where can one find faith?

conflicted

In an earlier post larsguy said the bible wasn't written for the layperson, but only for serious scholars and followers of Christ.

...you imagine the Bible is supposed to be a nice easy book without complexities to confound people, when in fact, if you actually read the Bible you'd know that is PRECISELY the case.
The Bible is meant for Christ and his followers SPECIFICALLY and not for outsiders!
Didn't you read in scripture when the disciples asked Jesus why he spoke in parables that he told them that these secrets were for THEM and so that the outsiders, looking in vain, would not understand?
So how is it that you think that the Bible is supposed to be understood by nonbelievers at the level of Jesus' followers when he directly says that he deliberately spoke in riddles so that they WOULD NOT understand?
So your view that the Bible is an open book for the public to read in all simplicity isn't even according to the Bible itself. Instead, it is a book which purposely hides things.

So now I'm confused - how am I supposed to gain or attain faith in Christ or the Scriptures when I'm not even supposed to be able to understand it - it wasn't written for my benefit.

I'm not the kind of person who blindly believes what he's told without investigating it on my own. When I look at the bible I see a rambling and inconsistant litanny that only gets more confounding the deeper you look.

This is supposed to be the guide book to our existence and our relationship with God, and yet it is full of holes and mysteries - and according to larsguy, it's on purpose.

So my great quandry is how is anyone supposed to attain a faithful relationship with God when the guide He left for us isn't written for the general public? I'm not going to let someone else read it and tell me what it means, I want to know for myself, but in my pursuit all I ended up doing was chasing my tail trying to make sense of it.

If the bible is God's guide for mankind and it wasn't written for us, where does that leave us?

What do you think?

SixofNine

So my great quandry is how is anyone supposed to attain a faithful relationship with God when the guide He left for us isn't written for the general public?

What makes you think the bible is from God? Your momma? Daddy? The RCC? It's ssssooooooooo frickin' old, yet it survived? The elders? The GB? (hey, they believe sincerely, you wanna be like them?) Pastor Russell? Billy Graham?

And just what are you going to do with this faith once you get it?

Bang

Conflicted reads:
<< The Bible is meant for Christ and his followers SPECIFICALLY and not for outsiders >>

Bang writes:

Well the understanding isn't to be bandied about all who simply want 'proof' before they'll love their fellow man - friends, not slaves - but we've all been let in on enough to know what we should do. Forget altogether what the W.T. org. puts forward if you really do want to understand. Larsguy & the org. are right in a way, sometimes I smurk about it, but it's only because I despair of no one.

Have you been helping the poor, visiting the prisoner, visiting the sick?
Have you prayed to God for mercy for your sins, and to help you not to sin, because he is good?

If your purpose is this, you'll come to know.
"..we will come and make our home with him.."

Bang

SixofNine writes:

<< The GB? (hey, they believe sincerely, you wanna be like them?) Pastor Russell? >>

But what do they believe? and do they believe "In Him"?

Bang

conflicted

It's not necessarily that I want to be like anyone - I'm just looking for answers.

People are always saying, "Look to the Scriptures." Well, I looked, now what?

It's not about whether I want to believe, it's whether the scriptures are what religion says they are. The word of God or the word of man?

Let's say for a sec that God's existence was a proven fact, it still doesn't mean the bible is His word, someone could have made it all up.

Again I say, Now what?

SixofNine

But what do they believe? and do they believe "In Him"?

They pretty much say what they believe, as much as any overpowerful committee. And yeah, they sure as hell do believe in "HIM". You know that, don't EVEN act as if you don't. They don't believe in him the way you do, but they believe in "Him".

SixofNine

Again I say, Now what?

Let go. Be ecstatic to be free of silly superstition, in contrast with the vast majority of the poor slobs on this beautiful planet.

And carry on. It's really quite wonderful.

Unclepenn1

Hello Conflicted, I would like to tell you my personal experience about the Bible and God and perhaps you can draw something from it. I tried reading the Bible in the past and none of it ever made ANY sense to me. I shelved it and lived my life as a drunked pagan for many years. I dug myself a hole of sin and was unable to pull myself out, so I cried out to God to save me. Once I put my trust in Jesus Christ as my Savior, the Bible made total sense to me. It was as if scales were on my eyes before and now they have been lifted and I understand it fully. I quit my job at the time because it was getting in the way of my relationship with God (I was working 12+ hrs a day). I stayed home and read the Bible for like 8 hours a day. I couldn't stop. It was like I was starving to death and this book, the Bible, was my only food. What happened was, I was dead in my tresspasses and sins and reading a book that was written by God made no sense to me in that state. BUT, when I gave my life to Christ, the Holy Spirit of God came to dwell with me and opened up the scriptures to me. It was like a light went on and I couldnt believe that before it had made no sense and now I was drinking it in for hours a day. Nothing else interested me. I became born again. My first birth was through the womb and my second one was from heaven.

And I am now free!!Woohoo!!

Penn

"When I nominated Jesus as my supreme ecologist, years of inner pollution became instantly biodegradable" - Donald R. Brown

SixofNine

Or, you could become a comedian.

4horsemen

Conflicted you wrote:

"So now I'm confused - how am I supposed to gain or attain faith in Christ or the Scriptures when I'm not even supposed to be able to understand it - it wasn't written for my benefit."

Conflicted a better question...

If you had gained/attained this faith, what would you do with it?

What's stopping you from doing that now?

"We fight so that we may stay alive; but dont forget to live."-G. Ashe

where can one find faith?

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