How did you come to christ?

[ebia]

Basically in asking this question, I've come to an understanding about the validity of this concept of god. If you come to "the truth" by someone else ramming it down your throat at an early age,or if you're just looking for a way to help you with your addiction, or if you're just feeling lonely and/or lost in this world.....that doesn't mean what you've found is "the truth". It just means you're either comforted by the information you've been fed and now depend on it like any other drug out there. You cannot do without christ the same way others cannot do without alcohol, sex, or a needle.

But it doesn't mean that christ is any more real just because that's what you've been conditioned to think and see from an early age, or because it's helped you get through a tough period in your life. You're just trading one addiction for another.

And I'll admit that christianity CAN BE a lot less harmful than an addiction to drugs, sex, or alcohol, but it's still an addiction. People lead fully healthy lives without christ, so it's entirely possible to do it. But the worst a single drunk man can do to harm others is drive drunk and kill others in a car accident. The worst one religious person can do who abuses their religion can be far worse, especially in today's world where you can run into a school and take out 33 people or take over an airplane and drive it into a building.

You approach seems to be: construct three very broad categories. Ram every story into one of the three. Construct a simplistic explanation for each of the three. And, hey presto, pretend that this somehow proves God isn't real. You've clearly drawn your conclusions before you start, and made the "data" fit. I could easily do the reverse:

If the fact that one is brought up in an environment that acknowledges God is evidence that one only believes because one has been indoctrinated, then the converse is true of an atheist who has grown up in an athesist environment.

The militant Christian who gives up the church to become an atheist is giving up the truth in order to escape something he can't cope with about it (which may be problem with the people involved, or it may be that he can't hack it).

Or then there is the athesist who drifts out through peer pressure. "Nobody but idiots believes that rot". Enough time aqcuiesssing to that and you start to believe it.

 

[MsAnne]

I was looking forward to posting on this thread. (The testimony on my profle pretty much spells out my answer) But then I noticed who started the thread.
Zocrates, by what I've seen of your threads, you ask wonderful questions - but it appears you really aren't interested in people's answers. You seem to be far more interested in taking the answers given, reinterpretting them, and then showing your opinion of those answers. You appear to have preconceived ideas, and no matter what responses are given, you mold them into those ideas.

I choose not to feed into that.

 

[prophecystudent]

Zocrates,
I find your ranting insulting to say the least. The question was asked regarding how people came to know Jesus as savior. They answered in good faith and then come your responses.

My story is different. I grew up in a family that occasionally went to church. At least it was called church. It was Christian Scientist.

I went, occasionally, to Sunday school there. I was about 7 or 8 at the time. That lasted about a year or two. Having said that, I cannot remember a time when I did not believe in Christ. No earth shattering experiences for me, altho I have experienced a number of them since then.

I once worked as a volunteer at a Christian counselling center related to a TV evangelism show. I could spend hours and hours explaining how God moves people but somehow doubt you are very interested.


In any event I have experienced God's touch in my life more than once and will always remember the miracles that affected my life, the lives of my wife and daughter, etc.

No athiest can sway my belief in God, or the salvation He provides for those who love Him and accept His free gift. Hopefully you will find the truth before it is too late.

Fred

 

[OldWiseGuy]

Zocrates,

Jesus revealed himself to me before the age of five, through a coloring book. But, I argued against religion for years as I grew up, until God actually called me into the church. I too was an 'unbelieving jerk' for years until the day that God said, "It's time."

That was 35 years ago. It was tough at first but got better as time went on. Today I am stronger in my faith then ever and with God's help am ready for whatever comes.

A personal word to you, and other unbelievers that post here. I have hope for you because you are hanging around converted Christians on these forums. You won't pull us into the mud with you, but you may some day be offered a stong hand to pull you out. I and others here pray for that. Hope you don't mind.

 

[Whitestone]

After reading the bible a few times I finally noticed that it was not written for human understanding but for human nature. The more I looked at how it said to handle situations I saw the wisdom in it's words.

Zocrates, why are you soo angry with us? You seem too angry with us, not to have some deeper seeded issue with Christians.

 

[Touma]

I had a "burning bush"/road to damascus " moment.

 

[jive4005]

Some pretty good seeds gettin' tossed around in this thread. Hoping it falls on fertile ground...!

His,
Rev J

 

[R3quiem]

I was raised a Catholic my whole life. In highschool I became an agnostic and although I still believed in God, I didn't really believe in religion much. But, then I started praying to be given more faith and to become more religious, and I started going back to church every Sunday and praying every night. Now I'm Catholic again and permanently.

 

[Jerrell]

You said you were saved at 5. So you "made the choice to believe" at the age of 5? At 5 years old, most people are deciding between Legos and Tonka Trucks of which toy to play with....not whether or not god is real and if you should believe or not. That's not a decision a 5 year old needs to be making.

You didn't make the choice, someone made it for you.

Are you some all-knowing Prophet who can see into the past and judge what action everyone will take?

I think Not.

I made the choice to go to my pastor and ask for salvation on my own, I asked my mother to come with me, and she followed me, she did not lead me down there. My pastor can tesitify that I came to him with the desire to be saved. I was never pressured to be saved, out of the blue one sunday, I made the choice. So I guess I am not "most people." I would prefer to be saved at 5, and grow up in Christ. Than to live in Sin and purposely ignore Jesus Christ. Whether you're 5 or 10 or 20, or 50, you can make the choice to accept Christ, no matter what society says you're supposed to be worried about.

Were you even serious about this thread or did you make it so you could pick out parts of people's testimonies to give your opinion about them? Are you even reading what we post now?

 

[MoNiCa4316]

It is my perception that people follow christianity from one of three ways.

1. They were raised with it. Indoctrinated from a young age and that's pretty much the only way they know how to live is with christ.

2. They go through a near death experience (becoming a serious alcoholic, serious drug use) and want to find christ in hopes of straightening out their life.

3. They feel very empty and alone in the world and want to find answers and companionship and they find it in the church.

If there is another way you came to know christ, please add it to the list, but this is what I've encountered thus far.

What's your story?

I was born and raised in a non religious home; God wasn't really discussed... then, my family became Christian, but we moved to another town and stopped going to church. I was an agnostic. I later decided that God exists, but that He's not like in any specific religion. When I came to university, I met some Christians who seemed to have a lot of joy and hope..and I thought that I'd check out Christianity. I wasn't depressed or anything, my life was quite normal... I started researching, and after reading CS Lewis' "Mere Christianity", I was convinced that it's true. I accepted Christ, and felt a change in me...like I was asleep before, and thought I was happy, but in a limited sort of way. God offers so much more, and I was settling for something lesser. That's just how I felt. Now I'm convinced that Christianity is true through my experience and because I have a relationship with God that's not just one way, but He's working in my life.

I think the things you mentioned is just what you hear the most because those are the stories that get told...

hope that helps...

monica

 

[Digit]

It is my perception that people follow christianity from one of three ways.

1. They were raised with it. Indoctrinated from a young age and that's pretty much the only way they know how to live is with christ.

2. They go through a near death experience (becoming a serious alcoholic, serious drug use) and want to find christ in hopes of straightening out their life.

3. They feel very empty and alone in the world and want to find answers and companionship and they find it in the church.

If there is another way you came to know christ, please add it to the list, but this is what I've encountered thus far.

What's your story?

I'll jump on Heron's bandwagon, I found it fascinating that there was this whole other world I knew nothing about. My wife brought me to Christ and it was during our relationship that she showed so much patience with me and I remember the day when she say my profile on another site, and it said "Religion: Christian" she was like, "What? Since when?" kinda thing. It was quite amusing. I took time on my own to search answers and think about all the big scary God questions, and only really after attending a good church and an Alpha course to get me a solid grounding. I basically had too many questions and wanted to know it from the start. After that, I was firmly Christian.

Although I began to notice changes in myself, throughout all that. I began to feel different, I guess it's hard to explain. But I saw things differently, I put more thought into what I did, my actions, my words. The most remarkable thing was that I stopped being angry.

That really took me by surprise, but I hardly ever swear now, I'm not angry or frustrated about anything, I feel like there has been this hole in my life filled by something.

That's the best way I can explain it.

Cheers,
Digit

 

[OldChurchGuy]

It is my perception that people follow christianity from one of three ways.

1. They were raised with it. Indoctrinated from a young age and that's pretty much the only way they know how to live is with christ.

2. They go through a near death experience (becoming a serious alcoholic, serious drug use) and want to find christ in hopes of straightening out their life.

3. They feel very empty and alone in the world and want to find answers and companionship and they find it in the church.

If there is another way you came to know christ, please add it to the list, but this is what I've encountered thus far.

What's your story?

Succinctly, it would be option 1 above.

OldChurchGuy

 

[MrsHolwager]

I was raised in it but after my grandparents died I wasnt close to god at all and then as I got older I thought I might go to jail so I tried to clean my life up and tried to start teaching my kids right from wrong

 

[Dorothea]

I am one of those people who was raised in a christian home, but it's not the only way I knew how to live. I went through a period in my life where God was not the center of it. It was through my own growing, maturing and experiences...not by my parents...that I found myself back in a church again.

My life's journey is very similar to yours, except, although my parents are Christian, I didn't grown up going to church but maybe a handful of times.

 

[PostTribber]

Well jesus seems to be neglecting a great number of folks down here. I guess that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy knowing that you're "special enough" that jesus chose and accepted you over billions of others, eh? That's the epitome of what we call a "holier than thou" attitude.

...God is not 'warm & fuzzy', but He did say "I have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and compassion on whom I will have compassion." if you feel 'neglected', call upon the name of the Lord, and you will be saved! even those 'chosen' have to come by the Cross. His Kingdom is not 'exclusive', you just have to come through the only 'door', that being Jesus Christ, as He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me." God doesn't neglect those who love Him. we're the one's that demand separation of Church & State! so who's really neglecting Whom?

 

[wnwall]

I was dead in my sins. I did nothing righteous, nothing good. I hated God. I was not looking for him; I was rather enjoying my life without him. I sought the praises of men and the appetites of the flesh. And he spoke light into the darkness of my heart. He gave me a longing for the things he loves. He gave me a desire to find joy in him. He breathed a new life into my heart and awakened me from an eternal sleep.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=iLZV9aajAYE

 

[clarksided]

I'm going to do the opposite, and tell you how I found reason, logic, and true personal fulfillment through breaking the chains of religion.

I was raised a Christian child by my mother, though mostly in Sunday School I ran around terrorizing the old ladies until I was about 12, where I went through Methodist confirmation, and I handed my life over to Jesus Christ. Or so I thought. I went to church more often, tried to get into it, and dropped a friend or two I thought was quite ungodly.

I had an off-and-on relationship with Christianity for while, and when I say off, I don't mean I shunned it like I do now, I mean I just didn't go to church or pray. I had so many other things to do, like school and sports. I was too drained to make time for church. These times were some of the most serene in my life up to that time. I would not be worrying constantly about my eternal fate, or feeling guilty for natural urges I had and fulfilled.

Through my last 2 years of high school and my first semester of college, I have taken several biology, history, and bible courses. The knowledge I gained from these didn't really strike me for what it was(a total debunking of my faith and pro-faith arguments that were so silly) because my head was so stressed with stuff like graduation and college entrance, and I suffered from pretty serious OCD.

6 months ago, as I was talking to a friend of mine about our history notes, it just came to me that this was all a farce. People like James Dobson, Jerry Falwell, the Pope; these are not good people. They are bigoted and heartless. Luckily, Mr. Falwell kicked the bucket, but the point is faith proved nothing to me, and science made so much sense. As did history.

I looked at my friends whom I considered true Christians (not the ones who just went to church and spent the whole week talking about sex, drugs, etc.), and I noticed something. They weren't happy. They had so many internal struggles and debates. Also, in my new enlightened view, I saw several of them for what they were: close-minded bigots who stopped talking to people who came out of the closet or hounded them with the bible when they simply responded they weren't interested.

The world is a very different place depending on you how you see it and where you see it from. All other religious people have the same stories about their deity talking to them, seeing his righteous path, and finding fulfillment. These are the same stories with just some minor details changed and rearranged. I hold no stock in them.

I am what you'd call a soft atheist; I am not sure if there is a higher power or not, but I am sure it isn't from any world religion today. Some say this is agnostic but I prefer the term soft atheist because I feel it is a more firm and thorough description.

 

[Jerrell]

I thought this thread was over with, Zocrates stopped posting a while ago...

 

[Jerrell]

By your own words you had an "off and on relationship with Christianity" but never do you mention Jesus. You were probably never saved in the first place, so see my freiend, it's not about going to Church, it's about Jesus and following him. I am Christian and I am happy and i know so many others who are also happy. I am 17 and I am not sad nor am i struglling with urges, because God gives those who have faith power.

 

[clarksided]

I don't mention Jesus because I don't feel it is possible to have a relationship with a man long dead.