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Religious Help?
Hello, there. I am a freshman in high school. I am still quite young, but my religious beliefs have been bothering me lately. I have had severe anxiety my whole life; I'd always pray to God, hoping he would help my anxiety decrease, so I would be at ease. However, that has never happened. As time went on, I've lost my faith in God.
To be completely honest, I have not read a bible (It is severely confusing to me), nor been to church. I know very little about christianity, yet I label myself as one. Or I used to...
Anyway, I feel like there is always going to be a small part of me that will believe in God. But I don't know if it's because I'm scared not to (Due to my anxiety). I WANT to 100% believe in God, and I feel like I do, but I have my doubts. Sometimes I just feel like someone could've wrote the bible or something. I want to be fully convinced. I'm scared of the devil though and I'm scared he'll kill me in my sleep or something...
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Maybe give some free advice about: Spirituality?
When I was small my dad used to beat me all the time. I would beg God to make my dad stop it. But my dad didn't stop. So I lost my faith in God. I recently got it back and realize by my dad beating me it made me a stronger person. It help me tolerate unpleasant situations which you're going to come across them life. I pray to God Jesus and Shiva. I don't go to church I don't open a bible and I Don't Preach to anybody. I'm a Christian and Jesus has my back and that's it it's simple
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I'm am truly sorry for the anxiety you are facing. And in more ways than one, I really do understand where you are coming form.
As a person with OCD, anxiety is part of the territory for me. And just like you, quite a bit of my difficulties are based in religion.
First off, very few Christians have actually read the Bible. And even if they have, fewer likely understand it. This includes clergy and so-called experts in some cases. It can be confusing, why is anyone's guess. In some case it probably has a lot to do with translation issues. In others there is a lack of knowledge of cultural context. The reasons are countless.
Have you ever stopped to think that perhaps it's not not your faith in God that you are struggling with but rather the human idea of God or the one taught by a given faith?
The bottom line is that all religions essentially teach the same core value (until people go and mess it up) of love. Try to be a decent person and you will surely be moving in the right direction.
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Personally, I'm a religious person myself and i read the bible so i completely understand where your coming from because a lot of it can be confusing to understand. Also, i think it's great that you believe in god.
God does listen to your prayers because he is the "hearer of prayer" and Proverbs 15:29 states "the prayer of the righteous one he hears"
To answer your question about how think that just anyone could have wrote the bible, men did write the bible, it was the apostles of Jesus who wrote different books of the bible centuries ago, however the bible was inspired by God so these men were inspired by God to write the bible. Therefore it is God's words recorded in the bible, not their own (2 Timothy 3:16)
There is a website that i visit frequently that i have found to always satisfy my spiritual questions and it's jw.org you should check it out, it might prove to be of some help to you
Feel free to inbox me any other questions you may have and I'll do my best to answer them. I hope you find the website helpful :)
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Many have been torn between believing and not believing down the ages. I think it was Pascale (but not sure...look it up maybe?) who said everyone would be wise to state "I belive in God". If there IS NOT a God and no eternal life or no soul then the statement has not lost you anything at all and was of no significance whatsoever. But if there IS a God then the statement has gained you EVERYTHING. A very human nature inspired 'Western Philosophy' take on spirtituality I reckon? Intellectually and logically faultless? I can't see any rational argument with it myself.
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There are people who believe in God, or a higher power as they sometimes put it, but do not believe in any organized religion. These people are called agnostics ; not to be confused with atheists who are people who do not believe in any religion or higher power.
At your age being confused about certain things and questioning many things is normal. It is almost a rite of passage for teenagers your age. You’re in high school now you are allowed to question things and even encouraged to question things. This is an important part of becoming an adult. It should not scare you or cause you anxiety though. If it does you need to see your doctor and let him or her help you with this problem. For if you are too scared to question because of the stress of the anxiety it will cause; the maturity that comes with questioning will be delayed.
I'm sure your parents want you to believe in the religion they have raised you in. As a parent myself I know at some point they will have to understand that you are your own person and will make your own decisions, be they right or wrong they will be yours to make. Here again as parents our job is to be here for you when and if you do make a wrong decision so we can help you get back on track not to criticize for making the wrong decision.
This is something that we as parents usually learn the hard way. It should though not stop you from becoming the person you are destined to be. To follow your own path in life not the one your parents may want or demand of you or anyone else.
Something I learned late in life and adopted as my motto is this. "The only person I need to be better than tomorrow is the person I am today." What that means is if I can learn something new tomorrow that I didn't know today then I am better than I am today. It also doesn't mean I have to learn something new although that is what I strived for. It could mean I did something better than I did today. Feel free to adopt this motto.
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Ok im christian also actually and i went to sunday school as a kid and know some of the teachings and stories in it.
Let me just say now that honestly your fears sound A LITTLE unrealistic here. I was taught from day one that as long as even a small part of you believes in god then that is enough and youll be fine. We were taught to just BE A GOOD PERSON, work, take care of your family, help others and in the end everything will be ok.
I dont know what kind of teachings youve received over the years or what you think you know about god and the devil, but the way you come off here makes you seem like your fears are a bit unfounded and not very grounded.
You anxiety could be causing you to take some of what could be minor doubts to the extreme here.
if you want to be "totally convinced" why dont you pick out a church in your area and just go and sit in the back and watch a service sometime? I dont think theres a way to "100 percent convince" someone that god exists.
Its called faith for a reason right? so it takes you having faith in the idea that there is a god in the first place.
; ) good luck
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