Have you ever wanted to place your faith in God but felt held back by something?

Question

If so, would you please explain what has kept you from fully believing or accepting Him? Thank you. :)

Answer 1

Yes, when I was first starting to turn to the Lord. I thought I could handle anything life threw at me. I was/am stubborn and it seemed like I just couldn't put my faith completely in God. I was my own worst enemy for the longest time. I was held back by my own pride and egotism...thinking I knew what was right and I knew how to handle anything. I was at my lowest point, when I finally let go. I felt like you know what, I have screwed up everything I've ever done, maybe it was time to put it all in God's hands. I knew He had been calling me, for years even, and I rejected and dismissed Him. The moment I decided to stop believing in myself and man and start putting my faith entirely in God, I was forever changed. All true born-again Christians know what I am taking about. It was more than a Epiphany...it was an awakening, an overwhelming feeling of joy and peace that have held to this day.
The hardest part of putting your faith in God is the fact that it is all or nothing. You can't half put your faith in God, that doesn't work. It is the letting go of ourselves and letting God take charge, that is the struggle of each person. And is the difference between belief and unbelief. The thinking that we know what is right and good; when it comes down to it, we humans know next to nothing. It is God who is where wisdom, understanding, life, and love truly are.
It is the dying to self that is hardest part...

Answer 2

The biggest cause of confusion about the Christian faith is the fact that there are so many denominations with so many different opinions, many of whom cannot even agree on what a person has to do to become a Christian in the first place. How does one know which one to choose? As you can see, there is already a growing list of contradicting answers to your question. The salvation of a person's soul is the single most important aspect of the Christian faith and is sadly the very aspect that is disagreed upon the most. I see a number of different faiths represented in this list of responses alone, and I would venture to guess that every one of them would give you a very different answer as to what a person has to do to be saved. Yeas ago, I was at a place very similar to what you are feeling now - wondering if all this God stuff is really true why those who call themselves Christians are not actually living it? Why does their experience not line up with what they teach? If I may give you some advice that has helped me immensely - just because a church is popular does not mean that they are RIGHT, and just because most people who call themselves Christians might believe something doesn't make it true. I found that what I now wholeheartedly believed to be the truth was right under my nose all along and being taught by a minority group of believers who love truth more than tradition, a group of believers who actually live what they teach. If you are interested in discussing more with me, feel free to contact me.

Answer 3

Yes! I feel held back b/c there is insufficient evidence that there even is a god.

Well, I guess I believe we started from SOMETHING, we must have. . . But I think I need the answer to WHY we are here- did God make us as his guinea pigs? Did god make us to just experience life? I just don't know why we are here, so until I do, I don't want to put my faith in something like that.

I hope that made some sense LOL

Answer 4

Well, I've come to the realization that belief in god is a crutch... but crutches are very useful for the crippled! After all, without crutches, they'd just pull themselves on their hands and knees and whatnot, causing no end to their pain! So it's a good thing.

That being said: I don't believe in god. I'm agnostic, so I don't DISbelieve in god, but many of the effects are the same. I don't place my hopes or dreams on some higher power, which has both benefictial and detrimental effects. I must say that at times I wish I did believe in god, because it would make certain aspects easier. But, here's the clincher: Belief in god is *not a conscious choice.* You can "Admit there is a god" or you can somehow convince yourself there is a god, but actual belief isn't just a conscious choice. I cannot "choose" to believe in the flying spaghetti monster either.

Answer 5

I gave my life to God. It was the worst 20 years of my life! I have since come to my senses and my life has been restored. I held back for 20 years before that. I just didn't think it was 'cool' to be religious. At the end of my 20 year stint with God, I was contemplating suicide, then I said why? Obviously, He doesn't care. So I said, heck with that, I want to live!. So I dropped god - what a relief! So was I living a dream? Hoping that there is someone to watch over me? Praying that my faith will see me thru?

Answer 6

I have felt held back at times. It is usually because I do not trust God enough. I believe the only way to get around this is to not compare God to people, as people can't help but let you down. On the other hand God is faithful if you truley give him your heart you will see that :-)

Answer 7

.Faith is an action word. You can believe in God but, faith demands action. I had a hard time understanding your question from my stand point. There is no almost/sorta believing, either you do or don't. I was once told that my intelligence was the only thing holding me back, this by a Profit Evangelist. Now for the words (belief and faith). You can believe that a plane can fly and not exactly know how. But you don't have faith in that plane till you board it and hang your body in its fate.

Answer 8

there are many reasons that i don't believe in god i don't understand how anyone could place their beliefs is something so out there
I tried to have faith for a while but it was getting me nowhere and i realized that the only reason that i even tried was because other people did it and wanted me to do the same
If it gives you happiness to have faith then by all means follow that path but for me it seemed like a waste of a day to go to a Church so that people could show off their new clothes and new cars and try to act like they hadn't slapped their wife on Wednesday or drank a fifth of vodka on Friday it is a popularity contest

Answer 9

I'll give you 3 reasons. :-)

1.) There is no evidence for a god.
If there is a god, and he was all-knowing, surely he would know the sufficient evidence to show me that he exists... that is, if he wanted me to believe in him in the first place.

2.) God's fan club.
The entire Phelps family, televangelists, Jehovah's Witnesses, fundamentalists and Bible thumpers, Southern Baptists, Young-Earth Creationists, Born-Again Christians, and any other group or individual people who contribute to the intellectual and rational decay of the world we live in, as well as the religious' hindering of the scientific movement.

3.) There's really no need for a god in my life.
I'm perfectly happy... realizing that a god does not and cannot logically exist is very liberating. My ethics and morals are guided by desire to help others, desire to make my life better and/or better myself, and to show those I love how much I love them. I do not fear death, and I do not waste my life pandering to a dictator deity in fear of eternal torment, simply because I don't kiss his @ss.

I think that a lot of the other unbelievers here can relate to at least one of my points.

Answer 10

Yes by the hypocrisy of the christians around me, by the confusion of whats is and isn't, by the uncertainty of everything, and there is a part of me that wants to live life to the fullest without being held down by something which in the end might not be true