Questions by Non-Christians (Archived)This forum is for non-believers seeking to know more about Christianity. This forum is NOT for Apologetics or debates.
What a great testimony! Thank you for sharing it. I pray that God may use your story to touch other people's lives and to use you into bringing others to Christ.
Tim,
What I enjoyed most about your process--it wasn't a tidy textbook conversion. You were open about real issues, and didn't give in to a dogma out of obligation, hype, or intimidation. You'd been working on this one for years.
At the same time that you were gaining from growing closer to God, we were gaining from your observations about character.
Each one of us have real struggles, even struggles with what we see in the church. The conversion is only the beginning of our walk, of answers to our questions and needs.
God is good.
We are...hoping to appear like Him someday.
Thank you for posting this. I was very happy to hear about your baptism, and I was touched by your testimony.
A good thing to do!
I hope not!
At the risk of looking completely pedantic:
Acts 11:26 -- The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
Acts 26:28 -- Then Agrippa said to Paul, "Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?"
1 Peter 4:16 -- However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.
Praise God that we both bear that name!
God bless you,
-- Radagast
Hey Radagast, I edited my post, I had made a major mistake there in that one part, meaning to say that the name, "Jesus" was not in the original Hebrew Bible. Too many posts in one day makes the mind clutter, ha.
Hey Radagast, I edited my post, I had made a major mistake there in that one part, meaning to say that the name, "Jesus" was not in the original Hebrew Bible. Too many posts in one day makes the mind clutter, ha.
I feel a little bad about responding to this, since I really appreciate your contribution to this site, and I'm very happy to call you my brother in Christ.
But, for the benefit of non-Christians reading this, there is no "original Hebrew Bible" (so don't go looking for it! )
The OT was originally in Hebrew, but the NT was originally in Greek.
"Jesus" is the Greek version of the Hebrew name "Joshua." So, in the original Greek of Matt 1:21:
texetai de uion kai kaleseiV to onoma autou ihsoun autoV gar swsei ton laon autou apo twn amartiwn autwn
(And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins).
Of course, unless you know that "Joshua" means "Jehovah saves" in Hebrew, that "for" makes no sense.
-- Radagast
__________________ Lord, make me an instrument of your peace on this forum. Where there is hatred, grant that I may sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, unity; where there is doubt, faith; where there is error, Your truth and not my personal opinion; where there is despair, hope; where there is sadness, joy; where there is darkness, light. O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled by people here as to console them; to be understood by them, as to understand them; to be loved by them, as to love them: For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
I feel a little bad about responding to this, since I really appreciate your contribution to this site, and I'm very happy to call you my brother in Christ.
But, for the benefit of non-Christians reading this, there is no "original Hebrew Bible" (so don't go looking for it! )
The OT was originally in Hebrew, but the NT was originally in Greek.
"Jesus" is the Greek version of the Hebrew name "Joshua." So, in the original Greek of Matt 1:21:
Of course, unless you know that "Joshua" means "Jehovah saves" in Hebrew, that "for" makes no sense.
I have to put my 2 cents in..lol I appreciate your posts..they have helped me tremedously in knowing what non-believers want from us Christians. You are a true genuine person there's nothing fake about you and that is refreshing.
So many Christians are so quick to throw out scriptures to the non-believers..ok key word here is non-believer..they don't believe in Christ so what makes you think they are going to believe in the scritures your quoting..It doesn't make you any less of a Christian not quoting scriptures it makes you more of a Christian knowing when to quote scriptures as lead by the HOLY SPIRIT!!!!! That is the key thing here..we all should be lead by the holy spirit..I've said it before and I'll say it again...People Pray for God to give you the words to write..don't let the flesh take over..it only ends in a negative way..we sure have seen more of our share of negativity on this forum lately..
I have to say I don't blame the non-believers they see how some of these so called Christians are argueing all the time who would want to be a Christian then. To the non-believers I say this..You can tell a true Christian by their works and words...if you see a Christian posting words that is arguementive..well I would just by-pass that post and don't pay any attention to it. There are true Christians on this forum you will be able to tell who they are by their words in their posts....their words should be uplifting....
God Bless you Truthinfiction...keep up the good work you are a blessing to us and we appreciate you...
QUOTE: "All of these things combined smacked me into reality again, that there is a Higher Power. The baptism went fine, my Pastor has already put to me work with troubled teens. I made the decision to be baptised, to accept the Christian label because I feel that God is more powerful than anyone or anything in my life. I can see my family growing stronger now that we are in church together. " QUOTE
Dear friend -
I am so sorry you have had such a painful life. I lead Christian recovery groups, such as Overcomers, and see how much suffering those things can cause. I am so very glad that there is growing unity in your family, and that you have found a place to serve - what a difference that can make.
There have been so many good posts on this thread, so I would like to add just one thing - the uniqueness of Christianity. I'm trying to read between the lines, so please excuse me if I am incorrect.
The best I can tell from your above quotation, you are saying that you believe in a Higher Power, (but you don't yet know the specifics about "it"). And you have accepted the Christian "label" (but have probably not yet trusted in Christ as your sinbearer - just as being in a garage does not make you a car). Sorry if this offends you, though I don't think it will - because I believe that's exactly what you are implying. I feel a kindredship, because I was a seeker at one time also.
If I have understood your letter correctly, you might like to check out the uniqueness of Christianity:
My quote in reply to a similar post: "For a short, basic search, excellent summaries to a searcher's questions can be found in: www.rb.org/questions/ , and then clicking on the Bible, or Christianity, or God, or www.rbc.org/ds/salvation and click on "Why we believe, evidences for Christian faith"
"Personal testimony: I came to my personal belief not by a leap of faith but by the intellect.. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me." So that verse boils down to the famous question, "Is Jesus the Lord, a liar, or a lunatic?"
"Here's how I arrived at the belief that the Bible is the absolute truth and therefore that the God of the Bible is the one true God and that Jesus is God the Son: I was raised in a liberal "Christian" church that taught there were mistakes in the Bible. I swallowed it whole, never asking them to show me the mistakes so I could check them out for myself. Instead, I became an atheist for about 12 years. Then I made the mistake of playing the Ouija Board, and became demon oppressed. I quickly realized the reality of the supernatural world. More than that, I would pray when the strange things would happen, and they would immediately stop for a time. That proved to me that there had to be a good supernatural being who had dominance over the evil.
"As I was terrified, I started searching various religions to see where the truth was. The puzzle pieces finally fell into place when I read The Late Great Planet Earth, a book on Christian Evidences about Biblical prophecy. It showed that past prophecies had been fulfilled 100% of the time, and convinced me there had to be a God guiding the writing of the Bible. There was a Gospel invitation in the book, and I accepted Christ as my sinbearer at that point.
"I have been saved for 33 years now and it just gets better with time. The God of the Bible has never, ever let me down. He has changed me profoundly, and there have been many, many miracles, both small and large (but I am not using that as proof, as many religions have miracles, though they don't have the external proofs I have mentioned). "My mess has become my message, and my misery has become my ministry." It helps me personally to interpret the Bible this way: I take everything literally, unless it's impossible to do so (there are some figures of speech, such as when the Bible says the mountains were dancing for joy). By interpreting the Bible this way, I find it's never let me down. The Bible itself says it is without error.
"Here is the central foundation that makes the Bible and its God unique from all religions. In the Bible it says that the true God draws all people to Himself, and that the Holy Spirit convicts them of sin, righteousness, and judgment (in other words, of the need for a Savior). I have come to realize that Christianity is a relationship, not a religion. It is unique- we do not obtain Heaven by our own good works, contrary to the beliefs of all religions. Salvation is based on Christ's goodness, not our own. We receive eternal life when we make the decision to trust in Christ alone to pay for all our sins on the cross, (past present and future), and trust in Him to take us to Heaven one day, without any good works of our own. (Rom. 3:23, Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-9, I Peter 3:18, and John 3:16). The Bible says also that we cannot lose our salvation (see "gift" in Romans 6:23 and Romans 11:29 and also John 10:28-29 - we can't even take ourselves out of God's hand). So, instead of depending on our good works to save us, we simply receive eternal life by making the decision to trust Christ as our sinbearer. It’s not our good works, it’s a decision. As I said, this makes Christianity unique.
"External Proofs: As Scripture says, "You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart." In case you want a more in-depth study, I would like to give some titles that might be of interest to you. Some of them are out of print, but could be ordered through a Christian bookstore or some place like Amazon. An excellent short overview of Evidences (external proofs such as archaeology for the inerrancy of the Scriptures) is the pamphlet "The Agnostic Who Dared to Search."
"Books and websites: *The Late Great Planet Earth (past and future prophecy)
*Daktar (biography about a doctor in Bangladesh, from which the above pamphlet The Agnostic…. is taken)
*Josh McDowell's books - the New Evidence that Demands a Verdict, and More Evidence that Demands a Verdict (that one is on canonicity)
*Many Infallible Proofs
*More than a carpenter (proofs about Jesus) *Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties by Archer. It answers many objections by unbelievers.
"And I am sure there are many more good ones that a clerk at a Christian bookstore could recommend in Evidences or Apologetics (not apologies, but things like cosmology) A couple of websites are: rbc.org and probe.org "
So, friend, I hope I understood your post correctly, and this hasn't just wasted your time. You have had so much pain in your life, and I'll pray that God will give you and your family much joy in the future, and that you all will constantly grow closer to Him and to each other (the same thing I pray for my husband and me). God bless you all. Please pm me if you have any questions.
Dear friend - 
My quote in reply to a similar post: "For a short, basic search, excellent summaries to a searcher's questions can be found in: 
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