Deborah,
I'm not to sure what translations we have. I think we might have good news bible... I'll check when I get home (I'm at school now) I'm guessing if I start with a bible thats easier to read It might be a good idea to then go on to the authorized version later on.

BroDave,
I'll start with an 'easy' bible, but i'll read the other one later on (if I can find it)
other religions - but surely people of other religions think theirs is the only true religion and all others are wrong (or just not the proper religion)
I don't pray. Not on my own anyway, and when i'm at church and everyone is praying I just hear the words, if that makes sense? When I try to pray it seems like I'm just talking to myself.

  Han,

You are young in this world, but yet, you are seeking knowledge of the Lord.

I know that God is "well" pleased with you for this and will help you to know and to understand all that you desire concerning Him.

Praying is just communicating with God.

When Jesus payed the awesome price on the cross, the Vail that separated God from man was rent (torn) from top to bottom.

Jesus stated: for this cause, walk ye boldly into the throne of God seeking help and grace in your time of need, but whatsoever ye ask, ask in my name.

Christians should always approach God in prayer with respect unto His majesty, but know that if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, then you are accepted by Him, and this is why we ask in Jesus name for this signifies that we are a believer.

When we fill we lack understanding, or we are unsure of the teachings of His word, or if we simply have something in our lives that is hindering us from loving and obeying Him, He will certainly help us to overcome it.

Unrepented sin creates a barrier between us and the Holy Spirit, so we should always ask for Gods forgiveness of any (known or unknown) sin in our lives so there will be nothing  to prevent our relationship with our heavenly Father through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Even if you fill like your words (spoken or unspoken) are just going into empty space, be assured that God does hear you when your thoughts are focused on Him.


1Jo 5:14 ¶
            And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 


 1Jo 5:15 
            And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. 



God loves you Han, and desire your relationship with Him in His word (the Lord Jesus Christ), so just be honest with Him and He will help you regardless of what the need shall be.

Later

JTF

No offence, but we don't all speak like that, please don't speak 'teenspeak' at me, it makes me feel slightly patronized to be honest. I generally speak like any other adult. Thankyou
Anyway,
thankyou for the advice, so your just saying that it might feel like I'm speaking to myself, but God will listen if I'm praying?

  My words were not meant to "Belittle" you in any fashion, but only to encourage you.

Physical age has nothing to do with seeking the Lord, and God can and will use anyone who is acknowledged and willing to do His work in the Gospel.

Yes, if you speak to God (in Faith), He will listen and He is ready to help.


later

JTF

I know they arn't, just saying
and okay, that makes sense

Sorry to have taken so long to reply, but I have been busy and it requires more than a short answer.

There are some people who say that it doesn’t matter what you believe, that we all end up in the same place anyway. But Jesus said, “No-one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6) He always presented salvation as a choice: for example, a choice between two gates (Matthew 7:13,14). Similarly, in the Old Testament, the Israelites always had a choice between following God’s Law or worshipping the idols of other religions.

So when you look at the conflicting claims (and promises) of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and so on, you are faced with a choice. Who do you believe, and who do you commit yourself to? Ultimately there is no “proof” for any of them (as atheists will gleefully point out – but there is no “proof” for atheism either!). This is why it’s called faith.

For most Christians, the “proof” is what happens in our own lives when we decide to follow Jesus. When we commit ourselves to Him, something happens to change us on the inside. Someone I know (who had previously been an atheist and had a serious problem with compulsive swearing) stopped swearing overnight. A second-hand car dealer found himself compelled to be honest with his customers. I stopped fighting my younger brother and was healed of a chronic health problem. Each of us has a story to tell.

Deborah,
Its okay
so we believe what we believe, others believe what they believe, we could all be wrong or all be right, or maybe Christianity is the one true way or maybe another religion is the one true way... I can see why it's called faith
And this change, does that happen for everyone? (all Christians who decide to follow Jesus i mean)

Christianity is the only God-centric faith, where God has set out the plan for salvation. It's a free gift, which we can do nothing to earn.

Other faiths are man-centric, where they believe that man can do enough good to earn their way into heaven.

When a person makes that commitment to Jesus (and it is a continuous commitment), God does two things. 1) Counts that person as being righteous and allows them into heaven, as the price of their sin was paid by Jesus, 2) Literally kills that's person's old nature, and gives them a new spirit, thus the person becomes a "new creation", and is "born again".

Hope this helps.

Thank you...I was typing this exact same thing when I saw there was a new post. 

yep this helps
but you got me slightly worried now. The person is still the same right? but different (Sorry I know that makes NO sense at all)

Just to give a tidbit of my experience...when I accepted Christ about 20 years ago, I did not notice a broad sweeping change...I felt lighter in my heart, I felt guided, but there wasn't this obvious dominating force.  But in HINDSIGHT, I see there WAS a broad change...I see the path I could have gone down but was guided a different way...a very, very good way, each day endevoring to live how God wants me to live with His help...you can't do it alone.

Doc

Yes and No

I guess you need to realise that there are two parts to a person, his physical side, and his spiritual side.

When we talk about a new creation and being born again, we are talking about a person's spiritual side. Which God, in essence, God restores to the way that God designed that person to be in the first place; but without all the mess that came about, by that person disobeying God, and getting involved with things that they shouldn't

I am the same person that I was before I gave my life to Jesus, the honest answer is No, I am a better person, God has taken care of the things in my life that were hurting me.

Do I look the same? Yes.
Do I act the same? No.
Do I like the same things? No.

They way that I acted and the things that I used to like, over time, the holy spirit has revealed to me that those things I used to do, weren't good for me, and that I should stop doing those things.

I used to be a slave, and now I am free.

Yeah i meant personality/inside/spiritually/whatever you want to call it.
And I know people change, but i meant change a lot so that their friends/family don't know them (as in how they act etc.) anymore, or just change a bit.
But thankyou =)

 God does not wish to change you Han, only "Better" you as the person that He created you to be.

You are unique, and there is only "one" Han in existence and that is the way God wishes for it to be.

Because you are "Human", as with all people, you are prone to the things of this life that entice you to step against God,s nature and law. (His righteousness)

God stated: I will not allow "Sin" (transgression of Gods righteousness) before me.

Because you are weak as a human person, sometimes you do or say things that God will not accept, and for this reason, you (as a human person) cannot be with God.

You cannot "Help" yourself, for you are what you are, and God knew that if He were to save you, then He would have to give you His nature (Spirit) before you would be strong enough to resist the enticements of this world.

However, God demands reimbursement for His lose, for it was He that created you for His own, and when you sinned against Him (His righteousness), He accounted you as a lose and only worthy of destruction.

God stated: Life is in the blood, so because you have sinned, your blood in a sense has become contaminated and unacceptable unto God.

This is why the Lord Jesus Christ came to do that which you (or any person) could not do.

It was He that gave God payment (reimbursement) for that which was lost through sin, for as it is written: to transgress Gods law means death to the transgressor.

Jesus lived this life as a human person, under the same enticements as all mankind, but never gave into these inticements that cause mankind to fail toward Gods righteousness.

IN truth, He was the perfect person in this world, and never did anything (transgressed) that was worthy of death, but evil people took Him through lies and false witness and crucified Him on a Roman cross.

His Righteous blood was shed when He should have lived forever as a man, for as it is written: in the day that thou sin, thou shalt surly die.

Jesus never sinned, therefore He should have never died, but because His blood was righteous, and He willfully allowed Himself to be crucified through false pretence, God accepted the sacrifice of Jesus as the payment (atonement) for the sin of all mankind.

Through this act, and having faith in this act by the son of God, we receive Gods forgiveness of all sin that we have committed against Gods righteousness.

When we hear of this act by the Lord Jesus Christ and the purpose behind it, we become aware that we are not perfect and we have not this hope of eternal life with God, so we confess our imperfections (to God) and repent (turn away from the evil of this world), and through our actions of faith in what God has stated, and through our willfull repentance, God gives unto those who desire His ways over their own, a new nature (spirit) that is of God Himself.

This does not make a complete new person out of us at this time, because we are still in this world and we are still the same person that we were born to be, but we have a new "start" in life with the new nature of God that promotes us to seek Him and His righteous way above our own.

In a sense, we become a new creation fashioned after the only begotton son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is what is meant by being born again, or as it should be truthfully stated: born from above with a new spirit and purpose.

God loves you greatly, and has sent His only begotton son to be the witness of this fact.

As I stated: God does not wish to change you from being the person that you are, He only wishes to better you as the person that He knows that you can be through His son Jesus.

I hope that helped explain the new nature or spirit that we become through Christ.

Later

JTF

Thankyou Just the facts, and thankyou to everyone else whos answered my questions so far, which I have done nothing but ask in the few days I've been on this forum!