Confessions of a Confused Christian

By Charles C. Tyrrell

Jesus is God’s son, who died on the Cross, providing us access to Heaven, but what does that really mean? What does Jesus’ death really mean for us? This book uses one sinful man’s confessions on how he breaks the Ten Commandments to discuss the importance of Christ’s death and how we can access heaven.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jan 24, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664214972

Charles C. Tyrrell

Charles C. Tyrrell was born and raised in Kentucky and spent most of his adult life in Southern Florida. He is a Florida licensed immigration attorney, but spends most of his time pondering the mysteries of life and God’s word.

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Copyright © 2021 Charles C. Tyrrell.

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This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-1496-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-1498-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-1497-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020923902

WestBow Press rev. date: 01/21/2021

Contents

Dedication

Preface

Part I

Chapter 1 One God

Chapter 2 Idols

Chapter 3 Oaths

Chapter 4 The Sabbath

Part II

Chapter 5 An Explanation

Chapter 6 The Commandment with a Promise

Chapter 7 Murder

Chapter 8 Lust

Chapter 9 Theft

Chapter 10 Lying

Chapter 11 Keeping Up with the Joneses

Part III

Chapter 12 The Solution for Our Sins

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

Dedication

To my three beautiful and amazing children, Spencer, Pierce and Brooke. I love you all so very much and cannot imagine my life without you. Being your father has allowed me to understand our Heavenly Father and His love for us. I feel so blessed to have each of you in my life.

Preface

For more than ten years, I have had this book in my mind. I first envisioned it shortly after I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. I had envisioned this book to reach out to the Catholic community to help them understand the truth of the gospel, something I was not taught in all my time in Catholic schools and at mass. I thought of this as a grand book that would change the Catholic community, allowing them to see the meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross and what it means to us on a daily basis. I wanted to help Catholics because I grew up Catholic.

Today, though, I am in a new stage of my life, and am realizing that I am writing this book to help me. I need to see my sins, because I need to recognize on a daily basis my need for Christ. Focusing on my sins is personal, and so this book is going to be a reflection of my life and my sins. I cannot envision writing this book in any other way.

Through these past ten years, I have changed a lot, and the idea of this book has changed as well. When I first considered this book, I had envisioned it to be called, The Ten Commandments: Why We Need a Savior. As I got closer to writing this book, I realized that this was not a good title for the book. I then thought about calling it The Ten Commandments: Why I Need a Savior. This is because this book will be entirely focused on my sins. Is this because I am narcissist? Well no, although I am. No, it’s because I do not know you. I do not know anyone else but me. I know my heart, my sins, my beliefs; the reasons I do things. I cannot know these things about you for a variety of reasons, one of which is I probably do not know you in the first place. I cannot write a book about the Ten Commandments without focusing on my sins, which is why this book has to be so personal.

After writing this book, I realized that The Ten Commandments: Why I Need a Savior was also not a good title. Why? Simple, the title wouldn’t resonate with you, my intended audience. Why? Well, I wouldn’t buy or read a book that focused so much on someone else. You don’t know me, so why would you care why I need a savior. As far as you are concerned, I could be a complete fool and not worth anything. I don’t believe that I am, but to some people, this may be how they see me.

Speaking to some friends and others who read the first draft, I have decided to call this book, Confessions of a Confused Christian. I had thought about calling it Confessions of a Confused Catholic because I wanted to reach Catholics. I was Catholic. I grew up Catholic and most of my initial Biblical training/education was based on Catholic teachings. I still have many friends who are Catholic and I remember a lot of the Catholic teachings. So, I am writing this book for you, the Catholic community, and therefore, I feel I must discuss what I believe and know to be true and why.

Because this book is so personal, before I can begin revealing my confessions, I believe that I must first start by discussing who I am. First, I am not a pastor. I have had no religious training, other than going to Catholic school for thirteen years and going to church for most of my life. When I study the Bible, I either do it on my own time, or in a Men’s Bible Study at my church, which I have only been doing for a couple of years. When I first became a believer, I also went to a young couples’ Bible study for about two years, but outside of these Bible Studies, I have no real education on the Bible.

I grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, which is a big city in a small state. I grew up in a divided religious home, as my father is Presbyterian, and my mother is Catholic. I was baptized in both churches when I was a baby and spent the early part of my life going to the Presbyterian church, where they had Sunday School, because the Catholic Church my mother went to did not have Sunday school. This was more about convenience, to ensure I didn’t disrupt other family members or parishioners during church service.

In Sunday school, I began to learn about the Bible. I heard about David and Goliath, Adam and Eve, Noah and the Flood and of course, Jesus. I remember singing many songs, like This Little Light of Mine, or He’s Got the Whole World in His Hand, and basically having fun in Sunday School. When I was four, I was chosen to be Joseph in the church’s Nativity play, and honestly, I do not remember anything about it, other than wearing a robe and standing on the stage in the gym.

When I was five, I started my formal