Thursday, July 29, 2010

Attempting to stay out of ditches

     Confused. I guess that's what you could call me. I'm starting to rethink everything I ever thought or believed. Well...maybe not everything, but enough to make my head spin!
     When I was young, I really didn't know how to discern the Truth. When people told me something, I feared rejection, so I conformed to what they said. Instead, I should have been firm in my relationship with Christ and went to Him to see if what people told me was correct. When people touted a doctrine and made those who disagree practically out to be heretics, I should have went to Christ. People are not my Bible! If I go to Christ for direction isn't He able to keep me from falling into false doctrine???
     It's not that I'm doubting Christ is real, completely abandoning the way I live, changing what I believe, or abandoning all my convictions, rather, I want my beliefs to be solely based on Christ alone and done because of love for Him and my neighbor, not because of fear of man.
     So many friends as they grew up went from one ditch to another. They were ultra conservative (probably due to all the gossip if you weren't). Then, as they got older, they realized what they thought was a must really wasn't. So they abandoned practically everything and went into another ditch, going into pitfalls their parents were trying to help them avoid. To a certain extent, I don't care if they don't live a certain way if its because they no longer have those convictions. But, to just completely abandon beliefs without finding out what God truly does want is a sure way to go from one ditch to another. It's something I want to avoid.               
     It's hard finding a balance. One I'm praying I will find. For now, I'm taking it slow, praying to Christ and crying out to Him to show me the way, and walking very, very slow. I want to stay on the straight and narrow path, not in the ditch on either side.

2 comments:

  1. Oh Grace, you sound *so* much like me! I *promise* God will answer those heart cries. Falling into false doctrine is a danger, yes. But running to Christ with everything, and waiting on Him,before you walk,and he won't let you fall so far in the ditch. You might stumble,close by it, but He has got you in His grasp!

    Hang in there.

    One resource that TRULY, TRULY helped me in my journey was "Firm Foundations" Creation to Christ. It is the Bible Study that New Tribes Missions uses when they teach a tribe about God.

    Remember, foriegn tribes have *no* knowledge whatsoever of God. They must start from scratch.

    And I am finding more and more, that is exactly what churched people need to do. Start from Scratch.

    This study goes through the Bible Chronilogically, showing the character of God, and how He works.

    Another resource is from a company called Good Seed: http://www.goodseed.com There is a book called "The Stranger On The Road to Emuas" That book is a condensed version of "Firm Foundations" and you can read that book online for free, or listen to it on audio for free online...or do a Video Bible study for free online.

    The man who started this ministry, was a New Tribes Missionary who used the chronicalogical method, and he saw a need for western civilization needing to understand who God is, just as much as a prehistoric tribal people.

    All you have to do to acess all those free materials is join with a user name and email. It's free to join.

    I know it sounds like another "man" to follow. But it truly isn't set up like that.

    There are testimonies on there of people confused about God and Christianity, coming to terms with God's character through these materials.

    (((hugs)))

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you so much for your encouragement to me and the resource suggestions! It's nice to be meeting people who have gone down a similar path and come out with a closer walk with Christ.

    ReplyDelete