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Originally Posted by pianoperformer  That's great. What exactly did you start to study? It's quite a large book, lol. |
More important than what I studied, I think, was the premise I was starting with in my search. I was looking for something real. I had tried church before and didn't want a repeat of basing my life on a "hope so" or "this sounds right" type of thing. My core belief was that if there is a creator and He made me with the ability speak and hear and know, then He probably should be able to know, hear and speak Himself.
I also assumed that if the Bible is true and I do what it says then something should actually happen to me. The people that wrote the Bible were inspired to record, after the fact, their account of things God had already done and said to them in their lives. If He spoke to them, Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Moses, Elijah, Jonah, David, Mary and Joseph, The Apostles and Paul and others, in the same ways, over the course of thousands of years then He could speak to me and that's what I wanted. I know some people don't believe it's possible.
A Christian man I knew also said God spoke to him so that's why I was looking for God in the Bible. It was like a test, really, to do what the book said and see what God did. More than just to hear God, I guess I was looking for power to influence Him since a lot of people in my family were sick and I wanted God to at least hear me for them.
"Then you will find me when you seek me with your all your heart ."" Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God." "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." "If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me."
were some of the first verses that seemed to pop out at me or the one's people would bring up when I asked them how to know God.
I stopped doing the things I felt were sins. This didn't seem odd or a burden to me at the time because I wanted to see miracles. The first sign that something was different was a new sensation like God really was hearing me, kind of like the feeling you get when you think someone is watching you. I visited any and all kinds of Christian churches to see which teachings lined up with what I was getting from what I read. And about one point of confusion in debate in Christian circles, Acts 2, I asked God to teach me what it meant.
After a few weeks of studying and trying to practice what I read, I had my first experience with God at a church one night where I didn't know anyone. I posted about it at length in a conversation with Bob
Who are the Christians? if you're interested and have a LOT of time to read it all. Sorry about the length but I hope it helps answer some of why I believe what I do.
I don't claim to know everything or that everything I believe is right. I don't even think all my beliefs have to always be right for me to still have a relationship with Jesus. I just know that as I sought God in the Bible then some of what happened to them also happened to me and I believe what the Bible says, that Jesus is the Son of God.
If someone is sincerely searching for the truth about God then I would think it is up to God to be sure they find that truth. The sincerity of a person's heart is not something anyone else can judge. But we all can be sincerely wrong at times. I don't always understand the thought process of what people believe but I welcome it if someone cares enough to point out a possible blind spot or what they think is a better way to me. It may just be God working through that person.