Christians: How much did you reject the Gospel before becoming a Christian?

[Pekoudah]

• I never heard the gospel as I was Catholic. God brought me under a heavy conviction at one time when I was alone in a foreign city. When convicted to read the bible I went through all 4 gospels without understanding how that related to me. As I was reading in Acts I saw that the Holy Spirit was at work changing lives and the world at that time in history. I needed that, but now! So I asked God what/who the Holy Spirit was/is. As I continued to read I came to a place where it says they were filled with the Spirit a light shined from behind the words and a light from heaven shone into me so that I walked in that light for days afterwards. I was 21. So I guess I heard the gospel 4 times before the Holy Spirit entered into me.

 

I got my answer.

Edited May 28, 2019 by Pekoudah

[dr3032]

I put "several times" on the first one, but I really wasn't familiar with it. I had a fairly Christian childhood, but due to conflicts at church, my parents quit going and weren't too keen on instilling Christianity into my brother and I. They still spoke of God and not in a negative way, of course, but I mean that it wasn't a "teaching" kind of environment. I tried picking up the Bible as a kid, and as a number of other posters have said, I didn't really get it. A kid unfortunately lacks refined thought.

Then atheism became a sort of "fad," and me being a bit of a bookworm at the time (around 11 or 12 maybe), I bought into it. I still hadn't read the Bible, but then again, most of my distaste was aimed at religion in general rather than anything specific. However, as things go, the more that you read and learn, the more you realize that you've read nothing and learned nothing. I became disillusioned with the idea that science contained all of the answers and was the key to unlocking the world's mysteries. It forced me to sit down and think, really reconsider myself. At this time, I think I was 18, nearing the end of high school.

I came to the conclusion that, a creator made more sense than random coincidence. That does not mean that Christianity was my first stop, oh no, that came later. My first stop was a general and undefined "new age" - Which, after coming across a variety of weird ideas and clear poppycock, was dropped. It was in this middle area that I realized I was honestly a terrible person with a horrible heart. I was disgusting and, being disgusted with myself, I decided that asceticism was the route to go, in order to try and cleanse myself of what traits I hated. This was partially inspired by reading about Ben Franklin - He kept a book where he would mark down mistakes he had made on any given day, a sort of "no-no score book" in order to try and lessen his mistakes with time. I liked the idea, and so came up with my own I dubbed "Daily Dissallowance". Basically, I would count anything negative I had said, done, or even thought, and keep a score. If it exceeded 15 points, I would then punish myself by inducing vomit. Certain actions would be counted as immediate failure, and thus I would have to puke. Doing this... I think screwed me up hardcore. It wasn't fun and it's like my problems became far more rampant and uncontrollable. Hardly a day passed where my fingers didn't tickle my throat. Along with this idea of self-punishment was Buddhism, mainly inspired by my love of Asian history. Again, it really didn't help and it made me desperate for assistance.

Then and only then, I think at the age of 21, did I pick up the Bible. The intention wasn't the best... It was maybe more along the lines of "maybe this can help me contain myself" rather than anything noble, you know? I would still read the bible and I would try to pray, being fairly ignorant and self-interested at the time. It was an experience I had one night, when I was lying awake and twitching in bed trying to fight my body, that opened my eyes to the words I was reading. It just hit me that God was real and Christianity was the answer. I've been a Christian ever since, trying to improve yet still - With far less vomit and difficulty, too! Praise be to the Lord for that.

Edited May 28, 2019 by dr3032

[JustPassingThru]

I was raised in a cult so I never heard the Gospel, when I was 18 God intervened and save me from dying from an overdose of LSD, ...I knew there was a God, that was all, then when I was 33 He turned my life upside down, my mind snapped, diagnosed schizophrenic, paranoid, depressive, 4 years later, when I could finally walk and chew gum at the same time, a friend took me to church, ...I whole heartedly threw myself into it, was in many ministries: in charge of the youth, taught an adult Bible Study, helped out in Sunday School, organized and cooked the Men's Saturday Morning Breakfast and Work Day, played in the Worship band, ...I was their golden boy, they were even going to send me to Bible college to become a pastor, ...and then I heard the Gospel and got saved at 37 years old, ...oh, ...I had heard the Gospel many time while I was there, it was just never in the power of the Holy Spirit, ...the at a Wednesday Night Bible Study in July of '86, the pastor was teaching in Isaiah 40 and verses 6-8 literally jumped off of the page, ...all of my sin was placed on my shoulders, I was bent over in the chair and could not sit up, ...how embarrassing, their "Golden Boy" in that fix, ...after the study the pastor came to me, he was shocked, why was I doing that and disrupting the study?

I told him all of my sin was on my shoulders and playing on the screen in my mind, he asked me if I had ever asked Jesus to come into my heart, I said no, so he led me in prayer and I was born again, a new creation in Christ that very night! 

...I apologize for it being so long and maybe more than what you asked for, ...but I have met many in churches that were/are in the same place I was, serving in ministry (even as pastors) and not born again, ...it's not what you do, ...it's Who you know, and more importantly, ...does He know you!

Lord Bless  

[frienduff thaylorde]

1 hour ago, Cletus said:

i was against God in every way.  God apprehended me.  I would have never called on Him on my own. 

A RESOUNDING AMEN .      Absolutely RIGHT .      Wait ,   I thought we were legalists .        NAW ,   the love of truth is on our inward parts , BY HIS INDWELLING GRACE .

THUS by the same Grace we encourage, exhort and warn all , BE YE HEARERS AND DOERS and not Hearers only ,  for that is to DEICIEVE ones own self .  

HOW bout a leap for joy to the LORD and let all praise the HOLY LORD . 

[johnthebaptist]

On 5/27/2019 at 7:43 AM, GandalfTheWise said:

I'm curious as to how Christians here did or did not respond to the gospel before they became Christians.  I'm also curious how old people were when they become a Christian.

I put in categories for answers which are more representative of state of mind rather than counting numbers.  

For gospel response, I'm referring to times you had a fairly clear understanding of what you were accepting or rejecting.  I'm interested if you responded the very first time you clearly heard the gospel, if you heard it clearly a few times but did not immediately respond but maybe wrestled with it for a time, or if you had made it a habit of rejecting it. 

For age, I split the categories into rough stages of life rather than specific years.   Childhood, teen years (in middle school or high school), young adult (graduated HS, in college or starting work, maybe newly married, basically getting started in adult life), middle age (meaning that career is established, family is established, basically that you were somewhat established as an adult), and older (meaning that you had started to hit empty nest or retirement years).

 

Thank you.   

I didn't pay any attention to the gospel until the Lord made his presence known to me and led me to it.

[frienduff thaylorde]

2 hours ago, johnthebaptist said:

I didn't pay any attention to the gospel until the Lord made his presence known to me and led me to it.

Exactly .   Marvel not ,  no man can COME to ME ,  lest the FATHER DRAW HIM .

PUT THOSE HANDS UP AND LET ALL JUST SOUND OUT THE PRAISES OF VICOTRY IN CHRIST .   

[frienduff thaylorde]

And don't mind my misspelled victory .     Just excited in the LORD .      hands up one and hands up all ,  IT IS LORD PRAISING TIME .

And it don't matter what time the clock says or what time zone you are in ,   ITS a universal time and that is , TO PRAISE THE LORD .  

[nickm727]

there was a documentary i watched called Zeitgeist that did a number on me as a young adult

[JustPassingThru]

On 5/28/2019 at 6:58 AM, Cletus said:

i was against God in every way.  God apprehended me.  I would have never called on Him on my own. 

Right on!!!

And so it is with every born again child of God that received Him in their adult years, ...totally against Him, even to the point of blaspheming Him, ...BUT GOD......., ...reached down, stooped down into the cesspool of humanity, plucked us out, washed us off and clothed us with the Righteousness of His Beloved Son, ...and set us on high IN His son Jesus Christ at the right hand of the Father!

But there are exceptions, there are some that say they know God, ...they, by there own efforts, have apprehended Him and now sit in judgement against His true children, they are easily identified, ...they haven't received the LOVE of the Truth!

Lord bless 

[Blood Bought 1953]

 

I saw myself as a smart person.Smart people do need that religious stuff .Who But The stupid and weak need that crutch?After all, if there were no God , wouldn’t Mankind invent one? I was an atheist and proud of it! At least I had fooled myself into believing that I was.One nightI found myself in a very scary situation and+all of a sudden this know- it-all atheist, found himself begging God for help and forgiveness.Of course, first things first, I took a personal inventory to make sure I was “ good enough” to turn to God in prayer.To my great surprise, it hit me that no, I was not “ good enough”.The Holy Spirit took my blinders off. I was nothing but a wretched sinner headed like a speeding bullet towards a Hell that was richly deserved.I was rescued from the “ Fool’s Paradise” Of thinking I was not perfect , but I was good enough to go to Heaven.Satan’s lie.I was delivered from that delusion and asked God to forgive me. He did .Nothing has been the same since , why, it’s as if I was “ born again”.That’s the only way I can explain it.