I know so many people that are christians that started just like ME! I am not an athiest at all (never have been), but I am not a beleiver in ANY religion. Some strange things have been happening to me lately, though. So I am simply seeking additional information, and am surprised at what I'm finding. My question is: what actually CHANGES PEOPLE from one end of the spectrum to the other so completely? Many of my christian friends and family members used to be athiests! What happened?
2006-07-26 18:21:45 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I'm a convert from having no religion and from paganism and witchcraft. Being involved in witchcraft almost got me drawn into Satanism before the Holy Spirit called me away from it. I had a dream of hell and an epiphany while reading a book of witchcraft in a bookstore which allowed me to see witchcraft for the evil that it is. Part one of the book was witchcraft, part two was Satanism. And both are very similar in the basic tenets. In both, it's all about the self, doing things for the self, never having to say your sorry, etc. This is also the same philosophy of New Age "spirituality". This self-centeredness is the opposite of Christian morality because Christ teaches us to lose ourselves for the sake of helping others and for the sake of the Kingdom, to be Christ-centered instead of being self-centered. The way you can tell if a "spiritual" movement is satanic is that it always talks about the self. Everything is about the self. I saw all at once the evil of this and how it was leading me to hell. This led me to want to learn about Christianity. Then the question came, "which Church?" I looked into various denominations, and thought about becoming Episcopalian until I realized that I was just trying to be the closest thing to being Catholic without being Catholic. But I became a Catholic and have been for over 12 years, and I'm on fire for the faith. I'm always trying to learn more about it, and I love it!
2006-07-26 18:25:51 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
I can only answer your question through a Christian worldview as that is the only one I have ever known.
When a person becomes a Christian, he or she has turned from sin, believes in the common doctrines of Christianity, and has asked Jesus to change their heart.
It is through the work of the Holy Spirit that all of this is possible. The Holy Spirit convicts a person of his or her sin and pulls them toward a relationship with Christ. When a person finally repents of their sin, the Holy Spirit comes into their life and begins to change their old habits.
I hope this answer is sufficient. Read "Surprised by Joy" by C.S. Lewis for a more personal and detailed account of someone who was changed by the power of God from the inside-out.
The Bible gives mankind a wonderful promise of what He will do if we surrender all and let Him in:
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
Be blessed!
2006-07-27 01:37:24 · answer #2 · answered by mwrc09 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
C.S. Lewis who wrote, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and the Chronicles of Narnia also used to be a staunch athiest. He began to study the Bible to try to disprove it though, and found it to be true instead. He wrote a great book called "Mere Christianity". You could get it cheap on Amazon or half.com. It would answer all your questions and be a good read as well. "You shall know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free! Then you will be free indeed."
2006-07-27 01:32:16 · answer #3 · answered by chynna30_2000 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, I was born Christian, but if you've heard of C.S. Lewis, he was agnostic before becoming a world-renowned Christian writer.
Read his books:
Mere Christianity
The Screwtape Letter
The Great Divorce
etc......
He also wrote The Chronicles of Narnia, if you were wondering hehe.
2006-07-27 01:25:15 · answer #4 · answered by Lazy 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My life before coming to Christ was empty. Even when things would go good for a little while, soon whatever it was that was making me happy, didn't seem to work before. I felt there was something bigger, a POINT to this life, and I was constantly searching for what that was.
For ME, I had to hit rock bottom before allowed God to save me. I had lost everything, family, friends, jobs, car, anything that had ever mattered to me. I was embarassed of the way I was living, and just felt pathetic. I began to ask God, "If your there, PLEASE show me. I don't want to live anymore, but I don't want to die. what is the way?" I was asking, and I just started asking more and more. One night, while prayin to a God that I wasn't sure was really there or not, I recieved the Lord's love in to my heart. It was scary and wonderful all at the same time. Things began to change, and I began a beautiful relationship with God, and now I am never alone. I am the last person that anyone, including myself, expected to say this, but here I am, so blessed that my father in heaven loved me enough to show me that he really is alive and well, and is in everything good. My life has changed, and all I did was ask the Lord, with and OPEN heart, to come in to my life and hold and protect me throughout my life, that was bound to be full of difficulties. Life is still hard at times, but with him at your side, you are never alone. It's like you have a personal "life coach", instructing you and leading you all the time, and never abandoning you even if you make a mistake. He forgives you and helps you move on, and makes you want to live a better life because you feel so unworthy of this wonderul gift of His love. If you are reading this, whomever you are, and it speaks to your heart, I would strongly urge you to take this moment and ask God to come into your life, to show you his love, and to give you the openness to be able to receive it. If you have doubt, so what. It will not hurt to ask, or to be open to his answers. He loves you so much, and accepts you are right now in this moment in time, no matter what else is going on in your life. None of that matters, his love is that great.
I pray that all of you who are reading this begin to know the Lord today.
In Jesus name, Amen
2006-07-27 01:34:35 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
For me it was like an awakening. It just happened. I just felt a change and something tugging at my heart . I started going to church and realized that tug was God. NOw my life is AWEsome and when I am down I always have my Faith. I always feel like my problems are in the hands of somone greater.
2006-07-27 01:27:34 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Like you, I was a Christian but now I am a philosopher. I believe in God but none of those myths that various religions espouse. Revelation comes from within, not from a book that others have written.
2006-07-27 01:25:54 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
1. Dr. Frances Collins, author of the Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. The link http://www.simonsays.com/content/book.cfm?tab=1&pid=519365
Describes his outlook as follows:
"For many years Dr. Collins kept his views largely to himself, as he helped oversee the Human Genome Project's stunning sequencing of the code of life. Now, in what may be the most important melding of reason and revelation since C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity, Dr. Collins explains himself in detail. The Language of God makes the case for God and for science. Dr. Collins considers and rejects several positions along the spectrum from atheism to young-earth creationism -- including agnosticism and Intelligent Design. Instead, he proposes a new synthesis, a new way to think about an active, caring God who created humankind through evolutionary processes. "
2. The next obvious one is C.S. Lewis. (Author of the Narnia Series, and many other masterpieces)
3. And my favorite is Lee Strobel, author of the Case for Christ.
What's happening to you?
Christians believe God pursues us. And if we are interested in purusing light and love, then your path with God will intersect. What you are experiencing now is probably God pursuing you, and you responding with interest, instead of contempt. If you cooperate with love, and truth, ultimately you will end up in the arms of a reconciling loving God.
What changes you?
The Holy Spirit of God. OK what does this mean? First think spiritual relm, ghosts, spirits, etc. Then accept an awesome God who is spirit, and transcends our physical existence with his spirit. His spirit is the Holy Spirit. Scripture says that we do not come to know God except through the Holy Spirit calling us to know God. So God is the initiater of the relationship with you, and uses his form of the Holy Spirit to interact with you as human aware of a spiritual exisitence.
2006-07-27 01:38:01 · answer #8 · answered by Miss Mary 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Is all about your belief, and belief is a non-logical thing!
You can't answer the non-logical thing by using scientific explaination.
The only scientific points I could think of which is
To collect more statistical data!
Not from people around you but from human society as whole!
Then you can say that statment you asked!
2006-07-27 01:29:52 · answer #9 · answered by Vector_The Positivism 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You should read up on C.S. Lewis. He is a famous author who was an atheist for part of his life and then became a Christian.
2006-07-27 01:27:04 · answer #10 · answered by Brian 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋