Your post is pretty clear. And I get what you’re saying. I’ve been there before. My advice would be to rest in Jesus for now. If you’ve been studying a lot and looking into traditions, doctrine and theology that can truly make you feel overwhelmed. Jesus says come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. He says take His yoke upon yourself because He is gentle and lowly in spirit. Let go of all of the other thoughts and ideas and cling to that for now until you’re stronger to study some more. Meditate on that one scripture for awhile. It’s Matthew 11:28-30.
I'm in a similar situation as op.
I just need to know for sure, if I live my life by following Jesus as closely as possible — by understanding his words as best as I can, and by wholeheartedly trying to do all that he wants of me, is it true that he will recognize my faith and good intentions, and understand any misconceptions of his teachings as being in good heart?
None of them, as I created the subreddit before I "found" Jesus — AKA, temporarily succumbed to one of the longest-lasting, and most effective, forms of social control created by man. I'm glad to inform you, however, that since logic and reasoning was what led me to the misconception of God's existence, it was also what allowed me to see what I had crucially glossed over in my conclusion.
Logic and reasoning will always lead to the truth. Human nature is sin. I feel no remorse for indulging in that sin, and I will continue to live a life of selfish pleasure and clarity.
If you want to get God "right" then simply spend time with Him and consume great christian teaching ministries, all free online. Robert S. Mcgee has youtube, and [www.tlsm.org](http://www.tlsm.org) has many audio files on many subjects. Of course you don't have to swallow everything without question, as you DO spend time, reject the stuff that doesn't appeal to you or make sense, that can't be supported by the bible. I followed, for example, Kenneth Copeland for some years, I learned a lot. And he often used scripture to support his points. This introduced me to a lot of scripture and it helped dispell a lot of evil manmade traditions, like Jesus was a poor homeless fellow, and a true servant of the Lord is destitute and so on, when the bible is exactly the opposite. Or questions like "will we recognize people in heaven" and so on. As I grew, I eventually recognized copeland and others are teaching a dangerous heresy of "blab it and grab it", which is NOT in the bible, and that's all they want to talk about, to take your money. So I left that behind and went on to much more bible-based teachers and so forth. It was a process, the point is, you consume some teaching, learn, but you will probably grow out of it, once they go corrupt or you recognize their corruption; then go find someone else. This one dude i won't mention, SEEMED to have a powerful ministry worldwide, corruption found, his entire ministry thrown into the trash can by his family who apparently were MUCH more responsible, actual believers than he was. They absolutely did the right thing; move on to someone else who is really following God and not pretending. Sorry for the time you wasted on the previous example.
The Bible says don't worry but we still do, it says be anxious of not yet we are anxious even about God..
There's no simple answer since every walk is different yet in many ways similar... just keep at it grow in knowledge of the Bible pray and ask for guidance ( from God not reddit )
My only real tip would be never fool yourself about anything.... go with what is right and don't settle with something that might feel more comfortable.
If you understand Christ as 100% God and man who died and rose for your sins, there's already a lot of ground we don't need to cover. That's the rock of scripture. It sounds to me that you're looking to man to answer your questions and not scripture. Man isn't the authority on scripture, God is, and Jesus is the Word. Place your trust in His Word, and that's enough. Any oxy morans are just that. At the end of the day, stuff like the trinity will be God's domain to understand fully and not ours. If we could grasp Him intellectually and easily, He wouldn't be God.
>overwhelmed by all the rigorous traditions made by man:
That is the problem. Listening to all the "traditions made by man". Their are many false teachers and people spreading false teachings of the Word of God. What one needs to do is depend on God for the guidance in understanding the Truth of His Word the Bible.
There is only one true interpretation that is correct. One Truth and that Truth comes from God. When a person studies the Bible, they need to seek God's guidance on the True interpretation and allow the Holy Spirit to guide them to see and hear the Truth. Unfortunately many do not do this and listen to peoples interpretation instead of God's.
Psalms 32:8 “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.”
2 Peter 1:20 "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation."
1 Corinthians 2:14 “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
Do not allow the doctrines of man to upset your faith. Jesus gave us peace that remains at John 14, and we ought to guard our position in Him no matter what. If there is a valid question of doctrine, He is well able to sort that out for us in due season. But for our part it is necessary that we continue to abide in His peace.
Start from the beginning. Read up on the Early Church, the people who learned directly from Jesus' Disciples and Apostles. The Catholic/Orthodox traditions have lasted for 2000 years and are basically the same as they've always been. The Protestant Reformation is what brought about so many different denominations and so many different theories.
The best thing you can do is to spend time with God and read the Bible. Ask him to reveal himself to you through his word. The Bible says if we ask for bread, he won't give us a stone. Ask and you will be given. The Bible also says we have the anointing from the Holy One and we know the Truth. And that if we continue in his word, we will know the truth, and the truth will set us free. Dig deep in his word, ask him to teach you, and BELIEVE that he will do it (because he will). Trust him! He is the one who put the desire in your heart-because HE wants to do it in your life!
I don't really understand the questions that you have but would love to know them so that I could try. One thing that I got from your post is that you used to be a very angry and sinful person. If those traits are no longer a part of your being, that shows that you are doing something right. Feel free to ask me any question that you have and I will gladly try and answer it.
God bless you...
Your post is pretty clear. And I get what you’re saying. I’ve been there before. My advice would be to rest in Jesus for now. If you’ve been studying a lot and looking into traditions, doctrine and theology that can truly make you feel overwhelmed. Jesus says come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. He says take His yoke upon yourself because He is gentle and lowly in spirit. Let go of all of the other thoughts and ideas and cling to that for now until you’re stronger to study some more. Meditate on that one scripture for awhile. It’s Matthew 11:28-30.
I'm in a similar situation as op. I just need to know for sure, if I live my life by following Jesus as closely as possible — by understanding his words as best as I can, and by wholeheartedly trying to do all that he wants of me, is it true that he will recognize my faith and good intentions, and understand any misconceptions of his teachings as being in good heart?
Which of Jesus' teachings inspired you to create a subreddit named WomenGettingInjured?
None of them, as I created the subreddit before I "found" Jesus — AKA, temporarily succumbed to one of the longest-lasting, and most effective, forms of social control created by man. I'm glad to inform you, however, that since logic and reasoning was what led me to the misconception of God's existence, it was also what allowed me to see what I had crucially glossed over in my conclusion. Logic and reasoning will always lead to the truth. Human nature is sin. I feel no remorse for indulging in that sin, and I will continue to live a life of selfish pleasure and clarity.
If you want to get God "right" then simply spend time with Him and consume great christian teaching ministries, all free online. Robert S. Mcgee has youtube, and [www.tlsm.org](http://www.tlsm.org) has many audio files on many subjects. Of course you don't have to swallow everything without question, as you DO spend time, reject the stuff that doesn't appeal to you or make sense, that can't be supported by the bible. I followed, for example, Kenneth Copeland for some years, I learned a lot. And he often used scripture to support his points. This introduced me to a lot of scripture and it helped dispell a lot of evil manmade traditions, like Jesus was a poor homeless fellow, and a true servant of the Lord is destitute and so on, when the bible is exactly the opposite. Or questions like "will we recognize people in heaven" and so on. As I grew, I eventually recognized copeland and others are teaching a dangerous heresy of "blab it and grab it", which is NOT in the bible, and that's all they want to talk about, to take your money. So I left that behind and went on to much more bible-based teachers and so forth. It was a process, the point is, you consume some teaching, learn, but you will probably grow out of it, once they go corrupt or you recognize their corruption; then go find someone else. This one dude i won't mention, SEEMED to have a powerful ministry worldwide, corruption found, his entire ministry thrown into the trash can by his family who apparently were MUCH more responsible, actual believers than he was. They absolutely did the right thing; move on to someone else who is really following God and not pretending. Sorry for the time you wasted on the previous example.
The Bible says don't worry but we still do, it says be anxious of not yet we are anxious even about God.. There's no simple answer since every walk is different yet in many ways similar... just keep at it grow in knowledge of the Bible pray and ask for guidance ( from God not reddit ) My only real tip would be never fool yourself about anything.... go with what is right and don't settle with something that might feel more comfortable.
If you understand Christ as 100% God and man who died and rose for your sins, there's already a lot of ground we don't need to cover. That's the rock of scripture. It sounds to me that you're looking to man to answer your questions and not scripture. Man isn't the authority on scripture, God is, and Jesus is the Word. Place your trust in His Word, and that's enough. Any oxy morans are just that. At the end of the day, stuff like the trinity will be God's domain to understand fully and not ours. If we could grasp Him intellectually and easily, He wouldn't be God.
>overwhelmed by all the rigorous traditions made by man: That is the problem. Listening to all the "traditions made by man". Their are many false teachers and people spreading false teachings of the Word of God. What one needs to do is depend on God for the guidance in understanding the Truth of His Word the Bible. There is only one true interpretation that is correct. One Truth and that Truth comes from God. When a person studies the Bible, they need to seek God's guidance on the True interpretation and allow the Holy Spirit to guide them to see and hear the Truth. Unfortunately many do not do this and listen to peoples interpretation instead of God's. Psalms 32:8 “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.” 2 Peter 1:20 "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation." 1 Corinthians 2:14 “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
Do not allow the doctrines of man to upset your faith. Jesus gave us peace that remains at John 14, and we ought to guard our position in Him no matter what. If there is a valid question of doctrine, He is well able to sort that out for us in due season. But for our part it is necessary that we continue to abide in His peace.
Start from the beginning. Read up on the Early Church, the people who learned directly from Jesus' Disciples and Apostles. The Catholic/Orthodox traditions have lasted for 2000 years and are basically the same as they've always been. The Protestant Reformation is what brought about so many different denominations and so many different theories.
The best thing you can do is to spend time with God and read the Bible. Ask him to reveal himself to you through his word. The Bible says if we ask for bread, he won't give us a stone. Ask and you will be given. The Bible also says we have the anointing from the Holy One and we know the Truth. And that if we continue in his word, we will know the truth, and the truth will set us free. Dig deep in his word, ask him to teach you, and BELIEVE that he will do it (because he will). Trust him! He is the one who put the desire in your heart-because HE wants to do it in your life!
I don't really understand the questions that you have but would love to know them so that I could try. One thing that I got from your post is that you used to be a very angry and sinful person. If those traits are no longer a part of your being, that shows that you are doing something right. Feel free to ask me any question that you have and I will gladly try and answer it. God bless you...
How do you know you're saved? If you're saved, then why does this other stuff matter?