My question is about Christianity itself. I go to one of those big non-denominational churches you see in the metropolitan areas. I have kind of been struggling with actually experiencing God or feeling any presence. I’m not even sure if I’m a Christian. To clear any pre-misconceptions I never<\/strong>\u00a0say profanity. I’m not against God for whatever reason. I certainly am not choosing to be agnostic or atheist at all. I just have a hard time feeling much spiritual movement when we’re on this earth. I can’t smell, hear, see, or use any of my human senses to know Jesus better or at all. I’m not against Christianity, I just have a hard time feeling God is here all the time, even though I identify myself as a Christian. I go to church once a week, listen to ministries on TV sometimes, and I agree with what the Bible says 101%. It’s just that my natural senses can’t always experience him which prevents any real closeness. Maybe I’m just not a super devout Christian and more of the casual type, I don’t know. However, I am positive that I am Christian to some extent, I just don’t know how much.<\/p>\n\t It is strongly ingrained in society that religion is some emotional feeling, despite the fact that God teaches that emotions are deceptive. “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But whoever walks wisely will be delivered<\/em>” (Proverbs 28:26). I constantly run into people who are convinced that something isn’t real unless it is felt. But it is feelings that are unstable. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?<\/em>” (Jeremiah 17:9).<\/p>\n Truth is established by knowledge. “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked<\/em>” (I John 2:3-6).<\/p>\n If you want to know if you are a Christian, then the proper question is are you following Christ or your own impulses. “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say?<\/em>” (Luke 4:46). “If you love Me, keep My commandments<\/em>” (John 14:15). Of course, that means learning your Bible which is where Christ and his teachings are discussed. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God<\/em>” (Romans 10:17).<\/p>\n Faith isn’t a feeling. It is what you trust is true after examining the evidence. That will lead to feelings within you, but it isn’t the feeling that is the cause, it is the effect of your trust that is based on the evidence.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: My question is about Christianity itself. I go to one of those big non-denominational churches you see in the metropolitan areas. I have kind of been struggling with actually experiencing God or feeling any presence. I’m not even sure if I’m a Christian. To clear any pre-misconceptions I never\u00a0say profanity. I’m not against God…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[727,506,49],"class_list":["post-49746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-emotionalism","tag-emotions","tag-faith"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":34900,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-difference-between-feeling-guilty-and-feeling-convicted\/","url_meta":{"origin":49746,"position":0},"title":"What is the difference between feeling guilty and feeling convicted?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it true that if you don't know if something is a sin that you should not do it if it makes you feel convicted? So what is the difference between feeling guilty or feeling convicted? Sometimes I put a lot of thought into something that I bought. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4980,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-want-to-be-a-christian-but-my-parents-are-hindus\/","url_meta":{"origin":49746,"position":1},"title":"I want to be a Christian, but my parents are Hindus","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 9, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Praise the Lord. I'm Hindu, but I accepted Jesus as my God and Savior. In my family, all are unbelievers. My brother and I were baptized. I praise God for His grace upon us. My family forces us to bow before Hindu idols. It hurts a lot. When the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53180,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-a-slap-in-gods-face-to-ask-for-forgiveness-since-jesus-already-died-to-forgive-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":49746,"position":2},"title":"Is it a slap in God’s face to ask for forgiveness since Jesus already died to forgive sins?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi minister, I've recently heard of the dispensation of grace and it's something I've never heard before. I've read and been told by those who teach it that it is basically a slap in God's face or rejecting the finished work in Christ to ask for forgiveness of God\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34627,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-want-to-convert-to-christianity-but-im-too-young-to-leave-my-muslim-home\/","url_meta":{"origin":49746,"position":3},"title":"I want to convert to Christianity but I’m too young to leave my Muslim home","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Sir, I'm convinced that Christianity is the true religion. Your website was really helpful and informative. I would like to convert to Christianity, but I'm just 15 years old and raised a Muslim. As you might know if a Muslim converts to another religion he has to face\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24750,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-faith-mean-you-never-doubt\/","url_meta":{"origin":49746,"position":4},"title":"Does faith mean you never doubt?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does faith mean that you'll never ever doubt something? I've been sad lately because there are things in the Bible that I don't understand and these things have caused me to doubt Jesus. But when I doubted, I get sad because I think, \"I'm not saved because I'm not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34825,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/isnt-it-unfair-that-north-koreans-cant-know-about-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":49746,"position":5},"title":"Isn’t it unfair that North Koreans can’t know about God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Isn't it unfair that North Koreans can't know about God? Do they just go to hell? It's not really their fault at all. The leader tells them everything. They have no way of knowing about God, no outside communication whatsoever. Will they go to hell for something they have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49746\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Answer:<\/h2>\n