Struggling with faith: Why pray if free will exists and non-believers succeed?

A religios question for my brothers and sisters

I have to say im struggling with my faith right now. I watch alot of Mark Dejesus videos but i find myself questioning everything. First i was questioning for a while now if theres free will and God doesnt interfere with our choices then what is the reason of praying, asking him things. If someone wants to kill me God wont come down and stop him, then what is the reason of me praying for protection? Other is the thing we say that "If God is with us who can be against us? What can man do to me?" Well the same they did to Jesus. Many people get tortured by others,r@pd,theres alot of things in this world, i dealt with this before, I know theres no answer for us cause we arent God, but still this statement that "what man can do to me" fails there cause i can still be afraid everyday that people will attack me and my family. And this is what i realized this time. Sadly im not much in a christian community, if i am im with people who has these basic answers but its okay we arent perfect, but my friends are unbelievers and we talked many times about faith and why i believe and what they told me just stick with me and now i feel like i understand. The thing is that whenever you have a problem like i said before someone is attacking you, you have an illness or any problem, even if you are christian or not you will have to do something alone. You have to face it, you have to act, and if you dont know what to do nobody will come down from the sky to lead you somewhere. And the problem is that lets take two people one who is a believer other is not, they had a problem both decided to so something about it, the non believer goes through it and he id happy about himself, the believer says "without God i couldnt do it" well the non believer did it without God. I see alot of times that things that christians say they couldnt reach without God, non believers do it without Him. And no i dont think every non believer should suffer cause they dont believe... but then the question is in my head, whats the point? Cause my non believer friends say they can see that this is just a perspective too, how you view things, and now i see it that it might be true... What if i just choose that i see it like this? Now i dont think that i will become an atheist soon, all my life i believed theres something there, even when i said no i was just fooling myself cause the next day i felt different. But im struggling with these questions cause i hear it everytime in christian communities to "trust in God, pray to Him, ask and you will get it" but its not true, theres free will and God doesnt change someones mind and many thing in this world is controlled by people. And call me crazy but i think science is so advanced right now that people can influence weather and make storms and tornadoes if they want to destroy a city. So yeah for me theres a God but i dont see the truth in what can man do to me and he will protect you just pray and ask him... My friends say im just believing cause i need to think something is there to protect me, or to give everything a meaning and maybe theyre right cause i cant explain why do i believe, i just do, but for people who are deeply hurted my a religion or they have problems and they can get through it without believing God, idk what to say them, why to believe... The basic "cause eitherway you will burn in hell" is not going to turn anyone to a christian... I hope some can take this and answer it kindly not attacking me cause i struggle with my faith or "im not a true christian" if someone says that i will ignore it. Thanks for your time.

Religion & Spirituality OCD

Username: Jesuslovesme777Jesuslovesme777

Date posted: 8w ago

When the Bible says “what can man do to me?” It is not insinuating that we cant get hurt or beaten or killed by others, God didn’t promise that this life will be easy (John 16:33). He is saying, nobody can touch your soul, which is what’s most important. God protects our souls and sealed us with his Holy Spirit forever, no matter who attacks us, nobody can have our soul. God will allow us to go through hard times, he doesn’t promise to spare us from every hardship, but whatever he allows, he uses it for good so that he can use us to help someone else with what we’ve learned. He protects us from things we can’t see, but sometimes he allows us to go through some things for our growth and his purposes. As for those people who can “do things on their own” apart from God, just remember that they can only do what God allows them to do, and for them to get things “done” on their own is not a blessing at all, because it means they will not seek Jesus. God will allow us sometimes to experience all types of weaknesses so that we can rely on him instead of ourselves, which builds our relationship with him and grows us closer to him, 2 Corinthians 12:9. When I see an unbeliever who claims they have it all together, i know they are lying, and they have no real peace, they are deceived and their minds are reprobate, constantly longing and searching for a purpose in this world and never finding it because they look in all the wrong places. There is no true peace without Jesus, they may think they have it, but they do not. And sometimes when we as Christian’s go through hard times, it can be hard to have peace, but it’s always available to us , you just have to trust the word of God and not your own feelings and thoughts. If somebody asks you, “Why should I trust in Jesus?” Well the first answer is because he died for them and paid for all of their sins past, present, and future so that they could have eternal life for free. The next answer is, because he loves them, and no matter what they experience in this life, whether good or bad, he will be there with them through it, and they will never have to be alone again..being a Christian doesn’t mean we won’t have hard times anymore, in fact it’s the opposite! But we won’t ever go through them alone, and we can have his comfort with us always, knowing that we have eternal life and that this world is but a moment compared to our eternity of perfection and joy with Jesus. People who don’t have Jesus have no hope 😕they are blind and seeking after the emptiness of this world, they need Jesus. As a conclusion, following Jesus isn’t about what we can get from him, but simply loving him because he first loved us and gave himself to save us. And with that, we can have the peace, comfort, and joy that comes along with knowing we are his eternally and have eternal life waiting for us , despite how bad current circumstances may be. I hope this helped ! And know that God understands you and has no problem answering your questions, Jesus loves you very much no matter what! 🙏🏻✝️💜

Username: AnonymousAnonymous

Date posted: 8w ago

As a Jew, it's simply not true that people cannot have peace without Jesus. I know so many people of different faiths and no faith at all who have never stepped foot in a church and yet are as happy with their lives as any of us can be. If you want to believe Jesus is the true way, that's fine, but please don't get on a forum where people notoriously have religious intrusive thoughts and naturally question religious beliefs as a result of the intense hardship of OCD and other life events, and say that no one can ever have peace if they don't follow your specific religion. It's so triggering.

Username: Jesuslovesme777Jesuslovesme777

Date posted: 8w ago

@Anonymous I’m sorry but if I told people that all religions lead to peace, I’d be a liar and a fraud. My comment was intended for my fellow Christian brother who made this post, not anybody else, you don’t have to read my comment or respond, it wasn’t intended for you.

Username: PRIV8PRIV8

Date posted: 8w ago

Thanks for your answer, what about asking God for things,protection,health in our prayers? Why ask it if he allows others to do anything to me? Like whats the point of asking for an opportunity if people control that in the world(jobs,or any opportunity). The other thing is i believe some bad things happen for a good reason like for me now being depressed and dealing with that will make me stronger. And we know Jesus death and suffering has a huge meaning. But there are other people who suffer almost the same level everyday, people get tortured and killed and as I said r@ped, and sometimes this only makes their relationship with God worse. Idk i feel like in my heart i can understand someone who had a horrible horrible traumatic childhood thats he /she rejects God. I just understand it. Or someone who gets tortured so much that he /she loses their faith. Im afraid to get there cause maybe i would be like that too. In the huge pain its easy to lose your faith. And those things gives others fear. So i dont see where it would do a good thing. But im not God...

Username: Jesuslovesme777Jesuslovesme777

Date posted: 8w ago

@PRIV8 Well friend, let me tell you, I’m one of those cases. I have crippling health issues, a severe auto immune disease and serve asthma that makes me unable to even leave my own house, I’m only 27, and yet I’m trapped here in my house not able to do much physically, I never thought this would happen to me, and if you had told me years ago that this was gonna happen to me, I also might have feared that my faith wouldn’t survive! But yet, here I am, I still love Jesus, I still get through the day, I still long to be with him, I have terrible suffering and hard days, but I’m not alone and he sustains me. Don’t let hypothetical situations freak you out, because when you are thinking of those scenarios, you are measuring them against your own strength, and the reality is, if any of those things ever happened to you, Jesus would give you the strength like he gives to me. And also keep in mind, that you can rest in his faithfulness to you, instead of your faithfulness to him, in 2 Timothy 2:13 KJV it says “if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself” this means that even if you were ever unfaithful, he will be faithful to you! And he will finish what he started in you (Philippians 1:6). Sometimes we go through rough patches with God, and I get mad at him and yell at him and ask him why did he make me this way, and he always responds with comfort and love and encourages me to keep going and reminds me of my heavenly home. Don’t fear about losing your faith friend… you are in the palm of Jesus hand, and he’s not ever gonna let you go :)

Username: PRIV8PRIV8

Date posted: 7w ago

@Jesuslovesme777 Well then i respect you alot. Hope my faith will be that strong too one day as yours

Username: Waging War Against OCDWaging War A...

Date posted: 7w ago

A few things to consider….God has two types of will. A permissible will and His perfect will. Many things happen in this world that grieve Him. Why He allows them I don’t think we will know until heaven, However, what we do know is that God is all knowing, all powerful and good. Also, His plan for humanity involved Him being hurt more than we can ever imagine (Christ’s death and payment for the sin’s of mankind). So it is not a situation where He sits in an ivory tower and lets us suffer. It is the opposite - He comes down and saves us. And helps us too. The Holy Spirit is called a Comforter in the Bible…..so while we must suffer at times, He is here with us. Also, some of the promises you are mentioning are referring to spiritual promises. No one can ever separate us from Christ ever….as Christians our salvation is sealed by the Holy Spirit. The worst man can do to us is kill us PHYSICALLY, but they can never kill us SPIRITUALLY. I hope this helps with some of your thoughts above.

Username: PRIV8PRIV8

Date posted: 7w ago

It is just my opinion but that pain can make you lose your faith. If you see through it, almost every unbeliever lost their faith cause of their pain. Alot of times people get abused in christian communities, theres alot of stories from the past too. I can understand why some people doesnt believe, and this is my opinion but i think some will be in heaven cause God does understands it. We say the bible shows us who is God, and we can read in the old testament God protects people, but then we say "well today he doesnt bc its different....blablabla" If the Bible shows God's nature then that is Him. He didnt protected people always but sometimes He did intervene, and it wasnt about protecting souls. Everyone has different interpretation of the Bible and its annoying now, we try say "well you have to read it in context" and everyone has different context , why its not simple? Why it has to be difficult, you have to understand all the context, what God really means there? Also we should take our power from God, we should trust him(the Bible tells us) but from what you said and many people say, the only trust we can put on Him is that after this horrible thing we will be in heaven. So when you are in a bad situation now youre like "God wont help me here, i can only trust that in the afterlife will be good" and if we take this sentence, i can understand that non believers say this is stupid. This is a distant God, someone who is far away and you just hope one day he will save you from this. This is not the God what we know in the Bible... also alot of people say "well this doesnt counts now, it was back then" then why we have to know it? Why we care if God isnt like that now? And if you take this as "why God doesnt do anything i ask" its not about that. Its not a black and white topic, its not about He does everything you ask or not.

Username: hanysm@gmail.comhanysm@gmail...

Date posted: 8w ago

Hi, I am a Muslim, so here is the answers from Islamic point of view. Let me be clear, this is not to advocate my faith or in any way an attempt to change your faith. I am providing answers you as a Christian brother might be able to relate to. The Islamic view on free will and predestination offers a nuanced understanding of human agency within God's divine plan. Muslims believe that God has predestined all events long before creation, including the causes, repeat, and the causes or paths leading to those events. While God grants humans the freedom to choose between good and bad causes, the ultimate outcomes remain predetermined. This concept can be illustrated through an example: If someone intends to kill a person who is destined to die, that person will die regardless of the killer's actions. Conversely, if the person is not destined to die, no attempt on their life will succeed. Thus, the statement "Without God, you won't be able to do it" holds true in all circumstances. Prayer in Islam serves a crucial purpose for the believer, rather than for God. Muslims pray because: - It is a means to enter God's kingdom in heaven - It helps believers accept God's predestined plan - It strengthens the connection between the worshipper and the Creator While prayers do not alter God's plan, they help Muslims find acceptance and peace with whatever has been predestined for them. Moreover, the Islamic perspective views death not necessarily as a negative outcome, but as a passage to reunite with the Creator. In Islam, there is no inherent contradiction between science and faith. Science is understood to be limited to observable phenomena and subject to experimentation. Faith complements science by addressing metaphysical concepts and entities beyond the scope of scientific inquiry, such as God and angels. This harmonious view of science and faith allows Muslims to embrace scientific discoveries while maintaining their spiritual beliefs, recognizing that each domain has its own sphere of knowledge and understanding. I hope you can relate and get comfort in those thoughts.

Username: PRIV8

Date posted: 50w ago

Trusting God

I dont understand how others can accept that we have to trust in God but we still arent protected by Him. Not in a black and white way, He shouldnt protect from things you did for yourself. But as i read more and more i start to think that He cant protect us from other people, from physical hurt, from rape, murder, cause all those things happens to christians too. For me a God who throw us here and doesnt protect you from evil, then make you choose either Him or hell... i cant believe in this god... i dont knoe how yall can

Religion & Spirituality OCD

Username: PRIV8

Date posted: 41w ago

Fear of commited sin(and im a bad person)

Since im working in a christian band(as a backstage helper and now am also managing the social media platforms of that band) i noticed that since than i became really hard on myself on the things i can do and not. I have that "in that position i shouldnt do certain things, cause i have responsibility, i dont want to ruin the name of that band" and this gave me so much pressure. I want to work as a christian song writer, i would like to write non christian songs too, and this is where the problem begins. Now i have this "only God" mentality, that for us christians everything should be about God, some worldly song are bad cause its against God, love songs are bad cause its lust and this is just about songs, but ive fallen into this rabbit hole that everything that its not about God its against him. Im so afraid that in my position as christian i will show a bad picture and thats a big pressure. So i will share what happened. With my friends we have fun by writing worldly songs, like parodies, we making fun of what todays worldy music is about (not every just some rap, pop music), how the songs doesnt have any value, its about money, how much money i have, girls, evers girl wants us for the money, i have luxury cars, i live the best life, and from all of this suddenly it turns to my heart is cold, nobody loves me, im alone, and making fun of this sometimes helps me to see behind all this fake happiness that this lifestyle will give, that i have money i have girls im so cool, im the king but deep down im suffering... so it helps me realizing this, and again we dont do that as we value this or we live like that, its a parody we show eachother how stupid these style of music is and its sad that the world likes this, but again not all of them cause since then i met non christian people who thinks the same about those songs. So this also made me feel sinful that we write these songs and we shouldnt do this. Yesterday i wrote a lyrics that was a little bit different than the other ones, it wasnt about money and how cool i am, it was about love, breakup and i didnt wrote that from my heart cause i dont have those experience and i was focusing on making it like these non christian breakup songs, and it became actually good. Today just randomly i thought about i try to send it to someone cause it could be a good song, and also i would feel good if something i did wil become big. And here is the problem lies, i feel like this is egoistic and agaist God cause i did it cause i want this to be about me, that something i did becomes big and famous... I sended the lyrics to someone and i want expect it but imediatelly got a respons and they liked the lyrics and they will make a song with that, so do you think i was happy about it? Oh no... suddenly i got hit by shame and a big anxiety that what i did was not right as a christian. I made a non christian song thats against God cause its about love and breakup which in my mind is lust and I made that relevant... and a huge fear and guilt hitted me and since then im afraid i did something wrong, i just acted from my ego, for my good sake, it wasnt about God and im dissapointed about myself. I try to see it as this song isnt that bad its not about sin, sex and drugs, its just about breakup, but my mind says i just try to make it like sin i good... also the person i sended has sinful wordly songs too, but he has many romantic, more about love songs, but the thing that he has sinful music makes me feel so bad and dissapointed about myself. I contributed to sin... its bad cause here noone can help me, the first thing i got from my family was "then why you did it, you shouldve thought about that". And it made me fear more cause dont get the support i need. So i try to find the support here...

Username: PRIV8

Date posted: 41w ago

Questioning faith

I know ocd is great at this i just want to share my story, hope someone can help me here. At first i want to say i know faith isnt about feelings, that you always feel that God is here with you, but its been weeks now that ive been struggling to feel His presents. I choose to think He is here with me but its been hard now, sometimes something happens and i say look here was God, but through the day i dont feel that feeling what i used to feel before, idk it was really comforting and gave me confidence and i could be myself around people, now i struggle feeling this. And i dont know if the problem is that i want to experience that feeling again. I just know when i was there it wasnt everything pink and sparkle and i was levitating in the sky, no i still experienced hardships, but i was able to go through them with a clear mind,.soberly, and i actually learned things, but now i just feel im going around... and ive been questioning whats the problem, why i dont feel God presence. I tried to see if i feel unloveble, or if theres something im struggling to relate, i found that im hard on myself sometimes, but i do use that method to respond kindly when im so hard with myself, but i get angry and i started to hate that when i start to be kind. Anyone can help me about that? Its that normal, part of recovery, cause im feeling bad about myself that when i want to be kind to myself i hate that, i hate that tone, cause its like i want to make myself happy with fake posivity, even wheb i say "is all right, youre loved" i just cringe cause i get angry and like its not solving the problem... so am o have to accept i will react to that now with anger? It even got to a point where i questioned do i really believe in God, cause i dont feel like it... so i think this relating can be the problem but idk how to change that, i even feel bad about feeling anger when i try to be kind with myself. Its not that i blame myself, its more that i feel like im avoiding learning to be better with this fake positivity, cause what i experienced in my life, the people who used this "its okay everyone has bad habits, we are humans" it used as an apology for their actions, like and avoidance, maybe they felt bad about it, but i didnt see work on trying to change that bad to a good thing, it was just moving on. So now when i hear "God still loves me" it triggers this in me, and i feel like i do the same and im not trying to learn, i just use fake positivity to feel better about myself. Idk if this is why the anger comes up but this is the story i have. I should work on being more kind to myself but what to do with the resistance and the feeling that i just use fake positivity to get out of shame and realizing the problem.

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Struggling with faith: Why pray if free will exists and non-believers succeed?

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