[Professor Chaos]

ForGodSoLovedTheWorld wrote

Professor Chaos, RE: the books I read, I don't really remember everything I read, but I used to read a lot of new age and self-help books. One of them was "Messages from Michael", and the follow-up to that book from the same author(s), as well as some other new age books I don't specifically recall.

Wait...these books CHANGED YOUR LIFE FOREVER...and you don't even remember their names? WTF?

I understand the importance for you to insist that this is my belief, but the reality for ME as a follower of Jesus Christ, is that I KNOW Him to exist. Belief implies doubt. And I have no doubt.

The most learned and respected Christians in the world will tell you just how wrong this is. The most learned and respected psychiatrists in the world will tell you something different.

1.) The answer is basically my testimony and I will try hard to keep it short. Even though I was raised Catholic, as I got older I stopped believing in Jesus Christ, and for a while I didn't believe (or rather, didn't WANT to believe) that there was a God.

Big difference.

I didn't believe that Jesus was God, and for a long time I decided that he never really existed, that it was just a nice little story someone made up. A lot of things happened that led up to the moment that I was born again, but to make a long story short, I met someone who said they used to be an atheist, and they were now a Christian after watching "passion of the Christ".

I hope that person is now in Bellvue.

That intrigued me, and several months later I decided to finally watch it. I did and thats when I realized that Jesus was really real.

You've got to be fucking kidding me.

2.) Jesus paid for our sins when He died on the cross. His death was an atoning death, because He was sinless, perfect and literally God incarnate, His death on the cross atoned for the sin of every human being who ever lived and who ever would. Why? Because He is the perfect and precious Son of the God who created the immense universe and everything that exists as we know it (and so much more we don't know or understand).

That doesn't make the tiniest bit of sense. In fact, no Christian has ever been able to explain this to me, and I don't expect someone who claims to have converted because of a Mel Gibson movie to be able to do it. Why did God need to impregnate a virgin with himself and then kill himself in order to forgive someone born 2,000 years later for something they haven't yet done, but will do because some naked chick ate an apple she wasn't supposed to after a snake told her to?

3.) He paid God, the Father, for the sins of us all.

So he paid himself?

I was born and raised Catholic, and departed from the religion when I was about 18. I was an atheist for a while, an agonistic before and after, because I was searching and confused. I was very, very far from God. I used to go out of my way to mock Christians and Christianity. I actually used to have a website where I made fun of Christianity. I would scan in Chick tracts and cut out all the words and replace them with my own, mocking everything Christianity stood for. I actually had quite a few atheist friends, who were as amused as I was by my website. I say "had" because once I became born again it didn't take long for those friendships to completely erode. Because they're my friends and I cared about them, I witnessed to them and needless to say that went over like a lead balloon. Not to mention how my political views changed from night to day. Sorry you don't believe me but its a true story. Much like your choice to reject the one and only Sovereign Lord, you don't need to believe it for it to be true.

What was the website?

That's okay, I don't live to please man, I live to please the Lord. And by the way, nowhere in the bible does it say to treat people how they want to be treated. Here's what the bible says: "Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching." (2 Timothy 4:2)

Holy shit, a Fundy that's never even heard of the Golden God-fucking Rule!