About me and my faith
My comments in blue, Scriptures & quotes in black, references in green
Why a bit about me? Well there is a misconception that only those indoctrinated at youth believe in God’s existence, hence a bit about me. Take Dawkins in the programme Beautiful Minds speaking of those believing in God and the bible he stated; ‘Nobody not brought up in the faith could reach any other verdict other than barking mad’. Well I and my three older sisters were not brought up in a faith and became bible students, I was 19 when I decided to test out the bible for myself and I know many many more examples, there are in fact millions of people who were not brought up knowing or accepting the truth about God who learnt the Truth in later life. So Dawkins is wrong, not for the first time and if after reading this section if you read Evolution versus Science I hope you will find how wrong he is from a scientific standpoint as well and we are not the ones who are “barking mad”.
I come from a family divided by religion but destroyed by the deaths of my closest sister and then my beloved father. She was very religious, a fine example to follow and impressed me greatly, he was strongly opposed to religion coming in to the family, but she melted his soft heart and I wouldn’t call him a softy, he was an example of a great dad. I was still at school and taken in by my father’s family, definitely not religious but a good close knit family and I don’t know how I would have survived without them. In my late teens I approached bible students and asked them if I could study the bible with them, well after they recovered from the shock and agreed; I said “but I’ll prove you wrong though” and I’ve been trying to do so ever since, without success. 1 Thes 5.21 ‘prove all things; hold fast that which is good. KJ That’s always my approach; check it out, prove it one way or the other.
The bible 66 books, penned by 40 different writers and according to its writers inspired by almighty God. It is the most published book ever. Today there are hundreds of different translations in English alone, I have about a hundred or so, many brought second hand and sad to say although they may be decades old, many have never been used, but in others there are signings of diligent searching through their pages.
2 Tim 3:16 Every writing inspired by God is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction which is in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. World English Bible
One of the greatest pleasures in my life has been in speaking with people who have read passages of scripture many times, they have faith but not the understanding, then seeing their joy as their eyes light up when it finally clicks and they do understand. I am of a faith and owe a lot to it, but a good portion of the following is of my own research; I do not think that any one person can or should represent a faith as a whole or that people should look to any one individual, as ‘the head of every man is the Christ‘ (1 Cor 11:3). Of course it’s every Christian’s responsibility to convert; Matt 28:19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations… 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. New Living Translation
When speaking to people as far as possible I have tried to answer their questions by researching subjects in their own bible and a selection of bibles to get a balance, ultimately the Hebrew and Greek interlinear bibles with Strong’s concordance helps to bring a deeper, truer understanding of God’s Word. I do believe in a true religion but, I do not believe that everyone in a particular religion are all good and going to get everlasting life or resurrected, or that everyone else outside that religion are all bad and isn’t! Almighty God looks into individuals’ hearts and deeds. However as the following scriptures show, we all have a responsibility to search for and practice with our whole being that truth/faith and that faith must be active.
But whatever faith you are, it is my hope that I can help strengthen and increase your faith and bring you closer to the true God. I have spoken to many without faith who have had the false idea that faith is only blind, has no basis in logic or science to whom I have respectfully I hope shown that this is not the case. Faith is not about winning arguments, but finding the Truth, if we have faith we all have to continually examine ourselves, that our faith is correct, and that we worship God as he requires and not how we would like, me included.
2 Cor 13:5 Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. New Living Translation
In my ministry I have always stated to those I speak to, that if I am incorrect in my beliefs show me I want to be corrected, because worshipping almighty God in the way he demands is the most important thing, as;
1 Tim 2:4 whose will* is that all sorts of people should be saved and come to an accurate knowledge** of truth. New World Translation
John 17:3 And this is eternal life: to have knowledge*** of you, the only true God, and of him whom you have sent, even Jesus Christ. Bible in Basic English
*Greek; ‘thelo’; to will, determination. **Greek; ‘epignosis’ recognition; from ***Greek, ‘ginosko’ to “know” (absolutely) full discernment Strong’s
Many pray for God’s will to be done (Luke 11.2 King James) and as His will is that we should come to “know” (absolutely) of his truth, plus if ones eternal life is based on having knowledge (absolutely) of God, we should try to gain that knowledge.
Luke 11:2 …When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. KJV
As 2 Tim 3:17 states that only the bible on its own can make ‘the man of God… complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work‘ and it is also ‘for correction, and for instruction‘ so no additional writings, personal visions, personalities or doctrines are required, they cause divisions, so we should be careful;
Jude 19 These are those who cause divisions. They are men of the world, wholly unspiritual. Weymouth
1 Cor 4:6 You should learn from us not to go beyond what is written in Scripture. God’s Word
James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not only hearers of it, blinding yourselves with false ideas. Bible in Basic English
Luke 13:24 Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. NKJV
The following scripture is a favourite, it reminds me of a loving parent speaking to their child who keeps being naughty; O if only, “O if only you would actually pay attention to” me, you would not get into so much trouble!
Is 48; 17 I Jehovah, am your God, the One teaching you to benefit yourself, the One causing you to tread in the way in which you should walk. 18 O if only you would actually pay attention to my commandments! Then your peace would become just like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. NWT
It’s true by following God’s word one can find peace, as if sitting beside a quiet slow flowing river and hopefully become righteous in God’s eyes. But sadly many who profess to be God’s worshipers do not pay attention to His commandments, they pick and choose how they want to worship God. The bible gives a clear warning that God’s patience has its limits as when the nation of Israel did not pay attention to His commandments, they thought they could choose for themselves what is right and wrong, they time after time worshipped how they wanted, Jer 7:30 “The people of Judah have sinned before my very eyes,” says the Lord. “They have set up their abominable idols right in the Temple that bears my name, defiling it.” NLT
So Christ said; Mat 21:43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.” NKJV So God allowed the temple in Jerusalem to be destroyed in 70 C.E. and the nation of Israel was no longer God’s chosen nation, a warning to all mankind that almighty God has a limit to His forgiveness. That nation bearing the fruits was a figurative nation which started with the apostles and took in people from all nations. Matt 8:11 And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. NKJV
The creation account is for me one of the foundation stones of strong faith; it is hugely up building for me even though many try to avoid it due to the supposedly vast amount of scientific evidence against it put forth by evolutionists, which is false and wishful thinking on their part. So I will start with creation.
Since writing the above and the section on Evolution where I quoted Dawkins “if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid or insane.” I thought I’d take a look at his book “The God Delusion” which I picked up a few years ago second hand and unread, for a pound or so, I wouldn’t have wasted money buying it new, he’s made enough money out of this dribble. He quite rightly comments that religion is behind a high proportion of the world’s problems the wars and atrocities done in its names. Though I would contend that it is ruthless men using religion; for their own selfish gain, which goes on a lot, I know that from personal experience. This reminds me of Dawkins himself, who seems to be doing exactly that with evolution, by using his hypothesis’s like the selfish gene, to bully and cause strife for religious people. There are a lot of nice people with faith, blind faith some might have, but not everybody looks into science or deeply into scripture, but they do not deserve to be shown such disrespect. I personally think faith should be based on fact and logic and I have spoken to a lot of people on it of different faiths, I wish to build their faith in God’s Word, and never to down grade their faith or insult them as Dawkins does, he’s out on his own personal crusade of world domination, imagine him in power, Hail Dawkins dread the thought.
As stated before I’ve also spoken to scientist and evolutionists; who also like him have been derogatory, but in return I have shown respect. I could have wiped the floor with them, but that would be so wrong and not the example of Almighty God (who is very patient with man). Sometimes they can get quite dismissive but then heated up trying to prove their belief in evolution, so I would usually bring the conversation to an end by saying that we obviously do not agree and maybe never will agree, but I hope he or she can see that I like others who have a faith in God’s Word also understand science facts which is one reason why we believe in God, and we don’t just blindly follow.
I did research some of his book “The God Delusion” years ago and stopped, he has an annoying habit of constantly belittling anything or anyone who has a differing view, without giving any logical reason or evidence to back himself up, and I noted it as logorrhoea! I hope I don’t come over the same. If you haven’t read ‘Evolution versus logic‘ please do, you might disagree, but that’s OK we can all have our own opinions, I won’t call you ignorant, stupid or insane and I won’t think it neither. I’m nice like that, O and world peace as they say in the USA.
Evolutionists have said of those who believe in creation as not being open to examining others views. Well on that point I have another sister who when at school was asked by the science teacher to write an essay on why they all individually believed in evolution and that everyone was to read their essay out to the class. First it’s wrong for any teacher to suppose that the whole or even part of a class believe in one thing or another; like the evolution hypothesis and push them into writing why they do believe it!
However to continue my sister wrote an essay entitled why she believed in creation not evolution. Despite that it was scientifically based, the science teacher did not allow her to read it out in class, however kids aren’t daft and so later the class insisted on hearing her essay outside in the playground. A few years later when I was in the class, I wasn’t asked to do that essay, strange that, maybe the teacher himself learnt a lesson. At that time I wasn’t having much to do with religion, but the science teacher didn’t know that. It was later when I was about 19 when I was living on my own that I decided to test the bible out for myself. So as said before there are bad and good, unreasonable and reasonable, and some are dominating and others are live and let live types of people; these are everywhere in all walks of life.
These days even in Catholic schools teachers ask pupils what they believe and then to explain why, even with the central doctrine of most churches the trinity, one of my favourite subjects. As an example; while studying the Bible with a young catholic girl (which I had been asked to do by her mother), the young girl had an amazing appreciating and grasp of God’s Word, ask her to read a verse and she’d read the whole chapter. She was asked by her catholic school to explain what she believed and why she believed that ‘God is either a monolithic or triune God?’ a subject we had not studied or spoken on, although we had studied in depth on who Christ and his Heavenly Father are from scripture. To my and Oracle’s delight she had written an essay proving from scripture why Almighty God is a monolithic God and not a Trinity, which is the central doctrine of and concocted by the Catholic church (see; The Trinity).
Thanks to The Oracle and Dimpy.
see;
Creation the genuine start according to facts
Are there other Earth like planets?
Is God taking our loved ones from us?
End of section
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