(March 11, 2014 at 7:08 pm)Deidre32 Wrote:(March 11, 2014 at 7:03 pm)discipulus Wrote: Nah, you have just been duped Deidre. Somewhere along the way you became jaded with Christianity. Since you have never been born again or have experienced what it is like to have a personal intimate relationship with Jesus, this is to be expected.
You grew up in a Christian home maybe. You probably went to church often and sang the songs and read the bible and hung out with friends and had the warm fuzzies on several occassions, but you never saw yourself in desperate need of being saved. You never saw yourself as a sinner. So it follows logically that you would never come to the end of yourself and cry out to be saved from eternal separation from God.
Now you have abandoned Christianity and in order to silence the voice of conviction you rail and rant and rave viciously at anyone who speaks the truth. You try to drown that voice of reason that whispers to you in the innermost part of your being by a multiplicity of words and arguments that you yourself know are simply ridiculous.
By your own admission you have not been born from above and therefore you cannot see the kingdom of God.
Those that do hunger and thirst after righteousness will be filled Deidre.
I believe you hunger now. I believe that is why you are here.
No one has ever talked to me like this. So, why are you here?
I am here for anyone who is willing to hear the truth. I am here because there was a time in my life when I did not care about anyone, even myself. But there were people who loved me even when I was unlovable and they showed me who God was, not by clever arguments or lofty knowledge, but by encouraging me, helping me, listening to my problems, comforting me when I was suffering from depression and a host of other ills. They showed me by their actions what love was. They met me where I was and did not demand anything from me. When I laughed in their faces and cursed their name and their God, they still loved me.
I used to rail against Christians more than anyone here. At one point in time I could make someone like Minimalist look like a saint. I cursed and railed and reviled the name of Christ and anyone who spoke His name.
But despite all of this waywardness, when I needed Jesus the most, He was right there waiting for me.
I did not come to know Him through a philosophical argument or a logical empirical proof. I came to know Him when I took what I knew and said: "God, if you are real, help me."
And Deidre, He did!
