Personal Testimonies

[undone]

When I think of the objections to the faith posed by many non-believers, the lack of evidence is clearly one of the top reasons they cite not to believe. While it is true that a believer cannot prove the existence of our Creator scientifically, he/she can certainly testify to the changes in their life that come about as a result of their decision to believe and trust in the Lord.

In trying to prepare for this thread, I conducted a search on the internet to try and gather factual information regarding personal testimonies. The searches I conducted netted a multitude of websites offering personal testimonies of changed lives after a conversion to Christianity. Though I could not find a unbiased site to gather any statistical data, it was clear to me that throughout the history of Christianity, millions upon millions of lives have been changed for the better.

These changes include everything from curing illnesses to quitting drugs/alcohol to ending violence in a household just to name a few. I can personally testify to being set free from alcohol addiction after years of hard drinking and believing I'd never be free after other attempts to quit failed. For me, the change was nearly instantaneous. I experienced several other personal changes as well. All of which I attribute to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

I realize that some may argue that these changes are simply a psychological phenomena. I, however, contend that they are evidence of the power of the Holy Spirit that comes through knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We may not be able to scientifically prove that the changes are a result of conversion, but we can scientifically prove that lives have been changed. I believe it is verifiable and testable to show that someone has given up alcohol or whatever the case may be. I believe you can ask thousands if not millions of people around the world, if they've experienced a change, and I know you would hear a positive response.

You may ask about people who say the converted, but experienced no change. I'm not saying an immediate change will be a result for everyone all the time, only that there is large number of people who report changes. The change could simply be a sense of peace knowing your eternal destination is heaven. Others who have not experienced a change are potential candidates for false conversion. False conversion meaning, something about their attempt to convert was in error. The cause of these errors can vary. Typically, a trained Christian counselor can interview a false convert and identify errors in the thinking, conversion process, or actual faith of the person in question. There are reports of false converts finding true conversion when replacing their error with truth.

In summary, I feel confident saying that the evidence of changed lives is a favorable indication of the validity of our faith.

[Ishamael]

This is called placebo effect.

People experience changes, because they sincerely believe, that they must experience a change.

The christianity per ce has little to do with this change - there are just as many personal testaments to entirely similar change after converting to Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Judaism, Krishnaism, Paganism, Atheism, Agnosticism, Polytheism (any you`d like), etc.

In short, any philosophy/religion has very similar accounts of converting people experiencing life-altering epiphanies.

This leads one to conclude, that there is no specific tie with any particular religion, but rather, with psychological effect of placebo. Quite similar to seriously ill people being "miraculously" healed by sugar pills, which are presented to them as powerful medicine.

[Ishamael]

There are numerous documented accounts of placebo effect - from word-of-mouth faith healings (of any religion), to scientifically documented placebo effect in medicine: experiments with pills made out of sugar and injections of saline (both have no medical effect, per ce), while consistantly informing objects, that they were fed/injected new experimental medicines.

[Ishamael]

Any religion with over thousand followers has similar accounts.

As well, as innumerable number of faith healers, witches, karma healers, Feng-Shui practitioners and **** knows who else.

[undone]

The christianity per ce has little to do with this change - there are just as many personal testaments to entirely similar change after converting to Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Judaism, Krishnaism, Paganism, Atheism, Agnosticism, Polytheism (any you`d like), etc.

Any I'd like...well...I'd like any. I just did searches in the same manner I did for the Christian Testimonies and couldn't find ANYTHING that was similar. With the atheism search, they were all, "Why I became an atheist"; the Buddhist was the same; Hindu was less than those;...etc.

I'll grant you that some maybe a placebo affect, but the numbers seem to indicate too high a likelihood it's only placebo, and why do they mainly seem to happen with Christianity?

I don't buy it Ishamael...

[undone]

Any religion with over thousand followers has similar accounts.

As well, as innumerable number of faith healers, witches, karma healers, Feng-Shui practitioners and **** knows who else.

I'm not talking about healings whereby people go up to get something "fixed". I'm talking about unexpected changes that occur after getting saved.

[Ishamael]

I`m quite sure, that if you could read arabic, your search would`ve turned up nothing but testaments for Islam.

If you could read Ivrit, your search would`ve turned up more then a fair bit of Jewish testaments.

So on and so on.

[Guest shiloh357]

This is called placebo effect.

People experience changes, because they sincerely believe, that they must experience a change.

The christianity per ce has little to do with this change - there are just as many personal testaments to entirely similar change after converting to Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Judaism, Krishnaism, Paganism, Atheism, Agnosticism, Polytheism (any you`d like), etc.

In short, any philosophy/religion has very similar accounts of converting people experiencing life-altering epiphanies.

This leads one to conclude, that there is no specific tie with any particular religion, but rather, with psychological effect of placebo. Quite similar to seriously ill people being "miraculously" healed by sugar pills, which are presented to them as powerful medicine.

Actually Christians claim far more than "life-altering experiences." The Christian faith is based upon a transforming relationship with a personal God, and that the motivation for living as a Christian is not the act of a turning over a new leaf or or reforming bad behavior.

As Christians are lives are not merely changed; rather it is our hearts that are transformed by the regeneration of the Holy Spirit into the image of Jesus Christ. We are justified (declared righteous) as if we had never sinned. We are washed clean of our past sins, and entirely forgiven.

The difference between Christianity and other far Eastern religions particularly those who believe in Karma is that our lives our righteousness is not a product of ourselves. We are not trying to earn points to offset our past misdeeds. We are not trying to perfect ourselves or develop greater self awareness or self-actualization.

The Bible teaches nothing about self-awareness but of greater awareness of the needs of others. The Bible teaches selflessness motivated out of a desire to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and that our deeds are not an attempt to garner His favor, but are the product or outgrowth of the favor, mercy and love He has richly bestowed upon us.

The Bible teaches that man is sinful, moreover it teaches that man is, under his own power, irretrievably sinful and that he is helpless before God to do anything about his sinful estate. The Bible further teaches that God demands a perfect system of justice in the face of man's sin. God cannot allow sin to go unpunished. God cannot compromise His holiness. A sinless, holy and perfect God cannot produce anything except a perfect system of justice where all sin is punished. Yet, the Bible teaches that God loves mankind with an everlasting love. In spite of our sin, God loves us and because of that love He provided the One who would stand in man's place, and He did this through Jesus Christ, His Son. When Jesus was on the cross, God the Father hurled all of His hatred, all of his judgment, all of His contempt for man's sin squarely at Jesus. Jesus, on the cross, bore everything it takes to send a man to hell. Jesus drank the cup of God's wrath and he drank every drop. He did this not merely to please His Father, but because He loved and still loves us.

The thing with Christianity and teachings of the Bible is that we see the truth that our salvation is not our doing, but is wholly a work of God from beginning to end. We are not trying make ourselves better. Jesus has already bore our sin, and we are already declared righteous.

As Christians, we have the assurance that we eternal life, and that when we die, we will enter into God's Kingdom. We are not waiting to find out if we did enough good works to tip the scales in our favor as those in other religions do. We have a "know-so" salvation. We have been taught by Jesus and His disciples that salvation is ours today. Eternal life is ours and we can KNOW that we are saved today.

There is more I could say, but the above is sufficient to show that we are radically different than other people in other faiths who are still on the hopeless and futile path to perfection.

[Ishamael]

So... Summing this shortly, you say - "I do bad things, and I don`t care - Jesus is covering up for me."?

[Guest shiloh357]

So... Summing this shortly, you say - "I do bad things, and I don`t care - Jesus is covering up for me."?

Not at all. If you read what I posted above, you would note that I said that we motivated to live for Christ becuse of His love which is operating in our heart. Our obedience is the product of love, not an attempt to garner His favor.

True Christians are grieved when the sin, and they continue to go to the Lord forgiveness. Those who sin and don't care, are not Christians. You cannot be indwelt by the power and presence of God and not care. In fact, we have a greater zeal to serve the Lord exactly because we DO care about our actions, and we love the Lord too much to ever want to grieve His heart.

We still go to the Lord for forgiveness, but we also know that sin has built in consequences. Jesus does not promise us that He will remove those consequences we may have to face in this life for our sins. It is simply that we do not live under any condemnation from God.