Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Testimony: Learning to Follow Jesus
At first, I was on top of the world once I crossed the line of faith. Everything about life just seemed better as a follower of Christ. Since then, I’ve had some struggles and have felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit when I’ve messed up, but I know now that God is with me no matter how stupid and selfish I can get. Family is incredibly important to me and when Dee Dee crossed the line of faith it was one of the best days of my entire life. I could barely contain my joy that the woman I love with all my heart is now a follower of Christ. I know I have a long way to go before I will be anywhere close to being the Christian I want to be. I am still learning how to be a follower of Christ and He has already made clear some of the changes I need to make. It’s a lifelong commitment, and like any relationship it takes time and effort to grow. I have faith that as long as I stay committed to my relationship with God, He will show me the way and show me what I can do to serve Him and glorify Him with my life. I’m not there yet, but I will do my best to follow the path He lays out for me all the days of my life.
Tesimony: Finding Jesus
When my wife Dee Dee got an iPod and started watching some religious podcasts, I got curious about what I could find on iTunes. I hadn’t been to church in a long time apart from watching Mass on EWTN, and maybe I could honor God without having to get up early on Sunday morning. I noticed there was a church from South Carolina on there called NewSpring, and I decided to listen to one of their podcasts. I was hooked after one episode, and kept downloading more. I learned more about God in a few weeks than I had learned in decades of going to church. I started reading the Bible again, and felt like I was finally on the right track. After awhile, I even went back to church, but it felt empty and lifeless.
Soon after that, I came across an article about this new church called The Link. I liked that they had an emphasis on serving the community and told Dee Dee about it. We took a leap of faith and attended the first official service of The Link. We liked what we saw and our kids liked it too. We weren’t completely convinced yet, but we decided to keep attending. Early on, the pastor, Mike Green, talked about all the evidence that pointed toward the Bible being the truth and not just a bunch of stories that people made up when they were bored.
I found three pieces of evidence especially compelling. The first was the sheer number of Old Testament prophecies that were fulfilled in the life of Jesus. I don’t know the number now, but I was astonished when I heard. The second point was that there is no witness you can trust like a dead witness. Almost everyone who followed Christ when He was alive ended up dying for their beliefs later on. The only reason I can believe that they would do that is because they had absolute faith in God through witnessing the life and works of His Son.
The third point was an observation made by C.S. Lewis, who had extensively studied ancient literature. The Gospels were not written in the style of ancient literature. They were written in the style of modern realistic novels, where people’s foibles and mistakes are shown along with their good qualities. The heroes of ancient literature are heroic and perfect, never making mistakes, or are almost perfect except for one huge thing which brings about their downfall. Apart from Christ, the “main characters” of the Gospel are portrayed in all their flaws, with Peter in particular putting his foot in his mouth on a regular basis. Extending this further, great figures of the Bible like Moses, Aaron, David and Solomon are also portrayed as flawed. The truth doesn’t use the literary conventions of the time. After hearing this amazing sermon, doubts I didn’t know I had finally disappeared and soon after I gave my life to Christ.
Soon after that, I came across an article about this new church called The Link. I liked that they had an emphasis on serving the community and told Dee Dee about it. We took a leap of faith and attended the first official service of The Link. We liked what we saw and our kids liked it too. We weren’t completely convinced yet, but we decided to keep attending. Early on, the pastor, Mike Green, talked about all the evidence that pointed toward the Bible being the truth and not just a bunch of stories that people made up when they were bored.
I found three pieces of evidence especially compelling. The first was the sheer number of Old Testament prophecies that were fulfilled in the life of Jesus. I don’t know the number now, but I was astonished when I heard. The second point was that there is no witness you can trust like a dead witness. Almost everyone who followed Christ when He was alive ended up dying for their beliefs later on. The only reason I can believe that they would do that is because they had absolute faith in God through witnessing the life and works of His Son.
The third point was an observation made by C.S. Lewis, who had extensively studied ancient literature. The Gospels were not written in the style of ancient literature. They were written in the style of modern realistic novels, where people’s foibles and mistakes are shown along with their good qualities. The heroes of ancient literature are heroic and perfect, never making mistakes, or are almost perfect except for one huge thing which brings about their downfall. Apart from Christ, the “main characters” of the Gospel are portrayed in all their flaws, with Peter in particular putting his foot in his mouth on a regular basis. Extending this further, great figures of the Bible like Moses, Aaron, David and Solomon are also portrayed as flawed. The truth doesn’t use the literary conventions of the time. After hearing this amazing sermon, doubts I didn’t know I had finally disappeared and soon after I gave my life to Christ.
Testimony: Life Before Jesus
I was raised Catholic and went to church every Sunday. It was pretty boring, but I still wanted to try to be good and do what God wanted me to do. After all, I didn’t want to go to Hell! I read two translations of the Bible as a teenager, reading four pages a day. I figured taking the time to read the Bible would probably earn me some brownie points toward Heaven or something. In college my church attendance was still decent but started to waver. By the time I had to start taking on adult responsibilities, I was often “too tired” to get up and go to church. I still believed in God, but I just couldn’t seem to make myself go every Sunday.
NOTE: While I myself always found it difficult to stay focused during Catholic mass, I am not dismissing the value of the Catholic Church. The reverent, formalized approach to worship is exactly what some people need in order to form a relationship with Christ and give their lives to Him. I believe God has allowed today’s many versions of Christianity to exist for two reasons: 1) so that people of many different personalities coming from many different walks of life can find Him; and 2) so that Christ’s prediction of false prophets would come true, as there are some churches or evangelists who claim Christ but preach something else entirely, such as wealth for all who believe.
NOTE: While I myself always found it difficult to stay focused during Catholic mass, I am not dismissing the value of the Catholic Church. The reverent, formalized approach to worship is exactly what some people need in order to form a relationship with Christ and give their lives to Him. I believe God has allowed today’s many versions of Christianity to exist for two reasons: 1) so that people of many different personalities coming from many different walks of life can find Him; and 2) so that Christ’s prediction of false prophets would come true, as there are some churches or evangelists who claim Christ but preach something else entirely, such as wealth for all who believe.
Testimony
I was recently baptized, after about six months of arguing with God that I didn't need to be baptized, and then waiting another six months after He won the argument. Being Catholic by birth, I was baptized as a baby, so it took awhile for me to understand that this public declaration of faith was necessary. I had to write my testimony before being baptized. I wanted to share my testimony on this blog, but it is a little wordy so I'm splitting it across multiple posts.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Link to Jesus
All my life, I wanted to get close to God, but I could never figure out how. I grew up Catholic, and while I agree with a lot of what the Catholic Church says, I could never figure out what exactly I was supposed to do to get into heaven. Pray a lot? Read the Bible? Go to church every Sunday? Go to confession every time I did something wrong? The truth is, I could have done all those things and still never found Jesus.
Meanwhile, I heard a lot of other voices proclaiming Christianity on TV and elsewhere, but a lot of them didn't ring true--especially when they promised that God would make you rich! Like a lot of people, I also got turned off when I met people who seemed so Godly on Sunday but would turn into the devil on Monday.
It wasn't until the past couple years that I found churches with real people proclaiming the real Word of God. I found churches like The Link in Beaufort (who inspired the blog's name) where normal people could go and learn about God without having to pretend to be someone they're not, and where the preacher is completely honest about his own failings. Some of them I've only experienced through podcasts, but what amazes me is how I keep hearing the same things over and over preached by different preachers. Why are all these different churches preaching the same things?
Because they're preaching the truth.
While I'm not a preacher or anything, my heart's desire is to glorify God with my writing. Since I'm not going to be writing any bestsellers anytime soon, I figured a blog would be a good way to start. I hope God can use this blog as a link to help bring someone closer to Him, but that's in His hands. Remember that God loves you no matter what you've done and no matter what you do. You don't have to be "churchy" to follow Christ. You just have to love Him and be willing to commit your life to following Him.
Meanwhile, I heard a lot of other voices proclaiming Christianity on TV and elsewhere, but a lot of them didn't ring true--especially when they promised that God would make you rich! Like a lot of people, I also got turned off when I met people who seemed so Godly on Sunday but would turn into the devil on Monday.
It wasn't until the past couple years that I found churches with real people proclaiming the real Word of God. I found churches like The Link in Beaufort (who inspired the blog's name) where normal people could go and learn about God without having to pretend to be someone they're not, and where the preacher is completely honest about his own failings. Some of them I've only experienced through podcasts, but what amazes me is how I keep hearing the same things over and over preached by different preachers. Why are all these different churches preaching the same things?
Because they're preaching the truth.
While I'm not a preacher or anything, my heart's desire is to glorify God with my writing. Since I'm not going to be writing any bestsellers anytime soon, I figured a blog would be a good way to start. I hope God can use this blog as a link to help bring someone closer to Him, but that's in His hands. Remember that God loves you no matter what you've done and no matter what you do. You don't have to be "churchy" to follow Christ. You just have to love Him and be willing to commit your life to following Him.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)