Why are some many anti-religious and...

[Eightball]

One thing is pretty sure: no true atheist is visiting these bulletin boards. They don't have the time. True atheists are desperately aware that they are on a limited timeline and, therefore, must do all they can in that short amount of time.

True atheists have no problem with murder, incest, rape, robbery, etc, because to them there is no eternal consequence of such actions.

A true atheist can kill a newborn with his bare hands and enjoy a restful sleep because he knows that, unless found by the police, that nothing bad will happen as a result.


So, of course, true atheists don't exist. I should know, because I used to think I was one. I thought there was no God, but my moral compass was based on thousands of years of GOD-directed morality.

The Truth is that God made a covenant with Abraham that He kept with Isaac and Jacob, and eventually formed a New Covenant when He came to earth as a man named Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus Christ is our Lord.


When I changed from atheist to Christian, I felt (with my physical body and soul) the Holy Spirit enter me. It was like nothing I ever felt before. I literally felt the Holy Spirit of the Lord fill me. What a rush that was.


And I'm still the same guy I was before. I didn't turn into a freak. I still drink beer, watch football, hang out at the beach, and listen to loud rock and roll.

The difference is that now I love everyone, I love the Lord, and I appreciate life in a different way. I try to avoid sin (although it's impossible for me to be perfect), and I am so much better toward others.


I have been saved, literally, and it was only through my acceptance of, and submission to, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

One important point to remember as a Christian. The Holy Spirit is not to be followed or does it direct via feelings, but by giving you both intuition, and mental/thinking, direction that is not contradictory of the bible.

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. In my early years as a Christian, I lived a "Yo Yo" sort of life as when I didn't feel God's presence I would be alarmed and wonder. It often led me into some real funk type episodes of depression.

Little by little, I learned that the Christian walk is a line of decisions that I make day to day, not based on my emotional state, but by my mind and what it communicates as it is immersed more and more in Gods Word.

Many people have walked up the isle of a church when there was an "invitation", and walked into the counseling room where a supposed helpful Christian met them. If a person came forward because they made an objective based decision to believe in Christ and all He had done as it applies to them personally, the scripture says, its a done deal. Sadly, so often people who have willfully made this decision are met with, "How do you feel now?". Feel now? God just made me a new creation in Christ by the entry of His Holy Spirit into my soul. Should I "feel" something necessarily? Maybe, but I don't have to "feel" different to be saved. Actually that is true. Sometimes emotions or feelings lag behind the willful decision, but inevitably most people will experience some type of feelings. Never the less, feelings aren't the gauge to determine when one is saved or not. Salvation is based on the human will, not it's emotions. Confirmation of salvation is not based on emotions, yet emotions can happen and often after a "willful" decision is made.

Some people may "feel" ecstatic in their emotional department, as they have been unburdened with so much, yet other people of other temperment, may not feel differently in the emotions department at all. Sadly, many folks, especially in your more charismatic churches seem to gauge a person's salvation as valid based on their emotional based reactions or resulting emotions after making this decision to believe.

My only reason for this post was, Christian beware. There will come a time in your life, when the emotions aren't going to parallel, or agree with the truth of what you are in Christ, and you will have to willfully decide to ignore your feelings and go with the Truth.

It can be a lifelong war for some Christians, as they have a temperment that seems to lean on feelings to validate whether things are right or wrong, or correct or incorrect.

The big victory, and the big step in maturing in the Christian walk is when the believer can withstand the bombardment of emotions that say "No!" when God is saying "Yes!" in His written word.

The Bereans would always go to their scripture when Paul spoke to their church to make sure that even the Apostle Paul was not leading them astray from God's written Word. Paul commended them for this.

I love those times when my emotions go with my faith, but those times can often be far and in between. Also, Lucifer has access to our soul in the emotions department, too. He can flavor up things to a point where we gauge our Christian walk on how we feel, and not on our actual true identity.