Getting drunk/high used to be fun but now it only depresses me more

@SW-User I’m proud of you for even wanting to improve the quality of your life. That is a major step. Yes...we can only do it when our heart is ready. I believe in you. God bless you.

@LadyGrace there's no hope for me.

@SW-User Sure there is. Many people think that, but later find that is not true. You’re no different. When you’re really ready, you’ll know it, then you can proceed. It’s a bad habit, and can be broken, as many have proven.

@LadyGrace the drink and drugs won't get me everything else will.

@SW-User But you are not helpless, right? No. You take care of yourself in every other way. If you had to cook for yourself in order to live....you would. You must love yourself enough to take back the power you’ve given other things, over you. There was never a worse alcoholic than my friend, Kevin. He lived and breathed to drink. He just could not get victory over it. Finally, he just plain gave up trying. He knew he couldn’t do it. That was the best day in his life, and the best thing he could have done, because in his most desperate hour, he called out to God to please take away his debilitating alcoholism. And God did. What Kevin could [b]not[/b] do, God [b]could[/b] do. [u]Nothing....is too hard for God.[/u] Today, Kevin is the Pastor of a church in my town. I lead the singing at his former tiny church for 2 years. Best preaching I’ve ever heard. What Kevin thought was the end, God made his brand new beginning, when Kevin gave it all up, and handed his burdens to God. By being willing to give up that old, miserable life, he gained a brand new one in Christ. Kevin was delivered from alcoholism and he’s never craved a drop, since. When God saves, He does a complete job of making a person whole. I saw it for myself. God is no respector of persons. What He does for one, He’ll definitely do for all who ask. When we make a full commitment to Jesus, He makes a full commitment to you. He never breaks a promise, so you’re right....if there’s something you can’t do, commit to God, and He’ll do for you, what you cannot do for yourself.

@LadyGrace If your God is real, then he's a very cruel God.

No He’s not. Someone has given you a very wrong picture of Him, then. How could a perfect, sinless God be cruel? It’s simply not in His nature. Those who have said that to me in the past, just don’t understand him. He is anything but cruel. A cruel God would never have died such a horrific death ....even for those who may not appreciate it, and still called them his [b]friends.[/b]@SW-User

@LadyGrace he made it rain for 40 days and 40 nights. He vowed never to do that again, vowing to not do it again suggests he regretted his actions. I went down that path once in my life after being inspired by Nicky Cruz, but I learned that it is all just a belief, I don't knock people like yourself for having that belief, but my experience of it all has led me to believe there is no God, there is no greater being, there would not be all this suffering in the world if there were. When we die we will either be burnt to ashes or worm food.

@SW-User I understand, but I’m certain, as. an educated man, you know that with our finite minds, it’s impossible to know or understand an infinite God. That tells me He did what He [b]had[/b] to do. He had a reason. Way mightier than we could ever know. An all-knowing God, so much more wise than we could ever be, saw a much bigger picture, and had tons more understanding than us. Of course, He was sorry. It broke His heart, but that was not because he made a mistake. He’s perfect. He cannot, and is incapable of making mistakes. If he did, he certainly wouldn’t be God. He certainly wouldn’t have had anyone perish, because that was not his will, nor His plan. That is why it made him so sad. Those were His creation, and their disobedience was something they decided to choose to do against God, and He knew the consequences of that in the spiritual world. Sin is a death sentence. It broke His heart. God didn’t force them. They chose to sin. But thankfully, the story doesn’t end there.

In order to even get a [u]glimpse[/u] of how seriously justice is interpreted in the spiritual realm, and just how very serious the offence of sin is to God the Father, we’d have to be able to get into the very mind of God and see how much hate He has for sin, and our little minds cannot do that, but He gave us a peek of just how much hate He has for sin. He showed us, in the extreme depths He was willing to go, in order to erase it from the earth and start again....to save mankind. The reason for that extreme hate is not even aimed at hating man, but the sin IN him. Why? Because He hates anything that separates us from HIM. That love does not even scratch the surface in how His only Son proved His love on the cross, by providing a sure way to make it to heaven, by the shedding of His precious blood. Which, btw, Jesus wasn’t forced to do. He [i]volunteered[/i] to be ridiculed and beaten to the bone and spit upon....this King of Kings all the way from heaven. That sure doesn’t describe an unfeeling, cruel God to me. He didn’t have to do that, so you and I could go to heaven for eternity. He could have left US suffer the consequences, but He didn’t. Good thing, or we’d have all went to Hell. Justice in the spiritual world, demands that sin debt to be paid, and now we can realize ever so faintly, why God was so mad. Because it cost Him, his Son’s very life, and Jesus didn’t deserve that. We did. Yet there He hung....suspended between heaven and earth, shamed for all the world to see. There is SO much we cannot understand, but I know one thing. As much as He did for me and the whole world... I will never turn my back on Him. He knows what He’s doing and I believe He’s wise enough...a trillion times smarter than myself or anyone else...for me to put my trust in. If Jesus went to all that trouble and sacrifice, that only speaks volumes to me of exactly how much He does love us.

@SW-User I forgot to address the suffering in this world. That’s not something Jesus caused. He didn’t create sin, just so He could come die on the cross to get rid of it. He died [i]because of it.[/i]

What we are getting now and what Jesus is showing us now, is a glimpse of WHY this world needs Jesus. A glimpse of how this world works on its own, without Jesus. Full of sin and destruction, straight from Satan, the author of destruction and killings, rapes, you name it. He’s saying, “Look people! This is why you need Me. Let me save you!” And the reason He is waiting so long before the inevitable end, instead of destroying sin now, is because He is giving people a chance to repent, before it is too late, but just like the people of old, we’re not listening. People have two options: One, to believe and receive salvation for their sins and have eternal life in heaven, or Two...Doubt and do without. It’s their choice. Jesus provided the way, He did all He could possibly do...now it’s up to us to take advantage of His offer, and make the right choice.

There are two things that all religions hold as truth:

(1) Humanity is separated from God.
(2) Humanity needs to be reconciled with God. The differences come in how that reconciliation is acquired.

Jesus provided a way. It’s now up to us. We won’t be able to say a way was not provided. That won’t be an acceptable excuse.

@LadyGrace ok