[[Now certainly I could be wrong on this, but it seems to me that religion is a creation of man,]]
Religion has always been an institution of God- even from the very begiining
[[I have also had some personal experiences where I have come across some very corrupt people within churches, so that has also lent to my distrust of what the purpose of religion actually is.]]
God will take care of thsoe people- Our faith is in God- not fallible man- It can be ‘traumatic’ runnign into such people- however, it’s important to realize we’re3 all sinners, and even as Christians, some will be worse than others- Whiel there are soem bad eggs, there’s also a great many good ones- Whiel some folks let power and privilege go to their heads, others give hteir lvies selflessly to God with no ambitions other than servign Him- Let these good type folks encourage you where the bad eggs have understandably dissallusioned you- (And just for hte record- we too have been stung many many times by ‘relgiious people’- it’s VERY hard to maintain trust in God when htis happens- beleive me we know- but it’s worth it- God IS faithful- even when it seems He isn’t at times)
[[I love Jesus the way I love Jesus.]]
A lot of peopell ove Him- but soem of them haven’t accepted Him as Savior- The only thing that matters is if we have humbled ourselves before Him, told Him we udnerstand that He and He alone died for our sins so that we may have etertnal life through Him, and not through our own works, and asked Him to be our Lord and Savior- Nothign else matters, not church, not relgioisity, not even love for Him- Unless we are born again, we will not see the kingdom of heaven- Not sure if Yuo have ever coem to this humbling position in life with Him, that’s between you and God and Christ and Holy Spirit- and is a personal issue between just you 4- If you’re not sure- I woudl just encourage you make sure- Eternity is a long long time- let us make sure we have it right now because there are no second chances after we die- God gives us a lifetime to humble oruselves before Him- if we choose not to- then we’ve had our chance-
[[There is no other way for me to explain some events in my life. It just sort of boils down to the old saying -someone up there loves you.]]
That He does, and He longs to get to know you personally IF you haven’t already
A number of years ago, I brought myself to beyond rock bottom.
I laid myself at death’s door. Jesus Christ picked me up and saved my life because He saw worth in it that I did not.
Without Him, I’d be long gone. I owe Him all that I am. I used to hate my life, but He Filled it with His Blessings. He took these actions because I prayed to Him and asked Him to guide me where I had become totally lost.
I really am at a loss for words to even describe what He did, but I’ll not ever forget, stupid as I am.