Mark (from Bob),
Thanks for that answer. I can respect that. A relationship with God is obviously a spiritual thing but also is a very private thing. None of us has exactly the same relationship with God. Don't get me wrong, I fully believe that there is only one way to have a perfect and eternal relationship with God and that is through Jesus Christ. My God given job (not like the Blues Brothers (you remember - 'we are on a mission from God') :-) ), is to tell people about the Biblical salvation message, give my personal testimony as evidence of what Christ can do, and tell a person how to be saved. All is suppose to be done in an attitude of respect and most importantly love. This job is executed out of love for God and people. Once I've done that, the rest is between God and the person with whom I'm speaking. Only God can reveal spiritual truth, nothing I can say or do will.
Just to be sure I've communicated properly to you, let me layout the Gospel message for you again. I do this again because often I don't do it well.
It all boils down to simple principals:
1. We are all sinners
2. Our sin separates us from God. Both now and forever.
3. Jesus Christ is the only way our sins can be forgiven and thus is the only way to have a deep personal relationship with God.
4. We must receive God's gift of forgiveness through Christ. We do this by confessing our sins to God and admitting there is nothing we can do to help ourselves to be reconciled to God. This must be done with an honest heart, not just simple words.
If we truly want to know the truth about Jesus, we simply need to ask God with an open mind about the truth. I pray earnestly that you will ask Him. I am fully confident that God will hear and answer that heart felt prayer. My confidence comes from His love and His Word. He promises that those who seek Him will find Him.
I tell you this now if you are ready (which it seems you are not) but also for you to store in your heart for the rest of your life. I believe that God is reaching out to you now and will continue to throughout your life. I heard about Christ for a long time before I believed and my story is not unusual in that sense. Please seek God's truth in this matter.
I suppose I went into full blown preaching but I can't appologize for that, I did it out of true concern for you. In my mind that can't be bad. I am not condemning you or mocking you in any way, please take this post in the spirit of love.
God loves you more than you can comprehend, seek Him, He'll be happy to hear you.
I'll speak with you soon.
Bob |
