PatrickB Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I was talking a bit with an ex-christian the other day, and he had told me that he did in fact find true peace and love while being a Christian. This didn't make any sense. Whereas at first I felt peace and love (for a very short time) until I realized that I was wicked and awful and needed to repent for every single thing I did before "finding" Christ. What a bunch of crap. I would like to see what you found while "knowing" jebus. From my perspective, there can not be any peace nor any true love if you follow the holey bibley. Give me your thoughts! Thanks, Patrick p.s. Answers 2 and 3 may appear to be the same as 4 and 5, but in those the actual difference is finding love and peace, as opposed to actually feeling love and peace. Very small difference, I know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OpheliaGinger Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I thought I felt peace and love but in retrospect, I felt neither. It was all just wishful thinking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraphicsGuy Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I had no peace, but felt loved. It was a schizophrenic kind of love, but it kept me going back to the fold over and over and over... Otherwise I was tormented daily mentally and emotionally; no peace at all. Definitely not the "sound mind" promised by the Holiby Scribtures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
white_raven23 Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I had NO peace.....I kept doing things considered to be sins, and I was forever asking forgiveness, and what if I wasn't DOING enough to deserve heaven? This shit once kept me awake at night mulling over the possibilities. Fear, anxiety, and worry do NOT make for peace. I had NO love.... As for god's love, it seemed highly conditional on whether or not I pass "tests" and "trials". When I first heard the Murphy's Laws, I felt closer to understanding how God is with humans than when I read the bible. As for Jesus's love...I'd sometimes get this warm feeling during the nights, but it was never like the constant love I'd feel from my parents, even when they were upset with me. And the Love of my fellow believers? What a cliquish back-stabbing keeping-up-with-the-Jonses bunch of people! I was never "IN" crowd, and they were not that subtle about letting me feel it. The freedom of releasing myself from the prison of religion....I felt so light and free I thought I'd float away! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I had love but it was conditional love, the "we'll love you if you're like us" kind of love. I had more anxiety when I was in Christianity than out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godlessgrrl Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I came to Christ unloved and with deep anxiety and shame. They worsened when I was a Christian. I never knew a moment's peace and certainly never found or felt loved; in fact I was continually reminded (in one way or another) that my inherent sinfulness made me unworthy of love. It was a neverending downward spiral of shame. Somehow I could never find that peaceful, even keel that longtime believers claimed they had, safe in the loving arms of Jesus. So yeah. I never discovered inner peace as a Christian, and I never found nor felt love as one, either. I've found more love from real, live human friends and lovers than I ever found from any long-dead Jewish god-man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deva Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Patrick, thank you for bringing this important topic up. The fact is there was no peace or love for me in Christianity since I was about 12 years old. It is another major reason I left it. I just couldn't take all this talk about peace and love and yet not experiencing any of it, in fact, quite the opposite-- confusion and hatred for people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♦ Fuego ♦ Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 I found confusion, but everyone acted like they had a clear answer. But the answer that one had wasn't the same as the next guy. For example, if our sins are washed away, why do we need to confess anything? If his sacrifice was once for all, then we shouldn't need to keep confessing. In fact, if we are new creations, the old has gone and the new has come, then why do we struggle with sin? Do we claim as Paul did that it isn't me sinning, but sin in me that is sinning, and thus I am not guilty? Or is the new creation only realized in the resurrection and this life is one of continual struggle? Sure glad we have the Holy Spirit to help us know... But then why are there so many views on this, even within the same congregation? Isn't the glory of this covenant coming with increasing glory like Paul said, unlike the glory of Moses that faded? If so, why is there so much confusion and turmoil for the saints? And if we keep sinning (CAN we keep sinning, is it still sin?) do we go to hell, or was that the thing that Jesus fixed? I thought he was making us one with God. If we are one with God, and God doesn't sin, then why am I? My charismatic friend says it is because I need to be baptized in the Holy Ghost and speak in tongues. So I asked him if he still has any problem with lust... I guess that isn't the cure then. Maybe it is having a power encounter with an anointed man of God who will lay hands on me and impart a lasting anointing of power... Nope, that didn't change me either. Maybe prayer and fasting will unlock the spiritual power I need to become this new creation. Nope, that did help me get thinner, but that wasn't my goal. Maybe if I buy the latest tape series and books on how to overcome the flesh... Nope, and I have the suspicion that the guy who made the tapes isn't as transformed as he claims either. Oh, my pastor just told me that you can't "cast out" the flesh. So we are stuck with a dual nature until the resurrection? I thought the Nazarenes believed in "Entire Sanctification" after which there is no more sinning. So all in all, Christianity has many flavors and the gospel is a variable tale highly dependent on the person delivering it and that person's cultures (national culture, regional culture, financial culture, familial culture, personal interpretations and tastes, mental state, church culture, and pastoral influence). Even then it tends to be spun as an ideal rather than the reality that this person lives out. I feel so much more free now that I am not trying to make sense out of something that doesn't make sense, and am not trying to cure myself from being human. "That way lies madness" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unknowing1 Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 For me it wasn't a peace and love with Christ but with the whole social community and feeling of belonging that I felt by being a member of a church. When immersed in a social community like that I do believe it's easy to get the reasons for the feelings confused, at least it was for me. I too had a lot of confusion when it related to the actual worshiping. But I tried to put that in the back of my mind because of the good feeling I was getting from belonging. In my case I was able to separate the feelings to eventually realize that I couldn't keep going to church and professing to be something I wasn't just for the sake of belonging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xandermac Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 I couldn't find peace or love. I couldn't love them because I was jealous that god seemed to be blessing people that didn't deserve it more than me. Even though I fasted and prayed non stop, holed myself up in my room and neglected my family because I was reading the bible and begging god. The memories of it still make me angry.I still can't say I have complete peace. There's still that burning anger but it is better as the years roll by. As for love, I love my family and I like a few folks but I'm relieved that I don't HAVE to love people anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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