runefx
May 22nd, 2007, 07:31 AM
Hello, all...it's truly wonderful to be in a Christian community.
I've been on RaptureReady for months, although I've only joined the community yesterday. Let me introduce myself - I've gone through a tumultuous spiritual journey since about three and a half years ago.
I am from a non-Christian family. I'm Asian and was only ever exposed to some form of Buddhism (on my mother's behalf - my father never really paid attention to that sort of thing) growing up. Thus, for the first ten or so years of my life, I was an atheist with a bias against - big surprise - Christianity. When I was about eight, I actually remember thinking to myself, out of the blue, "God doesn't really exist, does He?" Satan's influence is terrifying. Yes, as a callow eight year old the thought randomly popped into my head. When I was nine, I remember an episode where I recoiled at a girl saying that Christmas was about the birth of Jesus; I was angry and thought to myself, "No, it's about the spirit of giving."
Naturally, I never thought of God, nor of heaven and hell. Because I was so utterly lost, I struggled with some issues I'd rather not mention now at the young age of ten (I'm thirteen now, about to turn fourteen). I'll say that I was extremely caught up in the pleasures of life, not regarding any morals that I may or may not have had.
Everything changed later on that year after I saw a program on the existence of God. The man asked something along the lines of "How could there be no God?" and I was instantly "converted". Surprising for an atheist, but I was only ten years old and though immature, I was impressionable. I started "praying" to "God" - just lying in bed and talking. The notions of sin, repentance, forgiveness, and Christ never occurred to me. I didn't know about them. I was still lost, but I was now conscious of the fact that God is out there.
I fell away from my so-called faith. I gave in to the same sinful issues I'd been involved in before. Even so, I was still aware of God - that there was some God out there - I knew that if I died, I would go to hell. I kept on going about my soiled life. In addition to that, I was incredibly biased against Christianity. I used to be supportive of homosexuality (among other sins - I know that it is just another sin) and thought Christians to be close-minded idiots. I hated whenever a Christian shared his or her faith. Yet, the God I knew existed was a Christian god - demonic powers, indeed, permeated me.
My spiritual warfare took another turn several months later. This time, I ran into the Jehovah's Witnesses cult. They are keen on spreading their religion, and I found a book of theirs at my cousin's home. It was titled "Learning From the Great Teacher" - my first exposure to Jesus. I decided to read it and from there was made aware of Him. I believe that led to my confession. However, I was still convinced of a saved-by-works doctrine (maybe I was saved back then, I don't know). I went around trying to act out JW ideals (such as believing in the false notion that only 144,000 have a place in the highest heaven, or whatever it is). Nonetheless, I started to read the Bible from Genesis. I was using the NIV (JW version), but at least I was reading. I also knew that I wasn't spreading the religion like JWs were supposed to do.
One day, I got a bad pain in my chest, and decided that, in order for God to take the pain away (and thus prevent me from dying and going down south), I had to spread the word - about Jesus and the need for salvation. Interestingly, I don't think I identified with a JW, even if I followed their doctrine. I went to my then-seven year old cousin's home.
Sorry for the incredibly long story of my life...I needed to get it down somehow. Alas, this is not the end! I intend to finish my story. By the way, nice to meet everyone. I'm sure I'll be meeting some of you later on. :hug
I've been on RaptureReady for months, although I've only joined the community yesterday. Let me introduce myself - I've gone through a tumultuous spiritual journey since about three and a half years ago.
I am from a non-Christian family. I'm Asian and was only ever exposed to some form of Buddhism (on my mother's behalf - my father never really paid attention to that sort of thing) growing up. Thus, for the first ten or so years of my life, I was an atheist with a bias against - big surprise - Christianity. When I was about eight, I actually remember thinking to myself, out of the blue, "God doesn't really exist, does He?" Satan's influence is terrifying. Yes, as a callow eight year old the thought randomly popped into my head. When I was nine, I remember an episode where I recoiled at a girl saying that Christmas was about the birth of Jesus; I was angry and thought to myself, "No, it's about the spirit of giving."
Naturally, I never thought of God, nor of heaven and hell. Because I was so utterly lost, I struggled with some issues I'd rather not mention now at the young age of ten (I'm thirteen now, about to turn fourteen). I'll say that I was extremely caught up in the pleasures of life, not regarding any morals that I may or may not have had.
Everything changed later on that year after I saw a program on the existence of God. The man asked something along the lines of "How could there be no God?" and I was instantly "converted". Surprising for an atheist, but I was only ten years old and though immature, I was impressionable. I started "praying" to "God" - just lying in bed and talking. The notions of sin, repentance, forgiveness, and Christ never occurred to me. I didn't know about them. I was still lost, but I was now conscious of the fact that God is out there.
I fell away from my so-called faith. I gave in to the same sinful issues I'd been involved in before. Even so, I was still aware of God - that there was some God out there - I knew that if I died, I would go to hell. I kept on going about my soiled life. In addition to that, I was incredibly biased against Christianity. I used to be supportive of homosexuality (among other sins - I know that it is just another sin) and thought Christians to be close-minded idiots. I hated whenever a Christian shared his or her faith. Yet, the God I knew existed was a Christian god - demonic powers, indeed, permeated me.
My spiritual warfare took another turn several months later. This time, I ran into the Jehovah's Witnesses cult. They are keen on spreading their religion, and I found a book of theirs at my cousin's home. It was titled "Learning From the Great Teacher" - my first exposure to Jesus. I decided to read it and from there was made aware of Him. I believe that led to my confession. However, I was still convinced of a saved-by-works doctrine (maybe I was saved back then, I don't know). I went around trying to act out JW ideals (such as believing in the false notion that only 144,000 have a place in the highest heaven, or whatever it is). Nonetheless, I started to read the Bible from Genesis. I was using the NIV (JW version), but at least I was reading. I also knew that I wasn't spreading the religion like JWs were supposed to do.
One day, I got a bad pain in my chest, and decided that, in order for God to take the pain away (and thus prevent me from dying and going down south), I had to spread the word - about Jesus and the need for salvation. Interestingly, I don't think I identified with a JW, even if I followed their doctrine. I went to my then-seven year old cousin's home.
Sorry for the incredibly long story of my life...I needed to get it down somehow. Alas, this is not the end! I intend to finish my story. By the way, nice to meet everyone. I'm sure I'll be meeting some of you later on. :hug