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Need Encouragement?
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Journey into faith, the story so far...
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Hi, these are just some musings of mine from my current journey into faith.
I started listening to the DAB in spring this year mainly out of curiosity, I was an Atheist, but I knew the bible contained wisdom and being open minded I was happy to read it and hoped it would influence my moral compass to be similar to that of a Christian as I have always had admiration for their righteousness – not that I was ever a truly bad person. Eventually I adopted a phrase coined by Brian: Walk in the scriptures as if they were true. This proved to be an enjoyable challenge as I would feel myself being moulded into a better person and having a reference to justify my actions, but still an Atheist. A while after this I got the chance to meet Brian and talk to him about what I’m doing and how I’m struggling with believing. Brian was very open minded and not judgemental at all, he made reference to his own past and the similarity to my position. I explained that the next step for me was to find a community, a church that worships in a style that is comfortable. Brian was encouraging and wished me well whatever the outcome of my journey.
The penny had to drop at some point; here’s how it happened: I was travelling on a 60mph road and I came to a cross road intersection of another 60mph road. The traffic light was green so I went through, at about 60mph. I’m pleased to report nothing bad happened at all. But, I realised that I had just put all of my faith in a light bulb! Of course you could argue that there is a system of redundancy circuits behind that, but nevertheless, I have invested everything on relying that that bulb was going to keep me safe from what could have been a catastrophic collision. That’s when I realised that we are programed for faith and we choose what to have faith in. Having faith in science was a comfortable feeling for so many years, but it brings no comfort to me when “life” happens, those events that make you hurt or feel anxious. You can offer a loose explanation of why you feel a certain way through various psychology texts, but it does nothing to ease the feeling. By choosing to believe in something such as the gospel everything changes for you while life remains the same. Whenever life becomes challenging you can ask God “How would you like me to deal with this?” as opposed to just satisfying your initial need, an action that rarely offers lasting satisfaction.
Of course I am literally preaching to the converted here on this forum, but an interesting point I would like to leave. For years I have been an Atheist in the UK on no one has ever tried to push religion on to me, but I have always known that it would accept me if I wanted it. However, since a few friends have noticed my venturing into faith, I am inundated with Atheists telling me why I should not be doing this. Their argument is always the same rhetoric of proof and science, but when I let the conversation flow and ask what drives them, where the go in strife and so on, this usually reveals and emptiness in their life. I take this opportunity not to push faith on to them, but to remind them that if they ever need it, it will always be there to accept them.
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John Mulcahy 08/19/2013 20:15 |
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Helga
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08/21/2013 22:46 |
Wow, what a wonderful story and thank you for sharing. I also live around atheist or non-christen believers and sometimes you have to walk the talk instead of talk the walk. I pray that the light of Christ in you will shine so strong and that there will be many people who will follow Christ just because you made the difference.
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John Mulcahy
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10/30/2013 23:11 |
Thanks for the response!
I was re-reading this just to remind myself how far I have journeyed. With each day my faith does grow stronger, but there are setbacks. There are days where I forget to ask the Lord for help as if I am too proud. In fact, this became a bit of a sticking point for me.
I reflected upon where I am and discussed this with my Pastor, I think he feels that I am resisting being immersed into the faith, I can understand why he would think this, but I’m not sure that is the case. I have become completely “God-Centric” in how I live my life, continuing an open dialogue with God asking, telling and praying. Furthermore all decisions face one challenge: “Does this benefit the kingdom of God?”. All the while I have been using the DAB to get to know the scriptures and getting involved with bible study groups. The trouble is that the gospel is a difficult book to digest; I fully accept that it is the truth, but I cannot accept another man’s word for it, the only truth is from me reading the scriptures and allowing the Holy Spirit to guide me through life. This meant getting to grips with the Holy Trinity, something that may seem very simple to the reader, but to me was immensely difficult to understand. I became stuck on the point that all other Abrahamic faiths were achieving nothing according to the Gospel, simply because they did not come to Jesus. This felt like a horrible thing to say, almost an un-Christian thing to say. It pained me to think that all my Jewish and Muslim friends were putting their faith into worship that would get them nowhere toward where they wanted to be. I am really struggling with this area of bible study and would appreciate some help in this area.
Many Thanks
John
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JuneBee
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01/18/2014 18:33 |
I don't usually come to forums, but just now saw your comments John and responses, and wanted to reply, 'tho it is now 3 months later. I pray the Lord has brought you ever closer to His will for your life, and help you know His truths above all others, by His Holy Spirit. It brings joy to my heart that a person who stated they were an atheist has come to know the Lord Jesus Christ! Maybe you have already found some scriptures that have helped you understand more since your writing above too. Anyway, what came to my mind when reading your last part was the scripture from
2 Peter 3:8,9: "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
...So, God wants ALL to come to Him, whether Jew, Muslim, or anyone else, and He knows who will hear and how to touch that empty place that only He can fill. When things like this "hurt" when our friends are going nowhere and end up without hope, it's like God is calling us to pray for them, and/or pray for an open door to speak to them, if He wants us to. I facilitate with drawing near to God then other times, seem like a wall between me and Him, but I'm the one caught up in daily living and forgetting to get in touch with Him, not He backing away from me. I'm saying that so you won't think I'm always "on target" for following where He wants me, and saying what He wants me to say or do. I have a prayer tho' that I have prayed off and on re my friends caught into the wrong path: "Please Lord, give me the right word at the right time for the right person, and the desire to speak it." He answers! Anyway, keep on praying for your friends to "come to the Light of Jesus" and God will answer! Remember John 3: 16 also, He said "the world" and He knows how to reach a person and when, or if they will believe or not. It's all a glorious mystery, and He gives us what we need for the journey, praise Him! May the Holy Spirit give you wisdom of understanding and speech to others I pray, thru Jesus, amen.
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John Mulcahy
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01/27/2014 14:05 |
Thank you for that June, your prayer helped a lot. I put together a little 500word testimony for my minister to put on the website. I thought I would share it here, hoping to encourage others:
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For many years I was a comfortable atheist, I believed that I was a product of consequence and there was a legitimate explanation for everything through science, eventually. But although scientific discoveries can satisfy an inquiring mind on how we got here, it does little to explain why, and for that matter what do we do now? I began to study some of the larger questions of philosophy and ethics, and one element of my world-view that I kept stumbling upon was the lack of moral anchor, all of my ethical reference points were only relevant for this period of time and none other. This poses great difficulties when considering your own position, as the question begins to emerge: “Why Bother?” The possibility of living for yourself and rejecting all forms of altruism becomes a rational posture to hold. However, this did not sit comfortably with me, nor does it appear to sit comfortably with most of society, despite modern secularisation. I began to question my original world-view. Was I looking at this from the wrong angle?
A realisation began to sink in that there is more than a possibility that we were created for a purpose, after all we do seem to have a moral guideline that is integral to us. Although many will transgress to varying degrees of severity, we all feel a sense of guilt for such transgressions. At this point my enquiry became: “Who is this creator, and do I need to thank him?” Among the many deities spoke of around the world one clearly stands tall and steadfast. And that is the God of Abraham, celebrated by Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The only way to know such a being is to open you heart to Him and he will place you where you are meant to be. For me, that was in a local Salvation Army Church, learning about the good word of Jesus Christ, and slowly ridding myself of the bondage that a material life imposes.
When I originally began to read the bible, I expected to find a book that told me of everything that I was doing wrong, I was surprised to find that it didn't. Instead, it told me about a loving friend that had always been there, but I had previously chose to ignore. The bible gave me a certainty in who I am where I’ve come from and where I'm going, a unique certainty that only Jesus can offer. As I got to know this friend, my life took on a direction, there was now absolution in the big questions about life and what to do with it. From what was a black and white existence without God, I can now enjoy full colour in his glory. At one time I may have felt comfortable as an Atheist, but now I could never go back to a life without the love of Jesus.
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JuneBee
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01/27/2014 17:27 |
PRAISE THE LORD for His work in your life. May more come to a saving knowledge of Jesus thru you I pray! God bless you!
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GodB4Me
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02/17/2014 00:01 |
Oh my what a beautiful testimony, thank you so much for sharing that.
Your perspective might be right up there with St Paul. And it can be the purest form on realization of who Jesus is, coming from an Atheist, not coming from "My Fathers religion" with all the biblical incorrectness that has attached to it. By starting with the God of Abraham, yes that is where it all starts…. Welcome to Christianity, I am sure you are rejoicing in your heart.
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