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Thread: True Story

  1. #1
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    When I was a young single guy of 24 years old in 1968, and living solo in a tiny rented room in a family home's daylight basement in Portland Oregon; I had lots of time to myself to think about things since I had no friends, nor any kind of social contact whatsoever other than at work. I wasn't distracted with a girl friend, nor by pals and beer buddies, nor by an obsessive hobby. It was just me, my 1961 Volkswagen, and a 305 Honda motorcycle that I rode all over northwest Oregon. One of the things that occupied my thoughts a lot was hell and the very real possibility of my going there.

    At the time, I was working as a welder in a large metal shop located in an old WW2 Kaiser shipyard located in Vancouver Washington on the banks of the Columbia River. The layout man was a Protestant minister who, one day, out of the blue, asked me if I was ready for Christ's return.

    Well, I had never been taught about that in Catholic catechism so I asked the man why Christ would want to return. He responded: to rule the world. I had mixed emotions to the man's reply: I was half afraid and half indignant to be made afraid. But I instinctively knew that were I subpoenaed to stand before Christ to answer for the things I had done in life, it would not go well for me.

    Anyway I demanded of the man to know where he got his information. He replied: from the Bible. So I informed him that I was a Catholic and trusted only Rome's version of the Bible. He responded that all Bibles say pretty much the same thing; which was news to me since in those days the Church insisted that Protestant Bibles were unreliable.

    Then he asked me the million dollar question: Would I be going to heaven when I died? I responded, in so many words; that I had no clue. And he replied: Don't you believe Christ died for you?

    BANG! for the first time in my life; Christ's crucifixion made sense; and not only made sense, but seemed a very possible ticket to heaven. In point of fact, in an instant I was positive it was my ticket. Up till then I had always thought of Christ as a sad victim of circumstances beyond his control; never dreaming his ordeal made an acquittal possible.

    In time; the man suggested that I come with him to his church and make a public profession of my acceptance of Jesus' death on my behalf. So I went with him and we informed the Pastor why I was there.

    After the service was over, and the people had left; the Pastor and I, plus my friend and an elder, went down to the rail in front of the stage; where I prayed a very simple, naïve prayer that went something like this:

    "Lord, I'm a sinner. I would like to take advantage of your son's death."

    While saying my brief, unrehearsed prayer, I became strangely aware of a heavy chair just in front of the rail, suspended maybe about four feet up in the air, and a bit off to the left side, with a lone figure sitting on it looking in my direction.

    I couldn't really make out the face, but the person wearing that face was just sitting there, silently, neither moving nor uttering a sound while intently observing me speak every single syllable of my childish prayer. I was thoroughly unraveled, and could hardly wait to get up and get out of there. I told no one what happened, and the scene I perceived vanished as quietly, and as suddenly, as it had appeared.

    The human mind is produced by a 3-pound lump of flabby organic tissue, and not even all three of those pounds are devoted to cognitive processes. It's very likely that the scene I perceived in front of the rail was the result of emotional stress that pushed my flabby little mind into imagining things; who really knows for sure? But I will always be fully persuaded that at that very moment, the Bible's God made Himself real to me in such a way as to convince me that I no longer had anything to fear from the wrath of God.

    Believe me when I tell you I was overwhelmed with immense relief-- to the point of weeping uncontrollably like a man condemned to the guillotine suddenly given a 12th hour pardon --because the one thing Rome had succeeded in instilling in my heart was a dread fear of hell. Having the assurance I need no longer fear going there has been the happiest happy thought that to this day has ever gone through my mind; and I know for myself, by personal experience; that the passage below is true and reliable.

    †. Rom 8:15-17 . .The Spirit himself corroborates with our spirit that we are God's children.

    I never told either of my parents any of this. They were impious brutes who would have surely mocked and laughed me to scorn as a superstitious lummox gone mad from spending too much time alone.

    Anyway; in time I learned that Christ's version of Christianity is a lethal religion. It quite literally, in some supernatural way that I don't quite understand; put Christ's believing followers to death. Their entire existence, as natural-born human beings, went up on the cross with him.

    †. Rom 6:3 . . Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

    †. Rom 6:6 . . Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him

    †. Gal 2:20 . . I am crucified with Christ

    †. Col 3:3 . . For you died when Christ died

    One of my biggest fears as a Roman Catholic was that something fatal would happen to me in between confessions. Well; you can just imagine my relief at discovering that people punished on the cross with Christ are in no danger of double jeopardy; which Webster's defines as: putting someone on trial for an offense for which they have previously been put on trial under a valid charge viz: two adjudications for one offense.

    The Great White throne event depicted at Rev 20:11-15 is for the purpose of putting people on trial for the things they did in life. Afterwards their lives will be terminated by death akin to a foundry worker falling into a vat of molten iron.

    If I appear at that event at all, it will be only as a spectator and/or a witness for the prosecution because I was put on trial for the things I do in life when Christ was put on the cross, and my life was terminated when his was terminated. I have no clue how this works; I only know that I'm supposed to reckon it true. (Rom 6:3-11)

    Christ offers a version of Christianity that guarantees a Ten Commandments proof, God proof, sin proof, Devil proof, temptation proof, fool proof, human nature proof, human error proof, mortal sin proof, fail-safe rescue from the wrath of God and full time protection from retribution. It just amazes me the number of people, even those warming pews in old-school Christian churches, who want nothing to do with it.

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  2. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to WebersHome For This Useful Post:

    Bookman (12-30-2015), krystian (12-31-2015), Quest (12-31-2015)

  3. #2
    Good testimony Webers, thanks for sharing. I added a link to this to our other thread:

    http://livingfaithforum.com/forum/sh...ll=1#post20666

  4. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by WebersHome View Post
    One of my biggest fears as a Roman Catholic was that something fatal would happen to me in between confessions...
    I was born and raised catholic too and while there was always talk of hell it seemed like purgatory would save you from eternal torment if you were a fairly good catholic, you just had to serve a longer sentence there unless someone came up with indulgences to shorten the time frame.

  5. #4
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    Roman Catholicism, like so many other religions, is very insecure. I never knew for sure from one day to the next where I'd be after passing on. Well; that's not the kind of Christianity taught in the New Testament. For example:

    †. 1Pet 3:15 . . Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

    The New Testament Greek word for "hope" in Peter's requirement is elpis (el pece') which means to anticipate (usually with pleasure) and to expect with confidence. Note the elements of anticipation, and expectation, and confidence.

    In other words: the kind of hope about which Peter wrote doesn't anxiously cross its fingers while in the back of its mind dreading the worst. Elpis isn't a hope-so hope, no; elpis is a know-so hope.

    Ironically Peter, upon whom the Roman church is supposedly built, took elpis hope for granted; while the Church condemns it.

    Council of Trent Session 6, Chapter 16, Canon 16: If anyone says that he will for certain, with an absolute and infallible certainty, have that great gift of perseverance even to the end, unless he shall have learned this by a special revelation, let him be anathema.

    Seeing as how Rome's followers are not permitted to have elpis hope, then its pretty much a foregone conclusion that they can't obey Peter's directive to explain the reason for having it.

    While Christ's statements may not qualify as "special" revelations, they are, nevertheless, revelations; and according to Christ, those who trust his revelations, have nothing to fear.

    Note the grammatical tense of the "have" verb in his revelations below. It's present tense, rather than future, indicating that people who believe in Christ's revelations have eternal life right now-- no delay, and no waiting period.

    †. John 3:36 . . He who believes in the Son has eternal life

    †.
    John 6:47 . .Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.

    †. John 5:24 . .I assure you, those who heed my message, and trust in God who sent me, have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.

    Eternal life is impervious to death; therefore eternal life is impervious to the wages of sin.

    †. Rom 6:23 . .The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

    Christ mentioned passing from death into life (John 5:24).

    Well; people slated to die for their sins in the lake of brimstone depicted at Rev 20:10-15 won't be passing into life after that death. No, they will stay dead because there is no resurrection associated with the lake.

    But those of us who underwent crucifixion for our sins as per Rom 6:3, Rom 6:6, Gal 2:20, and Col 3:3 don't stay dead; no, we don't, and that's because Christ didn't stay dead; viz: there is a resurrection associated with the cross.

    Those who die with Christ, are reckoned risen with him. And seeing as how Christ will never again be put to death for sins, then those risen with him will never again be put to death for sins. (Rom 6:3-11)

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  6. #5
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    I attended Catholic catechism as a youth roughly 60 years ago in the decade of the 1950's. My siblings and I were not given the full blown catechism to study. We were given little handbooks that contained just enough information to get us past First Holy Communion and Confirmation.

    As a result, the difference between immortality and eternal life was never explained because that was information we didn't need to know in order to pass First Holy Communion and Confirmation. Maybe things are different now: I wouldn't know, nor do I care to know.

    Immortality always refers to a supernatural body that's impervious to aging, death, and putrefaction. As such, immortality is something that Christ's believing followers expect to obtain sometime in the future rather than the present.

    †. Rom 8:23-25 . .We ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

    The New Testament Greek word for "hope" in that passage is elpis (el pece') which means to anticipate (usually with pleasure); and to expect with confidence. Note the elements of anticipation, expectation, and confidence.

    In other words: elpis hope isn't a cross-your-fingers kind of hope. It's a kind of hope that looks forward to something as a sure thing,.

    So then, people crossing their fingers, while in the backs of their minds dreading the worst; do not have elpis hope. They simply have a longing for something better, but with absolutely no assurance whatsoever of obtaining it.

    Eternal life, on the other hand; has nothing to do with the nature of a supernatural body, but rather, the psychological nature of a divine being.

    I am a human being; hence I have the psychological nature of a human being. God is a divine being, hence He has the psychological nature of a divine being.

    Christ had the psychological nature of a divine being before he got here.

    †.
    John 5:26 . . Just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself

    †. 1 John 1:2 . .The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.

    Clearly then; eternal life isn't physical because before he came to the earth, Christ was spirit as per John 1:1-3.

    The psychological nature of human life was created as per the book of Genesis. But the psychological nature of eternal life wasn't created; it couldn't be created because eternal life is the life of God; the divine being who never had a beginning; viz: God always was, God always is, and God always will be.

    So then, the possession of eternal life doesn't make one a divine being, nor does it make one an eternal being. It only equips them with the psychological nature of God; which is pretty amazing itself.

    Is what I'm saying true? Well; Peter seemed to think so.

    †. 2Pet 1:3-4 . . His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature.

    I don't know if the nuns who taught my catechism classes knew any and/or all of the stuff that I've composed here because they never mentioned it. But even if they had, I was doubtless too young at the time to digest it.

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  7. #6
    Thanks for sharing your testimony!!

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