Short Stories

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All Scripture is quoted from KJV

Updated 9/16/03

I Don't Believe In God

I can understand exactly what you mean! What God? Where is He? Why should we believe in a God that no one has ever proven to you even exists? If we could see Him or talk to Him then that would be different. Atheists say to accept that there is a God because someone else says so is preposterous. We can ask the atheist where did the DNA come from that makes up man, when Nothing can't create Something?

I know what you are experiencing because I spent many years believing the exact same thing, until one night, I had a real problem. Though I adamantly did not believe in God, I found myself in a critical situation. At a despairing moment in my life, I attempted suicide. In the middle of a desert with a knife in my hand, I cried out to the God I insisted I didn't believe in, "God help me". Even at that moment I would never have acknowledge that I had actually tried to talk to God. But the simple prayer was prayed, and things began to happen.

Six months later I met some people who greatly impressed me. They said they had a personal relationship with God and manifested such a genuine peace and contentment that my curiosity was aroused. Even atheists are allowed to be curious.

At one point I made an attempt to communicate with the God they said they knew. I said, "Jesus, I don't know if you are who they say you are. But if you are, come into my life and do for me what you're done for them". To my surprise and great joy, He did exactly what asked Him to do. For over 16 years now, I have had a daily, personal relationship with the God I didn't believe in.

Perhaps you say you could never to that. You believe it would be totally foolish to pray to a God you don't believe in. But if you were drowning in an ocean, you would be amazed at the prayer you would pray. It is a proven fact that when people are in extreme need, they either pray to God or curse Him.

Many years ago another desperate atheist spoke these words to God; "God if you exist, which I deny, I believe it is your responsibility to reveal yourself to me and not mine to seek after you". Ironically, this simple prayer showed that even this atheist had a desire to find God. His prayer was heard and for the last 40 years he has had a wonderful friendship with God.

God says in the Bible, that every human being can see evidence of His existence in His magnificently ordered and beautiful creation. Chaos could never produce season, flowers, gravity, DNA, and genius of man. Only an all- powerful, all-knowing, perfect God could to these things. God could do these things.

The second thing that God has given to everyone is a conscience. A built in lie detector. When you do something right you feel good; something wrong and you feel guilty. Put the two together. The creation shows you there is a perfect God, and your conscience shows you that you are not perfect. How can we imperfect humans begin a relationship with this perfect God? By reaching out to God in prayer through Jesus Christ.

Though you perhaps would not want to pray the prayer I prayed, you could say the "Atheist's prayer" mentioned on the previous page. If you pray this sincerely with an open mind and from your heart, you will be amazed at what God will do. You've got nothing to lose, and everything to gain. Talk to God by yourself and see what he begins to do in your life. Go ahead, you'll be glad you did.

The next thing to do is find a good church to attend so that you can grow in His word. To find a good church that preaches the gospel contact this office and we locate a church in your area to attend.

Author: Francis Anfuso

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I'm Not Ready Right Now...."

I would completely support your need to make your own decision. Actually, if you can be talked into doing something, someone else can talk you out of it. God has given everyone of us a free will, because without freedom we can not know genuine love. When I proposed to my wife, I didn't say, 'You better marry me or else......" I didn't say, "I love you.....Will you marry me?" She could have said "no" to my request. but she freely said "yes". She also could have said, "I love you"but I'm not ready to Mary you right now. I've got to met a lot of other men first to make sure that you are the right one. Maybe someday, when I'm tired of p laying the field, I'll come back and marry you. You don't mind waiting, do you?"

Had this happened, I would have greatly doubted the sincerity of her feelings toward me. In the same way, God is not impressed by your reluctance to follow Him now.

He says, Here I am, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will go in and east with him, and he with Me". Re 3:20

Jesus stands waiting for each of us to ask Him to become the Lord and God of our lives. You can be assured that He will not force His way into your life, but you can also be assured that you will not be able to force your way into Heaven, His home.

Many people feel that they can put off their decision of surrendering to Jesus until some later time. Bu you are not guaranteed that you will be any closer later on than you are right now. That time may never come.

Haley's comet periodically ventures somewhat near the Earth only to go further away for many decades. We too may at times be close to accepting Christ, but if we put if off, we may lose this precious opportunity forever.

The Bible says,".....now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. 6:2 Why put off tomorrow, what you know should do today? Actually, you have no assurance that you will even be alive tomorrow. We all know people our own age who have died. What a frightening thing it would be, if you put off this decision until it was to late. Even a merciful, loving God would not be able to spare you from going to Hell forever.

Ultimately, we freely choose what we want. If we are intent on living for ourselves, then we will spend eternity completely alone. But is insane to play "Russian Roulette" with our eternal souls. One day the bullet of death will come up, and we will be forever lost.

The Bible says,".....how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? We won't! Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6

Your only hope of being truly free on Earth and with God forever is by giving control of your life back to the God who made you. It's your choice, no one can make it for you. But you will not always be free to make this decision One day, perhaps even today, you will be given your final opportunity to make Jesus the Lord of your life. If you are not ready to accept Jesus, right now, do you really feel that you are ready to go to Hell? I know that you do not want that. Why don't you pray right now?

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Are you going to Heaven

" Question #1 Do you believe that you will go to Heaven when you die? ___yes ___no___I hope so___I'm not sure
" Question #2 Why do you believe this?
" I've tried to keep the 10 Commandants 1
" I go to church 2
" I'm basically a good person 3
" I've done the best I could 4
" I've never hurt anyone 5

This may suprise you, but according to the Bible none of the answers written above will get someone into Heaven.

May I briefly share with you the amazing way the Bible describes how someone can get to Heaven? 7 First let's consider some very important questions.

Would you say that God is loving," 8 forgiving, 9 all powerful, 10 all knowing and perfect. 12 If you said "yes" you are right. The Bible says that God is all of those things. But the same Bible also says that God is totally good. 13 perfectly holy. 14 100% righteous. `5 and unable to lie. 16

Next, how would you describe man (human beings)? Would you say that man is basically good, 17 giving 18 and loving" 19 Or would you describe him as destructive, 20 greedy, 21 and selfish? 22 If you said man is destructive, greedy, and selfish, you would be correct. The Bible says man is all of those things. But it also says, and this may surprise you, that man is not good, 23 unholy, 24 disobedient, 25 and dishonest. 26

Here is the Bible's Conclusion - It is impossible for this kind of perfect God: totally good, perfectly holy 100% righteous and unable to lie, to live in heaven with this kind of sinful man: not good, unholy, disobedient and dishonest. Sinful man could never live in heaven with a holy God, not even for a second. 27

The Problem - God determined the just punishment for sin was death (eternal separation from His presence). 28 Since all men have sinned, we are all deserve to be punished. 29. But God did not want to send man to hell. 30

Well, let me ask you the most important question so far. In light of this problem I just mentioned, how do yo personally hope to get to Heaven? If you think of one of the answers given at the beginning of this page, they are still not right. Also, you cannot get there by doing good deeds, praying, reading the Bible or an other kind of good works. 31 Do you give up? If you do, please do not turn the page to the solution, until you admit to yourself that you really are not trusting in the correct answer.

The Solution - God devised a plan that placed the death penalty for sin upon Jesus Christ. 32 We can escape punishment for our sins by completely trusting in what Jesus accomplished when He died for us. 33 To begin a relationship with Jesus you need to:

" accept that Jesus Christ died for your sins.

" ask Him to forgive you for your sins.

" let Him be the Lord and God of your life.

"turn away from whatever the Bible calls sin

If you do this sincerely, you will begin a brand new relationship with Jesus Christ.

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I Don't Believe In Heaven

Why should someone believe in what he cannot see or hasn't personally experienced? Just because another person is convinced about something, does not mean that I have to agree with him." "People talk about Heaven, but no one can prove to me that it exists." "Until I know for sure, I'm not going to accept it." Many people have strong reasons as to why they don't believe in Heaven We all have the freedom to accept that it exists or not.

I am sure that each of us has heard of people who have had "out of the body experiences", in which their physical bodies ether came precariously close to death, or actually even died. When they returned to being physically conscious, they reported incredible experiences in another dimension. Many have insisted that they went to Heaven or Hell for a brief but life changing period of time. We each certainly have the right to accept or reject their reports, but the frequency and similarity of these experiences should make us wonder.

In a similar way, we all have the privilege of rejecting the idea of Heaven, but we also should be open to consider why hundreds of millions of people of people on this earth believe it exists.

Let's consider some of the reasons why people believe in Heaven. One reason is because the Bible says it exists. ll Cor.5:1 More copies of the Bible are published every year than any other book. Those who have taken the time to read it with an open mind have found it to be 100% accurate. The Bible said that the world was suspended in space more than 2000 years before scientists found out it was. l Pet. 1:4

Another reason why people believe in Heaven is because Jesus said it existed. Mt. 5:3 He claimed to be the creator of the universe and so He certainly would have known what He created. Jn 1:3

You might say, "I don't believe in the Bible or in what Jesus said, so neither would affect me." Then consider this if you will. I am one of those millions of people who knows Heaven exists because I have a personal relationship with the God who created the whole universe, including Heaven. I'm not saying that in a boastful way, because I don't deserve to know Him. But because He reached into my life and gave me a wonderful communication with Him, I now believe what the Bible says and what Jesus said, that there is definitely a Heaven.

Though I cannot convince you that there is a Heaven, the one who convinced me can. I sincerely wanted to know God, if He existed, and so I asked Him to reveal Himself to me. He did in in a such a personal way that I was completely persuaded that He was very much alive. Since that day over 12 years ago have continued to have a daily communication with Him. Now if all of this sounds crazy to you, I can completely understand. For over seven years I didn't believe in God or in Heaven. But when I was 23 years old, I came to know Him personally. All I said was this: "Jesus I don't know if you are who that man says you are. But if you are, come into my life and do for me what you've done for him." Because I was sincere, He did exactly what I asked Him to do. I encourage you to do the same and I assume you He will reveal Himself to you in a very special way.

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