In just a small, well-placed couple of coincidences, but at the perfect time, at the crescendo of my crisis. It wasn't a cloud-parting light, but nevertheless it was a perfectly efficient little whisper of encouragement, and was exactly what I needed to continue the next step in my own story. And that little push was all I needed to carry along a path that has since explained these thousands of paradoxes in a far more satisfying way. Now, the same evidence that seemed so evenly-split before seems so laughably one-sided that I'm amazed how blinded I was by my battling worldviews. Obviously no matter how much of a nerd I was, I don't have every single answer... (Who could, but God?) But in what percentage I do know, I love to geek out about how every aspect of our world points wholeheartedly to Jesus. I'll just leave you with one helpful tidbit... You mentioned doubting that the bible would have been able to remain intact/unchanged across thousands of years of copies and tradition. Look up "the dead sea scrolls." They are ONE of several good arguments to why the Bible is still trustworthy, and one of the better physical evidences of it. But again, I'm not here to argue you anywhere, since I know how exhausting the knowledge route can be. I have full confidence you're on the right track, and I'll be praying for ya, brother!
I'm sort of walking through the "knowledge route" right now. I'm not so much doubting that God exists, more that he's good and merciful and loving. Were you ever heavily confused by passages in the Old Testament? Even after looking into answers from apologists trying to explain these passages, nothing seems to make any sense. Laws about slavery (look in Leviticus 25), women being treated as property and this not being addressed by God, Jesus declaring love and peace when the God of the OT wanted war, things left unsaid by God that could have massively improved humanity (the existence of bacteria, for example) AND proved him as God, paying attention to details like not wearing mixed fabrics but not saying anything on spousal/child abuse, the list goes on. I also don't understand how Christians can be so argumentative and divided from one another even though they're all supposedly guided by the Holy Spirit. Watching RUclipsrs like NonStampCollector caused me to doubt heavily and made me really question what the Bible says. God is supposed to be omniscient, all good, all justice, all perfect love. But the Bible doesn't seem to show that, just claims it. How did you overcome these problems?
@@rachelcunneen Dear Rachel Cunneen, would you do me a favor because the Old Testament has things that are hard to understand at the moment, go to the New Testament because it is for this New Dispensation that we live in, when you understand God and His Son Jesus better, then the Old Testament will make so much more sense to you. If you are so serious in wanting to know the truth, then at that time go in prayer to God and with a contrite heart ask Him to show you the truth and then read John’s Gospel all the way through and if by then you do not have this personal relationship with God who will become your Father, when you do have that personal relationship, if you still do not feel that closeness then again ask God to reveal Himself to you by way of His Word and again read John and if you want this more than anything else He will then reveal Himself to you. He has been my Heavenly Father now for over 44 years starting when I was thirty. I have had Joy and a Peace I had never known before I was thirty.
@@rachelcunneen Dear Rachel, would you do me a favor because the Old Testament has things that are hard to understand at the moment, go to the New Testament because it is for this New Dispensation that we live in, when you understand God and His Son Jesus better, then the Old Testament will make so much more sense to you.
If you are so serious in wanting to know the truth, then at that time go in prayer to God and with a contrite heart ask Him to show you the truth and then read John’s Gospel all the way through and if by then you do not have this personal relationship with God who will become your Father, when you do have that personal relationship,
@@rachelcunneen if you still do not feel that closeness then again ask God to reveal Himself to you by way of His Word and again read John and if you want this more than anything else He will then reveal Himself to you. He has been my Heavenly Father now for over forty-four years starting when I was thirty. I have had Joy and a Peace I had never known before I was thirty.
@@renee-claudetanguay9738as the original comment already suggested that book, were you going to suggest another one perhaps? (Sorry if it sounds rude, English is not my first language)
Thank you so much for putting your journey online. I can promise you that you will find God because you seek Him with your heart. Keep praying. Ask Him for clarity and wisdom and He will give it
So well spoken and so well thought out. Even as a Christian I still have my own doubts and questions but there’s just something about Jesus and the Holy Spirit that keep me coming back. There’s no other peace, or joy like it. Praying you get to experience the same undeniable encounters someday. May God bless you on your journey 🙏
7:35 If you're looking for a source of truth coming from Jesus himself, it's actually very simple : while Jesus didn't write anything, he spoke. He not only transmitted knowledge of how the scriptures revolves around him to the apostles, but since he is himself the word of God, he gave himself to the apostles during the last supper. Finally he gave them the power to transmit it to the believerd of Jesus and to name successors, which gave birth to the Catholic Church. Short answer : what you seek is in 1. The ministry of the catholic church, and in written form in the catechism 2. The sacraments of the catholic church, especially the eucharist
What I want to add is that from the flow of your video you seem to think that truth cannot come from an external observer, but from God himself revealing himself to us. And I think you are absolutely right. I can only encourage you to look into biblical archeology, church history and deep dive into the gospel and the entire new testament, and I believe that you will find not only that God spoke to us, but also came in flesh to live with us through his immaculate mother Mary and gave his life for us to not only know but also partake in the divine plan.
Credit to you for your honesty and integrity. It certainly is a paradox that you affirmed logic for your beliefs in the last video while I, as a believer, hold so confidently to logic for my beliefs. What is good on this is that you started in the best place, with prayer, but when it cimes to rational/logical analysis, that is a big mountain to climb, especially when we have that critical mindset. Doubting Thomas was the last to accept Christs ressurection but his critical standpoint served to affirm Christianity to a greater degree. So by all means begin to enter the maze. A well informed believer, through experience can provide an answer to all your enquiries, but the critical mind will most likely take time. Most peoples faith is experiential. It is a combination of rational evidence and fruitfull living of a belief system. So I encourage you to maintain the prayer element. Talk to the God you are not sure exists, and continue the analysis. There is much of interest to learn, and clarity will come. I pray for God's presence in your life. And as one confident voice among the multitude I affirm Catholicism. A nice basic intro to apologetics from my belief system, that I recommend, is the book "college apologetics"
I think I gave some advice the last time you posted, but I no longer think it's the best approach - God has you in the palm of His hand; you don't need me to interfere. You have countless people recommending all sorts of wonderful resources to you, and I have no doubt that you will find the answer your heart is yearning for. If you want love, peace and joy, you will find the God of love, peace and joy. If you want logic, truth and reason, you will find the God of logic, truth and reason. Whichever way it is, you will then realise that these are the same God! I wish you all the best in your journey; I will stay tuned!
As a Christian who went to evangelical seminary I can understand why it's challenging to get faith and logic under one roof. Long comment coming up about faith and logic, and how to deal with Genesis 1-2: Faith and logic: I would look at it this way: if God is real and created us in his image, then things like rational thinking are also "in his image" and therefore good. We use the mind to discern things in this world, and to make educated guesses or decisions. But at the same time, it's not irrational to recognize that there are things we can't rationally comprehend. If God is truly God, then he transcends the human intelligence and understanding. That doesn't mean we shouldn't ask questions (Jesus himself questions a lot of his culture of his day, etc.) but it means that our mind isn't the highest source of truth, it's not a God. As far as the issue with creation in 6 days goes, Genesis 1 and 2 are not meant to be read as modern science articles but as historical-theological narrative: we actually miss the point when we try to put our modern measures /expectations on an ancient Text, rather than read it as the authors likely meant it. What we know is, historical accuracy as we know it today wasn't the primary concern of ancient scholars, rather, they shared values and statements about God and their world through their stories and religion. In the case of Genesis, the first chapter is actually a direct theological statement of demystification, a stark contrast to the ancient Babylonians of the time. The point isn't whether God literally took 6 days, but that he is the tamer of primordial chaos (instead of Tiamat vs Marduk). And the point of him creating the sun, moon etc is that those things are creations, not Gods (which was how Babylonians, Egyptians etc. saw it). And Genesis 2 gives us fundamental truths about human relationships with God and another: God is a loving, close creator (forming from clay, breathing life etc) and he sees human need for community. So the woman is created as an equal partner (from the rib, an image of her being of the same substance and side by side). And her role as "helper" is not a kitchen maid, but that word "helper" is used for God throughout scripture, so she is given enormous dignity. I hope this is helpful, and I commend you for your open mind and journey with faith and atheism etc. I'm praying for you to find answers and wish you the best
8:21 A lot of Christians, myself included, feel this way too (if they are honest with themselves). It may not make much sense to you right now, but to counter this point, I'd say do a study of Romans chapters 7 and 8 in the New Testament, and the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament. God bless you, sir, and may He continue to reveal Himself to you (Acts 8:26-40)
Hi! I just wanted to say I really appreciate your insights and your willingness to share your quest for Truth. I am joining you in prayer that you find it…or rather that He finds you. Once you discover Whose you are, your life will never be the same. Changed my own life 4 years ago❤️ Cheering you on from Hawaii!
As someone who has grown up believing in God and grown in my faith as I have gotten older, while simultaneously considering myself a very logical person, something I can say with a fair amount of confidence is that when it comes to God you cannot rely on human logic. That can be a difficult thing to process, but it's true. I do think that once you reach a certain maturity in faith, logic and faith can almost go hand in hand. To me, C.S. Lewis is a perfect example of this. There comes a point where your faith is so strong and so integral to you that viewing the world through a lens of logic that doesn't include that faith is basically impossible. The topic of spiritual warfare comes to mind. To someone else, a ton of bad things happening in your life consecutively might seem like bad luck or a coincidence, but to someone of faith that would be an example of a spiritual attack on your life. If you're concerned about the corruption of text, I suggest going back to original translations of the text. That might seem like a long process, and sometimes it can be, but there are things like the Blue Letter Bible that allow you to look at a verse and see the original Hebrew or Greek along with a direct translation of whatever word is used. I think when it comes to the Bible, sometimes it can be hard to trust different translations, but you can very easily cross-reference them through bible apps if necessary. I think something that needs to be stated about denominations, at least of the Christian church, I don't know anything about anything else, is that frequently what differentiates that denomination is not what you would expect. For instance, some denominations don't believe in music in the church. They will sing, but they will not use instruments. In the Bible instruments are used all the time, but in the New Testament there is no direct mention of instruments being used so they don't use them. Personally, I don't subscribe to that belief because to me, if you weren't supposed to use instruments it would be stated, but that is what they believe. Sometimes with denomations it truly just relies on what your own belief and interpretation of the Bible is and you go with whatever church also holds those beliefs. There are also nondenominational churches(which really makes it a denomination within itself) which is what I was personally raised in and they take the Bible as it is rather than applying the "theology of man"(what created denominations in the first place). Another thing about the Bible is that it can be up for interpretation. Of course, there are certain things that are straightforward(seemingly), but in the end there are layers and new interpretations to everything. In the end, sometimes all you can really rely on is your own relationship with God and for God to help you in your understanding. That's why 10 pastors can focus on the same verse but still manage to teach different messages. I know that can seem discouraging or even daunting, but if you read the Bible I would encourage you to bring prayer into that time too. Ask for understanding, for wisdom. There are several instances in the Bible where it mentions having eyes to see and ears to hear and I would encourage you to pray for those too. It might seem odd or silly, but "seek and ye shall find" ya know. When it comes to what text to believe, I do think it can be good to analyze certain things. For instance, I once found a man on RUclips(@/ReeseGivesLight) who was formerly a Muslim but now he follows Christ. I personally know nothing of the Quran, but he knows it intimately and can even tell you points where it contradicts its own messages. (Keep in mind, I've only watched his testimony and one to two other videos so if he says anything crazy I didn't know about it lol.) Then when it comes to the Torah, it is within the Bible. The Torah is part of the Bible's Old Testament. The thing that begins to differentiate the Bible is that it includes the New Testament, the works of Jesus and onward, and Judaism doesn't believe Jesus was the son of God. This might already be information you're familiar with since I'm sure you're doing your research, so forgive me if anything is redundant. God is full of endless mystery and I cannot attempt to tell you that things will ever fully make sense, but like I said, "seek and ye shall find". God is a mystery, but he wants to be known. I have no doubt you'll find the answers you're looking for. Also, if I may, I would like to recommend another C.S. Lewis book to you. The Screwtape Letters is meant to take place from the perspective of a demon(devil) writing to his nephew as they interfere in "the Patient's" life. It's not a read you would probably expect to be recommended while you're still figuring things out, but I think it can be very eye opening. In your situation, I think letter one might be interesting. After writing out this unnecessarily long essay I'll leave off with this, God is not a God of confusion. That statement within itself might seem confusing, but when you find the truth you will know it and any confusion that comes to you is not of God.
Hi there! What a beautiful attitude you have. I wanted to encourage you to go and visit a church. Just hearing peoples life experiences can help you to realise the truth. Even if it’s not laid out logically, as you said, it’s a step of faith!
I love this journey you're on! There's a book called "The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel. He also was an atheist and had a lot of the same questions you currently have. He goes on a journey, meeting with different scholars/professors/etc. seeking the truth for himself. I'd highly recommend it! Thanks for sharing your experience!
You're on the right path bro. I was an agnostic for over a decade. I researched all major world religions and read/studied eastern philosophies extensively. I initially left Christianity and searched for fulfillment in philosophies like Stoicism and Buddhism which did solve the dilemma for having a clear set of moral guidance to live by and finding peace. But there were still so many things unanswered that these systems didnt even pretend like they knew the answer to. I came out of it with an immense appreciation for all world beliefs and the validity to why someone would follow each one. I found With Judaism, the prophecy within the texts had been fulfilled eith Christianity, and while I respect Islam, I found way too many issues with Muhammad PBUH being considered a valid prophet given his history and questioned him being visited alone in secret by an angel and given a new set of texts that overwrites the old ones, essentially makes God a liar, and fueled a siege of military conquests in the name of his religion, marrying 11 different women (including a Child), and all of this happening 600 years after Christianity. In the end I began to lean on faith more than reason and not question things as much as I had before. I understand the logical fallacies presented and perceived contradicions within the Bible and science. The story of Jesus and worshipping him as the ultimate role model just felt right and seems to bring peace and meaning to the lives of many. So now I just roll with it. I dont understand all of it and probably never will. Still it makes more sense to me and brings more fulfillment than all the other options. Hope this helps. God bless bro
You can ask yourself: “If there is one true God that had the power to create everything, wouldn’t He then have the power to write a book through people and preserve it until the end?”
But why a book at all? Why not communicate in some other way, if He had a message he truly wanted to be known? For most of human history, the vast majority of people have been illiterate. He had the power to bless the Bible (when written without error) in such a way that anyone who looks upon the pages will gain understanding, even if they **can’t** read. But he did not. Why?
Each time someone asks why "God did not do a more _sensible_thing_", the only viable answer that's left "Because he values our free will". "He wanted us to choose freely, yada yada...". "Freely" as without any real comprehension of the reality we are in.
@@bdi_vd3677What value does our free will even have if not respecting God's will ends in eternal torment. Does a dictator offer a free choice when he tortures you if you don't follow his instructions? Edit: I am sorry, after reading your comment again, i am no longer sure if you argue for or against God:)
@@degle1923 I am not arguing against God per se, but against jumping through logical hoops to arrive to the conclusion you wish it was. So I don't align perfectly with Christians that I`ve met. Although the concept of separation from God as a state of "hell" understandable to me, but being thrown in the lake of fire sounds radically cruel and inconsistent. Something a person of past would come up with to prevent others from departing from faith. Also the story of Eden is too shady.
@@degle1923 I've been patized for nearly 2 months and I can say that it was definitely a spiritual event. But. I struggle to percieve God as the trinity in the sense that nothing I did in the past months made me feel in any way his presence as a person. The spiritual process allows a significant change of character, but nonetheless I feel alone, although not lonely in the least. It`s slightly unusual, but as prepared as I was for a big change and to be led by the spirit to do things for God, I feel that I`m rather being allowed to do so and no pull or clear communication. Any thoughts?
Definition of the word “Religion” from the Dictionary: * The belief in and worship of a superhuman power or powers, especially a God or gods. * A particular system of faith and worship. * A pursuit or interest followed with great devotion. Christianity is the world's largest religion. Following Jesus is religion. There’s nothing wrong or bad about being religious (in Christ). We are actually commanded to be religious by God. True believers are religious, with a personal relationship with Jesus. God bless 🤍
@@runningwater1277he means as in don't just be traditionally religious, where you do the works, and the works only, he meant that we should have a relationship with Jesus too!
I would recommend you research on Orthodox Christianity, it's an extremely complex form of Christianity that goes very in-depth and in the scriptures. It recognizes, hey some stuff just are too complex for the human mind and we must pray to God instead of using our own senses to make sense of the world, because like a lot of things, we need to think outside the box.
i think that it is better for him to understand the basics of christianity and than to look into the denominations. but i do agree that orthodoxy is very in depth and is logical
I had the same battle brother. From Athiest, to eastern religions, ultimately to Christ. I was called to Eastern Orthodoxy. Once you truly experience an encounter with God, everything changes. I wish you well
You sound more or less where I was at just several months ago, though I had done a ton of digging through different religious backgrounds at that point (been hopelessly curious about the big question all my life), but the overwhelmingly confusing agnosticism coming out of a relentlessly atheistic and nihilistic worldview I completely relate with. What I did was I started going to church with my parents, sat down privately with my pastor a few times to discuss and ask questions about theology and such things, went through a similar struggle to yours for a few months, and then just last June I was baptized. Don't know what else I can realistically offer in a brief youtube comment, but I am praying over your journey, brother. All the love, man. God bless you.
You are asking most of the right questions. One question I encourage you to explore is if there is something more than just a sacred text that needs to be vetted on an individual basis. A God that wants to succeed at creating a religion that stays consistent over millennia would need to implement a living infallible authority to define and defend its dogmas. Any other model leads to endless disagreements and schisms -- which I would not consider to be a very successful religious project. I have found this authority and stability in the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. The historical pedigree checks out as well, not to mention the mountain of both extrinsic and internal confirmations I have personally experienced. Good luck on your journey! I will pray for you.
This is wonderful and I’m glad you haven’t given up praying. Many of your questions have already been answered by former skeptics and experts. For study tools, may I suggest the channels Apologetics Roadshow, Give Me an Answer with Cliffe Knechtle, Got Questions, and The Archive by Sam Shamoun. These are all excellent channels with logical men who test the scriptures of all faiths against historical evidence, scientific laws and discoveries, against other texts as well as the consistencies in those texts, their own experiences as skeptics turned believers, and many other things. I would also recommend books and videos by Lee Strobel, specifically “The Case for…” series. Again, I’m very encouraged and thankful to God for you :) I’ll keep praying
Brother, I highly recommend: 1) Reading the Gospel (Mark, John, Luke, and Matthew). 2) Praying the Rosary, from the heart, every day. 3) Praying the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows (Dolors) of Mary on Tuesdays and Fridays. It will change your life forever. There are many great RUclips videos with these prayers which include meditations (contemplations of corresponding passages of the Gospel) that really enhance the experience. God bless you and all your loved ones. May all your paths lead back to God and His Goodness.
I enjoy hearing about your open mind and naked opinions. We need more dialogue like this! I recommend reading the Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. Another instances where an atheist set out to disprove the existence of Jesus but was shocked by what he found.
How i met the Holy Spirit was through prayer as a non beleiver. I starred going to church becuase my boyfriend broke up with me. I didnt beleive in God. If fact i would make fun of people who would thank God in speaches; " They're just talking to air". I disgress so anyway i chose a church i used to live beside. When i lived there, i would go by on a Sunday morning i would think "What a nice mix of people (young and old, couples and singles and different races and dressed in jean jackets to suits) And they all are smiling". So I started going and kept going because the sermons seemed logical and I could find no fault with them. Besides everyone was very nice to me and you get cookies and coffee after. It was a month before Christmas and the sermon was about prayer. The pastor encouraged us to pray everyday for this Christmas season if we fallen away from it. And he told us how to pray if we didn't know how. I decided to really dedicate myself to doing this. I did it every night, you know the typical kneeling before your bed every evening. It only took me like 2 minutes and was no big deal and I just continued it because I am a scientist and i know that more time spent on things will allow results and patterns to be observed not that I was expecting anything but like I said it wasn't a big deal to take the time for this. It was a week before Christmas I was doing my prayer and I had this weird feeling that someone was watching me. Maybe you've had that feeling? Where you think someone is watching you and you turn around and you see your mom or dad or sister or brother or friend in the doorway looking at you. So I stood up and I was looking around and I didn't see anyone. Then I had this feeling that someone was still there so I said out loud "Iit's you isn't? "It's you God, right?". And I knew the answer was "yes". I didn't hear a voice or hear it in my head but he was communicating with me. THAT'S THE DAY I KNEW GOD WAS REAL. That was December 1998. ❤️💯🇨🇦🇨🇿
I suggest you end your prayers with " in Jesus" name I pray, amen". God will not interfere in your life unless you ask(we have free will). Jesus repeatedly taught His disciples to pray in His name (John 14:13-14; 15:16; 16:23-24)❤️💯🇨🇦🇨🇿
I do want to point out that most of Christianity does not strictly believe in a literal 6 day creation and the big bang and evolution are completely compatible with the Genesis story so that shouldn't be a reason to de-value the Bible's reliability
the comment responding to you really shows how this becomes an issue - if the interpretation is to be stretched so far that the earth being created in 6 days can be intepreted as relational to the big bang, then every interpretation of every word or sentence can be stretched to the same degree. While I say this, I've been reading tons of scripture with my girlfriend and I really value the moral teachings of Jesus through his parabales as they are said with the intention of being interpreted through different lenses, you must use your own mind to understand the naunce of them.
@@LifeGameDesign It would be difficult to put your faith in christianity through the authenticity of old testament stories like the creation story, or Noahs ark mostly because as an outsider such stories seems illogical and impossible. But what should be the basis of your search for truth should be the life of Jesus Christ. Because the life of Jesus is well documented historically and the fact that faith in Christ is hinged upon whether or not he was really the Son of God, truly died and resurrected, and whether or not he fulfilled Messianic prophecies, I suggest focusing mostly on the validity of the claims made about Jesus rather than the old testament as such. As a believer myself, once I started following Jesus and His teachings, it became easier to believe whats written in the old testament.
@@LifeGameDesign Not all the bible is written in the same literary style though. Genesis, is generally percieved to be written in a poetic style or like "Once upon a time..." whereas many other parts are praises, prophecies etc. However the life of Jesus in the gospels and the Acts are written in an obvious historical style.
@@mosesmugoPontius Pilate did not leave any written records mentioning Jesus directly. The main sources that discuss Pilate’s role in Jesus' crucifixion are the Christian Gospels and two later historians: Tacitus and Josephus. Tacitus, writing around 116 CE, briefly mentions that Jesus was executed under Pilate's orders, likely based on Christian sources or oral tradition rather than Roman archives. Josephus, a Jewish historian, also references Jesus and his execution by Pilate in his "Antiquities of the Jews", but this passage is suspected to have been modified by later Christian scribes. Roman records from Pilate's governorship are scarce, and no contemporary Roman documents verify the details of Jesus' trial or crucifixion. While Pilate's role in the trial is a central theme in Christian texts, his own accounts or other direct Roman documentation on Jesus' life are absent, likely because Jesus was not considered politically significant to the Romans at the time.
omg these people need to actually learn about the big bang and quantum mechanics. I hear so many of them say things like "nothing can just come from nothing" or a ton of other ones, when we have very good scientific answers to these, they're just complicated. But an expert like this should know.
God doesnt disprove the big bang or quantum mechanics nor do they disprove God. Afterall all three of those ideas are almost all based in theory and not prove able science. Many people have tried to describe the way that the big bang occured and all of end up being theroies based on theroies based on theroies. God is just on of those theroies based on a theory.
@corneliahanimann2173 you cant rationalize the existamce of God through math like you can with many other theroies of the universe but you can rationalize God through philosophy for example, probably the most famous idea is the argument that intentional design is present throughout the universe and intentional design needs a designer. The subatomic particles that make up the universe are so perfect that if a proton was only 0.0001% heavier or lighter then their force would be to weak or strong and atoms couldn't form.
@@mostsharksdontattendchurch I am aware of that, but you also understand that this would not work if things had developed any differently? Also, while we have human life on this one planet, once we look around there are several billions of dead planets. That is not intelligent design, it is a one in a billion instance. Philosophically I don't think god makes sense either, because the search for meaning in things is a human condition, and it is not consistent through all humans, the same way you may drive a car with little curiosity about how an engine works, many can easily go through life without understanding the technicalities for why they are supposed to live through life. I think the best example for how religion developed is the way snapewives recently developed their rituals and traditions, which is just part of our human instinct to have a leader for our pack basically, and for some that ends up being the praise for a god, a king, a celebrity or a CEO.
@@mostsharksdontattendchurch Honestly, with a good scientific understanding of the origin of all the stuff, which I have, there is no evidence of intentional design in the universe. With enough research on evolution, one will find that it perfectly describes how humans and everything else evolved flawlessly with tons of evidence. With a good scientific understanding of how earth and the conditions for life to form came to be from the big bang, it all makes perfect sense and has tons of evidence. As someone with a good understanding of stuff like quantum mechanics and string theory, none of it provides evidence of intelligent design honestly. Your statement about the mass of a proton is false, the mass of protons differs greatly from proton to proton and is determined by quarks. Honestly any one trying to use quantum mechanics as evidence for god is yet to understand the extremely complicated subject that is quantum mechanics well enough to understand why its not evidence.
You've articulated everything Ive been considering in the past months so well. We have a similar background, too. Ive been attending church, reading the bible and church fathers, trying to pray the prayer of the unbeliever from Matthew "I believe, please help my unbelief." There are just so many barries as you mentioned, and I want to most of all have an honest and full belief in god, not a wishful one which is the deepest angst Ive felt in a while. Elder Thaddeus put it beat when he wrote something like "One may yearn for god with their hearts but they oppose god with their thoughts." Thats what it feels like I am doing. Be blessed in your search knowing we're in good company on the long road
Bravo! Challenging your own beliefs and taking a honest look at what is truth. Ten minute bible hour (youtube and podcasts) is someone that grew up Christian, became an atheist, and came back to Christ. Thoughtful and respectful of others that don’t share his belief and explaining the text as a shared journey. Cliffe Knechtle does YT videos and goes to college campuses to answer student’s questions about his faith. I love something he has repeated multiple times “Don’t follow religion. Follow Christ.” (Following religion is how people justified causing pain and death in the name of God) paraphrase is mine
Hey man, I don’t write comments on RUclips but your journey has interested me since I went down a similar one myself and ended up with my faith in Christianity. If you’re interested I’d love to have a conversation with you and we could delve into faith, philosophy and whatever else God Bless
Hi! I think there's a point that you might be missing a bit. Faith, it's not irrational or completely emotional. Faith comes from knowing God. You can't believe a person you don't know , nor understand something you don't study. You can pray for God all the signals you wish, but if you don't make yourself capable of understanding his will on your life, you will remain blind. Ask for him to show you, but make your heart open to hear it. Matthew 13:15 "For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them"
The fact that you are so conflicted by this question is proof enough that God is working within you. I tell you to just compare the actions of pious Christians, Martyrs, and Saints to the evils of the world. And if you want a logical perspective, look at the number of prophecies fulfilled by one man when He was born in 33AD. I just ask you why the apostles would brutally die horrible deaths for what they would've known to be a lie? (They died for Christ because they saw Him risen and knew it to be true).
I was an ambiguous God believer, through the process of sobriety and AA for many years, and after personal encounters, but was pretty anti Christian my whole life. I then ran across serious Christian, especially Catholic, theology and after a painful (and wonderful) process of discovery and humility I am getting baptized this Easter. A wonderful starting point is Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, often the starting point for people coming to a serious understanding of God. I love all of you, and hope your journeys are blessed every step of the way.
Hi Michael, I appreciate your openness and sincerity and hope you find Jesus soon. I wanted to comment on some of your reasons for doubting the Bible. 6 day creation: Speaking generally, a lot of misunderstanding occurs when we read a 2 or 3 thousand year old text with 21st century eyes. It's ancient culture shock. The Bible wasn't written to us (as the original recipients), but it was written for us. There are different interpretations as to the age of the earth among Christians, but this shouldn't be an issue that makes or breaks one's faith in Jesus. One could say, "But if God got this part wrong, how could I trust the more fundamental Christian claim of the resurrection?" That's a fair point, but I don't think the reason many people are Christian is because the Bible has an accurate description of the timeline of earth. Personal experience or testimony of how Jesus changed their life would probably be the more prominent reason. At most, if the Genesis account of creation is wrong, I think that would be a difficulty independent of the foundation of most people's faith. Or we're just interpreting it wrong. As for the resurrection, it best explains the surrounding details and events (e.g. empty tomb, rise of Christianity, martyrdom, female first witnesses, conversion of James and Paul) that alternative explanations comparatively fail to explain. InspiringPhilosophy has a resurrection series where the second video goes over the historical case for the resurrection and competing theories. Dr. Craig also has a structured presentation of it. Loss in translation: There's a neat lecture on RUclips called "How Badly Was the New Testament Corrupted?" by Daniel Wallace. Toward the end of the lecture, he quotes from a book by Bart Ehrman, an atheist textual critic, where he says, "Essential Christians beliefs are not affected by textual variants in the manuscript tradition of the New Testament." Selfish agenda: Enduring severe persecution and even death for one's faith seems irreconcilable with a selfish agenda; there's no self to benefit if you are dead. Moreover, Christianity is a religion that's beneficial to human flourishing. It teaches to love your neighbor and enemy by doing what's best for them. Pray for those that persecute you, bless and do not curse. Don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. It also talks about giving to the poor, visiting orphans and widows in their distress. Do not merely look out for your own interests, but also the interests of others. Therefore, I don't think Christianity is selfish.
You have such a beautiful soul! You are a child of God, and He (your Heavenly Father) loves that you are reaching out to him. It takes time, sometimes a lifetime, to have faith in something we can't see. I love hearing the way you think. You are a good teacher.
First off, thank you so much for your transparency and desire to walk this out publicly! I would challenge the idea that the Bible has been corrupted or changed in any significant way and I think a few RUclipsrs who’s videos can help you walk through this are: Inspiring philosophy Sean McDowell Testify As they frequently tackle textual criticism and the historicity of the New Testament and more. Blessings as you continue this journey of discovery!
Honestly it makes me so excited as a Christian to see this. I can see God working in your journey. And I know he's blessing you because you're seeking him. I know if you continue to discover truth, you'll find it. I look forward to updates on your journey. Jesus is waiting for you, and he loves you.
Thank you for this honest dialog. Many share in your observations and my encouragement is to continue what you're doing, keep seeking Him. God is not willing that any should perish.
Good luck brother. I for one had a very similar experience, and landed on the Catholic faith in a pursuit of truth, and I would hope you could find that for yourself. Praying for you, even if you don't continue on this path.
I love this. The work I do as a Christian minister is all about the journey, so I respect what you're doing. If you ever want to chat, I'd be happy to share my perspective and journey through the maze of truth. No pressure, just an invitation. I sincerely hope you find your way to what you're looking for. Keep posting. I want to know what you learn! :)
I have a lot of compassion for you as I watched this and your previous “30 days of prayer” video. I resonate strongly with falling into media holes and scratching my own itch to “be right” and to feel the comfort of that, but it’s also fueling an anger I have toward something I need to actually release. I relate even now after starting my morning with 2 hours of philosophical debate videos, political videos, etc. my algorithm is convinced I hate Democrats now and I’m just like dang…I feel drained. So, it happens to us all. I wanna be right, I wanna know I’m in the truth. I don’t have big advice for you, but I have so much compassion for you. I wonder, too, if im not so much searching for truth as I am just wanting to be at rest, set free from all my anger and hatred toward myself and others, to know I am living a full life in a bigger-than-my-time-on-earth story. I am also really encouraged by your openness and even seeing you smile as you admit “Man I’m more confused than ever but I’m on this journey”. I’m afraid to even resume that journey MOST of the time! I almost felt like…”dang what im seeing on screen feels so rare I want to protect it, I WANT this guy to find Truth.” I have only ever found my deepest parts of me- my soul, my spirit- met, seen, held, washed, and SATURATED with love from Jesus. I get it, it’s strange. I don’t know. That’s the truth. And then…I find that same feeling, that experience, that “washing”, then love that makes tears get produced from my glands (idk) - THAT I also find meeting me when reading the Bible. There’s my emotions, then there’s truth, then there’s my body and brain chemicals and all that. I consider myself logical! Yet, I have even found myself over time doubting the supremacy of logic. I say this because there’s just deeper things. I don’t know but I have experienced I cannot explain right away with logic or maybe not at all. Maybe it takes me thinking a longer time about them and writing them down like one of these authors. But I work as a graphic designer, I don’t have time for that! Haha. I don’t know what my point is other than I felt so much love for you man. I resonate.
As an atheist who came to Christ, I think your mind set is excellent. It is encouraging to see people who are intelligent and logical being willing to seek and listen. I happen to agree with your aversion towards religion. Indeed, if you read Jesus' words and actions in the Gospels, I think you will find that Jesus Himself is also against religion (just look at how he speak to the Pharisees). The biggest difference I have found between following Jesus and the other religions of the world is twofold: the incredible amount of historical evidence there is for the Jesus, and what it means to be a follower of Jesus. The historical evidence I am sure you are at least somewhat familiar with, as you said you have listened to people who went from atheism to Christianity so I'll just say this: the amount of historical evidence we have for Jesus' life, death, and empty tomb goes far beyond anything we have for any other historical event or events described in other religious texts. This is why I am willing to read and accept the Gospels as being written by the people who were closest to him, those who witnessed His miracles and His teachings. I could say a lot more on this, but a RUclips comment doesn't provide an effect medium. The meaning of following Jesus is especially unique. When people ask if I am a Christian, I hazard to say yes. As my pastor likes to say, "There are two reasons people aren't a Christian today: One, they've never met one. Or two, they've met one." Christianity was never meant to be a religion. The origin of the word "Christian" comes from Greek that means "follower of Christ". So being a Christian was suppose to be a statement of following the person Jesus. Nowadays it has turned into following a set of rules and traditions, and that is the focus. Now, I don't necessarily think those rules and traditions are inherently bad or wrong. Whether they are or not is not the point. The point is Christianity is about a relationship with Jesus. And that is what makes Christianity, following Christ, different from all other theological ideologies I've encountered. This is why I say I think you mind set is excellent. Your focus is seeking and getting to know God, which is exactly what Christianity is about, what is was meant to be about. My suggestion for you would be to read the Bible not as a text book, but with context in mind. For example, when Genesis was written, it wasn't written to give a scientific account of God's creation of the universe. The Hebrews had no need of that and wouldn't have even understood such a thing. Instead, Genesis was written to explain the human condition and why there is a separation between God and man as well as display God's goodness and power. Anyways, sorry for the LONG comment. It is just so refreshing to see someone who is actually seeking truth, rather than just seeking to confirm their own biases, what they want to be true.
So proud of you for this One thing is that praying doenst have as strong as an affect unless you beleive that your worries and burdens are going to be lifted by God and putting your trust into him
This is the first video of yours that I've seen, and I gotta say I love your brutal honesty! Too few people don't want to admit that they may be wrong about something, and even fewer are willing to put in the effort to search to see if they are wrong. That openness from you is refreshing! As a Christian, one book that was very helpful in strengthening my faith was Christianity Considered by John Frame. It's written for people in a situation like yours, and I found it insightful as well. I'm sure you're flooded with suggestions of books to read, but I just wanted to throw one of my personal favorites in the mix. I pray that God reveals himself to you in an unmistakable way as you continue your search for truth!
Hey bud, I'd definitely look into St. Thomas Aquinas if you're going down the faith vs. logic road. Worth checking out. Anyway, God bless you on your journey.
I love this open, continuous striving for truth. Your raw, transparent, and honest questions are ones that I know most people have, but few ask and pursue answers too. Continue to grow, learn and ask. Continue praying, continue seeking, your journey is special and unique, as is everyone's in the comments. For me, all of these questions you are asking, I was asking myself, but from the other side. A person of unbelief myself (not even athiest, simply did not think of these questions until just after highschool) I was suddenly plagued with the unshakable fear of death, and was filled with a deep sense of doom as it is an inevitable and unshakable truth. I turned to Christianity for a way out, and it helped, but at the time, I did not realize the level of Christianity I believed was shallow, and was filled with only knowledge that I had heard from others, and not of knowledge I had studied, or cultivated. Very "Sunday School" level as I would put it. This led down another path of doubt, and ultimately, a failure in belief of Christianity being true. But, like you, I didn't stop looking for truth, and kept searching and learning, not being scared to ask the hard, deep, philosophical questions. This led me back to Christianity, where I am now. There are many comments stating what I came to the conclusion of, @TryinBin8889 has a great comment for that. That conclusion being, Christ fulfilled Jewish prophecy (Judaism cant be the truth), Islam is FILLED will easily found philosophical holes, and does not hold up to even mediocre philosophical truths or historical truth (see "join us or die" mentality) Buddhism and Hinduism just didn't have any relevance to me, and never gave me a sense of real world application or peace, (and don't hold up philosophically either.) If you want recommendations, I can give you 2 very good sources. 1. @CrossExamined RUclips channel, Frank Turek is a fierce debater, who has debated all of the atheist's you spoke about in your last video (Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens), but this channel saved my faith, with real hard philosophy explained, and backed up with scripture, it is an excellent resource for quick Christian responses to hard philosophical questions, which you can look into more yourself, as I did. 2. William Lane Craig has also been a prominent figure in my faith journey. Excellent philosopher with excellent books to read, and some very good debates with some fierce atheist's as well. Wish you all the best in your philosophical walk, or faith journey, if you want to call it that ;p
God is the key to getting through this life. I didn’t understand this fully until I was about 19. Building a relationship with God brought me through dark times. I prayed for peace in the midst of deep pain and God immediately brought me a calming peace that I can’t explain. It was then that I understood the power of the Lord. You are challenging yourself in these ways because God is ready to lead you to him. I am glad you are following his call, even if you are unsure. Good for you.
Hey man! It's so awesome to hear how you're exploring all of these possiblilities. I love how willing you are to learn and consider different sides of things. Faith and religion should be questioned and probed as the truth will ultimately stand up under every possible scrutiny, even if it doesn't always make sense. Keep striving for that truth, and don't be discouraged when things are confusing. It is so encouraging to see you carefully and intentionally working through this! God Bless!❤
I've experienced things similarly (feeling torn between your head and your heart). I considered myself a closet atheist for a while, but I feel like I'm starting to develop a new way of looking at these ideas altogether. Right now, I would define God as "the source of my humanity" or "the ground of my being". This definition is expansive enough to include a deity, some type of cosmic energy, or even just the patterns and flows of the universe. This allows me to engage with the mystery without having to be super sure about things or force it into a particular ideological form. But, I think the most important thing about this definition is that it recognizes that who we are at our core comes from some source and that connecting and aligning oneself with this source (by practicing letting go of the noise around us and baser instincts within us) will lead to a more authentically human life. I was raised Christian and so I aproach my spirituality through the lens of the Christian tradition. It's the one I'm the most familiar with and feel the most sure of. I'm not so sure that the Bible is correct in everything it says, but I do think that if God does exist, His purpose in giving us the Bible was to draw us closer to Him and to offer guidance for godly living. And so, I try to focus more on the lessons and principles of scripture and what that means for me as opposed to whether its literally true or not. For example, as an external reality, I couldn't tell you whether the resurrection occurred or not. As an internal reality however, I have experienced it myself and know it to be true. For me, music is very helpful in sorting through these thoughts. "How It Sets You Free" by Gable Price & Friends and "If It's Not God" by Maddie Zahm both helped me to reach my current perspective. So that's where I'm at right now. Hopefully my two cents is helpful to someone.
This is such an exciting, encouraging journey. I am a man of faith, but that faith has waxed and waned throughout my life. What I have come to see is that what I judge as "true" has changed. What is "real" and "true" doesn't isn't always about material reality. The path to God is about thr journey, not about getting everything "right". May God guide you and keep you on your walk to Him. He's with you for the ride. God bless. 🙏🏻
So excited for this journey for you, I’m glad you’re taking it one step at a time to understand WHY you should believe/not believe. My advice is to not assume that everyone is blinding believing in their books of faith. We believe what we do because we have LOGICAL PROCESSES to come to our conclusion, same as any other person, theist or otherwise. You can definitely use logical and reasoning skills to come to the conclusion that there is a God, praying you find your way there!
What a beautiful and wonderfully honest account of your own seeking of truth. Your open mindedness is frankly refreshing. It is a rare thing to hear an actuality genuine unbiased reflection into someone’s own heart. I think a lot of people can relate with your struggles and are engaging in a similar internal conflict. Makes me wish that I could sit down with you for conversation; knowing that you tube comment section is woefully inadequate for such full and deep subjects. You are absolutely right in suggesting that this is not ab Bynum logical decision, even though it is completely logical. I just wrote this lengthy account of my own experience, and then promptly deleted it. I’ve reasoned that God doesn’t I’ve instead decided that i will simply pray for you…
You are asking all of the right questions. Which means that your answers aren’t that far away . . . at least the beginning of the answers. I am a lifelong Christian but I cannot claim all of the answers. Real truth is like all real knowledge - there is no end, only growth. I haven’t read all of the comments so this may have been mentioned. You wanted a text written directly by God. Have you considered that Jesus is called the Word? That God Himself came as the text and as Truth. And even if you don’t except the authors’ claims of inspiration, we still have an amazingly consistent record of Who Jesus was (and is). God will guide you. Thank you for sharing your story.
We’ve all been there. Christianity might not make sense at first, but keep bringing these questions to God, and He will show you that the answer has been in Christ all along. It’s normal to feel distant from religion, especially when you don’t have the whole picture yet. But this ongoing conversation with God-asking questions and seeking answers-will build your faith. It’s the process Christians go through every day🙏🏽
I think that is what makes the teachings of Jesus so particularly special. Not only is his wisdom effectively flawless in a time period where people were not very wise, but he is wholly self sacrificing and loving which directly demonstrates that he didn't have ulterior motives for power like most religious leaders.
I'm happy to hear your journey. I recently became a born again Christian. I felt empty and I was looking for hope. I just wanted to find the truth. When I put my faith in Jesus and prayed for forgiveness, I felt peace inside me where there used to be emptiness. Jesus is called the Prince of Peace in the Bible, and He gave me peace. Christianity is about having a relationship with God, and we get to have that through faith in Jesus. I'm excited for you on your journey of faith. I hope you keep praying and I'm praying for you!
As a Catholic/former agnostic with a long skeptical streak, I empathize with you. A realization that helped me with my skepticism is this: Both belief and God and non-belief in God require a significant leap of faith, regardless of much logic/lived experience you try to apply to the question. Your job is to determine the correct direction to leap in and make the jump.
I'm hooked. Its really brave of you to share your journey so publicly, while its happening. As a Native American who was raised Mormon and became a Born-Again believer, I still had a lot of questions that even my most trusted spiritual mentors couldn't fully answer to my satisfaction. I needed to find my own answers, so I began learning Biblical Hebrew 5 years ago. I was determined to find the answers for myself. Ultimately, I guess I would call myself a Torah Observant believer in Yeshua Messiah who is a Tataviam (my tribe) Gentile. Its a lot, so I usually just don't. I came to a point where I realized that the more I know, the more questions I have. I have found a peace in being ok with not having all the answers. It motivates me to keep searching, but doesn't discourage me. Im really excited to see where your searches take you.
Praying for you. Keep seeking bro. You’re on the right track. My own story is that I explored and tried many spiritual practices and some religions before finding my home in Jesus (Native American, Eastern religions, new age, Hinduism) after all of that… for years.. I thought to try Christianity. What I did was pray to God and I asked “God, if Jesus really is your son, please show me” the next weeks that followed I started reading the Bible and I saw miraculous things start happening when people prayed in Jesus name and in general, life became organized in a intelligent design and like things started syncing up, and I found myself being guided like you’ve spoken of. It’s hard to explain but basically I no longer lived in a reality of choas but things were like all part of major themes and prolonged incidents of overwhelming coincidence, down to miraculous things, and even strange happenings like seeing physical messages from Him hidden in plain sight. One thing I will say is God is not a god of confusion, that comes from the enemy spirit we know as Satan, hate to tell you, but I won’t leave you ignorant. If you’re seeing Jesus you will be facing opposition. I think that’s a good sign too, something else that sets Christianity apart. Please connect yourself with a seasoned Christian, like a pastor who is down to earth, but biblically solid, or a trusted family member. Because you’re vulnerable alone. Either way God will deliver you through this, but I went at it alone and got some bruises. Would’ve been better with someone I could explain my experiences to and get some clarity about before making the decisions I made.
Glad you are sharing your journey. Encourage you to keep going. These will be wonderful times when you look back. There is more going on behind the scenes than you realize. Suggest two things. 1. You probably already know God is holy. In your prayer, say you want goodness and righteousness. You don't want evil and the demonic. 2. Have a deep dialog with God in your prayer. Ask the question, if he reveals himself to you, will you do whatever he wants of you. You don't know what he wants from you, so that is a big question, and God already knows your answer. You can be honest. If you are not ready, have a discussion. Be open if you need help to change your mind.
Try watching 'The Chosen', by no means is it a substitute of the Bible of course, but it helped me visualise the stories of the Bible and it is also generally enjoyable.
Here's the First Video On My First 30 days of Prayer - 160k+ views - ruclips.net/video/92sIpbb9Wl0/видео.html
Thank you for so many thoughtful and supportive comments ! would really like to read all your personal stories to help me better understand my own
If you want to keep up to date with the journey I'll be posting about it in my free weekly Newsletter lifegamedesign.gumroad.com/
Im very happy to see that youre actively searching for the truth. May God bless you, truly. I hope and pray that you will find God and with him the truth.
Thanks for sharing! This is one of the best, most authentic videos on this topic I've seen.
Allow me to suggest checking out the book "Confessions" by Augustine. The Confessions is probably the most famous autobiographical account of a non-Christian converting to Christianity.
Augustine was not an atheist--properly speaking, there was really no such thing as atheism as we understand it in the Fifth Century. But he was a convert to Christianity.
Importantly, Augustine's Confessions are at the same time 1) devotional (the whole book is written as a prayer), 2) narrative/autobiographical, and 3) philosophical and theologically reflective. Augustine seamlessly weaves together mystical reflections, a narrative of his own journey, and some of the most profound philosophical explorations of what it means to believe in and trust God. I think this book may speak to your questions in an unusual, moving, and illuminating way.
I would argue that the three main Abraham and religions do not stem from the same God. Judaism and Christianity I’m sure you’ve heard it said that the old testament is really just the New Testament concealed and the New Testament is really just the old testament revealed. That’s how I look at it anyways, but Islam is literally a bastardized version of both and if you look into how Islam started, or read the accounts of Muhammad’s life, you will see the truth. In my opinion anyway, I hope you have a blessed day.
I support your views, and I think you should also study Hinduism 🕉 and Buddhism ☸️
Here's something that might help with the struggle of why God and Jesus didn't write anything but rather influenced the Apostles and early followers of God to write. Let's say that Jesus wrote the Gospels Himself. If I told you this, and it were a fact. You still wouldn't know yourself if I am telling you the truth. But, this doesn't mean that it is false. When you said that you were growing closer to God and further from religion, there is only one faith that's purpose is to grow closer to God. That is Christianity. For example, Jesus wasn't only sent to die for our sins, but also to spread love in other ways and show how much God loves us and wants us. I used to be a skeptic, myself. And when I tell you this, I understand you might be hesitant to trust what I am saying. But, I struggle with intrusive thoughts. And it got so bad that I basically had a panic attack during work. But, I did have an encounter with God. The first year and a half of my walk with God I was always fixated on myself and thinking I had to be perfect. I thought that I had to always think right and condemn myself if I ever had a bad thought. But, one night I was listening to a song that someone made after he had a dream about the angels singing around God's throne. He sang this in front of people and they started crying and some even fainted or convulsed violently. This is the process you see in the Gospels where Jesus would drive out demons.
So, what does this have to do with me? Well, I decided to focus completely on God. I sang along with the song and only focused on Him and not myself. This next part is not placebo and I know for a fact. The intrusive thoughts stopped, I fell to my knees and worshiped God. I was crying and my whole body was tingly. I thought at first it was just from how excited I was, but I looked at my hands and there was zero circulation. My fingers actually curled inward. It felt like there was a strong presence inside of my head. I closed my eyes and kept worshiping God. I opened my eyes again because it felt like my head was vibrating or pulsing, and sure enough, my head was actually shaking back and forth. To top it all off, the intrusive thoughts were still nowhere. This is the kind of God that is also drawing you. This God wants a relationship with you. That's what prayer is mainly for. Like I said, I know you might be skeptical because you didn't see this happen to me. And I understand, I really do. But, you need to trust. Dive deep, learn what God wants from you, and let Him do His work.
John 6:44 "Nobody can come to me unless the Father who sent Me draws him". This is what's happening, Michael. You cannot rationalize God nor come to Him on your own. Through prayer and submission, let Him draw you. God bless you, brother.
(ALSO, don't try to force a miracle or encounter with God to happen. He doesn't do the same thing with all people. But, that doesn't mean He won't at some point.)
Man, I'm actually challenged as a Christian myself to become more consistent with praying, because if an atheist can commit to praying for 60 days, how much more should I be committed to devoting time to the God I actually profess to love and worship. Convicting!
I feel the same way!
I'm glad ! I didn't really understand it at the start but my Christian girlfriend said I had helped her grow deeper in her faith. I hope you find answers to your prayers 🙏
@@LifeGameDesignthat is one of my favorite things as a Christian. Started looking more into my faith around this spring as a buddy of mine was starting his journey into the Church. He is a naturally inquisitive guy, and asked me a lot of questions, questions I often had trouble answering. This prompted me to ask my deacon, and got me growing in my own faith as a result.
@@LifeGameDesign
Dude its great that you have a Christian individual in your life, hopefully she will help you along with your journey.
Ive been slacking. The Gospels give me chills but my friend said i should read the old testament to truly understand which i get but its a slog. I feel closer to god hearing other people's testimony more than trying to continue
0:53 I went through this process. I was an atheist for 24 years, finished my science masters, and finally admitted to myself I just couldn't logically make a case for Atheism without some intelligent design behind the things I'd learned. I went on and studied Buddhism (for 3 years), Hinduism (for 1 year, but did not practice this one), Islam (studied for 2 years but did not practice [however spoke with Muslims and spoke with Imam, attended and observed prayer etc]), Judaism (studied for 1 year but did not practice), Christianity (including Catholicism and Protestantism, which I studied for 2 years before ultimately practicing Protestantism). I want to make it clear that when studying, I studied under people who held higher ranks in those religions because I wanted to be correctly guided and knew that if I found 'contradictions' etc, I could be missing out on information that actually bolsters that information if I am led by my own understanding. Ultimately I found that:
- Buddhism's anatta doctrine only holds due to self-perception. There is no objectivity surrounding it except for the subjective experience/illusion, which I already personally hold in contempt (I believe a person's subjective experience should not dictate an objective measure or claim to reality). I also found that many of my questions and skepticisms towards Buddhism were answered in ways that abandoned or twisted core theology to meet with modern science, and I didn't like that.
- Hinduism believes the Earth is on 4 elephants standing on a turtle. When you ask what that turtle is standing on, it is standing on another turtle, standing on another turtle, etc. This infinite turtle phenomena exists because an object that must be created needs to have an explanation that either comes from something that is purely creator or exists outside of the physical realm, else the solution points to something in the physical realm. And because Hinduism does not answer its worldview theory on how the world is held up using something that is pure creator, it falls to the falacy of thing being created holding up thing being created holding up thing being created, which does not adequatly answer the theory of 'creator'. A lot of Hinduism theory including the Gods rely on contingent truths instead of necessary truths, similar to other smaller religions, so I personally couldn't identify with the truth it offers.
- The Abrahamic religions all kind of fell into a cluster for me, because there was a truth I could identify in all of them. The idea that there is an eternal God, who exists outside of the frame of linear time, who is a necessary creator and so by these two definitions can have made a 'beginning of the universe' that exists in a linear timeframe (of which this creator also made). Think of it as a long piece of paper with a timeline drawn on it- everything that is created in this linear timeframe exists somewhere on this incredibly long timeline. But because it is on this 2D sheet, it can only see in 1D (forward, backward and where it is), and physically cannot see off the page. Meanwhile, its creator who exists in 3D can see all of this 2D page at once and yet is not in it. It can, however, seeing all of time all at once, interact with the people in this sheet by drawing on the paper using a pen where they are, and thus also where they are in time. Since God exists everywhere all at once, knows the future and past, and interacts in a spiritual way outside yet also inside of our current 3D realm with us, I felt there was some plausibility to this. However:
- Judaism believes in the Torah and the Old Testament. And yet during the Old Testament, it was prophesized that a Messiah would come before the destruction of the Second Temple, and fulfill certain requirements. Jesus came and did that, all before the destruction of the second temple (which occurred in 70AD). Yet people of Judaism do not believe Jesus was their Messiah, which leads to a fallacy, because they believe they are still waiting for the Messiah and yet one of the conditions of the Messiah coming is already met and cannot be taken back. Since it's fallacious, I don't believe it.
- Islam believes the word of God (Allah), the Quran, is an uncreated attribute of Allah. And yet there are multiple versions of the Quran. The Quran being the uncreated word of God comes with MANY of its own issues that some decent research will very easily uncover, and makes a case thus for the spiritually inspired word of God instead of as an uncreated atrribute. For example, if the Quran is an uncreated attribute of Allah, it cannot be changed, and Muslims claimed that there is only 1 version of the Quran. And yet, there are at least 9 different versions. These aren't versions with scribal errors, these are ones with completely different meanings. The Quran is so different in Morrocco for example, that if a Sunni Muslim preached what they were taught, they may be indicted or executed because of how different the Quran and Hadiths are. Because the Quran has been changed, it is thus not an uncreated attribute of Allah, which in itself proves Islam to be fallacious. This makes the case that spiritually inspired literature, like the Old and New Testaments, are more plausible than a book written/given directly by God subject to human change. There is also the fact that the Quran promises to support the teachings of the Torah and the Gospels, and yet it does not, so Muslims will tell you that the bible is false and corrupted despite being used as an accurate historic primary source for many things, and despite the God in the bible having no contradictions to self until the Quran is introduced. For example, Christians believe in the New and Old Testament. Judaism only believes in the Old Testament, and yet the bible does not need to claim the Old Testament is corrupted in order to prove Christianity is correct, since it doesn't have contradictions with the Old Testament, despite the Old Testament being the main book for another religion. The Quran needs to claim the previous 2 books are BOTH false, despite them being bolstered by 2 seperate religions. Even Judaism could claim the bible is contradictory etc, but for the most part it doesn't and instead claims the bible is not corrupted, but used the Old Testament too heavily to make itself seem reputable. On top of this, the Quran offers theological promises or truths I find questionable. The Quran believes once you get to heaven, you will be able to have vineyards and maidens of like-age (the same age). {Surah 78:31-40] This used to be interpreted as young maidens (who do not have periods), but because this is controversial in todays time, it is currently like-age. But even so, the idea of things of the physical realm such as vineyards, or the idea that God will let us satisfy our fleshly desires which we are free from in the spiritual realm, seemed wrong. If God made s*x for our flesh for the purpose to procreate, and warned us against lust, then why in heaven, where do not have our mortal flesh, would God promise us a place where we can satisfy our s*xual desires? There are many many fallacies in the Quran or just bizarre and non-sensical things, such as the way Jesus avoided his death. Even historians and Jews believe Jesus was crucified, but they believe he was crucified for trying to start an unsuccessful uprising and did not resurrect. Yet Islam believes Jesus rose through the roof and never died despite living a perfect life so that humanity wouldn't be saved. Then what was the purpose of him living a perfect life? And why is Muhumed revered more than Jesus, despite Jesus actually sitting at Allah's side in heaven? Jesus is raised up above creation to Allah [Surah 4:158] and yet Muslims will deny Jesus' divinity and revere Muhumed more. Furthermore, Muhumed lays claims to events that happened 400 years before his 'encounter with God.' Who would I believe about the account of events: Someone who was there and witnessed said event and literally died for it (all the disciples met grusome ends for believing Jesus is God), or someone who came 400 years after the fact? I have many gripes with Islam because in my search for the truth, it just... there really is so much with the Quran that doesn't make sense.
- Christianity. Ultimately, all the contradictions that occur in other religions almost have a "which is why" in Christianity. "Judaism believes a Messiah would come before the destruction of the second temple, which is why Jesus was born and crucified." "Hinduism believes in created objects infinitely holding up the universe which upon inspection doesn't work, which is why Christianity holds to a creator that exists outside of the linear time frame who can act as creator with intelligent design." etc etc. In fact, researching other religions further bolstered the case for Christianity for me, because it introduced fallacies or schools of thought I was not aware of that actually pointed towards Christ being real. There are also a lot of things about Christianity I found to support it, but that will make this comment 4x as long, so I'll leave it done here.
God bless.
EDIT 2: I tried to edit this comment to thank people and provide some links to grow in Wisdom, but RUclips is returning an erorr saying my comment is too long. I will provide a reply around 50 replies below including an edit on some suggestions how to increase religious Wisdom for people who are already Christian. Unfortunately when making suggestions, people had disagreements. Fairly so- perhaps it was ignorant of me to not put a foot note that you should never agree with EVERYTHING a channel says, and should still regard any content you watch with discretion. But that and future edits are below.
EDIT 3: My comment 50 replies below has a summary replying to some contradictions, but this comment has too much engagement and I am not online enough to reply anymore. God bless all of you.
This is amazing…thank you so much for taking the time to share all of this.
@@celinefuchs4095 no worries. I do want to strongly mention, that this is a VERY BOILED DOWN with very few examples summary of my journey, but that journey took years. And that was my truth journey. I recommend for other people to do the same- instead of just looking at my journey, I hope others will go and search for the truth themselves too.
Great insight bro thanks
thx goat
Share the rest under here! I find it super interesting
I recommend "The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel, who was an atheist journalist befoee he investigated the evidence for Christianity. There's a lot of information about the reliability of the text of the Bible, among other things. I think you might be able to relate to him. I will be praying for you!
i second this
I third this.
I fourth this.
I fifth this. I’ve started it and it’s very honest and personal.
I sixth this.
As an former atheist I'm so happy, that you're on this journey of filling this emptiness inside. Just keep searching for Him, and He will reveal the truth to you. I've had 1:1 experience with God, that is hard to logically explain, but that changed both me and my life forever. After experiencing Him and His love for me I've felt the need to start to pray daily, month after I started to feel the need to read the Bible, New Testament. I know the difference between following religion and following God. Christ also spoke about it, and called out religious leaders for being blind, because they've focus more on the Law, not on Love. God just wants us to know Him, believe in Him, and what He did for us, and to learn by knowing Him and having a relationship with Him how to really love eachother. Christ change us inside out, religion tries to change us the other way around. That's why God has power to fill this void. Religion doesn't. Just keep searching with your heart, not with your logical mind. He will come. Amen.
@@OliviaAndersz i love hearing stories like this ! Really gives me hope
@@LifeGameDesign My story is similiar i was an atheist too until my 20s and I literally saw Jesus. God bless man! keep up the search.
One of the best prayers for atheists I’ve heard is “Lord, I want to believe. Help me in my unbelief.”
so imma just say it.
Christianity uniquely centers salvation on grace, which is unheard of in any other faith.
and this is what sets it apart. salvation is not based on human effort or law-keeping, but solely on faith in Christ’s finished work.
100% agree. That's what seals the deal for me. I know that I can't save myself. I can't do enough good to outweigh the bad when even one small act of evil condemns me. I need Jesus.
Even if you are right and that Christianity is unique in that regard, it's irrelevant. Being unique doesn't make it true.
@@drinjj Are you religious? Our lives are short in the grand scheme of things. Some are shorter than others. What do you believe happens when you die?
@@96Logan nope. Not religious. I don't know what happen but given that there is no evidence for anything to happen I would guess that nothing will happen.
Ok. Still doesn’t make it true
I grew up in a toxic religious home and was taught all kinds of lies and a big one was that I wasn’t allowed to question God and his existence but when I turned 18 I started to question everything and my search for God had started, I became a Christian when I was 20 and realized asking questions was the best thing I could do God isn’t a helpless being that shatters with a couple questions He wants to be searched out with passion and asking the right questions so all that to say keep searching and he will reveal himself to you!
Toxic religious Christians do more of a disservice to Christ than athiests do. They push believers and potential believers away from the Lord. I'm so glad you escaped that. God bless.
Being in a toxic religious family is hard, but I want to correct you with something, He already have his hands out everywhere in the world, what I mean is He is there with you or everyone everyday, you don’t need to search for God, you just need to seek him, which is probably what you meant, but the truth is Jesus is always there knocking at the door of your heart, you just have to make the choice of accepting him. And you made the right choice.
Yes! Amen! And sorry your family did that to you:( it’s sad to see how some people give such a wrong view on religion
To comment on the other reply (though I also want to address you, John,) it's true that God finds you, not the other way around. That being said, that doesn't mean you shouldn't seek God. Christ tells us that those who seek will find. We should actively strive to be ever closer to God, but trust Him for the path we need to take to do so. Even after we accept His salvation, which is forever, we should strive to seek Him. I'd accepted Him into my heart years ago, but now I feel closer to Him than ever before, because I've finally understood what it means to give Him my all, without ever holding back. Now, instead of having my faith in the background, I have it in front, considering God in all that I do and constantly searching out His will through prayer, studying Scripture, and holding faith in Him that He holds my path and will give me the answers.
I'm glad to hear that you've found Him, and happy to have you as a Christian brother. Praise the Lord for His infinite mercy, wisdom, and grace!
@@jamesbarringer2737 I mostly agree with you, but be careful with conflating Hinduism and Christianity. Hinduism concerns multiple gods, and while they are manifestations of one God, they are still treated as multiple people that aren't always in perfect unison. Additionally, it's heavily centered around reincarnation, a very unbiblical concept already, but even more so due to that reincarnation being based around merit more than faith. Plenty of religions have elements that, on a surface glance, seem similar to Christianity, but are distorted in some way. Israel was God's chosen people, so they received the truth. They were not just some backwater vassal, but had a long history with periods of both grandeur and decline, as detailed in the Old Testament. After Christ died and gave His commission, the truth was spread more widely, (which was the point of the commandment,) but there is still only one truth, and the Bible makes that very clear.
' “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.'
- Matthew 7:7
'and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” '
- John 8:32
You are doing great! You are searching for truth with an open and sincere heart. Keep going! and don't stop praying. I will pray for you!
Thank you 🙏
@@LifeGameDesign Jesus said " I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me". John 14:6, keep searching brother I was once an atheist in search of absolute truth, everything Ied me to the bible and then eventually to Jesus, may he bless you abundantly
@@LifeGameDesign“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Amen!!
@@LifeGameDesign “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.”
Jeremiah 29:11-14 KJV
Finally a well spoken comment section!! Jesus is the way the truth and the life, praying for you!
@@matthewgostomski4619 I'm very proud that for my first video that's gained a lot of traction, that it's attacting extremely kind and respectful people ! ❤️ Tells me a lot of what the values of Christianity brings.
I'm ashamed to say you would not see this normally in atheist focused videos.
Reminds me of the power in loving my neighbor as myself
This reminded me of a sermon that I watched from Tim Keller. He said "Smart people know that culture is falling apart. And they know that they can't get the genie back in the bottle because we have no basis for moral values anymore. But they don't want to go back to religion because they know that religion produces tribalism and haughtyness but they don't see the difference between religion and the gospel. And we need to show them the difference."
@@brennang.7762 okay I'm really showing myself here but I want to learn. What do you mean by the difference of religion and the gospel?
@@LifeGameDesign of course. Every world religion is always some variation of the idea that we have to do certain things, be a good person, follow these certain rules etc in order to get to God/higher power/enlightenment. It can also cause people to became arrogant and think that they are better than others around them . The gospel which is a Greek word meaning good news, is that we can all be redeemed through the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross, return to the God that created us and live forever in a new creation that has no pain or evil. And this gift is grace. And it is a free gift. All we have to do is believe that Jesus is who He says He is and believe that He was raised from the dead and accept that gift. Acknowledging how broken we are and yet how much undeserved grace we have should humble you. Arrogant Christian should be an oxymoron. That just means that they don't truly understand grace. Ephesians 2 verses 8-9 explain this well. It says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift from God-- not by works, so that no one can boast." This entire faith is based on the resurrection of Christ. And I would highly encourage you to do some research on the historical evidence for the resurrection. Because if Jesus did not really rise from the dead, than it's all a sham and we are wasting our time. But because He was raised, it is true whether we want to accept it or not. If you research you will find that all of the possible explanations other than He actually rose from the dead fall apart. I hope this finds you well, I prayed a lot while writing it haha.
And when I said it is the truth whether you accept it or not I wasn't meaning you specifically I am just meaning in general there are people all the time who chose not to accept something even though it is true.
@@LifeGameDesignmore people need to show “themselves” if we want to grow or find the truth. I applaud your sincerity and honesty. Keep seeking my brother. 🙏🏻
@LifeGameDesign The comment above describes the gospel really well, but it's also something that must be experienced as well as understood. I am so excited for you as I watched this video because you are so close to what you are searching for. You have already taken the first steps towards receiving the gospel - 1, You've acknowledged that you were empty- there was an unmet longing; an emptiness & meaninglessness that you had lived in and also, in a way, caused in your own heart, by rejecting God for so long. 2. You acknowledged that in prayer you received a peace (grace!) that you could not achieve without God (in meditation for example). 3. You acknowledged that Someone has given you good relationships and people in your life that you didn't deserve.
The best thing any of us can do is keep praying and remember that our Heavenly Father is far better, kinder, and more loving than we have ever imagined or feared Him to be. 🙏
I see why you feel closer to God and farther from religion. That’s because Christianity is all about a relationship with Jesus Christ and the grace and love God shows us. It’s so cool to hear about your experiences in seeking God and finding relationship through both logical and faith-based practices! Keep pressing on and know it’s worth a man’s while to search for God
You hit on the key to it all. Great post.
Wow man. I’m a Christian and I’ve never heard somebody describe faith in this way before. I actually just told my roommates about what you read in that book by C.S. Lewis concerning human needs and the fact that since our soul is hungry there must be something otherworldly to satisfy it. You my brother, whether you see it or not right now, are being used by God to spread His love in a way that highlights his complete brilliance. Thank you for this new insight!
@@zayspeed2519 thank you!! Whether god is behind this traction is something that I've pondered since releasing this on a whim. If it is, I think it's really cool
One of the most powerful arguments for Christianity over other religions, is its historical accuracy, logical consistency, and evidence. I recommend you look into the historical method and how the books of the Bible are in line with it.
The Bible is a historical text but is not always historical many parts of the Bible have 0 supporting evidences either from text from the same time or from some type of scientific proof
I can agree to that, I often hear the argument, even in this video, that why would Christianity be the right religion out of so many others. It's because it is based on a variable claim, did Jesus rise from the dead or not. It's like looking at a large tub of yellow balls, there is a ball that's not plastic but gold. Just because they all similar doesn't mean that one isn't true.
While Christianity may have historical elements and internal logical consistency, these factors do not uniquely support its claims over other religions. Its supernatural claims, like those of other belief systems, remain unverified by historical or scientific evidence. The historical method, when applied rigorously, often challenges rather than confirms the accuracy of many biblical narratives.
Historically there was no global flood. Failed.
Genesis 1 and 2 don't have the same creation order. They are contradictory. Consistency failed.
Evidence? None. Failed.
Interesting analogy
Someone recommended "Case for Christ", I would add "God's Crime Scene" and "Cold Case Christianity" both are similar and explain Christianity in a very fact-based manner that helped me better understand/see God in the world and science. As a scientist, it was a breath of fresh air to see facts laid out because it reaffirmed my faith.
Thank you so much for bringing us along on your journey! It takes a lot of courage to invite strangers along as you explore ideas that are so personal to your life.
When I was a newer Christian, I remember being incredibly frustrated by the fact that the Bible was written by humans rather than being directly written by God or Jesus. There was a period of time where I refused to read particular Psalms because they were likely written by David, a man who used his power as king to rape/sexually assault/abuse (people differ on how to exactly define what happened, but it was clearly a severe abuse of power) a woman, and then he had her husband killed to cover it up because she became pregnant. Most of the New Testament was written by Paul, a man who wreaked havoc on the early church out of self-righteousness and hatred prior to his conversion. These are two of the Biblical authors with shockingly abhorrent aspects to their lives, but, being human, all of the authors and editors doubtless had something uncomfortable about them. It's the nature of humanity, and that was incredibly frustrating to me. If God is so powerful, why not write it himself? Avoid all the problems?
But then, as you read the Bible, as you let yourself follow the narrative on it's terms, you realize that God's intention all along has been to work WITH humans. He never intended our relationship with him to be that of an all-powerful and distant king barking orders to a silent and obedient vassal. The relationship he wanted was co-rulership with humans, to walk and talk with them, working together to bring goodness to the world. He wanted an actual loving and growing relationship.
God's insistence on working with and through humans continues despite humanity's massive issues. You'll see him work with Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Judah, Aaron, Miriam, the judges, David, Solomon, the kings, and countless others- all people with very blatant and difficult personal issues. He continuously shows mercy to Israel, his chosen people, even after they begin doing terrible things like child sacrifice. Jesus had former traitors (tax collectors) and would-be insurrectionists (zealots) among his closest followers. And again, Paul was one of the church's greatest enemies and then he became the author of the bulk of the New Testament, and a central figure for most of Acts.
Personally, it's incredibly confrontational. I've been a Christian for over a decade now- I work in ministry- and I still find myself occasionally offended by the people God offers love and grace to (which is everybody). It shows me that I have a judgmental threshold for "how far gone" I believe a person can be before they ought to be rejected. God doesn't have this threshold, and I have to talk to him and wrestle and ask myself if I'm okay with that, if I can accept the grace he has for others. And further, it forces me to take a hard look at myself and ask why I think I'm more deserving than others. Do I really believe I wouldn't have done exactly the same had I been born in such-and-such context? Can I reasonably credit my "goodness" to myself, or to God, who allowed me to exist in the context that I do? Am I really so good, if I'm being completely honest? Again, it's very confrontational, in so many ways.
I think the authorship of the Bible works in a similar way. Had all the Psalms been personally written by God, I would not have experienced the multiple-year journey of walking with him, fighting with him, yelling at him, crying to him as I pored through the Bible, trying to understand if he actually loved women or not. I would not have come to the conclusion that God deeply loves women, that God repeatedly allows entire nations to fall directly because of the abuse of women. I would not have realized that David can be both a horribly messed-up person, and simultaneously someone who desired to write beautiful praises and laments to God, someone who repented, someone who is loved, and yet, someone who was still held accountable for his actions. Like me.
As I grow older, I've realized that the Bible is the start of a conversation with God. If it had been directly written by him, and there was proof that there was no tampering or mistranslation or misunderstanding from any human standpoint, there would be no reasonable room for me to argue and fight and talk with him about it. It would be the end of the conversation. I wouldn't grow and change. I wouldn't have a relationship with him. Since it is written by humans, it gives me room to express myself in light of the words that I am reading. It gives me assurance that I am allowed to have a voice in all this, too. There's a lot more to it than that, but I've already written you a novel of a comment! Sorry about that. I'll close it out now.
All that to say, I definitely relate to the struggles with Biblical authorship. If you decide to read through the Bible, I highly encourage you to take any and all of the questions and issues you have and use them as conversation starters with him during prayer. I'd write them down too, so you can keep track of your thought processes and his replies. Like any conversation with any friend, for it to go well, you have to be open to whatever it is he's going to say and however he chooses to say it.
For some resources on reading the Bible well on it's own cultural terms, you could check out "The BibleProject" and watch their "How To Read The Bible" series. It's a good starting place!
Praying for you as you continue this journey! Thank you again for sharing!
This "novel" is a gem. I wouldn't be surprised, if you wrote it with tears in your eyes. (I am hiding mine ).
Thank you very much. I am going to close the day with this comment on a high note.
God bless you sister. Looking forward to meet you in heaven, and exchange the wonderful things we found in God's Word and His guidance in our life, and maybe, just maybe, some gems of faith, which we shared only with the closest of our friends here on earth.
Oh my gosh. What a beautiful comment. 🙏💞 thank you for sharing
I was in the same boat, wondering what the purpose of life was and why I felt this void, ultimately I had my own encounter with Jesus. It is supernatural by nature, but you know and sense the peace in your core. Believing and surrendering to Jesus changed me supernaturally. You’re on the right path, keep going. If Jesus is truth like he claims to be, I pray you will have an encounter with him. All the love, God bless you!
"As I know Him, and know that He is the Truth that He claimed to be, may you have a encounter with Him". God bless!
Wow, one of the biggest things is that somehow, every christian story heard has a person with a void in their chest that is filled with peace. The fact that I experienced this, you did, others did, and now this youtuber did is big evidence for me. if it really doesn't exist, why can we feel its effects in reality? God is amazing!
I genuienly don't understand.
How did you have an encounter with Jesus ?
Every christian says that but I see literally nothing.
How do you know for sure this isn't just your brain that want to reassure himself ?
We can't even truly know the nature of reality itself.
The purpose of life just is to reproduce like all animals, why would it be different for us ?
lower your zaza consumption thats the first step
@@salehal4291 Your what ???
I recommend checking out Nabeel Qureshi’s works, either books or talks, he was a convert to Christianity from Islam, and his research dealt a lot with the historical aspect of both religions.
I love that you are seeking out stories from converts to and from Christianity, that has been something I’ve tried to do and hope to continue doing as well in my faith journey. While I still have questions sometimes, I will say, throughout my questions Jesus continues to be the one answering them. ❤
Yes, his book Seeking Allah Finding Jesus is really good.
RIP Nabeel
I was going to recommend that too! Glad you mentioned him! His book "Seeking Allah Finding Jesus" was incredible!
Hello. This might nog count for much but who knows maybe it'll help. I'm 14 years old and I was a "Christian" I did what I wanted how I wanted when I wanted. The end result of that was an addiction, self loathing, and suicidal thoughts, but then about 1 week ago something incredible happened when. What I saw and understood can hardly be described by words, especially written ones. To summarize my addiction is gone I'm filled with joy each and everyday and I love myself and those around me. It took me ten years to return back to the way I started after getting saved. God is real and he has more love for you than there is on earth.
Keep going and don't give up.
What do you mean it took you 10 years, you were 4 years old 10 years ago
@@csar07. I'm guessing he means when he was 14
His age doesn’t matter, keep going buddy. See ya in heaven
My experience is exact opposite. When I was religious I was addicted, suicidal and just depressed. Once I left it I became happier, I do not crave the things I was addicted to and finally I am not suicidal. I am so thankful for the youtubers who shared their story
So awesome to hear about your journey so far! To add onto your endless list of recommendations--Gavin Ortlund, Jimmy Akin, Tim Keller, and of course C.S. Lewis are all fantastic, well-spoken, and from all over the Orthodox Christian spectrum. I will most definitely be praying for you!
"I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ" -Phil. 3:8
You asked "What should I trust from the bible, if anything at all?" and the answer I would give is this - Trust the interpretations that lead to a deepening experience in your practice with prayer and don't trust, or set aside, interpretations that don't lead to deepening experience. When practice is right, suffering will decrease, so use that as your guide. Don't let little intellectual details such as "6 days" distract you from the real work of prayer, surrender, forgiveness, and letting go. You got this!
Keep seeking and you shall find. You're on the right track. God is calling you.
Honestly, get in touch with Ruslan who reacted to your video. I’m sure he’d love to help you and talk to you. I can already guess most of his responses to you, you can trust him, and he’ll go about it with love and truth. I’ll keep praying for you
Bumping this
🎉
This☝️
He's right ruslan would be perfect
I love your story. This a beautiful testimony of faith. I pray you find truth, peace and joy on your journey. - As someone who grew up in the church, left and then returned 10 years later, I know what it feels like to both leave and return to Christianity. Although it wasn’t easy, I wouldn’t change my path because my faith isn’t just founded on obedience to the church but in true recognition and acceptance of Jesus as my loving savior. ❤ It’s hard to explain God’s ways because they are beyond our comprehension. All I know is, a step in faith towards God is a step in the right direction. - I just subscribed! Can’t wait to hear more!
OMG. I agree with every single word. I could've written the same comment and also subscribed. I'd like to add that, in those 10 year apart from Him, my heart wanted to reject Him, wanted that He didn't exist, but He kept revealing Himself to me and I only yielded myself to Him when the void inside me had consumed me greatly. Finally making peace with Him was the start of a challenging but fulfilling life.
@@andreymoab4264 OMG = Oh my God. Don't use God's name in vain!
I fully appreciate what you’re doing , and that you’re doing it so openly, and so well. Thank you so much for sharing such a personal thing - I’m sure it will be used for so much good.
Just wanted to share some light. Faith is not belief without reason. Faith is belief with reason to believe. For most people, those reasons are very simple and should not be valid, but for some those reasons are well thought out, existential, and/or evidential. You don’t have to trick yourself into believing. Just dedicate yourself to the things that you can know with some certainty and continue to learn more and test the things you learn. At a point, you will meet Christ, and then you will know without a doubt.
You're on your journey, this is all part of it. Dealing with difficult issues found in the Bible doesn't mean it's not true. May God be with you. I'll pray for you brother.☦️
Nothing has real meaning without God. Christ is the way the truth and the life.
I was Christian and then became an agnostic. Then after 13 years God showed me through science that he is the God of the Bible who made the universe. Look how science confirms more the biblical explanations then any other book. Just the last four days are equal to the theory of evolution and how life evolved.
Also many other things which become so real and that made me looking for Jesus. Not as religion but as an relationship.
If you refer to the last 4 days of genesis, claiming that it equals to the theory of evolution is a very courageous interpretation, it makes some dubious mistakes, like birds being created before land animals. Everything also came from a mono cellular ancestor (According to modern science), while in the bible it says "let birds fly above the earth", seemingly creating fully evolved birds that can fly, not a mono cellular organisms. The creation of the humans also displays no mention of an evolutionary process, humans directly came to exist in the image of god. And the process that is described when the humans are created has no similarity to evolution. So no, science pretty much contradiscts the bible whenever it tries to explain the creation of any element of our world or any natural phenomena. Please share any other parts of the bible you believe to be scientifically accurate so we can discuss further.
@@degle1923 first of all. It is still a big question mark where birds come from (and the ancestors are not Dinos) because scientists don't know where birds have their feathers. The complexity of Feathers and scales are so different that it takes too many evolutionary steps that it could be alone from evolution. Therefore science don't still know where and when birds were coming into existence.
But that evolutionary steps are from water to plants to water animals /birds to land animals to humans. I see a lot of parallels to the normal evolutionary theory. So don't know why you can't accept these parts and that no other religious book come as near as the Bible.
Also the Bible explains where information in DNA or natural laws come from. Through the words of God.
@@degle1923 OP is probably Creationist-leaning, not sure.
You can be an evolutionist and a Christian.
@@jhadow1869 The ancestors of birds are very much believed to be dinosaurs/reptiles, many of the popular carnivoure dinos like the t-rex are believed to have been covered in feathers. About the order of living organism creation now, so vegetation was created first on day 3, considering that the sun was made the next day this is very strange, god made plants to feed on sunlight but created the sun after? Anyway, next come the water and flying animals on day 5 i believe. While the first organism probably formed in water, the evolution from that organism to a bird was millions of years, and they happen on the same day. Also consider that land animals should be somewhere in the middle of these two in the evolution timeline, yet they happen on the next day. Now the land animals and humans on day 6. Again, from the first land animal to the first human like mammal, probably not yet in the image of god, there is again a huge ammount of time, again strange to be on the same day. So yeah i am a bit skeptical with the biblical creation process to say the least and don't consider it to go alomg well with evolution. Probably why the church was very much avainst the theory when Darwin first proposed it. Also I didn't get the DNA part, i m not sure where the bible talks about DNA.
@@degle1923 If God can create the universe he doesn't necessarily need to follow your logical order of operations. A lot of people argue, "How did he make day and night before he made the stars (suns)?! Haha GOTCHA!" But if you read the Bible you'll see God IS Light, and in Heaven there will be no need for stars and moons because HE will be the Light. Jesus is already the light inside all mankind. Which is in my opinion confirmed by the study at Northwestern university which found that theres a chemical reaction which causes a flash of light when the sperm meets the egg. People will write these things off as coincidence, but do you think ancient people knew this to be true 4000 years ago? Absolutely no way. Unlike Islam where they make claims like embryos are skeletons first and then covered by skin; verifiably false.
All this to say basically; God created Adam in the form of an adult, he didn't have to be born by a woman, he didn't have to wait and grow up and age, God made him instantly how old he looked and everything. So if the universe looks 14B years old, that doesn't really matter. Carbon dating is an assumption, super flawed at that. They dated freshly formed rocks from volcanic eruptions and they were dated to hundreds of thousands of years old, but they were decades old.
There's prophecy in the Bible that has been proven right over the centuries, I don't believe any have been proved wrong, and some future ones that sound like today's technology. I'd suggest looking into specifically end times prophecies. Euphrates river drying up. The moon appearing to rust. Jacobs star just returned, which signals the end is near. Israel is surrounded by Armies of its enemies. Read Ezekiel 38 and 39, Revelation 20, and Daniel 9 (27 says there will be a time when Israel signs a peace treaty with the anti-christ)
I could go on and on, but yeah, there's no convincing me otherwise. Jesus is real, he is God, he proved it, his disciples died for no normal motives, they died trying to save peoples souls because of what they saw. Sadly people want a time machine to see it too. Theres plenty of evidence, how much do you want to ignore? Example: The purest sulfur everywhere in the world (except 2 locations) is about 30-40% pure. Guess where its 98% pure? Sodom and Gomorrah. "Oh well?" Yeah.. for the message of the cross is folly to those who are perishing. Exactly..
Really quickly I just wanted to express how awesome it is that you are looking at both sides of Christianity and Atheism and even different religions all together. Although what you said about the Bible being written by a lot of different people is true, but it’s interesting that even though it was different people it still all connects and has the same story throughout the Old and New Testament, even being written by different people it has a flow of thought, and throughout is just looking for a perfect king and savior which in the New Testament is revealed to be Jesus Christ. Thanks for taking us on this journey with you, I hope you will continue posting your journey and hopefully inspire other people to look into all of these things for themselves especially if there losing hope in this life.
Love your videos on this and perspective. As a youth pastor, I myself also am not a fan of religion in all of its senses. I deconstructed my faith and then came back to it in my college years. Because I found that most of the problems I had with it were from people representing spirituality and belief and not from the belief itself. Now I’m dedicated to representing God for who he is not who I want him to be. And I also seek to listen to people that disagree with me daily to improve my perspective.
But I want you to know that many scholars do not believe that Genesis 1 is literal, but a poem conveying larger messages over a literal timeline. This is a genuine argument as many scriptures are written in this way and genre is extremely important. Genesis 1 is beautiful because its primary message isn’t about the days, it’s that what God created was made to be good! Everything he created was good. And he created humans in a unique way. Those are the big take-aways from that passage.
Also if God was real, wouldn’t he find a way to portray himself through his scriptures? Even amongst people getting in the way. I think your critique is extremely sound by the way. But it is through reading the Bible for what it is and not the bias it was taught to me in (and reading other holy books) that I found truth that resonated with me the deepest. I encourage you to give them a real shot. Even if they are not true, what harm can come of reading them. Perhaps the people who wrote them wanted more good from it than you are assuming. And reading scripture from anyone seeking God can provide insight and wisdom.
I was born into a Christian family and have had experiences since I was young that I couldn’t explain naturally. I’ve follow in faith to the best of my ability since childhood. I’ve recently found so many more answers coming from Orthodox Christianity, on how to experience God and make more sense of what can’t be explained with logic. I will pray for you, that you find truth and peace in your journey
Hey there! I highly recommend listening to the Bible in a Year podcast by Father Mike Schmitz. He reads it excellently, but then he offers his interpretation at the end of each episode so you're not simply swimming in this complicated book alone with so many questions. It's on most platforms but I find Spotify is best due to it keeping track of where you left off so well.
When I was diagnosed with leukemia in November of 2022, after 20 years of atheism/agnosticism, I knew it was time to turn to God. This podcast helped me so much while I was in the hospital. I hope it helps you, too.
1:18 I could sit here and tell you which texts I believe in, and play apologetics, but the best thing is to ask God Himself what He would have you do. Ask Him to help you find it.
You can choose to allow your experiences to act as a study guide for the future or you can allow them to “imprint” and become who you think you are.
Our identities if not directed towards a true, permanent and unchanging source will inevitably be blown away like dust in the wind.
Identities built on looks,wealth,occupation or material goods will all fail under the right pressure. Insatiable desire only leads to emotional vacancy,
Attachment to trauma allows the pain of yesterday to rob you of today’s happiness. Christ is my Foundation. I may not do everything right, however I know that if my identity is within him and built upon him I will not be carried away by smooth talking individuals tickling my ears to rationalize “my” latest desire.
A sheep cannot be its own shepherd. In a world where opinions of right and wrong are ever changing shouldn’t we seek who is real and concrete?
Forgive yourself and others too because otherwise it’s just a self imposed prison of worry and spite, why allow the evil others submit too be something that influences you as well?
Why allow the emptiness of this world rob you of The real and lasting joy of a life fulfilled by and for Jesus Christ?
It started several weeks beforehand late at night when I was overthinking everything,my purpose/the meaning of life. I was unemployed teetering on the edge of addiction and suicide trying to push away thoughts of parenthood and while in this stupor I felt I had an epiphany , it sounds simple at second thought but as I was so egotistical it astounded me. Ego=imprinted environment. From that point forward I felt I had found a piece of the truth but didn’t know what puzzle it belonged too, as the weeks went by I found my answer. Now at this time my addiction had peaked however it didn’t stop me from “building” a philosophy that I thought would change the course of not only my life but the lives of those around me who I incessantly repeated this message to… much to their dismay. I still hadn’t realized the significance of it all but had a good grasp on what it could mean. This is a much cleaner example of what I ended up telling people
How can we change the perception of who we actually are away from what our environment convinces us to become.
After all if we truly are the sum total of our experiences what happens when trauma interjects? Won’t our solution be in error?
If all our “coping skills” are attached to normalized corruption won’t we then normalize that corruption upon others? How can we expect to prevent the spread of evil if we incorporate it into our identity?
In summary if we shape ourselves in a world of corruption won’t we too be corrupt?
I was telling this to many members of my family in a manic way that only someone who forgets what he’s doing every 5 minutes can do. I had the message however I hadn’t taken it to heart.
If I had I wouldn’t have attempted suicide shortly after by laying on train tracks, by gods grace however I changed my mind and walked away, not knowing what would come next I allowed the police my family had called to take me to the nearest hospital in order to be checked into the psych ward.
While waiting in the the holding area before full admission I noticed a man in the next room crying and felt an undeniable urge to speak with him. Now I knew of Jesus at that point and to be honest had a messiah complex myself however I think that was really the last shred of ego I had struggling to come under submission of god. Anyhow I believe it gave me the confidence I needed to share the message I thought I had formulated. Now this man had been through unspeakable pain by those who were most responsible for protecting him at a very young age, he however did not lose his faith which amazes me to this day, especially considering part of his trauma that had occurred had been caused by a member of the church. He did not lose his childlike faith like many of us would have. After our talking of identity and discussion around traumas and how the people that hurt him most likely had the same normalized to them otherwise how could they normalize it upon another. I saw that
He was carrying a catholic Lenten companion and I can’t remember if I asked to read his favorite part or if he showed me but that’s beside the point , what he admired most in that book many I believe would overlook or take for granted, a story of a family just out in town getting ice cream enjoying the day together. Well after this story we kept reading and it’s as if a light bulb went off for for both of us when we reached a paraphrase of Matthew 18:3 where Jesus speaks about becoming as a child otherwise we can’t enter the kingdom of heaven. In that moment there was an extreme feeling of the presence of god because what had started as mystery weeks before had culminated in that verse connecting it all together. I had finally found where the puzzle piece belonged. Death to our old self and resurrection in the image of Christ is the answer.
I would highly recommend the RUclips channel Testify. He breaks down a lot of hard theological questions into simpler terms, shows evidence for Christianity, and shows logical inconsistencies with other major religions claims
So intelligent and well articulated. Saying you can’t trick yourself into either is so incredibly true. Faith is a gift! We can’t pretend to have something we have not been given. I pray that the gift of salvation is yours, soon ❤️❤️
At some point, prayer becomes just a natural, ongoing dialog with God that never really ceases, only briefly pauses for life activities and sleep.
Super encouraged to see your journey. :) You're open, asking for guidance, and you're hungry for the truth. I fully believe that indeed, if you seek Him, you will find Him. Might be a long journey, but God will not abandon you. Keep seeking!
I was once in a similar position to where you are, faced with the weight of comparing countless religions, having to disprove every possible cult in order to sift my way to the truth. I was trying to be as objective as possible, setting aside my biases in the process, and I won't lie-- it was truly exhausting. In fact, the deeper I got, and the more knowledge I gained, the more confused I felt. It seemed there would never be an end to the counter-counter-arguments to refute the counter-arguments... I eventually also had to admit that I was not going to be able to logically prove/disprove or "solve" religion. There was no "silver bullet argument" that would magically resolve all the fog-- merely a thousand smaller arguments that each point a certain way-- But who can keep that many thoughts in their head to evaluate the big picture? So eventually I got fed up, and much like you, I just tried to reach out to God. I did all I could to seek him humbly, asking that if He were real, he would show up for me and give me something I could hold onto-- So I would have some point in my own life where I would be able to point back to and say "even though the evidence always seems to be shifting, I know that in THIS moment, God showed up for me, so I can hold onto that faith." ...And thankfully, God honored my surrender, and he did indeed show up for me. In just a small, well-placed couple of coincidences, but at the perfect time, at the crescendo of my crisis. It wasn't a cloud-parting light, but nevertheless it was a perfectly efficient little whisper of encouragement, and was exactly what I needed to continue the next step in my own story. And that little push was all I needed to carry along a path that has since explained these thousands of paradoxes in a far more satisfying way. Now, the same evidence that seemed so evenly-split before seems so laughably one-sided that I'm amazed how blinded I was by my battling worldviews. Obviously no matter how much of a nerd I was, I don't have every single answer... (Who could, but God?) But in what percentage I do know, I love to geek out about how every aspect of our world points wholeheartedly to Jesus.
I'll just leave you with one helpful tidbit... You mentioned doubting that the bible would have been able to remain intact/unchanged across thousands of years of copies and tradition. Look up "the dead sea scrolls." They are ONE of several good arguments to why the Bible is still trustworthy, and one of the better physical evidences of it. But again, I'm not here to argue you anywhere, since I know how exhausting the knowledge route can be. I have full confidence you're on the right track, and I'll be praying for ya, brother!
I'm sort of walking through the "knowledge route" right now. I'm not so much doubting that God exists, more that he's good and merciful and loving. Were you ever heavily confused by passages in the Old Testament? Even after looking into answers from apologists trying to explain these passages, nothing seems to make any sense. Laws about slavery (look in Leviticus 25), women being treated as property and this not being addressed by God, Jesus declaring love and peace when the God of the OT wanted war, things left unsaid by God that could have massively improved humanity (the existence of bacteria, for example) AND proved him as God, paying attention to details like not wearing mixed fabrics but not saying anything on spousal/child abuse, the list goes on. I also don't understand how Christians can be so argumentative and divided from one another even though they're all supposedly guided by the Holy Spirit. Watching RUclipsrs like NonStampCollector caused me to doubt heavily and made me really question what the Bible says. God is supposed to be omniscient, all good, all justice, all perfect love. But the Bible doesn't seem to show that, just claims it. How did you overcome these problems?
@@rachelcunneen Dear Rachel Cunneen, would you do me a favor because the Old Testament has things that are hard to understand at the moment, go to the New Testament because it is for this New Dispensation that we live in, when you understand God and His Son Jesus better, then the Old Testament will make so much more sense to you. If you are so serious in wanting to know the truth, then at that time go in prayer to God and with a contrite heart ask Him to show you the truth and then read John’s Gospel all the way through and if by then you do not have this personal relationship with God who will become your Father, when you do have that personal relationship, if you still do not feel that closeness then again ask God to reveal Himself to you by way of His Word and again read John and if you want this more than anything else He will then reveal Himself to you. He has been my Heavenly Father now for over 44 years starting when I was thirty. I have had Joy and a Peace I had never known before I was thirty.
@@rachelcunneen Dear Rachel, would you do me a favor because the Old Testament has things that are hard to understand at the moment, go to the New Testament because it is for this New Dispensation that we live in, when you understand God and His Son Jesus better, then the Old Testament will make so much more sense to you.
If you are so serious in wanting to know the truth, then at that time go in prayer to God and with a contrite heart ask Him to show you the truth and then read John’s Gospel all the way through and if by then you do not have this personal relationship with God who will become your Father, when you do have that personal relationship,
@@rachelcunneen if you still do not feel that closeness then again ask God to reveal Himself to you by way of His Word and again read John and if you want this more than anything else He will then reveal Himself to you. He has been my Heavenly Father now for over forty-four years starting when I was thirty. I have had Joy and a Peace I had never known before I was thirty.
Saint Augustine's book: Confessions is an atheist to christian classic. he is a very fine fellow
Agreed. Also “Confessions” is another great one.
@@renee-claudetanguay9738as the original comment already suggested that book, were you going to suggest another one perhaps? (Sorry if it sounds rude, English is not my first language)
@@Laura-ef3mmNope, same book 😂 I miss read the tittle he suggested. Not rude at all, very insightful question 😊
Thank you so much for putting your journey online. I can promise you that you will find God because you seek Him with your heart. Keep praying. Ask Him for clarity and wisdom and He will give it
So well spoken and so well thought out. Even as a Christian I still have my own doubts and questions but there’s just something about Jesus and the Holy Spirit that keep me coming back. There’s no other peace, or joy like it. Praying you get to experience the same undeniable encounters someday. May God bless you on your journey 🙏
7:35 If you're looking for a source of truth coming from Jesus himself, it's actually very simple : while Jesus didn't write anything, he spoke. He not only transmitted knowledge of how the scriptures revolves around him to the apostles, but since he is himself the word of God, he gave himself to the apostles during the last supper. Finally he gave them the power to transmit it to the believerd of Jesus and to name successors, which gave birth to the Catholic Church.
Short answer : what you seek is in
1. The ministry of the catholic church, and in written form in the catechism
2. The sacraments of the catholic church, especially the eucharist
What I want to add is that from the flow of your video you seem to think that truth cannot come from an external observer, but from God himself revealing himself to us. And I think you are absolutely right. I can only encourage you to look into biblical archeology, church history and deep dive into the gospel and the entire new testament, and I believe that you will find not only that God spoke to us, but also came in flesh to live with us through his immaculate mother Mary and gave his life for us to not only know but also partake in the divine plan.
Credit to you for your honesty and integrity. It certainly is a paradox that you affirmed logic for your beliefs in the last video while I, as a believer, hold so confidently to logic for my beliefs.
What is good on this is that you started in the best place, with prayer, but when it cimes to rational/logical analysis, that is a big mountain to climb, especially when we have that critical mindset. Doubting Thomas was the last to accept Christs ressurection but his critical standpoint served to affirm Christianity to a greater degree.
So by all means begin to enter the maze. A well informed believer, through experience can provide an answer to all your enquiries, but the critical mind will most likely take time.
Most peoples faith is experiential. It is a combination of rational evidence and fruitfull living of a belief system. So I encourage you to maintain the prayer element. Talk to the God you are not sure exists, and continue the analysis. There is much of interest to learn, and clarity will come. I pray for God's presence in your life. And as one confident voice among the multitude I affirm Catholicism. A nice basic intro to apologetics from my belief system, that I recommend, is the book "college apologetics"
I think I gave some advice the last time you posted, but I no longer think it's the best approach - God has you in the palm of His hand; you don't need me to interfere. You have countless people recommending all sorts of wonderful resources to you, and I have no doubt that you will find the answer your heart is yearning for. If you want love, peace and joy, you will find the God of love, peace and joy. If you want logic, truth and reason, you will find the God of logic, truth and reason. Whichever way it is, you will then realise that these are the same God!
I wish you all the best in your journey; I will stay tuned!
As a Christian who went to evangelical seminary I can understand why it's challenging to get faith and logic under one roof. Long comment coming up about faith and logic, and how to deal with Genesis 1-2:
Faith and logic: I would look at it this way: if God is real and created us in his image, then things like rational thinking are also "in his image" and therefore good. We use the mind to discern things in this world, and to make educated guesses or decisions. But at the same time, it's not irrational to recognize that there are things we can't rationally comprehend. If God is truly God, then he transcends the human intelligence and understanding. That doesn't mean we shouldn't ask questions (Jesus himself questions a lot of his culture of his day, etc.) but it means that our mind isn't the highest source of truth, it's not a God.
As far as the issue with creation in 6 days goes, Genesis 1 and 2 are not meant to be read as modern science articles but as historical-theological narrative: we actually miss the point when we try to put our modern measures /expectations on an ancient Text, rather than read it as the authors likely meant it. What we know is, historical accuracy as we know it today wasn't the primary concern of ancient scholars, rather, they shared values and statements about God and their world through their stories and religion. In the case of Genesis, the first chapter is actually a direct theological statement of demystification, a stark contrast to the ancient Babylonians of the time. The point isn't whether God literally took 6 days, but that he is the tamer of primordial chaos (instead of Tiamat vs Marduk). And the point of him creating the sun, moon etc is that those things are creations, not Gods (which was how Babylonians, Egyptians etc. saw it). And Genesis 2 gives us fundamental truths about human relationships with God and another: God is a loving, close creator (forming from clay, breathing life etc) and he sees human need for community. So the woman is created as an equal partner (from the rib, an image of her being of the same substance and side by side). And her role as "helper" is not a kitchen maid, but that word "helper" is used for God throughout scripture, so she is given enormous dignity.
I hope this is helpful, and I commend you for your open mind and journey with faith and atheism etc. I'm praying for you to find answers and wish you the best
8:21 A lot of Christians, myself included, feel this way too (if they are honest with themselves). It may not make much sense to you right now, but to counter this point, I'd say do a study of Romans chapters 7 and 8 in the New Testament, and the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament. God bless you, sir, and may He continue to reveal Himself to you (Acts 8:26-40)
Hi! I just wanted to say I really appreciate your insights and your willingness to share your quest for Truth. I am joining you in prayer that you find it…or rather that He finds you. Once you discover Whose you are, your life will never be the same. Changed my own life 4 years ago❤️
Cheering you on from Hawaii!
As someone who has grown up believing in God and grown in my faith as I have gotten older, while simultaneously considering myself a very logical person, something I can say with a fair amount of confidence is that when it comes to God you cannot rely on human logic. That can be a difficult thing to process, but it's true. I do think that once you reach a certain maturity in faith, logic and faith can almost go hand in hand. To me, C.S. Lewis is a perfect example of this. There comes a point where your faith is so strong and so integral to you that viewing the world through a lens of logic that doesn't include that faith is basically impossible. The topic of spiritual warfare comes to mind. To someone else, a ton of bad things happening in your life consecutively might seem like bad luck or a coincidence, but to someone of faith that would be an example of a spiritual attack on your life.
If you're concerned about the corruption of text, I suggest going back to original translations of the text. That might seem like a long process, and sometimes it can be, but there are things like the Blue Letter Bible that allow you to look at a verse and see the original Hebrew or Greek along with a direct translation of whatever word is used. I think when it comes to the Bible, sometimes it can be hard to trust different translations, but you can very easily cross-reference them through bible apps if necessary.
I think something that needs to be stated about denominations, at least of the Christian church, I don't know anything about anything else, is that frequently what differentiates that denomination is not what you would expect. For instance, some denominations don't believe in music in the church. They will sing, but they will not use instruments. In the Bible instruments are used all the time, but in the New Testament there is no direct mention of instruments being used so they don't use them. Personally, I don't subscribe to that belief because to me, if you weren't supposed to use instruments it would be stated, but that is what they believe. Sometimes with denomations it truly just relies on what your own belief and interpretation of the Bible is and you go with whatever church also holds those beliefs. There are also nondenominational churches(which really makes it a denomination within itself) which is what I was personally raised in and they take the Bible as it is rather than applying the "theology of man"(what created denominations in the first place).
Another thing about the Bible is that it can be up for interpretation. Of course, there are certain things that are straightforward(seemingly), but in the end there are layers and new interpretations to everything. In the end, sometimes all you can really rely on is your own relationship with God and for God to help you in your understanding. That's why 10 pastors can focus on the same verse but still manage to teach different messages. I know that can seem discouraging or even daunting, but if you read the Bible I would encourage you to bring prayer into that time too. Ask for understanding, for wisdom. There are several instances in the Bible where it mentions having eyes to see and ears to hear and I would encourage you to pray for those too. It might seem odd or silly, but "seek and ye shall find" ya know.
When it comes to what text to believe, I do think it can be good to analyze certain things. For instance, I once found a man on RUclips(@/ReeseGivesLight) who was formerly a Muslim but now he follows Christ. I personally know nothing of the Quran, but he knows it intimately and can even tell you points where it contradicts its own messages. (Keep in mind, I've only watched his testimony and one to two other videos so if he says anything crazy I didn't know about it lol.) Then when it comes to the Torah, it is within the Bible. The Torah is part of the Bible's Old Testament. The thing that begins to differentiate the Bible is that it includes the New Testament, the works of Jesus and onward, and Judaism doesn't believe Jesus was the son of God. This might already be information you're familiar with since I'm sure you're doing your research, so forgive me if anything is redundant.
God is full of endless mystery and I cannot attempt to tell you that things will ever fully make sense, but like I said, "seek and ye shall find". God is a mystery, but he wants to be known. I have no doubt you'll find the answers you're looking for. Also, if I may, I would like to recommend another C.S. Lewis book to you. The Screwtape Letters is meant to take place from the perspective of a demon(devil) writing to his nephew as they interfere in "the Patient's" life. It's not a read you would probably expect to be recommended while you're still figuring things out, but I think it can be very eye opening. In your situation, I think letter one might be interesting. After writing out this unnecessarily long essay I'll leave off with this, God is not a God of confusion. That statement within itself might seem confusing, but when you find the truth you will know it and any confusion that comes to you is not of God.
Thank you for this ! really compelling me to read the Screwtape letters now !
@@LifeGameDesign No problem! If you do read it I hope you enjoy it!
"I do beleive, but help me overcome my unbelief!" Mark 9:24
Hi there! What a beautiful attitude you have. I wanted to encourage you to go and visit a church. Just hearing peoples life experiences can help you to realise the truth. Even if it’s not laid out logically, as you said, it’s a step of faith!
I love this journey you're on! There's a book called "The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel. He also was an atheist and had a lot of the same questions you currently have. He goes on a journey, meeting with different scholars/professors/etc. seeking the truth for himself. I'd highly recommend it! Thanks for sharing your experience!
You're on the right path bro. I was an agnostic for over a decade. I researched all major world religions and read/studied eastern philosophies extensively.
I initially left Christianity and searched for fulfillment in philosophies like Stoicism and Buddhism which did solve the dilemma for having a clear set of moral guidance to live by and finding peace. But there were still so many things unanswered that these systems didnt even pretend like they knew the answer to.
I came out of it with an immense appreciation for all world beliefs and the validity to why someone would follow each one.
I found With Judaism, the prophecy within the texts had been fulfilled eith Christianity, and while I respect Islam, I found way too many issues with Muhammad PBUH being considered a valid prophet given his history and questioned him being visited alone in secret by an angel and given a new set of texts that overwrites the old ones, essentially makes God a liar, and fueled a siege of military conquests in the name of his religion, marrying 11 different women (including a Child), and all of this happening 600 years after Christianity.
In the end I began to lean on faith more than reason and not question things as much as I had before. I understand the logical fallacies presented and perceived contradicions within the Bible and science. The story of Jesus and worshipping him as the ultimate role model just felt right and seems to bring peace and meaning to the lives of many. So now I just roll with it. I dont understand all of it and probably never will. Still it makes more sense to me and brings more fulfillment than all the other options.
Hope this helps. God bless bro
You can ask yourself: “If there is one true God that had the power to create everything, wouldn’t He then have the power to write a book through people and preserve it until the end?”
But why a book at all? Why not communicate in some other way, if He had a message he truly wanted to be known? For most of human history, the vast majority of people have been illiterate. He had the power to bless the Bible (when written without error) in such a way that anyone who looks upon the pages will gain understanding, even if they **can’t** read. But he did not. Why?
Each time someone asks why "God did not do a more _sensible_thing_", the only viable answer that's left "Because he values our free will". "He wanted us to choose freely, yada yada...".
"Freely" as without any real comprehension of the reality we are in.
@@bdi_vd3677What value does our free will even have if not respecting God's will ends in eternal torment. Does a dictator offer a free choice when he tortures you if you don't follow his instructions?
Edit: I am sorry, after reading your comment again, i am no longer sure if you argue for or against God:)
@@degle1923 I am not arguing against God per se, but against jumping through logical hoops to arrive to the conclusion you wish it was. So I don't align perfectly with Christians that I`ve met.
Although the concept of separation from God as a state of "hell" understandable to me, but being thrown in the lake of fire sounds radically cruel and inconsistent. Something a person of past would come up with to prevent others from departing from faith.
Also the story of Eden is too shady.
@@degle1923 I've been patized for nearly 2 months and I can say that it was definitely a spiritual event. But. I struggle to percieve God as the trinity in the sense that nothing I did in the past months made me feel in any way his presence as a person.
The spiritual process allows a significant change of character, but nonetheless I feel alone, although not lonely in the least.
It`s slightly unusual, but as prepared as I was for a big change and to be led by the spirit to do things for God, I feel that I`m rather being allowed to do so and no pull or clear communication. Any thoughts?
Don’t follow religion follow Jesus
well we call it religion because we believe in something, but yes follow jesus
and christianity is a religion about jesus
Definition of the word “Religion” from the Dictionary:
* The belief in and worship of a superhuman power or powers, especially a God or gods.
* A particular system of faith and worship.
* A pursuit or interest followed with great devotion.
Christianity is the world's largest religion. Following Jesus is religion. There’s nothing wrong or bad about being religious (in Christ). We are actually commanded to be religious by God. True believers are religious, with a personal relationship with Jesus. God bless 🤍
@@runningwater1277he means as in don't just be traditionally religious, where you do the works, and the works only, he meant that we should have a relationship with Jesus too!
It is a relationship with Christ.
I would recommend you research on Orthodox Christianity, it's an extremely complex form of Christianity that goes very in-depth and in the scriptures. It recognizes, hey some stuff just are too complex for the human mind and we must pray to God instead of using our own senses to make sense of the world, because like a lot of things, we need to think outside the box.
i think that it is better for him to understand the basics of christianity and than to look into the denominations. but i do agree that orthodoxy is very in depth and is logical
I had the same battle brother. From Athiest, to eastern religions, ultimately to Christ. I was called to Eastern Orthodoxy. Once you truly experience an encounter with God, everything changes. I wish you well
You sound more or less where I was at just several months ago, though I had done a ton of digging through different religious backgrounds at that point (been hopelessly curious about the big question all my life), but the overwhelmingly confusing agnosticism coming out of a relentlessly atheistic and nihilistic worldview I completely relate with. What I did was I started going to church with my parents, sat down privately with my pastor a few times to discuss and ask questions about theology and such things, went through a similar struggle to yours for a few months, and then just last June I was baptized.
Don't know what else I can realistically offer in a brief youtube comment, but I am praying over your journey, brother. All the love, man. God bless you.
"Most high God, please reveal yourself in my life" it should come out of your heart, maybe even with tears in your eyes 🙏🏾 you'll see 😏
You are asking most of the right questions. One question I encourage you to explore is if there is something more than just a sacred text that needs to be vetted on an individual basis. A God that wants to succeed at creating a religion that stays consistent over millennia would need to implement a living infallible authority to define and defend its dogmas. Any other model leads to endless disagreements and schisms -- which I would not consider to be a very successful religious project. I have found this authority and stability in the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. The historical pedigree checks out as well, not to mention the mountain of both extrinsic and internal confirmations I have personally experienced.
Good luck on your journey! I will pray for you.
God is not a God of confusion. He wants His Bride to be united. One Body of Christ
This is wonderful and I’m glad you haven’t given up praying.
Many of your questions have already been answered by former skeptics and experts.
For study tools, may I suggest the channels Apologetics Roadshow, Give Me an Answer with Cliffe Knechtle, Got Questions, and The Archive by Sam Shamoun. These are all excellent channels with logical men who test the scriptures of all faiths against historical evidence, scientific laws and discoveries, against other texts as well as the consistencies in those texts, their own experiences as skeptics turned believers, and many other things. I would also recommend books and videos by Lee Strobel, specifically “The Case for…” series.
Again, I’m very encouraged and thankful to God for you :) I’ll keep praying
Brother, I highly recommend:
1) Reading the Gospel (Mark, John, Luke, and Matthew).
2) Praying the Rosary, from the heart, every day.
3) Praying the Rosary of the Seven Sorrows (Dolors) of Mary on Tuesdays and Fridays.
It will change your life forever. There are many great RUclips videos with these prayers which include meditations (contemplations of corresponding passages of the Gospel) that really enhance the experience.
God bless you and all your loved ones. May all your paths lead back to God and His Goodness.
I enjoy hearing about your open mind and naked opinions. We need more dialogue like this!
I recommend reading the Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. Another instances where an atheist set out to disprove the existence of Jesus but was shocked by what he found.
How i met the Holy Spirit was through prayer as a non beleiver. I starred going to church becuase my boyfriend broke up with me. I didnt beleive in God. If fact i would make fun of people who would thank God in speaches; " They're just talking to air". I disgress so anyway i chose a church i used to live beside. When i lived there, i would go by on a Sunday morning i would think "What a nice mix of people (young and old, couples and singles and different races and dressed in jean jackets to suits) And they all are smiling". So I started going and kept going because the sermons seemed logical and I could find no fault with them. Besides everyone was very nice to me and you get cookies and coffee after. It was a month before Christmas and the sermon was about prayer. The pastor encouraged us to pray everyday for this Christmas season if we fallen away from it. And he told us how to pray if we didn't know how. I decided to really dedicate myself to doing this. I did it every night, you know the typical kneeling before your bed every evening. It only took me like 2 minutes and was no big deal and I just continued it because I am a scientist and i know that more time spent on things will allow results and patterns to be observed not that I was expecting anything but like I said it wasn't a big deal to take the time for this. It was a week before Christmas I was doing my prayer and I had this weird feeling that someone was watching me. Maybe you've had that feeling? Where you think someone is watching you and you turn around and you see your mom or dad or sister or brother or friend in the doorway looking at you. So I stood up and I was looking around and I didn't see anyone. Then I had this feeling that someone was still there so I said out loud "Iit's you isn't? "It's you God, right?". And I knew the answer was "yes". I didn't hear a voice or hear it in my head but he was communicating with me. THAT'S THE DAY I KNEW GOD WAS REAL. That was December 1998. ❤️💯🇨🇦🇨🇿
I suggest you end your prayers with " in Jesus" name I pray, amen". God will not interfere in your life unless you ask(we have free will). Jesus repeatedly taught His disciples to pray in His name (John 14:13-14; 15:16; 16:23-24)❤️💯🇨🇦🇨🇿
Beautiful testimony. 😢teared up at the end.
I do want to point out that most of Christianity does not strictly believe in a literal 6 day creation and the big bang and evolution are completely compatible with the Genesis story so that shouldn't be a reason to de-value the Bible's reliability
Evolution is not even close to be compatible with genesis. Humans do not descend from mud.
the comment responding to you really shows how this becomes an issue - if the interpretation is to be stretched so far that the earth being created in 6 days can be intepreted as relational to the big bang, then every interpretation of every word or sentence can be stretched to the same degree.
While I say this, I've been reading tons of scripture with my girlfriend and I really value the moral teachings of Jesus through his parabales as they are said with the intention of being interpreted through different lenses, you must use your own mind to understand the naunce of them.
@@LifeGameDesign It would be difficult to put your faith in christianity through the authenticity of old testament stories like the creation story, or Noahs ark mostly because as an outsider such stories seems illogical and impossible. But what should be the basis of your search for truth should be the life of Jesus Christ. Because the life of Jesus is well documented historically and the fact that faith in Christ is hinged upon whether or not he was really the Son of God, truly died and resurrected, and whether or not he fulfilled Messianic prophecies, I suggest focusing mostly on the validity of the claims made about Jesus rather than the old testament as such. As a believer myself, once I started following Jesus and His teachings, it became easier to believe whats written in the old testament.
@@LifeGameDesign Not all the bible is written in the same literary style though. Genesis, is generally percieved to be written in a poetic style or like "Once upon a time..." whereas many other parts are praises, prophecies etc. However the life of Jesus in the gospels and the Acts are written in an obvious historical style.
@@mosesmugoPontius Pilate did not leave any written records mentioning Jesus directly. The main sources that discuss Pilate’s role in Jesus' crucifixion are the Christian Gospels and two later historians: Tacitus and Josephus. Tacitus, writing around 116 CE, briefly mentions that Jesus was executed under Pilate's orders, likely based on Christian sources or oral tradition rather than Roman archives. Josephus, a Jewish historian, also references Jesus and his execution by Pilate in his "Antiquities of the Jews", but this passage is suspected to have been modified by later Christian scribes.
Roman records from Pilate's governorship are scarce, and no contemporary Roman documents verify the details of Jesus' trial or crucifixion. While Pilate's role in the trial is a central theme in Christian texts, his own accounts or other direct Roman documentation on Jesus' life are absent, likely because Jesus was not considered politically significant to the Romans at the time.
omg these people need to actually learn about the big bang and quantum mechanics. I hear so many of them say things like "nothing can just come from nothing" or a ton of other ones, when we have very good scientific answers to these, they're just complicated. But an expert like this should know.
God doesnt disprove the big bang or quantum mechanics nor do they disprove God. Afterall all three of those ideas are almost all based in theory and not prove able science. Many people have tried to describe the way that the big bang occured and all of end up being theroies based on theroies based on theroies. God is just on of those theroies based on a theory.
It's not that their answer makes sense, it is that they prefer to believe.
I just feel that it has so many bad sideeffects for them.
@corneliahanimann2173 you cant rationalize the existamce of God through math like you can with many other theroies of the universe but you can rationalize God through philosophy for example, probably the most famous idea is the argument that intentional design is present throughout the universe and intentional design needs a designer. The subatomic particles that make up the universe are so perfect that if a proton was only 0.0001% heavier or lighter then their force would be to weak or strong and atoms couldn't form.
@@mostsharksdontattendchurch I am aware of that, but you also understand that this would not work if things had developed any differently?
Also, while we have human life on this one planet, once we look around there are several billions of dead planets. That is not intelligent design, it is a one in a billion instance.
Philosophically I don't think god makes sense either, because the search for meaning in things is a human condition, and it is not consistent through all humans, the same way you may drive a car with little curiosity about how an engine works, many can easily go through life without understanding the technicalities for why they are supposed to live through life. I think the best example for how religion developed is the way snapewives recently developed their rituals and traditions, which is just part of our human instinct to have a leader for our pack basically, and for some that ends up being the praise for a god, a king, a celebrity or a CEO.
@@mostsharksdontattendchurch Honestly, with a good scientific understanding of the origin of all the stuff, which I have, there is no evidence of intentional design in the universe. With enough research on evolution, one will find that it perfectly describes how humans and everything else evolved flawlessly with tons of evidence. With a good scientific understanding of how earth and the conditions for life to form came to be from the big bang, it all makes perfect sense and has tons of evidence.
As someone with a good understanding of stuff like quantum mechanics and string theory, none of it provides evidence of intelligent design honestly. Your statement about the mass of a proton is false, the mass of protons differs greatly from proton to proton and is determined by quarks. Honestly any one trying to use quantum mechanics as evidence for god is yet to understand the extremely complicated subject that is quantum mechanics well enough to understand why its not evidence.
You've articulated everything Ive been considering in the past months so well. We have a similar background, too.
Ive been attending church, reading the bible and church fathers, trying to pray the prayer of the unbeliever from Matthew "I believe, please help my unbelief." There are just so many barries as you mentioned, and I want to most of all have an honest and full belief in god, not a wishful one which is the deepest angst Ive felt in a while.
Elder Thaddeus put it beat when he wrote something like "One may yearn for god with their hearts but they oppose god with their thoughts." Thats what it feels like I am doing.
Be blessed in your search knowing we're in good company on the long road
Bravo! Challenging your own beliefs and taking a honest look at what is truth.
Ten minute bible hour (youtube and podcasts) is someone that grew up Christian, became an atheist, and came back to Christ. Thoughtful and respectful of others that don’t share his belief and explaining the text as a shared journey.
Cliffe Knechtle does YT videos and goes to college campuses to answer student’s questions about his faith.
I love something he has repeated multiple times “Don’t follow religion. Follow Christ.” (Following religion is how people justified causing pain and death in the name of God) paraphrase is mine
Hey man, I don’t write comments on RUclips but your journey has interested me since I went down a similar one myself and ended up with my faith in Christianity. If you’re interested I’d love to have a conversation with you and we could delve into faith, philosophy and whatever else
God Bless
Hi! I think there's a point that you might be missing a bit. Faith, it's not irrational or completely emotional. Faith comes from knowing God. You can't believe a person you don't know , nor understand something you don't study. You can pray for God all the signals you wish, but if you don't make yourself capable of understanding his will on your life, you will remain blind. Ask for him to show you, but make your heart open to hear it.
Matthew 13:15
"For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them"
Would you please share your own experience to help me understan what you said.
The fact that you are so conflicted by this question is proof enough that God is working within you. I tell you to just compare the actions of pious Christians, Martyrs, and Saints to the evils of the world. And if you want a logical perspective, look at the number of prophecies fulfilled by one man when He was born in 33AD. I just ask you why the apostles would brutally die horrible deaths for what they would've known to be a lie? (They died for Christ because they saw Him risen and knew it to be true).
I was an ambiguous God believer, through the process of sobriety and AA for many years, and after personal encounters, but was pretty anti Christian my whole life. I then ran across serious Christian, especially Catholic, theology and after a painful (and wonderful) process of discovery and humility I am getting baptized this Easter. A wonderful starting point is Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, often the starting point for people coming to a serious understanding of God. I love all of you, and hope your journeys are blessed every step of the way.
Thank you! You are honestly the most respectful atheist channel I’ve seen, no mockery, no nothing, you are what all those other channels should be.
7:59 If you want to believe in god go to an Orthodox church 😁
Hi Michael, I appreciate your openness and sincerity and hope you find Jesus soon. I wanted to comment on some of your reasons for doubting the Bible.
6 day creation:
Speaking generally, a lot of misunderstanding occurs when we read a 2 or 3 thousand year old text with 21st century eyes. It's ancient culture shock. The Bible wasn't written to us (as the original recipients), but it was written for us. There are different interpretations as to the age of the earth among Christians, but this shouldn't be an issue that makes or breaks one's faith in Jesus. One could say, "But if God got this part wrong, how could I trust the more fundamental Christian claim of the resurrection?" That's a fair point, but I don't think the reason many people are Christian is because the Bible has an accurate description of the timeline of earth. Personal experience or testimony of how Jesus changed their life would probably be the more prominent reason. At most, if the Genesis account of creation is wrong, I think that would be a difficulty independent of the foundation of most people's faith. Or we're just interpreting it wrong.
As for the resurrection, it best explains the surrounding details and events (e.g. empty tomb, rise of Christianity, martyrdom, female first witnesses, conversion of James and Paul) that alternative explanations comparatively fail to explain. InspiringPhilosophy has a resurrection series where the second video goes over the historical case for the resurrection and competing theories. Dr. Craig also has a structured presentation of it.
Loss in translation:
There's a neat lecture on RUclips called "How Badly Was the New Testament Corrupted?" by Daniel Wallace. Toward the end of the lecture, he quotes from a book by Bart Ehrman, an atheist textual critic, where he says, "Essential Christians beliefs are not affected by textual variants in the manuscript tradition of the New Testament."
Selfish agenda:
Enduring severe persecution and even death for one's faith seems irreconcilable with a selfish agenda; there's no self to benefit if you are dead. Moreover, Christianity is a religion that's beneficial to human flourishing. It teaches to love your neighbor and enemy by doing what's best for them. Pray for those that persecute you, bless and do not curse. Don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. It also talks about giving to the poor, visiting orphans and widows in their distress. Do not merely look out for your own interests, but also the interests of others. Therefore, I don't think Christianity is selfish.
You have such a beautiful soul! You are a child of God, and He (your Heavenly Father) loves that you are reaching out to him. It takes time, sometimes a lifetime, to have faith in something we can't see. I love hearing the way you think. You are a good teacher.
First off, thank you so much for your transparency and desire to walk this out publicly!
I would challenge the idea that the Bible has been corrupted or changed in any significant way and I think a few RUclipsrs who’s videos can help you walk through this are:
Inspiring philosophy
Sean McDowell
Testify
As they frequently tackle textual criticism and the historicity of the New Testament and more.
Blessings as you continue this journey of discovery!
Honestly it makes me so excited as a Christian to see this. I can see God working in your journey. And I know he's blessing you because you're seeking him. I know if you continue to discover truth, you'll find it. I look forward to updates on your journey. Jesus is waiting for you, and he loves you.
Thank you for this honest dialog. Many share in your observations and my encouragement is to continue what you're doing, keep seeking Him. God is not willing that any should perish.
Good luck brother. I for one had a very similar experience, and landed on the Catholic faith in a pursuit of truth, and I would hope you could find that for yourself. Praying for you, even if you don't continue on this path.
I love this. The work I do as a Christian minister is all about the journey, so I respect what you're doing. If you ever want to chat, I'd be happy to share my perspective and journey through the maze of truth. No pressure, just an invitation. I sincerely hope you find your way to what you're looking for. Keep posting. I want to know what you learn! :)
I have a lot of compassion for you as I watched this and your previous “30 days of prayer” video.
I resonate strongly with falling into media holes and scratching my own itch to “be right” and to feel the comfort of that, but it’s also fueling an anger I have toward something I need to actually release. I relate even now after starting my morning with 2 hours of philosophical debate videos, political videos, etc. my algorithm is convinced I hate Democrats now and I’m just like dang…I feel drained.
So, it happens to us all. I wanna be right, I wanna know I’m in the truth. I don’t have big advice for you, but I have so much compassion for you. I wonder, too, if im not so much searching for truth as I am just wanting to be at rest, set free from all my anger and hatred toward myself and others, to know I am living a full life in a bigger-than-my-time-on-earth story.
I am also really encouraged by your openness and even seeing you smile as you admit “Man I’m more confused than ever but I’m on this journey”. I’m afraid to even resume that journey MOST of the time! I almost felt like…”dang what im seeing on screen feels so rare I want to protect it, I WANT this guy to find Truth.”
I have only ever found my deepest parts of me- my soul, my spirit- met, seen, held, washed, and SATURATED with love from Jesus. I get it, it’s strange. I don’t know. That’s the truth. And then…I find that same feeling, that experience, that “washing”, then love that makes tears get produced from my glands (idk) - THAT I also find meeting me when reading the Bible. There’s my emotions, then there’s truth, then there’s my body and brain chemicals and all that. I consider myself logical! Yet, I have even found myself over time doubting the supremacy of logic. I say this because there’s just deeper things. I don’t know but I have experienced I cannot explain right away with logic or maybe not at all. Maybe it takes me thinking a longer time about them and writing them down like one of these authors. But I work as a graphic designer, I don’t have time for that! Haha.
I don’t know what my point is other than I felt so much love for you man. I resonate.
As an atheist who came to Christ, I think your mind set is excellent. It is encouraging to see people who are intelligent and logical being willing to seek and listen. I happen to agree with your aversion towards religion. Indeed, if you read Jesus' words and actions in the Gospels, I think you will find that Jesus Himself is also against religion (just look at how he speak to the Pharisees). The biggest difference I have found between following Jesus and the other religions of the world is twofold: the incredible amount of historical evidence there is for the Jesus, and what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
The historical evidence I am sure you are at least somewhat familiar with, as you said you have listened to people who went from atheism to Christianity so I'll just say this: the amount of historical evidence we have for Jesus' life, death, and empty tomb goes far beyond anything we have for any other historical event or events described in other religious texts. This is why I am willing to read and accept the Gospels as being written by the people who were closest to him, those who witnessed His miracles and His teachings. I could say a lot more on this, but a RUclips comment doesn't provide an effect medium.
The meaning of following Jesus is especially unique. When people ask if I am a Christian, I hazard to say yes. As my pastor likes to say, "There are two reasons people aren't a Christian today: One, they've never met one. Or two, they've met one." Christianity was never meant to be a religion. The origin of the word "Christian" comes from Greek that means "follower of Christ". So being a Christian was suppose to be a statement of following the person Jesus. Nowadays it has turned into following a set of rules and traditions, and that is the focus. Now, I don't necessarily think those rules and traditions are inherently bad or wrong. Whether they are or not is not the point. The point is Christianity is about a relationship with Jesus. And that is what makes Christianity, following Christ, different from all other theological ideologies I've encountered.
This is why I say I think you mind set is excellent. Your focus is seeking and getting to know God, which is exactly what Christianity is about, what is was meant to be about. My suggestion for you would be to read the Bible not as a text book, but with context in mind. For example, when Genesis was written, it wasn't written to give a scientific account of God's creation of the universe. The Hebrews had no need of that and wouldn't have even understood such a thing. Instead, Genesis was written to explain the human condition and why there is a separation between God and man as well as display God's goodness and power.
Anyways, sorry for the LONG comment. It is just so refreshing to see someone who is actually seeking truth, rather than just seeking to confirm their own biases, what they want to be true.
So proud of you for this
One thing is that praying doenst have as strong as an affect unless you beleive that your worries and burdens are going to be lifted by God and putting your trust into him
This is the first video of yours that I've seen, and I gotta say I love your brutal honesty! Too few people don't want to admit that they may be wrong about something, and even fewer are willing to put in the effort to search to see if they are wrong. That openness from you is refreshing!
As a Christian, one book that was very helpful in strengthening my faith was Christianity Considered by John Frame. It's written for people in a situation like yours, and I found it insightful as well. I'm sure you're flooded with suggestions of books to read, but I just wanted to throw one of my personal favorites in the mix.
I pray that God reveals himself to you in an unmistakable way as you continue your search for truth!
Hey bud, I'd definitely look into St. Thomas Aquinas if you're going down the faith vs. logic road. Worth checking out. Anyway, God bless you on your journey.
Amen!
I love this open, continuous striving for truth. Your raw, transparent, and honest questions are ones that I know most people have, but few ask and pursue answers too. Continue to grow, learn and ask. Continue praying, continue seeking, your journey is special and unique, as is everyone's in the comments. For me, all of these questions you are asking, I was asking myself, but from the other side. A person of unbelief myself (not even athiest, simply did not think of these questions until just after highschool) I was suddenly plagued with the unshakable fear of death, and was filled with a deep sense of doom as it is an inevitable and unshakable truth. I turned to Christianity for a way out, and it helped, but at the time, I did not realize the level of Christianity I believed was shallow, and was filled with only knowledge that I had heard from others, and not of knowledge I had studied, or cultivated. Very "Sunday School" level as I would put it. This led down another path of doubt, and ultimately, a failure in belief of Christianity being true. But, like you, I didn't stop looking for truth, and kept searching and learning, not being scared to ask the hard, deep, philosophical questions. This led me back to Christianity, where I am now. There are many comments stating what I came to the conclusion of, @TryinBin8889 has a great comment for that. That conclusion being, Christ fulfilled Jewish prophecy (Judaism cant be the truth), Islam is FILLED will easily found philosophical holes, and does not hold up to even mediocre philosophical truths or historical truth (see "join us or die" mentality) Buddhism and Hinduism just didn't have any relevance to me, and never gave me a sense of real world application or peace, (and don't hold up philosophically either.) If you want recommendations, I can give you 2 very good sources. 1. @CrossExamined RUclips channel, Frank Turek is a fierce debater, who has debated all of the atheist's you spoke about in your last video (Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens), but this channel saved my faith, with real hard philosophy explained, and backed up with scripture, it is an excellent resource for quick Christian responses to hard philosophical questions, which you can look into more yourself, as I did. 2. William Lane Craig has also been a prominent figure in my faith journey. Excellent philosopher with excellent books to read, and some very good debates with some fierce atheist's as well. Wish you all the best in your philosophical walk, or faith journey, if you want to call it that ;p
God is the key to getting through this life. I didn’t understand this fully until I was about 19. Building a relationship with God brought me through dark times. I prayed for peace in the midst of deep pain and God immediately brought me a calming peace that I can’t explain. It was then that I understood the power of the Lord.
You are challenging yourself in these ways because God is ready to lead you to him. I am glad you are following his call, even if you are unsure.
Good for you.
Hey man! It's so awesome to hear how you're exploring all of these possiblilities. I love how willing you are to learn and consider different sides of things. Faith and religion should be questioned and probed as the truth will ultimately stand up under every possible scrutiny, even if it doesn't always make sense. Keep striving for that truth, and don't be discouraged when things are confusing. It is so encouraging to see you carefully and intentionally working through this! God Bless!❤
I've experienced things similarly (feeling torn between your head and your heart). I considered myself a closet atheist for a while, but I feel like I'm starting to develop a new way of looking at these ideas altogether.
Right now, I would define God as "the source of my humanity" or "the ground of my being". This definition is expansive enough to include a deity, some type of cosmic energy, or even just the patterns and flows of the universe. This allows me to engage with the mystery without having to be super sure about things or force it into a particular ideological form. But, I think the most important thing about this definition is that it recognizes that who we are at our core comes from some source and that connecting and aligning oneself with this source (by practicing letting go of the noise around us and baser instincts within us) will lead to a more authentically human life.
I was raised Christian and so I aproach my spirituality through the lens of the Christian tradition. It's the one I'm the most familiar with and feel the most sure of. I'm not so sure that the Bible is correct in everything it says, but I do think that if God does exist, His purpose in giving us the Bible was to draw us closer to Him and to offer guidance for godly living. And so, I try to focus more on the lessons and principles of scripture and what that means for me as opposed to whether its literally true or not. For example, as an external reality, I couldn't tell you whether the resurrection occurred or not. As an internal reality however, I have experienced it myself and know it to be true.
For me, music is very helpful in sorting through these thoughts. "How It Sets You Free" by Gable Price & Friends and "If It's Not God" by Maddie Zahm both helped me to reach my current perspective.
So that's where I'm at right now. Hopefully my two cents is helpful to someone.
This is such an exciting, encouraging journey. I am a man of faith, but that faith has waxed and waned throughout my life. What I have come to see is that what I judge as "true" has changed. What is "real" and "true" doesn't isn't always about material reality. The path to God is about thr journey, not about getting everything "right". May God guide you and keep you on your walk to Him. He's with you for the ride. God bless. 🙏🏻
So excited for this journey for you, I’m glad you’re taking it one step at a time to understand WHY you should believe/not believe. My advice is to not assume that everyone is blinding believing in their books of faith. We believe what we do because we have LOGICAL PROCESSES to come to our conclusion, same as any other person, theist or otherwise. You can definitely use logical and reasoning skills to come to the conclusion that there is a God, praying you find your way there!
What a beautiful and wonderfully honest account of your own seeking of truth. Your open mindedness is frankly refreshing. It is a rare thing to hear an actuality genuine unbiased reflection into someone’s own heart. I think a lot of people can relate with your struggles and are engaging in a similar internal conflict. Makes me wish that I could sit down with you for conversation; knowing that you tube comment section is woefully inadequate for such full and deep subjects. You are absolutely right in suggesting that this is not ab Bynum logical decision, even though it is completely logical. I just wrote this lengthy account of my own experience, and then promptly deleted it. I’ve reasoned that God doesn’t I’ve instead decided that i will simply pray for you…
You are asking all of the right questions. Which means that your answers aren’t that far away . . . at least the beginning of the answers. I am a lifelong Christian but I cannot claim all of the answers. Real truth is like all real knowledge - there is no end, only growth.
I haven’t read all of the comments so this may have been mentioned. You wanted a text written directly by God. Have you considered that Jesus is called the Word? That God Himself came as the text and as Truth. And even if you don’t except the authors’ claims of inspiration, we still have an amazingly consistent record of Who Jesus was (and is).
God will guide you. Thank you for sharing your story.
We’ve all been there. Christianity might not make sense at first, but keep bringing these questions to God, and He will show you that the answer has been in Christ all along. It’s normal to feel distant from religion, especially when you don’t have the whole picture yet. But this ongoing conversation with God-asking questions and seeking answers-will build your faith. It’s the process Christians go through every day🙏🏽
I think that is what makes the teachings of Jesus so particularly special. Not only is his wisdom effectively flawless in a time period where people were not very wise, but he is wholly self sacrificing and loving which directly demonstrates that he didn't have ulterior motives for power like most religious leaders.
I'm happy to hear your journey. I recently became a born again Christian. I felt empty and I was looking for hope. I just wanted to find the truth. When I put my faith in Jesus and prayed for forgiveness, I felt peace inside me where there used to be emptiness. Jesus is called the Prince of Peace in the Bible, and He gave me peace.
Christianity is about having a relationship with God, and we get to have that through faith in Jesus. I'm excited for you on your journey of faith. I hope you keep praying and I'm praying for you!
As a Catholic/former agnostic with a long skeptical streak, I empathize with you. A realization that helped me with my skepticism is this: Both belief and God and non-belief in God require a significant leap of faith, regardless of much logic/lived experience you try to apply to the question. Your job is to determine the correct direction to leap in and make the jump.
I'm hooked. Its really brave of you to share your journey so publicly, while its happening. As a Native American who was raised Mormon and became a Born-Again believer, I still had a lot of questions that even my most trusted spiritual mentors couldn't fully answer to my satisfaction. I needed to find my own answers, so I began learning Biblical Hebrew 5 years ago. I was determined to find the answers for myself. Ultimately, I guess I would call myself a Torah Observant believer in Yeshua Messiah who is a Tataviam (my tribe) Gentile. Its a lot, so I usually just don't. I came to a point where I realized that the more I know, the more questions I have. I have found a peace in being ok with not having all the answers. It motivates me to keep searching, but doesn't discourage me. Im really excited to see where your searches take you.
Praying for you. Keep seeking bro. You’re on the right track. My own story is that I explored and tried many spiritual practices and some religions before finding my home in Jesus (Native American, Eastern religions, new age, Hinduism) after all of that… for years.. I thought to try Christianity. What I did was pray to God and I asked “God, if Jesus really is your son, please show me” the next weeks that followed I started reading the Bible and I saw miraculous things start happening when people prayed in Jesus name and in general, life became organized in a intelligent design and like things started syncing up, and I found myself being guided like you’ve spoken of. It’s hard to explain but basically I no longer lived in a reality of choas but things were like all part of major themes and prolonged incidents of overwhelming coincidence, down to miraculous things, and even strange happenings like seeing physical messages from Him hidden in plain sight. One thing I will say is God is not a god of confusion, that comes from the enemy spirit we know as Satan, hate to tell you, but I won’t leave you ignorant. If you’re seeing Jesus you will be facing opposition. I think that’s a good sign too, something else that sets Christianity apart. Please connect yourself with a seasoned Christian, like a pastor who is down to earth, but biblically solid, or a trusted family member. Because you’re vulnerable alone. Either way God will deliver you through this, but I went at it alone and got some bruises. Would’ve been better with someone I could explain my experiences to and get some clarity about before making the decisions I made.
Glad you are sharing your journey. Encourage you to keep going. These will be wonderful times when you look back. There is more going on behind the scenes than you realize.
Suggest two things.
1. You probably already know God is holy. In your prayer, say you want goodness and righteousness. You don't want evil and the demonic.
2. Have a deep dialog with God in your prayer. Ask the question, if he reveals himself to you, will you do whatever he wants of you. You don't know what he wants from you, so that is a big question, and God already knows your answer. You can be honest. If you are not ready, have a discussion. Be open if you need help to change your mind.
Try watching 'The Chosen', by no means is it a substitute of the Bible of course, but it helped me visualise the stories of the Bible and it is also generally enjoyable.