"Josh" on aus.religion.christian:

Well i'm dissillusioned.

Rowland - And honest...

J: > I committed myself to Jesus 12 months ago. I have read the bible to learn Gods will and i attend church. I believe that the Bible is historically accurate. I believe that Jesus lived as described, was crucified, and rose from the dead. I believe i am a sinner and can only get to heaven through Gods grace and Jesus' sacrifice.

R: Christian theology can get more complex than this, but it will do for a start...

J: When I first read the bible i was amazed to read how the early church experienced miracles and power - God was active amoung them in an unmistakable way.

R: As in most first-generation churches. However there were quite a few differences between the 'experiences' of the early Christians and their churches (Corinth was more into 'experience' than Thessalonika, for example). The question is partly: where are you placing your faith - in Christ, or in various experiences/manifestations or in the warmth or mundaneness of others' experiences?

J: > Now for the dissappointing bit - the 3 churches I have attended seem far removed from the account of the early church. These three churches are attended by friendly pleasant people leading good christian lives.

R: So they're better than those squabbling Corinthians :-)!

J: > But so few of them are exhuberant. Like me, dynamic christian experience is something they have only read about. God seems like a distant impersonal king. Pray life is strictly one way and reading the bible is like reading any other history book.

R: Exhuberance is illusory, and can be immature... Wouldn't trust exhuberance as a guarantee of anything (except maybe whatever drug induced it, or time of the month, or nationality, or...???)

J: > There is such a huge emphasis on Jesus being a personal saviour who empowers believers to live purposeful lives. This would be fine if it actually happened. I have spoken with so many christians who are dissillusioned with this. They feel like abject failures because God is not 'real' to them.

I cannot say amen to pauls statement "I know whom i have believed and am pursuaded that he is able to keep what i have committed unto him against that day". For me Jesus is not personal or relational. Time to throw in the towel.

R: Pity: the question basically is 'What did you expect?' Jesus doesn't promise exhuberant experiences but his presence in our lives. Our response - obedience. 'We obey in order to believe'...

R: You're in my prayers...

Josh

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Shalom!

Rowland Croucher