Please Introduce Yourself Here

[Canuckster1127]

Welcome emaus! We're glad you're here and jump right in where you are interested!

[zoegirl]

Glad to have you here!!

[Kattkins]

Just joined up. Nice forum. My husband and I thought we were saved in our teens. We have recently come to the conclusion that up until a few weeks ago, we were no such thing. Following a head injury that gave me all too vivid visions of hell, I lost all peace. Following a rather miraculous healing from liver disease after prayers from real believers, I had more questions than answers. And still, the terror of hell persisted.

In our early twenties, we attended Tetelestai along with Johanna Michaelson whose book, "The Beautiful Side of Evil", had a major impact on me. I thought I had renounced the witchcraft, the Ouija boards, the pagan crapola. But no ...

Tho I burned my Tarot cards and wore a cross, I was still listening to heavy metal, allowing demons to influence my artwork, my writing and my career, indulging in Harry Potter and werewolf idiocy, gossiping, name-calling, hating my neighbour who does (did) drugs and threw loud parties on weeknights, making an idol of my dog, obsessing over the paranormal (because hey, Ryan Bueller uses a cross, so it must be okay, right?) and practicing Feng Shui, etc. I thought I was a Christian. But I was basically allowing Satan to enter my home, influence my mind/activities and run my life. If I had died that day, it would've been more than a vision of hell for me— it would've been eternity. When I actually made a list of all my occultic involvements or activities to renounce, it was two college-ruled notebook pages, front and back. Yikes!!

Unable to cope with insomnia, anxiety, conviction and certainty of hell, I began reading the Bible day and night, begging for salvation and forgiveness of my sins— which are legion. I have a pretty heavy occultic past, and our home is full of remnants of it. (Perhaps I will elaborate at some point.) My husband also began reading his Bible, and recommitted his life to Christ, to God's will, to obedience no matter what. We have spent the past few weeks "cleaning house". That is, we dumped about 95% of our extensive CD and DVD libraries, hundreds of self-hypnosis / paraliminal / etc. tapes, cleared entire bookshelves, and I've probably destroyed about 1/3 of my past 15 years of art. Collections are gone. Clothing and movies posters with logos for lovely little movies like "Ghostrider" (which my husband worked on) are gone or on their way out. Yesterday, I tore up autographed photos and destroyed backstage passes from my heavy metal *friends* that I probably could've sold for thou$ands on eBay. It's been an interesting month!!

It's also been a lot like peeling an onion skin. Every time I think I've got it all, the Lord convicts me of something else. Examples include: Q. Should I really be watching 2.5 Men, a show that glorifies fornication, drinking to excess and other perversions? A. No. Even if the jokes are funny, NO. And the Steve Wilkos show probably isn't the best use of my time, either. Q. Do I need to renounce my certification as a Reconnective Healer even tho I have seen miracles and know it works? A. Yes. Hell yes. My teacher received his instruction and *gift* (which he passed on to me and others) from a psychic and it was confirmed through channeling. Deep dark stuff. Q. Is it worth an eternity in hell or the constant torment of demons to hang on to physical possessions that are beautiful, valuable and representative of things that are totally against the one true living God who's going to judge me someday? A. Not only NO, but hell no.

I am currently in full study mode at least three hours a day, and looking for a church to attend. This looks like a good forum. I thought I'd introduce myself. I made some really good friends on my dog forum. Perhaps I can make some here as well now that I've turned my life over to God— for real this time!!

[B. W.]

Wecome to the forums Kattkins!

Feel free to jump in!

[Kattkins]

Jump in? I think I just did ...

Even Iinked this to my Facebook page where I am pretty sure my FRiENDS are every bit as caught up in the world as I was just weeks ago, and have never actually read the bible. They can call it a fairy tale or say it has inconsistencies, but in reality, they have never actually sat down and read it. Once you do, well, wow ... How do you pretend 2 + 2 is 115 after you learn that it is 4 and 4 alone? Y'know?

[Kattkins]

Suggestions welcome.

[B. W.]

If you are looking for a good church - what area of the world do you live - someone might know of one or more in your area!

Also it is a good thingto rid the house and hearth of new age junk and idols, and books etc..

May be hard for some Christains to grasp but demonic influences can be attached to things and these thing must be gotten rid of.

Sounds like you have renounced these things and that is good start!

Be Blest in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ!
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[Kattkins]

We live in West Hollywood— which is like living in Sodom and Gomorrah as far as a Bible believing church is concerned

And yes, getting rid of all that occult stuff ... Wow. YiKES!! Even the seemingly innocent can serve as a doorway or portal. I had no idea!! The pretty jewelry steeped in occultic symbology that was a gift. The "lucky" coins, charms and talismans. The expensive, beautifully rendered but obviously demonically influenced artwork wasn't so obvious until now. The hundreds of tapes, DVDs and CDs collected over the years rife with everything from openly unbiblical, worldy themes to outright satanism had catchy tunes, but a dark influence. The dozen or so stunning handmade boxes I only just noticed last month have astrological symbols all over them were displayed prominent or hanging out in my closets for well over a decade. Hundreds of movie posters from the vaguely satanic to openly anti-christ. All my Harry Potter DVDs, CDs, books, drawings, fan fic. A comic book and graphic novel collection full of vampires, witches, demons, blood, gore, murder, and ghosts with lovely titles like "Books of Magic" or "Death: The High Cost of Living". *sigh* It's just amazing how easily this stuff can infiltrate your life and how numb or tolerant, indifferent or accepting you become of it if you are not in The Word on a daily basis!!

Ridding our lives of this continues to be a chore. It's incredible how many avenues of access satan can use to separate you from your walk and the will of God. I thought because I read the Bible now and then, prayed daily, renounced witchcraft, stopped playing with Ouija board and Tarot cards, and tried to be *a good person*, it was enough. Nope. I was most definitely headed for hell, and didn't even know it. I thought I was a Christian. I really did. I even passed out tracts and lost a job (twice) for having a Bible or discussing my faith at work. But truly, no one who has surrendered themselves to Jesus and been baptized by the Holy Spirit could possibly live as we did— surrounded by abomination, living for the flesh and not the Lord. Praise the Lord that God showed us this before it was too late!!

[sandmang2021]

Hello. My name is Matt and I'm a former Catholic and current agnostic. Saw the site and thought it would be a good place to bounce around some topics and see where it goes. As for why we are here, I find it disturbingly hard to believe in anything other than "we don't know". Was looking up some bible quotes about slavery when I saw this site. While I haven't seen where the bible explicitly approves of slavery(and it may be there), I certainly can not find where it condemns it. The person that wrote the bible and slavery section of this website happened to leave out the second part of this paragraph:

From the Revised Standard version of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) -- Exodus 21:20-21 "When a man strikes his slave, male or female, and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished. But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be punished; for the slave is his money."

The argument that the bible does not condone slavery was well made, but the absence of the 2nd sentence in the above quote was baffling. This, in my mind, does condone slavery. Some may say I'm nitpicking, but this is the word of God correct?

My goal is to have an inteligent and logical conversation about the idea and belief of God. I don't understand how people can still believe in something so important and specific as the Christian God with faith. How can an educated person still really believe in the existence of the major religion's God?

Take care,

Matt

[Canuckster1127]

Welcome Matt. Glad you're here and I'm sure you'll find some willing to discuss this with you.

May I suggest that instead of trying to have this conversation here (where it could easily get lost and is somewhat off topic for an introduction thread) that you start a thread in one of the approprate forums, Say Christian Theology, and ask your question there? You might be happier with the results I think if you do that.

New posters may take a short while for new posts to go up (alas, part of our need to control spam on the board, but that passes quickly once you've posted a little while.) Please feel free to do that and I'll look forward to it as will others too I believe.

Thanks!

bart

[jlay]

Matt,
The issue with slavery has been an active topic on the discussion forum as well.

Since you brought it up, I would highly recommend a book to you. It is called, "Is God a Moral Monster," by Paul Copan. It addresses a lot of the difficult Old Testament issues like this. And deals with them in helping us better understand the world 3,000 years ago. Many objections to the OT are not well formulated because they lack a contextual understanding, are riddled with anti-religious bias, and lack any historical perspective. That said, there are still very difficult things to come to terms with in the OT, even for the most scholary Christian.

My goal is to have an inteligent and logical conversation about the idea and belief of God. I don't understand how people can still believe in something so important and specific as the Christian God with faith. How can an educated person still really believe in the existence of the major religion's God?

That is a very broad question. Of course from our perspective many of us would say, "How can an educated person still really not believe in the existence of a creator god?"
The question itself is a bit circular and arbitrary. Obviously educated people do overwhelmingly believe in a creator. This might be a topic to check the already existing threads, and revive with your specific questions, or start a new one. Either way, I am sure you will get plenty of dialogue.

[sandmang2021]

Thanks for the advice Bart and Jay.

[illegal6]

Hi illegal6 here .. a christian from the mystical land of India

[B. W.]

Hi illegal6 here .. a christian from the mystical land of India

Welcome to the forum!

Looks like you have your hands full in India between the Muslims and Hindus!
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[shernajwine]

Hi my name is Sherene. I have actually been reading through this website for the past several months and using the information in another forum in discussions with atheists. I decided to join the forum here to have discussions with people who have actually visited the website. I make references to this site often, as I quote the information, and it seems though people have questions they don't bother looking at the source I provided. It's very irritating. I would like discussions with people who don't just ask questions but earnestly and honestly seek answers.
I'm happy to be here.