Don't Be Discouraged

Don't Be Discouraged or What young Christians or New Christians should know about standing up for their Faith

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Don't Be Discouraged

What young Christians or New Christians should know about standing up for their Faith

Don't Be Discouraged or What young Christians or New Christians should know about standing up for their Faith

Don’t be too discouraged if you do not have the answers right away to questions that others have asked you about Christianity. First we must find and know those answers for ourselves.

There are many things that you can do to make sure that you will have the answers. Christianity is a bit complicated for us to be able to have most of the answers instantly (except for the basics of Christianity - which are easy to undertand , but sometimes hard to personally accept). As a new Christian, it takes time, and commitment (personal commitment to God) to learn about the Christian faith.

As you know – in our Christian life, we are rarely neutral: we are either growing in our closeness to God, or going away from Him. There is not a whole lot of room for "in-between".

The Verses that are in the KJV can be found in the English versions of the Bible that were available before the KJV. The Geneva Bible that came before it, and the Coverdale Bible before that, and the Tyndale version before that - all have the same verses as the King James Version of the Bible.

Whenever someone tells you something about a Bible version that attacks either the KJV or sound doctrine, ask them to substantiate and document the assertion that they are making.

Simply say to them: "That is what you think, but I would like to see the references for where you received the information from". Do this each time someone makes a statement about Christianity that you believe that you should respond to.

Begin to address those issues by asking others to substantiate the basis for their conclusions, or at least for them to be honest and tell you if they have something in writing, or if their objection is simply something that they heard, or read "somewhere", etc.

That will take care of a great many issues, since much of the time – many people do not have the documentation for their claims, it is just something that they read or saw, and they wanted to see or know your reaction to their information.

For those who are serious and who do have sources to show you, note the information for yourself down, and then try and do some research both on 1) their main point and 2) on their sources.

The KJV (King James Version of the Bible) is often the oldest version of the Bible in English that is still in common usage today. Most people have problems with their own lack of knowledge of the English in it, far more than anything else.

Attacks on Christianity

People who attack Christianity often have 3 main sources for their attacks:

1) attacks on the claims of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and his death and resurrection

2) attacks on the Bible itself.

3) Attacks on the History of Christianity. Here is where we will see people informing us that "Gnostics" were really Christian (which is false), or that the Catholic Church represents Christianity (which is also often false), or that all Christians are responsible for the Crusades (which is also false), etc.

The Good news is that the claims against Christianity can be met and answered. Christianity has a great, positive, uplifting and encouraging record – when it comes to its own history. It can stand up to the claims of history, archeology, science, paleography, forensic analysis, and other methods of discovery – and pass those tests with flying colors.

But we have to learn first the accurate truths about Christianity, and we also have to learn how to present those truths. These take time, but it can certainly be done.

Maybe we should think of it as a College Course, or a college major. For almost any topic – from being a car mechanic to being a Biology Major, we understand that learning is something which takes time to learn, and then also takes time and skill to demonstrate that we have learned.

So college is not finished in a day or a week or a month. Neither is learning about Christianity - except for the basics, which everyone can understand. In a sense, that is good news – because it means that every day, we can wake up and learn something new about Christianity and the Bible and how God loves us and has decided to connect with us.

This applies to the History of Christianity, as well as to the truths about Christianity and our personal relationship with God. Those who want to try only have to pray: "Lord, show me something new about you and about the Christian life and Faith today" or "Lord, I know you are in my life – show me evidences of you in my life today, in a way that I can see and understand that you are there and involved in my life". Just keep praying those prayers...and you will start to see the answers that God gives you. This is an encouraging way to look at life and to keep learning.

Despite what others may occasionally say, God is pleased when we want to learn about Him. In fact, God is more in a hurry about this than you are. We can never learn too much about God or Christianity. Thankfully, God – in His sovereignty – allows us to set the pace of our learning. But the more we learn about God and how loving and good He is, the more we WANT to learn – about how good and loving He continues to be.

As to the specifics of learning about Christian History and Christian doctrine, there are several ways to go about this. The first thing that we should NOT do is leave it to the so called "scholars". Christianity is too important to be left to the "experts".

Here are some books for beginners to be able to learn about the basics of Christianity. We sell some of these books, because we want Christians to be able to know the reasons for the hope that is within them, and to be able to explain this to others:

Cannon of the Old Testament and the New Testament

or Why the Bible is Complete without the Apocrypha and unwritten Traditions

By Archibald Alexander Princeton - 1851 - Presbyterian Board of Publications.

Tough Questions Skeptics ask by Josh McDowell

Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell

It is important to know that all interactions with others teach us something. They may teach us something about us, the other person, or about the topic being discussed. It might be a good idea to decide that whenever someone asks you a question about Christianity, that you will do your best to be sure that – if someone asks you That same question again – you are able to come up with a specific answer to that question (from now on).

With that approach to others, we can continue to learn, and continue to try to understand the questions that others have. We may always succeed in finding the answers, or it may take time to find those answers.

But we can write the questions down, to keep track of some of what we want to learn and know. Some answers can be found in a week, while other answers may take months to find.

It is better to take an approach to these questions by choice, and at least try to be continually learning something, than simply to say "I don’t know" and learn contentment from ignorance. We decide who we will be tomorrow, by the choices we make today.

******

Note: When verse 1 of Psalm 23 says

"I shall not want", it means " I shall not be in need"

What Young Christians (Newbies) should know about Old Christians who have Not grown spiritually

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The Real Question is: what are you going to do with the information that was presented above ?

Is the Information True ? Yes

Is the Information Accurate ? Yes.

Do I - before God - have some responsibility to accept and act on the information in this passage from the New Testament ? Should I be making an effort to understand the End Times ?

Do I understand that there are Spiritual Forces that want to prevent me from having GREATER spiritual understanding about God, but that God himself is always in MORE of a hurry than I am, for Me to get to know HIM ?

Do I realize what my personal state of preparation will be, within me, when Islam becomes the Dominant Religion in the United States, as it is already in Europe, and how I will personally be required to defend my Faith, by argument and persuasion, using knowledge of the Bible and of History and of Christianity, and that God will rightly hold me accountable ?

In view of these facts, should I try to set aside more time for the study of the Word of God, and more time for the study of History and the true history of the Christian Church, and to learn about how other Christians in the past, actually learned to have and to gain GREAT and genuine spiritual strength ?

If no one reaches out to help prepare me for the coming challenges, whose job is it STILL for me to be prepared to answer these challenges and questions ?

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Dear Lord, I thank you for the information that is presented here that I am able to learn about or be reminded of. I thank you that I can take a moment to pray for a few others. I pray that you would help those who work for and with this ministry to be able to continue to accomplish work for you. I pray that you would be with them, and that you would watch over them and that you would protect them spiritually and in every other way. I pray that you would accelerate their work so that they can continue to present more information to others. I pray that you would prevent any harm from coming to them and prevent them from being slowed down or being distracted. I pray that you would help them and those who come to this website to be committed to your truth and to a love of the truth. Please increase my own discernment and continue to bless and help this ministry also. Please Remind me to pray for this ministry more often. I ask these things in the name of Jesus, Amen