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Saturday, 15 November 2008 20:21 |
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I believe in God because I really had no choice. God choose me, not I HIM. I was a horrid wretched person, hating everything and everyone, doing all sorts of occoultish things. Drinking, smoking, you name it i was dong it. I suppose it was to be one the the "cliques" that were so popular back then. I was watching Tv one evening and all that was on was a Billy Graham crusade. I listened and I watched ad the oddest sensation came over me, tears ran down my face, and to make a long story short, I fell "in love", with Jesus , Himself. A lot more happened since then, But I know our God is real, I know He alone saved me from HELL. When Jesus takes hold of your heart and your competely submitted to Him, their is no other way.. I am a "just me"; a woman who loves God more than life itself!! |
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Saturday, 15 November 2008 20:20 |
I believe in God because when I pray God answers ! Over the years, whenever I've needed to know which way to turn, what to do in a particular situation or how to face life's challenges I've prayed and God has answered. Not like a telephone conversation but more subtly, gently; urging and not demanding, leading and not pushing, suggesting and not ordering - and I have never, ever been let down or led wrongly.
I would at one time have described myself as a scientist who believed in a God but now I'm a Christian who understands science. Many years ago I did a physics degree with the Open University, to try and understand how the world worked and as a result can describe 'how' all sorts of things work. However it wasn't until I turned to look at theology I found out the 'why' about the 'how' !
Whilst studying theology I examined the claims made by the bible, and other religious texts, applying what I had learned through my training as an investigator in the police - and as a scientist - to try and find the errors, inconsistencies, mistakes and flaws.
What I found was that the claims made by the bible have to be true, there absolutely is no other credible explanation.
When you add together the cynicism of police officers (we believe nothing that we are ever told because we have been lied to so often), and the inquisitiveness of scientific investigation (never satisfied with the explanation and always looking for more evidence), it is not often that I find anything to to be as it first appeared.
HOWEVER - the claims made in the bible, especially about Jesus, are without doubt accurate and true; there really, really is that amount of persuasive evidence. If you then add personal experience of life, what I have seen and heard, then the only possible conclusion for me is that God exists, his relationship with us over time is accurately described in the bible, and that Jesus is who he claimed to be - the living, breathing, dying, resurrected and living son of God.
It's as simple as this:
When I studied the bible I concluded it had to be true.
When I pray to God - He answers.
or
Truth + Faith = Belief I have been a police officer for nearly 25 years, first in London and now in Manchester. Married with three children, a collie dog and a mortgage. Two legs, two arms one head - usual stuff. |
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Saturday, 15 November 2008 20:18 |
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I believe in God because He has proven himself to me on numerous occasions throughout the 40 years I have walked with Him. Whilst being in the autumn time of my life and through my previous and current careers I have seen many things that are common to life, both good and bad, I have found that God is constantly at my side. In all my tests and trials there has always been an inner-recognition of something far more wonderful than just my own understanding. In the depth of nearly every person I meet I so often find a desire for peace and a longing to know the truith about life and death. I could not live without God and I count it a privilege to say he is my persobnal friend. I have no hesitation in saying that he does exist because I was only talking to him this morning. I am a retired Police Inspector and current Minister in Training. |
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Saturday, 15 November 2008 20:17 |
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I believe in God because ...when I turn to Him I stop worrying and start to enjoy life...abundant life ..
This is because I didn't receive a religion which worked it's way from the outside in by external pressure or manipulation, but I received revelation of God from within as He met me and loved me for who I was and who I am today. Every encounter I've had with Him then and since has been grace-filled and significant, and above all, very real.
All that I experience of God working in myself and others is life changing and transforming, and all satisfyingly backed up in a life changing manual called the bible, which contains God's words but doesn't contain Him. He lives. I've seen enough physical healings and transformed lives to testify to that. Amazing things happen when we pray and begin to recognise how to hear His voice. I no longer call it a coincidence, though continue to be bowled over, whenever He answers prayer.
A misperception comes when people confuse the Christian movement with a religion. The first brings life, the second brings enslavement. As Bill Johnson would say - Jesus never came to start a religion. What he did come to do, - to release humanity from the poverty of sin pain and death, and from separation from God, and release to humanity grace, forgiveness, love, peace and deep joy in a divine exchange, only made possible through the physical event of Jesus' death and resurrection, - marked the beginning of the long fore-planned rule of his kingdom, still on the increase. And this is where we see people literally set free with a new identity, and receiving life renewed and abundant.
A Christian gathering, call it a church service, is a celebration of all of this aswell as a gathering where a community of believers who genuinely want to make a positive difference not only to their own lives but to increasingly disfunctional communities with acts of radical unselfishness, can learn to love, support and encourage each other. That learning process can take a lifetime, but it's never dull, it's guilt - free, anxiety-free, and often an exciting ride. So if you've caught the bus that deludes you into taking another journey, the godless one, you will have missed out on this life, never mind the next... I am a teacher exploring Christian vocation |
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