I have fallen by the wayside and wither. My faith is wavering because of the torment of this world and it is clear that I was never truly a Christian.
What do I do?
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Gottmituns_ on scored.co
11 months ago3 points(+0/-0/+3Score on mirror)1 child
The very simple answer is baptism. God works in time through means, and baptism is God's way of adopting you.
Let me offer you some reassurance though. Worrying about being a Christian means that you are. If you know that Christ died in your place for the sake of your imperfection, so that you can be holy enough to stand in His presence, you are a Christian. If you doubt this but despise your doubt, that is still a sign of faith.
I think I remember a post of yours a while ago talking about how you came to Christianity on your own. If not, forgive me, but if so it will help you greatly to find a church and be properly catechised. I know it's hard today and most churches are heretical in some way or another. But without a community you stand alone against satan, whose only goal is dragging you to Hell with him.
If you want my advice, look for a confessional Lutheran church. WELS, LCMS, and ELS are the larger ones in America. Anglican and Roman Catholic can be decent so long as they're conservative. Whatever you do avoid eastern orthodoxy or anything downstream of calvinism. May God strengthen your spirit.
I tried Eastern Orthodox. Like most of the heresies, on the surface they appear to be more just reactionaries against Catholics rather than a distinct faction. Easily 70% of their classes consisted of "Catholics bad."
11 months ago1 point(+0/-0/+1Score on mirror)1 child
I know a lot of young men who have fallen for the orthodox meme. They end up desperate and hopeless. The issue is that the EO fundamentally deny the gospel. They put the burden of salvation on yourself instead of Jesus which is the entire point of Christianity. When perfection is the goal and you constantly fall short it's exhausting, especially when you're surrounded by pharisees.
Beyond that it's just silly. They make lofty claims about being the one true church but if you actually look into the history it's clear they're a LARP. Look up Nikon's reforms or how their church as it is today was basically recreated by Stalin if you're curious, those are good starting points. There are other problems theologically, like how their essence/energies distinction is necessarily polytheistic, but most of them don't care about that as much as they just want something that seems cool and isn't western. Stone Choir did a great podcast on the topic, highly recommend.
Let me offer you some reassurance though. Worrying about being a Christian means that you are. If you know that Christ died in your place for the sake of your imperfection, so that you can be holy enough to stand in His presence, you are a Christian. If you doubt this but despise your doubt, that is still a sign of faith.
I think I remember a post of yours a while ago talking about how you came to Christianity on your own. If not, forgive me, but if so it will help you greatly to find a church and be properly catechised. I know it's hard today and most churches are heretical in some way or another. But without a community you stand alone against satan, whose only goal is dragging you to Hell with him.
If you want my advice, look for a confessional Lutheran church. WELS, LCMS, and ELS are the larger ones in America. Anglican and Roman Catholic can be decent so long as they're conservative. Whatever you do avoid eastern orthodoxy or anything downstream of calvinism. May God strengthen your spirit.
Beyond that it's just silly. They make lofty claims about being the one true church but if you actually look into the history it's clear they're a LARP. Look up Nikon's reforms or how their church as it is today was basically recreated by Stalin if you're curious, those are good starting points. There are other problems theologically, like how their essence/energies distinction is necessarily polytheistic, but most of them don't care about that as much as they just want something that seems cool and isn't western. Stone Choir did a great podcast on the topic, highly recommend.