Cool, it shows up that way. I'm only on my ipad so I might wait until I'm on the computer to give it a go. Scared I'll change your signature instead. However, it still says that I'm logged in so hopefully not.

Okay, didn't mean any harm. I just like giving thought to these subjects and exploring them. I didn't bring him up. Was just trying to help if I could. Sincerely.

Thankyou, I accept your kindly given advice. I am coming from the perspective of the Bible as the final authority. And do realise that there are different understandings on true church history. Sorry if I state everything as fact because it's what I believe. I think it is understood that we all write from that perspective. When I was taught to write essays, I wasn't taught too much, but I do remember being taught that we didn't have to write "I think" because it was understood. It is similar to how you stated as fact: "The Christianity and interpretation of the Bible that you present isn't the traditional, long-standing message."

Horton, I should have also added that faith is measured and can increase and grow. We don't all have the same amount of faith. Even once a person gets saved they can still have many doubts. And they can also quench the Holy Spirit and stop hearing his voice altogether. Your husband may not believe that he has enough faith, and maybe that is a stumbling block to him. It doesn't mean that God can't increase his faith and that it will never happen. Keep praying for him. Katie.

Can I ask specifically what he wants to believe in? And specifically what he does not and cannot believe at this point? Conversion comes when a person understands that they need a Saviour. Does he have a need to be saved from his sins? People can have biblical knowledge and still not get saved. Because they don't choose to. It's a choice to make. What is your understanding on why your husband cannot believe even though he wants to? It is contrary to what the Bible teaches. It teaches if you seek, then you will find. God hasn't made it impossible to come to him. The opposite, he has made it extremely simple. It is us humans who make it difficult. For whatever reasons. I'm glad your cousin experienced that. But it doesn't always happen. Nowhere does God say that if we demand him to give us a sign that he will. The Bible says that we have enough already to know that he is real and exists. Through what we see in creation, through our conscience, and so forth. Satan believes that God exists, but this doesn't equate to salvation. That is why we are not only to believe, but we must "believe upon." That step that we take is in trusting God.

I understand your point. And I know of many Christians who have lost their faith, or fallen away so to speak. I can only give a scriptural answer which is that if that person had been born again the blood of Jesus will still cover them. This is according to 2 Timothy 2:13 'If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.' I'm not expecting that the spiritual experiences of Christians can be trusted as ultimate evidence for a non-Christian. It can only be evidence for the Christian so that the Christian can "know." I can only be a witness as far as the point of saying that this is what has happened to me. Some Christians are a witness because the joy and peace that they find flows out of them like a river, and people notice the change. The Bible tells us that we must test and prove all things. I wouldn't take another person's experiences as undoubtable proof either. The biggest advice that I would give someone who is seeking God is to lay aside all that they were taught, and everything that they think should be, and go honestly before God to ask him. Some people say that they sought God and that he didn't show up. I can only guess that the person deep down inside either didn't want to believe, or didn't want to acknowledge their sins. God knows the heart, and he will respond to the heart. He also won't show up on demand. Believe me, I have tried that in earnest. He showed up for me when I finally submitted and succumbed in simple trusting faith with no expectations. He may show up years down the track because that person had something else to learn and experience in the meantime. Or because the devil got in their ear and they did not realise they were being led astray from believing and accepting Christ as Saviour. No one truly knows who is saved but the individual and the Father.

Sure, I'll try to keep it short and simple as I don't want to derail the thread. The Bible is organised in a very deliberate way. Often people, including Christians, believe that men alone choose the books of the canon and organised them. This did happen, but it was God who ultimately directed their actions and gave us what he wanted us to have today. For a quick example of the perfect structural design of the OT, please have a look at the following image: Keep in mind that the men who penned these scriptures mostly did not have contact with one another, lived many years apart, and also did not have contact with those who organised their order. So collaboration is out of the question. [Please see attatchment. I can't remember how to insert an image.] The second example that I will give, focuses on the mathematical accuracy of the Bible. I will give an example that I hope that you can look into further for yourself. There a many small examples that I can give, but may not be seen or understood at first. This example is at least testable for observation. This example could be called 'The book of Isaiah is a mini-Bible'. The book of Isaiah has 66 chapters that correspond to the 66 books of the Bible. They are proof of God's seal on the canon and it's order. There is no way that Isaiah could have penned these words thousands of years before the New Testament had been written to fit like they do. (Especially as he did not write with future chapter divisions in mind.) This example gives proof to the fact that God's hand not only ordered the books, but even the chapters which were added at a later time. The Bible has come down through a progressive process of being formed and polished. We don't have to try to go back in time to discover what the "originals" said, because God without fail kept his word safe. The first way to observe that Isaiah's chapters each correspond with each consequative book of the Bible is to first observe the chapter division in Isaiah that corresponds to the division between the last book of OT, and the first book of the NT. The chapter in Isaiah that corresponds to the last book of the OT is chapter 39 (which corresponds to the 39th book of the Bible 'Malachi'.) The next chapter, chapter 40, corresponds to the book of Matthew. It is well known, and observable, that there is a clear distinction and separtion in Isaiah's book at this point between the 39th and 40th chapter. This is the same distinction between the OT and NT in the whole Bible. Next, read chapter 40 and you will see the gospel which corresponds to the book of Matthew. It is about Jesus coming, and specifically mentions the prophecy about John the Baptist, and about the Lord coming to feed his flock. I don't want to be long-winded as I could give further examples of the specific verses that correspond to the books, so to cut it short I'll just say that each chapter in Isaiah can be aligned with each corresponding book of the Bible. And you can check it out for yourself. (These types of examples won't be understood by everyone, different things speak to different people. but it has shown me that God is also a 'God of mathematics', not only in nature, but also in his word.) perfect symmetry of 39 books of OT.pdf

It's not my intention to insult anyone, only to point to what I believe is the truth. I have been born again, so I know firsthand what happens to you once you are. It is a spiritual change that takes place. I have only wanted to give a small witness to that experience that you can "know" truth. As per the OP "How do you know what you believe?". Not just, "Why do you believe what you do?" So to repeat, my belief and experience is: You can know for certainty that God exists. And you can find truth on all sorts of matters, and have it confirmed to you - IF - you are humble before God and ask him yourself. I don't have the expectation that people are going to agree with me. I respect others, and want everyone to have the freedom to believe that they know the truth that they know in a safe and non-threatening way. If they have evidence and experiences that back themself up then that is so much better. It means that they aren't just going along with what they have been taught, or what they would like to believe out of convenience. I also admit that there are still many things that I don't know. I don't want to be obnoxious or all-knowing. However, as a Christian I just don't go along with statements like "we can never know" or "God can't reveal himself to us" or "God can't teach us the truth of a matter, the purpose of life, a doctrinal understanding...and so on" If I can encourage those who attend a church but haven't been born again to get saved, I will continue to speak up if I think I have something to offer. I'm not interested in religion and its practices, I'm interested in people's souls being saved. Which is why I'll take the risk in saying something which has the potential to offend. Offending to upset someone isn't my desire though, please understand that.

"How do you know what you believe?" I have two standouts that were evidence to me, backing up my belief in the God of the Bible. (I came to understand these things after my difficult period.) 1. Bible Prophecy. Not regarding the first coming so much, but more specifically to what we seeing going on in our world today. We were told that there was going to be a great falling away, and there is. And we were told that there would be a great division amongst believers and heresies entering in. The confusion of beliefs in today's churches simply confirms what the Bible predicted would happen. Also watching the one world coming together getting set up for the Anti-Christ to arrive. It sounds crazy, but we can see the plan unfolding before our very eyes. Especially as we are told in the Bible that it will come under the guise of "peace and safety". 2. The Perfect Design of the Bible. There is evidence that the Bible has been perfectly designed. It is mathematically and structurally perfect. No man by himself could have constructed it. I am talking about the 'design aspect' only here. The way the canon of scripture was chosen and organised could not have been done deliberately by men who did not know each other to collaborate, who lived if not by hundreds of years, but by thousands of years apart.

Know how you feel. Hope to hear the good news of the safe arrival of bub soon. Praying all goes smoothly and that you have peace during the delivery. Katie.

"Queenlander". Hehe

I'm having the same problem of not being able to find a way to edit my signature. I have made it as far as clicking on the 'Edit My Profile' icon, but I still can't find the signature option. Please help. :laugh:

Hello, good to see some fellow Aussies around here. I'm from NSW. I've been reading this forum on and off for a few years, but much more frequently this year. Katie.

Hi Contessa, this is my first post on the forum and I am quite new here, so apologies that I am commenting from quite an anonymous position. I have been reading through the threads on here each day all year. I haven't been posting because I've been quite unwell, and just haven't had energy for it. I had something that I wanted to add to the thread in case it might be of a help to someone, yourself or another reader. First of all my backgroud, very briefly, is that I was raised as a Christian, and I was also born again at a young age. As a child I attended a Baptist church many Sundays (we didn't always go and we weren't religious in these regards). As a teen/young adult I became depressed and started rebelling against God. I started to search for the "truth" and knew that not everything that I had learnt growing up had made complete sense to me. (I also wanted to make sure that I hadn't been brain-washed as a child etc.) I had about a seven year struggle with depression and finding my way in life until I gained a real and lasting peace. I was fortunate that I had been born again as a child or I may not have ended up where I am today. My spiritual experience/walk with God led to him having to discipline me, and in breaking me in until I came to a complete trust in him. It is easy now for me to reflect on the past and realise why I struggled so much, and why I had to go through the things that I did. It was the hardest time of my life, and I am full of praise to my Saviour that I will never be back there again. I no longer attend a church. I am grieved by a lot of what I see in modern churches these days, so I feel quite comfortable in not being in the midst of that, nor having the pressure any more. (It was also how I found my way - by stepping out from "church." I decided to go straight to God himself.) However, I do believe that maintaining fellowship with other Christians is still important, so I haven't cut myself off. I just find alternatives for fellowship. The part that I came to post about is just a simple comment to say that God says in his word that spiritual things are only spiritually discerned once a person is born again. He calls the person who has not yet been saved 'the natural man'. When a person becomes a born again Christian, as opposed to just using the label Christian, they are changed spiritually. The person's eyes become opened to things that they could not see or understand earlier. It is true that the individual can still be decieved in certain areas, but if they genuinly go to God and ask him, relying on him alone to provide it, He will show them that truth with proof's that the individual cannot deny and will know for certainty is true. For the age we live in today the way we can know truth is through his inspired and preserved word. This was a great part of his plan, to give us all we needed to know in writing - a complete book. People can look outside of his word for answers, and they can try to induce spiritual experiences, but for us today his word will come to life and speak the truth to us, and it is all we need. This is the verse that my comment is refering to - 'But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.' (1 Cor 2:14)