Something that really bothers me about theology

[cubeus19]

Hello everyone, I'm very troubled not only by all the confusion and different interpretations of everything relating to God and to Christianity. Whether it be in theology, or with church denominations, or even in apologetics. And the fact that so much confusion and so many interpretations exist in all aspects of Christianity from the smallest things to the greatest. There is confusion and different interpretations applying to salvation, God's method of creating, to baptism, to end times (that aspect is nothing but a glob of confusion)and to many other areas in between. And something that really saddens, depresses, and angers me is the fact that most if not almost all denominations, theologians, groups that hold to a particular belief (ie clavinists, or young earth creationists as examples) almost every time, they somehow just "know" they are right, and a lot of them are quite arrogant and prideful about it, and they never consider the possibility that they could be wrong. And that really troubles me and it should trouble you if you are a truth searcher like me, who, going into all of this, just want to know the truth and doesn't have a emotional or volitional commitment to a certain view. Because, how can we find the truth to these issues if we can't find a way to weave our way through so much confusion that has been caused by so many emotionally committed secs and sub groups in Christianity who relentlessly defend their pet beliefs and pet doctrines? Is there any way in this day and age that anyone can know for sure what the Bible truly says about anything? As far as I know, I'm fairly confident in the doctrine that we are saved by grace through faith, but other than that, I can't say I'm completely confident about much else. But help me out if you can.

[CeT-To]

You say that as far as you know you are saved by grace... yes.. what else do you really need to know? LOL All you have to do now is love everyone and God, helping and caring for people ...pretty much good works and have faith in the Lord and what He will show you in life so you can produce good fruits.

[sinnerbybirth]

Hello everyone, I'm very troubled not only by all the confusion and different interpretations of everything relating to God and to Christianity. Whether it be in theology, or with church denominations, or even in apologetics. And the fact that so much confusion and so many interpretations exist in all aspects of Christianity from the smallest things to the greatest. There is confusion and different interpretations applying to salvation, God's method of creating, to baptism, to end times (that aspect is nothing but a glob of confusion)and to many other areas in between. And something that really saddens, depresses, and angers me is the fact that most if not almost all denominations, theologians, groups that hold to a particular belief (ie clavinists, or young earth creationists as examples) almost every time, they somehow just "know" they are right, and a lot of them are quite arrogant and prideful about it, and they never consider the possibility that they could be wrong. And that really troubles me and it should trouble you if you are a truth searcher like me, who, going into all of this, just want to know the truth and doesn't have a emotional or volitional commitment to a certain view. Because, how can we find the truth to these issues if we can't find a way to weave our way through so much confusion that has been caused by so many emotionally committed secs and sub groups in Christianity who relentlessly defend their pet beliefs and pet doctrines? Is there any way in this day and age that anyone can know for sure what the Bible truly says about anything? As far as I know, I'm fairly confident in the doctrine that we are saved by grace through faith, but other than that, I can't say I'm completely confident about much else. But help me out if you can.

JMO, It religion and politics that give Christianity a black eye, Christianity is always the same.

[Canuckster1127]

The root of all the theologies, denominations etc. is not God. It's man and his need to try to understand God. Those things are inevitable.

At its core, if you can stay focused on grace and Christ, I think you're on a great track. Christ is central and grace is the means by which Christ works in our hearts and lives. All the rest is a distant lower priority.

[daywalker1966]

I know exactly where you are coming from. Confusion reigns supreme it would seem and the path to answers is a long and twisted one. sadly, if you go to Jimn for answers, then John tears apart what he says, and Fred tears them both apart. I've been there for years. The troubling part is that among the countless denominations EVERYONE claims to have the holy spirit, it yet they all contradict each other. While paganism is condemned openly in the bible, pagan rituals (Christmas is overrun with them) are big parts of much of Christian worship. Also there is the very sabbath itself, set up on the seventh day of the week as a day of rest in the bible, blessed as holy forever by God then later a pagan group of men known as the Concil of Nicea decides to change this to Sunday and almost every professing church in existence followed. Most of them justify this by using the resurrection as the reason it was changed, though the two of them are seperate, and nowhere in the bible did I read of Jesus changing the sabbath, indeed it is stated that he WENT UP ON THE SABBATH DAY AND PREACHED IN THE SYUNAGOGUE. So by who's authority was this changed, and why do all churches follow it?

Hand in hand with this is the belief that an all loving God would take a human being who is guilty of a few sins, and who is not, and condemn them to quadrillions of years in volcanic hell according to ancient teachings which were written to terrorize people into following the ancient church. For me personally, I always wondered at the fact that some of the people I knew were said to be filled withthe holy spirit, yet their lives were filled with knowing and willing wrongs (one of my associates who became a minister stole several hundred dollars from me and vanished and yet another did drugs in front of my kids behind my back and agains stole from me before moving out) yet they claim to be the led children of God.

I'm still searching for answers and probably always will be. You are far from alone in your confusion.

Gene

[Kurieuo]

Hello everyone, I'm very troubled not only by all the confusion and different interpretations of everything relating to God and to Christianity. Whether it be in theology, or with church denominations, or even in apologetics. And the fact that so much confusion and so many interpretations exist in all aspects of Christianity from the smallest things to the greatest. There is confusion and different interpretations applying to salvation, God's method of creating, to baptism, to end times (that aspect is nothing but a glob of confusion)and to many other areas in between. And something that really saddens, depresses, and angers me is the fact that most if not almost all denominations, theologians, groups that hold to a particular belief (ie clavinists, or young earth creationists as examples) almost every time, they somehow just "know" they are right, and a lot of them are quite arrogant and prideful about it, and they never consider the possibility that they could be wrong. And that really troubles me and it should trouble you if you are a truth searcher like me, who, going into all of this, just want to know the truth and doesn't have a emotional or volitional commitment to a certain view. Because, how can we find the truth to these issues if we can't find a way to weave our way through so much confusion that has been caused by so many emotionally committed secs and sub groups in Christianity who relentlessly defend their pet beliefs and pet doctrines? Is there any way in this day and age that anyone can know for sure what the Bible truly says about anything? As far as I know, I'm fairly confident in the doctrine that we are saved by grace through faith, but other than that, I can't say I'm completely confident about much else. But help me out if you can.

There may be differences, but there is also a lot of agreement.

Here is a question to consider. What would make some Christian denominations within orthodoxy while others are Christian cults?

[daywalker1966]

Having been involved and damaged by a cultish church, my belief is that cults use religion as a means to take the weak or gullible and excercise control over them, to terrorize them into submission to the point of running their lives and even initiating their destruction (Jim Jones). Cults are not about God,they are about leaders who have eerie abilities to manipulate and my personal belief is that these people do not believe in God, rather they use him. If they believed they would be terrified to pull such antics. The same can be said of televangelists whom I will not name, who use tithe and offeringmoney to live like kings off of their supporters, who blindly follow them and pay their wages with hard earned dollars all the while thinking they are serving God. Been there done that, outgrew the T shirt. Real churches have members who actually believe in God and want to serve him. Telling the difference is a question of observation.

This is just my personal view.