How Did Your Personal Relationship With God Come About?

tosca1 said:

What does God means by destroy? Why would destroying it take day and night, for eternity?

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tosca1 said:

What does God means by destroy? Why would destroying it take day and night, for eternity?

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Elvira said:

Answering my questions with more questions is not an answer...I don't get into one sided convos, sorry...

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Did Jesus not use this tactic to invoke deeper thought and to encourage personal discovery?

gfm7175 said:

Did Jesus not use this tactic to invoke deeper thought and to encourage personal discovery?

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As did I but most of my questions have gone ignored...I did answer Tosca1's in previous posts...again ignored...

Elvira said:

Answering my questions with more questions is not an answer...I don't get into one sided convos, sorry...

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tosca1 said:

It's a legitimate question. Also.....

The question is the response - for indeed, why would it take for the soul (if it isn't immortal), to be destroyed - day and night - for all eternity? Thus, what does God means by destroy?
It must mean "punish," not annihilate.


Anyway....the explanations (for both arguments), have been provided for those who are searching for answers. They can study all the arguments for both sides, use God-given critical thinking.....and decide for themselves.


Now....let's get back on topic. Sorry, gfm7175. Got carried away.

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That's okay, all threads get a bit off topic at one point or another. It led into a good side-tracked discussion about the lake of fire, and I have no problem with any thoughtful discussion that has a purpose of acquiring spiritual knowledge. As you said tosca1, it seems like both arguments are pretty well established and can be further studied by those seeking answers. This could also be further discussed and examined in an existing thread concerning it (if there is one), or even a new thread.

I'd definitely like to hear more stories about how people's personal relationships with God came about, as I think it could potentially assist people who are interested in finding God and having the joy that all believers in God experience...

I'd like to share this lengthy story I found online:

The Jihadi Who Turned to Jesus

ISTANBUL — When 22 Christian refugees gathered in the basement of an apartment in Istanbul early on a recent Sunday afternoon, it was quickly clear that this was no ordinary prayer meeting. Several of them had Islamic names. There was an Abdelrahman and even a couple of Mohammads. Strangest of all, they jokingly referred to their host — one of the two Mohammads — as an irhabi.
A terrorist.

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It was nevertheless Ms. Rashid herself who unwittingly prompted her husband’s rejection of Islam. In early 2015, she fell seriously ill. As her health worsened, Mr. Mohammad described her condition in a phone call with his cousin Ahmad — the same cousin who had taken him to jihadist lectures as a teenager. Ahmad was now living in Canada and, in a move that shocked Mr. Mohammad, had converted to Christianity.

An enthusiastic convert, Ahmad asked Mr. Mohammad to place his telephone close to Ms. Rashid, so that his prayer group could sing and pray for her health. Horrified, Mr. Mohammad initially refused, since he had been taught to find Christianity repellent. But he was also desperate, and eventually he gave in.

It was nevertheless Ms. Rashid herself who unwittingly prompted her husband’s rejection of Islam. In early 2015, she fell seriously ill. As her health worsened, Mr. Mohammad described her condition in a phone call with his cousin Ahmad — the same cousin who had taken him to jihadist lectures as a teenager. Ahmad was now living in Canada and, in a move that shocked Mr. Mohammad, had converted to Christianity.

An enthusiastic convert, Ahmad asked Mr. Mohammad to place his telephone close to Ms. Rashid, so that his prayer group could sing and pray for her health. Horrified, Mr. Mohammad initially refused, since he had been taught to find Christianity repellent. But he was also desperate, and eventually he gave in.

When Ms. Rashid improved within a few days, Mr. Mohammad ascribed it to his cousin’s intervention. Intrigued, he then began to entertain a sacrilegious thought. He asked his cousin to recommend a Christian preacher in Istanbul who might introduce him to the religion. He was put in touch with Eimad Brim, a missionary from an evangelical group based in Jordan called the Good Shepherd, who agreed to meet with him.

Exactly why he sought solace in Christianity, rather than a more mainstream version of Islam, no one can quite explain. Reading the Bible, Mr. Mohammad claimed, made him calmer than reading the Quran.

For Mr. Mohammad and Ms. Rashid, perhaps it was their dreams that sealed their conversion. As the couple began to consider leaving Islam, Ms. Rashid said she dreamed of a biblical figure who used heavenly powers to divide the waters of the sea, which Mr. Mohammad interpreted as a sign of encouragement from Jesus. Then, Mr. Mohammad himself dreamed Jesus had given him some chickpeas. The pair felt loved. “There’s a big gap between the god I used to worship and the one I worship now,” Mr. Mohammad said. “We used to worship in fear. Now everything has changed.”

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https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/24/world/middleeast/the-jihadi-who-turned-to-jesus.html