why did you become a christian?

[feral]

just wondering. what reasons motivated you to become a christian? are things better for you now, and are you happy with that choice?

 

[Dawn Marie]

Because I was given my own personal proof that God exists.

Things are not really better for me, no.

But I am glad to finally have something I really believe in.

 

[PuppyforChrist]

I wouldn't say that I was forced into Christianity, but my friends are the reason I became interested in it. They brought me to church and talked with me and helped me understand God better.

I agree with xangelx. It really gives me something to believe in. Things seem so much better for me now that I'm a Christian.

 

[Rafael]

I came through tribulation and the conviction of the Holy Spirit through my conscience to the Lord Jesus. The truth just seemed to smack me upside of the head when I got to about 28 and saw all the world offered and what was real. I wish I could have started out as a younger person with the truth, but I had to learn the hard way. Spiritual things are better in my life, like joy, love, faith, and peace, but there my spirit groans along with the rest of creation in this world of sin and death. Maranatha - Lord come quickly!

 

[Globexgirl]

I started going to a Youth Group because they played monopoly as an extra event one night when all of my friends and I ran out of things to do. After meeting the pastor and kids one of my friends and I decided to start going their. After learning more information and seeing how much they loved God, one day when they were worshipping and I was just clapping along I felt all nervous all of a sudden and my breath started to come short and I just got this really odd sensation. Then I went and prayed with the pastors wife after the meeting without really considering it. I got this huge sense of relief, and I always do when I pray, but the best part is the love I feel when I sing to Him.

I guess I feel better in a lot of ways, aand then it's harder in different ways.

 

[RaptureTicketHolder]

For me, Ive really know nothing else but being a Christian. I was raised in a Baptist Church attending family. It didnt really dawn on me that life was different outside Christianity until I reached middle school. If I was not really close to the Lord before in my life, my draw to Him really kicked in then. High school was even worse.

I believe that as my life with the Lord becomes strong, my challenges are greater. I tackle MORE things and take on more. I struggle with maintaining a closer relationship with the Lord thanks to the busyness of life. If ever there was a back burner, Im sure the Lord has seen it with me. That shames me, but even here and now, Im challenged to tell you so. I love the Lord and I love the promise of the Lord for others. If I chase carrots, thats what Im chasing, that promise for others.



Hey Raphe

Did you come here from the LBMB? I seem to remember the name Maranatha used there.

 

[prince didymus]

There are various reasons, but I guess because I felt that I was called after looking at my life and seeing just how many times I was saved from dangerous situations such as drowning and other stuff.

I had also heard many messages, they really made me think and confirmed that there was more to life than the usual life cycle and that there was someone, the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved me enough to die for my sins and be resurrected all to save my soul from eternal damnation. I remember it hit me in the summer of 2000, it only could've been the conviction of the Holy Spirit because I really didn't know what direction my life was going in.

Good thing that conviction came. It lead me to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and I still love Him despite some of the recent problems I've encountered such as doubt (which honestly I realized I can't do because the Holy Spirit is right there with me).

So all in all I'm with Jesus now and forever no matter what comes up.

 

[Kaye8]

My friends led me to youth group. God did the rest. I finally felt at peace with my life and I finally felt like this is who I actually was and that I wasn't pretending to be someone Im not. The knowledge of the Lord came to me over time and I believe in all of the Bible and am so convicted that Jesusd died for my sins. I would say after becoming a Christian it got a lot harder for me. I started having all kinds of obstacles and its a constant struggle but its ok because the Lord is on my side and gives me peace, strength, comfort, and wisdom. I love him!

 

[Yitzchak]

Two reasons.

• I was afraid of hell
• I saw some good things in christians which I didn't have

[updown] I have no regrets[/updown]

 

[evolisamyth]

I became a Christian because I heard the TRUTH and believed.

I grew up in a Roman Catholic home. Was baptised as a child, went to Church every Sunday, made it into the confession booth as often as I could which added up to rarely, went to Sunday school, did good things, prayed, read through the bible by the age of 12, etc, etc...

Then I started questioning...age 16. Read through the Bible again and found many contraditions to what I'd been taugh and what I'd come to believe about myself, my faith, my destination, my standing with God. Started looking for answers.

I tried may different denominations. Wen I was 29, I was living in N. Carolina. Some ladies from a local church came by our home and invited us to church while I was a work. My wife told me about the invite when I got home. We'd been looking for a church to go to so we went that Sunday.
The preaching that day did the trick...here's where the truth comes in. I learned that I was a sinner (I thought I was not), I learned that it is by faith alone that salvation comes (I thought I had to DO good things), I learned that one had to repet of their sin and turn to Christ Jesus alone for salvation and nothing/no one else. The truth was preached to me that day and the Holy Spirit convicted me by the preaching of the Word of God. I reallized that I had NEVER admitted my sin, NEVER repented of my sin, and NEVER personnaly asked Jesus to forgive me for my sin, and NEVER asked Him to be my Lord and Savior. I admitted that I was a sinner and repented of it. I received and trusted Jesus alone, by faith alone to forgive me of my sin. He saved me that very moment.

Why did I become a Christian? Because it is God's will that none should perish but that all should come to repentance. I believed the TRUTH of God's Word and CHOSE to follow God's will.

God Bless!

 

[Reformationist]

just wondering. what reasons motivated you to become a christian?

The main reason that I became a disciple of Christ is because God, by His regenerative grace, enlightened me to the Truth of His Word. Once enlightened the only thing I could do was acknowledge His Gospel as the Truth. That is not to say that I always am successful at keeping His commandments. It just means that once God enlightens someone to the Truth of His Word they know that it is the Truth and while they may be able to continue to rebel for a season they will come to acknowledge that which their heart already acknowledges as the Truth and start applying it to their life.

are things better for you now

I guess that would depend on your definition of "better." My life has certainly become more God centered and I reap the blessings of communion with my Creator. Christians, just like non-Christians, still struggle with issues but we struggle with them because we strive to be obedient to God. Non-Christians have varying levels of morality but the difference is that the standard that Christians see as THE Standard is regulated by the Word of God in Christ.

and are you happy with that choice?

I am happy that God has had mercy on me and has delivered me from His wrath, of which I was most certainly worthy (His wrath that is).

God bless

 

[nephilimiyr]

From as far back as I can remember my mother had always told me that God made all things and that he loved me. I was raised Roman Catholic but it wasn't until I sat down and read the New Testament that I wanted to be a christian.

I remember very well my first bible. It was a little red pocket New Testament handed out by the Gideons. Their preface to the books caught my eye and I have forever been changed. It said that within these pages lie power and truth and that whoever reads these words will receive this power and the truth.

Now that is why I wanted to become a christian but I didn't become a true christian untill I started to read the New Testament. At first the things I read scared me, I mean with reading out the devil, hell, the weeping and gnashing of teeth plus besides I wasn't feeling very good about myself because I knew I wasn't what I thought of being righteous, at least not in the way the bible said it to be.

Anyway I kept reading it from day to day being more and more interested and wanting more and more to know this man named Jesus and surprisingly when I got to Acts chapter 7 something happend! I was reading about this man named Stephen being stoned to death for what he believed in. I remember feeling very at ease and finding myself believeing totally in the story. And then I read this, Acts 7:56, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. I was filled with this overwhelming sense of love and peace that was just indescribable. I was maybe 12 at the time and remember saying "what is this, what's happening"? I was very confused about it at first but then I started to realize that the Holy Spirit of Jesus just touched me!!!
And it's been a love afair ever since!

 

[Serapha]

Hi feral,

God's love for me was the motivation...

I was raised in the church, but left over the legalisms in my late teens. I made a mess of my life, and I had done all I could do to fix it, and it just wasn't enough.

But when I moved out of the pilot seat and let God take control of my life, my life changed.


Are things better for me now? Yes, I have the assurance of heaven. That means that "spiritually" I am made whole.

Is life better in the material sense? I don't care about the material sense any more. God's supplies everything I need. If he doesn't supply it, then I have found, I don't need it.

What I have that the world doesn't have is the inner peace, the blessed assurance that Jesus is mine, and all is well with my soul. If all my material possessions were gone in a flash, that would be okay.


I have no regrets, not one.

Becoming a Christian doesn't mean that there will never again be trials or temptations. The Apostle John was the disciple whom Jesus loved, and tradition teaches that John was boiled in oil. If the disciple whom Jesus loved was persecuted, why would I think that I would be spared any or all persecution?

Questions?

~malaka~

 

[serendipity79]

I was living a life of sin, although i considered myself to be a genuinely kind person, i did things with total disregard for myself and my girlfriend. She had been a christian, but steered away from it. I had a curiousity growing inside me for a couple of years and finally we started talking about it. we later saw a course offered at our church, it is also offered internationally called alpha. wonderful program to introduce anyone to christianity. i breaks everything down and makes it very easy to understand, it also provides some more concrete evidence than i have seen elsewhere. evidence is important to a non-believer. after this course i invited the holy spirit in, turned away from everything i knew was wrong and have felt great ever since, by the way i am now engaged to that wonderful christian girl and i can't wait to spend my life devoted to jesus with her by my side.

 

[Perry Wade-Carter]

i became a christian because of my now best friend drew tierney. i was forced to go to church went my mother moved in with her boyfriend, his mother kinda adopted my lil bro and i as her own grandchildren and she made us go to church. i thought i would jus go and pretend it all. when i got there i was greeted by all the popular people that hated me at my new school. they all became my close friends. after that i think i thought that there was a God but i didnt know anything about Him. then i started doin things with drew outside of church and i realized how much i wanted what he had with God. i jus prayed and asked God for forgiveness and for Him to teach me what i needed to know and through drew He did. i have done stupid things since i have become a christian and i think God let me make my own mistakes because He knew i learned from every one of them.

 

[water_ripple]

I have finally decided to change my life. I grew up in church and was always fascinated. I've always believed in God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. I've been saved since about the time I could ask and somewhat understand what the concept actually meant. I would sin and ask for forgiveness much to the same avail as a small child "sins". I'd tried to be forgiving, and I have always been a kind-hearted individual. Still there was something lacking in my life although I could never put my finger on it (to use this cliche).
Until now....
Several awful things have occured in my life that for a time I was convinced were going to make me crazy. Not that I had an excellent chilhood, but these days who has, right? All of the sudden my world although minisule in the face of God's plan was turned upon its axis. Along with the birth of my two children, the most joyous and humbling experience of my life, my family started dying off one by one. And believe me, my family comes second only to God. Tradgedy after tragedy an ocean of pain. Most were natural causes except for my cousin. His life was a life of light or so everyone thought. He commited himself to voulnteering to save lives. He seemingly never tired and was there no matter what time of day or night. He was the one that always wore a smile; doing anything to make another happy.
Horribly his father found him on a foggy June morning lying against the planter in the front yard...

Morns and screams filled my morning. We grew up together so closey he was like one of my brothers. Still, I morn for him. Sooo sad and tragic. The bad thing is I know where suicides go. This is a sin one couldn't possibly ask forgiveness.
Surprisingly, I've strenghtened my faith through these tragedies, and decided to turn my face to God for real this time. The left over anger of the situation still burns at me. I know the only release will be to seek Him. I've finally decided that God is not to blame for things that go wrong; He loved us enough to give us all free will to love Him or turn away. I now understand that free will is the best and worst that He has given to us. For if a person was forced into loving God it wouldn't be real, and in God's infinte wisdom I believe this is his reasoning.
So lost in the forest of regret I found Him

 

[RobertM]

Because he first choose me.

 

[abbygirlforever]

I was raised in a Christian home but had walked away from God for a while. I saw Him work in ways I never felt were possible with me in order to bring me back to His side. I can't imagine ever living without Him. It's hard to live this way in the sense of trying to keep away from sin. I'm so glad to belong to Him.

 

[BarbB]

Hi feral,

I can't say that I made a conscious choice to become a Christian.

I was raised Presbyterian, in sunday school until I could play hookie to smoke cigs. Went my own way during college and after. Married a couple of times for the wrong reasons and divorced when it got boring. on and on and on. Finally, a great man dropped in my lap (God uses the most amazing circumstances). We married and I loved him totally. So when he died after 30 excruciating days, I wanted to die also. But if I killed myself I wouldn't go to heaven - right? So I now desired assurance of going to heaven. Also began praying (I had prayed during his illness, but since I didn't know how to pray, I prayed 23rd Psalm and Lord's Prayer remembered from those hazy Sunday School days) for a release from the bitterness I felt. In the meantime I felt DRIVEN to attend church so when to local Episcopal church which had healing services (which really helped - I could cry and wail and everyone prayed over me). Later that summer I felt DRIVEN to read the Bible and guess what - it made sense to me. (It had been jibberish previously). In addition, I was weeping through hymns in church, understanding the sermons because they all had application to my current life, all sorts of "diving appointments". And, best of all, I fell in love with Jesus!!!! and wept at the sacrifice he made for ME at the cross! So Christ kidnapped me and I am his joyful hostage. So much more to tell, but I did not choose to become a Christian - he chose me!!!!

Feral, if you ever feel the urge to read the Bible or go to church, please do so and don't look back. This is the happiest I have been in my life, and yet I have lost my beloved husband, my father died last summer, my sweet dog died this spring, my income has shrunk by 80%, I pay an exhorbitant amount for medical insurance, AND I have never been more alone or more comforted!!!

 

[MsAnne]

My sister-in-law, who is a confirmed atheist, and I had this discussion. She said that as far back as she can remember, she has "known" there was no God.

As for me, as far back as I can remember, I have known beyond a shadow of a doubt that there WAS a God. I knew He loved me and I loved Him. Yes, I have parents who are believers, and I was in church from the start, but my belief was personal. At 12, a Youth Pastor showed me what it was to have a relationship with Christ.

I can't imagine my life without Him. It's who I am. I'm far from perfect. I blow it a LOT, but I know that I know that I know that He loves me, and I am a better person because of it.