I'd tell you Jesus lived the perfect life I was suppose to live, died for my sins the death I was supposed to die, and arose from the dead to give me new life in him and now I don't need to worry about working my way to eternal life because I trust that Jesus accomplished that for me.
Help me find the Truth.
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Jesus said to urroner, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man or woman comes to the Father except by me” John 14:6
“I ask you what you believe and how I can find the happiness and joy you have in your life”
I would tell you that the happiness and joy that I have in my life doesn’t come from a church or a religion but from the personal,intimate relationship I have with GOD through faith in the completed work of Christ. I would say once I started reading the Bible to learn about and draw closer to God is when the truth of His love, His grace, His mercy and His interest and love for me began to be revealed and that revelation has brought complete happiness and joy into my life as well as a sense of fullness and contentment that I always hungered for but never believed could be obtained.
read
The TRUTH lies in the
One,
Holy,
Catholic
and Apostolic Church.
Everything else?????
Go talk with a priest and get your questions answered.
I look at it like this: The bible says we were created for His pleasure, the same kind of pleasure that a person gets, say, tending a garden. So you want to return that interest back to Him that He has in you and not be a weed that no one wants.
If the parents were RC, they should have had designated godparents who saw to your spiritual development in the church.
I say:
You know friend, happiness is for all who are willing to live the life that they were created to live by the one true god. It is ours for the taking. Make right choices and try to follow the path that was laid out for you by God.
I’m going to tell you that we are Catholics and don’t like to discuss religion with neighbors after having one who was very anti Catholic who went out of their way to try to make us miserable. When we wouldn’t go to his Church with them they started a campaign of terror with the code dept and any other agency they could think to call until they were told by the city that they knew they were harassing us and wouldn’t be part of it again. They moved shortly after that.
Hi Urroner,
You’ll get a million replies on this, but I just wanted to drop you a quick, simple response.
I would tell you the reason that I have found happiness is because I have discovered the truth about what God wants from man. I have found that ALL of the institutions you mentioned (denominations) are man-made, and do not contain the fullness of Christ.
Instead of being shackled to man-made traditions and religions, I have found the simple truth: the reason why most people in our times are uncomfortable with the Christian religion is because the Christian religion they practice is man-made. It is not the Christianity of the Bible.
As your neighbor, I would invite you to my home (or ask to come into yours, if that is more comfortable for you) and show you in God’s word, the Bible, how simple Christianity really is. The truth will set you free (John 8:32), and if Christ sets you free you will be free indeed. Free from sin, free from false religion, and free from doubt.
Let me know if I can help you in any way. :)
After reading most of the responses to your query, the confusion seems to grow in intensity while ever more questions and accusations join the fray. Religions have managed to build their walls of separation for thousands of years, and their mission has always been to convince those on the other side to come over. Why is it so difficult to see that the many walls of interpretation, doctrines, confessions, rituals, etc. are in fact the real problem here? They are taking the place of the authentic forgiving love between humans. They hide and even destroy God’s declaration of humanitarian justice. You can uncover more on this topic at my Blog: http://infoguyhank.wordpress.com
I probably would have been a good listner...have heard alot of this before from others. I am a Catholic, so since you mentioned the past family catholic connection, probably would have given you my Sunday church bulletin, and then welcomed you to come anytime.....it is the greatest church on earth, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. I would have mentioned that I too wasn’t always a faithful church goer, but so very glad that I returned. We can only pray and be charitable, people usually do what they want to do anyway, that free will thing.
LOL.. it’s all about relationship. Relationship with Christ, with others, that is the backbone of the entire Bible. Call me any name which makes you feel better,hippocrit, God clinger, or whatever else, I will assure you that I am indeed not worthy of saving, nor of any relationship with Christ. However, He picked me & pursues me most especially when I fail, which is daily.