A Radical Conversion worthy of the Read

[quantumfaith]

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/january-february/my-train-wreck-conversion.html?start=1

 

[Benjamin]

I find that the vast majority, if not all of Atheist are prideful and consider themselves “thinkers” and thereby are “demanders” (want to be shown in their way) and therefore ultimately think of themselves as the “judge” (or little gods).

So, as I read the article I was looking for words to the effect that would confess “wanting to be as god” and this woman’s confession clearly nailed the stereotypical mindset of the lost as I see it. My noted point, I found it. (Underlined it.)

But God's promises rolled in like sets of waves into my world. One Lord's Day, Ken preached on John 7:17: "If anyone wills to do [God's] will, he shall know concerning the doctrine" (NKJV). This verse exposed the quicksand in which my feet were stuck. I was a thinker. I was paid to read books and write about them. I expected that in all areas of life, understanding came before obedience. And I wanted God to show me, on my terms, why homosexuality was a sin. I wanted to be the judge, not one being judged.

But the verse promised understanding after obedience. I wrestled with the question: Did I really want to understand homosexuality from God's point of view, or did I just want to argue with him? I prayed that night that God would give me the willingness to obey before I understood. I prayed long into the unfolding of day. When I looked in the mirror, I looked the same. But when I looked into my heart through the lens of the Bible, I wondered, Am I a lesbian, or has this all been a case of mistaken identity? If Jesus could split the world asunder, divide marrow from soul, could he make my true identity prevail? Who am I? Who will God have me to be?

This why I often open a discussion with an explanation before going further and telling of God's plan and His Eternal kingdom and then presenting the Good News by first taking the Atheist back to the creational account where mankind gained knowledge and wanted to be as god. I work off the following verse to reveal how God knew from creation (the gift of life with grace in Mind toward everlasting life with Him) what the barriers would be for those He created: (knowledge=thinker – pride=demander – judge=god):

Gen 3:22
(22) And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

IMO, she took of the tree of life when she bowed to His will and God did the work to show her the Truth.

 

[HeirofSalvation]

What a GREAT article!! I am tempted to read her book. Thanks for posting this.:thumbsup:
Obviously, GOD can do, what we mere humans could NEVER do...namely, convert a leftist lesbian professor to Christ.:applause:

She read the Bible, pure and simple
Hbr 4:12 For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Then God went to work!!

 

[quantumfaith]

I find that the vast majority, if not all of Atheist are prideful and consider themselves “thinkers” and thereby are “demanders” (want to be shown in their way) and therefore ultimately think of themselves as the “judge” (or little gods).

So, as I read the article I was looking for words to the effect that would confess “wanting to be as god” and this woman’s confession clearly nailed the stereotypical mindset of the lost as I see it. My noted point, I found it. (Underlined it.)


This why I often open a discussion with an explanation before going further and telling of God's plan and His Eternal kingdom and then presenting the Good News by first taking the Atheist back to the creational account where mankind gained knowledge and wanted to be as god. I work off the following verse to reveal how God knew from creation (the gift of life with grace in Mind toward everlasting life with Him) what the barriers would be for those He created: (knowledge=thinker – pride=demander – judge=god):

Gen 3:22
(22) And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

IMO, she took of the tree of life when she bowed to His will and God did the work to show her the Truth.

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

I hope to come across more and learn of her spiritual growth.

 

[quantumfaith]

What a GREAT article!! I am tempted to read her book. Thanks for posting this.:thumbsup:
Obviously, GOD can do, what we mere humans could NEVER do...namely, convert a leftist lesbian professor to Christ.:applause:

She read the Bible, pure and simple
Hbr 4:12 For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Then God went to work!!

She was such a picture of how hard and callous toward we all can be. It is amazing that God can and does crack that hardened shell and often the simple ways He does so.

 

[Aaron]

Great article.

I started reading the Bible. I read the way a glutton devours. I read it many times that first year in multiple translations. At a dinner gathering my partner and I were hosting, my transgendered friend J cornered me in the kitchen. She put her large hand over mine. "This Bible reading is changing you, Rosaria," she warned.

With tremors, I whispered, "J, what if it is true? What if Jesus is a real and risen Lord? What if we are all in trouble?"

J exhaled deeply. "Rosaria," she said, "I was a Presbyterian minister for 15 years. I prayed that God would heal me, but he didn't. If you want, I will pray for you."

I continued reading the Bible, all the while fighting the idea that it was inspired. But the Bible got to be bigger inside me than I. It overflowed into my world. I fought against it with all my might. Then, one Sunday morning, I rose from the bed of my lesbian lover, and an hour later sat in a pew at the Syracuse Reformed Presbyterian Church. Conspicuous with my butch haircut, I reminded myself that I came to meet God, not fit in. The image that came in like waves, of me and everyone I loved suffering in hell, vomited into my consciousness and gripped me in its teeth.

She believed, and the rest fell into place. Notice how she describes her role in her converstion in passive terms. She did not grip the vision, it gripped her. She didn't choose to believe, she became a believer.

I fought with everything I had.
I did not want this.
I did not ask for this.

 

[Robert Snow]

Great article. She believed, and the rest fell into place. Notice how she describes her role in her converstion in passive terms. She did not grip the vision, it gripped her. She didn't choose to believe, she became a believer.

Impossible! God does not force people into salvation, regardless of what you might believe.

 

[annsni]

Impossible! God does not force people into salvation, regardless of what you might believe.

Was she forced? It sounds like she was not - yet she couldn't come to any other conclusion. Read her article and you will see - she had no other choice in the end - no other choice that she even would have wanted to make! I've seen that SO often when people come to Christ!

 

[quantumfaith]

Was she forced? It sounds like she was not - yet she couldn't come to any other conclusion. Read her article and you will see - she had no other choice in the end - no other choice that she even would have wanted to make! I've seen that SO often when people come to Christ!

It is a true "tension" in christian theology and soteriology, the Sovereignty of God and the free response of man.

 

[annsni]

It is a true "tension" in christian theology and soteriology, the Sovereignty of God and the free response of man.

Exactly. It's really such a magnetic draw and to watch it happen is humbling and awe inspiring.

 

[Iconoclast]

It is a true "tension" in christian theology and soteriology, the Sovereignty of God and the free response of man.

QF,
Jesus explained it this way:
36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

1]If the Son therefore

2]shall make you free,

3]ye shall be free

4]indeed.

they like many today ...do not think they are bound

 

[salzer mtn]

Psa 65:4 Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee.

 

[annsni]

QF,
Jesus explained it this way:
36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

1]If the Son therefore

2]shall make you free,

3]ye shall be free

4]indeed.

they like many today ...do not think they are bound

The name of our sailboat?

Set Free

 

[Iconoclast]

The name of our sailboat?

Set Free

lol...maybe after the snow melts:laugh::laugh::laugh:

 

[Aaron]

Impossible! God does not force people into salvation, regardless of what you might believe.

All hail Pope Robert Snow.

 

[Benjamin]

She believed (“I looked intomy heart”), she chose God’s way in love of the truth of the Word (“through the lens of the Bible”) and true to His Word God set her free and saved her. (They said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Acts 16:31)

She said, (“Ken preached on John 7:17: "If anyone wills to do [God's] will, he shall know concerning the doctrine") and (“the verse promised understanding after obedience”)

Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

I see a lot of “you” in the Bible and “I” by her own words and her speaking of her “will” in this account that are clearly contrary to the determinist doctrines of total inability and forced upon irresistible pre-selection election.

I must have missed the part that Calvinist are seeing in this account of ole Pastor Ken telling her she was either predestined, or maybe not??? :smilewinkgrin:

 

[HAMel]

Impossible! God does not force people into salvation, regardless of what you might believe.

With God all things are possible.

...or, He just made her an offer she couldn't refuse. :thumbsup:

Mark 9:27
"But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose."

 

[quantumfaith]

She believed (“I looked intomy heart”), she chose God’s way in love of the truth of the Word (“through the lens of the Bible”) and true to His Word God set her free and saved her. (They said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” Acts 16:31)

She said, (“Ken preached on John 7:17: "If anyone wills to do [God's] will, he shall know concerning the doctrine") and (“the verse promised understanding after obedience”)

Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

I see a lot of “you” in the Bible and “I” by her own words and her speaking of her “will” in this account that are clearly contrary to the determinist doctrines of total inability and forced upon irresistible pre-selection election.

I must have missed the part that Calvinist are seeing in this account of ole Pastor Ken telling her she was either predestined, or maybe not??? :smilewinkgrin:

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: