Christianity - How I became a ChristianWhat links here?
God caused me to realize that I needed to accept Jesus the Christ as my savior when I was 20 years old.

I wasn't a bad person. I didn't use drugs or get drunk. I didn't engage in promiscuous sex. I did what my parents asked, and what they expected. I studied hard in school. Doing 'the right thing' was very important to me. So why was I sinner? Why did I have to accept Christ as my savior? For the same reason everyone else does: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God", (Romans 3:23). The bottom line is that each of us has rejected God from being God in our lives.

When Adam and Eve lived in the garden of Eden, they had it made. They didn't have to work hard, had plenty of good food, had nice walks in the garden with God. But somehow that was not enough. Maybe something about God being in authority over them, even though he never asked them to do anything difficult or unpleasant, rankled them. The evil one, Satan, having himself already rebelled against God, stirred the pot, and they did the one thing the Bible records God prohibiting them from doing. But before they did that, they must have decided to reject God.

The concept of substitution may be said, then, to lie at the heart of both sin and salvation. For the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting Himself for man. Man asserts himself against God, and puts himself where only God deserves to be; God sacrifices Himself for man and puts Himself where only man deserves to be. Man claims prerogatives which belong to God alone; God accepts penalties which belong to man.
- John Stott

So Adam and Eve substituted themselves for God, and so have we all.



One day during the February of my ninteenth year, I had to ride a city bus home from college. After I sat down, a guy got on, and handed everyone on the bus a tract. It was a typical tract - a few short pages explaining how you're going to hell unless you accept Chirst as your savior. It was a message I was familiar with, but didn't say anything to me. Well, I say that, but it must have said something to me because as I walked home from the bus stop, I stopped about half way, looked up to the sky, and said "God, I'll do anything you want, but I can't do it in blind faith." I think I hoped the heavens would open up and I'd receive a sign, but nothing happened. I went home and forgot about it.

Shortly after I turned 20, my father retired from the Coast Guard, and my parents moved out of town. I was going to college in town so I moved into a friend's apartment. One evening he and were talking about the future. I was vary curious about the future, because I was bored with the current path I was on, and my future wasn't looking very interesting. My friend suggested I read the books "The Late Great Planet Earth", and "Satan is Alive and Well", by Hal Lindsay. These two books were full of references to the book of Revelation in the Bible. I decided to read Revelation for myself. I had a copy of "Good News for Modern Man" that had made the move with me. I'm not sure how, it was my sister's book. I opened it to the book of Revelation, but thought, "you don't start reading at the end of the book", so I started with the book of Matthew. I read through Matthew, Mark, and Luke. I was half way through the gospel of John when it suddenly occurred to me that I was going to hell. I still distinctly remember the thoughts that went through my head: "I need to accept Christ as my savior or I'll go to hell", then, "let's finish reading the book, then we'll make a decision.", and finally "no, I need to do this right now". So I did. Still laying on the bed where I had been reading, I prayed that Jesus would save me from my sins.

Much later in life (only recently, in fact), it occured to me that right up to that point when it suddenly occurred to me that I was going to hell, I had not been looking for a savior, I didn't know I needed one, I didn't think I needed one. In fact, I was not even looking for God. All I wanted was to find out what the Bible had to say about the future.

I'd love to say that my life has been peaches and cream ever since, but I can't. It may actually be that my life has been more difficult as a result of my choice. God uses this life to teach us and prepare us for the next. But as a friend and fellow Christian said, "For us, this is as bad as it gets. For the unsaved, this is as good as it gets." For me, eternity will be spent in heaven, enjoying the presence of God. For those who fail to accept the payment for their sins that Jesus the Christ made on their behalf, eternity will be spent in torment. I've heard people claim they wanted to go to hell because that's where all the 'fun' people will be. Sorry, there won't be any fun had in hell.

Christianity - How I became a Christian
filename:Christianity - How I became a Christian
filename:Christianity%20%2D%20How%20I%20became%20a%20Christian
last edit:March 17 2012 13:30:30 (4394 days ago)
ct = 1711707244.000000 = March 29 2024 06:14:04
ft = 1332005430.000000 = March 17 2012 13:30:30
dt = 379701814.000000