"Come on....Read Genesis 1:26....It says US....How can there be 1 God when the Bible even says...US at the beginning....!"
This was my argument for years....
In my teenage years I was a believer in God, but never organized religion. I fought it in fact, I remember countless evenings in front of my home (being high as a kite and drunk mind you...) debating the Bible, religion and the 'New World Order'...
In those days, I had it all figured out.
Christians were crazy, actually all religions were...And I knew all the answers...
I did pretty good 'in the world'. I started multiple online businesses, made a bunch of money, was drunk (or high) almost every night of the week...And my plans usually revolved around...What club or bar should we go to this weekend!
Everything was great!
But there was something missing....
Big time!
Again, I always believed in God...But always had issues with organized religion. So there was always this voice in the back of my head...Telling me there was something more to this crazy life.
Fast forward to 2013 and I meet the woman of my dreams...
Oddly enough, we first met in the club lol And I'm pretty sure we were both pretty intoxicated. But one thing lead to another and through mutual friends she showed up at my home a few weeks after for one of my legendary BBQ / get togethers.
We started to date and before you know it...We are becoming a match...Was she the one? Was the question I kept asking myself...
I was 35-ish around these times and my 'going to the club' days started to bore me...I wanted more and she felt the same way.
She was raised in the church but fell out of it and just like me, knew there was something bigger than....Being drunk on a Monday night!
Her family was part of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, and I knew NOTHING about the denomination. My wife (@thedaolson) had some personal things happen to her that made her really dive back into her faith and while I wanted to support her...Organized religion just wasn't my thing...
Especially this faith where...They went to church on SATURDAYS!!!
WHAT IS THAT....?
Time goes by and she dives deeper and deeper back into her faith. She's watching sermons every day and again, as I try to support her...These messages start to intrigue me. Like they really captured my attention....
Prophecy!
Mark of the beast!
Anti-Christ!
End times!
I mean this stuff WAS deep....And not in a 'science fiction made for Hollywood' type movie vibe...This was history backed prophecy that you didn't even need the Bible to confirm and things slowly started to really make sense to me...
Remember, always a believer in God...Really didn't like organized religion.
I didn't believe in 'eternal torment'...What kind of God would create beings (that had no say on if they were to be created or not) and then end up burning in hell for eternity if they didn't follow the 'rules'....That seemed....Like an agenda....
I didn't understand how people thought once we died, we floated up to the clouds and started playing harps for eternity while looking down at all these poor souls on earth....Why then have a Savior even come back to rescue and resurrect His people?
And going to church on Sundays...I couldn't find anywhere in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation that stated the Sabbath day was changed...Yet people still went to church on Sundays and then rarely 'had a day of rest' following service...They ended up at the bars to watch football or went shopping too...
Things started to piece of together for me and I decided...If I'm going to say I'm a Christian, then I'm going to do 2 things...
- Follow how Jesus lived (to the best of my abilities, I'm still working on that lol)
- Follow the Bible...As is...Sola Sciptura!
And just before my wife and I got married in 2015....This happened!
(My pastor Dario St.Louis who not only baptized me but a few months after this photo, married my wife and I!)
Rebirth!
So that's a little history of how living in the world for so long finally led me to where I truly believe God wants me...
I started my Christian walk later than most people I've met in faith, but I think this shows....Jesus will welcome you as you are, warts and all! No matter how old, and how much sin you have committed...
We aren't perfect, thankfully our Savior is!
So since I've been baptized, I've been deep in the Bible. I'm in no means a scholar, but decided to take my knowledge of scripture a tad bit further and ended up getting my certificate from Arise Online!
Which leads us to...
The Kingdom :)
We've got some MASSIVE plans for this little grassroots community, and I'm so excited to get chatting scripture with everyone!
I'm still a baby Christian and learning everyday, but I don't think we'll ever understand it all...That's the beauty of everlasting life....And eternity to pick God's ear :)
This is amazing. I may or may not have cried.
I remember very clearly when you said on a skype call (what seems like many years ago now) to all of us that you had met Theda and had asked her to marry you. There was something changing in you and while I'll give Theda a ton of credit because she seems pretty amazing...it seems pretty clear that God's hand is at work in your relationship and brought you two together for something bigger.
That's an amazing testimony. Also an amazing picture for many reasons, one being, you had hair! :D
Thanks for being brave enough to share this with all of us. I need to start working on mine! :)
ha ha ha ha yeah, thinning at that time...But still had some hair. It's all gone now LOL
Thanks for reading this post...Got it out there so now we can focus on building this community up :)
Hi Jon, I had similar views. I believed in God but made him in my image.
I am in recovery with a mild form of Bipolar Disorder but still, it impacted my life in many ways. I would listen to sermons for help and came to a pretty good spot now.
My previous hospitalizations, now are being used for good as I am basically a counselor who teaches from life experience. Over time, I just happened to believe in the infallibility of the Bible and my life has made great strides.
BTW, my wife and I's church is called "Sola Scriptura." ;)
great testimony , #adventisthive #conquishive