/christian/ - Christian Discussion and Fellowship

Well what else of course, do what is in your power as a human to solve these problems and pray alongside of your actions.

>>572173

>and I don't want to lose them

Something to come to terms with in accepting Christ is that we must be prepared to lose all for Him, even our own life. See also Matt. 10:35-38

>or have every conversation become a heated argument.

Here I would advise you to bide your time and slowly start learning by reading, watching vids etc. on introductory topics, doctrine, apologetics, etc. with a view to establishing and being half confident with 3 things:

1) the existence of God

2) the reliability of the new testament (i.e. that

a) Jesus of Nazareth was a real person who lived and had a 3 year ministry

b) was who he said he was i.e. the Son of God and the Christ told of in the prophesies of the Old Testament

c) crucified on the cross and buried in the tomb

d) that on the third day the tomb was found empty and that his followers believed they saw the risen Christ following his burial in the tomb) and

3) that the most reasonable explanation for the ressurection claimed in the gospels is that Christ really was ressurected

Once you have these locked down, even if you don't believe it yourself yet, you'll at least be able to explain to your family the reasons why Christian's believe what they believe and that it is actually fairly reasonable in most instances, and certainly isn't blind faith. Some resources for this below.

>Next, it feels like such a huge undertaking to really "get" Christianity.

It is, I'm a little younger than you and had my admittedly poorly-developed faith reasoned out of me by my unbelieving friends as a teenager, and I've spent the past couple of years looking into this stuff before I felt I could commit myself, concious that I wanted to understand what it is I'm getting into and, per 1 Peter 3:15, give a reasoned defense.

Secondly, as well as the three points above as to understand it is why Christian's believe what they believe, you must understand the basics of the faith themselves. That is, who Christ is, who God is, what his character is and attributes are, what Christ achieved on the cross, why it was necessary and it's the best thing ever, who we are, what this world we live in is and what has happended to it, and owning up to our responsibility for the state of it and our responsibility to each other. If you haven't got their already (which you may have, I don't know), understanding these things should lead to one thing: Repentance.

>I'm decades behind everyone my age.

Irrelevant if you're willing to seek the truth.

>When I hear people pray and speak about their experiences it's like they're using an entirely different language that is confusing and honestly seems kind of "culty" sometimes.

I can definitely appreciate what you mean by this, I thought the same as an atheist and am sure my language puts off my friends to some extent now when I try to set out what it's all about. But like I said take your own time and become accustomed to what it's all about first off by doing your own research.

>The few times I've been to church I've felt like an outsider/imposter (and been treated like one by the impenetrable cliques everyone has formed).

That's a shame, maybe check out a few other churches in your area if there are more.

>Next, I've never had a religious experience

No problem

>I just feel drawn to Christianity for some reason (and I'm not even sure that's a good enough reason to convert).

Probably not on it's own no. Definitely good enough reason to take the time to look into it more

>I've tried reading apologetics but it quickly turns into philosophical semantic debates far removed from the mystery of God and faith.

Apologetics is a reasoned defense of what we believe, explaining clearly to non-believers why and why it's reasonable. The idea is to clarify so it is certainly a separate aspect to meditating on the mysteries, of which there are some in Christianity. If the resources below don't pique your interest, which arn't necessarily dicrect apologietics but will certainly help you see why we believe what we believe, then I guess it's down to you where you go from there.

>>572245

>Lastly, I don't even know what church to join, there seems to be legitimate arguments for nearly every branch. Where would I even begin to know how to choose?

I would say worry about that later, make a short list of some churches near you to visit the services of each for a few weeks and see how you feel. Intially the only thing you may want to base your shortlist on is asking the quesiton: Are you drawn to high church/low church worship?

The former has a more formal, reverant worship style and service and places importance on wider set of sacraments (Holy rituals by which, according to these groups, God imparts and we recieve His grace, if I've got that right), ecclesiastical (governance/adminstrative) structures (priests, bishops etc) and traditional liturgy (order and content of worship), the worship itself (how it is stylistically expressed), vestments (clothes the preists wear during service) etc.etc. Generally, Catholic, Orthodox, High Church Anglican, Lutheran, (some Methodist maybe?) etc. although equally the above (apart from Orthodox I believe) services can be low church/have low church elements also depending on the specific church/parish/parish leadership

Low church is more casual, some times less reverant and sometimes more "firey," (/emotional), sometimes sing hyms, gospel tunes or a contemporary worship songs, have independant/autonomous congragations with a pastor or a structure/network of elders/"presbyters" rather than an ecclesia. Although as above, the traditionally high church churches can have low church services/elements, a lot of the other churches not mentioned above I guess you could consider low-church by default. I won't name them because there's so many (not a dig at protties, protty myself) and many do cross over or are a half way between high/low.

One thing to mention is that many churches termed either Charismatic and/or Pentacostal started up in the last ~150 years maybe. These are churches which place a large emphasis on a certain expression of the working of the Holy Spirit in the believer, including speaking tongues, having spasms and fits and uncontrollable laughter, running/rolling round etc.(lots of quality webms on these guys). I grew up in one such church. Whether their worship style is biblical and/or not outright demonic is contested, but bought them up because they are a large part of modern Christianity and their practices/worship style has influenced/seeped into many other churches/and their worship practices over the years.

Another thing to note is that there will be liberal versions of most churches, so it goes without saying avoid them, (unless you look into those issues and decide to take the liberal side but from what I've seen the grounds on which they justify their interpretations are pretty much wholly without merit and poorly thought out compared to the reasons which justify the traditional readings). You can normally tell what type of church they are by their info on their website/info about their pastors/clergy etc.

Alongside trying out various churches, once you've got the basics of the faith down, start to explore church history and the reasons behind why each church thinks it has the correct approach and start to form an informed opinion. I'm not there yet (won't be a long time) but one key initial issue that I've (at least tried) grappled with and has informed my understanding so far, is the issue between predestination and free will (Calvinism vs. Arminianism) and our role in our salvation (monergism vs. synergism). Understanding your own position on these questions (even if it changes over time with a more learned understanding) should help cut in half the number of potential churches (because every one falls on one or the other) if you want to make sure you start going to a church that align's with your theology and their approach to the nature of God, salvation and those questions (Calvinism/Arminianism and monergism/synergism).

>Despite all this I still want to try. How can I get over all this?

See above and the incoming list of mostly YT resources I will post that I think will be helpful for the above . Lastly, most important of all, however, is to read the gospels and the rest of the New Testament at least a couple of times (sans revelation). Do Old later, initially through key passages and chaters (see upcoming resource) and then all the way through to take in the NT and Rev. once you've accommodated a bit of the necessary context through resources to understand it).

And pray. Pray pray pray.

Resources:

Two key introductory books:

Mere Christianity by C.S Lewis

Reason for God by Timothy Keller

Looking for quick answers for specific questions (although please be aware that it presents the answers from a particular perspetive that not all would agree with):

gotquestions.org

YT

For the first three points mentioned above, see

Inspiring Philosophy (for all 3) https://www.youtube.com/user/InspiringPhilosophy/featured

WIlliam Laine Craig (for existance of God) https://www.youtube.com/user/drcraigvideos and https://www.youtube.com/user/ReasonableFaithOrg

Gary Habermas (for NT reliability and ressurection)

Bible Project as a good set of introductory vids inc book studies, introducing concepts and word analyses https://www.youtube.com/user/jointhebibleproject

Chuck Missler's Learn the Bible in 24hrs (I've watched OT for this and is really good) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRj8AJuzeJRwHdeFua3pzmwPB_JCS0mIq

Also look up and watch debates between Christians (William Laine Criag has some good ones) and non-believers and see which side you take throughout your journey

If from there you need more, see Bruce Gore's series on history and philosophical context and church history e.g https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYFBLkHop2akl5_aPTZLszaIt4DnM8ESx

Learning to defend your faith with R.C Sproul

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7E536ECD7A6A4D41

>>572269

You're most welcome m8, all I would add is that when thinking about a church to attend, when I say worry about it later, do, particularly when you want to get serious about it (i.e. later). But at the begginning I do advise to try to at least have a cursory look at what they believe and the key areas where they differ from others if you can, so you have a base understanding. No need to know the intimate details or how and why they argue that their way is the correct way, but try to take a snippet of key differences. I'm sure you'll absorb a fair amount as you go along anyway.

Also pic related it the key passage/chapter resource I mentioned, which has NT as well as OT.

Sorry last thing is that all the info contained in the resources above, I no way have in my head, and am not saying you must to understand Christianity or in order for you to decide to become a Christian. Thankfully it's so much more beautifully simple than that. But the above should help you become informed about it and why you've taken a particular stance. It's not like I myself can regurgitate all the info contained in the above to my pals, I only know and recall and can explain the key bits and/or snippets of what I have read and seen and understood, if that! But at least I know why I believe what I do myself even if I may not yet be able to articulate it clearly or answer every single question or objection someone may have. But I rest assured knowing that there are answers to these questions and responses to these objections, and where there arn't, that's fine.

God bless.

Again I haven't read it but PDF realted looks like a very useful introduction to Christianity