For people who used to believe very differently than they do now....?

Question

What do you wish you knew then? What could someone have said to you back then to help you see "the truth"?

Answer 1

I was completely arrogant. Thought I had *all* the answers. My freshman year in high school I scored high enough on the SAT to get me into any university in the country. My junior year I took an IQ test - a monitored one, not something like those quickie quizzes on line - and my result was high enough that I could get into the Top One Percent Society. I had straight A's in AP classes and never had to study. By the time I got to college I was just sooo sure I knew it all.

And even though I came from a Christian family, my arrogance was so great, I thought I was the one who was right and they were all just too stupid to know any better. Any time a Christian challenged me, I was able to run rings around him/her.

But it turned out that was because I was being challenged by Christians who weren't properly prepared for my extreme vindictiveness. (And yes, that's what it was - you know, I'd "ask" a question like I meant it - and then I'd turn around and answer it myself and refuse to listen to anybody who disagreed with me.)

I got to college and had to take a theology class and that's where I met my match. Well, no, that's untrue. I was absolutely no match for him. I threw everything I had at him, like, "Why does God carry grudges? How come I have to suffer through child birth? It's not *my* fault Eve was an idiot!" or "The existence of dinosaurs *proves* the Bible is all wrong!" and on, and on, and on.

And that was my mistake. Christianity has been around for a very long time, and yet, what? I thought only now that I'd graced the planet, was the *real* truth going to be known because *I* knew it? Like any single argument I had wasn't something true Christians have heard over and over and over for countless years? It took brilliant me to come along and show them how wrong they were?

My instructor, a French Catholic priest, made mincemeat of me. He wasn't deterred by my "Oh, yeah! I'm not so stupid to believe in fairy tales!" hyper-ego. In fact, the more I hurled at him, the more he just smiled and calmly answered. I had steam shooting out my ears and there he was, completely unconcerned by my explosion.

And when I lobbed my final bomb at him - the one I thought no Christian could answer - "How could a loving God condemn people to Hell for not accepting Jesus - even if they never got the chance to?" he gave me the answer. This time, he wasn't as calm; his reply came in a pretty passionate speech that had me close to tears, and I was just... done. I'd finally run out of steam and *finally* a little bit of me cracked enough to think, "Just who the heck do I think I am, anyway?"

That was not the actual moment I turned, but it was a turning moment, if that makes sense.

To directly answer your question now, what do I wish I knew then? I guess it would have saved me a great deal of heartache if I hadn't been so assured I was some kind of special genius or something, if I'd known that I wasn't all that and a bag of chips, but then I wasn't *ready* to hear it - not until the day the good father gently, and then not so gently, let me have it.

He said what I needed to hear to see the truth. And I'm assuming you meant what did he say exactly, but there's simply no room to put it all here (though I did just answer the accepting Jesus after death part on some other thread...). Suffice it to say, he punctured my little balloon and I'm forever grateful to him for it.

Answer 2

I used to be a Christian. I wish I would have known then how much happier I'd be now so I would have converted sooner.

Honestly - if someone would have told me the bible was a book of stories meant to impart moral lessons, and if the perception of God had been different, and had the people actually behaved more like Christ - I might have stayed with Christianity.

But it's my sincere belief that I have found "the truth" in Daemonolatry. While that truth is my truth, and not as many people share my truth, it doesn't make it any less true to me.

Answer 3

I wish back then I had known the original teachings of the saints. Back when I was a Christian (it never made much sense to me) it would have taken very little for anyone to change my direction. All they would have had to tell me was to look at other paths to find answers I was looking for and I would have commenced!

There is something to be said for keeping an open mind and studying various concepts, instead of being married to one.

Answer 4

I wish I was told there were other options besides Christianity and that that Christianity was just based on Middle Eastern mythology. In fact, when someone did tell me that, that is what started my looking at Christianity more critically and ultimately rejecting it.

Answer 5

Start with respect and humility towards those who achieved something as part of own sacrifice.

In your case, just choosing a more appropriate avatar and nickname may be a good start, if you are sincere. Then open your heart, and the Truth may come to you.

Silence is worth a lot more than many loud words to those who can think for themselves, and have a genuinely good intent.

Answer 6

I wish I had known that I don't have to struggle with all the obstacles that life brings and worry about everything. I learned to takes my cares to God, and He takes care of things. I'm sure all the atheists around here will laugh at this. But I assure you, life is so much better when you let Jesus take control of it and get free of worry, guilt, etc. Just try it! Jesus loves you.

Answer 7

of path! Why could my theory equipment be greater suitable than the subsequent guy or woman. Many surely have faith that they are authentic and everybody else incorrect, incredibly in the non secular portion of solutions. What we p.c. to have faith is in accordance to many stuff, which incorporate kin upbringing, peer rigidity over the years, incredibly in college and non secular teachings. I even have an open strategies. strategies you, i'm seventy seven years youthful, and have my own theories approximately many stuff. despite if, i don't sense that through fact of my "sensible" years i'm authentic and everybody else is incorrect. to each and each his very own! I even have chosen my direction, for the reason that provides me peace and happiness, and that i'm beneficial that many others sense the same way approximately THEIR paths. i've got faith unhappy for people who're so adamant approximately what they suspect, for the reason that i don't think of that portrays a greater robust than chuffed and content textile AND non violent guy or woman. yet it incredibly is my opinion in basic terms. i could be incorrect, could not I!

Answer 8

No one could have said anything to alter my beliefs then. I was very absolute in my beliefs. Now I'm open to lots of possibilities and know that it's not all black and white so to speak.

Answer 9

"Dude, stop looking for God in the world, look within"