1. Who or what introduced you to Christianity? If no one or thing introduced you, then what aspect of Christianity attracted you to the Church and God?
My family is pretty much all Christian. I have two grandfathers who are both pastors, so it is practically in my blood. After college, however, my parents became atheist and agnostic. When I came along, they wanted to become Christian again. So while my parents raised me to be Christians, they were sort of my first converts.
2. What made you conclude that you wanted to make a lifetime commitment to Christianity? Did you explore other religions at all?
My life has been surrounded by miracles even before it began, starting with my grandmother who was diagnosed by several doctors to be unable to have children who later gave birth to four children.
I have always been a deep analytical thinker, even from a young age, and religion was always the thing at the forefront of my mind. The notion that the world and self-conscious life could just spontaneously come into existence never made any sense to me.
There's also the detail that unless there is an afterlife, nothing we do matters. Whether we feed millions of starving children in Africa or we go as a mass murdering rampage, we'd all end up in the same place: non-existance. Living life to its fullest doesn't mean a thing unless there is actually something to gain from it. Sure, there are other religions that offer an afterlife, but they've never made sense to me either.
3. Why did you choose your particular denomination? Why did you not choose other denominations?
I'm currently attending a Baptist church. I've also been a part of Pentecostal, Lutheran, and non-denominational churches, and even one Christian cult. I've learned a lot from all of them, including how easy it is to manipulate the Bible for your own purposes. The Baptists are the denomination I've found to be most Biblically accurate from my experiences so far.
However, I don't really like to call myself Baptist. I only use the word because it gives people some idea of what I believe. But the division between the churches are largely only in name. The core beliefs of Christianity are shared by most. I'm a Christian first, Baptist second. The second could possibly change, but the first will never change.
4. Why did you believe that there was only one god? Wouldn't it be safer to believe that there were many gods, each god controlling one aspect of nature (the sun god, the sea god, the earth goddess, the moon goddess, the fertility goddess, etc)?
The problem with polytheism is that it cannot answer the question, "How did everything start?" With God, He always existed before anything else and He created all that exists. But you can't have that with multiple gods. Multiple gods cannot exist in eternity past because they would be subject to change. Can you imagine a conversation between two gods that has no beginning? They'd always be learning something from one another, but you can't have that kind of progress without a beginning. Just trying to make sense of it can give you a headache. And how can you pick one point in time in that infinite conversation for them to decide to create the world? Wouldn't that part of the conversation have inevitably come up an infinite number of times already?
With the Greeks, they knew that they couldn't have multiple gods who have always existed, so they attempted to think up something to create the gods. Chaos, the gap, void, yawning. It doesn't exist, yet from it the first goddess was created. She then gave birth to the first male god so that they could procreate and make other gods.
This explanation doesn't do anything for me. The Christian God, however, makes perfect sense to me. He knows everything, and He is all-powerful. Because of this, He never changes. And because He never changes, He can exist in a reality where He is all that there is. Time isn't an issue for the Christian God.
7. Do you invite your relatives and best buddies to church with you? And why do you do together in church? Are your relatives and friends interested in the Christian church as much as you are? Because of you, are they converted to Christianity as well?
I haven't had much success with getting people to come with me to church. Most of my friends either already have a church or I met via my church.
8. Do Christians have to attend church every Sunday? Can Christians start a small church group within their own homes where they and their families can worship and pray together?
One thing you have to understand about Christianity, there are very few "have to"'s in it. We don't come to church because we have to, but because we want to. It's something we benefit from, and we very much enjoy it. For myself specifically, there is no place I'd rather be.
Small church groups are perfectly fine. Historically speaking, that's how all churches started out. In the first century, Christians didn't have big church buildings to gather in. They met in their houses.
9. What community service or humanitarian projects do you do?
There are a variety of things I've volunteered my service for, most of which was through the church. We have a ministry specifically geared towards helping people in need. Through them, I've helped move furniture for women who either couldn't afford to hire movers or preferred not to. The church recently had a big thing one Saturday morning when they sent hundreds of their members to two neighboring schools to paint, sand, dig, etc.. We even put down a brand new tennis court.
My church is very big on service. I can't count the number of things they have going on every year for service abroad or local. They've even been known to help out churches in financial trouble.
10. Do you consider yourself Jewish Christian or non-Jewish Christian?
Non-Jewish, although we typically call ourselves Gentiles.
11. Do you tithe (that is, paying 10% of your income) to your church? If you cannot afford to pay 10% of your income in money, then do you offer 10% of your harvest or 10% of your merchandise to the church?
If I can find a job and have an income, I do plan on giving 10% to the church, yes.
12. How do worships go? Do everybody sit in benches, called pews, and do the same thing at the same time? Or do everybody stand up and do different things while worshiping?
Worship is in the heart, not in the things we do. We have music to sing to, two different styles depending on the service you go to. Some sing along, some listen. Some lift their hands, some bow their heads. Some churches have different styles, but none of it matters. We also worship as we serve, which I would guess is God's favorite kind of worship.
13. Do clergymen and -women live in your church, or do they have their own homes?
They have their own houses. At church, they have an office, and sometimes a private prayer room.
14. How old and what education level does one need in order to become a clergyman or -woman?
I don't think there's an age limit. One guy around my age was ordained by my church this year. I believe he was just finishing his degree in...whatever degree it is you need to be a pastor.
15. Have you ever thought of becoming a clergyman or -woman or a monk or a nun?
I don't don't believe we have monks or nuns at our church. I've thought about possibly getting ordained, but I don't plan on becoming a pastor. There wouldn't be any point to it.
16. How old were you when you were baptized in a church?
I don't remember. I've been baptized at least twice. The last time was two years ago, because my church believed in full water baptism. My last baptism was Lutheran, which do sprinkling instead of submersion.
17. Have you ever served as an altar server?
18. Would a Confirmation for a Christian be comparable to a Bar/Bat Mitzvah for Jew?
Not really. A Bar Mitzvah is a rite of passage, an initiation into adulthood. Confirmation is training in the theology of the church. After you're done, then you are allowed to participate in Communion. I believe it is more of a Catholic/Lutheran thing.
19. How big is your church? How many members does it have? How tall is the church? Does it have a parking lot to accommodate the modern luxury of cars? What rooms are there in your church, and who is in charge of what room? (For example, a sacristan would be in charge of a sacristy.)
I'm not sure on the specifics. We're pretty big. Most of the church is two stories. We have a children's building, a small chapel, an auditorium used primarily for the contemporary services today, and a new building. Throughout the whole facility are a variety of rooms used for tons of purposes. Some are used for something different depending on the hour or the day. We have parking, but we do max out on occasion, especially on Easter and Christmas.
EDIT: Also, I don't believe our church has any pews. Chairs are more in style these days, but they do pretty much the same thing.
20. How do you engage in proselytism, or do you rely on professional missionaries/evangelists to proselytize?
I'm still new to this and am not not very comfortable doing it. On one mission trip, we went to the University of Washington to talk to people. I didn't do so well at that. Some had different methods, some holding signs saying "need prayer?" on them, but some people thought that they were asking to be prayed for.
Later, I helped to advertise for a local church by hanging things on people's doorknobs. This was something I felt more comfortable doing, although I was still a little nervous. We had a rule that if people had a sign saying "no soliciting," we would pass them up, although we weren't technically soliciting.
21. Have you ever led people to Jesus just by being in the same room with a non-Christian?
Not that I know of, but I can't be sure of exactly how far my influence has reached. I've been reminded on occasion that people are watching me even when I'm not aware of it. Some who had known me for years, even if not personally, have seen how I've changed. My youth pastor had told me about someone who seemed to think my changes were bizarre and wondered what could have been the cause of it. I'm not sure what became of that person. Never even knew their name.
22. How many non-Christians have you successfully converted?
The correct answer for any Christian should be zero. We don't convert people. We plant the seeds, spreading the Gospel wherever we can, and God is the one who causes them to grow. We could call the seeds that grow our converts, but that puts too much credit on us. In many cases, we never know what happens to those seeds. We share the Gospel with people we never see again.
23. Have you ever become jealous when one of your Christian friends has made more converts than you have?
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Why should I? We're all playing for the same team, aren't we? The pastor may be the one to see people after they've made a decision to convert, but what about the people in the media team who help the pastor be heard clearly throughout the whole room? What about the team of greeters who make guests feel welcome from the moment they walk through the doors? We all work towards the same goal, and we are strengthened by the contributions of others.
