My biggest issue with religion is this: If you (say a Christian) does something

[forbin_2006]

good, you credit God. But, if? you do something bad (sin), you take the blame. Thus...where does positive talk/self-esteem come in? How do you make yourself feel better if all the good choices you make are credited to someone else?

 

[stephaniel]

Well, when we do something good, I personally believe, that we are doing God's will. In a sense that he is working through us to help others. SO wouldn't you credit Him with helping you to be good? If you sin, you are obviously not doing His will, so you wouldn't give him the credit for you choosing to do something against his will. I consider myself a confident person with self-esteem. I think that comes from knowing that when I make good choices, I am doing God's will....in the end his opinion is the only one that matters anyway, not the people around us. I am not explaining this the way I want to...but basically I think you can say you did a good thing by choosing the right and that is where positive talk/self-esteem come in. But I think if you look deeper, you see that you chose the right because of God.

 

[frank]

I think people miss the point. The bible says that "all have sinned" and "we have all gone our own way". Yeah, I know it makes it sound like we are supposed to be down on ourselves all the time but follow me on this one.

Compared to a Holy, and Righteous God, None of us does good. "The heart is deceitful above all things", even if we do good things those things are done out of wrong motives.

Since "all have sinned", all are guilty of breaking the law and fall short of God's glory, and are deserving of God's righteous judgement. When we sin, we tell God His way is not as good as my way and commit rebellion. As creatures created in God's image to go around defaming God by doing things God would not do and what God hates must be a true insult to Him.

Think about how in different countries how they burn symbols in effigy. They do so to intentionally insult. We do the same thing when we sin, it may not be intentional but we do so when we throw off God's things for our own.

We all are guity.

keep following me, I will get to the self esteem thing shortly.

The good news is "that God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son" to take the judgement of "guilty" in our place. All that believe on HIm and accept Him as Lord. Have their guilty conviction erased and trade that in for Jesus' "not guilty" judgement. Before God we have been declared righteous. Not guilty.

The bible says we have become new creatures, all things are new, the old things have passed away. I was dead to God, Now I am alive. My spirit was made new, and now is alive to God. I now can do good. My motives can become pure. Done as unto God.

But we can still sin. Old habits and sin don't magically disappear. We call this the old nature. It is this old nature that sins. All the old things I did when I didn't know God. Sometimes I even think the same way. It is a process to reprogram yourself to turn away from the old things. Because I used to get drunk doesn't mean it isn't fun anymore. You have to set your mind on good things and soon your actions will follow.

So that explains the good things and bad things you mentioned.

Self esteem doesn't have much to do with all of that, unless you overdo it and become an egomaniac or go the other extreme and think you are lower than worms. Then those become sin too.

Self Esteem comes when you realize a Holy and Just God, so loved you that he would send His only Begotten Son here to take your place. He didn't have to. You didn't deserve it. But He did it anyways because He loved you.

Jesus said that "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." It is not possible for God to have a greater love than He has for you. And "If God is for us, who can be against us?" And in Romans 8:35-39 says that not anything made or unmade can separate us from the love of God IN CHRIST.

My self esteem doesn't come from my mom, or my dad, or even something I tell myself to make me realize I am a good person.

My self esteem comes because I know God Loves me, he made me the way I am, I was honored to be made into His image and He decided out of His love for me and you, to sacrifice His Son for me so that not only our outsides are made in His image but, now our insides can be too.

So my self esteem rests on God, knowing He cared for me so much He made me to be like Him and knowing of His great love for me.

Hope that clears things up for you.

 

[Thedarkside]

It seems to be more of a case that when something good happens it's all "praise to god!" but you never see that when something bad happens. Surely god is just as responsible both times?

Let's face it, the whole Christian thing is designed to give you bad self-esteem as you grovel before god for forgiveness again and again and again.

 

[deepeaceful]

When your mind is renewed and you began to see GOD as the HEAD of your life, then giving him the GLORY and the PRAISE becomes second nature to you. Thus, when you do good and give him the glory, you in turn receive a reward as well and that reward from GOD is receiving GOD'S FAVOR......And it gives me a good feeling knowing that I have done something that is well-pleasing in my FATHER'S SIGHT..........

 

[SueL]

Becoming a true follower of Christ means we have to give up our egos and die (figuratively speaking) to ourselves. Life becomes about other people and about Jesus, who gave up His life for US.
A true christian dies to his own selfish needs and gives his life to Jesus Christ. (This is easier said than done, lol) But the joy we get from helping someone or putting someone else's needs ahead of our own is better than anything we could do for ourselves anyway.
The Christian faith is all of giving away our selves and sacrificing to others. it is a beautiful way to live because it makes you feel awesome when you help someone who is in need .
I have a problem letting go of my own selfish needs and desires, letting my vanity or ego get in the way, or worrying about what other people think of me. But I still keep trying to let those things go and not rule over my life. Pride is an enemy..it only keeps us trapped in our own selves. When I let Jesus rule my life, things always work out for the best. When he is in control, I know I'm in safe hands! It is worth it to follow the KING. Amen!

 

[peaceAbdul]

Put the blame on God when you do good deeds or bad deeds because god hasn't given any brain to the human beings to think what is good what is bad.

 

[Jed1]

Positive talk, self esteem, these teachings have become twisted by men that want to disbelieve what the Bible shows us regarding the TRUE nature of mankind.
The nature of man as revealed in the Bible, is misunderstood by many.
What man says, and what God has said about this and many other matters are contradictory. God is the correct one.

 

[Jed1]

Positive talk, self esteem, these teachings have become twisted by men that want to disbelieve what the Bible shows us regarding the TRUE nature of mankind.
The nature of man as revealed in the Bible, is misunderstood by many.
What man says, and what God has said about this and many other matters are contradictory. God is the correct one.