what made you become a Christian?

StormWarrior · 10-12-2007 5:59pm #1

I was just wondering what the title says really. How did you come to your faith, by logic or revelation? And do you believe the bible word for word, or think that some bits were added and some left out over the years?

kelly1 · 11-12-2007 1:29pm

StormWarrior wrote: »

I was just wondering what the title says really. How did you come to your faith, by logic or revelation? And do you believe the bible word for word, or think that some bits were added and some left out over the years?

Hello SW, I became a Christian when I was baptized as a baby. Oops here comes a crowd to slam infant baptism...

During my teens I left the Church mainly due to my attraction to sin but also because of my lack of knowledge of the faith. After a trip to Lourdes I very suddently regained my faith in the Catholic Church (which had long since vanished). So I would consider this conversion a miracle of God's grace. I think it was more a revelation than a logical conclusion.

And yes there are many erroneous translations of the bible around. The bible though, is essentially though the story of God's covenants with the human race and should not be treated like a science or history book. It contains spiritual truths.

God bless,
Noel.

BrianCalgary · 11-12-2007 4:01pm

Someone explained to me God's plan of salcvation. I had been raised in the Anglican Church of Canada, been baptised as a baby, took confirmation but never really understood what it all meant ort what it was for.

Baptised at the age of 37 after coming to the realization that baptism was an act of obedience to Christ.

Have been serving Him now for over 10 years and it is great.

I take the Bible as the literal word of God, who inspred men to write it. It conveys truths about life and how to live it. It talks about the history of God's people and His interventions into man's affairs and history. It tells of the character of God and the character of man and Satan.

It also tells of God's unfolding plan of reconciliation to mankind and how it is done and how it finishes up.

BanzaiBk · 11-12-2007 4:18pm

Baptised ruorthodox by my parents when I was born. I would describe myself more as a Christian these days though. I don't believe the bible word for word, but prefer to concentrate on my personal relationship with God and living my life according to the "Golden Rule" i.e. treat others how you would like them to treat you. My knowledge of scripture is very limited.

izzyflusky · 15-12-2007 4:05am

I've been born in a christian family (although my da is not saved or anything) so yeah, pretty much i went to church every sunday when I was a kid. Then I turned into a teenager and wanted to do whatever I wanted so I stopped going to church and forgot about everything i have been thought during my whole life.
One day though a pastor from a baptist churched knocked on my door (my ma is a baptist too). I wasnt interested but my ma wanted to go to church and since she doesnt speak english she wanted me to go with her (we are not irish obviously). Anyway, I went just to make her happy but something kind of clicked inside. I had lots of question that could only be answered if I went to church, until one day I understood the concept of being saved, and asked the Lord as my personal saviour (again) but this time undertanding the full meaning of it. A few weeks ago I got baptised, and my boyfriend also got saved a few months ago.:)

Fanny Cradock · 15-12-2007 3:10pm

izzyflusky wrote: »

I've been born in a christian family (although my da is not saved or anything) so yeah, pretty much i went to church every sunday when I was a kid. Then I turned into a teenager and wanted to do whatever I wanted so I stopped going to church and forgot about everything i have been thought during my whole life.
One day though a pastor from a baptist churched knocked on my door (my ma is a baptist too). I wasnt interested but my ma wanted to go to church and since she doesnt speak english she wanted me to go with her (we are not irish obviously). Anyway, I went just to make her happy but something kind of clicked inside. I had lots of question that could only be answered if I went to church, until one day I understood the concept of being saved, and asked the Lord as my personal saviour (again) but this time undertanding the full meaning of it. A few weeks ago I got baptised, and my boyfriend also got saved a few months ago.:)

I could have written that myself

Owen · 15-12-2007 3:14pm

Was conditioned into it by my Parents, but I'm not Christian/Catholic anymore. I still respect those who are though.

SubjectSean · 15-12-2007 5:47pm

Baptised early on by force, the same as most I'd imagine. "Quick, get him, before he learns how to reason"

philologos · 16-12-2007 12:15pm

If you want an answer to this. I'd say out of curiosity, I wanted to find out what Christianity was all about. I must say I was pleasantly surprised finishing the 66 book Canon, I'm still finishing the last bit of the Apocrypha. I must say now, it was the best thing that I have ever done. It seems funny that reading a book could be the best thing that I ever done, but it helped me put my life into perspective by placing it into the days of old and the continuing traditions which led on from the Christian faith.

I'm currently reading C.S Lewis' Signature Classics at the minute, they seem to be well reasoned so far.

Splendour · 16-12-2007 3:31pm

izzyflusky wrote: »

I've been born in a christian family (although my da is not saved or anything) so yeah, pretty much i went to church every sunday when I was a kid. Then I turned into a teenager and wanted to do whatever I wanted so I stopped going to church and forgot about everything i have been thought during my whole life.
One day though a pastor from a baptist churched knocked on my door (my ma is a baptist too). I wasnt interested but my ma wanted to go to church and since she doesnt speak english she wanted me to go with her (we are not irish obviously). Anyway, I went just to make her happy but something kind of clicked inside. I had lots of question that could only be answered if I went to church, until one day I understood the concept of being saved, and asked the Lord as my personal saviour (again) but this time undertanding the full meaning of it. A few weeks ago I got baptised, and my boyfriend also got saved a few months ago.:)

Hey izzyflusky,what an encouraging post!
I love to hear stories like this, gives me such hope for family and friends who are not believers. I pray that someday my children have reason to write something similar...

Sallers · 18-12-2007 12:02am

I was baptised as an infant, obviously not given much of a choice but it stuck pretty well-im in my fifth year of theology in college. in answer to the question about believing the bible word for word, treat it not as a tall story but as a deep story. certainly there are parts which require a lot of imagination, but it serves the same purpose as other ancient 'stories'; it gives us a history, a background and a meaning to our fath. it gives believers a sense of belonging, community, tradition and a shared history. i may not believe everything, but its comforting to have that sense of history.

PDN · 18-12-2007 12:04am

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

I could have written that myself

Hopefully excepting the bit about your boyfriend getting saved

JimiTime · 18-12-2007 12:37am

i have my Parents to thank. I was never baptised as a baby or brought to any church. I was given christian values, and from an early age reasoned the scriptures with my family. Always encouraged to question and think and reason. Such a great upbringing still didn't stop a bit of teenage rebellion, but I found myself again when the hormones died down:). Still searching and asking questions to this day. Love God and Love your neighbour, on these two things my principles rest, and in this 'golden rule' my reasoning is.

Fanny Cradock · 18-12-2007 12:55am

PDN wrote: »

Hopefully excepting the bit about your boyfriend getting saved

He's so dreamy!

izzyflusky · 18-12-2007 1:05am

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

He's so dreamy!

HAHAHAHAHA.

I know its not what the post is about but I need to tell some1! Just got back from a xmas dinner with my church. Invited my boyfriend's parents to come. They are catholics and think I'm in some sort of cult, but of course they don't say that to me, just behind my bk lol. Anywho, I was very nervous, and nobody talked in the car which made it even worse cuz they usually won't stop talking. They seemed to have a great time at the end. But with them you can never tell!! I believe God has a plan for my boyfriend's family, so hopefully they truely liked it! And come back!
Yous can go bk to the topic, and if anyone is interested I can tell them how my boyfriend got saved hehehehe.

BrianCalgary · 18-12-2007 3:59pm

well izzy, that is a praise item.

The party in Heaven over that.

ryoishin · 19-12-2007 1:39am

Not sure really. No great conversion like St Paul or anything. My family are nt really religious except my gran. When it came to the leaving cert I went to an interview for a theology course and it sounded ok. I then decided that the course was to "make you a religion teacher" and opted to go the Milltown Ins of thoelogy and philosophy instead and spent 4 years doing theology and pastoral care (and a year of philosophy) and found a very systematic approach to faith. I found that it rested well with me and I enjoyed the alive theology i learnt. it was nt like the bible says this, but if God is good then .... and this can be illustrated in scripture. I also learnt alot about what Catholicism isnt that people think it is. And I suppose it grew from there. It helped that i was 18 and maturing.

solsqeez · 30-12-2007 2:33pm

I was atheist for years until I thought about what benefit this position
gave me. Atheism is a belief unprovable similar to any religion. I don't
believe in the Santa Claus God. I don't believe that the "I" continues to
exist as itself in heaven after the body dies. But I saw much value in the
teachings of Christianity. How can I enjoy and take part in this wonderfull
religious tradition without also excepting its magical thinking.

I started by seeing the Church as a piece of romantic culture. Im my
opinion The Bible is a book of poetry, of metaphors and stories not to be
taken literally and Church customs such as holy water are just traditions.
But these traditions, customs, stories and metaphors are all a necessary
part of the Christian web.

To talk about my beliefs seperate to magical thinking Christians I will call
myself a postmodern Christian.

Postmodern Christians in when they speak of God are just using a
different set of language to modernist agnostics and materialists. So
when the materialist talks of "all that is" (as apposed to the
universe when of course there could be many universes), the Christian
would talk of God or the Holy Spirit ("as it was in the beginning, is
now, and ever shall be"). When the materialist speaks of a theoretical
human who lives a perfect moral life based on reason, the Christian
would say Jesus. When the materialist theorises on what has come
before and philosophises on the meaning of life, the Christian would
say God or "God the Father" as in God the noun = the verb of
theorising on what came before. Because lets face it there can never be
any empirical proof to the meaning of life so why wast all your energy!

Christianity is a religion, if you don't like the word religion, its a
system of teachings and culture for living an efficient life. Lets say
religions are like an operating system, the Postmodern Christian
recognises that there are many operating systems, Windows/Linux/Mac,
Christianity/Hinduism/Atheism. They conflict if more than one is
running simultaneously on an individual, but when only one is running,
it doesn't matter which, the system works smoothly. At a time one OS
could be more suited to an individual than another, and thereby more
efficient. This doesn't stop the individual from re-booting another OS
if one needs to, maybe to have dialogue with someone using a different
OS, then re-booting back again to their old OS.

I believe in the core princibles of Christian teaching and I intend to work to
deepen my understanding and practice of the universal love at the heart
of those principles. I am now proud to call myself a Christian.

what made you become a Christian?

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