forum Christian Chat

Started November 14, 2018 by @Rvan group

tune

Although we always just called it communion.

In the Baptist church I went to it was called communion or the holy sacrament, in the nondenom I'm currently going to it's called communion, breaking bread, Jesus's last Passover, etc.

The difference is that the Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ while in other churches that just call it communion it's normally perceived as a thing to remember the last supper as a symbol.

My family is Baptist, but contrary to popular belief, we aren't super strict about everything (well, some Baptist churches may be, but ours isn't).

My family is Baptist, but contrary to popular belief, we aren't super strict about everything (well, some Baptist churches may be, but ours isn't).

Same with mine. It's kinda nice. That being said ours is also less than 50 people, but still.

so, uh
not sure how to phrase this but i'm scared i might be starting to drift away from the faith-
i still very much believe that god exists, with my personal experiences it would be stupid not to, but i haven't been practicing much, going to church almost feels like a chore, and bringing myself to say my nightly prayers gets harder as time goes on.
i don't know why this is happening, i just don't have the motivation anymore.
this has been going on for months now, especially since the sudden "I'm extremely afraid of the very concept of an afterlife" thing and the suffer situation first began, and it just keeps getting worse
what should i do?

I have always been taught that there isn't a rapture before the actual Tribulation, only before God's wrath— but God's wrath and Tribulation are two separate things. I kinda wanted the rapture thing to be true, because that seemed easier, but I've done a crap ton of studies trying to prove that there's a rapture and— and I can't find it. I mean, if you can find it, please show me because I'd rather have that any day of the week. But from what I gather, Tribulation comes first, and Jesus' return is not until later.

so, uh
not sure how to phrase this but i'm scared i might be starting to drift away from the faith-
i still very much believe that god exists, with my personal experiences it would be stupid not to, but i haven't been practicing much, going to church almost feels like a chore, and bringing myself to say my nightly prayers gets harder as time goes on.
i don't know why this is happening, i just don't have the motivation anymore.
this has been going on for months now, especially since the sudden "I'm extremely afraid of the very concept of an afterlife" thing and the suffer situation first began, and it just keeps getting worse
what should i do?

I know exactly how you feel because I have had a similar experience— very recently actually. The only thing I didn't relate to was fear of the afterlife, I guess because I hate this life so much that I don't really consider being afraid of the afterlife so long as I try to keep myself on God's path rather than my own.
But for everything to feel heavy and like a chore— that happens. That's normal. And it's kind of a hard thing to push through sometimes, but it's not impossible, and it's important that you do push through it.
First of all, let's talk about church being boring. I've been to a ton of boring church services, and I don't think boring church is God's will at all— because I've also been to a lot of church services that weren't even remotely boring, and some that have changed my life altogether. God is a God of power, not of boring. So I think most of the boring part comes from lack of faith and realization of Who God really is— not on your part, but rather on modern Christianity as a whole.
Your prayer feels hard because that's how the enemy wants you to feel. Try finding a different time to pray. Try changing up your prayers. Anytime praying feels hard, pray just a little bit longer. Ask God to help you with it, because He will. I was struggling with something really stupid a couple weeks ago, and I knew the answer already, but it was eating away at me because I needed more reassurance. I prayed about it a lot. Took a couple weeks, but He answered me blatantly five times in a single day. He will answer you if you seek Him, and if you ask Him to help you have a passion for Him again or clarity concerning the afterlife or peace— or whatever you ask, as long as you do so with a pure heart, He's gonna answer. He hears every bit of it, and I promise He's not ignoring you. He just knows what He's doing and we can't always see it clearly.

And that's my ramble for the day.

Hmm. Ewen knows what's up.

what should i do?

Read Mere Christianity also. There's a link on my profile if you don't bhave it.

Hmm. Ewen knows what's up.

Agreed.

so, uh
not sure how to phrase this but i'm scared i might be starting to drift away from the faith-
i still very much believe that god exists, with my personal experiences it would be stupid not to, but i haven't been practicing much, going to church almost feels like a chore, and bringing myself to say my nightly prayers gets harder as time goes on.
i don't know why this is happening, i just don't have the motivation anymore.
this has been going on for months now, especially since the sudden "I'm extremely afraid of the very concept of an afterlife" thing and the suffer situation first began, and it just keeps getting worse
what should i do?

So I've dealt similarly with this. I've drifted and come back and drifted and come back more times than I can count. God just wants you, in all your doubts, and insecuritys, in all your mess, because that's his love. You are his love. I know the feeling of feeling like you're getting bored and faltering in the faith. Here's what I did. I read two books. Both have been made into a movie, if you prefer that. 1. Heaven Is For Real. It's about a young boy who sees heaven during surgery and wants to be with God, and God sends him back. Very emotional. 2. Miracles From Heaven. Is about a young girl who gets diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that has no cure, and she begs God to help her, and one day she climbs a tree, and falls right through it, and God heals her from her fall. It's very emotional, and I related to it with my sister because she had an autoimmune disease, and God healed her. They are both based on true stories, and they are filled with encouragement. I hope these help. I found them, and they brought me closer to God. I hope they do the same for you.

Hmm. Ewen knows what's up.

Agreed.

Ewen is a bit sleep deprived and could really use some caffeine right now, but he's glad that you think so.

Ella, I've struggled with the fear of the afterlife as well. It used to be on my mind a lot. If church is boring, then won't heaven be even more boring? All we do is praise God all day, wearing white robes and never experience anything new? I understand that line of thinking. This might be a little silly, but the way I let go of that fear is through this- if God chose to give a detailed explanation of what heaven was like, every believer would kill themselves to get there today. Heaven, God's Kingdom, is just too good for us to ever understand. Our mere human imagination cannot begin to conceive the wonders of heaven, the beauty of a world without sin, in perfect communion with God and God's love. It's of my belief that heaven will be a New earth, a world without sin- the way God intended.
Here's another way of thinking of it. It's not perfectly doctrinly sound, but it may be a comfort. The world was created in 6 days. And this world is pretty enjoyable, even though it's been corrupted. Jesus said "and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."
John 14:3 NIV
Jesus went back to heaven, like, 2000 years ago. If God can make all this in 6 days, imagine the place God's prepared for you over 2000 years. Heaven will be absolute joy. And it's ok that we can't understand what that feels like yet. Our job right now is to focus on God's Kingdom here on Earth.
"Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:27‭, ‬33‭-‬34 NIV
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Philippians 4:6 NIV

How old are you, Ewen? (If I may ask.)

I didn't see this until just now. Got behind on this chat thread, because I'm easily distracted. I'm technically only eighteen or something but sometimes I get confused and forget how old I am because I feel way older than that. And I do get mixed up sometimes and tell people the wrong date for my birthday. insert facepalm
But to answer your question directly, 18-going-on-89. :)

The end times stuff freaks me out, tbh. Do you guys believe in the rapture? I was always taught everyone who knows Jesus will be raptured before all the tribulation stuff begins, so if that's true we don't even have to worry about the mark of the beast since that comes after. But I barely know anything about those prophecies.

You know what I just realized? We're all gunna see each other in heaven. Like. Idk that's neat.

The Rapture doctrine was created only a few years ago (historically) and had no proof (according to the dude who made it up). It's wishful thinking. Christians haven't been spared torture before. It'll happen again.

I agree with this.

The end times stuff freaks me out, tbh. Do you guys believe in the rapture? I was always taught everyone who knows Jesus will be raptured before all the tribulation stuff begins, so if that's true we don't even have to worry about the mark of the beast since that comes after. But I barely know anything about those prophecies.

You know what I just realized? We're all gunna see each other in heaven. Like. Idk that's neat.

The Rapture doctrine was created only a few years ago (historically) and had no proof (according to the dude who made it up). It's wishful thinking. Christians haven't been spared torture before. It'll happen again.

I agree with this.

Ik I've been dead and missing for about 40 years, and I'm just catching the end of this conversation, but everything I read seems to suggest that the rapture occurs after Tribulation and that there's a good chance the saints will be persecuted. So I'm with Dom and this Ewen kid.

Ok, opinions on Hell? I've been hearing that the concept of the "eternal, fiery, torturous Hell" was foreign to the New Testament writers.

Nicely said above, Owen.
As for hell. Idk. I've heard that perhaps it's that the presence of God will be a blazing fire to thise who refuse him. But Idk. I don't think it matters that nuch to think on.

(friends are over so I can’t respond to everyone yet)
The thing is, I’m not really scared that heaven will be boring, that isn’t the problem. It’s the fact that it goes on forever, with no sadness, no mourning, nothing, while your friends are burning for eternity-
it feels messed up, and especially since there’s no escape, you can’t vanish from heaven, you’re stuck there
even in pure bliss eternity’s a long time, and I don’t want it.

C.S. Lewis put it thus about no weeping while there be those shut out: Why should hell have power over heaven?

(friends are over so I can’t respond to everyone yet)
The thing is, I’m not really scared that heaven will be boring, that isn’t the problem. It’s the fact that it goes on forever, with no sadness, no mourning, nothing, while your friends are burning for eternity-
it feels messed up, and especially since there’s no escape, you can’t vanish from heaven, you’re stuck there
even in pure bliss eternity’s a long time, and I don’t want it.

Well, I think the problem isn't that you don't want eternity— but rather that your current mind can't comprehend it. What I mean is that we, as humans, have always lived in a realm that is completely limited by time. We can't understand what it would be like to live in a place without time, and because we can't understand it, it makes us nervous. That's only to be expected, honestly— because you can't really even begin to grasp what it will be like. Everything you have ever experienced, everything I have every experienced, has always been limited by this concept of time, this concept of temporary. When we get to heaven, this limitation of time will not longer exist, and we'll be free of it. Think of it like this, except on a larger scale: A little fish that has always lived its entire life in a fishbowl has no idea what the ocean is like, with the infinite vastness. It's only to be expected that the prospect of living in the ocean would freak the fish out, because I mean— it's huge, and the fish has never seen anything bigger than its own one-gallon tank, so how is it supposed to imagine thousands upon thousands upon thousands of gallons of ocean water, and what it would be like to live there? Seems scary. Seems bad. Seems like something the fish wouldn't really like.
But it's not going to be scary or bad, because when we make it to heaven, we will be changed into something that isn't limited by time. Instead of thinking of it as you being stuck there (because that's not how it's going to be at all imo), rather try to come to realization that you'll be escaping this realm of limitations and reaching something beyond what you ever imagined. Something that only seems scary because neither you nor I have the capabilities of understanding its glory.

There won't be sadness or pain in heaven, even over the loss of those in Hell. Not that our ability to care will taken away or anything like that, but I think we will reach a higher understanding so that we realize the fullness of the situation, and when we realize the fullness of the situation, we will be unable to be sad for it. In Heaven, we won't feel sorrow— not because God won't allow us to, but because He will show us how not to, in a way we've never experienced in our current Fallen state. His peace will surpass us in a new way and purify us to the point that we aren't sad. Precisely as @Althalosian-the_Rambly_Flowery_Wordy_Boi quoted above, Why should hell have power over heaven? It doesn't, and it won't. God's people will not feel any sort of misery for the life they are living, because it will be beyond what they could've wanted. See, if you or I or any other human thinks, "Oh, geez— heaven doesn't really sound that great," that's probably only because we are stupid. No offense, but we are. Humans are stupid. I'm included in that, and I'm probably the stupidest of all of us, but still. My point being— God understand far more of what we want and need than we do. Whatever we imagine we want usually isn't even what we want at all, so how the heck are we supposed to know what we actually want for Heaven? He's the One Who created us in the first place, so He would know how to create a Heaven— a perfect dimension for us to live— that we could thoroughly enjoy. It's a new sort of freedom and infinite life that I can't understand in this lifetime. There's no way to imagine what will actually be in Heaven or what it will be like, which is probably why the Bible doesn't go into many in-depth descriptions of what our afterlife will be like— because we're not going to be able to understand it, anyway.
Hell's another thing, though, and if you get me on that soapbox, there will be a whole 'nother ramble— but I don't mind. I like rambles.

I’ve been reading through the book of Psalms today and yesterday (stopping before doing 119 if you know what I mean). And I thought I’d share some stuff.
78: 37-40
For their heart was not whole with him, neither continued they steadfast in his covenant. But he was merciful, that he forgave their misdeeds, and destroyed them not. Yea, many a time turned he his wrath away, and would not suffer his whole displeasure to arise. For he considered that they were but flesh, and that they were even a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.
I just thought it was a great insight into the mercy of God, seeing that we are so weak and taking pity on us instead of merely punishing us for our misdeeds.

And also. All of 109. David. Who hurt you?