How I became a Christian…

First, if you don’t know who I am, I am Jeremy, Melanie’s husband. She set up this blog and I felt compelled to share some of my story as well, starting with how I became a Christian.

History

            I was not really raised in a Christian environment per say. This is not a slandering of my parents by any means. However, I just really didn’t know that much about God, Jesus, and the Bible. I knew some guy named Noah built a boat, David hit Goliath with a rock, Jesus was the son of God and died on a cross. I was “baptized” and that was about it. I had no real biblical understanding past Genesis 1:1 and John 3:16. I was brought up in the public school system and naturally, there was definitely some scientific claims that made the bible seem like a fairy tale. I didn’t really care about reading the bible as I felt I was guaranteed into heaven. I was as 2 Peter 3:5 says “willingly ignorant.” As Kent Hovind put it, that means “dumb on purpose.” I really didn’t know, and I really didn’t care. If you were to ask me, I would tell you I was a Christian. Most people will do the same. But no one ever asked me why…

Turning Point

            My turning point in life was at a time when I was at my lowest. I had recently got back from being deployed to Afghanistan, the marriage was rocky, I hated the world, and I’ll be honest, it didn’t seem like the marriage was going to make it. Then came The Love Dare. This was a book that has a 40 day journey in it if your marriage is in shambles and close to the final mark. It’s only 40 days. Without really going into that, let’s just say it worked. It brought me closer to my wife, it brought me closer to God, and it helped me realize how a biblical husband is supposed to act and treat his wife. I highly recommend this book, and I’ll probably write a separate post just for it when I get a chance.

Immersion

            After I came to realize what God had to offer, I began to do what I highly recommend all new Christians do. SURROUND YOURSELF IN IT. Matthew 5:29 “And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee…” I changed my music style from AC-DC, Rob Zombie, and Metallica to Christian rock. Thousand Foot Krutch, Disciple, and Skillet are good ones to bridge this gap if you really like the heavier rock and want a Christian influence. We have completely switched over to Christian music. We listen to Air1 in the car all the time, I can’t remember the last time we changed the station. My 6 year old knows lyrics to music that praises God rather than lyrics that promote sex, drugs, violence, etc. I still have my hard drum beats, screaming guitar solos, and head banging rhythms, but to a style that brings glory to God and makes me realize how good we have it here on earth. I have to admit, God knows how to rock out better than the devil! I also highly restricted myself on the internet, and even cut off my Facebook account for almost a year. (You will find out who your true friends are when you do that.) Television wasn’t really too much of an issue because we had already switched to the Roku. (See my wife’s blog on that here.) I started reading books that had Christian influence such as the Left Behind Series and Ted Dekker’s Circle Series. (There are some critical accuracy issues with the Left Behind Series, but that will be another post.)

Questioning

            Finally, those questions from back in public school started to bubble up. How does the Big Bang fit into the bible? How old is the earth? Somehow, (I really don’t remember how) I stumbled across this article called “What really happened to the dinosaurs?” by Ken Ham from the Answers in Genesis Foundation. I will go in depth on several creation science topics in other posts but that was the one that really started it all. The bottom line is I was willing to seek the truth, no matter where it led. It led down a journey that questioned everything I thought I knew. But more important than that, it actually made more sense than what I had been taught all those years.

The Church

            Next, we found a church that taught the bible. I mean really taught the bible. Not some guy up on a pulpit explaining how he thought the scripture applied in a way that would benefit himself or the church. We were very shy in this church for about a year. We sat at the back of the church, did our little bit, and booked it as soon as possible so we would not be interrogated by “church people” as I used to call them! The surprising part, this church was very patient with us. They never really pried, the let us do our thing and they did their thing. However, I started to notice that this church was not a church, it was a family, I mean literally a family of Christians that knew each other on a personal level, they encouraged each other for triumphs, and they sorrowed together in failures and deaths. I mean these people truly cared. I never felt judged, I never felt like I wasn’t part of the group. After that we started opening up to them. Come to find out, you couldn’t hardly tell them apart in terms of monetary value, or possessions, or other types of cliques you see in churches. This is extremely important I think, for a new Christian, to find a biblical church and get deeper with them. Let them get to know you, get to know them, and if they aren’t willing to do that, find another church. Find a church that follows Proverbs 27:17 “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”

The Bible

            Driving on, I started reading…the Bible. I read the new testament in its entirety two years ago and I’ve already forgotten some things. I believe you have to follow the verse “STUDY to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” -2 Timothy 2:15. We have recently started a nightly reading with our oldest (she’s 6 right now) and it’s been going great. We only read a chapter a day, and we have to paraphrase some things for her, but I feel like we are getting a greater understanding as a family, and I believe it is extremely important to teach children the word of God. A chapter a day doesn’t seem like much, but that means we will read the entire bible almost 4 times before she turns 18 years old. That’s only reading one chapter a day! I’m sure we will raise the bar a little bit as she gets older.

Final Thoughts

            This post is not meant to build me up in any way. I simply thought it would be a good idea to give readers a background on me before I continue to post on other topics. I don’t like to judge people by what they believe, I simply ask them the same question I constantly ask myself. What do you believe and why? I will go into my why’s more in other posts. I came to Christ evidentially. I will admit that I am weak in the blind faith department, and I used to consider that a bad thing. However, many people are evidential thinkers and therefore, if we can explain to them the evidence of God and Christ, it can become a logical reason to become a Christian for them. More to come!

-Jeremy