Well I'm sure Robert_G may respond to your comments as your quoting some of his sentences.
The way Robert comments about his faith I being a believer sense he has a real walk with God.
In other words it's not so wishy washy hope so faith but in his heart he knows 1000 % the God he believes in exists & is not a fairytale.
He knows his God & yous the unbelievers scoff & try to make up a million reasons why he & I must be nuts insane simpletons religious fanatics !
Fact is we do know & you are deceived & spiritually blind.
If you ask how do you know this Jesus info is fact?
Simply I've felt His Holy Spirit ( presence. ) in my life. Invisible yes...God is a Spirit and those that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth. From our heart & sincerely. Not just lip service but really mean it.
A true Christian can feel the presence of God. In various degrees.
One service I was at ( only happened like this 1x in the 7 yrs I attended that church ) in a church in New Westminster had a really powerful visitation from God !
It was a Sunday evening service. A visiting speaker from the USA was giving the sermon. His message was : Do not try to live the Christian walk on your own power but live your faith with the help of the Holy Spirit. With getting the Spirit to help you will give you the fruit of love joy peace power ....
Kinda like keep the fire going by adding in wood continually ....or like electricity to the light bulb...
How does one get the Holy Spirit power? Well by doing the things that feed one's soul. Prayer...praise ...worship....reading scripture...thinking talking behaving morally...trusting/faith.
Believing what the a Word says.
If it says Jesus loves me ....then don't ask I wonder if Jesus loves me just as I am ?
Don't ask Wonder if God will forgive me if I ask Him too.
Faith or trust the Word is fact. His promises are for everyone. Do not think oh god will forgive Robert and A boater ...but not me !
Anyways back to that Sunday night service. The pastor says that it is impossible to live the Christian walk on your own power. The weeds will start to grow back...sin pride lust fear hate greedy temptations if the Christian stops daily praying. Kinda like a tire with a leak gets flat...gotta blow up the tire with air daily to keep it inflated.
So ok he finishes his talk. Trust in the Holy Spirit to anoint you daily so your life will shine ...Galatians ch 5 tells it this way ...Flesh vs the Spirit ( or is it...Spirit vs flesh ? )
Kinda like I want to do good but this evil side wins out.....but if you have the a Holy Spirit powering you the good controls you ...love joy peace...
In fact if you go to church & just get info about God you will be so bored & disappointed.
Like eating a sandwich with sawdust as the filling. Not tasty.
Going to church & not having the Holy Spirit ....your going to have dry boring religion ...person will say : can't stand it !!!
But if you feel the presence of God then your faith is exciting because in your heart you know you have a personal real fellowship /relationship. It's not just a dry religion or story of Jesus back 2000 yrs ago.
So.....after the evening service people talk ...get their coats ...go home...
But this time it's different .
About 25-20 of us do not leave. Nothing was announced on the mic for people to stay.
So why did some of us stay behind ?
The main pastor left...the speaker from USA left....80% of the people left.
I asked " your not leaving? No Your staying Yes ..so on.
One guy Darwin F. was attending Bible school & would get papers...to be a pastor ( ordained ) stayed too.
That 's good because he had keys to lock the church could set the alarm.
I stayed 3 hours but left just after 22 or 12:30 am because my job started at 7 am.
Maybe about 10 were still there when I left. Darwin F. & another guy left at 5 am.
So why why or what would make us stay ? God's Presence !!!
It literally felt like ya could cut thru the presence with a pair of scissors ...
The Presence of a God was so "thick" or just so present we just did not want to leave.
I mean if God was there in an extra powerful way...why leave?
This is special.
One new Christian was there ( his one arm was partly missing ) and the Presence came on him so greatly he fell down on the carpet & just laid there.
They call that being slain in the Spirit.
Another Christian lady from Jamaica but living now in Canada clapped her hands & just laughed !!!
Like the Presence of God was on her so greatly guess she just could not contain it.
But the rest of us just sat in chairs ( they were not pews in that church. ) or stood ...but just like soaked in this extra visitation of God
Darwin told me when he & other guy left God's Presence was still there in a powerful way.
But the next service everything was back to normal...sing songs read announcements sermon passed the plate sing songs service over...socialize ...go home. Presence of God there but 99% less so to say.
Not as powerful. Ha !
Like a 5hp outboard to a 150 hp outboard dif. ha !
Then to top it all off one pastor who was a pastor at a gov. institution job ...attended the church but he'd only preach 1x a yr maybe...he just attended like a regular church goer.
Well he did not stay that night ...but his idea was what happened must of been the devil
Some other members had that same idea.
Ya right! God would just let the devil walk in to the church & do this !
Plus the Bible talks about Moses seeing the burning bush...
Saul who was against Christians had a bright light shine on him & he fell off his horse & God talks to him. Well Saul who name became Paul became a believer after that. He wrote a lot of the New Testament as the Holy Spirit inspired him to write.
On and on...the night I prayed from my heart in a Williams Lake in 1973 and asked God if He was real...well I had a big time encounter...no not crazy or drugs or green pickle and ice cream..
And interesting this visitation happened after a message about the Holy Spirit to be part of your daily walk living the Christian life.
God is alive & can be experience...just knowing about Him like history lesson ...well that 's dry boring religion if that 's all a person has.