toughy.

       My prayer for this blog is that I would never steer anyone in the wrong direction.  I would like to tackle a few tough subjects in this post and I'm not saying that I have "the answer" to these matters. But, I will do the best with what I know.
       Some of you know that there is a topic being discussed about a well known communicator who has been teaching false "Christian" beliefs. It's somewhere along the lines of, how could a loving God send anyone to hell... So does he mean everyone goes to heaven?  I'm honestly not going to go any further with that.  You may or may not have heard about this.
       I began thinking about what salvation means to me and how salvation came into my life and lives of others I know. I know one struggle I've had and a struggle that many of you have probably had or are currently  having with being a follower of Jesus is, so I do have to do "things" to be saved? or so I don't have to do "things" to be saved? [are there tons of changes I have to make to be a Christian or not?]

       Which is it?

       That is a common discussion I've had recently with friends.  Why is it there are certain ways to live or life changes to make in the Bible if salvation in Jesus is something we don't have to work for?  What does it mean to "practice righteousness" if all you have to do is say "yes" to Jesus?  Sooo... God loves me just because? Well, what does all of that mean for my life anyway? Should it be important?

       Ever had these thoughts?

                     yeah... me too.

       So. Where am I with all of this? I want Jesus.  It gets messy and confusing without him.  Well, what about the "doing things" part of it?  I want Jesus and if Jesus wants me to practice a righteous way of living so that he is given glory and I may find ultimate joy.. than I want Jesus and his way of living.
       The other place I've decided to resolve with these issues is.. I need to be in my Bible.  Not because it is the "right" thing to do.  But, because it has truth in it.
       I know not everyone who stumbles across this blog believes that the Bible is true or in fact that anything I post on here is true. I'm okay with this.  I want you to know a lot of the things I post on here are for people who call themselves followers of Jesus.  I DO hope one day you can be a follower of Jesus. I don't think of you differently because you don't believe things about Jesus.  I haven't always believed in Jesus, so I understand what it is like to think that all things I post are dumb and have meaningless information.  Nor do I think I'm any better than you.  I hope one thing we may agree on is that there is always more to learn here on Earth.

       I hope I tackled this post well and made it understandable. It's a tough couple of things to voice my opinions on and make sure that I am leading you and I in the correct direction.  If you disagree with anything I posted [this post, previous posts or future posts] please email me with your thoughts.  I promise I will listen.

Email: BrettJamesShields@gmail.com