3.18.2005
A Survey
Everyone who is a Christian can point to a specific point where the Light went on, we slapped ourselves on the forehead, and said, "It's true! Every bit of it!" From that moment, our lives were changed forever.
what I'd like to know from a variety of people who've come to this point is how they got there, specifically what was the first trigger that led them down the road that inevitably led their first sincere confession of faith.
Here are the possibilities that I've come up with:
1. The influence of someone in your life who was a sincere believer. This could be a friend, family member, co-worker, whatever. But they have to have been a regular part of your life, and the way that they lived (or changed) as a result of their belief in Jesus Christ had to make an impact on you.
2. A simple presentation of the Gospel. This could be a tract, film, TV show or a sermon you heard when your grandmother dragged you to church on Easter.
3. A deep, painful recognition of your sinfulness. At some point, your life's circumstances got so bad that you came to the conclusion that you either needed to check out or find God. Or something like that.
4. A natural predisposition towards the spiritual. Maybe you dabbled in Eastern religion in the 60's because of the Beatles, or the Wiccan religion because you thought it would be cool to do stuff like Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Or you were a philosophy major in college and studied all the various world religions. Whatever the detail, you just decided to seriously investigate the meaning of life, and you just started to see something different about Christianity.
5. You were raised in a Christian home and were saved at an early age. This could technically fall under #1, but I figure that there are people out there who had more than one person influencing them if they were raised Christian. The point being, that your conversion wasn't as much of a crossroads experience as it was an inevitable consequence of your upbringing. I could be totally off base here. I don't know.
So, if you consider yourself a Christian, let me know what your initial influence was that set you on the path to salvation. Feel free to put in your own scenario, as I'm sure I haven't covered everything.
Thanks.
- posted by The Drake @ 11:30 AM
Comments:
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For me it was a variation of #3, but I wasn't living an overly sinful life at the time. Basically, everything in my life came crashing down at the same time. My job, my academic life, and many of my relationships. For someone who was dealing with late teen / early 20's angst anyway, it was particularly brutal. I'm not going to go into graphic details about it, but basically I had no where else to turn, so I decided to check out this God thing (I was an athiest at the time). That started me down the road of belief, a road I continue to travel down and struggle with. In the end, though, I believe it will be worth the struggle, and the load is light compared to the struggle of non-belief I experienced.
Excellent post, sir.
Excellent post, sir.
God came into my life in a way that I will never forget.
my father was diagnosed with a terminal illness. he and i were very close. i truly believed God needed him. and that my true test was growing up and becoming my own man without him acting as my guide. God knew how much i depended on him, but if i were to make it in this world, i'd have to go it 2-fold; 1) while going on my faith in God and 2) without my biological father fighing my battles or helping make key decisions in my life.
Later in life, I met a woman who I admittedly treated like dirt. she just kept coming back. I then relized that this woman truly loved and cared for me. she more than anyone i'd ever been with before. ( as if anyone ever did before? )
I knew that God sent her to pick me up when i was clearly going downhill fast.
In conclusion; God gave me great parents; a loving mother and father. took my hero, only then to introduce love to me once again through her.
I now have God, my faith in Him and unconditional love from my wife, children, family and friends.
If you let God in the door, remarkable things happen.
my father was diagnosed with a terminal illness. he and i were very close. i truly believed God needed him. and that my true test was growing up and becoming my own man without him acting as my guide. God knew how much i depended on him, but if i were to make it in this world, i'd have to go it 2-fold; 1) while going on my faith in God and 2) without my biological father fighing my battles or helping make key decisions in my life.
Later in life, I met a woman who I admittedly treated like dirt. she just kept coming back. I then relized that this woman truly loved and cared for me. she more than anyone i'd ever been with before. ( as if anyone ever did before? )
I knew that God sent her to pick me up when i was clearly going downhill fast.
In conclusion; God gave me great parents; a loving mother and father. took my hero, only then to introduce love to me once again through her.
I now have God, my faith in Him and unconditional love from my wife, children, family and friends.
If you let God in the door, remarkable things happen.
# posted by 
: 3/18/2005 02:57:00 PM
: 3/18/2005 02:57:00 PM
Oooh, you know, you're going to have to watch your superlatives, because I am definitely not among the "everyone" who can cite a specific point. For me, it starts with #5 - childlike acceptance and trust of the foundational beliefs taught to me by my mom, my Sunday school teachers, and my pastor; genuine experience of God's presence, love, and care for me as a child.
As I entered young adulthood, #1 was key. A lot of people who experience #5 walk away on their 18th birthday, more or less, and never look back. So having people I respected and cared about consistently modeling faith was really crucial during that 18-25 time of life.
As an adult, there is an ongoing cycle of #2 and #3 and back to #2: hearing the gospel regularly at church or seeing it in the lives of friends or reading it for myself in the Bible, seeing myself fall short of God's glory again and again, then being reminded that his "grace is sufficient for me; for [his] power is made perfect in weakness," that the gospel is not about my (in)ability to bring myself up to God's level.
It's not an endless cycle with no progress, but definitely a humbling journey, or in the words of a famous theologian whose name suddenly escapes my brain cells, "a long obedience in the same direction."
As I entered young adulthood, #1 was key. A lot of people who experience #5 walk away on their 18th birthday, more or less, and never look back. So having people I respected and cared about consistently modeling faith was really crucial during that 18-25 time of life.
As an adult, there is an ongoing cycle of #2 and #3 and back to #2: hearing the gospel regularly at church or seeing it in the lives of friends or reading it for myself in the Bible, seeing myself fall short of God's glory again and again, then being reminded that his "grace is sufficient for me; for [his] power is made perfect in weakness," that the gospel is not about my (in)ability to bring myself up to God's level.
It's not an endless cycle with no progress, but definitely a humbling journey, or in the words of a famous theologian whose name suddenly escapes my brain cells, "a long obedience in the same direction."
Loving the feedback. Good stories.
Sara, you are the second person in as many days to bust me on sloppy writing. However, thank you for being gentle.
What I meant to say is that I BELIEVE that every Christian has a single moment/event where they either knowingly enter the Kingdom of Heaven or come to the realization that surrending their life to Christ is really the only legitimate option.
I was really curious about people's perceptions about what in God's sovereignty put them on the path to their personal epiphany.
Time to share my story. I am about to celebrate the 26th anniversary of my epiphany moment. I was partying over at a friend's apartment (dropping acid and smoking dope), and we were watching Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth. It hit me during the scene where Jesus is left behind at the temple in Jerusalem at age 12 and there was this close up as he said to Mary, "Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business?" (Luke 2:49) This may have been the drugs, but I remember these piercing eyes practically jumping off the television screen and looking right into my soul. Freaky. I had to leave and sober up.
This event was preceded by a very strange series of conversions among partying friends and relatives. There were at least five different people with whom I used to party and whose behavior and priorities radically changed in front of my eyes in the space of a little over a year.
I prayed to God that night as I wandered around town, but it was a few months before the recognition of the depth and futility of my sin forced me to stop playing games with the revelation I had been granted. I don't really have any dates, except Aug. 4, 1979, when I made my first altar call to 'give' my life to Christ.
But, for me, it was definitely the impact of people I knew, or Option #1.
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Sara, you are the second person in as many days to bust me on sloppy writing. However, thank you for being gentle.
What I meant to say is that I BELIEVE that every Christian has a single moment/event where they either knowingly enter the Kingdom of Heaven or come to the realization that surrending their life to Christ is really the only legitimate option.
I was really curious about people's perceptions about what in God's sovereignty put them on the path to their personal epiphany.
Time to share my story. I am about to celebrate the 26th anniversary of my epiphany moment. I was partying over at a friend's apartment (dropping acid and smoking dope), and we were watching Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth. It hit me during the scene where Jesus is left behind at the temple in Jerusalem at age 12 and there was this close up as he said to Mary, "Did you not know that I must be about my Father's business?" (Luke 2:49) This may have been the drugs, but I remember these piercing eyes practically jumping off the television screen and looking right into my soul. Freaky. I had to leave and sober up.
This event was preceded by a very strange series of conversions among partying friends and relatives. There were at least five different people with whom I used to party and whose behavior and priorities radically changed in front of my eyes in the space of a little over a year.
I prayed to God that night as I wandered around town, but it was a few months before the recognition of the depth and futility of my sin forced me to stop playing games with the revelation I had been granted. I don't really have any dates, except Aug. 4, 1979, when I made my first altar call to 'give' my life to Christ.
But, for me, it was definitely the impact of people I knew, or Option #1.
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