More of Wiggin's Questions and Problems

[wiggins]

Yes, it's me that guy with a million problems, fears, and questions come to strike again! This time my questions may be bordering on theological debate which I know isn't approved of here. However, not being entirely clear of what a theological debate is, can any moderators or administrators who read this tell me what a theological debate is and if this thread oversteps the boundaries? Thanks! Now for the questions/problems/fears:

1. I do not know why, but I have this fear that I am actually a demon, or a devil, or satan or the anti-christ or a demon's, satan's, or the anti-christ's or the devil's child. Sometimes I even have this scary thought that horns will sprout from my head and I will grow an arrow-tipped tail. It's really bugging me. I know it's weird, I don't know why and it scares me.

2. I have this fear that I am not really saved, and that I am actually impossible to save (I don't know why; sometimes it ties in with the first one)

3. I have this fear that I am not really saved and that I am deluding myself that I am saved. This is not to say that I doubt Jesus' sacrifice and offer of salvation to us, but that I doubt that I really accepted Jesus and am truly saved. You see, I can't remember accepting Jesus into my life, but I'm sure I did. I remember the event, but not the details inside. All I know was my mom introduced Jesus to me at a young age in the car when we were on our way home, asked me if I wanted to accept Jesus (I think that was the question leastways), and I said yes, and she said something to the effect of let's pray, and we both bowed our heads. I don't remember anything else about that event...

4. This is a question on how God is... My mom and I had an argument about God's nature. She said that God forgives only if we truly repent and ask forgiveness and that when we do so, we should stop comitting the sin in question. Sure there will be times when we fall, but those should be minimum, and the sin should be pretty much gone. Until this repentence comes, we are not forgiven. Also, despite forgiveness, God will punish us for our sins. My view is that God forgives every time we ask for His forgiveness, but He is disappointed if we don't truly repent and change for the better.. However, He still forgives us. When we do truly repent and change, He will be very happy, like the father of the prodigal son. I also believe that we will suffer any physical consequences of our actions, but that God will not punish us until we get to heaven... actually, I am not clear on God and punishment. Please help me out guys. I do pray and read the Bible to try and find the answer. CAA has delivered eye-openers to me so many times and been a tool for God to speak to me so many times, that I'm really getting reliant on it (I hope this is not a bad thing). So please help me out, because I wantt to see God clearly, and make sure I do not have the wrong conception of God, and in so doing possibly go on a wrong path...

4. I am scared that somehow myself and my faith in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, will be snatched away by Satan, or something or someone else.

5. I am afraid that I will be fooled into accepting a demon into me, or becoming a tool of satan or something satanic or evil, or anti-Christ, or anti-Christian

6. I fear that I do not really love God, and that I am deluding myself that I do

7. I fear that I fear the devil more than I fear God

8. I fear that I love other things and other people more than I love God without knowing it

These are my problems, fears and questions that really concern me. I have no idea if you can or how you guys can help me, but if God leads you to, please post something to help me out. God has spoken to me through CAA many many times, so I though I would just post this and see what people say. Maybe God will speak to me through you guys again. Thanks!
Wiggins

[Kokhiri Sojourn]

Wow, Wiggins. I'm not sure if I am qualified to answer your questions, but I'll just give you a few comforts that have been a great encouragement in times of doubt. You are not as far removed from other believers as you might think. I have great problems loving God more than anything else, partly because we see other people and things, and we live out our lives with them. God is unseen, and infinitely harder to comprehend. Yet, remember that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We weren't prefect, aren't perfect, and will never be perfect on this earth. Remember that. If you mean that by repentance, we will never do that sin again, no one on earth has repented, in my opinion. Repentance is very necessary, but remember that God forgives more sins than we are even aware of.

I'll post later, with my real response, because I have to go and work now (in the Library). I've never heard of someone sprouting horns out of their head. If you'd like to PM me, I'd be happy to write you. Again, I'll respond later with my real response.

[cbwing0]

I believe that these questions are very common among Christians; and they have been expressed by others many times in the past. I have been meaning to post something on the subject for quite some time, but never had a chance.

So please help me out, because I wantt to see God clearly, and make sure I do not have the wrong conception of God, and in so doing possibly go on a wrong path...p

That is understandable, and even admirable when there are so many people who are apathetic about God's nature, doctrine, etc. To answer your question, I will refer to God's Word:

"And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties]1. I do not know why, but I have this fear that I am actually a demon, or a devil, or satan or the anti-christ or a demon's, satan's, or the anti-christ's or the devil's child.[/quote]
It may surprise you to hear that I have thought the same thing in the past, and I would be willing to bet that many other Christians (especially males) have thought the same thing. Why is this? I don't know for certain, but I can offer a few possibilities:

1.These thoughts come from Satan, who is trying to take away the joy that is our through salvation.

2.We all want to feel important/be famous, even if that means being infamous. Thus, it comes from pride.

3.It is a response to the sinful nature that we are all too familiar with in ourselves, making us think that we are the worst sinners in the world. Even if this was true, we would not be beyond the efficacy of God's grace.

At any rate, I can assure you that you are not a demon, the devil's child, the antichrist, or any other such thing. On top of that, it is highly unlikely that anyone would fit that description today.

3. I have this fear that I am not really saved and that I am deluding myself that I am saved.

From your story, I can say with a great deal of certainty that you are in fact saved. I can see how you might be confused by the fact that you don't vividly remember the experience of salvation, but that is no indication that you were not saved at that time. Then there is the evidence of your consience. The simple fact that you have such questions is evidence that the Holy Spirit is working in your life, since you are worried about pleasing God. The only way this would happen is if you were saved.

6. I fear that I do not really love God, and that I am deluding myself that I do

7. I fear that I fear the devil more than I fear God

I will take these two together, as they are somewhat similar. Concerning love, remember, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10). Of course we can never love God as much as he loves us, so it is understandable if we feel that our love is inadequate.

You are also safe on the second fear. Jesus said, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28). You are right to fear the one whom Jesus told us to fear, but there is more to this pasasge than that. Since God is the ultimate judge of our sins, he is the one with the real power to "destroy both soul and body in hell," by dispensing final judgment upon lost souls. Still, we need not fear satan, who has no power over the saints (meaning all who are saved, not in the Catholic sense). But do not take me to mean here that if you are tempted, then you are not saved (I could see how someone could interpret it that way, so I will respond to it in advance). We all face temptation, yet we are still saved.

8. I fear that I love other things and other people more than I love God without knowing it

That is ok. I believe that our Love for God is not necessarily expressed in the same way as our love for people/things we can see in the world: "No one has ever seen God]all [/i]sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them." Therefore, this is not some sort of one-time sinful act that you can commit.

What then is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? The answer comes in verse 30, the second overlooked part of this passage: "He said this because they were saying, 'he has an evil spirit."

You see, in the preceding verses, the Pharisees said, "He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the price of demons he is driving out demons" (Mark 3: 22b).

The sin in question was the fact that, despite the overwhelming evidence before their eyes, the teachers of the law were unwilling to accept Jesus claim to be the Son of God. They went so far as the accuse him of being "possessed by Beelzebub."

Now, I think it is clear that Christians, who accept Jesus as the Son of God, whose death atoned for their sins could no possibly commit this sin, which is basically saying "Even though I see the miracles, I would rather go to hell than believe in Jesus Christ."

I hope that this has helped you and others with similar concerns. I could say more, but I am already late for class, so I will leave the other points for later.

[Ashley]

As for the theological tip-toeing here, I will say this: we are and always will be a primarily Christian forum, and we cannot possibly seperate the spiritual issues of the fellowship here from the community. It's just impossible. God meant for us to encourage one another and to help each other out; He also richly blessed us with a diverse group of believers here. But we can all agree that we each have different denominational (rather than salvational) beliefs--like how often is communion necessary, women's role in the church, etc.--that are not necessary to the core theology of our faith (Christ as the sole son of God who died and rose again for our sins and by faith through grace are we saved). These are the issues that we ask you don't bring up here simply because it would case more division and disunity than spiritual growth. As I said, we have a large number of different denominations represented here, and well, this place was never designed to be somewhere to debate any point, theological or not. It was meant to be a sanctuary, not a lecture hall. So that's the reason behind our anti-debate "laws"--they are more destructive than positive to us and our goals (not necessarily in general) and we want to keep this a nice, open, friendly place. Plus, like I said, there are other places to debate such topics, like T-Web.

Now, as for whether this thread is ok or not--well for the moment it seems fine. However like always if it gets out of hand we will close it immediately.

[Fsiphskilm]

Volt's Reply is in [c

[Nia-chan]

Listen to what Nia-chan has to say. I think lots of people go through some of your thoughts, even me, and I heard it was just the devil putting those thoughts in your mind.

[Rev. Doc]

I was wondering wiggins if you at this time belong to a church that you would consider very strong in Biblical teaching? If not I would encourage you to search out and become involved in such a Christian community. Many of the questions I noticed that you have are ones that deal with the need for assurance in regard to one's faith and relationship to Christ. While the CAA community is wonderful and I know everyone here will do their best to pray for you and answer any questions you may have, nothing will ever repalce the personal face to face reationship you need with brothers and sisters in Christ. You need someone willing to disciple you and help you in your daily walk with the Lord. So if you do not currently have a church home actively seek this.

If you do already belong to a church with solid Biblical teachings I would encourage you to speak to your pastor or youth leader and relate to them the questions you are struggling with at this time. Don't be shy or ashamed to do this as this is what they are there for. I know they will be more than happy to help you to look into God's word to answer the questions pretaining to the struggles you are having right now. Also, ask them about the possibility of having someone to disciple you and help you with future questions. Once you do this, and you realize you have someone there to help you in the faith and encourage you it will make all the difference in the world.

Hebrews 3:13
But encourage one another daily as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

Hebrews 10: 25
Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the day approaching.

Again, while CAA is a very encouraging community, you need personal contact and mentoring with believers in your community. This will be vital for you personal growth and for the fact that God wants you one day to encourage, mentor and disciple younger believers in the faith.

[Mave]

Yo wiggins, that's a whole lot of questions and I think everyone has done a great job answering them so I'll try not to repeat them.

I'll just share my personal experience. There was a time where I doubted my salvation and one day, it occurred to me that it reflected my lack of trust in Jesus and His promises. Once I dealt with them, I was free from fear and am not afraid to do things for Him anymore.

First of all, humans are not demons and vice versa. How we end up serving evil is different from demons. So don't worry about sprouting horns, OK? ^^

If you have a close relationship with God and know His ways, you'll never lose sight of what His will is. That's why I keep emphasizing "rely on God, know His Heart" in everything especially in spirit discernment. Grow!!

Hebrews 5
"12In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil"

Then you'll KNOW if something's wrong if you make yourself sensitive to the Holy Spirit.

1 John 4:1
"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."

Satan plays this game in every Christian: Deception and lies. He's always trying to convince everyone that Jesus is not the truth and there's no salvation...bla bla...My response is always: "Yeah, yeah whatever, just shut up Devil. I'm under Jesus's protection, His blood covers me, so suck it up. Get used to it, scum. "

It seems easy to say "I believe in Jesus's offer of salvation" and really mean it from your heart. But looky,

Mark 9:24
"Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"

while this dude was dealing with a different type of belief, I think it's applicable to believing in salvation. My point is other ppl have the same problem too and sometimes we need divine help to overcome it. I think once you overcome your unbelief, most of your questions and issues are dealt with. So pray about it, dig into the Bible, talk to other offline Christians (listen to the Doctor hehe) and ask for help as well from above, OK? Been there, done that..hope this helps!

[wiggins]

Thanks guys! ^_^...*feels better*. Case closed. Oh and btw, I am in a church that I consider very strong in Biblical teaching. We're in the book of James now. Or rather, I got to London in time for the latter part of James. Don't worry about my having Christians whom I can talk to personally - I have church, youth group, and my parents for that, and I do ask them questions too. Some questions I post here and others I ask at church and youth group and to my parents. Thanks again!

[Kokhiri Sojourn]

Well, a lot of people have answered since yesterday, so what I would say is search the Word for verses that can help in your struggles. Memorize passages that are of particular comfort to you, like promises of God. Memorizing Scripture has helped me considerably in my walk, because I don't have to be carrying around a Bible to remember and it is easier to meditate on verses that you have memorized. Anyway, I'm praying for you, wiggins, and remember to persevere. In the end, nothing could be more worth the struggle and the delight of living as a child of Christ.

[DrNic]

Also, despite forgiveness, God will punish us for our sins.

I 100% disagree with this statement. God gave his only son so that we may be completely forgiven of sin. The sin isn't put the side and then taken away when we've had whats coming to us. If you repent and ask God to forgive then he will forgive and forget about your sin. I guess he would probably be disappointed if you did the same sin again, but if you make an effort to stop doing that sin then he'd be more happy. Remember, God's love is everlasting and he knows we are human and make mistakes. This is my personal views...

[Ashley]

Easy, easy guys...don't want this thread to get out of hand.

[Fsiphskilm]

Hey now..Heh :g