The first steps on the path to becoming a church member can be difficult, because to new Christians much in the Church seems incomprehensible, alien, and even scary. Who should I contact with questions? How can I get the opportunity to communicate with a priest? How and how much to pray? Archpriest Andrei Baykov, clergyman of the Epiphany Cathedral in Gorlovka, tells what needs to be done so that churching leads to a deep and conscious life in the Church.

What questions should you ask yourself?

A person who wants to become a church member must first of all turn to the roots, to his past. It is important to know whether he is baptized and who his godparents are. Each of us bears the name of an Orthodox saint - our heavenly patron. He has his own story, a biography - we call his life. This life is a must read. As one becomes familiar with it, many spiritual and practical questions will certainly arise: is it possible to achieve such holiness? Isn't this a fairy tale? How are we connected to the invisible world of God and the saints? All these questions need to be asked to the clergyman during live communication with him.

Churching yourself using some textbook or book is difficult and sometimes even dangerous. The fact is that now there are many false religious movements that one way or another offer their teachings under the guise of ideas of goodness, peace and universal happiness. Before coming to the Church, a person usually has only the same idea of ​​spiritual values. But often behind these beautiful words lie things that can cause serious spiritual harm. To avoid such mistakes, you need live communication with the priest.

How to “catch” a priest?

Now all the priests at the end of each service give announcements about what services will be performed in the church during the week. This ad is like a road map and you need to navigate it. In a church, you can ask any candle holder or person in vestments what time the Divine Liturgy (in the morning) or the evening service ends. If you approach the priest after the end of the service, it will be easier for him to find time to talk with you. It is especially convenient for conversation after evening service.

There is no need to be afraid of anything! Answering the questions of newcomers is the direct task of any clergyman. I can’t imagine anyone among them who would refuse attention to a person going to church.

Many are afraid to directly address the clergy with their questions. To get rid of this fear, you can prepare a little theoretically. Take the books “The Basics of Orthodoxy”, “Spiritual Sowings” or “The Law of God” presented for family and school and read the initial theses about our faith. Who is Jesus Christ? Why did He come into the world? How does He distribute Himself in the form of Body and Blood during communion? These are fundamental questions. When a person is puzzled by them, he still has to turn to the priest and talk to him. It is necessary to find time for this. When a person comes with a book in which incomprehensible places are marked with a pencil, any priest will devote time to him and help him understand the most important thing: that the Head of the Church is Christ, He came to save humanity. That Confession, Communion and other sacraments that are performed in the Church are not scary. All of them are for us, and even he, a person who is not yet churched, can come, confess his sins and receive communion - if he is baptized, of course.

Another way to become a church member is to visit holy places, that is, places of special manifestation of God’s grace. However, I am more inclined to the first method, because worldly people do not always realize what the relics, icons and other shrines of the temples and monasteries they come to are.

How and how much to pray?

Sometimes unchurched people decide that they can determine a prayer rule for themselves, but there is a danger, on the one hand, of not praying at all, and on the other hand, of imposing unbearable burdens on themselves. To determine the size of the rule, you must first contact the clergy. He will recommend prayers that are not only filled with meaning, but also inspired by God - the morning and evening rules begin with these. They provide not so much information as spiritual strength.

Just as we offer milk first to an infant and then solid food, so to a newborn - a spiritual infant - we need to offer prayers that are unconditionally assimilated by the soul. Only after a while can one move on to the long canons and following Communion: when he already understands that prayer is direct communication with God, the Mother of God and the saints.

Should I participate in the sacraments?

We must try to encourage ourselves to confess and partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, because this miraculously gives spiritual strength. Then the person will really begin to become a church member, and this will be visible to both himself and the priest. It’s no longer scary to go to confession, venerate icons, ask for help from the Mother of God, and take a blessing. He will begin to live not only by physical concepts and standards, the world will expand for him. A churched person becomes necessary not only at work and in the family, but also to members of the Orthodox family, the Head of which is Christ.

Internal churching must always be continued. We must strive all the time to consider ourselves insufficiently enlightened, not sufficiently understanding God. If a person finds time in his life and shows a sincere desire to understand what the Church is and who Christ is, then the Lord will always reveal Himself to him.

Recorded by Ekaterina Shcherbakova

. This booklet is a printed copy of the "Does God Exist?" series of lessons taught by John Clayton.

Yes, I really didn’t believe in God and was an atheist!

Very often, when I talk to religious groups or people of faith, someone will ask me incredulously: “So, were you really an atheist? And didn’t really believe in God?” I want to assure you that the answer to these questions is a resounding “yes.” During this period of my life, I was absolutely convinced that there was no God, and I considered all believers to be stupid, superstitious, ignorant and simply simply not taking into account obvious facts. I thought that believers are uneducated people who simply follow traditions, religious prejudices and other things that are completely unnecessary for a person who knows what is really happening around him. Of course, such a life and such beliefs led me to say unpleasant things and do unpleasant things. My life was immoral and completely reflected my lack of faith in God. I behaved very selfishly, satisfying my needs and preferences regardless of whether I hurt other people or not. Some of the things I did influenced the rest of my life. And so I present these materials to you in the hope that perhaps some of you will not make similar mistakes and suffer the way I suffered. I cannot remember exactly all the events that took place, nor the exact sequence of events, because I did not write them down. I never thought that I would have to remember past events, much less tell someone about them. Still, I can recall those events in my memory in general terms. I am also quite sure about the general idea, this idea will be useful to you.

I guess the reason why I couldn't believe in God and was an atheist is the same as those who believe in God. This is because I was instilled with exactly these beliefs. My background and the influences I was exposed to as a child set me on this path. Just like many of you believe in God because your parents believe in Him and because they instilled that belief in you, I also questioned, challenged and rejected God because that was the kind of indoctrination I received in childhood. I remember my mother who told me as a child: “Do you really believe that there is some old man living in heaven who can create things here on earth? And you think that shabby building on the corner might actually have the beautiful name of “church?” And do you really think that there is a hole in the ground that I will be thrown into and burn there forever if I don’t live like some preacher thinks?” Of course, I could not comprehend these things as a child, and I also could not understand what it was teaching. As a result, I came to the conclusion that everyone who believes in God is very stupid, superstitious, ignorant, and uneducated. You may wonder how it is possible that a man with such a background and with such an education acquired such a strong faith in God, became a person who devoted his life to telling people about God and heaven, that the Bible is the Word , inspired by God.

My love for science helped me believe in God

In high school, I grew very quickly in theoretical knowledge. I liked doing science and decided to become a scientist. I went to Indiana University to major in physics. And just then one of the most significant changes occurred in my life. I took an astronomy course under the auspices of one of the greatest astronomers of our day. In this course we dealt with the problem of origin - the creation of matter from nothing. When discussing this subject, we adhered to all the theories that are listed in this article. Theory, quasi-static theory, planetary theory and others.

When we summed up the conclusions of this discussion, I asked the professor which of all these theories was the most acceptable and which satisfactorily explained the creation of matter from nothing. He leaned over the desk and, looking me straight in the eyes, said: “Young man, you need to learn to ask smart questions.” This upset me very much, I did not accept what he told me, and asked: “What do you mean?” He said: “This is not a question that a scientist is trying to answer. This is a headache for the philosopher or theologian, but it has nothing to do with the realm of science.” In today's discussion of black holes and parallel universes, things have not changed. The basic question of how matter/energy was created from absolutely nothing cannot be answered by scientific methods. I was concerned about his answer because I have always thought that science can answer absolutely all of humanity's questions - and there is nothing that man questions or wants to know about that science cannot do. If even this scientist, an expert in his field, said that a scientist should not even try to explain this area, then this was completely beyond the ability of science to study and research.

Immediately after that, I took a biology course under the auspices of the greatest scientist specializing in the study of the life of primitive people. When we discussed the beginning of life on Earth, we talked about the synthesis of simple chemicals such as DNA. During the discussion, I asked a question related to what I had asked earlier. I asked the professor by what process the original living cell came into existence. How is DNA formed? Again the man said, “Young man, this matter has nothing to do with the realm of science.” In the modern world we understand more about biochemical processes, but we cannot answer the question of how these processes came into force in the primitive world. I guess what happened to me is reminiscent of the situation that happened to Lord Kelvin, the famous British scientist, which he described in his work, when he came to the following conclusion: “If you study science deeply enough and long enough, it will make you you to believe in God." And that's what happened to me, I realized that science is limited, that science points to other explanations that are natural.

And then one woman appeared in my life...

And then another thing happened to me, a woman appeared in my life. This young girl was the most stubborn, strong-willed girl I have met in my entire life. I am able to draw these conclusions because six years later I married her. She was the first girl out of all of them who deserved my respect. Sometimes you will hear preachers who have no idea what they are talking about based on life experience. They will say: “If you stick to your virtues and adhere to moral standards, people will respect you.” Let me, as someone who has been on the other side of the fence, who thought he was separate from what God thinks, say that this statement is absolutely correct. I guarantee you that I never seriously thought about getting married until I met this girl who I respected and who really stood for something. She not only supported something moral, she specifically believed in God and. Although she could not answer all my questions, she kept returning to the Bible. I also quickly learned how to keep her from understanding where I really stood morally. I knew that if she found out, there would be nothing she could do about it. It didn’t even seem possible to me - to break her faith, as I did with other people, and as a result of her persistence, she finally achieved that I began to read the Bible.

I read the Bible cover to cover four times during my sophomore year of college for an obvious reason: I wanted to find scientific inconsistencies in it. I mean statements that I could throw in her face in order to prove how insignificant her faith in God is. I even decided to write a book called “The Stupidity of the Bible.” And something amazing happened as I pondered and thought about these things, I realized that I could not find any inconsistency, any scientific inaccuracy in the Bible. I just wasn't able to do it, and I got stuck in writing the book because I didn't find enough material. And it was surprising to learn that people who considered themselves Christians and had been for many years did not read the entire Bible even once. I found it hard to believe that they believed in God but didn't want to know what God said.

My epiphany and gaining faith in God

And as I read the Bible over and over again, I began to realize that not everything I was told about God and religion was in accordance with the Bible. It could be what religion says or what people teach, but not what the Bible teaches. For example, the Bible does not say that God is an old man who lives in heaven who creates things on earth. The Bible says, “God is spirit...” (John 4:24), and that God is not flesh and blood. said: “...it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” (Gospel of Matthew 16:17). There are many people today who do not understand this. A Russian astronaut once said: “Look, there is no God; I didn’t see Him when I was in orbit.” The question might be, “What was he looking for?” I began to understand that God is not an old man in heaven. My anthropology professor once said in all seriousness: “We all know what God is like. This is an old man with a white beard in a flowing robe.” I'm sure this is his vision of "God". And I began to realize that this was not the biblical vision of God.

I began to understand that the Christian life is not the same as the altruistic life. I was told by several people as a child that if I became a Christian, I would not be able to be happy and would not be able to have anything of my own. And I will have to walk around with a long sad face and a beard dragging along the ground. When I read the Bible, I read the following: “So ought husbands to love their wives as their own bodies: he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one has ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and warms it...” (Ephesians 5:28-29). I read about an Ethiopian eunuch who became joyful and cheerful because he found Jesus Christ. Many problems have appeared in my life, but all I can do is look back at the miserable life I had without Christ, and compared to that, my life now is great.

I began to understand that the church is not a building. I remember that while we were living in Alabama, some religious group met on our street. My mother used to point me to this place and say, “Look at this. How can anyone believe in God if the church is like this.” I think the Bible did not teach that the church is such a structure. 1 Corinthians 3:16 states, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God.” As an atheist, I have learned that whether you meet on the moon, on a submarine, in the desert, or anywhere else, it will still be a church. After all, a church is not a building. Today large sums of money are being invested in temples and churches and it is a real tragedy while large numbers of people are starving nearby.

I began to gradually understand that hypocrisy was not contained in religion. I didn’t even think that all the hypocrites in the world were sitting and listening to a church sermon while all those who were not at this church sermon were, on the contrary, not hypocrites at all. I remember the lesson I learned from this. I remember a young man sitting next to me arguing with me against religious fanatics. One day he was in the hospital with a very serious illness. I came to visit him one day, and as soon as I opened the door, I saw him on his knees, praying to God. I stood on the threshold, accusing him of being a real hypocrite. I screamed until they escorted me out of the hospital.

And I gradually began to understand that hypocrisy is an activity of humanity, not of religion. You deal with hypocrites at the grocery store, at the gas station, at work, at school, while playing golf. You won't stop buying groceries because the salesperson says one thing and does another. Also, you won't quit your job just because your employer tells you to do something that he himself wouldn't touch. And you will not deprive yourself or your child of a good education, because the teacher teaches one thing, but lives absolutely perfectly. You also won't stop playing golf if your teammate misses a shot you didn't see.

Of course, there is hypocrisy in the church, because there are people in the church too. As long as you deal with people, you will deal with hypocrisy. Do you want to avoid hypocrisy? Dig a deep hole in your backyard, jump into it, have someone fill you up, and even there we will be forced to be left alone with one hypocrite. It's not the one who breathes fresh air, but the one who says, “I'm not going to be a Christian. I’m not going to serve God and work in the church, because there are only hypocrites in the church.” We would never have thought that if we were talking about something other than the church. And how can we do this in our relationship with God? And we need to free ourselves from many ideas in order to understand what the Bible teaches us.

I think that I should also say here what constituted my happiness. When I was quite young, I remember imagining what an ideal home would be like by worldly standards. My parents were wonderful people; there was no talk of divorce, neglect or injustice in my family. We were always everywhere together. And we liked it until I ran away from home. I was very rebellious. Looking back through God's Word today, I can tell why these things happened. Colossians 3:20 says, “Children, be obedient to your parents, for this is pleasing to the Lord.” And obedience was by no means a character trait of mine in my youth. Living in Bloomington, Indiana, I would go to Indianapolis if I wanted to have fun. When my mom said she didn't want me to go there, I disconnected the speedometer and left. I did everything I wanted. All my parents did was limit my fun and pleasure, and why should I be obedient? I was living a life that was completely contrary to what my parents believed. And it is amazing to me now that some parents who do not believe in God and demonstrate a lack of faith to their children through what they say and what they do, but then they are surprised that the children do not listen to them. Should they? They destroyed the only source of power they had and why should children obey parents who destroyed the source of power. And I am convinced that most of our problems of obedience and order are at the center of this issue.

Several years ago I spoke with a young man from Michigan. He took part in the uprising at the University of Michigan. He told me that he was there and I asked him why he did not obey the law. He asked: “What is the law?” And I said, “Earthly law, the law that God established.” He looked at me and laughed and said, “Hey, I don’t believe in God!” I don't believe we will have law and order because we have removed the source of power. And it is also written: “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, so that they do not lose heart.” My parents had a tradition when I was a little boy they called it cocktail hour. I never saw my parents drunk, but when they drank a few martinis, my mother asked me questions she didn't usually ask. I remember her once asking what I was doing with my girlfriend the night before. And that was the very last thing I wanted to tell my mom, so I learned to look her straight in the eye and lie. I can lie to her and anyone else without even blinking an eye.

I trained myself on how to do the wrong things. I practiced stealing. I remember the first time I stole something. I stole a package of raisins from the store. I felt so guilty that I took it back and apologized. A little later, I stole comic books from a drug store; I returned them, but did not apologize. Six months later I was stealing everything I could lay my hands on, not because I needed it, but because it brought me pleasure and was difficult to do. I even went so far as to be caught stealing money from my parents. And this led me to the next thing.

When I read verses from the Bible, such as in Psalm 53, for example, I saw that this was an exact description of John Clayton years ago. For example, Psalm 52:2-4: “The fool said in his heart, “There is no God.” They became corrupt and committed heinous crimes; there is no one who does good. God looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there was one who understood, seeking God. They all deviated and became equally obscene; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

The following statement was made by Solomon in Ecclesiastes 1:2 - 3, 14:

“Vanity of vanities,” said Ecclesiastes, vanity of vanities, all is vanity! What profit does a man get from all his labors with which he labors under the sun?...I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and behold, everything is vanity and vexation of spirit.”

I tried absolutely everything that gave me pleasure and brought me happiness. I won't lie to you that I didn't find joy in following my dreams on my own terms, but I can guarantee that I never found happiness. I've tried every conceivable thing you can think of. I've tried all the things - the immoral, the wrong, the things that hurt other people, the things I don't want to share. I did these things because I tried to find pleasure and happiness in them, and as I said, sometimes they gave me pleasure. But I never went to bed happy and satisfied with my life. I never woke up looking forward to the day ahead. And my life was just a continuous chain of unfortunate events.

Judge Roy Moore, who lived in Lawton, Oklahoma, dealt with the legal problems that arose due to the presence of Fort Sill in the city. He once told me, “I have never seen a young man on drugs live more than seven years.” You may not be able to understand it, but I was sitting on the edge of my bed with a .22 rifle held between my legs, working up the courage to pull the trigger. I descended into the deepest abyss, I was emotionally devastated and destroyed, trying to find happiness. Please listen to what I am telling you and try to benefit from my words. You can try everything this world has to offer. You may try sex, drugs, alcohol, theft, and more in a desperate attempt to find happiness. I can confirm from experience that you may find pleasure, but you will not find happiness. I can go back to Bloomington now and meet people who will refuse to believe that I have changed—people who I have harmed and who know the kind of life I have led.

I think the reason most things happen to young people today is the desire to find happiness by living the life they want. And it just simply doesn't work. Have you ever wondered why people who are clean from drugs, freed from alcohol addiction or the influence of the problems that I had, tend to begin to pursue some kind of religious goal in their lives, begin to visit rehabilitation institutions or anything else. Why? I can tell you from my own experience that people like me have realized that the only way to find happiness is by using God's system by following Him in your life. Perhaps people who have lived without God are more grateful than those who grew up in religious structures, in the church. You will definitely not find happiness by living according to your system, but only by living by God's laws and being part of God's family.

There were a huge number of things that helped me believe and come to God. Another thing that I think should be noted is the fact that at this time I began serving in the army. For the first time in my life I faced death. I began to think about the rationality of death, since I looked at it through the eyes of an atheist. Perhaps the best way to put it is this: I had to look at life because of death. As an atheist, I realized that I had to look at life, with all its problems, difficulties and horrors that I had to endure, as the best that I could possibly hope for. How can I look at life, with all its joy, beauty and amazing things, as the absolute worst thing I will ever experience. Philosophically, I began to realize that Christianity offered a great deal in this particular area of ​​life. It didn't discourage me from believing in God, but it combined with other things to help me realize that there had been significant changes in my understanding of Christianity and God. I began to realize that perhaps there was something that the church had to offer me that was important to me.

It was also during this time that I decided that other religious beliefs were perhaps equivalent to the Bible. To check, I decided to read the Vedas, the Koran, the Tales of Buddha, the works of Bahá'u'lláh and Zoroaster. I have found that not everything that other religions teach I can accept. The teachings viewed the life after this life as undeserved and unrealistic, and the descriptions of God were illogical and contradictory. There were also many scientific inaccuracies in these works. Many of the teachings on how to live were impossible to implement. These included: the role of women in the Qur'an, Prophet Muhammad's concept of the Holy War, pantheism, reincarnation, worship of idols, polygamy, and countless other ideas that I expected to find in the Bible but did not. I began to realize that none of these things were consistent with the Bible's system of living. Only in the Bible did I find statements that stood firm in the face of scientific facts that I knew were true, and only in the Bible did I find a system of life that was reasonable and consistent. I decided that if I ever came to God, it would be through faith based on the Bible.

Continuing my spiritual search for God

And the next question I asked myself was which of all the religious organizations considered Christian is the only true one. I realized that I did not want to attend traditional religious organizations that were themselves wrong and teaching others to do the same. And I began visiting religious organizations in Southern Indiana. I visited almost every religious organization I could get my hands on, trying to find out what they were teaching, trying to find out if they were following the Bible and understanding what the Bible said, or if they were following the teachings of men. As I moved from one organization to another, I learned that each previous one taught something that was not in the Bible. Some elevated some people above others, others taught that religious scriptures were equivalent to the Bible. They did not follow the Bible to the letter.

I've had enough of the confusion and mistakes. I kept searching. I am truly searching to this day, I am still trying to find the true church. I found a religious group that seemed to me to follow the beliefs of the Bible very closely. In Bloomington, this religious group met at the corner of Fourth and Lincoln streets. They were called the Church of Christ. But these people still did not fully follow what I understood by the biblical system. My challenge to young people today will be the complete restoration of New Testament Christianity. The doctrine of this Christian group was quite restored. I realized that the meaning of the passage 1 Peter 3:21, “So now we also are like unto this image, not the washing away of the uncleanness of the flesh, but the promise to God of a good conscience, saves us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” they understood accurately. The meaning of the passage Acts 2:38 “…every one of you is baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.”.. was also understood here.

I remember the first lesson I heard here, preached by Raymond Muncy. He was talking about how we shouldn't rely on people, and I want to tell you that you don't have to believe everything the preacher says. Never listen to a preacher, under any circumstances, unless you yourself can find confirmation of his words in the Bible. This is a summary of what Mr. Muncy said. And it amazed me. A group of people served God as God had shown, but they did not really understand grace. They did not teach their neighbors about Jesus Christ. A small percentage of the people were active in the work, and they did not show love and kindness to one another to the extent that I believe the Bible taught. The generation that came before you restored Christian doctrine—I believe that. Be that as it may, they still need to restore the spirit of New Testament Christianity, and this is our challenge. The spirit of New Testament Christianity, which is to love one another, to be interested in one another. I realized that the Church of Christ was the closest thing to what I believed the Bible taught. I was determined that if I were ever to be a Christian, I would be a member of this group—a group whose members strive to follow the Bible in all things, without relying on human teaching or being influenced by the traditions of the past.

I think the real impetus was something that happened six months ago. I took the first organized course in geology at Indiana University. The professor was an outstanding and widely known atheist. In the first lesson, in response to a question, he said something like, “I’m going to show you that the Bible is a bunch of garbage.” And I thought that would be great because I was worried. I still told those who knew me well that I was an atheist. I still denied God and firmly stood on the fact that I do not believe. It was difficult to change the course of life, but an incident occurred that forced it to change its direction. I was completely unprepared for this. I thought the professor would give me some arguments against dating a girl I had been dating for many years. She was a Christian—perhaps not as strong as she could have been. I wanted to show her that all this religion was actually nonsense. I even believed that I could show Rey Mansi that this religion was not realistic. Mr. Muncy was a man who had great patience and knowledge, but he did not have the opportunity to teach me anything.

The professor began the course by exploring different ways to date archaeological finds and other creatures. He then stated that, as everyone knows, the Bible says that the earth came into existence 6,000 years ago. I asked where it was written, he replied that in the 52nd chapter of Genesis. I started searching. I looked at Genesis 40, 49 and 50, the first chapter of Exodus. And I said, “How come, there are only 50 chapters in the book of Genesis.” He searched for several minutes, but did not find this passage. Of course, the Bible does not say that the earth was formed 6,000 years ago. The Bible is completely silent about the age of the Earth. This man claimed that God made two cocker spaniels, two terriers and two German shepherds, and we all laughed in unison at how big the Ark would have to be then to accommodate 20 million of these groupings. I once asked where exactly the word “species” is interpreted in this sense. I don't think that's what the word "view" meant. We looked attentively together, and he finally said that he believed that by “view” they meant something else. 1 Corinthians 15:39 gives the only explanation for the word “kind,” and it is quite extensive. (“Not all flesh is the same flesh, but there is some flesh among men, and another flesh among beasts, and another among fish, and another among birds.”) Genesis 1 uses exactly the same terminology and classification as Corinthians 15. I won't bore you with a long story, except to say that on the final exam I said to this learned professor, "Sir, you have not shown me any contradiction between what we taught in class and what the Bible teaches." He snatched my exam paper from me and said: “I believe that if you really taught, then there were no contradictions.”

I was shocked, I was appalled. Standing before me was a Ph.D., a leading atheist, and he could not answer the stupid questions of the ignorant student who was on his side. I denied God; I was dishonest. I was a fool and didn't appreciate what was happening to me. I didn't like people who refused to accept the obvious and came to reasonable conclusions. I didn't like people who couldn't abandon their parents' belief system and start living by their own mind. I always blamed religious people for this, and without knowing it, I was doing the same thing. I refused to be honest—to look at the obvious. I refused the alternatives that were available to me. I was miserable.

It was time for dinner and I was sitting there. My neighbor came and asked: “Are you going to have dinner?” I said I'm not hungry. He asked: “Are you feeling bad?” I said that I felt bad about myself, that I felt bad about my selfishness, about the way I used people, sick about the fact that I was never honest with myself. I still continued to say why I felt bad when he had already left for dinner. At that time I did not understand what was happening, but now I understand: I repented. And it comes when you feel bad from selfishness, conceit, self-destruction, this is a turn to God - to a life that has value, meaning and direction. My neighbor left for dinner, and I continued to sit there, determined that I needed to do something. I could no longer sit, continue to deny the obvious things that concerned me. At 18.30 I got ready and went to the building where the Church of Christ met on Wednesdays. Invitations were distributed to everyone who wanted to accept Christ and live with Him further. I went forward, realizing that I believed in God completely. I realized that I needed to start a new life, and I wanted to tell people that I believed in the existence of God and recognized Jesus Christ as His son. I also realized that I was completely drowned in my sins and that I needed to be baptized to be saved (so the Bible commanded).

I stopped in the aisle and saw Raymond Muncy, who was somewhat shocked. I remember his facial expression. I think he never expected God to work in the life of a man so removed from all that was good, decent, and righteous. I was baptized this evening and all my sins were forgiven. I understood what the Bible teaches. To show you how far I was from God, I called a girl I had been dating for six years. I said, "Phyllis, I've become a Christian!" She said, "I don't believe you, don't lie to me." The preacher's wife had to talk to her to convince her that I wasn't lying. Some people still don't believe me - they don't believe that Divine power can change a person who has been so far removed from God. But I must tell you that this is just the beginning of the story. God has promised that He will help those who follow Him. By having a close relationship with God and with other Christians, we can overcome problems that we could not solve alone (see Philippians 4:13).

I had to overcome a lot. I could not speak without using profanity. I had to learn to talk in a new way, to live in a new way, to learn new values, new morals, because I was living a life that was opposite to God. I asked God for help with these things and realized that it was possible to overcome these problems. I had a bunch of new problems - a lot of issues to work on, but the problems I have today are nothing compared to what I had in the past. If someone had told me twenty years ago that I would openly use my limited abilities to convince those who don't believe in God that He exists, I would have thought he was crazy. And God blessed my feeble attempts in such a way that the result surpassed anything I had ever done.

Are you an atheist? Then read on.

I want to end this article by asking you a very simple question - a question that you need to answer for yourself, and a question that I think every person should ask themselves almost every day. Are you an atheist (not as man sees it, but as God sees it)? Are you an atheist? I understand that you may not be an atheist like I was. You may not be immoral, you don't harm people, you're honest, and you don't do the things I did. I'm grateful you're not like that. But do you understand how Jesus views atheists? Matthew 12:30: “He who is not with Me is against Me; and whoever does not gather with Me scatters.” What is He talking about? He says that you are either with God or against God. You are either an atheist or a Christian, and you cannot be both at the same time. I can understand how a person can be an atheist. I have been an atheist most of my life. When I was an atheist, I believed that my life was consistent, sane.

For many years I have been trying to live the life that I believe a Christian should live. And again, I believe that my life is consistent and complete, but I will never understand (and if you understand, then I ask you to explain it to me) how a man or woman or girl or boy can say: “Yes, I am I believe in God. Yes, I understand that the Bible is the Word of God,” and at the same time do nothing within their power to live as God teaches. It is not a consistent or integrated life, although I think many people live lives that do not correspond to the life that God offers. Jesus said, “Whoever is not with Me is against Me; and whoever does not gather with Me scatters.” Are you with Jesus? Are you serving Him? Are you spreading what Jesus taught? Are you truly a Christian or are you an atheist? There is no middle ground here. I hope that by revealing to you the kind of person I was and the mistakes I made, you will understand that God is the only true path. I pray that you will understand that there is nothing in your life that God will not help you with, and that you will understand that the best time to start living as a Christian is right now.

Translation: Elena Butakova

Found an error in the article? Select the text with the error, and then press the "ctrl" + "enter" keys.

subscribe to news Subscribe if you want to receive news by email. We do not send spam or share your email with third parties. You can always unsubscribe from our mailing list.

Hello Proud Reader!

Open your eyes and look around. It is not geniuses and talents who walk past us, but ordinary people.

Stop dividing people into talent and mediocrity.

In the circus, acrobats do things that make your eyes pop out of your head. Are they some kind of special talent? No. It's all about the time they spent on their business.

Thousands of hours of training and thousands of hours of watching TV have completely different effects on a person's quality of life.

Somewhere deep down a person understands this. But it doesn't change anything in life. Accordingly, life itself does not change and we do not believe in ourselves. We take a couple of steps, stumble and turn back. Here is another sad losing strategy that works flawlessly for absolutely all people in the world.

Reverse strategy

There is always an alternative way to achieve success. Look at what a loser does and do the opposite. This is what we will build on.

To start believing in yourself, you need to know the enemy in the face.

And the enemy of self-confidence is unwisely invested time.

Yes, it may be that your parents made you insecure every day. A couple of decades. You were oppressed, forced to live the way your parents needed, and all your pirate antics were cut down in the bud.

And so you decided to start believing in yourself... However, they laughed at you and said - sit still, you won’t succeed. And you turn into a tram.

The tram goes where no one needs it. They use him, he does his job and no one cares about him.

Why should it be the same for you?

Insecure people don't succeed. And the most important thing is that every person can boost their self-confidence. You just need to know WHAT TO DO. And of course do...

If you pour out a complex construction set on the floor in front of a small child, then for him it will be a dark forest and he is unlikely to take it up with great enthusiasm. And if he does, he won’t be able to immediately build a complex structure.

But day after day he tries to build something. Something simple and small. Then it becomes more and more complex, and eventually, after a certain period of time, he begins to build complex structures. He did it!

And here it doesn’t matter at all what kind of child is, talented or not. One child will quickly figure it out, another will take a long time to figure it out, but the result will be the same - the construction set is assembled.

If you don't believe in yourself, then I can prove to you that you are capable of the same things as other people who have achieved success in their lives.

At 1-1.5 you already walked. And the future beggar and millionaire all take their first steps at the same time.

At 3 years old you were already talking. At 3 years old, the child’s brain is still underdeveloped! And in a relatively short time he is already speaking. This applies to all children, regardless of their level of talent.

At the age of 5, you could already easily memorize poetry.

At 10 years old, you solved problems that not every adult can solve.

All people are not far from each other in development, but the time used to develop our abilities plays an important role. Either time works for you, or you waste it.

But let's get back to the losers. I know what they're thinking. All losers have similar thoughts.

• I can’t, I won’t succeed;
• This is too difficult for me;
• It's too late to do this.

Think the other way around!

And most importantly, when such thoughts pass through your brain, remind yourself that at 3 years old, as a child, you spoke, built complex word structures, and the Russian language is one of the most complex and confusing languages ​​in the world... Realize this.

Winner strategy

To believe in yourself on the way to results, you need to remember the strategy of a loser, the thoughts of a loser and act vice versa.

This cannot but bring results if you set aside time for it every day. It’s better to do a little every day to achieve success than to start periodically and quit periodically. This will become an effective habit.

Find your construction set, spend time putting it together. And you will collect it.

If you open your eyes, you will see that people who have results first spent time on achieving it. This is a kind of payment for results. Quickly and for free, without spending a lot of time, we will get cheap results that the vast majority of people have.

The more time you spend on development, the more skilled you are.

If you read this article carefully and thoughtfully, it will leave an imperceptible imprint on your subconscious, which means it will change your life. You just start taking action and believing in yourself.

Believing in yourself is an important element of achieving success in the modern world. Having high self-esteem, a person is able to change everything around him and in his life. However, self-confidence tends to decline due to many reasons. There are dozens of ways to increase it.

Many books and articles have been written about how to believe in yourself. This topic is discussed on online forums, and seminars and webinars are devoted to it. All kinds of sources of information offer different ways to regain lost self-esteem, among which there are folk and foreign practices.

Note! The main methods of increasing self-esteem include goal setting, motivation, the use of affirmations, psychological techniques, as well as practical actions that will help you achieve what you want.

To believe in yourself, desire alone is not enough, as the media sometimes claims. If self-esteem is low, careful work on yourself, your habits and worldview is necessary. It is likely that many goals will have to be achieved before a person realizes that the dream has been achieved. However, it is worth reminding yourself more often that believing in yourself will help you achieve things that a person had not previously thought about.

Where does self-doubt come from?

Self-doubt is quite easy to acquire in a world of inflated demands, caustic comments and unjustified hopes. You can create illusions that all problems are from childhood. Of course, many parents can unconsciously influence their children’s self-esteem by criticizing their appearance and behavior. In later life, the little person encounters teachers and mentors who place excessive hopes on the child, friends who betray trust, bosses who give him a lot of work and short deadlines. All this unsettles, tires, interrupts the desire to strive for something. Therefore, it is important to think about how you can begin to believe in yourself.

Why are some confident and others not?

How to gain faith in your strength and yourself, when it is obvious that some are given everything, while others are given nothing? If you look closely at the people around you, you can see that it is easier for others to make their dreams come true; they are confident in themselves. It is easier for them to start new things, they do not pay attention to the opinions of strangers in order to achieve their goals, they are not alien to making new, so-called useful acquaintances.

Important! To be a successful person, you need to be yourself, you need to believe in yourself. This will contribute to enjoying what a person allows himself to create.

Factors influencing self-esteem

Before you try to figure out how to believe in yourself and yourself, you should familiarize yourself with the factors that help you gain or contribute to the loss of self-confidence:

1. The attitude of parents towards the child and how the child feels around them. Some parents praise their child, encourage them, and are emotionally happy with their achievements. Others notice only failures, scold them for the slightest misdeeds and ignore successes. It is quite logical that in the first case the person will be confident, in the second - no self-confidence.
2. The attitude of relatives, sisters, brothers towards the child. Some are called the pride of the family, others are described as “there is a black sheep in the family.” The former can afford to do big things, the latter become indecisive.
3. Relationships with peers. Roles in the group – leader, follower, “at errands”. The same applies to groups: a class at school, employees at work.
4. Social roles: I am like a woman (daughter, mother, friend), I am like a man (father, son, friend). Feeling yourself in certain roles.

Note! A person can feel more confident in the role of a friend than in the role of a son.

1. Attitude of lovers. Does one partner command the other, demand obedience, or the relationship is equal.
2. Attitude towards yourself. Is a person inclined to feel sorry for himself, indulge in self-flagellation, or regularly reward himself for his achievements?

How to raise your own self-esteem

The ways in which men and women learn to believe in themselves differ. Modern times have a detrimental effect on the worldview of different sexes. Previously, responsibilities were strictly divided, today they are mixed. Still, there are a number of factors that separate the level of self-esteem of different people.

Female psychology of self-confidence

It is important for women to believe in their strength and themselves, otherwise their life becomes a mere existence. If nothing is done, the matter will end up in the clinic. Considering that the fair half of humanity senses the outside world more subtly, the emotional component is very important.

It is believed that women with low self-esteem stand out in society because they attract bad people. These may be men and "friends" who take advantage of the victim's kindness. Such women are not able to refuse requests from close people, believing that this is the only way to receive recognition and love. They don’t ask, they don’t know how to ask, preferring to do everything on their own, hiding behind the word “independent.” He considers good deeds addressed to him as a dirty trick.

Male psychology of self-confidence

Many works and articles are devoted to how a man can gain confidence and believe in himself, since this is a very important issue. The self-esteem of the strong half of humanity is influenced by the following elements:

• Social status, namely a stable position in society, authority, influence;
• Professionalism in career;
• Successes that help you grow, failures that bring useful experience and wisdom;
• Popularity among women.

It is believed that a man’s self-confidence and discipline come from childhood. If parental attention was adequate, in sufficient quantity, moderately strict, with manifestations of affection, this will allow a man to grow up to be an independent man.

Note! Support is important throughout life, because a person is constantly faced with injustice, deception and betrayal.

Excessive criticism in this regard seriously undermines self-esteem. More precisely, self-esteem is lowered by:

• Indecisiveness, fear of beginnings;
• Dependence on the opinions of strangers;
• Constraint in communicating with the opposite sex;
• Tendency to apathy.

How to move your life forward

There are hundreds of tips on how to make yourself believe in yourself. It is important to find harmony, develop physically, mentally, take care of yourself morally, and often say “believe in yourself, and everything will work out for you.”

Affirmations are a modern way of moving a person towards a goal. Early in the morning, you need to awaken all the positive emotions and declare to the world that “my life is a complete pleasure,” while on the way to work, mentally tune the universe to the fact that “I am cheerful, energetic and productive.” A person must learn to maintain his thoughts on a positive wave, not succumbing to provocations, not paying attention to energy vampires and other ill-wishers.

Different advice is given to men and women on how to make a person believe in themselves. General recommendations on how to raise a man’s self-esteem agree that he should develop harmoniously: combine sports, reading books, maintain good relationships with loved ones, and set priorities correctly.

In order for a woman's self-esteem to increase, she needs to know that she is resilient and healthy, attractive and kind, and will not allow herself to be offended. In addition, it is important for her to perceive herself with all her strengths and weaknesses, so that no one can “surprise” her or try to offend her with something she already knows about.

Believing in yourself and your strengths is both easy and difficult. A properly laid down education and attitude program is a big step forward. If a person has suffered from lack of attention and excessive criticism, he will need time to increase his self-esteem and be able to keep it afloat.

Video

From one single man He produced all nations to populate the earth, having previously determined for them the times and boundaries of their habitation. He did this so that people would seek God, feeling that He is very close to each of us, and could find Him. Acts 17:26-27

Stage 1. The desire to find faith and the search for answers

You will seek Me and you will find Me if you search with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13

It is very important to want to believe in God. Until I sincerely wanted to, I couldn’t do it. I realized that I had questions, that there were things that I did not understand, and therefore I could not believe in God, but I had no motivation to look for answers, it was easier to leave everything as it was. I knew that I was sinning and doing something that Christianity should condemn, but I didn’t want to change anything. The moment came when I realized that I really wanted to believe in God. I needed hope and a reason for my existence. I doubted that I would be able to believe it, but I decided to try. That's when it all started.

Those who ask will receive, those who seek will always find, and the door will open to those who knock. Matthew 7:8

Look for answers to your questions. The main obstacle to my faith was that I could not imagine God as a person. I needed to create a picture in my head in which the knowledge I had about the world would fit in with the ideas of God the Creator. It was extremely important for me to establish that Christianity does not contradict the conclusions of modern science. I started watching lectures on this topic and saw that science can neither prove nor disprove the existence of God, that there are a sufficient number of arguments in favor of the existence of God and in support of the Bible. All I had to do was choose what I should believe: that there is no God, or that He exists.

Stage 2. Personal Bible study and fellowship with Christians

So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Romans 10:17

To believe in God, you need to know what He is like, and this knowledge is in the Bible. I started going to Christian meetings in church and listening to sermons. There they suggested that I study the Bible and helped me understand what Christian teaching is, showing it directly from the original source - the Bible. The more I learned, the fewer contradictions remained in my head, and gradually everything came together. When I had questions, I had someone to ask them to. The opportunity to see the lives of Christians, communicate with them, and visit them also had a great influence. It was great to see that what they said was confirmed by how they lived.

Stage 3. Personal relationship with God - prayer and life change

And you will call to Me, and you will go and pray to Me, and I will hear you; Jeremiah 29:12

True faith in God is supported by lifestyle. It is important to make sure that what is written in the Bible will work in practice. To do this, I needed to begin to change my behavior in accordance with Scripture. In addition, I began to read the Bible on my own and pray as if I was already sure that God exists and hears me. I tried to perceive the situations happening to me from the point of view that there is a Lord who controls everything, wishes me well and whom I can trust. I noticed that my faith was transforming my life, that God really exists and He has an influence on me.

Notice what God has done for you. When I realized this, I began to develop gratitude and emotions towards Christ and His sacrifice for me. I realized my sins, repented of them and wanted to be baptized in order to devote my life to God and gain salvation. I no longer had any doubt that this was the right decision. I was consciously baptized 5 years ago. God gave me a life full of meaning and true joy, a purpose for which it is worth getting up in the morning, hope that death is not afraid of me and my sins are forgiven, wonderful friends and a large family consisting of brothers and sisters in the church.

If you have a question related to the Christian faith, write to us, we will try to answer you as soon as possible.