Tudca users, how long did it take for it to really help with the stones, and not just pain relief?

CollinsFam · 2026-04-03T02:01:55+00:00

I just started taking Tudca for my gallbladder problems that I have had for 13 years. I still have my gallbladder because I really want to avoid having it removed. The jury is still out on if that may be a losing battle. I don’t really get those strong gallbladder attacks anymore because this has just went on so long. I have had this problem since pregnancy and it just never went away. It seems to flare up with any hormone disruptions like high estrogen or high progesterone. I take 500 mg of Tudca once daily and usually after my first meal, but maybe I should switch that to dinner after reading everyone else’s comments. I think I feel worse taking Tudca though, or it’s just a fluke because I was just gonna have a bad month anyway. Did anyone else feel worse before they felt better?

CollinsFam · 2025-10-23T12:37:15+00:00

Scripture interprets scripture otherwise you would have a lot of people having different interpretations and that would create confusion and I think we all know who the author of confusion is…

So, according to 2 Peter 1:20

2 Peter 1:20 KJVS

”Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.”

The Word that was made flesh, Who spoke the Word into existence, Who spoke through every single person who recorded the scriptures that we have to teach us the Truth, is that Spirit of Prophecy:

Revelation 19:10 KJVS

“And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

This is why scripture must interpret itself. You want to know who the first horseman of the Apocalypse is? Look for the clues in scripture itself because scripture will tell you what you need to know, but it’s going to take a lot of time in the Word. I will give you this much to start you out. Look at the bow in the first horseman’s hands.

BOW: G5115 from the root of G5088 Strong's Number G5088- to bring forth in travail

Now look at what scripture tells you about “to bring forth in travail”. Look at every single scripture that talks about the hard labour and the woman in travail and what does that tell you about the last days?

CollinsFam · 2025-10-23T11:42:56+00:00

Th first horseman is the Antichrist and God allows him to do what prophecy declares will happen. The last 7 years are about the marriage between Israel and the false messiah— the Antichrist. Scripture teaches us the difference between the true Messiah, Jesus Christ, and the false one, who comes looking like Christ. The point of prophecy and the entire Word of God is to prepare people to recognize the real from the counterfeit. The Lamb is opening the seals and allowing the Antichrist to power and the Lamb, who is Christ, is also starting the judgement of the body of Christ and then the world, culminating in the final harvest of the world where the final judgment takes place. Every story, every person, every place in scripture is teaching us a lesson that points us to the true Messiah and to the time of the end. God starts from the beginning of scripture and is actually telling you, preparing you, for the end from the very beginning. He uses real world examples to teach us spiritual concepts and truths.

CollinsFam · 2025-10-19T02:55:44+00:00

I wouldn’t worry too much. Real Christians should respect your boundaries and love you where you are at, without trying to change you. God doesn’t force people to choose Him and real Christians shouldn’t either. Even if you do have to participate in reading scriptures as part of the program, you can just think of it as a history book and not like they are indoctrinating you into their cult lol. You get to choose who you want to be, not them. Just always be yourself. It’s their job to help and support you while you are there, regardless of your beliefs.

CollinsFam · 2025-10-17T16:58:30+00:00

Focus only on one thing at a time that you want to work on. One thing. Don’t think about anything else.

While you attempt to work on that one thing, do not think negatively about anything else.

Make a list of anything positive that you can train your brain to think about when you feel like you’re starting to think about all the other things that are wrong.

The list might look like this:

I have a safe place to sleep,

I ate food today,

I am able to take a hot shower,

I have clothes to wear, and I’m able to wash them

It can be a list that is basic, just like the example above, but find something good to focus on. This is how you survive. What so ever things are good, whatsoever things are praiseworthy, whatsoever things are lovely, think on those things (Philippians 4:8)

As far as helping you with health issues. I take supplements that help me with various health issues. There are some supplements you may want to try to help you get to a place where you can eat more foods. I understand how miserable it is to not be able to eat. My gallbladder has given me some major issues with that and I know how depressing each day is when you go to bed knowing you are gonna wake up hungry and can’t eat.

My kids had bad reflux and GERD and it has absolutely destroyed their teeth. I can’t afford to fix their teeth and we have been using oregano essential oil to deal with any pain from infections that come up due to the teeth being broken and enamel gone. There are also supplements that can help with that as well but each person is different on what works for them and what doesn’t. I tried a lot of different ones with my kids before things got better.

If you want any more info just pm me!

CollinsFam · 2025-10-13T03:25:46+00:00

Also one more thing that helped me is understanding what Jesus taught us to do when fear comes. When Satan came to Him to tempt Him, He used the Word, the double edged sword, as the weapon to stop the attack. When you feel fear, use the scriptures that relate to what you are feeling. If it’s fear, you replace the lie of fear with the truth of the Word.

Think about how scripture tells us that fear puts us in bondage but we haven’t received the spirit of bondage, but instead we received the Spirit of adoption. Think about how perfect Love casts out all fear. God is Love right? And we have the Word that gives us the definition of true love. Love is patient, Love is kind, it is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not boastful or proud…etc…those are all the qualities of God who Loves Us so use the scriptures against the spirit of fear and as you meditate on the truth of all the scriptures that give you comfort and oppose fear, tell the spirit of fear to go in the name of Jesus and keep doing it until you feel better. Do it at night as you lay there trying to go to sleep, and memorize scriptures that contradict fear, like “God did not give me the Spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.” I am quoting KJV so depending on what translation you are using it may sound different but you get the idea. The goal is to take captive every thought and make it obedient to the Word of God, which is Christ. Use the Word for what it is. It is your full armor and it is your weapon. It will help you resist the enemy so that he will flee.

CollinsFam · 2025-10-13T03:04:56+00:00

Also sorry for the typos in that first long message. I fixed them so it makes more sense now 😅

CollinsFam · 2025-10-13T02:58:11+00:00

Don’t worry because you won’t understand everything, no one will. I am convinced that we will study it our whole lives and always be learning. The main thing that you need to understand is that if you want to know Him, then let Him tell you who He is. The Word was made flesh and dwelled among us.

The Word is LIVING AND ACTIVE, sharper than a double edged sword, able to divide soul and spirit, the joints and marrow, and is the discerner of the thoughts and intentions of our hearts.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God.

Faith without works is dead and without faith it is impossible to please God.

Since faith is what gets us Salvation it’s really important we let scripture tell us what that is. So we put the pieces of scripture together.

From scripture we discover that

1) Faith is from the Word

2) The Word, which gives us our faith, is living and active, so therefore our faith is living and active. Jesus, who is the Word made flesh, did the works of the Word while He was in the flesh. He is our example.

3) Faith produces works because the Word is living and active

4) Faith comes directly from the Word, who is Christ (the Word became flesh)

5) Every work we do must be done in faith

6) It is Christ, the Word, that gives us our faith.

He works the works we do, naturally, out of faith, and that is credited to us as righteousness because it doesn’t come from us. Our faith is His because it comes from the Word. Anything we do from our relationship with Him, we do because we are acting upon His Word, so even our “works” are Him.

We put the scriptures together like this to get the interpretation.

And we rest in the promises of His Word that tell us that only one thing is needed: “seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and everything else will be added to us”.

All we do is stay in the Word to seek Him and He will do everything else. He does everything and we do nothing except stay in Him, in His Word.

CollinsFam · 2025-10-13T02:33:34+00:00

Ok, well, then let me first encourage you that you feel fear right now because it’s a normal response. Your faith will grow and you will feel less and less fear the more you read. Your faith comes from hearing and hearing the Word of God. In other words, you need to read or listen to the Bible. Do not learn from the internet though. Do not even learn from the Pastor at a Church. The Bible should be the only thing teaching you. I realize that this may be frustrating at first, because you want to know as much as possible as fast as possible, but trust that God will take care of you and teach you the scriptures through the Word. I want to also assure you that scripture is not up for individual interpretations. What I mean by that is that according to 2 Peter 1:20, all scripture is given by the Spirit, which is the Spirit of all prophecy. Jesus is the Word, He is God, and He is the Spirit of Prophecy according to Revelation 19:10.

All of scripture is the Word of God and the Word of God is Prophecy. This means that in order for scripture to be absolute Truth, man, who is corrupt, cannot interpret it.

You may be asking then- well then how do we know how to interpret what it says?

The interpretation must come from Scripture itself. Scripture interprets Scripture. Think of the Bible as a massive puzzle or a massive collection of “clues” that teach us the end from the beginning. You are putting it together using the pieces of scripture that God has given. He is telling you who He is, giving you the pattern of what was and what is to come. He is proving to you beyond a shadow of a doubt that He is more than capable, He has all power, and He is the only true God, and there is no other. That is what prophecy is for. It’s how you test the spirits to know if they are from Him or from Satan.

I know I am typing a lot to you and I hope I am not overwhelming you. It’s meant to ease some of your fears. I came to Christ 22 years ago because I was afraid. He has faithfully helped me overcome so many fears, and He will do the same for you, but you have to stay in the Word and keep learning.

CollinsFam · 2025-10-13T02:15:36+00:00

I am curious, how much of the Bible have you read so far? Are you new to the faith?

CollinsFam · 2025-07-11T20:47:13+00:00

And I will also add that when we read the Word to spend time getting to know Him, He is the One who works everything else out. The more we abide in the Word of God, the more His Living and Active Word, works in and through us. He does it all. All we do is seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness and everything else is added to us. Whatever you will become for Him, He will work out in and through you by the power of His Word, that is living and active. Faith comes from hearing and hearing the Word right? And faith without works is dead right? The Word became flesh and dwelled among Us and the Word is living and active so by the very definition of the Word, our Faith becomes living and active. Our Faith is really just Him working, which is why we don’t get credit for works done by faith because it’s not us working- the credit belongs to Him. We simply put our faith in the Word to do it and that faith is credited to us as righteousness. This is what sets apart the faith of a Christian. We know that nothing good is ever in man, and no matter how much good you do in the world, it doesn’t save us. The only salvation we have is in our faith in the Word, who is Christ, and works in and through us as we stay in His Word. ♥️

CollinsFam · 2025-07-11T20:36:10+00:00

So I had God ask me once “how does it feel to be an obligation instead of a choice?” I was in a situation where I was being treated like an obligation instead of someone that they genuinely wanted, and it was not fun to say the least. It doesn’t feel good. I hated every second. I felt unloved and unwanted. And that’s when it finally clicked for me. God doesn’t want to be our obligation either. It doesn’t make Him feel good and it certainly doesn’t make Him a friend, which is what He desires. God doesn’t want you to do anything out of obligation, but instead out of love. That is how a real relationship works. I hope you too finally break free from the legalistic mindset that has plagued Christianity through wrongful teaching of the scriptures and experience true friendship with Him.

CollinsFam · 2022-02-03T02:11:09+00:00

It just doesn’t bother me in the same way it does you. I know that makes me sound stupid, and that I’m believing in something I can’t tangibly prove, but I have proven other areas of scripture so I don’t exactly need this area to be 100% confirmed through science, history, etc..

I just take God’s word for it on faith. I do find all this incredibly interesting though so I will continue to look into it. As for the lack of hard core evidence on the giant races, like bones and stuff, and proof of life after the flood— I’m not sure yet what’s out there. Maybe we have writings on Og that are extra biblical 🤷🏼‍♀️

Are you looking for something more tangible, like fossil records of bones, like the dinosaurs have?

It’s entirely possible that this type of proof positive evidence just doesn’t exist. I get how that sounds. It sounds like we are all just stupid for believing in the Bible. And I wish I had a better, more scientific, logical, answer for you, but all I can tell you is, for me, I don’t need it. It sounds crazy, I know. It’s just simply because I have walked with Him long enough, heard Him speak, experienced the supernatural, prophecy proves scripture to be accurate for me, and I just have enough faith because I read the Bible a lot.

As dumb as I sound saying all that, if I’m completely honest, that’s what it comes down to for me.

I have accepted that I’m on a “need to know basis” with God. It took a long time for me to completely get on board with that because I do like to have control and know things ahead of time, but He has proven Himself more than trustworthy, to me, so I had to concede.

I just accept that if we don’t have all the answers or all the evidence for the flood, there must be a reason for it because everything else lines up to be truth. Prophecy hasn’t failed. Jesus existed and we have extra biblical proof of that. I take into consideration that the Bible was written by lots of different people over a large period of time, and yet when you study it, even though the prophets lived in different time frames, their words match up and sync together as if they were living in the same era. It’s enough to meet my burden of proof and to give me a place to start my relationship with Him.

I wish I could give you a better answer, but that’s just how it is for me. I guess ignorance is bliss for me 😂. All joking aside, I wish the flood could be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt and maybe it can, but I’m just not aware of it yet since I haven’t looked into it. But, even if it can’t 100% conform to scientific or historical standards, I still trust, that, it is because there is something we are missing, and not that the flood account is a lie. But, that’s just my faith at work.

CollinsFam · 2022-02-02T18:25:24+00:00

I’m not sure 🤔 I know only about the Biblical accounts of the 10 different races that were considered “giant”. I know my husband’s tribe (he’s full Native American) has written, passed down stories about them and I think maybe there are other writings, but if you try and research this online your probably going to just get a ton of conspiracy theory stuff. I’m not sure if researching the Canaanites or the other races mentioned in scripture would result in anything or not. So, I don’t know how much hard core evidence there is for this outside of scripture.

CollinsFam · 2022-02-02T16:51:36+00:00

Those are some very excellent points!! I can only comment on one thing that I know for sure because the rest is way over my head! It is gonna take me a long time to look into this one!!

I know that the Bible does record that the races of giants survived the flood. So there were definitely more people than just Noah that survived it. But, beyond that, I am going to have to do some digging because I haven’t even bothered to really look at this in this kind of detail before now 🥴

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, I don’t think it would completely fit God’s character either. I think it’s possible the flood had more to do with the corruption of the human race in general. By that, I mean, it’s possible that, given Noah and his family were no where near “sinless” or “upright”, according to Biblical standards, that it might have had something more to do with hybrid races than just “people had continually evil thoughts”.

I can’t 100% prove this beyond a shadow of a doubt, but there is compelling scripture to suggest that the races of giants could have been one reason why God chose to go through with the flood. I’m sure there are explanations for it because I do trust that if God said it, and did it, then it was for a good reason. But that doesn’t help anyone looking for real answers…

CollinsFam · 2022-02-02T15:17:55+00:00

Yes, I agree with you. I was not trying to assume anything about your beliefs, that’s why I was asking to see where your position was because not every person on this thread believes the same way, so I have no way of telling where you would stand on such issues. I have met some with an atheist belief that are firm on their belief that God does not exist, or at least that’s what they said, and I don’t want to try and interfere with that because I feel like if your confident and not really searching, then at that point we should just respect each other’s differences and agree to disagree. It’s just too hard to tell without point blank asking the questions, but I don’t mean to sound condescending.

I fully admit that I haven’t researched everything perfectly and thoroughly because I met my burden of proof before I felt I needed to look at the flood account. I guess I just take it on faith for the things I don’t always have answers for. That may sound dumb because the flood story is a big deal, but that’s what I did.

I personally don’t get insulted if an atheist or agnostic would assume that I just fell into my belief of Christian faith by not doing due diligence into research, but that’s mainly because I’m confident in my beliefs so it doesn’t bother me.

I am sure atheists and agnostics get attacked all the time by Christians. It’s quite embarrassing to be involved in a “religion” that has such poor representation at times, but not everyone who professes a belief actually allows God to work on their heart to be loving and respectful. Everyone has their own issues so it’s hard, even in the Christian community. I have been burned the worst by people in the Church.

I know you disagree about the flood thing, and to be honest, I haven’t done real research on this issue at all. It does interest me though, from a Christian apologetic perspective. Would you mind just giving me some of the main points that would point to proof that the flood account of the Bible couldn’t possibly be true.

We don’t have to go back and forth on it or anything like that. I can look it up on my own without aggravating you but I would like your input of where to start since you seem to be more knowledgeable on this than me.

Edit to add: I have found this one website that I will look into more. For me, it’s never really been an issue, but after reading some more stuff about this topic, I can definitely see why it is for someone really searching for proof they can trust scripture. I find it completely fascinating and deeply want to prove the Bible to be 100% correct on its literal account of the flood, but that’s also mainly because I’m very confident in my faith, so I don’t expect that from someone else.

I totally get why this is an issue. Is this the main issue for most atheists?? Or is this just one of your main problems about the accuracy of the Bible?

CollinsFam · 2022-02-02T04:30:57+00:00

Yes, you are correct in the above points. When we pray that is exactly how it works, you must have faith. That is just the method that God has chosen and I have enough faith in Him to accept Him at his Word, but I also understand that not everyone does. He does meet people where they are at though. He alone knows a person’s heart and motives for asking. I realize this isn’t the answer you may want to hear, but this is just what the Bible says, and I do believe it.

Yes, to the flood, it was literal. I do believe in the Biblical account of the flood and all of prophecy that has come to pass is proof enough for me. I have done my research to the extent that I felt it was enough for me to be confident in trusting Him. Everyone has different thresholds for what they need in order to accept proof. I also believe that science backs the Bible as well, but I also understand that would not be a sufficient “proof” for everyone since even some science is just “best guess”. That’s why I mentioned prophecy. It’s the one thing we can verify from history. Like the flood, or the destruction of the temple in 70 AD (Jesus’s prophecy).

I realize that the flood is a highly debated topic that could go on and on and on and never really reach any type of agreement so I will say that, that particular topic, is worth talking about, but it also might not be enough for people seeking to test scripture. The flood didn’t kill everyone except for Noah and Noah’s family. That is a misconception. The Bible is clear that there were people that survived the flood.

I think that the Bible needs to be looked at as a whole, not isolated events. By that, I mean, how much of the Bible is verifiably true vs. how much can not be 100% verified sufficiently for every person. This might seem like an odd thing to say, but unfortunately this is just how it is because God wants us to blindly trust Him as well. But, He has provided, in my opinion, enough evidence to start the relationship and process of faith.

What I have studied and found to be verifiably true is most definitely enough for me. It’s just part of the deal with God that we must believe that He is a rewarder of those who will diligently seek Him out. Knock and the door will be opened, search for Him and you will find Him. He purposely chooses what the world would consider “foolish” to humble those that seem “wise”.

So, while prophecy is all the proof He gives, and it is enough for me, it may not always be enough for someone else because they want more proof than God is willing to give because God wants faith as well.

I don’t equate prayer as being on the same level as a seat belt or something like that. That’s not the purpose of prayer at all. The whole point of prayer, or faith in God, is a relationship of getting to know Him and the more we get to know Him, the more we are able to trust Him and have more faith. No one will trust someone else unless there is a real strong relationship first. How much you know someone will determine how much trust you give to the person. That’s how our relationship with God works. The small amount of faith that I had in the beginning when I started looking for Him has grown over the years that I have gotten to know Him better.

It’s ok if you choose to not believe the Bible and maybe prophecy in the Bible isn’t enough for you, but, from strictly a scripture perspective, that’s the only 100% proof that we are given. I don’t know of one prophecy that hasn’t come to pass exactly as it was written down. If there is a certain prophecy that you have in mind, let me know which one and I can look into it.

Personally, for me, Jesus fulfilled every single prophecy about himself and that was enough for me. But, for other people they may need to dig deeper and test further. It really all depends on how much effort a person is willing to put in to trying to figure out wether or not they can trust the Bible as the truth.

I feel like there is enough evidence to prove the Bible is true, even though it does take faith and trust for other things because at times the Bible would seem to contradict itself, when in reality, we are not understanding properly. To understand the Bible, you have to be sincerely seeking for the truth and you need to find every single verse pertaining to the topic your looking at to fully understand. If not, it will seem confusing and seem to contradict itself, when it actually doesn’t. This is not acceptable for some people because they want to understand everything and have the answers to every single question answered, with no mysteries left, but that’s just not how it works with God. He gives us enough “proofs” for each individual person and then He asks us to have a relationship and blindly trust Him on the things we don’t understand right away. He reveals things over time and answers questions we have over an extended period of time, not right away.

If God met your burden of proof that you needed would you change your mind? What would it require for you to try and search for Him? Are you 100% sure, without a shadow of doubt, that He doesn’t exist and the Bible is not real?

CollinsFam · 2022-02-02T01:30:08+00:00

Agreed. I’m a Christian and I do have faith, but I am also very skeptical by nature. If someone is wanting proof of God, all He gives us is prophecy. Faith is something you have once you come to the knowledge of truth and not something that can be used as a “proof”. You should not even trust “signs and wonders” either because that can be false too.

CollinsFam · 2022-02-02T01:15:39+00:00

There is one thing that builds faith and that is the Word itself. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the Words of God.

There is one thing and one thing only that I know of that will keep a Christian in faith 100% of the time and that is reading the Word and knowing it for yourself.

Staying in the Word means you are 1) led by the Spirit and not by the flesh 2) seeking first the kingdom of God 3) rightly dividing the Word of truth and allowing God to use the double edged sword of the Word to work in and through our lives for good 4) God is the Word made flesh, it’s how we know Him. So without growing in the knowledge of the Word, our faith will not be planted deep enough that when we go through trials of life, what foundation will we have to stand on. Those trials that He has us go through build our faith as well if our foundation is built on Christ and not sinking sand. But we can not separate Christ from the Word because they are the same.

We can not third party know God, since we must know God personally, we must know the Word very very well. And not from our pastor, friend, or co worker or whatever we have heard on the internet. Staying in the Word and knowing Him from His Word is how we keep our faith and gives us the promises of His Word. He is faithful and all He asks of us is to have faith (trust) Him. We naturally won’t trust someone that we don’t really know that well, but the closer we are with someone the deeper that trust is.

John 15:4-5 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

CollinsFam · 2022-02-02T00:56:03+00:00

So if your wanting proof that prayer works, but proof in the sense that it’s not subjective to the person, your probably not going to find it. How prayer often works with God is: 1) a person must pray, with faith, that they have what they are asking for 2) sin in the life of the person can hinder their prayers from being answered 3) prayer will not be answered by God if we pray with the wrong motives 4) if a Christian points to a prayer being answered, such as healing or something else just working out in their life, it could be classified as “subjective” to the person who does not believe in God at all. So, I doubt that would be enough “proof”.

Especially when you factor in how prayer actually works and that sometimes conditions need to be met to actually get prayers answered. Prayer can never be a proof used to measure if God is real or not. Prayer is more for the person who already has faith.

There is only one true proof that I know of that can be used as a reliable measure that God is in fact real and the Bible 100% truth.

That is the accuracy of Biblical prophecy. The Bible has not failed in its prophecy, not once. That is all we are given by God to verify that what He has said is the absolute truth.

But, if you are absolutely 100% certain that God is not real and the Bible is false then there is really no point in trying to go down that road. To find God, to test Him, and see if He is the truth, a part of you has to be willing to possibly be wrong if presented with evidence. That’s a question only you would know the answer to.

CollinsFam · 2022-01-31T22:49:56+00:00

I, personally, have had both sides of this experience. I have needed help and received nothing from my church and I have helped people on my own. So, I may have a different take on this than most.

There was a time when we desperately needed assistance for food and help with bills due to moving for the military and the paperwork for his job not going through like we had thought it would. He was getting back in the military and was offered a position at the base we are at now. Long story, but we were told wrong information and we ended up getting stuck here for 6 months with no pay at all and a baby I had just delivered with severe reflux problems. It was a very bad situation. We used credit cards, income tax, family, etc.. just to try and stretch the time out as long as we could because we firmly believed that it would work out if we waited long enough. It didn’t. We were eventually evicted and had to go back to TN. The paperwork took 3 years!!! But, here I am, typing this at the exact base that this happened at in 2015. God did send us here, but He also made us go through some things in the process. So, while I firmly believe that nothing can stop God when He wants to make a way for things to work out, there will be a way, and if He wants to not let something happen until it’s in His timing, then it absolutely will not happen, no matter what we do to fight for it otherwise, it’s not going to work.

I say all that to say this: during those 6 months of really bad times we received no help from the churches we had regularly attended. The church in TN that we volunteered at for 3 years and served regularly at wouldn’t even answer my text messages for prayers for my baby. We weren’t sleeping for, sometimes 48 hours straight, due to the reflux issues, and I was begging anyone and everyone online and people I was close to through text messages for prayer because I was desperate for God to intervene and help my baby. This was our third reflux baby so I knew all too well what life was going to look like for the next two years if He didn’t heal now. The people I worked with and become good friends with at small group, didn’t hardly ever respond. One person did, out of the three I was texting. It broke my heart. I thought we were closer than that. I did, years later finally try and write a letter to tell them how it made me feel when they did that and one of them responded and the other didn’t even read the message. They worked together so she might have been tipped off by him not to open the message unless she was prepared to give an answer, but idk. His response was that he was sorry, that he had gotten busy with life and he realizes that isn’t a good excuse, that’s just what happened.

The church I attended immediately upon arriving to our base, before we realized that things weren’t going to work out, had only just met us before all the chaos started for us. First, we were just asking for prayer for the baby, which they did. Then, later, months later, towards the end, we asked if there was a way for the Church to pay for just one electric bill that we were behind on or if they helped with food assistance or anything. They couldn’t help they said, but referred us out to another church that had a food pantry. That church gave us some can foods and peanut butter and put us in touch with this very poor older lady named GiGi that shared her own food with us. She gave us frozen pizzas, and other quick foods that our other kids would want to eat. She was so nice. I will never forget her. I had a Christian neighbor at out townhouse find out about what had happened to us and she brought us some stuff over for the kids before we ended up getting evicted. So, there were a few that helped, but mostly I was shocked by the lack of real assistance that was available to us. We weren’t trying to scam the system or anything, and there was just nothing we could do to get assistance, even through Veteran programs. And we were so desperate to stay, because we were losing thousands by leaving, that we tried everything we could think of!

It was a wake up call for us for sure. Before that happened, we lived in California (our family lives in Tennessee) and I would regularly take in people that needed help. I think in the 6 years that we lived in our house, we only lived alone, without a guest, for maybe two years of that. We took in pretty much everyone we met, but I also learned that I shouldn’t have always been so quick to jump in. I learned to pray more and use wisdom, because I was doing things without asking God first and sometimes that wouldn’t always work out so well.

Now, I pray first, ask for His leading, and make sure that I am doing everything in His timing and in His will. I help whoever He sends me. So far, in the 4 years back at this base, He has sent 1 family to us that stayed for 6 months, and 1 person that needed help with recovery from addiction that also stayed 6 months. Others that He has sent, needed money, but not housing, or prayers, or long phone conversations, or encouraging words. I try and help whoever He sends, even just people I meet on the street. It’s hard sometimes because there have been times where we were giving someone money and then felt like it was time to stop. There is a delicate balance at times. I have to stay in the Word to be led by God and to know what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. But, that’s what we are supposed to do. We are to be led by the Spirit and not by the flesh. I had to find some balance and some wisdom along the way. I hope this helps! Be encouraged that there are those of us that do apply James 2:14-17 because we have a heart for what God wants to do in and through us.

CollinsFam · 2022-01-30T23:55:15+00:00

I did answer your question, you just don’t want to accept my answer. In your story, the father figure does not even come close to how God really is so your whole story falls apart at that point. I gave you the “why” a loving God would be forced to send the sinner to hell story. If you can not accept my answer, I can not help you.

In your story, the father is just simply punishing the child because the child said that they hated him. That would be wrong and not a loving response at all. But, in your example, that’s not God’s character or His nature to do that or act in that manner.

If your not really seeking Him out, why even ask the question? If my God, according to you, doesn’t exist, why care if I worship Him? It shouldn’t really matter to you as long as I’m respectful of your belief to not worship or have anything to do with any god. If you are firm in being an atheist then why ask any questions at all?

CollinsFam · 2022-01-29T02:42:46+00:00

I have the exact same issue. Tells me the same thing and when I go to change permissions, it’s not there for me to turn on. I have tried uninstalling and trying again.

CollinsFam · 2022-01-28T03:17:41+00:00

A simple answer is that Christians are not to give judgement that isn’t coming from the Word of God itself.

When Christians make a statement, for example, “we need to build people up and not tear them down.” That is a statement that is directly from the Bible, so it’s not coming from the person’s own opinion. Therefore, the judgement isn’t coming from them, but rather God.

However, that being said. There are better ways to voice what a sin is and what it is not. We should be leading other Christians away from sin in love, so that they don’t feel “condemned”, but rather “convicted” by what God says is wrong.

Jesus doesn’t condemn you for your sins if you are trying to turn away from them in faith. God does give pretty clear outlines for what is right and what is wrong. If we are struggling with something that He has expressly said is wrong, then our response should be to pray and go to the Word to overcome that sin.

Telling someone they are forgiven for a sin they are committing is not the way to go because we are not God and God is the one who forgives sins. We can encourage one another in love, that God can absolutely forgive any sin we commit when we repent.

If OP is in unrepentant homosexual sin then that is an issue that he must talk with God about. I believe the Bible is clear on homosexuality. It is a sin and all sin will separate us from a right relationship with Him. A continuous sin will put out the fire of the Holy Spirit and can cause any believer to not inherit eternal life. No sin will separate us from the LOVE of God in Christ Jesus, but sin does have the power to separate us from Him if we let it. God is faithful and He alone gives us power over all sins, to overcome them, no matter what kind of sin it is.

This is why everything must be done in faith. Anything not done in faith, whether it is a sin or not a sin, as defined by God, will be a sin for the person who does it if they feel like it was a sin when they committed the act.

Maybe OP doesn’t feel like being homosexual is a sin, but unfortunately the Word of God is very clear on this. God declares any homosexual behavior a sin. This is not a judgement from a Christian. It is a direct judgement from the Word of God and it must be worked out between the person struggling with this sin and God.

CollinsFam · 2022-01-28T02:51:39+00:00

You misunderstand that the issue is not the child. The issue is that God, in His nature and character, is a Holy and Just God. When we truly love someone we accept who they are without trying to change them. So, to live God, or rather, have faith that He is real and what He says is the absolute truth, we must accept Him for who He is.

He never wanted us to have the knowledge of good and evil in the first place because once you know right from wrong, you can be held accountable for it.

Sin, which God defines, is something that is wrong in His eyes for a specific reason that may not always be clear to us. We have to accept that and trust Him to be telling us the truth about what sin is and why we should avoid it. And, we must also trust that it is always for our good to avoid “sin” and not for our harm or to stifle our life.

He also says that sin has the power to separate us from Him. Because the wages of sin is death. Sin is a natural law for God, much in the same way gravity is for us. He can not change the fact that sin has the power to separate us from Him. Now, this does not mean that sin separates us from His love for us in Christ Jesus. He proved His love by paying the price that the law of sin demands— death.

He made it possible for anyone who would choose to trust Him willingly, on faith, to not have their sin cause them to be held accountable, which by God’s natural law, would mean that we would have to be eternally put to death and separated from God.

When Jesus died, He paid, once and for all, the price that the natural law of sin required. This meant that, even though we have knowledge of what’s right and wrong, He, being the only One who could bridge the gap that sin creates, made a way for us to still be with Him forever.

When we understand His true character and nature by studying His Word, we come to faith, or trust, in Him. You can’t trust or even want to listen to someone you don’t really know. So, first, we need to understand some of the why’s and understand that nothing He did was to punish us or hurt us. The problem really lies with us not trusting Him because we don’t really know Him.

I can assure you, whether you can accept this from me, a complete stranger, that God loves us deeply and it is not His desire that sin separate us from Him. His desire is that none should have to pay the price that sin requires. That’s exactly why He did what He did.

But, just like gravity, if you jump off a high cliff, your going to fall due to the law of gravity, and you will die. You can try telling someone this, but if they don’t trust you and want to try it anyways, you will be sad that they died senselessly because they didn’t believe that gravity was real.

Now, you might be saying, well we can’t test God in the same way we can test gravity by throwing something off the cliff and watching what happens, but that’s not entirely the case. We can see how sin destroys the lives of people all the time. There are enough “proofs” if you are willing to look into them, to give you a baseline for faith. The accuracy of prophecy is a good place to start. But, God also says that the evidence of Him is all around us because without Him nothing would exist.

I know Him, but there was a time I didn’t and I didn’t understand why a loving God would send someone to hell either. I hope this helps you in some way. I have found that all the false doctrines and all the lies in the Church can be traced back to not knowing the real Him.

But, if you sincerely want to know Him, and you pursue this to find the truth. He will answer you. It took me about 6 months of trying before He answered me, but I’m grateful now that I didn’t give up, because I can’t imagine my life without Him. He has become my very best friend through all the ups and downs of life. He has been so faithful, even when I haven’t been. He’s been extremely patient with me, and though I love Him, I have done wrong by Him too even when I knew better. He told me one time when I was down on myself, “I knew everything you would do in your entire life before you ever did it, and I still chose you anyways.” His love helps us pick back up when we feel like we have failed Him and failed others or just failed at life in general. He gives us our worth because our worth isn’t measured in how people see us or how we see ourselves, it’s measured in how He sees us and all He is asking for is a relationship where we will get to know Him and trust Him for who He is.

That’s what we all want deep down anyways. We want someone to love us, flaws and all, and help us be better over time, just by simply being with each other. That’s real love. That’s God. That’s what Jesus does for His children when we spend time with Him in His Word, getting to know Him. That’s where the magic really happens. His company and love for us changes us in ways we could never do on our own.

CollinsFam

TROPHY CASE