Hello everyone!

[Nathan Hutcherson]

I just thought I'd give an introduction and my testimony. I hope it may help someone. My name is Nathan. I am one of those people who was taught a lot of the right things at a very young age in church, and never doubted that Jesus was God or that His death was for the world’s sins. And when asked at any time during my youth or teen years, I would reply that I was a Christian. It is true that on a mental level I knew that Jesus was God and that He came to this Earth to save us from our own sins, I never doubted that, but I simply didn’t care. I acknowledged that His death covered the sins of those who would believe in Him and that included mine, but I didn’t give much thought to my personal salvation or my personal relationship with Him, other than that I knew His death covered whatever bad things that I sought out to do, giving myself license to do them. And as I learned more and more of the “facts” in school and on TV, and those pertaining to evolution in particular, I saw that the stories that I knew in the book of Genesis must be metaphoric and therefore unknowingly became a liberal theologist, at least in reference to most of the Old Testament, and began to think that some historical parts of the Bible were merely books of wisdom meant to teach a lesson. This mentality persisted for my youth, teen years, and on until just a few years ago. After meeting and being blessed with my now wife and having a beautiful daughter that I knew I didn’t deserve, my wife and I began to look for “something” and we started going to a small Baptist Church. I began praying again, something I rarely did unless things were going badly and I was asking for God’s help in seeking Him. Immediately things began happening in that church that made us question if we should keep going (the Deacon stormed out of the congregation and resigned on one of our first visits!) and to make a long story shorter, it was at this particular time that the Lord really stepped in and steered us to an awesome church full of awesome believers who truly love the Lord and it was there that, almost immediately, I learned about repentance, something that I really hadn’t been taught in my early childhood going to church, and that to truly believe in Jesus, not just on a psychological level, but with all my heart, it required me to turn away from the ways of the world to fully place all my faith and trust in Him alone. I learned that I had to be born again, something that I wasn’t quite sure what meant, since I thought that I was always a believer. It was also there that I learned about the science behind Creationism, something that I was highly skeptical of at first. And very quickly it became obvious that the evidence was overwhelming and that the Bible was literally true and every word could be trusted. I do not know the exact date, but during this time period, I gave up trying to live for myself and surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ who had been patiently talking to me and helping me for my entire life and I am eternally grateful. Today, and for quite a few years now, I run Creeping Things Media, wherein my family and I use God's amazing creatures to point people toward their Creator. Thanks for reading and God bless you all.

 

[Michie]

Welcome! Thank you for the background. I look forward to your contributions

ETA: 2015 was your date of joining CF?

 

[David Lamb]

I just thought I'd give an introduction and my testimony. I hope it may help someone. My name is Nathan. I am one of those people who was taught a lot of the right things at a very young age in church, and never doubted that Jesus was God or that His death was for the world’s sins. And when asked at any time during my youth or teen years, I would reply that I was a Christian. It is true that on a mental level I knew that Jesus was God and that He came to this Earth to save us from our own sins, I never doubted that, but I simply didn’t care. I acknowledged that His death covered the sins of those who would believe in Him and that included mine, but I didn’t give much thought to my personal salvation or my personal relationship with Him, other than that I knew His death covered whatever bad things that I sought out to do, giving myself license to do them. And as I learned more and more of the “facts” in school and on TV, and those pertaining to evolution in particular, I saw that the stories that I knew in the book of Genesis must be metaphoric and therefore unknowingly became a liberal theologist, at least in reference to most of the Old Testament, and began to think that some historical parts of the Bible were merely books of wisdom meant to teach a lesson. This mentality persisted for my youth, teen years, and on until just a few years ago. After meeting and being blessed with my now wife and having a beautiful daughter that I knew I didn’t deserve, my wife and I began to look for “something” and we started going to a small Baptist Church. I began praying again, something I rarely did unless things were going badly and I was asking for God’s help in seeking Him. Immediately things began happening in that church that made us question if we should keep going (the Deacon stormed out of the congregation and resigned on one of our first visits!) and to make a long story shorter, it was at this particular time that the Lord really stepped in and steered us to an awesome church full of awesome believers who truly love the Lord and it was there that, almost immediately, I learned about repentance, something that I really hadn’t been taught in my early childhood going to church, and that to truly believe in Jesus, not just on a psychological level, but with all my heart, it required me to turn away from the ways of the world to fully place all my faith and trust in Him alone. I learned that I had to be born again, something that I wasn’t quite sure what meant, since I thought that I was always a believer. It was also there that I learned about the science behind Creationism, something that I was highly skeptical of at first. And very quickly it became obvious that the evidence was overwhelming and that the Bible was literally true and every word could be trusted. I do not know the exact date, but during this time period, I gave up trying to live for myself and surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ who had been patiently talking to me and helping me for my entire life and I am eternally grateful. Today, and for quite a few years now, I run Creeping Things Media, wherein my family and I use God's amazing creatures to point people toward their Creator. Thanks for reading and God bless you all.

I was going to welcome you to these Forums, but as your profile says you joined in 2015, it seems a little late for that, but welcome anyway!

 

[Maria Billingsley]

I just thought I'd give an introduction and my testimony. I hope it may help someone. My name is Nathan. I am one of those people who was taught a lot of the right things at a very young age in church, and never doubted that Jesus was God or that His death was for the world’s sins. And when asked at any time during my youth or teen years, I would reply that I was a Christian. It is true that on a mental level I knew that Jesus was God and that He came to this Earth to save us from our own sins, I never doubted that, but I simply didn’t care. I acknowledged that His death covered the sins of those who would believe in Him and that included mine, but I didn’t give much thought to my personal salvation or my personal relationship with Him, other than that I knew His death covered whatever bad things that I sought out to do, giving myself license to do them. And as I learned more and more of the “facts” in school and on TV, and those pertaining to evolution in particular, I saw that the stories that I knew in the book of Genesis must be metaphoric and therefore unknowingly became a liberal theologist, at least in reference to most of the Old Testament, and began to think that some historical parts of the Bible were merely books of wisdom meant to teach a lesson. This mentality persisted for my youth, teen years, and on until just a few years ago. After meeting and being blessed with my now wife and having a beautiful daughter that I knew I didn’t deserve, my wife and I began to look for “something” and we started going to a small Baptist Church. I began praying again, something I rarely did unless things were going badly and I was asking for God’s help in seeking Him. Immediately things began happening in that church that made us question if we should keep going (the Deacon stormed out of the congregation and resigned on one of our first visits!) and to make a long story shorter, it was at this particular time that the Lord really stepped in and steered us to an awesome church full of awesome believers who truly love the Lord and it was there that, almost immediately, I learned about repentance, something that I really hadn’t been taught in my early childhood going to church, and that to truly believe in Jesus, not just on a psychological level, but with all my heart, it required me to turn away from the ways of the world to fully place all my faith and trust in Him alone. I learned that I had to be born again, something that I wasn’t quite sure what meant, since I thought that I was always a believer. It was also there that I learned about the science behind Creationism, something that I was highly skeptical of at first. And very quickly it became obvious that the evidence was overwhelming and that the Bible was literally true and every word could be trusted. I do not know the exact date, but during this time period, I gave up trying to live for myself and surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ who had been patiently talking to me and helping me for my entire life and I am eternally grateful. Today, and for quite a few years now, I run Creeping Things Media, wherein my family and I use God's amazing creatures to point people toward their Creator. Thanks for reading and God bless you all.

Welcome!

 

[Unqualified]

Welcome to the forum @Nathan Hutcherson . I hope you have a very good stay.

 

[RileyG]

Welcome Nathan!