I as a christian struggle with this any answers?

Question

The Bible talks about being sexual immoral as a sin see 1 Corinthinas6. God has some strong warnings about his subject.

But everyone I know that has slept around, has sex before marraige and lived together before marriage seem to have no repercussion of consequcneces.

Thier children/granedchldren are healthy and strong, they have nice places to live, they dont seem to have a care in the world and they are propsering.

My husband and I abstained until we were married and we have gotten ourt butts kicked financially 2003-2004 was the worst time financially in our marraige, we struggle, we are under a tremdnous amount of stress as we are relocating and staying with family,
There are ways we are blessed, but money is tight no matter what we do.

My question is how do you put in perspective when people in the world seem to be winning in life and the godly christians constatnly get attacked? I dont want to become bitter or miserable,
I do constnatly turn this over to God.

Answer 1

I want to say something that is comforting, so please do not take this the wrong way. Every time you are suffering for doing right, (or even though you are doing right) pray for somebody else who might be suffering, too. They just may be praying for you, as well.

When I feel the way you are feeling, I read stories about Christians around the world who are being faithful and true to Jesus in the face of severe persecution. And their stories are so full of joy and hope!

Look at the smiles on these jailed Sunday School teachers:
http://www.christianfreedom.org/messages.aspx

Answer 2

I know what you mean... I'm 26 years old, I have not married yet due to exceptional circumstances (travelling too much to meet someone and settle down). I've waited all this time, and those I thought I could trust had repeatedly abandoned our relationship for someone that could actually be there, and in fact pulled her into a life I can only describe as just very disappointing. It does bring to question, "What good are these values if they serve to separate me from the very people I love and want to be with?"

I suppose the question I might ask in your case is whether things would have turned out any differently had you and your spouse waited. If not, then our sexual past may not be the best causal connection to look to for an explanation as to why some are blessed while others are not.

But I think the key will lie in finding the treasure and the value you have in your commitment and faithfulness to God. However more affluent these people become in their life, if they are not holding fast to the values that bring true richness or depth to that situation, it becomes just one more bit of "noise" in a cacophany of activity in this rat race we call life. Unless they too have found their treasure in what is of lasting value, they will not experience the blessing that is much closer to you, because you now do feel that emptiness, and are facing it honestly.

Find peace and your treasure in God and how he can change you... envision the sort of person he can make you to be, and then do the sort of things that make such a person a treasure herself... you may find that your friends will look to you as truly the richer.

But as far as money is concerned, I can't offer any help here in this medium. Send me an e-mail and I'll respond with some links to some audio files which I think will help you immensely.

Answer 3

Everybody struggles in one way or another, at one time or another. Be it financially, emotionally, physically (health), etc. whether they are Christian or any other religion, or no religion at all.

People who "don't seem to have a care in the world" often have many "cares" that you may never see or know about. Material success does not mean spiritual or emotional success, and it does not mean happiness. I know people who seem, on the outside, to have everything, but in reality they are dealing with family issues that are tearing them up.

I understand how difficult it is to have financial troubles - that type of worry filters through every aspect of your life. But I guess I am still trying to figure out why you think that sexual morality should be rewarded materially.

I think the best thing you can do is stop comparing your situation to that of others - that serves nothing except making yourself more miserable. Look at what you DO have, instead of what you don't have, practice gratitude every day for the things you do have, and for the lessons that life is teaching you. Ask God to show you the way out of your problems, and then be open to the answers you receive. Sometimes, they are not at all what you expect, and at first glance, might not be what you want.

I'm sorry for the problems you're having now...

Answer 4

I find tremendous trouble understanding extremely devout religious people. Its not that I don't think it's correct or that you're crazy, I just don't understand the logic you put into things. Ok, so there's an all powerful god up there, with everything in the universe to look after, animals, other worlds etc. You abstained until you were married and you think you're supposed to have it better than everyone else because of that one fantastical "sacrifice" I would have thought god had better things to watch over. I feel for your situation. And yes, I see mean, nasty, selfish people claw over good honest people everyday and do very well from it. Its simply just down to luck. You're just slightly unluckier than those others.

I know things might seem hard. But your god may see that he has provided you with everything you need to get by. Why would you want more? You have a loving family. I thought devout christians believed in hard times being god's test for you anyway though?

Answer 5

You're putting causes and effects together that have nothing to do with one another. Sexual morality has nothing to do with financial security, and trying to equate the mores of others with what they have or whether they struggle or not doesn't make any sense. Also, you repeatedly say they "seem" to not have a care in the world or "seem" to be winning. Perhaps things aren't as rosy as they "seem" with these people. Maybe you're looking for a scapegoat for your own problems, instead of taking control of the situation and determining what you can do to make the situation better. Turning it over to God or whining about godly Christians getting attacked isn't going to right the ship.

Answer 6

I believe God does want you to have prosperity:

If you fully obey the Lord your God by keeping all the commands I am giving you today, the Lord your God will exalt you above all the nations of the world. You will experience all these blessings if you obey the Lord your God: You will be blessed in your towns and in the country. You will be blessed with many children and productive fields. You will be blessed with fertile herds and flocks. You will be blessed with baskets overflowing with fruit, and with kneading bowls filled with bread. You will be blessed wherever you go, both in coming and in going … The Lord will give you an abundance of good things in the land he swore to give your ancestors – many children, numerous livestock, and abundant crops. The Lord will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens to bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them. If you listen to these commands of the Lord your God and carefully obey them, the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always have the upper hand. (Deuteronomy 28: 1 – 6, 11 – 13)

One principle in the Bible that has to do with this is the idea of sowing and reaping. You have to sow a seed to get a harvest. Giving of your time and money to the church is a way of releasing your faith so you can release your miracle from Heaven:

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. (Luke 6:38)

Don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. For God loves the person who gives cheerfully. And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. (2 Corinthians 9:7 – 8)

I believe God wants the best for you ... just keep believing and He will provide and give you a good future:

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord , 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" (Jeremiah 29:11)

Hope that helps ... keep the faith

Answer 7

The reasons the Christians are constantly being attacked is because Satan wants you to fall. He wants you to run away from God. When we go through hard times that is when we draw closer to God. The repercussions from sexual sins might come later, or they will answer at the judgment throne. I too have had problems with finances, but I keep being faithful to Him, and He will take care of you. People are watching you, and seeing how you will react. They want to see if you will renounce God, or give God the glory. Praise Him in good times as well as bad times. He is there to support you. Take care, and may God bless you.

Answer 8

Christians often make this mistake they put things in Gods hand instead of taking responsibility for them selves, there are times that divine intervention comes into play, but we must remember that God dose not attend to every day issues like finances, we win because we choose to win by taking responsibility for the circumstances one is in, I have learned not to be a religious Christian victim, winning in life is not just being a godly Christian it is the choices we make to have a better life and it is those choices that God blesses us for, we pray to God in the hopes that we have made good choices that's what it is all about, there is no right or wrong here it is simply the choices we make in our lives that allows us to prosper and have happy strong families. God bless

Answer 9

I do not think you can start from the premise that you are using.

Let us start from "the beginning"

Taking the story of creation as an analogy : God (of your understanding) created the World (ie. universe) from Chaos.

When He had finished, He rested, looked at his Creation and pronounced it Good.

Thus, an act of Creation, which tends towards harmony and growth, is Good, and any act tending towards Chaos is the opposite ie. Evil. Any act therefore which tends towards Chaos (aka Evil ) is Sin.

The Bible trys to give us "potted " or "canned" rules because the average person cannot translate the above Rule of Thumb into concrete decisions "on the fly". Take the 10 commandments : thou shalt not do this, that and the other. You COULD have added another million "thou shalt nots". Jesus came a LOT closer when he REPLACED rather SUPERIMPOSED just ONE rule on top of the "thou shalt nots" namely "love thy neighbour (ie. respect thy neighbour) as thyself". You can see then how my Rule of Thumb applies : if its OK to be done to you, then its OK to do it to another. More or less. Society DOES demand a certain overall conformity which you cannot avoid.

Anyway, just look at your OWN actions in the light of my Rule of Thumb ( the Buddhists call this Karma. In the West we call it the Law of Cause and Effect ), because an Evil act will have repercussions which are Evil...sooner or later!

Dont worry about others. Do the RIGHT thing yourself. Seek ye FIRST the Kingdom of God THEN all these things will be added unto you.

Where is the Kingdom of God? It is WITHIN! It is at hand said Jesus ( see the Gospel of Thomas : really : read it).

Hope this helps!

Answer 10

putting yourself out here is exercising a great amount of faith and hope. I can already tell that you love him. I'll tell you a little something about repentance, first you have to sin to need repentance but if you dont feel like you have actually sinned you can't repent and you can figure out that whole thing later with the Lord in time. Remember that unless you killed someone or committed adultery or raped, repentance is between you and the Lord and from my experience the Lord is a lot more lenient than Churches and Pastors and people give him credit for. If you dont feel your repenting with your heart than either you havent had the chance to feel the weight of the sin so you should give it time so you can learn from it or it wasnt actually that bad of a sin and maybe was even a transgression (a necessary sin) Faith isn't what you may think it is. The true God of this Earth is a scientist and he works with the laws of the Universe and the Universe works with the Laws of God. I'm feeling that you feel guilty for needing some questions really answered with facts about spirituality and you feel bad because you were taught that the questions that the Pastor couldnt answer were questions with the answer to "just have faith" God wants us to KNOW things, he wants us to gain knowledge upon knolwedge to progress into Eternity. But to exercise faith to get answers and get through tough times is to HOPE for the things that you can FEEL in you heart that are good and you feel that they are just around the corner. Jesus loves you and I know in my heart out of faith that your going to get all the epiphanies that you need soon -Love your sister in the Lord M