I'm confused right now and would like to accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior. here is a little background on myself, current age-45. all through life I have been suffering from: lack of confidence, low self eteeme. it started in grade school, I had a teacher that told me that I would never amount to anything and she was right. currently, I have no job, and live with my parents. my dad is 83, and my mom is 81 and if a miracle doesn't take place now or soon, I won't have any place to live. I went to both kinds of churches. Roman Catholic and protestant. The protestant church gave me the line that if I would tithe, God would bless me. It is because of that advice I'm in the position I'm in now. Part II of this letter contains the following ideas. I was brought up with the idea that being naked in front of others is; SINFUL

Thomas, it would be helpful to know how you came to this site for help. We will be very glad to help if you want to talk more about the details of your situation, but it will be lengthy and might be easier by direct e-mail if you would like. My e-mail address is Bearone37@aol.com if you care to.

Bearone

You have shared that you are in search of faith in Christ, and that you have major problems in your life. There is only so much that can be done through cyberspace, but there are many caring Christians here. We will do our best for you.

You made two comments that particularly stand out for me.

"all through life I have been suffering from: lack of confidence, low self eteeme. it started in grade school, I had a teacher that told me that I would never amount to anything and she was right."

You appear to believe that your teacher was able to accurately foresee the adult you would become, someone who would never amount to anything. I see it differently. What child is likely to succeed when its teachers destroy its self-confidence by proclaiming that the man-that-the-child-will-become will never amount to anything? I think your teacher did a terrible thing to you as a child, and I ask: Did you also have other important people in your life who put you down? Were there any adults who believed in you, and told you that you could do whatever you decided to do?


"I went to both kinds of churches. Roman Catholic and protestant. The protestant church gave me the line that if I would tithe, God would bless me. It is because of that advice I'm in the position I'm in now."

There are many, many wonderful churches representing a large variety of faith traditions, but all believing in Christ as Lord and Savior. There are also unfortunately some churches that are toxic: their pastors and people mean well, but they do not have spiritual health or wisdom, and therefore cannot share it.

God is faithful to honor the practice of tithing (the practice of giving 10% of one's income back to God, most typically through the church), but if someone told you that would guarantee wealth or any other monetory reward, they were either lying or ignorant of the Scriptures. The rewards of tithing are most often invisible, intangible spiritual blessings. These blessings are extremely valuable, but you can't buy anything with them.

It is true that there are many people who attribute their financial good fortune to their faithfulness in tithing, but there are just as many who might testify, "Tithing never brought me back an extra nickle, but I'd never exchange the blessings I got for money."

Having said that, it is hard for me to believe that all your inability to support yourself independently of your parents can be blamed on tithing. Tithers give 10% of what they have, not 10% of what they hope to have. Let's say that your monthly income is $100. Your tithe would be $10, leaving you with $90. I could easily see that someone with an income of only $100 would not be able to support themselves, but I can't see that the loss of the extra $10 would materially change anything.

So I ask you: Are you sure that it was tithing that created your problems?


Bearone has invited you to discuss your search for faith and your other concerns by email. Bearone is a minister, and I urge you to accept his offer.

Thomas,
We first want to welcome you to our Forum, and we hope you come back to join us again, or at least read what we have for you.

You are taking the right steps in acknowledging your situtation and doing something about it. And the first thing you need to do is seek Jesus Christ in your life.

He lived, suffered and died for you and many people like you, such as everyone on this earth! And if you are worth dying for, then you are worth living.

Even though we are really not worth dying for, Jesus thought so.

I too am 45 and feel like my life is just beginning....again. It seems that no matter what age you are, you feel like you are not getting there and you are starting over and over and over again. I am very glad that we CAN start over!

Just think, you can live an awesome life for another 45 years! And you can do it with the help of Jesus Christ!

Have you read any of my articles? Especially The Gospel According to a Christian Naturist. It is an article I wrote to help people realize that Jesus died for our sins, and that he died for ALL of our sins, not just some or in part, but in whole. That means we are NO LONGER under the penalty of our original sin, which is the sin Adam committed and put man on it's current course. Read that one for the full story, and other articles (see story links at the bottom of each article).

You will also want to read some books on motivation, such as "The Magic of Thinking Big". Ask in a book store about motivational books that help people pull their lives back together. You said that the teacher was correct. No. The teacher was WRONG! YOU believed it and decided to follow that path on your own. So now, you are seeking to correct it. Which PROVES the teacher wrong! It is amazing that the teacher who told you that (assuming still alive) and has completely forgotten about you, forgotten that he/she told you that, and really don't care that they did. Yet you did not forget and made it your lifes path.

So now you are going to change it and I applaud you. Now that you are here, I will look up some more book titles that may help you on your way.

And if a Promise Keepers (one in Greensboro in two weeks) comes your way, go to it.

In the mean time, focus on Jesus Christ, NOT on individual church policies such as whether being nude is a sin or not. Deal with that later. First, you need to not only accept Jesus Christ, but you must be baptised and filled with the holy spirit (Most lay hands on you after baptism and pray over you for God to accept you and fill you with the holy spirit).

One church that does this is the Worldwide Church of God. I don't know what their policy on naturism is, though I am a naturist and have had no problems so far. But I don't announce it to everyone either. (My pastor knows if that helps).

Others here can also help you on your way. Read what we have here, let us help you and encourage you to succeed in life.

Remember, Jesus died for you, so you are no longer under the sin of Adam and you are worth it!

Boyd Allen

I'm not sure what they told you on tithing in particular, but it is interesting that tithing is one thing that churches preach on if nothing else. Of course they will. It's money!

God did say he will bless us. But when we are making financial mistakes in life, it will not help us just to "tithe". You need to get your financial house in order. Start out giving offerings (of whatever amount, not tithes). Tithing is only a minimum effort (10%). It is what Jesus said "If you done everything you were told to do, say that you are an unworthy servant because we did what was required". What he is saying here is that if we live our lives by the letter of the law, not the spirit, then we limit ourselves. Our lives are limited by our beliefs (as you found out by your belief of yourself). If we believe "tithe", then that is all we will do.

But you live according to your faith. In your case, it appears your faith is a little weak. We can understand that. But don't limit yourself. Start expanding your faith, but not necessarilly in monetary value, but in your life. In all of your life, physical, spiritual, financial, mental, etc.

Start serving in church, find out your spiritual gifts (when you are baptised and filled with the holy spirit, God will give you the gifts you need to serve His purpose) and serve God and his people. You may not be an evangelist or a preacher, but you may be a good encourager. That sounds strange right now because of the situation you are in (self doubt and fear) but now that you have learned something about your self, maybe you can turn this life around and server others in making sure the children grow up with a strong encourager and mentor in their life.

Awesome stuff? It is and that is where I too am believing I am heading in. But I don't know yet how it will take place. I have a lot to work on myself.

I have been a self doubter and have let God down with my life as well. But I am doing what I can to change that. I read lots of books. Books that encourage, helps me find my life purpose (gifts).

I'll give a list of good books later on, but first, we want you to come back here and tell us you will stick with us and let us work with you! If we don't hear from you, we cannot work with you. You take the first step (as you did by coming here). We WANT to help, but you have to WANT to be helped!

Looking forward to your responses to us.

Boyd

Ask those sisters about those naked paintings in some Catholic places of worship. Many have been restored to full nudity after some painted stuff over them in centuries past.

It's cultural, not Bibllical, for folks to think that being naked is sinful. Why were the only 2 people mentioned in the Bible who complained about someone being nude cursed for doing so? (Noah cursed his son. God cursed David's wife.) How come some folks were actually commanded to go naked for 3 years? (Isaiah) And so on. Read your Bible. Don't believe what people tell you without checking it out.

Ralph
The naked gardener
God's original intent