I need advice /opinion.?

Question

I go to church every saturday(seventh day adventist) , I even participate in most of my church activities. The problem is that I am having a hard time believing the teachings of the bible, everytime my teacher lectures me, I find a way to contradict him.
Sometimes my teacher tells me that we came from adam and even then I tell him that it's not possible, there is a big difference between white and black, and then I mention the native americans and so on. Basically I go to church to argue.
I want to believe everything the bible says, but there is something inside me that makes me doubt most of the teachings.
please help me! I do believe in god, but my teacher tells me that it's not enough believing, but doing what god wants.
What do I do?

Answer 1

There is nothing wrong with questioning unless those questions are used as an excuse not to believe or do something you know is right.

Seek first God's kingdom and all the rest will follow. Make knowing God the highest priority and then he'll be able to lead you to other truth.

Answer 2

After forty or so years of study and searching I have reached the conclusion that no one is able to prove or disprove the existence of God. At this point, I can only say, if there is a creation, it is likely that there is a creator. I will believe this until someone proves otherwise.

As for the Bible and the stories contained therein, I used to have the same problem that you do. I simply did not believe them. Years of reading and study allowed me to draw the following conclusion. Some of the stories are myths borrowed from earlier cultures; some are exaggerated compilations of things that may or may not have happened or mistranslations of ancient languages. The God of Abraham behaves as if he needs a nice rubber room and a good Psychiatrist. He orders ten of thousands of innocent people be killed, the murder of infants, pregnant women, and livestock. He condones and encourages slavery, misogyny and mutilation. In short, he is totally repulsive. I would ask my teacher, why anyone in their right mind would worship such a being? Try reading the Bible by yourself and not in Bible study class. You will begin to see, that it is nothing but a series of old tribal tales written by ignorant and superstitious people. Certainly not, the word of God.

Answer 3

It is always good to ask questions.

The Bible is God's word and it is all true, but there are parts that are not meant to be taken literally. Many parts of the Bible are allegory. they are stories that tell the truth in a metaphorical sense.

Consider the old Aesop's Fable of teh tortise and the hare. It si very unlikely that this story actually happened, but that does not mean that the moral of the story is not true.

I suggest that you do some more studying and start thinking in nonliteral terms. Try to discover what the writers of the Bible are trying to tell you about God and His relationship with His people.

Your teacher is correct in that it is not enough in this life to believe in God. We must also love Him and love our neighbor as ourself.

Keep asking questions. Contact me if you want or send me an Instand Message.

Answer 4

You need to work out for yourself what you believe, read about all religions and beliefs and see if one resonates with you or just have have life which you are comfortable with whether spiritual or not. Any friends you have have will accept you whatever your beliefs and if they don't they are not friends.

You can believe in God and be a good person without following an organised religion.

Any Church member should be happy to debate the origins and history of their religion; listen objectively to people on both side of the argument and make up your own mind.

Best wishes.

Answer 5

First, and always.....PRAY!!!

You are doing the right thing by seeking understanding and clarification.

It sounds to me like the church you are in isn't able to answer your questions.

I've had that problem myself.

Try going to other churches/denominations on occasion.

I've found that regardless of denomination that there are many godly people out there and sometimes it just helps to hear a different point of view on the same subject.

There are many ways to say something and you just need to find the right minister/pastor/priest that can explain things in a manner that YOU can understand.

So long as it's a good, solid church that does their work in Jesus name you should be safe.

Please don't give up your faith.

It's what keeps you connected to God so that the evil one can't rip you out of your right to go to Heaven.

Trust in God and He will lead you wherever you need to go and keep you free from all harm.

God bless!

Answer 6

you know what u should do? u should stop asking yourself so many questions. if u doubt what the bible says it means your mind is working the way everybody's mind should. but it doesn't always...you are an intelligent human being and it's ok not to believe all the nonsense in the bible (cause it's full of it)
stick to the important stuff like believing in god(but not the god they talk about in the bible i personally don't think he is like that).don't try to change your teacher's mind cause it won't do you any good. think about the god you believe in and how you imagine he would be like and leave the bible to those narrow minded who believe every single word of it.
and don't think about what god would want you to do just try to do whatever makes you feel a good person, and do whatever makes you feel happy.it's all that matters in the end.

Answer 7

HI!!
I believe that you are correct to question the teachings of ANY organized religion. I started to question & NOT get the answers I saught many years ago. I watched as rip-off t.v. preachers stole the money from believers who were promised ANYTHING in order to get their money. I saw that they lived MUCH TO WELL, living better than MOST of their parishoners, driving expensive cars, wearing EXPENSIVE clothing & dripping in EXPENSIVE jewelry.
At this point in my life, I do not hold with ANY organized religion, but I am NOT concerned. I do NOT feel that I must attend a church to pray. I do NOT believe that those who attend church are any better or closer to God than I am. I do NOT believe that their prayers are heard over mine. I believe that all God wants is for all of us to do our best to be the best people we can each be.
I guess what I am trying to get acrosss is that EVERYONE & ANYONE can read the SAME bible & interpret it completely different than the next person. Does that make those people wrong?? NO!! God gave us the ability to make decisions on our own, not follow like a bunch of sheep. If you believe in God I feel that IS enough & that is what God WANTS!!!
How many wars have been fought in the name of religion??? How many people have died in the name of religion??? How many sects are there in the world who skew religion all out of WHACK!! to support their ends?? (Jim Jones, Charles Manson, David Koresh, etc.). God gave us OUR OWN MINDS for a reason, even if it is to question religion.
Holy Bible: MATTHEW 6 (verses: 5 - 15)
I really agree with verses 5 & 7
I am not a religious person, I DO believe in God & I DO pray every night... the prayer from Matthew 6..........

OH! & you do NOT go to church to "argue", you go to church to "debate". It sounds better. HA HA HA!!!

JOHN II: Chapter 11 verses 25 & 26

Answer 8

This is something that you should be taking before God. If you have such a hard heart... put it brfore Him. If you don't know Him... try humbling yourself, after all you are talking about a relationship with the God that created all things (thats a power you do not want to take for granted).

Quit being so filled with this system of things. Surely you can see that man is not able to even care for himself in this world in which we live... so don't buy into it anymore... seek God with all of your heart and you will find Him...then things will begin to fall into place.. It takes effort, but what is your alternative?

Answer 9

well, hope this helps.....

I am a Lutheran and go to chruch every sunday i can, i give offerings despite the fact that im a teen and only have a summer job, i am confirmed and baptized and help out at church often.

I used to go and sit in the pew daydream, occasionally pay attention and all that....mainly because i always wanted to prove them wrong....but then i started to read the bible and it helped, i was READING the word, not hearing them preached to me.......and although i still go to church it helped me understand by reading the bible, a few chapters a night

and one last thing, i was always told that the main thing is believing, and having faith.....the doing what god wants will come after the faith and believing.

Answer 10

HAVE FAITH!!!! The Bibles says that you must have faith as a mustard seed, and those are the smallest seeds. We need to trust God. Look at his creation the earth. find what he has done in that. Research history books along with the Bible and see what you find, But you muswt first have and open mind and heart.